The Finality (7)

Previously

Then, she went into the inner circle. Here, she could feel a number of monsters around the strength of the vampire trash she had killed. There weren't any packs in the inner circle, just high-grade, singular strong monsters who were either sleeping or fighting each other for territory. She didn't explore too much, only focusing on the matter at hand which was scanning for any traces of the Demon Scum or her brother. She didn't find any but something was odd. When she checked out the monsters that were fighting for territory, some of the monsters were way, way too far from their natural habitats, like how a Silverback Ape King, a monster who lived around the edges before Singular Point was challenging a Swamp Ooze, a monster who lived in the southern edges of the inner circle. When she followed their movement patterns and traced them back, she realized that they all pointed to the edges of the singular point, as if the monsters who lived near Singular Point had run away from whatever had appeared there.

Perfect.

Her senses creeped into the edges of Singular Point but then, something pushed her senses back as her eyes were forced open. Information seeped into her brain.

'Don't seek any further.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx

Something pushed her senses back as her eyes were forced open. Information seeped into her brain.

The voice was rather rough but she could make out the femininity in it. Now, she was absolutely certain that her beloved brother was there. Even if he wasn't, at the very least, she knew where to start looking for him. Now that she knew where he was, she focused on the two other things that were of major importance right now, things that she had to do before she could start searching for her beloved brother.

The first and most important thing to her right now was power and she needed to get, not most, not some, all of it and if possible, at once. She didn't expect her archnemesis to climb out of her blackened, disgusting walls and fight her this early. . .no, the Demon Scum hadn't been there to fight her; that duty fell onto her subordinates. From what she remembered, any being of darkness and evil worshiped that Demon Scum like she was their everything, and yet her own troops didn't speak nor utter one word of the Demon Scum as they burned the entire town to the ground. They didn't even notice that she was in the same town as them.

Did the Demon Scum realize that Willow was the latest incarnation of Kubaba and came to take him away? No, that wouldn't make sense. She remembered that Willow and the Demon Scum must have spent some. . .time together–as much as it disgusted her to think of that. If the Demon Scum did realize, she would have simply portal him away before Elm herself even got there. So, it was simply a byproduct, an off chance that the Demon Scum somehow stumbled onto Willow and defiled him? Even if she did defile Willow, it didn't matter much to Elm.

After all, the moment Elm got her hands on her beloved brother, all she had to do to purify him was pump him full of her own love. "Nnh." She looked down and saw how massive her love had grown just by thinking of Willow. It must be fate.

This time, she'll make love to him. No more waiting.

But to do that, she would need power, bringing her to the first problem again. How can she gain power and quickly, might she add. Experience and battle intellect had already been mastered the moment she awakened her emblem as the Celestial Hero and therefore, her constitution's memories of past incarnations. What she needed right now was pure and unadulterated power beyond her imagination - not some minor, premature skills and a simple manipulation of light. While manipulating light may be powerful, it wasn't anywhere near heaven-defying.

The conventional ways to return to the prime of her constitution would be to rank up her emblem and reacquire her equipment, aka her Holy Sword Of Promised Victory-[Caliburn] and Armor Ordained By God-[Roman] and Shield Of Reflection-[Aegis].

But that would simply take too long. The first method of leveling up her emblem, even at her best, would take her at least a year to reach the top. The second method of obtaining her equipment would require her to first find them, which are all as far away they can be from one another and not to mention the fact that she would have to talk to that annoying Spirit again to obtain her sword.

No, she needed a way to reach the top in under 6 months. Something that can possibly kill that Demon Scum and erase her foul-smelling descendents away from this world for good.

Then, she got an idea. "Construct." A little ball of light appeared from her palms. She manipulated it, morphing it from a knife, to a sword before changing it back to a ball of light, akin to a wisp. Next, she called forth the energy of chi and something strange happened.

