Chapter 561 - Halcyon Days

Viers lived a rich life these two years. Adventure was the name of the game. He spread his wings and flew to the vast horizon.

Finishing Sakuya’s questline about her family’s matriarch took four months to complete. They found the matriarch in half the time, but of course things got complicated from there on.

Long story short, it involved three of the seven cults in the end. Devil God of Rot and Poison Teorph, Devil God of Ice and Time Isidaris, and Devil God of Night and Space Banbexi.

An angel nuke was involved in the quest’s resolution. Cinematic stuff, really. Fitting for an epic conclusion. Viers roped in a certain angel-touched Saintess and cashed in a favor.

As planned, he also took the extremely rare opportunity to cleanse Yasterah and Banbexi’s fragments that he possessed, plus the third that he obtained during the current arc. Teorph’s.

Thus born were three artifacts of Devil Gods in this world, purified by the power of the angels. Viers tipped his hat to the heavens for their selfless contribution.

Since the angel nuke was dropped on Zetelian soil, the Sultanate and Magisterium had quite a stern word for the Church, but that wasn't Viers’ problem. He and his cohort were already gone with the Matriarch. His attention was on the three artifacts anyway. Viers’ eyes gleamed like a child seeing new toys.

Nightreign.

Bloodfrost Yarn.

In Sickness and In Health.

The items didn't come with a name like in LitRPG Fables so it was up to him. Respectively, they had the form of a starry night cape, a small bundle of inexhaustible yarn, and a yin-yang orb.

Nightreign enhanced Viers’ stealth prowess by multitudes. It also gave him the ability of short-range teleportation. He was lord of the night. The name was a no brainer.

Bloodfrost Yarn gave him the ability to control people. He turned them into marionettes on a string. Other than that, it could cut, pierce, bind, and drink blood to strengthen itself. Basically, something like Donquixote Doflamingo's ability. Fitting for a Devil God of Blood and Control. The yarn also synergized with his Proof of Death Arte, a derivative from Yasterah’s Arte.

In Sickness and In Health commanded those two. The orb could absorb sickness in people, making them healthy, and vice versa. The beauty of it was after absorbing either, he could even give them to others. When a person’s ‘health’ got absorbed, all sorts of sickness appear over time. Like joint-ache, kidney failure, cancer, and so on. Viers guessed it caused their body’s immune system to become weaker. If a sickness was absorbed, the orb would empower the illness as time went on. A common cold of a mortal could become a disease that killed a Level 5.

These new toys were something that he was owed, Viers thought. Freya got the Aurora Scroll, he got these. Just a couple of months late. He liked these more than a parchment for peering into fate.

Each one of the three could become dynasty-defining treasure, and Viers got all three. Furthermore, these three weren't the only treasures he had. While he was never the type to rely on items, his treasuries and arsenal qualities climbed as he added more good stuff.

After Sakuya’s arc was resolved, Viers kept on going on.

It had been quite stressful, so Viers wanted a change of pace. Winding down a bit.

Viers roped in Paina, Farley, and Clarissa for an adventure, with three of his earliest comrades. Just the four of them, for old time’s sake.

First, they went to the sea. Under the sea. After plenty of twists and turns, an abundance of flavor of youth, they ended up in a certain trial ground. Raiding tombs of a dead stronger senior was the bread and butter of xianxia Fables. Viers had no issue with tomb raiding.

It was no less complicated than Aletro’s trial, the crucible where Viers began to rise as a heaven-piercing talent.

There, the three water users shared an Inheritance. Paina received the Clarity of Water, Farley got the Shape of Water, and Viers took the Persistence of Water.

The inheritance was powerful, else Viers wouldn't have bothered with it. He gladly shared it with Paina and Farley. He wasn't entirely selfish.

By the way, Viers’ sealed water affinity had been undone before that. It was faster than he thought. Must be because of his ever-increasing strength. He wasn't yet a Level 5 but he was getting closer every day.

As a Fire Pathseeker, Clarissa wasn't able to gain the water inheritance, but she accompanied them to the end. The journey was a reward in itself for Clarissa but how could Viers let such an imbalance stand?

The four tracked down another Inheritance, to a volcanic region. It took a while but the party cleared the trial and Clarissa obtained a whole Inheritance. The Heart of Water was split between the three while Clarissa had the intact Heart of Fire.

After the trip, their bond of camaraderie went up a notch. He actualized the bond between them into something tangible. As a genre-savvy man, Viers knew how powerful and important such a thing was so he didn't skimp on it.

The sun, moon, and clouds moved. Viers moved with them, not letting himself stagnate. He looked outward and inward. He kept on getting new and better things, but he also refined and reflected on the things he already had. Without needed saying, his proficiency and variety of Artes progressed as smoothly as a falling rain. He had so many ideas in his head that he wanted to make.

