Chapter 8-246: The Problems with Outsiders, Part Three (1/2)
It was a horrible feeling to have. This woman, who he did not know, but could not disbelieve, saying something against the man he trusted most, who had stood by his side for literally decades, always there with a comforting word or advice, drinks in times of sadness, congratulations on success...
Advice on how to proceed in uncertain times...
The Imprusar Priest had an odd look on his face for just a moment, hard to read. “Oh? You have more things to say, child?” he sniffed slightly, head coming up, sure of himself.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do,” Traveler replied, her voice so firm and regal, like an Empress talking to a vagrant priest, and suddenly his old friend didn’t seem so confident of himself and his purpose, like shadows were being cast across him.
His friend, who had often advised him on how to proceed in relations with the Aborigines, and who had argued for letting the Cultivators in, seeing how they could strengthen the last of their people...
“You see, Imprus’ core tenets do not include racism or outright elitism, especially for the Powered. Those are optional tenets included when one has to make a judgement based on potential, at which point the Powered are favored as having more. Racism, even specism, is self-defeating and denies Him servants, for Imprus is the Imperial God, of all races and beings. He will rule EVERYTHING... not just mere humans. Discriminating against those who would serve Him is not part of His teachings.
“However, such attitudes are part of Lawful doctrine, and can be of use during the period of building His Church. The doctrine they are a core part of, however, is that of Hell.”
Inkai slowly lowered the Staff in his hand, plainly readying his power for a conflict. “What are you insinuating? Are you doubting my faith in Imprus and His destiny?” he sneered.
“I have a counter question,” she replied, smiling a cold, deadly hint of a smile. “Do you know the efficacy of a True Seeing spell cast at VII?”
He blinked, and then his face began to twist.
The burning Sword came right through his chest, and he shrieked in agony, the multi-hued flames about it billowing up with the pure Wrath of Heaven Kentai had not seen very often, but would never forget... and there was something visible in the flames.
It billowed over the face and body of his old friend, an illusion, a glimpse of a spirit or image, just a trick of the eye, caressed by the power of Heaven... and then a crimson-black flame within the Wrath surged forth, filled in that image, and the spike-boned, skeletal spirit was clearly and wholly visible, screaming in anger and defiance.
A grim hand came down on that image, wrapped in the Wrath of Heaven and Scorn of Hell, gripped as the spirit writhed, and tore it away.
Inkai dropped, a hole in his robes, but his flesh unmarked, save for brimstone flames leaking out of all his orifices as the devil that had been Riding him materialized.
The Confessor Devil went sprawling ignominiously on the ground, the burning wound from Idiot blazing in its chest, rather spoiling any attempt at looking powerful and aloof as it slowly rose to its feet, dark and burning power gathering to it.
“Retreat!” Kentai ordered his men, who leapt away just before the first blasts of hellfire began to gather.
“Please.”
The one word was so dismissive. A flash of spiraling sparkles hit the hellfire and blew it apart. Parti-colored hummingbirds chased one another and exploded. Crystal rain fell from the earth into the sky. Graffiti and math formulas chased one another over diabolic skin. Luminiscent postules erupted into laughing tears of metallic chimes and his mother’s wasabi sauce...
The wild magic ripped at the devil, who lost its powerful demeanor again as it was blasted by the random energies of its magic being ignited by a spell Kentai had never seen before.
Then the Sword wrapped in so many kinds of fires came erupting out of its throat, pulsing once, as if waiting for something, and wrapped in dozens of coruscant sparkles...
The world went white.
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“Lord Kentai.”
The man before me looked to have aged ten years in ten minutes, and the blast of vivus from the Confessor Devil being extinguished didn’t help with the new white at his temples.
“Lady Traveler.” His voice had the hint of both great respect and great loathing for what had gone on here. I was the very embodiment of a horribly mixed blessing.
“Every single being who has successfully practiced Cultivation and established a Qi Dantian must have that Dantian destroyed, or they will become a Cultivator, sooner or later, even if not a very gifted one. Their souls will be eaten, their bodies taken, and they will seek to murder the Powered and consume them to become stronger, as it is the fastest, easiest way to defy the judgement of Creation for what they are.”
He closed his eyes and sighed. “I received word that the other dojos, and several homes, had been attacked.”
“I killed every Cultivator Three and above I ran across, and pierced the Ones and Twos. There are still scores of them, if not hundreds, scattered through your city. You must either stop this now, or it will cost you, and all humanity, greatly in the future.”
“I will give the orders.” He looked at the corpse of his daughter, now blazing very, very brightly with vivic flames. “If you can help us identify them, and destroy their Dantians, I would appreciate the gesture.”
“Very well.” Given how many I’d already killed, it was the least I could do.