The ball of light in her hand wriggled about like it was going to explode before popping out of existence when she felt her chi coming into life, enveloping the same hand that had held the ball of light. Like, she could only wield one form of energy at any immediate time.

But, she didn't panic. This was still within her expectations. "Summon." Elm called forth the ball of light to appear in her chi-cloaked hands again and as she watched it struggle to come into existence, she put her plan into view. Her body felt itchy the more she forced her body to call forth two of the energies together.

Instead, she took a deep breath, and calmed herself down, continuing her breathing cycle until she could literally hear her heartbeat slowly crawl, entering a zone where her mind was an absolute zero, a number from which infinite possibilities could arise.

As she'd theorized, the itch in her body disappeared as she felt unity within oneself, allowing a ball of light to appear within her hand while it was still cloaked in her chi. It'd worked but she couldn't allow herself any distraction.

Elm slowly returned awareness of her surroundings to her mind again, while trying to balance the two energies, stopping them from either canceling or wrestling against each other.

POP!

She could think again. Her heartbeat returned to normal. But unfortunately, the ball of light popped out of existence again as the silvery chi around her hand snickered in superiority. She let out a sigh before her skill took that emotion away from her.

So, Elm was only left with the conviction that at the very least, her plan wasn't a bust. Then, she heard a knock on the door.

****

Elm looked over the people filling her room. She felt somewhat territorial over this room since it was the same room that held her beloved brother and she didn't really want anyone else, sometimes even her parents to enter but this time, she had to endure it. After all, Elm didn't want to admit it but she would require the help of the tall, raven-haired female knight, Silva as she was called, and her squadron behind her since the coat of arms plastered on their breastplate was of the country that held this town, and a country that held one of her three holy equipments in it's treasury.

"As I was saying," Silva said, her voice rather hoarse and husky. "It is imperative that I bring you back to the King's Court to begin your training."

Elm raised an eyebrow. Silva continued, "If what I'm hearing from the chief of this village is true, then your achievements currently consist of killing a Head Of The 72 Houses, vanquishing a record of 127+ lesser demons in total and battling against the Evil God herself, all straight after you awakened. Is that correct?"

Elm nodded. The knights behind her whispered amongst themselves, eyes wide open as if they still couldn't believe their own findings. Silva raised a hand. They stopped.

Then, Silva tapped the amber stone dangling around her neck and Elm felt a bubble-like energy encase the both of them. "Sorry about that. I'd like to request my knights to provide us with privacy but the King specifically asks at least two guards to remain as witnesses, you see."

She pointed at her amber stone. "But this stone should make it seem like we're having a conversation, an illusion provided by this magical item."

Elm didn't look very interested. Instead, she asked a simple question. "What is the real reason you've come here?" Honestly, ever since she had sensed Silva and learned of her station and ranking in the High Kingdom Of Valterra, Elm knew she would have answers to some of her questions. Otherwise, she would have let her parents do the talking to these officials.

Secretly, she checked what her parents were doing and they were simply huddled up downstairs around the lounge, guarded by four royal knights in every cardinal direction. Guarded but her senses told her they were prepared to take her parents as hostages in case she rejected her 'honorable duty' as the Celestial Hero.

"Before that, I'd like to ask a question," Silva leaned back onto her chair and crossed one of her legs over the other before giving Elm a sharp look. "Have you truly awakened?"

Elm knew what she was asking. "Yes. I have the memories of all 776 incarnations. I'm the 777th."

Silva's eyes sparkled. "Amazing." She continued to praise Elm, "And out of all 776, it seems that you're the most talented." She recounted Elm's achievements. "You see, I've been personally taught by an incarnation of you."

"The 771'st," Elm said. "I remember."

"What a weird experience," Silva said. "To be talking with the much younger, female version of the Hero I made love with." Her eyes glossed with nostalgia before they sharpened like a well-seasoned veteran. "But I didn't come here to reminscine. I'll get straight to the point."