For the long term, Viers underlined that he must further his Imaginary Domain mastery and swordsmanship. He needed to stock more monster lives and improve their quality as a whole.

He was already growing mind-bogglingly fast as a Pathseeker but he was still searching for ways to improve his Level faster. That Level 5 border gate was testing his patience and becoming more of an eyesore as the days went by.

Level 4 peak was a powerhouse and Viers’ power far eclipsed the norm. The stage of struggle he stood on was already for the Level 5s. No Level 4 was able to match him, except for the chosen few like Freya. Even against Level 5 opponents he had the Seven Warlords of Carnage to sweep them away.

Still, Viers didn't let his pride get bigger than his head. He looked upward now. His concern was how to contend with the true ancient hegemons, the superhuman among superhumans. The likes of Popess Sallustia Amaris and the Grandmasters of the seven cults. Not to mention those that existed beyond them, the Level 6s and the Immortals.

Viers was searching for something that would be effective to throw against them, for survival more than anything, but he had a barren harvest on that front. Other than Divine Weapons that offered some faint hope, the best way remained for him to become Level 5 and Level 6 himself.

Just like the bigger the fish, the bigger the splash it made, so were Viers’ actions. He wasn't a small sardine in the sea anymore. He might not be an absolute leviathan yet, but he was a pretty damn big whale. What he did had more impact and doing things clandestinely was getting harder and harder. And he needed to move, to plunder, to seize opportunities from danger and rivals. Resources and opportunities were limited and he needed the good stuff if he wanted to grow. That meant conflict with other predators, but Viers wasn't the type to shy away from a fight even if it was the old seniors standing before him. What mattered wasn't seniority but who had the biggest fist and his fist was getting bigger every day.

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With the Wheel of Fortune pointing the way, Viers’ finding the good stuff was smoother than most. His hunting ground area was huge too, thanks to the teleportation network infrastructure that he invested heavily since his early days. Viers’ gobbled up fortune from all eight directions, like a whale eating a shitload of krill in one gulp, over and over again, to the envy of other marine animals.

Viers was eating good.

The members of the Arcanum Club similarly thrived. Viers got the meat, and they got to eat the soup. Sometimes, even the meat. The stronger they were, the more they potentially benefited Viers. The return was already flowing in all shapes and forms.

Viers also built bonds between them, not just strength. Loyalty was important. They trained together, adventured together, fought together, fooled around together. The otherworlder villain liked giving them Artes that suited them. It was very satisfying seeing his efforts coalesce. Like when Jessica crushed a big-shot villain with Izuna Drop Arte or Sakuya invoking Kuchiki Byakuya’s Bankai, erasing an enemy army.

His approach was mostly hands-off. He wasn't coaching them everything or taking the form of mentor to each. They had their own paths. Sometimes, he was among the party, oftentimes, not. But all grew towards the sun.

Once, Dia, Faiya, Futon had adventures on their own. In the aftermath, a certain goblin tribe venerated Viers as a deity. He found it amusing.

Alicia and Ciel’s matter were also getting better. He showed the amnesiac Ciel to her Silver Legion party. He had to inform them before their incessant was getting too much. Alicia politely rejected their offer to go to the Church.

The friend-zoned Bryan was devastated. Let’s just say Viers had to duel the guy. He ended the duel by destroying Bryan’s sword, instead of his organs out of the goodness of his heart. He apparently still had that somehow.

Almost one year after the naming of Alicia, Viers met Ciel again.

Ciel didn't want to meet Viers but his senses were very sharp. He accosted her under the moonlight. Like a gentleman, he waited with his arms crossed while leaning on a tree, on the path that Ciel walked. He timed it so the moonlight shone upon his visage just right.

It got a laugh out of Ciel. And then they had a long-overdue talk.

Eight days the trauma and so Ciel was awake for eight days before Alicia was on the steering wheel again. Viers thought it should be in reverse but whatever. Ciel hadn't completely gotten over her heart’s shadow, but she was getting better.

Perhaps next year.

‘How was Ciel?’ was a hard question to answer. After accompanying her for eight days, Viers could only say the song I Won't Say I'm in Love seemed to fit her perfectly.

She wasn't the only person in transformation. Zerri the Tyra Xerg queen was now in the chrysalis phase of her lifecycle. Once she emerged from her cocoon, she would be ready to give birth. The world would then know the terror of the Swarm and tremble.

Meanwhile, Viers kept shaking up the world.

Inigo Montoya was a very sensational name for a time. Not only did this random guy suddenly appear out of nowhere, completely unknown, he attacked a cult’s major base and killed the core disciple, set to inherit the position of Grandmaster. Then, the Grandmaster himself named him the successor. It was wild!

It was caused by Viers shouting the mantra of revenge over and over again. All present in the battlefield heard it at least once.

