Delilah's Successor

In an empty void, devoid of anything physical or emotional, sat a boy.

His eyes were shut, and he levitated in a fetal position.

Despite there being no atmosphere, the boy breathed… in, and out.

His black, wavy hair fluttered, though there was no wind to push them.

His consciousness was hazy, and he was in a dream-like state, which could be considered a comatose state.

"Ace, you can come out now."

A voice entered his ears, but he offered no response.

It was unknown whether he could hear the voice or not, but he did sense it.

His eyes quivered as he body suddenly began spasming.

Despite that, there was no proof that it was his doing.

Silence.

"Ace, we gave up our divinity for you. If you won't wake up, I'll torture you for the rest of eternity."

Suddenly, a thought appeared in the boy's mind.

"Huh?"

His eyes suddenly opened.

"W–Where am I?"

"You finally woke up."

A voice entered his ears, and when he turned around, he saw a childish face with dirty-blonde hair.

"Akash?"

"Phew. Thankfully, you didn't lose your memories. We weren't too late, Larry."

"Larry? Who's Larry?"

Ace muttered as he turned around once again, only to be greeted by an unfamiliar face with black hair.

The boy was even shorter than Akash, and he barely looked 8 years old.

"I am Larry, the Celestial of Enlightenment."

"The Celestial of– Ah! The one who got brutally murdered because he was too strong? Is this divine afterlife?"

"No, I'm the one that ascended."

"I see. So, I believe I entered your dungeon, right?"

"Correct. Smart kid, Akash."

"I know."

Akash responded with a smug grin.

"So, what am I doing here?"

Suddenly, Akash and Larry locked eyes, signaling the other to explain the entire story.

However, they both refused to do it.

"Both of you tell me together."

They nodded as they began reciting what had happened.

"While bravely battling the red ogre that I personally created, you finally defeated it with Leo Kadz, but soon succumbed to your wounds."

"I died!?"

Ace suddenly stood up, breathing heavily.

"Yes, you did."

He responded. Then, he looked at Akash, who nodded slightly.

Akash then continued the explanation from that point.

"After you succumbed to your wounds, your friend carried your body over to your other friend, Lily's body. Lily was alive, however."

Signaling Larry to continue, he sat back and listened.

"However, Akash and I received a signal that you had perished. Since Akash needs you to defeat the Deity of Destruction, and you were about to inherit my legacy, we had to offer some assistance."

"Inherit your legacy? Was it the ??? - ??? one?"

"No…? What do you mean?"

Ace suddenly opened his system interface, as the only person who could view it, which was Akash, peeked from the corner.

[Name - Ace Ambrosia]

[Age - 14 (23)]

[Species - Human / Spirit]

[Biological Sex - Male]

[Vital Status - Alive]

[Rank - E]

[Legacy -

??? - ???

Deity of Enlightenment (Partial) - Left behind by the Deity of Enlightenment before his ascendance, this legacy allows the user to…]

[Stats]

[Strength - E+]

[Agility - E+]

[Stamina - E]

[Mana - D-]

[Dexterity - B+]

[Skills]

[Sword Saint - SS]

[Indifference - SS]

[Flurry Steps - B]

[Mana Cultivation - D]

[Mana Manipulation - D]

[Aura Manifestation - D]

[Body Augmentation - D]

[Aether Manipulation - ?]

Ace remained calm. However, Akashic Records' eyes almost bulged out of its sockets as he fell face-first to the ground.

Somehow standing up, he gripped Ace by the shoulders and asked…

"You realize what those things are? You received a taboo skill even for divine beings! Moreover, you unlocked a feature that I never created!"

His eyes were bloodshot and his hands were red due to the strength he displayed.

"I'm a spirit?"

"Yeah, since you died and became one…"

Larry responded.

"I see."

Ace resisted Akash's grip using his strength, which was now above average.

Akash's grip became weaker and weaker as Ace resisted his hold on him.

Larry watched the scene with a toothy grin on his face, thinking about how ironic it was to see a mortal overpower a deity.

Akash only had the strength of a D Rank individual, but his mental capabilities were what made him a Fragment of a Primordial.

