14

One thought that kept bouncing around my head was how weird my life had gotten. I was standing in an abandoned warehouse on a planet I knew from fiction. Flitting around said warehouse was an ancient Japanese guardian spirit called across time and space to serve me.

I had also gotten eighteen new servents that appeared to be connected to me in a pseudo-hivemind. Gestring with my hand, I tiredly told the beings to separate into different groups. Three of the beings were small angles straight from the Old Testament. Four of them were beings that appeared to slosh about and have eyes and mouths grow out of the formless mass at random.

I had one that appeared like Cu Chulainn from the Fate series, red spear and all. Two more just looked like me before I arrived here. The remainder were simple fantasy mobs. As Komainu started poking the Cu-lite, I finally spoke in a tired voice despite not needing to sleep.

"Komainu, please stop poking the fake demigod. I don't know the full extent of my new power, and in the highly unlikely scenario he starts stabbing, I don't fancy our chances against Irish Hercules."

Pouting slightly, she walked away before reclining on one of the formless masses arms behind her head while fake snores escaped her mouth. Sighning as a grin snuck out, I walked over to each of the monsters and took the time to investigate them thoroughly.

It appeared that while they lacked the power of the original, they were still decently powerful. For example, Cu was fast and strong enough that I bet he could give Armsmaster a run for his money; however, he could not use Runes or Gae Bolg as a Noble Phantasm. The other me's had no offense capabilities and seemed the most intelligent to talk and hold a conversation.

That, however, led to madness, so I resolved to use them as eyes on the streets and not talk with myself using myself as a mouthpiece. The biblically accurate angles had a vast array of weak power. They could call upon fire, fly, and speak telepathically; however, none of them were all that potent. The fantasy creatures were generally weak and fodder, which was a bit of an issue considering it would take a week to get back my minions if they died. However, they were about as bright as a person, so they could help around the base and be great for experiments.

Speaking of experiments, I needed to get Komainu up to snuff.As of now, she was decent against the less powerful parahumans; however, against a person like Armsmaster or Myrddin, she would die very quickly and not come back. That meant step one was ensuring she did not die when killed.

I didn't have a suitable method of holding on to souls, which meant I would need to be tricky when reviving her. She was rock and stone that had been seeped in magic and belief for thousands of years. She could be repaired with a lot of mana and by fixing her physical form; however, that would not repair the soul which would have passed on.

Flipping through the Grimore, I did have a possible workaround. By utilizing my Prime Arcanum and the fact that souls were just clumps of insanely dense magic, I could pull her soul into a backup body. As I let the thought bounce around my head, I winced at how the different ideas seemed to clash in my head.

While most of the methods were from World of Darkness and ran of similar systems, Touhou was strange enough that even with my little knowledge of its inner working, it could either succeed because Komainu 'knew' it would work. Or it could fail and consume the souls of everybody in a few mile radii to keep her alive.

However, that was not a big issue; even if a few hundred people died, it would suck, but at the end of the day, Komainu was worth more than the entire city of Brockton. I would need to start working on it as soon as possible to lessen the chance of her dying for good and Arcana of Matter

would help with that as I had several days' worth of Dust piled up.

Standing up and tucking away my Grimoire, I got to work. The first was making something that could hold a soul temporarily. My best image would be an emerald that I could manufacture into a Phylactery. It would be crude; however, it was better than dying.

Holding my hand out as the Dust climbed up my body, it twisted, and a few seconds later, I had a small emerald that could fit in a ring. The next step was to enchant the emerald to store her soul after death. Tucking the emerald away, the next stage was creating the reagents this ritual would need.

While not wholly necessary, the belief would strengthen the shaky foundation this ritual was built on. First was a deadly poison that I knew how to craft from Dust. After a few moments of focus and I soon had a small vial of nightshade extract sitting gently in the palm of my hand. As I focused on the next ritual ingredient, my Grimoire's power built up again.

Struggling to control the Dust, I felt in the back of my mind the power fade back as the Dust in my hand started to flicker into a multitude of shapes. However, I could bring it under control and had a small leather that, as I opened it, contained scraps of vellum with words written on it. The last one was to commit a heinous crime, of which I had quite a few options.

The crime would need to be committed simultaneously as the ritual began to infuse the emerald with the concept of 'lichdom.' The easiest would be murder of an innocent; however, innocents were in short supply in the Bay. I could use the monsters; they were by definition innocent; the issue ways that rule lawyering would undermine my belief and could cause the ritual to fail with catastrophic results.

