Chapter 1212 (2/2)
He had refined his ability to create larger projection worlds and bring more duplications out from them into the real world. He had made a deal with Lord Miln and obtained enough Aether to create the largest world he had ever attempted. He had even involved other plots, planning to obtain the body of Randidly Ghosthound so he could study the unique physique he possessed and gain any small advantage for the final confrontation.
Most of all, Ileot had allowed himself the indulgence of spending time with the projection of his deceased sister, the one for whom he had sacrificed everything in the past.
With the grand projection he had created with Lord Miln’s Aether, Ileot Swacc created duplications of both the Nether forces and Aether forces from the battlefield that died. He allowed the Nether forces to freely join the other Nether, but he had kept the Aether forces separate to use them when he needed them. And then Ileot Swacc had then used the Nether forces that had been a part of the projection as a way to locate a Nether Prince, a target that would definitively bring the ire of the Nether King toward their location.
Then, when the Nether King attacked, he had severed the protection he offered the duplications, and they were forced to face the truth that they were copies of individuals who had already died. An existential dread that Ileot knew all too well. Even the Nether forces had reacted poorly, opening up a path for them to move forward and strike at the Nether King directly.
And yet…
I was so careful. So why…!
OOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGG.
The longer that Ileot’s hands gripped the Nether King’s arm the more of that vast-emotion-made-terrible-noise that he was forced to endure. Once more, his skin ripped and his veins bulged. Yet some portion of Ileot’s good sense had been ripped away by the budding fear and heady excitement he felt as he forced himself to face his long-held fear. No matter what strange complication had occurred, this was the day that he finally escaped this weakness. If he could slay this Nether King-
The Nether Heralds were surging forward, clearly sensing the powerful energy that was moving within Ileot to strike at their King. But it was too late. Ileot had enough time. The liquid Aether within him began to burn as he fed it into his image-
He saw movement out of the corner of his eye as two figures arrived on the battlefield-
Instantly, Ileot forcefully stopped the liquid Aether from igniting and threw himself backward in order to avoid a sudden follow-up blow from the Nether King. When he landed, he took several staggering steps backward, his body struggling to withstand all the damage it had taken in that long moment of contact between him and the Nether King.
The Nether King accelerated forward, but Ileot’s panic had found a new target. New fears rapidly multiplied in his heart. He raised both of his hands and unleashed a blast of white lightning again, holding nothing back. Another river of light smashed forward. It didn’t have enough piercing power to hurt the Nether King, but it was enough to launch it back off the edge of the floating stone island and out into the Great Rift.
It quickly stabilized itself and hurried back, but Ileot had already turned away from it. He was looking with a face steeped in dread toward the two individuals who had arrived at the edge of the floating island.
Lady Iellaya, dragging behind her two vast wings made of pitch-black smog. There were strange bags under her eyes and in her gaze there was a familiar intensity that Ileot had only seen in one individual before. Next to her came the duplicated Vualla. But after using the core of people’s lives to duplicate them, how could Ileot miss the fact that there was currently two Vualla’s present in one body?
In total, three Vualla’s were arrayed before him, staring over toward Ileot.
“How is this possible....?” Ileot was trembling. Trembling because there could only be one reason that Vualla came here. “You were dead! I tested it! I experimented with your life core for so long before I settled on you as the base for the projected world! There was no response! You had ceased to exist!”
The three Vualla consciousnesses all watched him. Ileot could feel their differences. In the most recent Vualla, there was only confusion and general disbelief. In the Vualla controlling that body, there was a seething sea of guilt and depression. And also a sprinkling of pity.
Perhaps the worst was the Vualla that formed Lady Iellaya’s terrible, ethereal wings. There was nothing in her heart, just the certainty of purpose. Just the dedication to accomplishing the task set before her.
Because that dead-souled Vualla was a monster that Ileot had created. On that battlefield three thousand two hundred and ninety years ago, Vualla had been in trouble and he had selflessly leapt to her defense. After a lifetime of being a coward, he had found it in himself to be a better brother than he had ever been in the past.
Yet although he managed to protect her, he sustained a mortal wound in the process. And in those last fleeting moments, he had dearly wished he could go back and try again, living a life where he would become strong. A life where he had taken his father’s ominous warnings seriously.
In his desperation, his abilities had activated. Eliot became Ileot. He had lived a life and lived it harshly. He fought early and often, stealing and taken anything he could in order to grow stronger more quickly. So much so that Ileot practically destroyed his family in his desperation to be prepared for that day where he would be so close to death. For the him that had felt the hand of death on his shoulder, no cost was too great to pay for power.
And perhaps because she was the reason that Ileot originally desired that power to protect, he had brutally taught little Vualla those same lessons. In fact, it would be fair to say that he subjected her to pretty constant mental and physical torture. All in the name of learning the value of power.
So Ileot had come back to the present, as the ‘different’ version of Eliot who had paid the right prices to become strong. He appeared on that battlefield next to his dying body, ready to save the day.
But he didn’t return to the present alone. Even with that first projection, his power was larger than just himself. That Vualla that he had so warped with violence had come back to the present with him. Their lives were already too tightly twined for him to separate their return. And that twisted Vualla had merged with the original Vualla just as Ileot and Eliot became connected with each other. But the Vualla that Ileot had raised on harsh lessons had overpowered her meeker self in seconds.
And then that monster that Ileot had created stole the fading life of Eliot in order to become powerful, slowly transforming into something completely unrecognizable before Ileot’s eyes.
And Ileot was immediately certain she had come here now for the same reason; to ensure that Ileot could no longer escape from death by her hands.