Chapter 33: Chapter 32: Onward to Final Singula- wait wrong title… Temple of Infinite Time of Zurvan
(Disclaimer: This lore of Ghermen is not actually my interpretation and I take it from a source I read online and did some adjustment.)
The Great One is sympathetic by nature as has been stated many times over, they will help those who yearn for their help. However, due to different views and non-existent morals, those wishes always came with heavy prices like a Monkey Paw.
Gherman, the First Hunter is the living proof of that. A tragic hero who wishes upon the Great One in desperation for his love, Maria who died tragically during her childbirth due to the curse of Phtumerian royal blood bearer. Gehrmen beckons the Moon Presence with Maria's umbilical cord to bring the doll of Maria into life.
That wish however caused him to become the caretaker of the dream and become the puppet of Moon Presence. Gehrmen real with is companionship that he lost when Maria died and the sympathetic Moon Presence grant is by offering her companionship to Gehrmen.
The Great One loved Gehrmen and confined him in her dollhouse. The Doll is given as a false wish to Gehrmen to make him stay in the Dream and it never meant to satisfy his true wish of regaining his Maria. However Gehrmen who are obsessed with Maria will never love the Moon Presence back and the Great One knew it and thus seek to nurture and raise someone who will love her back.
Little did the Great One know, none of those who she and Gehrmen nurture will ever love her due to a multitude of reasons, mainly her appearance… probably. Gehrmen however now suffered as the consequence of his occupation as the Dream's caretaker.
He keeps living as everyone and is trapped in the dream while the people he knew turn into beasts that prowl the streets of Yharnam or died yet not knowing about it and never will. Laurence had turned into a beast while Willem had died. Yet he keep waiting in vain and wishing his friends will unshackle him from this terrible 'Dream'.
Most importantly the one he loved, Maria, had long died and he wanted to join her and yet his body is shackled to the Dream by Moon Presence. He wanted to suicide but his body is no longer his own. He has to live with his mistakes and is constantly haunted by it in the form of The Doll.
However, on a cycle that he could no longer remember, the Dream had been lifted and the Moon Presence finally found his replacement. Ray Flora beckons the Moon Presence and accepts her and Gehrmen finally freed. The Great One descends on a foreign world, to answer the beckons of her lover but no soon after is deprived of her lover by the local gods that she slaughtered.
On a fateful day, Moon Presence once again feels the familiar presence of her lover and those accursed gods. She felt his distress and quickly rushed over to find him but she arrived too late and 'Ray Flora' disappeared again when he was so close, almost within her grasp.
However this time, Moon Presence felt his call. A shrill howl filled with murderous rage toward the gods. She feels his howl through the disabled divinity of [Moon] from her that he owns that pleads to anyone or anything to help him. The cries(howl) of anger, sadness, frustration and vengeance that resemble the frustrated cries of a 'child's tantrum' that beckons her through her motherly instinct. It didn't help that Ray in fact is currently an infant Great One.
A Great One always yearns for a surrogate due to their difficulty of producing offspring and Moon Presence also didn't care what kind of love she got. A love towards her lover or a love towards her child is not much of a difference in her view and she isn't picky about it. If she could get a lover, she is always willing to settle with a child.
Thus, Moon Presence or Flora follow the cries(howl) of her soon to be child(son). She follows the cries of the infant that sweetly beckons her. A lover turned mother now travels across dimensions,time and space to seek her 'surrogate child' while carrying deep rage to the one labeled as gods who wronged her and her soon to be child.
(Note: A cig after post nut clarity does wonders to open up my inspiration. lol. I don't encourage smoking coz it's harmful to the body.)
…
After 3 sleepless days and nights, the trio consisting of Ishtar, Athena and Sherlock Holmes manages to track down the only location Hermes could be found through a painstaking process of deduction and elimination by sending Ishtar to check these locations that Athena provided while Sherlock narrows them down.
The result is revealed to everyone that Hermes is hiding in the Temple of Infinite Time. A singularity that exists outside of time and space that doesn't connect to any sort of parallel universes. No one knows the existence of this place and none are to blame for this because its existence itself is doubtful except to a select few.