That's why, he quickly released his grip and poked Ace on a pressure point, disabling his sense of touch.

He immediately fell down, but felt no pain.

"What the…"

Akash quickly released Ace before asking him…

"Do you think you can survive for even a second if word got out about these things? Aether cannot be used by a mortal, a deity, or a Celestial. Nor can it be used by a fragment. Even Outer Gods can't use it without feeling a sense of pressure weighing down upon them! And you!"

Ace was perplexed, so he asked…

"Didn't you tell me to extract the aether properties?"

"Yes, I did. It was because aether can be used to nourish the soul that one's potential increases. However, nourishing one's soul and controlling the literal element are two different things! Moreover, you even received a skill!"

There was silence inside the room for a couple of seconds.

"Moreover, you unlocked a feature I did not create. That means someone higher than me is interfering with the system. It has to be one of those damned Outer Gods!"

Akash rambled on, but Larry refuted by saying…

"Outer Gods would have to undergo a considerable penalty, so it has to be a fairly large nebula. However, why would they interfere with a mortal?"

"I have no idea, but whoever's doing this obviously has malicious intent, because they wouldn't give Ace something so risky."

"Agreed."

Feeling left out, Ace sat back and listened to their conversations, understanding zilch.

"Getting back on topic, because you were about to inherit my legacy and because you are the one chosen by Akash to defeat the Deity of Destruction, we saved you by stealing your corpse from Leo, who left the dungeon soon afterwards because it began crumbling down."

"Thankfully, both Leo and Lily survived."

"Then, he brought you to the Queen of the Spirits, where she absolutely overwhelmed the mighty Celestial of Enlightenment."

"Can we not talk about that, Akash?"

"Wait, Spirit Queen? Where are we?"

"Right, we're in the Spirit Realm… or as you guys call it, Underworld, Hell, or afterlife."

"Nothing surprises me at this point. At least, not more than the fact that I died."

"Now, where were they? Right. After the Queen of Spirits absolutely overwhelmed Larry here, I made a deal with her. In exchange for 0.5% of our divinity, she would give back your soul."

"And you accepted?"

"And we accepted."

Ace was brought to tears due to this revelation.

The divine beings actually sacrificed their divinity for his sake.

"Don't get all emotional here. We revived you for our personal gain, alright?"

"Yes, sir."

Ace replied, saluting to his saviors.

"Now, we have to meet the Spirit King."

"Didn't you say it was a 'Queen'?"

"Well, the Spirit Queen took our divinity and ditched us. Now, the Spirit Realm is ruled by her successor, Charles. Or, King Charles."

"I see."

*

*

*

After tidying up, the three of them headed towards the palace hall.

Larry decided to not tell Ace about the changes that occurred on Earth, and Akash agreed, thinking it would be too much for him to handle, and he might want to go back before the right time.

As they entered the palace created using gold, the three of them bowed in the presence of the King of Spirits.

However, the King bowed too.

"Your majesty, why are you bowing to us?"

"Well, y–you're a divine being. Spirits are lower than divine beings."

Larry broke into a laugh, praising Delilah for choosing the best successor possible.

Charles' expression turned into a bitter smile, and Ace was confused by what was taking place.

"Never mind, Charles. Anyway, can we borrow three rooms and the training grounds for a year and a half?"

"Sure, why not? Divine beings are always welcome."

As he said those words, Larry broke into an even louder laugh.

Imagine an eight year old child with a deep voice sprawled on the ground, laughing hysterically.

"Thank you, your majesty."

Akash responded as he motioned for Larry and Ace to leave alongside him.

While exiting the palace hall, he took the chance to mock the King under his breath.

"The downgrade is insurmountable."

*

*

*

"Eh!? This training regime is too much! Moreover, I'm staying here for a year and a half?"

"Yes, you are. And no, it isn't too difficult."

Akash responded, motioning him to follow him outside of the castle alongside Larry.

He turned the paper which had his training regime written on it and showed it to Akash.

"5000 Push Ups, 50000 Jumping Jacks, 10000 Crunches!? Moreover, how the hell am I going to spar with a Celestial!?"

"Well, I'll reduce my strength."

