BXBX NOVEL Chapter 44: The Sky.
"What?" Eris covered her mouth. "But... You're not-"
"Yes, I'm clearly not dead." Sol nodded seriously. "That's because in actuality I died ten years ago," He explained, and Eris's mouth dropped a second time.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Han shook his fist and his head trying to make sense of what he had just heard. "How could you have died two months ago and ten years ago at the same time- you made us sign a heart oath, don't fuck with us!" He growled, and Ikaris cleared her throat.
"Master did die ten years ago two months ago on the day we were all dragged here; for him, that death was ten years ago, for you all, he never died at all, because in the same moment he died he was summoned to my dimension, to my world, Atla." Ikaris spoke up and the others all registered shock at her words.
"Your world?" Dina asked, shocked more than everyone else, while Arla and Idria recognised that this must have been true, Ikaris was just too enigmatic in comparison to the others, her and Sol alike.
"You're from a different reality... Like Arkadia?" General grim asked furrowing his brows and straightening his back as the truth he was expecting had diverted further than he ever imagined.
"I will be the only one who knows this, I feel privileged." Renia nodded with a smile to herself. "This alligns with a lot of our beliefs but there is no way to prove such ridiculous rules without breaking many rules."
"Hm," Sol took charge of the room again. "Ikaris comes from a place called Atla, in a vast universe only governed by one god," He looked at her, and she nodded. "In the moment of my death, I was summoned there, and I have spent ten years in constant war, the past two months here have been the easiest for me in a decade of war,"
"A mere decade," Sir Morn hummed, but Sol narrowed his eyes and stared at the man disdainfully.
"Unlike Arkadia, Atla was already overrun with demons, there was never a break, there was barely ever rest, I fought on the first day I arrived, and every single day following that for ten years, I barely slept, I sometimes went days without food, surviving on the rain and my will to live, compared to that Arkadia is child's play, unlike you lot who have barely witnessed death, I have seen first-hand the death of billions on both sides, I have seen camps overrun, women and children slaughtered and pillaged like cattle, I have witnessed entire kingdoms get turned into dust in a matter of minutes, everyone dead, entire civilisations wiped out."
Sol lowered his gaze. "You might think it's not the same compared to your Arkadian war that has pushed you to the brink of extinction after a century-odd long war, but Atla was completely destroyed in just ten years." He stated, silencing any doubts.
"I've been stabbed more times than I can count, impaled all the way through so many times that I forgot what the feeling of getting stabbed feels like, I have lost limbs on multiple occasions, been battered by mammoth creatures that can destroy thousands of metres of terrain with a simple swipe of their hands and appendages."
"How the hell did you win?"
"Well," Ikaris looked at Sol who was visibly distressed as he had to recall everything for their sake. "Technically, we did not win-"
"Wait so that story you told us about Sol saving you from someone..." Eris shot up staring at Ikaris.
"Master saved me from the demon god that attacked my world, the mentioned engagement was his rise to godhood, he was going to attain all the power I possessed, he was going to annihilate everything and then leave for a higher dimension, that is how their kind assume their roles in their own power-dominated society; endless destruction, endless growth, endless greed; they do not stop until they are bested or subdued." Ikaris answered.
"What does that make you then?" Arla asked with her eyes almost bulging as she digested that information greedily.
"I... Am just Ikaris; master's slave and loyal bedmaiden," Ikaris blushed and looked at Sol, "but it was not always like this, I was once the most powerful being, but I was not allowed to fight the demon god, for whatever reason, every time I tried I became powerless, master was my last resort at saving Atla, in the end it was too late, but he managed to kill the bastard-"
"So if I'm getting this right," Bruce interrupted. "Sol was summoned once already, spent ten years fighting a demon hoarde even worse than the one on Arkadia, and at the end of that he still had to face the demon god all by himself," He stated, to which Ikaris nodded.
"Then, if he's already this strong why hasn't he tried helping Arkadia?" He asked, and Sol looked up at him with a smile and relaxed again, regaining some of his confidence.
"Atla is Atla, and Arkadia is Arkadia, how am I supposed to use Atlan magic here, don't assume I'm the same person just because I'm leagues stronger than you are, I'm simply more familiar with warfare and magic so I have honed the skills I already have to level up far more efficiently, Ikaris could do the same but she's committed to her role as Hero so she's doing everything by the book-"
"That's absurd, you're not just stronger than us, you are one of the most powerful beings I have ever encountered, surpassed only by Ikaris herself who is Inconceivable with innate power!" Arla shuffled in her seat.
