Peak
Doron felt like there was an endless sea of people around him, more than he’d ever seen in his life. Villagers continued to stream in towards the city from the regions nearby, quickly forming a grave problem with law and order.
The food in the city was limited, so the villagers had to find ways to feed themselves. Almost every day there were some corpses being carried out of the refugee camps. In such harsh conditions, Doron waited another two weeks before it was his turn.
“Listen up! Across you is the divine kingdom of the Lord, Ilmater. Listen to the valiant spirits and petitioners when you enter…” A bishop was stood upon a platform, a large gate radiating golden light beside him. The church ordered the refugees into a line, having them make their way to the gates.
‘Behind that gate is endless fertile soil, free from plagues and disaster…’ Doron looked at the people ahead of him and the golden gate, eyes brimming with hope and longing. Finally, it was his turn.
‘New life, here I come…’ His eyes had grown wet. He sighed, preparing to bid farewell to his former life.
*Rumble!* It was then that a massive earthquake occurred.
“What’s happening?” Doron was knocked to the ground. He looked on blankly as his surroundings turned dark. A winged serpent with nine heads blotted out the sun as it projected a shadow on the ground.
The entire prime material plane trembled, and the gods seethed in fury. It was at that moment that the connection between the Celestial Planes and the prime material plane was cut off.
Looking at the golden gate shatter, Doron cried out in utter despair, “NOOOOO!”
……
Some time ago, within Leylin’s divine kingdom in the Nine Hells.
Shar slowly walked into Leylin’s church, looking at the clone seated on his throne, “I’m done with the construction of the Shadow Weave. The wizards can only download rank 9 spells and below right now, but that should be enough…”
The impish girl handed over a ball of purple essence to Kukulkan. Even now, the fact that a mere clone wasn’t weaker than her let her understand clearly just how freakishly strong Leylin was.
“The core of the Shadow Weave?” The clone took the orb with a half-smile on its face, staring at the former goddess.
Leylin had originally thought Shar would have some problems with a war against the gods, but it seemed like she didn’t care much about that. Put another way, her one desire was conquest, and she was especially happy to receive the inheritance of her dead rival.
“You’ve done well…” Blue light flashed in the A.I. Chip clone’s eyes, and the core was scanned in one glance. Then, under Shar’s surprised expression, he tossed the core back to her.
“Finish rebuilding it, and have the Shadow Weave replace the original. You have more experience in this than me…” The clone smiled gently at Shar, “I’ll leave the matter of recruiting the wizards to you as well.”
“....” Shar cast a complicated gaze at Leylin.
He’d asked her to build the Shadow Weave once more and recruit wizards to their side! A few moments of thinking easily told her how much she could gain from such a thing.
Even if the Shadow Weave didn’t grow to be as strong as the Weave that was shared amongst the gods, and the wizards would face a great loss, those who were left were still enough to support an intermediate god. Leylin had granted her such a thing so easily!
Shar remained silent for a while, finally asking, “You broke through?”
“The path of original sin does not confound me at all…” Leylin replied in a profound manner.
“Go… Take the remaining wizards under your wing… Careful with those who have too much faith. We don’t want you becoming a god again…” Leylin warned.
Shar nodded and walked out expressionlessly, only leaving behind a divine clone that looked at the phantom in the sky. Given her abilities, it was easy for her to inherit Mystra’s position and build a coalition of wizards. After all, she’d been a Goddess of Magic herself in the past, and she understood the World of Gods like the back of her hand. She’d be able to complete this task quite smoothly.
Furthermore, even if the wizards were useless for now their knowledge and wisdom remained intact. With experience in spellcasting, they also had a tremendous trove of knowledge. Being in dire straits, as long as Shar tossed a few bones down the alley they would pounce over like hungry mongrels.
These wizards still had their strengths, and once they had recovered their spell slots, they would regain their standing in the prime material plane. With Leylin’s body advancing to the peak of rank 8, equivalent to greater gods, he needed to make preparations for war.
……
A loud hiss resounded within the depths of Baator, all negative emotions being consumed without end by the Nightmare Hydra. The power of emotions became a black mist that shrouded the space nearby.
The power of emotions condensed to a liquid form in the centre of the mist, encasing a black mountain made of crystal. Leylin’s eyes opened up from within, his aura now more profound and unfathomable.
“The path of original sin represents all the evil in the world. Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Pride, Lust, Sloth and Envy… As long as intelligent life is present in the astral plane, these sins will never cease… The seven deadly sins will provoke massacre, resulting in death… This cycle shares its life with the very astral plane itself…”
Leylin felt something profound at that moment, the path of original sin appearing behind him with an explosion. It seemed to embody all the evil in the world, reaching a perfect form.
The Nightmare Hydra hissed once more, as amber light flew out of its jaws. The essence of Asmodeus was sealed within in the form of a bug, containing the root of all evil.
“The core of the seven sins, the last item of evil I need to fuse into my path of original sin… The Supreme of the Nine Hells, Asmodeus!” The path of original sin surged forward, devouring Asmodeus whole.
“NO!” Asmodeus let out one last roar as he was being devoured, but that was futile. The power of original sin completely dissolved and decomposed him, ridding him of impurities as a dark glow of light representing the essence of evil blended into Leylin’s path.
[Beep!]
The path of original sin was now complete and flawless. Leylin’s truesoul rejoiced, merging completely with his path.
“Now… Nightmare force, fuse!” The more powerful version of dreamforce shifted easily under Leylin’s control, flooding into the river of original sin. It refined his main body, making him capable of resisting the attacks of origin force itself. The path of original sin was like the path of the very world!
“From this moment forth, I am Original Sin. As long as the power of the seven sins remains, I shall never perish!” A ringing filled the universe as the perfected path of original sin transformed into a giant Leylin with a tattoo of the Nightmare Hydra on its back. All of Leylin’s laws came alive, his body filling up with their strength and causing many worlds to tremble.
[Beep! Host has perfected the path of original sin, advancing to peak rank 8…]
[Beep! Host’s soul has undergone a transformation, system upgrade in progress…]
The A.I. Chip that was akin to Leylin’s soul gave him some alerts before going silent. Leylin couldn’t feel how much time had passed before it booted up once more, perhaps it was a day or perhaps it was several years.
[Beep! System upgrade complete. Law database completed, beginning research on laws of spacetime…
Host has advanced to peak rank 8. Stats have changed, recalculating…]
Leylin’s stats were refreshed in an instant.
[Name: Leylin Farlier, Rank 8 Warlock (Limit).
Bloodline: Nine-Headed Nightmare Hydra (Complete)
Strength: 90. Agility: 100. Vitality: 130. Spiritual force: 200.
Soul Status: Soul of Original Sin (Peak).
Laws: Devouring (100%), Massacre (100%), Death (100%), Greed (100%), Wrath (100%), Pride (100%), Lust (100%), Sloth (100%), Envy (100%)
Path: Original Sin (Perfect)
Innate Talent: World Devouring.
Abilities: Dreamscape Vision, Origin Force Detection, Illusion Proficiency, Warp Reality, Epic Massacre, Death’s Decree.]
Leylin took a quick glance at his stats. He was overweeningly powerful now, far surpassing even greater gods, but he was more concerned with the other information that was displayed. ‘Almost everything says I’m at the peak… Does that mean I’ve walked to the end of my path as a Magus?’