I Am Mane Harbinger: X

"I must leave now!" Ancestor Origin screamed to himself and blindly sprinted towards a section of Mane's Soul Space. Surely there must be a way to leave this place he thought.

Cronos watched the Origin King's attempt to escape with disinterest. The old relic had depended on his eyes to manipulate souls so much that he had no idea how souls worked. If he did, he would have known that a Soul Scape couldn't be escaped by simply finding the exit. One had to break themselves out by using the power of their own soul. And this meant that if your soul was weak and you invaded a person with a stronger soul…

"You will be trapping yourself," Cronos slouched in his throne lazily and mumbled.

The Origin King's soul should have been a mighty one because he was so ancient. And it was. But the old coot didn't know much about souls to be able to utilise his power. It was like handing a rocket launcher to an infant baby. The weapon may be powerful enough to destroy a house, but without the strength to carry the dastardly thing, it would just be a decoration in the infant's hands.

"Besides, that kid is too cautious," Cronos chuckled. For though Mane was confident that the Origin King would not be capable of escaping his hand, he laid down a few precautionary measures.

*Bang*

"Argh!"

The Origin King Screamed in pain as he was sent flying back. He landed roughly, right in front of Cronos's throne and had some difficulty reorienting himself to the current situation. But once he regained his senses, his face grew pale as he stuttered with hesitation.

"Is that a barrier?"

The Origin King may not be able to use his Eyes of Destruction here, but he could see just fine. Right before he went past the 50 meter mark a blue light blinded him and he was struck. Although it wasn't particularly painful, he was shaken.

"Yep," Cronos yawned and stretched his stiff limbs. A faint blue light made a brief appearance before disappearing once more like it wasn't there.

"How can he set a barrier in his Soul?" Ancestor Origin was stunned. While he knew that Ashera's ways were strange, he had never heard of something like this before.

"That's why I called you a naïve old man, idiot," Cronos's voice was heavy with disdain.

"You know nothing although you have lived for so long. If you did, you would know that to become a Scholar or a Spiritualist one has to have a bright mind – and more importantly, a Soul Based Bloodline. While that isn't a requirement for becoming a Scholar, it helps tremendously to have a Soul Bloodline because it helps you understand the path much better. Any Scholar or Spiritualist worth his salt can manipulate their soul as they see fit. They can form barriers in certain areas, confine certain things, cast Leases there, or even store objects that are bound to them."

Cronos pointed at the space above their heads when he mentioned the last part. Up there were Harch and his companions, floating grandly and looking down on everything below with a gaze of authority. Even gods had rudimentary understanding of their souls, and that was why they were able to easily store bound artefacts to themselves. The Origin King had such skill because he had power over all artefacts. Take that away and he was practically useless and wouldn't know what to do to store a Soul Weapon.

"He left those unattended?" Ancestor Origin's eyes shone with delight when he spotted the weapons above. He was the King of all Artefacts – both old and new! If he could control those things…

He strained his mind and tried to wrestle control of Harch, but his efforts were futile. And when he tried just a little bit harder, Harch fought back, injuring him in the process.

*Poof*

Ancestor Origin spurted out a stream of blood as he was sent tumbling backwards.

"You can't, can you?" Cronos smiled disdainfully upon reading the mind of the Origin King. In fact, he allowed the Origin King to try to control the weapons above and was more than happy to gloat seeing the old artefact's failure to do so.

"When I said you are helpless here, what did you think I meant?" Cronos shook his head in disappointment.

He had always wondered how the True Universe would have been had the Origin King not died. But now that he had met the man, he was vastly underwhelmed. The man knew nothing! Clearly the Book of Order and the Flames of Chaos had been dealing with everything for the naïve Lord of Artefacts, and that was likely why he knew nothing of the world. And he showed that every time he acted or spoke. For why would Mane leave his weapons here knowing full well that the Origin King could control them? The very same kid who had been reluctant to summon Harch because he was worried he would lose control over it wouldn't do something this silly.