I just needed to find an innocent person to sacrifice to make Komainu practically immortal. While the thought of is this worth it flickered through my mind, I pushed it aside with ease, she was mine, and as I had thought earlier, she was worth more than every single person in this godforsaken city. Striding towards the exit, I spoke to Komainu as I left.

"I'm leaving; I'll be back soon."

Stepping out into the coastal city smell, I started to walk towards the docks. I needed to find somebody you could be plausible innocent. While children would be the best as they were the picture of innocence, a child disappearing would bring a lot of attention other people would not. My best choice would be a homeless person; I could simply toss them in Castle Brunestud before heading back.

Humming a little, arms placed behind the small of my back, I strode through the docks back tall as I observed the new gang-free territory. It wouldn't be long before a new gang moved in. However, I would be there to tear it to bits. The homeless seemed to be lesser today; it appeared with the extra people walking the streets that they had moved elsewhere to take shelter and weren't begging on corners.

Peaking into a few abandoned buildings, I eventually found a young teenager; he appeared to have been beaten badly a few days prior and had most likely taken shelter to tend to his wounds. Appearing above his prone form, a grin crept over my face as I slid a hand under his head and lower back, picking him up in a bridal carry. Calling on that moon-white depth in my SOUL I appeared on the moonlit lawn of my old house and my new Castle.

Setting the man on the ground as he stirred, mumbling to himself, I slammed into his mind with all of my hypnotism knowledge to stun him. His eyes glazed over as I untensed. Hearing a blood-curdling shriek from the house, I frowned at it before dismissing it from my mind. Purity was a Nazi; she had plenty of chances to leave, and she made her choice.

Appearing back in my lab, I set the man on the ground as Komainu approached, head tilted to the side as an inquiry slipped from her mouth.

"What are you doing, this guy?"

"This person is the final step in a ritual to make you mostly immortal."

Her eyes widened as what I said hit her, and whirling around; questions flew from her lips as she approached me.

"What do you mean mostly immortal? What are the costs? Do you have to bear the costs? I'll be fine."

I responded to them in order by raising a hand to forestall any more questions.

"You will be mostly immortal because this spell can't recover all of your soul, so if you die rapidly in a short period, your soul with break apart. The costs are already paid, and I do not need to pay them. Lastly, no, you will not be fine. I will not accept argument on this. I will go through this; you are worth too much to die."

Flushing, she settled down as I flashed her a grin before continuing.

"I need you to sit in the center of this circle I am drawing."

Nodding, she scampered over before sitting down, legs crossed over her hands tapping a little beat as her eyes peered around the lines I was drawing. This circle was slightly different from the others I typically used; it was a larger circle with three smaller ones. Inside the top ring, I put the emerald in the top, in the right was the poison, the left was the phylactery, and Komainu sat in the middle of all of the circles.

Stepping back, I rubbed my hands together for a moment before lifting them in the air and started to chant while weaving my hands through the air, my illusion gone as skeletal figures twisted into arcane forms.

"Ich werfe den Tod nieder, ich kehre der Ordnung den Rücken, dem Leben. Ich werde meine Seele beschützen, verborgen hinter den Augen Gottes. Luzifer wird keine Herrschaft über meine Sünden haben und ich werde durch die Unsterblichkeit Zugang zu Eden erhalten. Leben! Tod! Sterblichkeit! Unsterblichkeit! Zwei Seiten der Medaille, ich werde zum Rand aufsteigen. Aufsteigen! Aufsteigen! Aufsteigen!"

Reality twisted as my belief fought with the common consensus of man. I knew this would work; however, man did not agree. Immortality came with a price, it screamed. Look at Butcher, Hero, and every great person across history, it cried. Man was not made to live forever is shrieked. I pushed back; she is not human! She is born of mortal belief, and beliefs will never die. She will be immortal, for she is mine! I will not let mine be taken by time, injuries, or anything!

Slowly as I slumped to my knees, hands trembling and bones rattling, reality folded. The common consensus of man was pushed back as my sheer force of will and belief in this ritual forced it to concede to my version of the world. I looked up to the worried visage of Komainu as she peered down at me, emerald in her hand. Clearing my throat out of instinct rather than need, I grinned at her climbing to my feet.

"Congratulations on your immortality!"

She kicked me in the shin as a scowl broke out on her face; however her lips started to twitch up almost immediately.

Power Gained

None