Racing across Apokolips the Ray Sphere Pulse I released blanketed the entire planet in moments. Hearing the Parademons and soldiers on the other side plead for mercy, I felt them atomized by the hundreds as they were pulled back home. Retracting the field after a few minutes, the population's combined energy surged through me like a Supernova. Feeling more power course through me than ever before I could feel my powers increase along with new ones being awakened.
“What have you…done to…me…”, Darkseid wheezed as he used sheer willpower to force himself to stand.
“Simple, I stole all of the power you bestowed upon your Avatar.”, I remarked as the energy rush I was experiencing began to level off.
Wanting to wrap this up quickly, I used the threads that bound his Avatar to his main body to locate his dimension. Opening a portal once I located him, his Avatar broke down into dust as his consciousness withdrew to his main body. Stepping through the portal to face him, he immediately attempted to break through my mental defense to overwhelm me. Shrugging off his negligible psychic attack I stopped a few hundred yards away from him to speak.
“Cease your meaningless resistance, we both know that you are far from being my equal.”, I mocked him as I sealed the dimension off to prevent him from fleeing, “I give you two choices, go peacefully and accept whatever punishment the Presence gives or be completely eradicated from existence by me. Chose now before I decide for you.”
“I have tolerated your existence long enough, be gone!”, True Darkseid roared using the full power of the Omega Force on me.
“Eradication it is…”, I sighed as I turned into the Beast.
Absorbing the energy at a faster rate than he could output it, he began to shriek in pain as he struggled to sever the flow of energy. Walking calmly toward him True Darkseid attempted to vacate the dimension only to be forcibly restrained by my magic. Plunging my arms into his mass of energy all of his thoughts and memories began rushing into my mind.
Seeing the creation of this universe in its entirety, I was awestruck by the beauty I saw. Witnessing events I could only have ever dreamed of, the answer to one of my immediate problems came to me. Witnessing the reforging of a soul, courtesy of the Endless Destiny, Aultcray’s recovery was all but assured now.
“Your kind donation to me will not be forgotten.”, I said as his body began to dissipate into the ether.
Choosing to accept his fate in silence, True Darkseid and his soul vanished from existence. As he faded away his dimension began to collapse without him there to sustain it. Teleporting back to Earth the League and Ciri were waiting there with bated breath for me.
“Darkseid is no longer a threat to your universe.”, I told them with a nod, “You can safely begin rebuilding Earth without fear of his return.”
Before anyone could say or do anything else, Dinah stomped out of the group and got up in my face. Telling me never to pull a stunt like that again, she took it personally that I sent her away against her wishes. Pulling his wife back Oliver apologized for her behavior insisting that it was the hormones talking at the moment.
“Come on dear, let us go over here and take a second to relax. No need to upset a God Killer, right?”, Oliver said giving me an apologetic smile.
“It is alright, a few of my wives were the very same when they were pregnant.”, I admitted telepathically to him.
With our work here done for the day, I advised the League that we would return tomorrow to help begin the reconstruction process. Stating that Ciri and I had a prior engagement for this evening they bid us farewell as I teleported the two of us home.
—Home—
Jumping on my back as soon as we set foot in the living room, the children were happy to see me. Bombarding me with all the highlights of their day it was nearly impossible to determine who was saying what to me.
“It sounds like gibberish to me!”, I laughed pulling them all into a big, bear hug, “How about each of you tell me about your day one by one? I want to hear all about it without missing a thing.”
“Okay!”, they agreed as they began to go through their day with me.
Getting them seated at the table as they spoke, I helped my wives plate the meal and get everyone drinks. Finishing their tales as we all sat down to eat, Sapphire asked me how our day went today.
“It was pretty chaotic, first and foremost we discovered how the Wild Hunt has grown so powerful in such a short time. We also freed a planet from the tyrannical control of a God of Tyranny, helped save countless lives, and made several new friends.”, I informed her, “Oh, I also found a method for repairing Aultcray’s soul without the need of a donor.”
Dropping their silverware, several of the women asked me to repeat the last part. Telling them again that I had located a method to repairing Aultcray’s soul, Eliouse asked why I did not lead with that information first.
“Did you discover a new type of magic that was previously unknown to you?”, Esmeralda inquired with a curious gaze.
“I discovered the existence of a relic called the Book of Souls. This tome houses everything that was, is, and ever will be in a universe.”, I answered her, “A manifestation of every soul in a universe is stored in its Book of Souls. If we find the book for his universe, I can use it to repair his soul permanently without any drawbacks. This method was unknown to me before as only extremely powerful deities are able to use the book safely. Anyone else would be rendered unconscious just reading a page or two.”
“Cis, do you know anything about a Book of Souls?”, Fuyumi asked.
Taking a moment to think about it, the angel shook her head and apologized for not knowing anything about it.
“What about a God of Destiny, did you have one of those?”, I pressed her.
“Yes, we did!”, she acknowledged, “That said, we already checked every Divine Space on the planet already and did not see the tome. It must be among the mortals somewhere, but how would we find it in time?”
