"Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker, Planeswalker and Trojan Horse of Destiny at your service." Winston flashed a wide grin as 'He' got up from his bow. Tipping 'His' hat slightly, 'He' looked at Phantaminum that stood in the sky with his eyes opened wide.
Winston had done it. 'He' had stepped into the full domain of godhood and become a complete mythical creature, composed of illusory tentacles made up of enigmatic glyphics and patterns that contained the symbolism related to his pathway. Tentacles began to emerge from the void and coalesced into a cane. 'His' arm extended forward and from 'His' sleeve, a tentacle with a silver hue came out to grab the cane.
Slamming the butt of the cane onto the ground, Winston's expression became increasingly serene.
Phantaminum looked on at his enemy, his powers working to rid his mind of all external influences. In his blunder, he had failed to notice his own intelligence that had been lowered, prompting another quick revival on Winston's part.
Can he revive infinitely? No, that can't be possible... No one can revive without limitations. It goes beyond all forms of logic and reason. But what is his limit? If I keep killing him, I can't be sure that I won't be the one to be defeated before he reaches his own limit.
For the first time since he had entered the tower, the axis Phantaminum began to doubt his own strength. He had always been at the top of the totem pole and so, up until now, he had no qualms about making an enemy out of Winston. As troublesome as Winston was, he could do Phantaminum no harm.
But now, seeing him get even stronger and leagues above what he had been like previously, Phantaminum suddenly didn't feel so sure anymore.
Not minding the storm of thoughts that was churning inside Phantaminum's head, Winston smiled softly at him and raised his cane into the air.
"From the moment you decided to make an enemy out of me, your fate had already been set in stone, Phantaminum. You don't know it yet. But you've already lost." 'He' grinned. 'He' could now enter sefirah castle with his physical body. While seated amid the gray fog on his lofty stone throne, 'He' could use the castle's protection and keep sending down marionettes and avatars. 'His' marionettes and avatars were inherently distinct from those of either Mr. Fool or Mr. Error. While their avatars were capped out at a certain level of strength or the marionettes could only venture so far, 'His' extensions held both of those characteristics.
Each avatar was just as strong as the main body. And since they functioned both like avatars and marionettes, they were all connected in a hive mind, rendering the possibility of the betrayal of avatars nil.
With the ability of the door pathway, 'He' could also seal off the majority of Phantaminum's authorities as an axis; leaving him weakened. Not to mention the uniquenesses that rested above the gray fog could also now be utilized in the real world.
In a way, neither could truly harm the other at this point. But Winston sure could inflict suffering that would annoy Phantaminum to the ends of the tower. And once Winston digested the Miracle Invoker potion, 'He' would instantly start with the sequence 1 ritual.
Looking at Phantaminum, Winston suddenly felt 'His' spirituality swell and a sense of profound foreboding began to arise in 'His' mind. The axis was still standing listlessly in the sky, cleansing his mind with powers.
Just then, before Winston could react, Phantaminum flashed a small smile and his body suddenly sank into the void.
Winston's pupils shrank into needles and the hair at the back of His neck stood erect and he felt like needles were stabbing at him. Swiping his hand, he instantly felt himself ascend, leaving behind a single avatar and turned to the historical void.
Winston who had arrived above the lofty gray fog that hung close to His feet, looked towards the castle that looked like it was built for giants. Without waiting, He strode over to the head of the table and took the uniqueness of the 'Fool' into His hands, placing it atop his face.
He felt the power of the uniqueness surge into His body and soul and the gray fog around Him began to grow restless.
After doing all of that, he took the seat at the head of the long mottled table and looked through the fogs of history and right towards the avatar.
There, with the various images of the past flashing rapidly past the avatar, He began to make out a faint shadow, clad in a strange darkness that was hiding it's tracks.
The shadow appeared above the image of a figure who was walking through the fog. He had deep black hair and was tall with a chiseled face and body. It was none other than Winston himself!
he avatar's eyes widened in alarm as he felt his own life hanging by a thread.
Now, Winston understood another crucial part of Phantaminum's power as an axis.
Being the 'keeper' of the story, he could manipulate history to form certain events and 'rewrite' historical records that could be described as irreversible and immutable. As such, it perfectly described why Winston Himself was finding it so easy to alter definitive historical records.
The past Winston stumbled in the void and the avatar too felt his head swell up and felt that his spirit was going to explode. Winston remembered everything clearly.
It was back when he was still sequence 7. He had gotten such a dream!
At that instant, the avatar extended his hand and 'stole' the corruption Phantaminum had given to his Sequence 7 version. As if on que, Winston's main body that was seated atop his throne in the castle extended the cane made out of black ebony wood.
The cane split apart into various tentacles and formed a bulbous mass that was thrown out of the castle and into history! The power of the sefirah castle surged outwards, enveloping the mass and making it go uncontrollably towards Phantaminum!
Tha axis that had now turned towards the avatar clicked his tongue. The mass of tentacles instantly slammed into him, binding his hands and feet.
Phantaminum's eyes widened. The past version of Winston had long since disappeared and hundreds of thousands of 'Winstons' appeared all around him! They all extended their hands at him; and 'stole' a part of his authority!
The axis who had lost his influence over history no longer held the right to be present in the past. And so, under the pressure of shinsu and the order of the tower itself, Phantaminum was instantly pushed out of the fogs of history and into the present age!
