Chapter 334

Asmodeus had possessed the body of Garland Valemont, and now he is regretting not trying to get one of the stronger Valemonts. If Asmodeus had possessed Kai Valemont or even Thorne Valemont, there was a good chance that by monsterifying those kids, he might have been able to kill Jacob Cloud for good. In fact, at the moment, he is regretting immensely that he had not managed to kill Jacob Cloud the first time he had incarnated to do so, possessing Azrakel, the Infernal Princess’s brother. Now, the ties of Karma have grown too thick and impossible to unwind.

It appears that the Generation of Legends is what Asmodeus feared it would be.

“Behind you,” the Mad God shouts, beside himself. Armand Valemont has thick veins on his neck as he looks in abject fear at Jacob Cloud appearing behind the God of Monsters.

The plan of the Mad God had gone awry.

And now, he finds himself fighting a Jacob Cloud that is too strong for him. Asmodeus doesn’t move Garland’s body. He had monsterified it, hoping to gain enough power to fight back. But feeling Jacob Cloud’s sword at his neck, he knows there’s no chance.

“Go ahead,” Asmodeus growls.

Yet the sweet relief of death is late to arrive.

“Are you getting sentimental?” Asmodeus smirks. “What? A nobody you don’t even know, and…”

Despite Blood Nemesis empowering his body, he suddenly feels Jacob Cloud’s Mana take a hold of him through a Primordial Spell. Asmodeus’s eyes go wide.

“Unweave,” Jacob says.

The faint gold lattice that had been woven around his blade — the spell of absolution he had knotted there for Lancelot, meant for after his own death — now becomes loose. He pulls it away from the steel and it dissolves in the air.

Jacob Cloud’s voice sounds calm.

“I can just exorcise you in the same way I’ve exorcised the Dark Champions. It’s a pity,” Jacob says with his mouth close to Garland Valemont’s ear. “How I wished I could have speared you from side to side and watched you suffer and die. But I’m not doing that to an innocent’s body.”

With his left hand, Jacob takes the Skill Crystal from his Interspatial Ring. The Imperium Rank Skill Crystal is glowing impossibly bright as it is held against Asmodeus’s incarnation. He presses it against the incarnation’s back, pressing it flat against the steel. Suddenly, the Skill Crystal starts to sink inside the metal of the sword.

“How is this possible?” Asmodeus shouts.

He cannot believe that the exorcising spell is working on him.

“An incarnation is just a stronger contract of the divine. Primordial Magic predates weak divinities like you,” Jacob says, taking a step back and pouring more Mana through the Primordial Spell.

Blood Nemesis writhes and screams, but Jacob has seen through it thanks to the Grimoire. The exorcism that he’s performing on Asmodeus is going to count as a kill without destroying Garland Valemont’s body.

Asmodeus shouts, and a projected silhouette of a monster — barely humanoid, with six arms and four legs and three heads — appears for a moment. Then, as it takes a step toward Jacob, it suddenly explodes in a shower of blood.

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Jacob swiftly holds out the sword and lets it bathe in the blood.

[Baalrek’s Sword Art has been transferred.]

The notification appears to Jacob. But the countdown in the corner of the Grimoire page is still going.

He moves and also catches Garland Valemont before he can fall headfirst to the ground. He lets him down gently and then turns to the Mad God as the Divine Barrier starts to fade. Yet there is no fear on the visage of the man.

“You have an incredible, incredible destiny, Jacob Cloud.”

Jacob looks down at the Skill Crystal for a moment and frowns. Now that it has absorbed the blood of Asmodeus, it should be able to let the sword finally evolve.

[Grimoire Analysis.]

[Baalrek’s Sword Art.]

[Crescent Blade of the Crimson Knight has absorbed fifty percent of the needed power.]

So, the fact that I’ve exorcised Asmodeus means that I’ve only got half of what I need.

Well. Jacob turns to the Mad God again.

That’s the other half, he thinks.

But Jacob is distracted, because he hears a laugh. He had thought that with Blood Nemesis dispelled, with Marcel now lying inert in Lancelot’s arms, he was one exorcism away from winning. And yet, Kai’s maddening laughter reminds him that things might not be so simple after all.

“Jacob,” Kai says in a singing voice. “Jacob, are you ready to come play with us?” He ends that sentence on a crazed laugh.

“Free them,” Jacob orders the god.

“Free them?” The Mad God bends over and laughs, holding his stomach. “Oh my god, Jacob Cloud, you’re so funny. Why would I free them if we both know they’re the only reason I can still inhabit this shitty body and be alive? Do you know how much you just set back that sack of crap? There are probably a thousand wild Dungeons that have just collapsed. Actually, it’s probably numbering in the tens of thousands. Asmodeus was making a lot of progress on his power, and you just destroyed all of that progress. I don’t think you can appreciate how much destroying an incarnation can damage a god. So, what if I give you a little deal?”

Jacob raises an eyebrow.

“Let’s hear it,” Jacob says.

He is not afraid of negotiating with the God of Madness the way the others probably were. Even though he’s a god, there are still rules to his madness. And Jacob’s Grimoire can see through anything such a god throws at him.

“You let me go, and I free your brothers. How about that? Isn’t that a very sweet deal? Why are you frowning like that?”

Jacob looks down at the sword in his hand, at the Skill Crystal sunk into its blade.

It seems that Jacob has a simple choice in his hands. Either give up the sword or give up his family. At least that’s what he thinks until the Mad God says, “Oh, and by the way, I will also require just a little bit of your blood if you want to see your family still alive.”

“My blood would unlock whatever weapon is inside these grounds, Mad God,” Jacob says.

“Indeed, it would. And it will be mine. I will make an addition to our deal. You just have to let me have what’s rightfully mine. What your master craved so much that he went mad. And I will leave the Valemonts and their little kingdom be. I will banish myself from these lands.”

“And wreak havoc on the rest of the world?” Jacob scoffs.

“It appears, then, that we are at an impasse.” The Mad God smiles.

“How about I kill you? Or even better, I put you on a cross, torture you, get the secrets out of your body with whatever Primordial Magic I know — just like King Baalrek took the location out of you. Insulate myself from the madness and make sure that my family is saved. How does that sound to you?”

“You think that my madness is so easy to trifle with, Jacob Cloud?”

Jacob hesitates when he hears the mad laughter of his family from below.

“I don’t think it’s that easy.”

Jacob uses the Grimoire on Kai.

“There’s no flaw, is there?” the Mad God says. “Madness is just so perfect.”

“You want the weapon. I want my family safe and you without the weapon,” Jacob says. “So how about I make you a deal?”

“I’m listening,” the Mad God replies.

“I will lend you my blood, and I will walk with you deeper into the Sacred Grounds. In exchange, you free my family and expel all of them outside. It’s going to be me and you. What do you think?”

“Jacob, no!” Lancelot shouts. “He’s the damn Mad God. Have you lost your mind? Has his power already taken a hold of you?”

“I don’t want my family dead, Lancelot. And I don’t want the Mad God to access a weapon that could— I don’t know. I don’t even know what it could do. But if it’s Rafnov’s heritage, it must be so powerful that it could change the course of the world. It was meant to slay Primordial Gods, wasn’t it? So—”

“I accept,” the Mad God says with a booming laugh.

And with a few steps, he gets in front of Jacob, opening a cut on his hand.

“How about a divine blood pact to seal this?”