As time went by, it was later revealed that Inigo Montoya was Tanael, AKA Viers Isuel. The Estellian Church clarified it in their wanted posters.

Tanael's reputation grew a lot since then. His consequences-be-damned, boldly buccaneering attitude slapped the face of many factions and even more people. Because he was the Cult of Chalchar’s crown prince, something that he didn't wish for, the Church was even more gunning for his ass.

After freeing a bunch of Level 5s from the supermax prison, the higher-ups of the Church took Tanael seriously. Perhaps not Tanael himself since he lost to Freya, but the six Level 5s sworn to him, under the command of a childish but brilliant otherworlder, worried the Silver Council grimly.

That was why, after the Crusade against the Demon King stabilized somewhat, Paladin Stratos Orlando, the strongest blade of the Silver Legion and big brother of Stratos Gaelos, led the team to hunt down the menace Tanael and resolve him once and for all.

Unfortunately for Viers, the Paladin was a very strong and special Level 5 peak. He made Viers’ life quite difficult. Even with the former convicts of Impel Down, the Church’s strike force was too great of a force.

He had his Fang Yuan’s hunted-like-dogs-all-over-the-place moment. Still, Viers managed.

Freya was also hunting him. Nemesis-to-be and pain-in-the-ass Freya. Viers also learned that she developed an equivalent to a Heart Demon after his marvelous evil plan, but she then got chummy with the legendary Phoenix and became stronger than ever.

In other words, just another Tuesday. Viers didn't get bitter or care overmuch. MCs and their plot armor and all that.

However, one thing that concerned him was that Freya was given a blade of absolute lethality to a great sinner, courtesy of the Phoenix. Viers guessed the mom had quite a grudge against Viers who killed her Mary Sue daughter.

Oh, well. Viers avoided Freya for the time being. Ghosted. The cat and mouse game was not so bad. Viers was still alive, still surviving, still getting stronger. And he knew each day he roamed the earth, Freya was getting wary. It wasn't long until some world crisis pulled Freya off his tail.

Heroes’ lot, I’m afraid.

Even with Freya gone, Viers had no shortage of enemies to battle, but, with every battle, Viers improved. He already squeezed the wealth, power, soul, blood, memories, and other things from the fallen. It was the equivalent of squeezing liquid gold from stone, but the greedy villain wanted even more.

His own confidants didn't think it was possible. Well, Viers proved them wrong.

After Emergence of Reason, Viers created two other techniques: Collapse of the Void and Sublimation of Thunder.

Emergence of Reason was already giving him a permanent boost in his stats. With Collapse of the Void he permanently improved his Imaginary Domain by shattering and devouring the enemy’s Domain. Sublimation of Thunder allowed him to take his opponent’s attainment of skill. Therefore, if his opponent was better than him using a spear, he gained a deeper understanding of the way of the spear as the fight went on. Even if he didn't use a spear to fight, after understanding his enemy, he could trounce them. And that knowledge stayed with him, making Viers a skill sucker that would kill you. Fighting him meant feeding him until you slid down his throat. The worst kind of enemy to fight against.

Viers really took note from a certain Deathless. Unfortunately, try as he might, he couldn't truly come back from the dead. Just a life-stock of his monster forms.

He couldn't have it all. Shame. What would Shiv say to him? Probably he should cook his enemies more. Yeah, sounded right.

Anyway, Viers planned to develop more Artes of that series according to the Herrschers that he took inspiration from, but for now, he could only develop three. The three pillars: Bronya, Kiana, and Mei.

With every new experience, Viers’ Horizon soared. To the sky! To the moon!

Viers really grew to the realm of the absurd, just like an MC of a power fantasy story eventually becomes. Still, Viers had a penchant for subterfuge. He hid part of his strength, more than half, really. The power he showed around was already greater than most.

He let them push and push him around, until one day, when he could get the maximum gain, Viers claimed the life of a Level 5.

A fluke, surely. Another challenger came forth some time later.

Then it happened again.

And again.

Experienced Level 5s that thought he was just an upstart... Unfortunately, those old fogeys fell victim to the Domain’s life-draining special effect. As time went on, enemies that dared to cross blades with Viers became rarer and rarer. Against a youngster in his mid-twenties!

The more powerful one became, the more afraid they were to lose what they had. A defeat by Viers would see to it that their legacy got sucked to the bone marrow and their very DNA. They would become less than dust and denied an afterlife. Holy shit, man! Count me out!

Viers’ way of taking things from his opponent was now legendary. Unprecedented in history. Utterly, extremely horrifying.

Many powerful people, stabilizing pillars of the world order, pulled their hair in confusion and frustration about what to do about Tanael. He was bad enough now, what about the time he became Level 5?

What would happen to the world, to the country, to me!?

Viers’ hegemony seemed to be inevitable.

The first to die was Farley.