[Achlys Keresa]:
That is how Achlys wound up in this situation, standing between a twisted face Joshua Allen and a burning building, behind which, a tree hid both a wounded Korey and an unconscious Little Bella, her scythe, Reaper, in hand.
"What's this? A daughter of Thanatos?" Joshua sniffed the air like a dog, his hand firmly on his Falchion sword, Crimson Vengeance. "You're a Demigod ranker, too, just slightly higher than me, I can sense it. Maybe, if I kill you, eat your corpse and devour your soul, I'll break through to mid-level?"
"Oh my gods…you're insane," Achlys grinned, hands raised to cover her mouth as she giggled, before turning serious. "Good thing father told me to come here. Otherwise, unchecked, you'd be a threat. The aura of Death is strong around you. Who did you kill and how many?"
"I've had time to practice. Sooo much time. You'd be surprised what wonders bathing in a pool of blood in an alternate reality can bequeath," Joshua singsonged with a shrug, confusing Achlys, who tilted her head imploringly. "Are we going to talk, or are we going to fight? Oh, I can't wait to taste demigod bones!"
Then, almost without further adieu, Joshua dashed forward, almost blindingly at Achlys, the clash of their blades — his falchion blade and her long scythe — rung out into the night.
[Joshua Allen]:
Joshua swung his falchion, his 30+ years of experience in his pocket dimension guiding his actions; despite his outwardly appearance, he was technically over 40+ years old, but, considering the other 30+ years came from his time inside that dimension, his physical body has pretty much stayed its same, adolescent self. Sadly, despite his experience, his opponent wasn't ordinary. For every blow he threw at the Daughter of Death, he blocked and parried two more. This girl gave as good as she gets!
She danced like a fluid ballerina, a proper Dancer of Death herself. She threw jabs and slices and pushed and blocked. She moved with agility, fluidity and grace of a deathcat, but in human form. Joshua would never say she was his superior, but, at the very least, he can say she was comparable to his own capabilities — Something he wouldn't give just anyone, and, if anybody ever brought it up… Well, he'll kill them, so there's no need to worry about that.
Meanwhile, Joshua was having the time of his life. He swung his falchion like a madman dancer, his moves rough yet refined, angled yet ruthless, practiced but strong. He was a proper killer and was as dead a foe as his opponent.
Using her scythe to push back a blocking Joshua, Achlys was no slouch. And, as if seeing this, Joshua leaped back, putting his hand to his mouth in a specific formation, he exclaimed "Chaotic Flame Breath!" then, as he blew into his hand, red hot flames scorched towards Achlys like a pillar.
"Thanatos's Blessing: Impregnable Wings of Death's Darkness!" screamed Achlys, as the feathers of her wings visibly hardened and folded, covering her form like a protective cocoon, protecting her from Joshua's scorching flames.
When the assaulting sea of red fire stopped, Achlys got out of her cocoon, but, when she did, she noticed too late that Joshua was waiting on her. She sensed the invisible approaching of her father's presence, as instantly, she was grabbed by her neck, her scythe kicked from her reach.
"Aha haha! You are good, I'll admit," Joshua clenched his fist harder around Achlys's throat, even as she struggled to fight back and breathe. "Evidently, however, not good enough. You can't fight me, girl!"
"I-I'm not trying to," Achlys struggled out, before reaching her hand out to Joshua's heart and, with all the will she could muster, yelled "Soul Extraction! Soul Banish—-!"
But, before she could finish, Joshua tossed her backwards, into the wall of the burning house. "Bitch! You think you can kill someone who's father predates Death itself?! Fuck you! Now DIE!!"
Gasping, Achlys could only watch, grabbing her own neck as Joshua rushed her way, falchion in-hand, ready to end her. Joshua could smell the horror coming off her — the terror of death coming from it's daughter felt poetic to Joshua. It smelled delicious! He couldn't wait to swallow it down with salt.
However, before he could even reach her, one of the kids he'd been trying to kill earlier was on him, a new tattoo that wasn't on them before, now glowing on his forearm —- A golden caduceus, bright and golden, matching the boy's golden glowing eyes. And despite half a pipe being stuck in his gut, Korey was on a role. He punched Joshua at superspeed, sending him flying twice in mere seconds!
[Korey, a few moments earlier]:
As Korey laid wounded, possibly dying, he angled himself so that he could watch his savior's fight. He noticed how elegant and graceful the girl fought; he was enamored, to say the least. However, when it looked like she was about to lose, he began feeling hopeless. Not only was she about to die trying to save him, but, ironically, he'd die after his savior, which considering she had literally just pulled him from a burning building, felt counterproductive and redundant.
