Elysium's Multiverse-Chapter 341

Chapter 341

His eyes blazed red and Gluttony’s essence condensed, fusing with Riven’s soul pillars as they, together, made for their ascension. The gray world around him shuddered as the images of his vision that he’d just witnessed began to fade.

[Option 2: Utilize Orbital Hellstrike to rip out your Infernal Pillar to directly skewer Elysium’s tribulation. This will temporarily cripple your Infernal Pillar but you will regain use of it within a month. When it comes back, your Infernal Pillar will have been infused with the powers of the Abyss and will increase your affinity for Infernal to 99%. Each of your connections will be strengthened and have large increases in their own affinities. Your split into 2 classes will result in a second demonic body for Gluttony to pilot. Chance for success: Extremely High.] 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

[Your manipulation of fate has gained you-

Your manipulation of fate has gained you-

Your manipulation of fate has gained you-

Your manipulation of fate has gained you-

Recalculating.

Current total Malignancy Points: 279]

[WARNING: You are undertaking a Taboo form of ascension. Your path will now be tested for legitimacy.]

The crystal cave around him shattered into millions of pieces in a thunderous roar of power. The strike lit up his position on the platform with immense amounts of tribulation energy that blasted down at him in quick succession. Fire and lightning caressed him as he screamed in pain, testing his path and his fate, the crucible being far greater than the first time he’d endured back on Panu. Even more of it was gathering overhead as Gluttony expanded out from his soul aperture around Riven’s ritual setup as he floated in the middle of it - lighting up even the darkness of the abyss as the sky began to flare with multicolored light.

CRASH

Another arc of lightning, this time far larger than the previous ones, descented to smack him like a disobedient child. Riven’s eyes were seared from their sockets, exploding instantly as the defensive treasures he’d placed into the ritual graphics and pentagram began to wither and burn due to overexertion.

He felt his soul core begin to crack and shatter, and felt more than he heard Gluttony scream in his own fresh wave of agony as the sin tried to keep their souls united - and tried to keep Riven alive.

CRASH

He felt his right arm rip off.

CRASH

Another bolt of multicolored flame and lightning violently eviscerated him and tore a piece of Messenger when the armor attempted to swallow some of the energy - exposing Riven’s charred and bloody chest. Riven’s blood magic flooded his surroundings as a storm of black and red pulsed and crackled, fighting back and channeling through the pearl clutched to him in melted fingers - and Jackal only barley managed to block yet another blast of energy before the staff splintered slightly down the middle.

Riven’s eyes had regrown and his arm had reattached itself by now, and his face warped in shock. He felt the damaged staff’s soul begin to fade, and quickly flung it out of the ritual like a comet, saving it from being utterly destroyed as he endured two more attacks - just like the vision had predicted would happen.

He began to follow the next step of the prophecy, pulling on his infernal pillar when the skies lit up a bright white - and Elysium’s might descended on him in a way that he had not foreseen.

Something had changed from the vision.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening.

A brilliant golden blade containing the secrets of the angels was torn from a hole ripped open in the abyss to expose the cosmos - burning white hot with the fury of the heavens with power that raged against the abyssal sin of the environment. The blade was so large that it threatened to decimate the entire miles-wide platform he and his team now resided on. It looked akin to the blade of some lost and vengeful god, with its wrath and ire directed at him.

[If Gluttony wishes to walk amongst your kind with not but a soul tether, then you will be forced to show Elysium you can contain the Great Maw’s hunger even when not intimately united. Should you fail, you will die. Your path will now be tested.]

Riven barely had time to react and his hands dug into his chest to literally rip out a piece of his flesh as a sacrificial offering. The spell then exploded open with a supernova of flames as he frantically screamed the incantation for Orbital Hellstrike: “OFFER MY FLESH AND SOUL TO BURN AWAY MINE ENEMIES!”

[Orbital Hellstrike (Infernal)(Tier 3): Rip out your Infernal Pillar to manifest it as a missile high above you. Call down a precisional strike from orbit, doing immense critical Infernal damage to a single target and cataclysmic explosive damage to the surroundings for many miles. This attack temporarily shatters your Infernal Pillar and will disable all other Infernal abilities until the pillar reforms in your soul core. The less percentage health your target has, the more damage this spell does.]

