Beyonder and Departure?

"You won't be taking your Beyonder Sword?" Max asked, already knowing the answer.

"…no" Old Man Uxas finally took notice of Max, as a hint of hesitation flashed in his mind, before being immediately snuffed out by even more determination.

"Then tell me how to use it. You know I will come after you, and if you don't tell me how to use it, I will use it anyways, and it will most likely kill me before I can even get to you."

Hesitation could finally be clearly seen on the old man's face as he thought about the possibility of Max following behind him, launching himself into death's door in search of him, who had also likely already done the same in search of Cedric. Did he have to die? Did he want to sacrifice Max? All for what? The chance that Cedric was alive?

But then, that very thought repeated in his mind again, and his resolve was reinforced. Yes, it was worth it. Cedric would have done the same for him as well.

"The sword is not called a Beyonder item, it is called a Sealed Artifact 1-01 of our Knowledge Magisters, belonging to the Hanged-Man pathway at Sequence 4: Black Knight. It is essentially a spiritual, and mortal poison on a sword, corrupting the flesh, blood and spirit of the target that is slashed by the item. However, every time you use the sword, you will have to supply it with blood within 10 minutes or it will consume yours until it is satisfied, and more importantly, you will have to undergo what can only be described as mental torture as it will bring out your worst memories and replay them every night for 3 nights after each use."

"Thus, I suggest you do not use it unless you become a Beyonder of at least the 5th Sequence."

"Alright, now, tell me where exactly you are heading. Otherwise, I will end up asking every Beyonder or Beyonder-related organisation about your marabouts until I find them. I will likely run into enemies more often than friends based on the conversation between you and old Baldy who is now missing."

Old Man Uxas heard the clear rationalisation of the entire situation from Max, but he would not be willing to give such information to a child who had just recovered from having his parents murdered in front of his eyes, being sold as a slave, being rescued only for the rescuers to be murdered as well and somehow escaping.

Suddenly, Old Man Uxas pointed a finger at Max and whispered softly, but Max heard it.

"Imprison."

Instantly, Max felt as though he was encased in a jar of incredibly thick concrete, despite there not actually being anything around him. He then faintly heard Old Man Uxas say something much louder.

"Release is Prohibited here until dawn." He said while staring at nothing in particular.

"Release," He said as he pointed his index finger at Max once more, but nothing happened. Old Man bent down to Max and said a few words before putting back his hat and leaving the house, trapping Max until Dusk, unable to move, talk, eat or sleep, just trapped.

"Sorry, and the passcode is 5425."

Max's eyes grew red as despite not wanting to, he knew this body of his was too attached to the old man for him to ignore this incident and just move on with his own merry life. He knew that he would ultimately have to follow behind the old man and either save him or take revenge.

But for now, he was stuck, imprisoned by a Sequence 6 Judge of the Justiciar pathway who had used Verdict on him. All he could do was think about his future actions, unable to move or do anything about it.

Max began to contemplate many things as the slightly muffled sound of thunder echoed in his ears.

The very first thing he would have to do was to become a Beyonder, and for that, he would need money. With enough money, he could hire someone to search for and get him the last ingredient for his potion. Thankfully, nobody knew about such a potion, and none of its ingredients matched with any other potion formula, so nobody would be keeping an eye on them or tracking them, almost completely eliminating the possibility of him being found out before he reached Sequence 0 at the very least.

Plus, he also had to move out at least sometime before Klein reincarnated into this forsaken world, since if he recalled correctly, the Evernight Goddess would be paying close attention to the entirety of Tingen. Compared to a King of Angels like Adam, a True God was much more dangerous and powerful. She would likely find out about Max before he could do anything, and likely eliminate a 'variable' like him almost immediately, ignoring the restrictions the gods had placed on themselves about not descending with their true bodies.

In fact, she might not even have to descend, just any random Sequence 9 would be enough to finish Max off as he was now.

Thus, after becoming a Beyonder, and gaining information on where the old man had gone, Max would leave Tingen immediately. With his plan set in motion, Max realised that his tears were not falling to the ground, just slowly floating in front of him, pooling up as neither they nor Max were able to move.

This was Max's truly first experience with Beyonder powers, and it was exactly as horrible as Klein must have felt upon realising his entire life had been manipulated until his death. Planned out by one Ince Zanguill and his insane feather pen, one king of angels and reincarnation of the Ancient Sun God; Adam, one True Goddess; Evernight, one Will of the original owner of the Safirah Castle; Lord of Mysteries, and one Will of the Original Creator of Earth and one Will of the Original Creator of the Universe.

'Well, maybe the comparison is a bit skewed, but it still feels terrible not being able to do anything.' Max tried to lighten his mood with a poor attempt at a joke, but it did not seem to work and he descended back into his rapidly spiralling thoughts.

'Does the Old Man even care about me? I mean he just left me here and expects the trauma of such a situation to not affect a child, and furthermore, he expects me to survive on my own? No… Positive thoughts Max, stay positive. He left me behind and restricted me so I would not catch up to him and find him… Should I just leave him?'

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the rational aspect of Max's Mind, where most of Samuel's memories had settled down, desperately tried to grab onto it, since he knew his best option now was to just immediately loot everything he could from this house, and leave Tingen as a whole, and go to another city. But the more emotional aspect where most of Max's own memories were present immediately pushed away the thought. Only now did Max realise that despite having died, and having the much older Samuel's memories still present within his mind, it was truly Max who was still in control. And somehow still alive.

Cursing at his own stupidity, Max began to plan out his actions, and most of it started with retrieving the sword, before killing someone or stealing money from someone, enough to ask for the Blue-tailed Sea Bass' eye.

Once he finally became a Beyonder, he would immediately use the ritual he had gained from the Mother Goddess of Depravity, and then search for information about the old man, and see if he could rescue him. If it was not possible, he would leave Tingen and head to Backlund to start anew as a Beyonder, and if he could rescue him then he would, before forcing the old man to go with him to Backlund.

Why Backlund? Because that was the only place he knew rather well from the novel other than Tingen. A large portion of the novel happened in these two places, while the rest of the places had a more fast-paced plot, with considerably less memorable places in each of these locations.

Nodding to himself about his plan, Max had already recovered from his stupor and noticed that Damn was finally approaching and as soon as the first rays of sunlight hit him, a crisp cracking sound echoed in the empty hall and living room before Max finally recovered his ability to move.

{AN: We have somehow made it to 56th place in fanfic rankings of weekly male all (not only contracted) power rankings!!!! I would like to thank everyone for their support for this novel.}