Just as all hope seemed lost, time seemed to slow down. The trees, previously flowing in the warm breeze, stopped entirely. The raging fire that was burning the only home Korey's ever truly known, halted as if someone had a universal remote and pressed the pause button. Even the fight with his savior and would-be killer, completely slowed to zero kinetic motion. And with this, Korey heard a voice: "It's much sooner than I thought, my son, but it looks like I have no choice."
Thinking he's hearing voices, Korey looked around but only saw a losing Achlys, a gloating Joshua and an unconscious Little Bella — All paused in time by some…something. "Hello? Is there anyone there?"
"Young one, it is I, Hermes, your father," said the voice. "I've come to help."
"My…father?" Korey said, shock evident, even in his voice. "...Help me?"
"Yes, and, while I've been following your mischievous exploits, I am quite impressed at your endeavors for such a youngster a trickster like yourself," said the voice. "I cannot do anything to heal you— That would be against the rules; I can, however, unlock your power. All you have to do is accept it."
Realising what was at stake, Korey shook his head, clearing himself from his shock at finally learning who his father was. Nodding his head, he figured he could ask questions later. Right now, Blake's friend needed him. Then, steeling his resolve, he muster all his courage and spoke. "I… I accept."
"Alright, hang onto something, because this is about to hurt," stated the voice, declaring himself as Hermes.
"Wait, wha—," Korey began, but was cut off.
No sooner had he began to speak then Korey felt a sharp pain at his forearm, one that seemed to travel throughout his entire being, though it was deeply concentrated mostly to his arm. The pain was so great, Korey couldn't even scream. As he squirmed on the ground, it felt like needles were piercing his arm, that the pain would never end.
By the time it did, Korey wiped the sweat away. He instinctively knew what was on his forearm — A tattoo of his father's symbol and crest: The Caduceus. He also instinctively knew he was no longer just a regular mortal; he was fast — Realy fast. And kinda strong, too.
And, as if to prove his point, time slowed somehow even more and Korey suddenly appeared behind Joshua, punching him in the face, sending him flying. He followed up by throwing a punch after punch before Joshua was able to react.
Sometime in between the punches, time returned to its normal pace, but, to Korey's perception, it was still quite slow.
"Aah!" Joshua scream, enraged and pissed as at Korey, as a wave of crimson fire came from within him, just as Korey tripped over a loose pipe, narrowly avoiding the heat of the fire, but he still had to deal with the force of it, sending him into the ground even further than the fall did.
"NO!!"
Getting up, Korey found himself standing before a grinning Joshua Allen, with a falchion blade through his gut. The horrified scream of Achlys loud in his ears.
[Achlys Keresa]:
"NO!!" Achlys screamed, her will suddenly strong enough to overcome the force that was keeping her down as she rushed forward, willing her scythe to fly into her hand.
Joshua took stand with his own blade, ready for the rematch, his removal of his own blade causing Korey to fall backward, still quite in shock. He deflected his blade to Achlys' scythe, and thrusted a hand forward, willing a telekinesis wave to send Achlys flying back into the flaming wall.
"Like I said before, I will kill you and devour your bones!" screamed Joshua Allen, stepping forward, getting closer and closer to Achlys, as his hand-controlled telekinesis kept her pinned — she couldn't move, let alone get out of her hold. "And, just so you know, when I'm finished with you, I'll go after them," he gestured to a dying Korey and then to the place he sensed the little girl's presence. "And, when I'm done with them, I'll go after those cousins of yours. I always get what I wan—."
"Oh, silence, child," a sudden voice spoke, startling all that were present.
Turning, both Joshua and Achlys saw a floating mass of blood descending unto the ground before them, turning into…
"Faction Head Athan!" screamed Achlys in relief, tears already forming her eyes.
Hair as crimson as his eyes, skin as pale as snow and the aura of a Peak Chaotic stage ranker, Faction Head Athan Eubeleus was dressed in a typical black and red, expensive suit, with black dress shoes, black socks and a red dress shirt. He had a pair of silver, embroidered wrists cuffs on each hand and had a long black and just as expensive looking overcoat with red inner coating and a cloth-leather material.
Joshua only raised a brow. Taking in the appearance and aura of the new late arrival.
"Sorry I'm late to the party," said the instructor. "Now, who needs killing?"
[Joshua Allen]:
Every instinct in Joshua's being was telling him to make a break for it, that this man was dangerous and would expeditiously and most definitely kill him. However, before he could, Athan was already before him.