"Doesn't matter! Moreover, what is this one and a half year training, huh? Is this some kind of time skip?"

"Yes, think of it as a time skip before you become all badass and cool."

Letting out a sigh of defeat, Ace tried to catch up with the divine beings' speed, finding it difficult to do so.

Entering the downtown area of the Spirit Realm, they were mesmerized by the scenery as it brought color to their eyes once again.

They loved the lively atmosphere that awaited people after they died.

"So many species in one place. So, aliens do exist?"

"Of course they do. Even after 600 years of space research, Earth just hasn't found them."

"I see."

Ace looked around enthusiastically like a country-bumpkin, attracting several mocking gazes from regulars.

There were shops, restaurants, malls, cars, and many other things in the Spirit Realm.

It was like a better version of Earth.

"Where are we going?"

"For now, we're gonna get some coffee. We need to talk to you about something important."

"I see."

As they entered a mall, they soon spotted a coffee shop named "Starfishbucks."

Entering the shop, they sat down on a chair and ordered coffee.

Ace ordered an ice cap, while Larry offered a Raspberry Slushy.

Akash on the other hand, ordered an espresso.

As they received their coffee, they soon began their talk.

"Do you know about the presence of 'Outer Gods'?"

"No…? Well, I heard you guys talk about it in the room where I first woke up."

"Alright, so do you understand the term? Outer, and God?"

"Outer is something outside, while god is another word for a deity, right?"

"Correct. So, the Cosmos is divided into two parts, the inner Cosmos and the Outer Cosmos. They both consist of the same amount of area. However, the inner cosmos is the middle part of the void while the outer is the outskirts."

As Ace nodded, Akash continued his monologue.

"Each of the segments contain divine beings, which were created by the Primordials. However, the strength gap between the Inner Cosmos and the Outer Cosmos is insurmountable. Despite their being a higher amount of Deity, Celestials, and Fragments of Primordials… against an Outer God, that is all zilch."

"Wait, so why don't the Outer Gods just capture the Inner Cosmos."

"Well, who would want to capture the land of someone they consider ants? Moreover, we are ants in front of them. Capturing land you don't need and ruling over ants is a cliche topic."

"Could I ask why you're telling me this?"

"I'm getting to that part. Now, nebulas are groups of Outer Gods that exist as organizations in the Outer Cosmos. Nebulas such as Olympus, R'lyeh, Eden, and Hell… they all exist."

"Hm."

"Now, the reason I wanted to tell you this. The Deity of Destruction, who destroyed your planet in the previous timeline, is allied with Asgard, one of the ruling Nebulas of the Outer Cosmos."

Ace's eyes almost bulged out its sockets as he heard those words.

He immediately stood up, but was suppressed by Larry, who had a solemn expression on his childish face.

"Listen, Ace."

"What do you mean listen!? The Deity of Destruction is allied to a force stronger than Celestials!?"

Ace yelled in a loud whisper.

"That is true, but the Deity of Destruction is a low-ranking member of Asgard, so they wouldn't send too many reinforcements if he died. However, the same cannot be said if a divine being kills him, because that symbolizes a declaration of war. And trust me, the Inner Cosmos cannot survive a flick of a finger from a High-Ranking Nebula."

"So you need a mortal to kill him?"

"Correct."

"It's impossible."

"Correct."

"I thought you would help me when I agreed to regress… since, y'know, you knocked me out so quickly, I thought you were strong."

"You were half-dead."

"True."

Ace put his head down on the table, occasionally taking sips from his iced cap as he thought about the things that had just been revealed to him.

"So how the hell are we going to kill the Deity of Destruction?"

"With you and your subordinates' power."

"Mortals?"

"Yes."

"That's going to take more than the amount of time we have, isn't it?"

"Most likely, yes."

"So we have no chance?"

"Correct."

"What do we do?"

"We train you. That's why we have to stay in the Spirit Realm for a year and a half."

"Why only a year then? Why not five or six years?"

"You can't stay cooped up in training for five or six years… you're a mortal. Before we know it, you're going to go insane."

"Ah, so we're worrying about my mental health now, are we?"

"Correct."

"Will you stop saying 'correct' every time!?"