Zurvan is the owner of this temple and an ancient god which is similar in rank as a primordial god like Nyx. He is a god of infinite time with divinity over eternity, infinity, perpetuity, creation, and absolute destiny. Although, his scope is limited to the universes of Campione. In the universes of Campione, Zurvan is nigh undefeated and unkillable especially within his domain.
The god is rumoured to loath Campione and even other gods which explains why Zurvan is willing to shelter Hermes. Zurvan definitely is using Hermes to his benefit and tries to kill Ray.
Once the news about Hermes' whereabouts is released and even reached the Netherworld, metaphorical pitchforks and torches are raised enmass to start a manhunt or godhunt to punish Hermes, the culprit of this tragedy.
The plan that Ray's companions and other Campiones hatched is to bring Ray into Zurvan's Temple of Infinite Time and let Ray find Hermes there and hopefully kill Hermes. Their other problem now is Zurvan. By description from Athena, Zurvan will definitely want to kill Ray.
Athena became the messenger between her group with other gods in the Netherworld that tried to resolve this problem. She manages to negotiate with other gods to assist them with their effort and secure an alliance with them.
The present situation with Ray is his advance to be contained within the land of Greek and Roman pantheon with the combined effort of other gods. However the opinions of the gods about Ray are splitted.
Small portion blame him for the destruction of the Greek and Roman pantheon. The gods with these opinions are mostly remnants of the said pantheon that manage to escape the decision that led by Poseidon who managed to resist the cursed mud using the ocean during the slaughter in the Greek pantheon and escaped with few that he managed to save.
The fall of Greek is too abrupt because they lack leadership when their God King Zeus had been slayed and 3 of the 12 Olympians gods missing. Their leadership suffered greatly which allowed Ray to amass his horde using cursed mud from All the World's Evil that demonized the heroes and lesser gods when they put up their futile resistance.
The Roman pantheon fell when Ray's horde already amassed his numbers by incorporating gods into his ranks that give him an edge over the prepared Roman pantheon. Alas, no matter how prepared they are, when facing the undying horde of demonized army and the Shadow army, it only delayed the inevitable. This is the reason why other pantheon gods attempt to resist and block their entrance to the Greek and Roman pantheon instead of actually fighting back.
(Note: The Shadow army will not question Ray's order and carry out his command even if he is not sane. Plus, Hermes steals his lover and floof waifu Haruhime. Even Michael won't mind carry out a little genocide.)
Another portion of the opinion which seems to be the majority is neutral. Their pantheon is still unaffected and their interest is to end the conflict quickly before returning to normal.
Another portion is made of battle maniacs and those that have itch to challenge stronger enemies out of boredom which unsurprisingly consists of either God of War, Battle or Steel.
The last portion and the minority of the portions. Gods that have favourable opinions of Ray and even justify his violence(quite an understatement) against the gods. This group only has Pandora, Isis and a few who are swayed by Isis.
The primordials, ancients, titans, etc are uncaring of the situation and even see it as entertainment. They are way stronger than the normal gods and even God Kings which is why they are aloof and uncaring. If compared, God King as a normal king then primordials etc is the real gods! This is the main reason why Athena's negotiation goes smoothly when they hear that the Primordial Goddess of Night, Nyx, is involved and even supports Ray.
…
"Let us depart to the Netherworld now, our… allies should already be prepared and waiting for us at the border of Asgard." Doni said without his usual cheerfulness because he is quite nervous.
The main assembly place is decided to be Asgard because it is the biggest god realm in Netherworld.
"Let's go." Everyone agreed and Nyx opened a portal into Netherworld. Athena and Tiamat were already waiting on the other side for them. The none divine or Campione didn't join and instead stayed in the mortal realm to hold the fort if something unexpected happened.
When the group of goddesses and Campione arrived in Asgard. Few Kings of each pantheon greeted the new groups except Lugh who joind the defence in the border and the few like Melqart, Zeus and Jupiter who was slained.
"Should we initiate our moves as we planned?" Odin ask Athena who is the messenger for her group and one of the field commander for this major battle. He is being respectful to Nyx by addressing Athena as a equal even if she still considered as below a king of god.
"Yes, the god slayers had joined this battle under Goddess Nyx request to assist in subduing their brethren." Athena added. Odin look at Nyx to sees that she didn't denied the claim and agreed to let the god slayers join.