"You've injured someone in my care," the man named Athan noted dully, as he casually punched Joshua so hard in his stomach, blood and spit came out his mouth. "You will not be getting a second opportunity to kill someone in my care again. Your madness ends right here, right now, before it can fester any further."
Suddenly, Athan kicked Joshua into a thick oak tree, leaving a deep dent in the trunk. Yet somehow, Joshua knew — with a grim certainty — that if his opponent had used even a fraction more strength, the tree, and perhaps the many behind it, would've splintered to nothing on impact.
Getting up, Joshua spat out blood from his mouth, his eyes alit with a crimson flame. He was pissed. He was just supposed to attack a simple, mortal foster home — one that his mother's murderer had live in; he was not prepared to deal with other more fully realized cultivators seeking to stop him.
Deep down, he knew Athan was holding back. In his head, he was thinking of ways to exploit this weakness — He considered Athan underestimating him, but, in the end, he realized it was that at all. The Faction Head was simply toying with him, he realized in horror. To him, Joshua was but a mere toy, and, as he was getting bodied in a controlled manner, his rage just grew and grew. He wanted to kill this man. He wanted to summon the CHaotic Flames to burn and eviscerate his corpse.
'Retreat,' whispered a voice he was quite familiar with.
'Fall back,' they were an echo of a voice.
'You won't win this,' said the same voice.
The sudden voices gave him pause. Immediately, he sensed their accuracy. He knew he wasn't on par with his enemy quite yet. The wise option would be to cut his losses and pull away.
Sti;;, though, he wasn't in a situation where he could afford to lose. The voices in his head were whispering to him, telling him to retreat, that he could not beat this being before him. Logically, Joshua Allen was not gone enough to not see the impossibility of his situation, but he also knew he probably won't end up far he gets caught bu him. His options were to run away and get caught and killed immediately or to get beaten to death by someone stronger than he was.
He was trapped, his fate sealed.
'Don't worry,' said the voice of his master suddenly. 'Back up is already here.'
Just as Athan was approaching Joshua, something happened…
[Athan Eubeleus]:
The shadows of everything around, be they trees or houses or even just the clouds — They began converging at a singular point, like a spiderweb, before merging into a circle of shadows. Athan squinted his gaze, as the 10 meter pool of shadows caused a silence to stur. And, from this shadow pool, a humanoid, hooded figure arose.
"What's this?" Athan titled his head, seeming to think aloud. "This aura… There's no mistaking it. This is Cosmic rank aura. Who are you?"
The figure was slim, its form covered by a cloak of darkness — Literally. The cloak the figure dawned was so dark and seemed to be mixed with the very shadows themselves, it could have been mistaken for darkness itself. And, to Athan, it felt… familiar. The cloak of shadows the being's form completely and wholly. Even Athan couldn't get a good enough look to see through its facade.
"Who I am, does not concern you, for it does not matter," came a voice through the white neutral-face mask that seemed to distort the wearer's voice. The figure seemed to ooze shadow energy, as its shadow covered Joshua Allen and itself. "Your days are numbered, Athan Eubelues, son of Zagreus, as is his. Your new apprentice will fall, just as you will, mark my words. Until then, farewell."
Then, in a burstful wave of shadow energy, the two of them — the mysterious stranger and Joshua Allen, vanished, leaving behind a squinting Athan, perplexed but guarded.
[Unknown POV]:
On a distant planet, in a whole other solar system, many hundreds of thousands of light years and galaxies from the Milky Way, there was a ruin of sorts. Inside this ruin, many cultivators patrolled the vicinity, even as, from within the deepest part of this ruins, a 10 meter pool of shadows spread, slowly erecting Joshua Allen and the masked figure.
"Who are you?" Joshua asked the figure immediately after the smokey shadows receded.
The masked figure just tilted its head, before answering. "I am an agent of you father."
"My father…," Joshua stated, contemplating, before shaking his head, lost for a minute, "That can't be. My father is dead."
"Your other father," the masked figure started with a heavy sigh, as if slightly annoyed. "Part of you knows whom I speak of, but the current you don't seem to recall it. Nevertheless, I shall explain things to you. Your human father was merely an mortal avatar for a sliver of our lord's power, Lord Chaos. You are his son and heir, Young Lord. I exist for your security and service, as decreed by your Lord father."
Joshua's brow was raised. He did not know any of this. He definitely hadn't known his father was… Well, that. Or, apparently, the current him didn't? Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Joshua couldn't help but think of his human father. Withdrawn and neglectful, sure, but the host of a primordial deity? He couldn't see it. Never would've guessed it.