“By checking any location they would keep holy or forbidden texts.”, Sith stated, “In my kingdom, we kept dangerous books of that nature far from the public’s eye. The last thing we wanted was for a child to open a sealed Grimoire on accident and free a powerful Devil.”
Agreeing with Sith, I suggested we speak with Mirellia after dinner to discuss the subject with her.
—Melromarc Castle, A Short Time Later—
“This is wonderful news!!”, Mirellia said with relief as we told her my findings, “That said, I am unfamiliar with a tome that renders the reader unconscious after a page or two. We do have a forbidden section in our National Library and so does Faubrey, let us start our search there.”
Retrieving her royal seal from her nightstand, Mirellia told her two daughters to come with us to the library. Begrudgingly rising from her seats the two of them followed their mother out of the room toward the library. Following close behind them Mirellia led us to the northern corner of the castle where the library was housed.
“Olga, are you still in?”, Mirellia called out into the amphitheater-sized library, “I need your assistance accessing the forbidden section of the library.”
“Can this wait till tomorrow?”, the Librarian sighed already ready to leave for the day, “I will be here first thing in the morning like always.”
“This cannot wait, we are looking for a tome that renders someone unconscious after reading a few pages.”, Mirellia stated.
“Hehe, is that not any book when your daughter Malty is reading it.”, the librarian laughed with an amused smile.
“Please be serious with me, this tome may be my husband's only chance at surviving his affliction.
Sensing the urgency in her tone, the librarian put her bag down and retrieved her own keys from her desk. Walking to the back of the library together both women inserted their key into the magical lock which separated the forbidden section from everything else.
“Grimoires are the last two rows in this area, the book you are after would be in the first three rows.”, the librarian informed us as she took up a post outside the forbidden section.
Just one step into the area was all it took for me to sense the sinister magics that lay here. Grabbing my arm like a female character in a horror movie, Fuyumi and Tomoko held onto me for dear life. Using the energy signature I saw in Darkseid’s mind, I reached out into the space with my Divinity hoping to receive a response from a book here. Letting it slowly spread out through the space one of the books began to vibrate on the shelf violently.
“I will get it!”, Melty said seeing the book in question.
“No!”, I shouted pulling her back, “It could be a Cursed Book reacting to my Divinity. If it is, you may be driven mad the moment you touch it.”
Having my wives stay back while I grabbed the book, I felt an instant connection to it as my hand touched it. Pulling the worn book off the shelf, it began repairing itself as it drained a small amount of Divinity from me. Opening the book cautiously a vision from the past immediately greeted me.
Racing across Apokolips the Ray Sphere Pulse I released blanketed the entire planet in moments. Hearing the Parademons and soldiers on the other side plead for mercy, I felt them atomized by the hundreds as they were pulled back home. Retracting the field after a few minutes, the population's combined energy surged through me like a Supernova. Feeling more power course through me than ever before I could feel my powers increase along with new ones being awakened.
“What have you…done to…me…”, Darkseid wheezed as he used sheer willpower to force himself to stand.
“Simple, I stole all of the power you bestowed upon your Avatar.”, I remarked as the energy rush I was experiencing began to level off.
Wanting to wrap this up quickly, I used the threads that bound his Avatar to his main body to locate his dimension. Opening a portal once I located him, his Avatar broke down into dust as his consciousness withdrew to his main body. Stepping through the portal to face him, he immediately attempted to break through my mental defense to overwhelm me. Shrugging off his negligible psychic attack I stopped a few hundred yards away from him to speak.
“Cease your meaningless resistance, we both know that you are far from being my equal.”, I mocked him as I sealed the dimension off to prevent him from fleeing, “I give you two choices, go peacefully and accept whatever punishment the Presence gives or be completely eradicated from existence by me. Chose now before I decide for you.”
“I have tolerated your existence long enough, be gone!”, True Darkseid roared using the full power of the Omega Force on me.
“Eradication it is…”, I sighed as I turned into the Beast.
Absorbing the energy at a faster rate than he could output it, he began to shriek in pain as he struggled to sever the flow of energy. Walking calmly toward him True Darkseid attempted to vacate the dimension only to be forcibly restrained by my magic. Plunging my arms into his mass of energy all of his thoughts and memories began rushing into my mind.
Seeing the creation of this universe in its entirety, I was awestruck by the beauty I saw. Witnessing events I could only have ever dreamed of, the answer to one of my immediate problems came to me. Witnessing the reforging of a soul, courtesy of the Endless Destiny, Aultcray’s recovery was all but assured now.
“Your kind donation to me will not be forgotten.”, I said as his body began to dissipate into the ether.
Choosing to accept his fate in silence, True Darkseid and his soul vanished from existence. As he faded away his dimension began to collapse without him there to sustain it. Teleporting back to Earth the League and Ciri were waiting there with bated breath for me.
“Darkseid is no longer a threat to your universe.”, I told them with a nod, “You can safely begin rebuilding Earth without fear of his return.”