"Do others have any other opinions?" Most of the king gods express their approval and the other remain silent but the majority agreed.
"Then, as we already discussed, the majority of the gods will stay and block the border from the encroaching black mud and horde while a small group of strong gods will enter the Roman pantheon to stall time for the gods and goddesses of magic led by Isis to prepare a massive teleportation magic to bring the Beast into Zurvan's realm." Odin explain again the plan as the 'leader' of the operation since he is the host of the realm.
Everyone is given few more minutes to prepare before they gather in the border of the Roman and Norse pantheon.
…
15 minutes later, the groups entered the disaster zone and the majority of their force is defending the casters while other groups including the girls and god slayers are tasked to distract Ray.
The other group who volunteered to distract Ray is Thor, Freya, Poseidon, Indra, Takemikazuchi, Susanoo, Erlang, Chiyou, and dozens others. Majority of them are going to kill the horde to slow them down and prevent the caster group from being totally surrounded especially when there are gods amongst the horde. Although their souls have already vanished leaving only husks, they are still capable of wielding their authority.
"We have to deal with this mud first if we are going to get close to that monster. Also, don't use summons even if they have divine protection. Those who touch by it will be tortured mentally and physically until they lost their will and become part of the horde." Poseidon said with unconcealed hate and spite in his voice.
Voban and other gods that were about to do summons immediately stopped and nodded. Poseidon along with others that can manipulate earth and water quickly create a foothold and barrier against the mud. The others didn't wait anymore and proceeded as planned.
The twisted monster mixed between Ray Beastial Form and Dragon King metamorphosis howled with unbridled rage toward the incoming opponents. He is too clouded by negative emotions from losing his lovers to Hermes and the loop of negative emotions from All the World's Evil.
Ray's lovers and even Nyx can feel some pain in their heart when hearing the howl from Ray. For them, the howl is more of a howl of sadness and anger than howl of a maddened Beast. The testament to their thoughts is the black ichor bleeding from the red eyes of the eldritch looking monster and the occasional whimper between the howl.
Before Ray noticed the approaching group, he was 'standing' listlessly while surrounded by a crowd of demonized beings and covering his eyes with the extra dragon-like hands like he was crying. Although none noticed because of the distance and the mud that slowly increased his 'biomass' and turned his humanlike body unrecognisable.
[Infant Great One (4>9%)]
Susanoo, Indra and Thor launch a joint thunder attack to incapacitate Ray from a distance. Thick thunder of bluish, yellow and gold respectively strike Ray from their divine weapon but a reddish lightning bolt like divine weapon appeared in the wolf like hand of Ray and deflected the majority of the lightning's might.
The weakened lightning strikes Ray harmlessly before he releases a command howl for his army to fight. Even the Shadow army obeyed and fought but avoided their Monarch's mistresses.
None of them dealt lethal attacks to Ray but didn't hold back on his immortal army.
Artoria activates her Gale authority to create a foothold in wind like the nimbus cloud before advancing further while followed by Luo Hao who is able to do similar ability.
"Eresh! Bring out your domain now!" Artoria shouted and Ereshkigal nodded
Ereshkigal materializes her red blazing spear called Meslamtaea, the Burning Shrine. With a rapid spin that causes even lighting to be produced, she slams the spear that causes a burst of large divine power which almost distracts the casters while she chants.
"The Distant Seas of the Heavens, the Prison of Earth. The Fury of the Realm of the Dead is at my heels! Appear, Shrine of Fever. Manifest my Domain to enforce my will!"
"Kur Kigal Irkallaaa"!
Explosion of flame appeared before the terrain changed to reddish rocky surface of a cavern floor then followed by explosion fissures of bright red flame that form a perimeter around them and block the advance of black mud.
"My domain is under my authority! I grant my blessing to those who are worthy."
"Blessing of Kur!"
Everyone within her vicinity is showered with divine power that increase their defence, vitality and resistance by at least 20%.
Since they didn't need to worry about the mud for now, many gods quickly increase their ferocity and slaughter the demonized army which they found to be very effective to weaken Ray. If they kill enough demonized beings, Ray will soon be weakened to the state they can subdue him.