Akash halted from continuing as Ace pondered over the possibilities.

The latter still believed they had no chance, but he still had to try…

"There's one more thing we need to talk to you about?"

"What is it?"

"It's about Noah Williams and Genro Govel."

Ace's ears immediately perked up as he heard those words.

Were they going to talk about changes in the factions?

Politics?

"They're supported by the Deity of Swords and the Deity of Magic respectively."

Silence.

"W–What?"

He barely managed to ask, his voice shaken.

If Noah and Genro were supported by Deities, aren't they basically cheat characters who can do anything?

"I know what you're thinking, but you're backed by the Celestial of Enlightenment, the former Queen of Spirits, and I."

Akash proudly stated, putting his hand on his chest.

"Yeah, backed by divine beings not related to combat."

"Actually, the Spirit Queen could destroy four Celestials at once before becoming a divine being. And now, with a smidge of our divinity, she can easily take down seven Celestials… even the stronger ones."

Larry explained, looking a little red.

Ace guessed he thought it was shameful to lose to a lower being… or something snobbish like that.

"So, these Deities of Swords and Magic… who are they?"

"The Deity of Swords originated from the Medieval House a couple thousand years ago. Back then, the divine beings of Swords, Spears, Machetes, Guns, Enlightenment and many others worked together. It was called the Medieval Age on Earth, I believe."

Ace peeked at Larry through the corner of his eyes.

The latter looked extremely embarrassed and was trying to hide his face using his tiny fingers.

Putting his hand on Larry's shoulder, he said…

"I pity you, friend."

Well, that almost brought him to years… not tears of joy.

"The Deity of Magic, on the other hand, is a variation of the uses of mana. It could be said that the Deity of Magic is tiers above the Deity of Swords."

"A variation of the uses of mana… so, turning regular mana into elemental mana and vice versa?"

"It's similar. However, it carries all types of magic such as barrier, holy, acid, poison, and so on."

"The Deity of Magic is such a cheat."

"Agreed. I would say it would be difficult even for the former Spirit Queen to defeat it before receiving our divinity."

"What about the Celestial of Magic?"

"He's about as strong as a low ranking Outer God."

"Woah."

"Now, we should probably head to the palace, because Larry's already asleep."

Akash said as he pointed at the young boy who was sound asleep with his head on the table.

His raspberry slushy had already melted and he had accidentally knocked it over, causing the entire place to become one big mess.

"We're sorry."

They apologized to the person who was currently coming over to clean it.

"It's alright."

The person answered with a smile before cleaning the entire table with a single swoop using mana.

Raising an eyebrow, Ace made a mental note to learn that kind of use of mana.

"Let's go."

Akash said as he picked up the sleeping corpse of Larry.

"Should I?"

"Definitely."

Akash handed over Larry's body to Ace, who carried it using his 182 cm body and his arms which had become jacked due to training.

Walking along the roads of the Spirit Realm, their eyes darted over everything as they looked like literal country bumpkins.

However, the regulars at night weren't so rude as to direct mocking glares at them this time.

Under the moonlight walked two divine beings and a mortal whose goal was to defeat a divine being.

"Akash."

"Yes?"

"I had been wondering about something ever since I woke up."

"Hm?"

"You have been carefully avoiding the topic of 'Earth' every time it is about to be brought up. Why is that? Did something happen to Earth?"

"..."

"Answer me right now or I'll blast you with mana."

"It's not like you can either way."

"What about aether?"

"I'll tell you everything.."

He quickly gave up at the mention of aether.

Ace took a mental note to scare him with aether every time he refused to do something.

It wouldn't work on Larry since he was so strong, but it could definitely work on a weak divine being such as the Akashic Records.

"So, what happened to Earth?"

"Well, let's just say that instead of Earth finding aliens, the aliens found Earth… due to a star that shone in the dark sky."

"Don't be poetic, Akash."

"Aliens set up space research. Aliens found Earth. Aliens set up base on Earth."

"Don't be robotic. Speak normally."

"I already told you what you needed to know."

Ace sighed, as he walked faster and faster to try to catch up with Akash, who was walking as fast as he could.

"This idiot."