Winston who was seated atop his throne smiled.
With a wave of his hand, hundreds of 'himself' were simultaneously dispatched all throughout the tower. All of them had a single goal in mind.
Grant wishes and digest their potions.
...
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...
97th floor, Po Bidau Mothership - Ark of Knowledge.
Po Bidau Tiara strode through the battleship of the Po Bidau family. Her beautiful face had a troubled look on it as she walked into the library.
One of the head librarians of the mothership glanced at her momentarily before losing interest and getting back to reading. Tiara didn't linger around too long and began to browse through the multitude of books at their disposal.
She held her chin in thought and her eyes narrowed.
Slowly, she pulled out a leather covered book with a dirty brown colour. On it, the words 'The legend of Jahad' was printed. Instantly, a small scowl appeared on her face and she placed the book right where she'd pulled it from.
After doing all of that, she heaved a long sigh.
It had been a long year since the hell train battle.
She had arrived all too late on the occasion. What she found was the remnants of a great battle, but an otherwise unharmed train.
She had run into Winston's friends while she was there and had invited them over to the Ark. They deserved that much at least. They were Winston's friends after all.
But there was one thing that really got on her nerves. It gave rise to anxiousness and perhaps a bit of worry.
Winston hadn't been found.
One of his friends, namely Zarhan Zulasekail was also missing.
They had been gone for a whole year and so far, no trace of them had been found.
When faced with such a situation, Tiara found herself strangely feeling a sense of crisis.
It was a new emotion for her. Most of the time, she was as calm as the surface of a lake. But ever since Winston gave her 'humanity' as he called it, she had been developing emotions slowly but surely.
When faced with Winston's sudden disappearance, she coped with it by immersing herself in books. When Winston disappeared, there was no way to simply find him. Although she had managed to locate him upon their first meeting, that was merely a coincidence.
Winston had various anti divination and anti tracking powers and was always shrouded in a layer of mystery.
And so, she had to make do by simply waiting. Not that she hadn't tried to find him.
Above all, there was also the romantic aspect of it all. Winston had been pretty forward all things considered.
She, for one, had pursued him aggressively since she was supposed to marry him anyway. Winston had responded in kind and somehow, she found herself at a loss on his disappearance.
Sigh!
She sighed again.
Now, she was even capable of getting bored. Something that she had never even imagined herself being.
Only now did she realize that she had read almost all of the books in the Ark of Knowledge multiple times before. There was nothing new here.
"I'll just grab some spell theory. 'The incomplete side of the world' can also get a look today I guess." She muttered softly to herself.
Just as she turned around a bookshelf, she found herself face to face with a man.
The man was dressed in the normal Po Bidau family clothing and wore golden spectacles on his face. By his white vest, a golden chain was hanging and extended to his inner pocket, no doubt connecting to a pocket watch.
He had soft flowing brown hair and amber eyes with a gentle disposition. The scholary air that belonged to their family was present in waves.
The man looked at her and smiled.
"Hello miss." He said.
Normally, Tiara would openly ignore such people. She had plenty of admirers in the ship. She was the princess of the family after all.
She did not know most people in the family by name and there were quite a few she had never even seen. It was perfectly reasonable to not remember this person as well.
But somehow, she stopped.
She felt a strange sensation when looking at this person's face.
"Who are you?" She asked. Only after speaking did she realize that her voice came out quite cold.
"Oh my." The man chortled and replied, "Myself Hermes. So? Are you looking for something new to read?"
Tiara's eyes reflexively narrowed.
Hermes? She repeated his name in her mind and pressed on.
"I am. What? Don't tell me you have some never before seen book do you?" Again, Tiara was quite surprised to find herself being so... barbaric in her approach. She was almost always very eloquent and gentle with her words. There's weren't many exceptions either.
Hermes laughed softly, before reaching into the bookshelf beside him and pulling out a book. It was one Tiara was very familiar with.
'History of the Primal Fire,' The cover read.
"Perhaps if you made a wish, you'd find something."
"Make a wish?"
"A wish yes."
"What would a wish do?"
"You wouldn't know unless to wish would you?"
For some reason, the young man's smile pissed Tiara off a bit.
It was like he was in on some sort of stupid inside joke and he was leading her around.
But at the same time, she was very intrigued and spoke without any reservations.
"I wish for a new book to read."
The man's smile seemed to widen just a bit and he snapped his fingers.
Pa!
A crisp sound rang out.
"Your wish is granted."
Bam!
Something fell behind her.
Tiara looked back to see that a book that fallen from a bookshelf. She turned around again, finding that the man named Hermes was gone.
Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she strode back over to the book.
Flipping it over, the title came into view.
'For a Certain Bookworm - Anna Karenina,' the cover read. At the bottom, the author's name was written in bold golden lettering.
"Winstoooon!" Tiara let out a belligerent scream.
...
...
A/N: Since the goal for 500 stones was met, I'm uploading this here.
I've been sick for some days and so, I haven't been able to write at all. I'm barely able to eat and so, writing it a fruitless endeavour. That said, I had about 1600 words already written so this wasn't very hard.
I hope I can return to normal updates both on this and Dawn Eater by Monday. If not, we'll just have to see I guess.
Anyways, cheers.