"That's to be expected, I'm already level 300 and growing," Sol stared at her.
"If Ikaris was with me all the time her level would probably be much higher, because unlike myself who is merely human, Ikaris is descended from a goddess, she is pure power incarnate," Sol bent the truth just a little, never fully admitting with his own words that Ikaris was an all-powerful god that could end their entire world with just a whisper of her divinity.
Renia caught on to this as well, but it was not her place to speak, she feared the repercussions of such an act because the fact that Sol and Ikaris had yet to say it meant that they didn't plan to.
"T-then..." Idria shook her head. "Why are we still at war?"
"It's quite simple, truly," Ikaris answered with an expression alerting them that they should know better.
"The Arkadian people are lacking, in their time of need they turned their backs and assumed the gods to be dead, the monarchy is weak, the soldiers are weak, the entire constitution is weak, even though I believe this is what is currently saving you, it is also what has been keeping your stalemate with the demon god, if you want to call it that."
"I do not understand." Grim cleared his throat.
"She's saying you should do it with your own strengths and stop complaining, the highest level of power one can attain is 999, the demon god is a higher power than that, which means it will take all of the generals and heroes to kill her, but you people have been so lazy, sitting behind your walls with meagre training that barely raise your levels in a month, demons are a farm of experience that lead to astonishing growth, and there are dungeons all across this world, but you hide and cower..." Sol sat forward again.
"You're all weak minded and weak-willed!"
"I was the sole hero of Atla, I fought until my bones broke apart, then I healed them and kept on fighting, I mastered every form of weapon I could get my hands on, I killed demons by the horde to the point where I couldn't feel my shredded muscles and couldn't feel my skin, you guys retreat after just a loss, sure it's in consideration of your losses, but that just proves how soft you are." He clenched his fist.
"Power is taken, not granted, you have to seize the power you aim to achieve and stop holding yourself back!" Sol gave them all a sadistic grin.
"To that extent, Master Vestic also has no intention of fighting the demon hordes himself," Sara spoke up, and the others all turned to her. "He said so himself, and now I understand why, he has grown sick of battling demons after thousands of days of fighting them without break, he even defeated a demon god on his own."
"Could you teach us at least... How to battle a demon god?"
"Not a chance," Sol chuckled and leaned back when Ikaris rested her head in his lap. "I have far more entertaining things to do-"
"You mean the gods?" Sara asked shocked, and Sol chuckled.
"I'm on vacation, I refuse to fight anybody's war, if it comes down to it, I'll just take a remote island somewhere for myself and watch you all die from a safe distance... Well except for the queen, I need her to get back home, so I have to keep the annoying bitch alive!" He shook his fists jokingly.
"If master loses interest in your endeavours, then I will leave with him wherever he goes," Ikaris added while Sol gave her a headpat.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Han spoke up both shocked, worried and afraid. "How can you say such things with such a straight expression?"
"Han Young, womaniser, former drunkie, an overall bastard without redemption, hailing from earth who turned hero here on Arkadia," Sol singled him out.
"When you can say you have lost everything then you can ask that question again, when you've fallen in love and lost that love to a demon god, watched her skin peel from her bones as she is incinerated, when you've seen your best friend devoured by beasts, when your entire party is decapitated by a sword devil, then you're free to ask again, when you've been through hell and back, then you're welcomed to asking whatever you want, until then, you're not qualified to even be mad at me, as it stands, you're as important to me as an ant is to an elephant."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Eris asked, visibly hurt from being called an ant, as was everyone else, and Sol closed one eye and activated his divinity while Ikaris smiled with her eyes also glowing with powerful traces of divinity.
[True Goddess Ikaris grants you this moment of clarity]
Everyone paused in thought and looked at her, for a moment they saw her true form, not an astral form, but her true physical form resting dignified in Sol's lap, and then another moment later the image faded into another Golden system window.
[Activated memory wipe; selective]
[The tarnished is deleting the memory of this entire conversation from your minds]
"Deleting... no Sol wait!"
[True Goddess Ikaris is using powerful mind-altering magic on you]
[True Goddess Ikaris has activated rewrite: your memories will be tampered with]
Another window appeared, even before Renia as her and everyone else stared blankly.
"Just keep the soil fertile and recyclable so I can walk comfortably on top of it, and I will continue to play with the gods, why on earth did you all think I would reveal myself simply because you asked?" Sol sat up and rested his hand on Ikaris's shoulder while she chuckled and gave them all an individual glance.
"Master is the sky, and the sky never truly touches the ground."