Limitless The Strongest Revenant-Chapter 797: As much bullshit [2/2]
Hmm. So, Faust was an enduring work that originated from Europe. It had a lesson and looked like a work of fiction due to the supernatural elements. If Pwyll and the Mabinogi could be based on Reapers who was to say that wasn’t the same for this bastard.
’Exa, was Christopher Marlowe the original creator? By that I mean did he had a source material?’
[The details of the original "Faust" are quite conflicting. Some scholars claim that it was based on Johann Georg Faust. He was a German itinerant alchemist, astrologer, and magician of the German Renaissance who lived during 1480–1540.
[The second was Faust was based on Pan Twardowski a character from Polish folklore and literature who made a deal with Mephistopheles. Twardowski’s story bares many similarities to Faust with the main difference that he escapes the devil by his own wit.]
’Ugh, I fucking hate trying to learn all this crap.’
After my lighting fast discussion with Exa, I scoffed at Carlos’ statement, "You aren’t going to tell me Faust is a Linker, are you?"
"Yep. Faust or rather Twardowski is a Command Linker. "Doctor Faustus" was a story he wrote to try and obfuscate who Mephistopheles was connected to. He even based it on a real person to make it appear real to erase his presence and strengthen his Astral."
’Exa…’
[Twardowski in some versions of the story, is said to have fled to the moon or turned into a star. In others, he is depicted as being transformed into a creature that continues to evade the devil’s grasp.]
"Why did he even go through all that? And how would you know?" I asked in confusion.
"That’s because he told me, Pan Twardowski is still alive. His Astral Mephistopheles was a demonic Reaper from a different era. Astrals are quite complex. The more people know of them the more their identity is anchored on this reality."
"What does that mean exactly?"
"You know how Specters forget the dead and all that? Astrals who are dead Reapers who refuse to die are bound by that rule. Basically, should they be forgotten completely, they lose their qualifications to become an Astral."
Even in Fate series, Heroic spirits had a minimum prestige requirement to be included in the pool. But it seemed that in reality that prestige requirement mattered more than most would assume.
"So Twardowski used Faust to empower his Astral but remove the target on his back?"
"Yeah, as mentioned Astrals are powerful reapers who died. Trinity or Hellsgate demons recognized the soul signatures of Astrals. I don’t know if it was because of the Archdemons but Europe is the only one who suffers from Poroniecs," Carlos explained a bit downhearted.
’Exa?’
My AI then showed an image of what looked like a deformed fetus in my vision. Beside it was the same fetus transforming to a humanoid monster that looked like a goofy looking teenager.
[Poroniecs are Rank C Demonkin known as Demonkin bloodhounds. They are infamous as they are among the few monsters of Hellsgate that hunt Reapers on Earth. The European Battlefront loses hundreds of Reapers to them every year.]
The knowledge that Trinity or rather the Archdemons were actively hunting Reapers made me shiver. Taking a moment to understand the situation I tried to check if my understanding was correct.
"Then you mean Archdemons upon sensing the Astrals, hunt the Linkers both in Hellsgate and on Earth. All in order to prevent them from growing?"
"Yes, that exactly is the case. Why try to attack the enemy when are at their strongest? The demonkin bastards know this well. So, they use Poroniecs to assassinate Linkers when they are at their weakest or when their guard is at its lowest."
"No fucking way!"
"Twardowski knew that Trinity would try to find him because they detected his Astral. So he left Poland, moved to Germany and created the story about Faust, using an Englishman. It took time but eventually the demonkin began hunting for Faust rather than Twardowski."
"That has to be the craziest thing I heard or the most impressive," I praised wide eyed.
"Welcome to the world of Reapers!" Herman joked while raising his cup.
Taking a moment to digest the information, I concluded after a couple of sips of my drink.
"This crap is enough to give someone the look. But the most important part here is if Twardowski is still active on the Reaper lines? He should be at least a Specter by now."
"He is, Twardowski is one of the Specters on active combat duty in Europe. He no longer fights in Hellsgate himself but protects Europe from Trinity."
"Doesn’t that sound like he just ran a way? He should join the assault teams!"
"He did, in the beginning at least. Linkers are like the sweetest fruit to the demonkin of Hellsgate. Any mission you take with a powerful Linker would get you more enemies that you normally would. Afraid he would cause his allies to die needlessly, he stayed in the sun instead."
I had a ton of complaints to this Twardowski, but I knew better than to waste time talking about losers. If the demonkin hunted him to such an extent, his Astral must have been the real deal. But sadly, even with such a powerful card, Twardowski just hid like a coward.
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"Hmph, let’s cut this topic short. While I applaud of his ingenuity, his maturity in trying to make a difference is too lacking. He may dress it in as much bullshit as he wanted but in truth, he ran with his tail between his legs due to fear."
"For once I agree with you," Herman said as he clinked my mug with his.
"Fair enough, you have a Formless Linker too?"
"I think so, my girl’s Astral is named Vela. But I don’t know much about her. What do you do when there is hardly anything known about your Astral? You mentioned Twardowski made Faust initially to help his Astral right?"
"Yes, normally the more powerful the Astral the more recognition it gets. The more immortalized the Astral is the more power he can bring with him into this world. Major gods like Odin are so famous they are basically all powerful.
"Both IRIS and Trinity are aware of this fact, this they both try to stamp out or promote certain personalities to humans all to strengthen or weaken the Astral. This Vela either has little to no tales to her name, or it might have been hidden by Trinity in some way. If it’s the latter, she would be severely weakened as a result," Carlos said as he rubbed his beard.
The Conquistador grabbed my shoulder and began to slurp his speech as he added. "That is partly why most of the Astrals try to promote themselves as deities. All to ensure that they can continue staying on this reality. Failing to do so would ensure that they would suffer the same fate as many Ethnic deities lost to time." Your journey continues with novelbuddy
"I will keep it in mind. Thank you both. From what I learned of Astrals, having a Linker would ensure their survival. I will ensure I spread the name of Vela in some way to help her."
"You must really like this Astral, my lord. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even bother trying to promote a nameless deity to ensure she remains an Astral."
"Well, she is special to me. One I consider part of my Harem."
"Crazy cocksucker wants to nail even Astrals! Go figure!"
"I see, that is nice. Do you have any further questions about Linkers, Astrals or his majesty the Virtuous?"
"I do have one last more. How does a Linker strengthen her Astral aside from making their name known?"
"That would be to immerse the Linker in the life and tales of the Astral. Normally Astrals are drawn to Linkers who lead lives similar to them. Thus, once the Linker syncs memories and emotions with their Astrals, they become incredibly powerful."
"I see, thank you for telling me. We only have Enhancers and Rulers remaining. Let’s try to end before the Siren’s finish annihilating the Observers shall we," I suggested.
"I understand, my lord. Enhancers are basically…"
As the night continued on Carlos resumed his lecture. Eagerly, I listened as I would soon need all the information he could provide. Day by day the people who depended on me increased, and I couldn’t allow myself to be like "Faust" and run away.
If he was perfectly fine leaving his lover insane and in jail. I was not. I would much rather die than to allow my girls to suffer such a fate.