Chaos was born from the Chaotic Flame and order from the Book of Order. Both were opposites kept in check by the Origin King because his power gave him such sovereignty. According to the legends, and from what Cronos himself remembered, the Origin King's power was near omnipotent, making him immune to the effects of order and chaos. And this is where Cronos was most disappointed. If the Origin King was half as smart as any god out there, he would have realised that the powers that couldn't harm him before were now more than capable of destroying him. That alone should have helped him realise how much the world had changed.

"It seems that handing the administrative duties over to Pier was truly a wise decision. Because imagining someone with your level of understanding and insight handling an entire race is dangerous."

Ancestor Origin could sense the disdain in Cronos's tone, but he couldn't care less. How could he just sit here doing nothing? He lifted himself off the ground. At least he tried to.

"Where do you think you're going to?" Cronos asked with his foot on top of Ancestor Origin's back. His presence was like that of a great mountain and his aura threatening. Ancestor Origin who assumed that both were helpless in Mane's Soul Scape was forced to accept how wrong he was as his effort to shake off that foot proved futile.

"Stay still," Cronos commanded coldly and stamped down, forcing the former ruler of the True Universe to sink into the earth below him and swallow the dirt therein unwillingly.

*Boom*

"Cough," Ancestor Origin struggled for a few more seconds before giving up and allowing Cronos to keep him twinned with the ground.

"I must admit. This has always been a fantasy of mine: to step on the former ruler of the True Universe! Hahaha!"

******************************

"He really is naïve," Mane sighed while walking through Ancestor Origin's Soul Scape. Both he and Cronos had incorrectly assumed that this fight was going to the toughest of his life. He had even been worried about the fact that he couldn't use Harch, thinking that he would have to give it his all to win this fight – or to even survive. Yet the truth was far from his delusions; reality miles apart from his assumptions. The Origin King had been pitifully weak. Mane didn't even have to resort to using Takeover or any of his last ditch Glows or Breaths. In the end, the battle had gone just as easily as it would have if Ancestor Origin wasn't the Origin King. Once Mane figured out his limitations and his pattern of thinking, it was very easy to deal with him. Mane felt that he had overestimated the Lord of Artefacts.

"He even fell for the invasion trick," Mane sighed in disappointment.

How could one fall for the easiest trick in the book? Yet the Origin King did. And now his Mind Scape was empty, and beautifully ripe for the picking. Mane had been strolling pretty comfortably since he got in two minutes ago. Without any defenses or traps put in place, he had an easy time getting to Ancestor Origin's core. And once he did, he was slightly amazed by what he saw.

In the middle of the Origin King's Mind Scape was a large pair of eyeballs. Each eyeball cultured a generous blend of red and black. They floated a few meters above the ground, pulsating with every breath.

"So those are the Eyes of Destruction?" Mane marveled at the dark beauty of the eyes before him. He could feel a strong power from them. The power he felt was so great that he had to take in several deep breaths to calm his beating heart and greedy mind.

"It is at least three times stronger than what he displayed when we fought!" Mane was alarmed by his findings. For the power contained within those pair of pupils was much greater than anything he had faced before – with the exception of the Grim Reaper and the Watchers. The power contained in there was no joke. And even more startling was that Mane could feel that the eyes were restricted.

"That thing is the key to surpassing the Watchers and the Reaper. If I have those eyes, I can actually grow stronger than them!" Mane's eyes glowed brightly and for the first time in his life, greed as great as a powerful beast threatened to swallow him. And he moved involuntarily towards the Eyes of Destruction. And with each step he took, he moved closer and closer to his goal.

10 meters

8 meters

6 meters

5 meters

3 meters

2 meters

1 meter

0

Mane stretched out his hands to the giant orbs before him. His clouded eyes could behold nothing but those eyes, and a maniacal grin stretched his lips. The red glow of the pupils intensified when Mane got closer. And when his hand was about touching the orbs a faint shadow appeared behind the eyes, formed from the light they gave.

The features of the shadow were difficult to discern, but there was one thing that wasn't – a crown. For there was a beautiful red crown gracing the head of this shadow. Seeing Mane's action, the shadow displayed great impatience and said,

"What are you waiting for kid? Touch them. Touch them and gain all the power in the world!"