"We have the Holy Sword Of Promised Victory-[Caliburn] safely stored in our royal treasury," Silva said. "Furthermore, we do have locations of the other two howeve-"

"You want me to announce my presence as the Celestial Hero under your kingdom's national flag," Elm replied, swiftly.

"It seems you're far smarter than the oaf version of you I had to deal with," Silva mused. "But this makes it so much easier." Her face twisted into a dangerous smile. "You know you're not allowed to deny our request, right?"

So, her parents were being held hostage after all. Elm wanted to laugh out loud. Silva was a smart and strong woman; she had to be since she was the captain of the royal knights and the right hand woman of the Valterra High King but she was no Celestial Hero. Their court must have depended solely on historic records and the words given by the 771st incarnation to understand the abilities and skills of the Celestial Hero.

But they were gravely underestimating her, all of her. If she wanted to, she could easily decapitate this little knight captain and the rest of her squad but that would be unwise and very boring. After all, Elm didn't want to have to destroy a big, spacious kingdom just to get to that annoying Lake Lady.

She really wanted to laugh but her passive skill took that brief moment of amusement away, returning her to a state of calmness. "Very well."

"Gre-"

"However," Elm cut Silva off, who didn't seem to appreciate the sentiment. "It'll be under my terms."

Silva cursed under her breath. "Kek. You're a little too smart." She shook her head. "So? Speak of your terms, o'celestial hero."

Elm raised a finger. "One, Do not put me under supervision." She raised another. "Two, You will tell me the exact location of all three of my equipment the moment my name is under your flag." Finally, she raised her index, thumb and middle finger. "Three, I want access to all the secret vaults, treasure coves and dungeons in the immediate vicinity of this kingdom. I am viable to share my earnings to the kingdom if I call any citizen or knight sworn to this kingdom."

Silva cupped her chin and thought about Elm's conditions. Thinking carefully and long-term, her conditions sounded a little too easy for someone who was eventually going to become an existence equal to the gods, far surpassing any mortal authority. It might even be insulting to the name of the Celestial Hero that her conditions are the only thing required to put her under their banner. Hell, she'd heard of some incarnations of the Celestial Hero destroying whole kingdoms simply because they weren't given the prestige that was required.

She took a quick glance around the ordinary, 'poor' room. It looks like Elm wasn't one of those arrogant incarnations. And, as for her conditions, other than the first, the other two could immediately be granted. But, by looking into Elm's eyes, Silva knew that if she didn't accept all three conditions, Elm wouldn't budge from her location and she really didn't want to resort to violence on the couple down in the lounge.

So, she took a bet. "Fine. With the authority given to me by King Aelle Raegis Valterra X, I can grant you immediate permission to your second and third condition. And, I swear on my name that I will persuade the King to grant permission for your first condition." Silva gave a business smile. "So, how's that?"

Elm didn't like that she'd had to wait for a simple no-supervision request but she could understand why it was probably the hardest request to grant in their eyes. The most concerning about her first condition would be if she was interested in politics and stealing the monarchy from the current King.

She wanted to scoff at that. Like she would be interested in anything but her beloved brother and snapping the neck of that Scum.

She nodded. "Don't forget your promise over my first condition."

"I won't. So, do we have a deal?" Silva held out her hand and gave her business smile, only this time, it was filled with canines.

Elm's lips curled into an amused smile. She took Silva's hand and grabbed it in a handshake. "Deal."

Things were about to change. Perhaps, things were already changing the moment that Demon Scum had attacked her town so early in the world's scheme. But, if someone as low as the Demon Scum could adapt and risk the heavenly principles on her, Elm could and would do the same, especially now that the Scum had made a mockery of her, defiling the one thing she truly cared about in all her lives.

No matter. All those bugs surrounding her treasure were eventually going to fall by her hands, just like all the other times. The only thing that would change in this repeat is that she would have him in her arms again, only this time, she'd never, ever let him go.

Never.