Riven immediately lost the ability to channel any of his other infernal abilities.

His Infernal soul pillar tore off from his aperture and manifested within the physical realm, a crackling and seething testament to the power of the hells. It was the size of a skyscraper and sent the very air around it aflame, swathing waves of heat digging into the landscape and protectively encircling his teammates as the descent of heaven’s might barreled down like a torpedo through the darkness. Hell met heaven as the spire of Riven’s soul met a golden-white sword manifestation, and the backlash was immediate.

The place where his Infernal pillar had been torn off of his soul core flashed white hot inside his internal realm as the abyss itself burned with a mix of heavenly dao and hellish dao - encompassing his very world in flashes of red-orange and blinding white-gold.

Was this truly what tribulations were supposed to be like? It was nothing like his first and only one before this incident.

GASP

Gluttony’s presence disappeared into the Sin pillar while Elysium’s tribulation tore into Riven’s inner realm..

Riven doubled over as the heavenly dao began to permeate his other pillars. The Sin and Unholy pillars reacted particularly violently inside him, like a body’s response that tried to fight off an invading disease. His skin began to flake off and his vision began to swim with darkness despite the heatwaves of light illuminating the platform from far above. He puked blood, vomiting profusely as he began to feel himself die…

Only for his tethered soul connections to strengthen him.

His soul core that had begun to shatter was held firm by threads that wound their way across his lattice - even forming new connections amongst his lattice as the threads began to rapidly grow between the different aspects of his soul like a massive spider web.

Athela was the first as her link to him was the strongest, but the others began to help soon thereafter. Though given that his child was too young to know what she was doing, and the beholder demon wasn’t even awake - it wasn’t likely intentionally done. Rather, it was probably the symbiotic connections he’d formed through his blood pearl that were now soaking in energy from the other souls to help support his otherwise imminent collapse. Azmoth, Fay, Genua, Iris, Kara, Narg, Fish, Lizard, and Brute were all there too - and in turn, they each received a piece of enlightenment as his soul lattice was built with little pieces of them inside it.

And yet… It was still not enough.

The truths of the heaven still tried to claw and mangle his insides, both in the physical realm and in the soul realm. It burned and clawed like a vicious predator, trying to eradicate all signs of the Sin that was its anathema. The closer to Gluttony it got, the more it tried to rip him apart. Riven’s body spasmed with different energies that battled for control as he unleashed everything he had, using the ambient mana of the abyss to feed his need for more power even despite the tremendous reserves he’d already built up. And yet it was still not enough even then.

He began to feel his bonds take damage as the circulating heavenly judgement tried to crawl out beyond his own soul to burn away at the tethering strings. He felt their pain and their horror as they too began to burn from the inside out.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

But in his darkest hour as he began to watch his friends and loved ones burn away, something inside him rose to meet the challenge… and it wasn’t what he’d expected.

Malignant Prophecy spontaneously activated… again? Riven wasn’t sure that was really what was going on, but the world turned gray - then back to a normal hue - then to gray and back again. This repeated seven more times in quick succession, causing the realm around him to stutter and stop every other second until it finally came to a standstill. He saw a piece of the blood pillar flake off like a candle in the night, floating above his cracked soul core with a brilliant red hue - before it flared brightly and vanished; bringing along with it all of the heavenly dao infused into his soul. His vampiric bloodline expanded, and then began to shatter like glass dropped onto pavement.

[As a pureblooded vampire, you have come to embrace your predatory heritage. Your soul has drunk in the Blood of Heaven, an aspect of Elysium’s tribulation, and has managed to suppress it at the cost of Malignant Prophecy. Within the Blood of Heaven, The Supreme Path of Gold and Silver Stairways (Taboo) has been touched upon.

[Soul Lattice construction is underway. Your path has been deemed acceptable. Keep Gluttony’s tendencies contained, or suffer a worse tribulation upon the next grade.]

Tears silently streamed down his face, as his body twitched in agony.

The tribulation energy left the abyss in an instant with that last ominous threat from Elysium, leaving a smoldering wreckage where Riven’s cave had been - and the tattered remains of his body and armor were evident to anyone that had opportunity to look. His hair was singed clean off, one of his teeth was missing, his body was a mangled mess and there was a smoking hole in his chest where his pillar had been torn out. Only some of his wounds were healing, but very slowly, yet despite this he didn’t feel sluggish.

