Chapter 295: Exo-Power

Kesia had never known fear in her life.

Since her creation, very few enemies had ever managed to make trouble for her.

But there was one small a issue...

She, like her brothers and sisters, were made to destroy anything threatening creation or the Guardians of the divine realms.

As such, they were not equipped to handle or even so much as harm Guardians.

In short...even if Kesia had a thousand times the strength of the current Oracle, she would never be able to wound him, let alone kill him.

She kept running and even used flight runes to escape him. But he kept coming. Already, she had been nearly eaten several times. No matter where she went, he always knew exactly where she was.

It was understandable. He was the Oracle, of course. 

Unfortunately, she was running out of energy. She was exhausted and had several burns all over her body.

Johann breathed another blast of fire at Kesia and she barely avoided it. He used the opportunity to get close enough to swat her out of the air with his gigantic claws.

Kesia slammed into the ground and Johann landed on top of her. She was pinned with one of his claws piercing through her abdomen.

"G-gaaah...please...mercy... I'm sorry... I was just following...orders..." 

"I DON'T CARE!!! ATTACKING MY REALM AND TRYING TO KILL MY LOVED ONES DESERVES NO MERCY!!!" Johann roared.

He breathed in and unleashed a wave of crimson flames at Kesia.

After he finished, he noticed that she was gone. A peculiar rune had found itself in her place.

She was laying several feet away and clutching her stomach to keep her entails from spilling out. 

"STALLING? DELAYING THE INEVITABLE? TRYING TO RUN WON'T HELP YOU."

After he spoke, two figures appeared by Kesia's side. A woman wearing a kimono and a man with black hair and red eyes.

"Johann! Oracle of Excelsis! I would like to offer my most sincerest apologies for-"

"GRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!"

The man was silenced instantly.

"Nasumi, is Kesia secure?" He asked.

"Yes! I have her!"

"Good," he said.

Johann slammed his claws into the ground and leaned close to the man.

"So sorry to offend you, Oracle. But...I have duties to attend to."

"LIKE HELL YOU DO!!! GET OUT OF MY WAY OR I'LL KILL YOU TOO!!!"

"Progenitor OS: User. Command move," the man said simply.

And in an instant...he was gone. As was Johann's prey and the other woman.

Johann bared his fangs in rage before blasting a pillar of fire into the sky.

The entirety of Excelsis' night sky was lit up as a result.

"MAKE NO MISTAKE, ARTIFICER. YOU'VE MADE AN ENEMY ON THIS DAY. AS SOON AS IRIS HEALS, I'M COMING TO EXECUTE THAT BITCH!!! AND THEN I'M COMING FOR YOU AS WELL!!!!"

As soon as he had calmed himself enough, Johann flew over to the site of the Cursebreaker and stopped in mid-air.

"Where...is the ship? Wasn't it just here?" He thought.

Johann flew towards the anchor platform and returned to his normal form.

Sure enough, the ship was completely gone.

He attempted to use his cross-world communication power to contact Mizik, but couldn't get through. In fact, he couldn't even feel Mizik.

Next, he attempted to use it on Isabella...then Cassandra. He tried to use it on the remaining crew members and got the same result.

"I guess I'll have to use my own healing power instead of relying on Isabella. Please be okay, Iris..."

Johann teleported back to where Iris was to find a strange sight.

The Demon Queen that Mizik brought back was attempting to heal Iris by removing the harmful energies.

Johann had never seen her before. He only had knowledge of her alliance to Mizik.

"Excuse me...?" Johann said angrily.

He felt defensive. He didn't like unknown people touching his beloved.

"Ah, hello Johann. Or shall I call you Oracle? Don't mind me. I'm just proving my worth. Making myself useful, as they say," she said with a smile.

Normal people would have immediately been swayed by her beauty. But not Johann. He only had eyes for Iris.

He approached and narrowed his eyes at the woman.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt her. In fact, this is helping. My power as a succibus is perfect for sucking out magic. In this case, removing the harmful energies in her body that are preventing regeneration."

"Who the hell are you?" 

"My apologies. I am Estelyn, Demon Queen of the Succubi. I was married to Mizik in a former life. Now, I find myself in his debt. He saved my life and my people. We have an alliance."

Johann was angry as he looked at Iris. He was upset because he couldn't perform such an action on his own.

So instead, he approached and began using his own healing magic on Iris.

"Good. It seems like your magic can also cleanse this filth from her body," Estelyn said.

"Why are you being so friendly?" Johann said.

"I am not full of malice like most demons. I believe in survival. And in this case, I would likely live much longer by helping you and not hindering you."

"Hmm..."

"Besides! This little cutie is your beloved, is she not? Mizik told me about her in a previous life. She's a firey sort that cares deeply for her people. It's wonderful, if you ask me," Estelyn said.

"..."

Johann didn't feel like talking. The anger at losing his prey and his beloved being harmed was too much to bear.

An hour passed as they continued in silence.

Eventually, Iris opened her eyes.

"Ah...Johann...?" She said.

Estelyn sighed and stepped back.

"It is done. The harmful magic is gone," she said.

"Iris!"

Johann hugged her and held Iris' head against his chest.

"I'm so sorry...I should have protected you better. I-"

"Please stop... Johann, it's my fault. You were busy with the Faithful and I felt my Enforcers were in danger. So I left without thinking... This is my fault..." Iris said.