Seeing that Ereshkigal is doing her best, Ishtar also didn't want to lose to her sister. Then another burst of divine power shook the battlefield that cause the gods to rise their head and curse.
'Aren't we distracting the Beast before subduing him? What happened to that plan? Why are you throwing big moves on after another?'
A massive portal opened on the sky and show the planet Venus. Ishtar is one of the few that actually have authority to manipulate Venus at will. She turn the planet into energy and condense it down into an arrow, nocked at Maanna that aimed at the group of demonized gods.
"Oi, better start running unless you guys wanna get caught in crossfire!" Ishtar shouted to group of dumbfounded gods looking at the arrow made from literal Venus aiming on their head.
"Fuck these lunatic! Run quick!" Some unnamed gods who are resisting the demonized gods shouted before start running like a man going to grocery store to buy milk.
"An Gal Tā Kigal Shē"
Immediately upon invoking the noble phantasm name, the energy arrow shoot with extreme speed that look like a beam while carrying the weight of whole Venus. Needless to say, a crater was made with a chasm that might open a path into Underworld.
Ignoring the multitude of colourful curse from various languages, Ishtar continues to mow down the horde and Shadow army while occasionally provide support fire to those that fighting against Ray.
…
After suffering intense attack from multiple sources, Ray feel weakened, distressed and more anger. He initiated his trump card but in a dangerous way. The Annihilation Wish already being modified in a way that it wouldn't kill Ray by fueling it with alternative energy sources instead of his vitality but now he activate it on instinct.
Ray jump away from his attacker and lowered his body like a wounded Beast on all four. His eldritch transformation intensified before he howled to goes all out since his instinct tell him he will be defeated if this continues. He wanted to quickly kill his enemies.
Ray activate Annihilation Wish while simultaneously overloading the skill to get an edge over his opponent. He stop sending his horde and Shadow army that only waste his mana and instead pouring everything into overloading Annihilation Wish.
More pained howl is released before his body start to convulse and inflate in size while multiple creatures overlapping before a more humanoid form settled.
Head and body of his Beastial form mixed with tatered wings and spikes from the spines of a dragon along with a tails. His height now exceed 8 meters while his limbs are same to a human but couldn't stand because his legs are bent like a four legged animal. His eyes socket are empty and constantly oozes out redder black mud.
Everyone gain some distance from Ray while being wary of his new transformation and his growing power.
"Oi, how much longer does the teleportation spell going to be completed!" One of the god shouted while being in despair because Ray's power doubled every passing seconds.
"This is problematic… it would be an arduous task to hold back ourselves while trying to subdue it if his power keep growing explosively!" Thor said as even the battle maniac feel despaired Ray's power grow without limit.
"Lord Odin says, it's completed! We should retreat lest we get caught during the teleportation." Freya said which cause many cheered and fled immediately. Only the Campiones, Ray's companions and a new arrival stayed in the vicinity of the magic circle that started to appear and glowed under their feet.
Ray look wary of the sudden appearance of the magic circle but look confused because it didn't harm him and yet most lf his attacker had fled only leaving few behind.
"Whew, just in time." Alayashiki said while looking disheveled and sweating hard even as a goddess.
Don't tell me your idea for us to defeat Zurvan is that thing?" Ishtar asks with vein popped on her forehead.
"How else are we going to kill a primordial rank god in his own personal domain?" Alayashiki retorted back. While looking at Ishtar like she just asks a obvious question
"Then! Why when I borrowing a servant, I need to fight literal tooth and nail for it but you immediately to return to Fate world using Kaleidoscope for that weapon." Vein throbbing on her forehead. "This is clearly favouritism! The worst part is that Sherlock are requested to help find Hermes to HELP Ray!"
Alayashiki just shrugged while ignoring Ishtar's injustice and suffering. The magic circle soon activated and teleported them all away.
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3.4k words
(Note: If boring then sorry, I'm laying out the groundwork for final battle and inviting the important guests.)
(Note: After checking the relationship list in my character sheet, I just realized that Erica somehow fell off my memory and I forgot about her because she isn't that important in the story. She isn't a love interest since Ray isn't the type that seeks out women except for those that have animalistic traits like Haruhime or Nagato.)
Weekly Power Status
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