Before anyone could say or do anything else, Dinah stomped out of the group and got up in my face. Telling me never to pull a stunt like that again, she took it personally that I sent her away against her wishes. Pulling his wife back Oliver apologized for her behavior insisting that it was the hormones talking at the moment.
“Come on dear, let us go over here and take a second to relax. No need to upset a God Killer, right?”, Oliver said giving me an apologetic smile.
“It is alright, a few of my wives were the very same when they were pregnant.”, I admitted telepathically to him.
With our work here done for the day, I advised the League that we would return tomorrow to help begin the reconstruction process. Stating that Ciri and I had a prior engagement for this evening they bid us farewell as I teleported the two of us home.
—Home—
Jumping on my back as soon as we set foot in the living room, the children were happy to see me. Bombarding me with all the highlights of their day it was nearly impossible to determine who was saying what to me.
“It sounds like gibberish to me!”, I laughed pulling them all into a big, bear hug, “How about each of you tell me about your day one by one? I want to hear all about it without missing a thing.”
“Okay!”, they agreed as they began to go through their day with me.
Getting them seated at the table as they spoke, I helped my wives plate the meal and get everyone drinks. Finishing their tales as we all sat down to eat, Sapphire asked me how our day went today.
“It was pretty chaotic, first and foremost we discovered how the Wild Hunt has grown so powerful in such a short time. We also freed a planet from the tyrannical control of a God of Tyranny, helped save countless lives, and made several new friends.”, I informed her, “Oh, I also found a method for repairing Aultcray’s soul without the need of a donor.”
Dropping their silverware, several of the women asked me to repeat the last part. Telling them again that I had located a method to repairing Aultcray’s soul, Eliouse asked why I did not lead with that information first.
“Did you discover a new type of magic that was previously unknown to you?”, Esmeralda inquired with a curious gaze.
“I discovered the existence of a relic called the Book of Souls. This tome houses everything that was, is, and ever will be in a universe.”, I answered her, “A manifestation of every soul in a universe is stored in its Book of Souls. If we find the book for his universe, I can use it to repair his soul permanently without any drawbacks. This method was unknown to me before as only extremely powerful deities are able to use the book safely. Anyone else would be rendered unconscious just reading a page or two.”
“Cis, do you know anything about a Book of Souls?”, Fuyumi asked.
Taking a moment to think about it, the angel shook her head and apologized for not knowing anything about it.
“What about a God of Destiny, did you have one of those?”, I pressed her.
“Yes, we did!”, she acknowledged, “That said, we already checked every Divine Space on the planet already and did not see the tome. It must be among the mortals somewhere, but how would we find it in time?”
“By checking any location they would keep holy or forbidden texts.”, Sith stated, “In my kingdom, we kept dangerous books of that nature far from the public’s eye. The last thing we wanted was for a child to open a sealed Grimoire on accident and free a powerful Devil.”
Agreeing with Sith, I suggested we speak with Mirellia after dinner to discuss the subject with her.
—Melromarc Castle, A Short Time Later—
“This is wonderful news!!”, Mirellia said with relief as we told her my findings, “That said, I am unfamiliar with a tome that renders the reader unconscious after a page or two. We do have a forbidden section in our National Library and so does Faubrey, let us start our search there.”
Retrieving her royal seal from her nightstand, Mirellia told her two daughters to come with us to the library. Begrudgingly rising from her seats the two of them followed their mother out of the room toward the library. Following close behind them Mirellia led us to the northern corner of the castle where the library was housed.
“Olga, are you still in?”, Mirellia called out into the amphitheater-sized library, “I need your assistance accessing the forbidden section of the library.”
“Can this wait till tomorrow?”, the Librarian sighed already ready to leave for the day, “I will be here first thing in the morning like always.”
“This cannot wait, we are looking for a tome that renders someone unconscious after reading a few pages.”, Mirellia stated.
“Hehe, is that not any book when your daughter Malty is reading it.”, the librarian laughed with an amused smile.
“Please be serious with me, this tome may be my husband's only chance at surviving his affliction.
Sensing the urgency in her tone, the librarian put her bag down and retrieved her own keys from her desk. Walking to the back of the library together both women inserted their key into the magical lock which separated the forbidden section from everything else.
“Grimoires are the last two rows in this area, the book you are after would be in the first three rows.”, the librarian informed us as she took up a post outside the forbidden section.
Just one step into the area was all it took for me to sense the sinister magics that lay here. Grabbing my arm like a female character in a horror movie, Fuyumi and Tomoko held onto me for dear life. Using the energy signature I saw in Darkseid’s mind, I reached out into the space with my Divinity hoping to receive a response from a book here. Letting it slowly spread out through the space one of the books began to vibrate on the shelf violently.
“I will get it!”, Melty said seeing the book in question.
“No!”, I shouted pulling her back, “It could be a Cursed Book reacting to my Divinity. If it is, you may be driven mad the moment you touch it.”
Having my wives stay back while I grabbed the book, I felt an instant connection to it as my hand touched it. Pulling the worn book off the shelf, it began repairing itself as it drained a small amount of Divinity from me. Opening the book cautiously a vision from the past immediately greeted me.