"I... Listen Iris. Don't you ever go running off like that again, okay?"

"I won't. I promise."

"Good."

"Hey... What happened to the Oracle's Faithful? Didn't you send them to scout the area?" Iris said.

"I did. But they never returned. I sent them to the area that Jallah marked."

"Oh my gosh! Jallah! Leiso!!!" Iris exclaimed.

She jumped off of the table and ran over to them.

She held her hands out and teal magic enveloped them both.

At once, their wounds were healed. Iris sighed in relief before dropping to her knees.

Johann ran to her and picked Iris up in his arms.

"Haaah...dummy. You gotta be careful. You almost died!" Johann said. 

"I just needed to do that... I'm sorry!" Iris said with a weak smile.

"It's alright. Just don't overdo it."

"I won't. And hey...where is Mizik? And is Isabella around? She could probably use The Priestess to heal everyone that was hurt," Iris said.

"The Cursebreaker is missing, actually. I haven't been able to contact anyone from their crew. Not even Mizik," Johann said.

"What...? Who were those people anyway?"

"They called themselves The Hero Party. And they abducted Mizik. I saw it with my own eyes," Jallah said.

He had awoken and now sat up in his bed.

Johann gently put Iris down and she ran over to hug Jallah.

"Jallah! You idiot! I was so worried! Where is Rune?" Iris said.

"Probably still asleep, thankfully. She'd bite my head off if she knew what happened..."

"I see. I'm just glad you're okay, Jallah. And also, what happened to Mizik, exactly?" 

"I'm not sure how he got there, but he was ambushed by all six of them at the same time. He didn't even have an opportunity to fight back. They talked about abducting him. I would have helped, but there was no way I could fight them off. I decided to report to Johann and get everyone's attention. Their leader sent Kesia after me at that point. She overwhelmed me and Leiso."

"Cowardly bastards..." Johann growled.

"What happened? We fell unconscious while fighting," Jallah said.

"You almost died. And this one tried to run out and help. But she was nearly killed in the process, so I had to step in. Kesia couldn't hurt me for some reason and I almost killed her. Someone else showed up at the last second and transported her somewhere. She probably survived...the bitch..." Johann said.

"Those people were the Artificer's personal fighting force. The last line of defense against existential threats to creation. Somehow, they have labeled the Cursebreaker as an enemy. Ahn...what timing! You were so close to being finished with this charade regarding the Corruption..." Estelyn said.

"Is it necessary to moan mid-sentence?" Johann said.

She pretended not to notice his question.

"I raided the database in the Order Realm a while back. I was quite bored and found that they have kept a near-perfect catalogue of historical events. Two thousand years ago, they arrived on Tanavol to take over. They believed that the Avatars were existential threats. Especially Eris."

"What about the Hero Party makes them so powerful?" Jallah said.

"Well, they appear human. But in reality, they are not. Not even close. They are artificial beings called Exo-Humans. They possess a reality-modifying engine called the Progenitor OS. Or Operating System. Six of them were made with a seventh rumored to have been created. The seventh was likely unfinished or hasn't been finished yet."

"There's a seventh!?" Jallah said in surprise.

"Ahn~! Yes~! A seventh~! So good...ahn... Ahem. Sorry, I got excited. The Exo-Humans were made to be god slayers or the equivalent. For keeping order across divine realms and destroying existential threats. Their reality-modifying power is also one to be feared. Luckily, they are incapable of harming Guardians."

"That explains a lot. And why do you keep moaning?" Johann said.

She pretended no to notice his question.

"I am unsure as to what the seventh might be capable of. But when they arrived on Tanavol, they each wielded a sword of incredible power. Likely, these were the Deus Arms. These weapons are much stronger in the hands of their original wielders."

"Was the seventh really not on Tanavol?" Jallah asked.

"No. They only recorded six wielders. And they didn't give information about their weapons. Just what they were all extremely powerful. The information regarding the seventh was recovered thanks to interrogating one of them. Back then, the seventh was still in development," Estelyn said.

"Did the people of the Order Realm give details on how the Hero Party was repelled?" Johann asked.

"Ahn~! Yes~! They sure did~!" Estelyn said with a wink.

"Why do you keep doing that!?" Johann said angrily.

Estelyn pretended not to hear the question.

"The details on how they were defeated...well...there were none. All it said, based on my memories, was that the Hero Party concluded Eris wasn't a threat to anyone outside of Tanavol. They left after that...I think..."

"Fine, don't answer me. See if I care..." Johann growled.

"You think?" Jallah said.

"Well, they didn't stay at least."

"The real question is how should we handle this?" Iris asked.

"We?" Johann said.

"Eh...yes...?"

"No. You are going to stay here and rest. I'm going to Dominus to kill those bastards. Starting with that bitch, Kesia," Johann growled.

"But Johann-"

"I'll be fine. They can't hurt me, remember? Besides, I'm sure everyone on the ship needs help. Especially Mizik."

"Fine...please just be careful..." 

"I will. Now...how to get to Dominus..." 

"Actually, travelling right now without a direct method of transportation is a terrible idea. From what Mizik told me, Valtheim is ready to devour anyone who leaves Excelsis. Especially anyone allied to him," Estelyn said.

Johann gritted his teeth in rage.

"Damn abomination!!!"

"Whatever the case may be...we should wait until we have a means of direct travel. We'll just have to hope that they're okay..." Estelyn said.