Joshua had been taught the many pantheons of gods and deities during the 30 years training he'd undergone in that place, in preparation for when he inevittably ascends to godhood. As a primordial spawn, that level of power is a guarantee for him. He was taught the politics of the cultivation world and the Primordial War against the forces of Chaos itself, and how they sealed the god — his father? — and his realm at the cost of many others.
He was told that he has a high affinity with the element of Chaos, amongst a few other innate elemental affinities, and, because his training in the elements of Chaos, he'd be able to take on crazy powerful enemies and learn even more advanced elemental arts with a touch of his innate Chaos element.
He wasn't told his father — his real father — was the very same entity he was already learning about — the nigh-omnipotent being, nigh-all powerful, Chaotic-born entity/deity, whose real body is sealed in a land far, far away, give or take a few countless universes away… Until now, that is.
Then again, according to this same lady, he was told this; he just wasn't the 'Joshua' who heard it. Apparently, there existed two souls in his body, both were his, but, at the same time, they were very different. It was apparently similar to having an alter-ego. For all his life, his other side remained dormant, only recently stirring after Joshua's home caught fire and his mother was murdered by Blake—- It was in response to the negative emotions that his mother's murder wrought that his other side was awakened.
"My father… is Chaos incarnate?"
"Technically, he's Chaos itself, not to be confused with being a god of chaos or, of course, the Mother Khaos herself whose name starts with 'K', not 'C," stated the masked figure, confusing Joshua even more. "But yes, your father is Chaos itself. After all, who's will could be strong enough to create a very real and lively psychic plane personal dimension in that head of yours but Chaos himself? It was by his will that you've breached the limitations of mortal cultivation that would take 100s of years in just a few days. Even your mother's killer took months just to reach this level of power. You are blessed by his will truly, child of Chaos.
"That said, that dimension has 1 flaw. While technically, it is real, it is also completely artificial. The mechanics behind it, I've noticed, is that you don't physically enter this dimension of yours — You astral project into it for the most part, at least, from what I've observed. Your brain and mana reserves aren't necessarily used to the sudden burst of power, even despite you forming a core beforehand.
"Hence is why we're here."
Joshua Allen looked round, curious. "I-is that 2 moons in the sky? Where are we and what are we doing here exactly?"
Up in the sky, there were two spheres, much closer than just the moon to the Earth.
"Dwarf planets that revolve around this Earth-like planet," the masked figure corrected. "We are here to undergo this planet's complete conquest and assimilation. While his grace has an incredible army in his own right as the son of Chaos, both mortal and divine, it doesn't hurt to expand what which dwells outside the Chaos Realm —- especially considering most of the Chaos Army are still sealed within its borders.
"The secondary purpose of this conquest is for you to gather combat experience. A man can have all the power in the world, but, should that power ever leave him, all he'll have is his experience in combat to save him. The beings of this planet are powerful cultivators, who use the same cultivation hierarchy as we do. They'll be your firsthold in this particular galaxy.
"Don't worry, about the guards you have here, in this ruins, for you have allies on Earth that also await joining our ranks should you call —- both inside our organization and in the cooperation of other organizations we have ties with — All under your banner currently are capable fighters. And we've already conquered the area. Next, with you and your father's guidance, we'll conquer this world and, eventually, this galaxy, too."
Joshua pondered this for some time. He knew that the road for revenge would be a long one, no matter how much he wants to hunt his mother's killer. After all, vengeance is a dish best served cold, and Blake, while initially weak, must've grown in power if the monstrosity who caused his other side to go quiet was truly his master.
No, it was best he plotted and prepared in any way he could. He needed an army and he needed power, because he knew Blakewould have both most likely next time they face one another. And he needed experience, too.
But something remained, a hesitance he couldn't help but feel. Turning to the masked figure, Joshua asked "Who are you? What is your name? How can I have you follow me if I don't know your name? Better yet, how can I trust you, if I can't see your face?"
The figure tilted its head. "You may call me Madame Chaos. I'm a member of the organization known as 'The Eye of Chaos'."
"I assume this organization wants to… spread chaos?" asked Joshua, to which Madam Chaos stayed silent, which was in and of itself an answer. "I mean, I really couldn't care less. So long as I get my vengeance of Blake Orpheus, I'll kill whoever I need to kill."
"Come now, let us meet the others," Madam Chaos said, a minute later, gesturing Joshua towards the outside. "There are lots of plans needing your approval, my Master."
"Then let us go and enact them, Madam," Joshua followed after the lady, unaware of what the future would hold, but ready to lay claim to it nonetheless.