If anything, the new class that he and Gluttony were now focusing their attention on to create was at the full front of his mind. The tribulation might be gone, but he still had a single chance to create the soul lattice properly…

The lattice continued to build layer upon layer, threads interweaving with one another like the strings of a tapestry, and like a master artisan - Riven began to paint the idea of what he wanted into the very being of his inner realm. Piece by piece, he put it together with Gluttony’s help… until he passed out from exhaustion and entered into the world of dreams.

***

Riven’s eyes fluttered open, and he felt his head felt like it was going to pop due to all the notifications that blasted through his vision. He could barely tell that there was sunshine overhead amidst a blue, cloud-speckled sky - before the holograms snapped over one another in a layer of screens rapid-pace.

[You have ascended into the E-grade, your soul lattice has been constructed to maximize pathways and pave the way for your soul skeleton, your soul core has been enlarged and reinforced, your energy reserves have been reinforced, your stats have been reinforced, and are now level 201. Primary Class: Warlock of the Malevolent Storm, remains unchanged. Secondary Class: True Incarnation of Gluttony, has been granted. Gluttony may now manifest in a separate body of his own at certain times with strict conditions, focusing on melee combat, and will be equal level to your own. If his gluttonous tendencies are not controlled through your soul tether to him, you will be targeted for elimination by Elysium to curb the potential destruction of your bonded Original Sin.

Heaven’s Bane, Legendary Vampiric Bloodline Expansion, has influenced the bodies of you and your soul tethers Your Infernal Pillar absorbed an abundance of heaven’s energy as well, turning it and cannibalizing the energy of the tribulation to boost your Infernal affinity to 99%. Your soul tethers of Athela, Azmoth, Fay, Genua, Iris, Fish, Lizard, and Brute have all gained potency for their own powers and significant resistance to heavenly powers - and they have been given slight changes to their appearances. Narg has undergone significant changes and has fully evolved into an Abyssal Eye Beholder.

Malignant Prophecy is now destroyed. Any hope of regaining Malignant Prophecy can only be done in the C-grade step of soul development, and even if you manage to regain it - the bloodline will be permanently damaged.]

[All of your party has reached E-grade. You have obtained the current #1 ranking spot for this round of the Abyssal Descent. Your party has exited the Abyssal Descent and each member has obtained a permanent boon of a +20% amplifier to all stats. You have also unlocked a branching pillar off the Sub-Pillar of Blood: The Supreme Path of Gold and Silver Stairways (Taboo). Alongside the Path of Red and Black: you now have two of the five branching paths of the Blood Sub-Pillar.]

[Jackal has been severely damaged. Messenger has been severely damaged. Your pet General Caltan has summoned an additional 7 bloodstricken undead, and has gained authority over them. Your party in the Abyssal Descent has been disbanded. Kara and Iris have successfully been transported in Fay’s pocket realm dungeon back to Panu and into Chalgathi’s trials. Retesh and Lillith have been returned to Umbra. Congratulations on your successful descent through the abyss, it is a challenge not many complete - and even fewer complete so well.]

[Riven’s Quest #2 of The Altars of Despair and Hope:

The Abyssal Descent, a monumental event that only happens every 300 years involving the best of the younger generations bound to the Unholy pillar, has been successfully completed in 1st place. This results in 3000 points for your Apocalypse Beasts event.

There are 21 registered Cultists.

There are 9 registered Non-Cultists entering this event.

Total Event Points Already Accumulated: 3216. 10,000 event points are needed to leave. You are now in 18th place overall. Netithi Bluskish, Level 205 Naga, Apex Rank, Champion of the Kraken, and a Chubin Cultist, is in 1st place at 8762 event points. No participants have managed to leave The Altars of Despair and Hope. Yet.]

***

Gragle was a drunken mess, and for good reason. The situation here in this strange land of mix-and-matched pieces of the multiverse that’d been brought together for an apocalypse beast event of all things was just getting out of hand. The battles between cultists and non-cultists were now involving not just his home base of Outpost #84 that’d been scraped off his old world by the hands of the system, but it involved dozens of other cities just like his own - locations of interest used for system quests - cities that were forced to pick a side. Regardless of which they chose, it always ended in one disaster or another. In this place, a dead participant was only temporary - the blasted cultists and their counterparts just kept respawning to attack again.

Gragle and his people on the other hand… Well they couldn’t respawn. And given Riven’s intervention on their behalf, Outpost #84 had been designated firmly in the ‘Non-Cultist’ territory - which had put a large target on their backs with Riven gone. They’d lost hundreds of people to hit and run attacks despite bunkering up, constantly being terrorized in the night by the cultist side or the cronies of other factions that’d been subdued by the cultists, and that’d continued until Nora Lang had showed up again.

He’d only briefly met the small asian woman a handful of times before she and the others had left on that months-long trip into the Abyss. But he’d not even recognized her in the beginning… He’d thought she’d been another monster sent by the system or worse. Only that she recognized him… and despite having apparently lost her mind to madness and the screaming voices in her head - she’d protected him.

And she’d made life a living hell for the cultists.

Ever since her return, she’d gone on a campaign of bloodshed and butchery - actively seeking out all cultists with a gleeful vengeance as her legion of shadows with crooked smiles violently ended many of the cultists many times over. She’d become known as public threat number 1 to the enemy, and to those cities and states that’d come here and had been subjugated by the cultists - well many of them simply didn’t exist anymore. Down to the last woman and child, Nora had butchered them all while laughing merrily to the insane tune in her head. She’d told Gragle about it once upon a return trip to rest, though she barely ever did rest and more likely came to gloat about her violent victories. Each victory she achieved slightly decreased the enemy side’s accumulated points to, though she was becoming increasingly frustrated lately due to her inability to pinpoint the naga at the top of the food chain. She’d since joined the APEX ranks on her own planet and had fought the naga multiple times when trying to intervene in his system quests, but every time either ended in a draw or in the naga’s escape. Netithi Bluskish, one of Greed’s new pawns, was anything but incompetent and had almost even killed her twice. His latest retaliation attempt had been to somehow drop an ice drake on the home Nora was sleeping in, which happened to be in Gragle’s home of Outpost #84, and the resulting bloodbath while fighting had ended in the deaths of two dozen citizens.

What was even worse, was that he’d been the pinpoint of people’s ire for it. Who would dare yell and scream at Nora, the madwoman wielding immense power on a quest to help suppress the other contestants for whenever Riven got back?

No. They didn’t yell and scream at her, they were too scared. Instead, they yelled and screamed at Riven’s other acquaintances - namely Gragle.

Gragle sighed deeply, staring into the amber liquid of his mug while using a stubby finger to rotate and swirl the liquid in gentle waves. His eyes were heavy and his breathing labored from the intense alcohol use, but he was tempted to keep going even despite being in a heavy state of inebriation.

“When do you think this shit show is finally going to be over?” The barkeep asked for the fifth time this month, smoothing over a glass with a rag, and glaring in Gragle’s direction. “Warden Zuk says that-”

“I don’t care what Warden Zuk says!” Gragle huffed, spitting off to the side and nearly falling over with the effort of it due to all the alcohol he’d drank. “I’ve told you a billion times now, Mark! I don’t know when the event will end! You people keep coming to me to ask when all I’ve ever done is help just a handful of the non-cultists with enchantments and gear upgrades! I don’t have the answers so stop asking me!”

The skinny human bartender scowled deeply at the shorter gnome, and put down the glass he’d been polishing to give Gragle a mouthful - when he suddenly went rigid and paled. Everyone else in the room did the same, and the talking so abruptly died to a hushed whisper it got even the drunken Gragle to turn around for a look.

There, standing in the remnants of what had once been immaculate gluttonous armor, with a staff that had a split down the middle and crackled with spontaneous uncontrolled energy secondary to damage - was a familiar man.

“Hello Gragle.” Riven said, limping forward and sitting down on a stool next to the drunk elf. Riven signaled the barkeeper to get him a menu, and slowly lowered his bald, charred head to the wooden countertop. “I’d say it’s nice to be back… but it appears that I still have a lot of work to do. First thing about that would be to get a fresh repair on my gear. So… If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to talk business.”