Will of chaos

Pov Niryna:

I was in a place surrounded by enemies, each of them the size of skyscrapers, their bodies varying from appearances more similar to beasts to those with more grotesque appearances.

I was in a blood-red world, literally bathed in blood, pieces of bodies of various races were scattered everywhere, the sky was purple and in it the only celestial body was a large golden eye that looked in my direction.

I was standing calmly when all the creatures advanced against me, it took mere seconds for my body to be devastated, my organs scattered in the fight between these creatures and my blood mixing with that of so many others on the ground.

The pain was horrible and yet every single second seemed to last for years, it was a torment that lasted for eternity even though it was as brief as the blink of an eye, then everything changed and I was back in my room getting up from a bed full of sweat.

This was just another dream among many others, each one horrible in its own way, the pain I feel in each of these dreams persists for hours even after I wake up, this was the third time it happened.

The first time I was falling from a great height into an endless black sea, when I reached the water I saw an infinite number of bodies of all kinds floating below the surface of the water, these bodies came towards me with their hands, teeth, claws and tentacles as if I were the only food disputed among them all, I was dragged further and further down while pieces of me were continuously torn off until not even my bones remained.

The second time I was in a dark forest full of bizarre plants that had body parts in their structures like a flower of flesh made using an open palm, vines on the trees made of intestines, fruits made of eyes that followed me in the bushes and trees with skin instead of hard bark full of wounds from which blood flowed, it was a horrendous sight and in a short time these so-called plants attacked me, causing my body to break apart and thus become part of them.

I tried desperately to fight back in the first two nightmares, and even then it proved useless, so when the third nightmare began I knew it would be pointless to resist, yet it seemed much longer than the previous nightmares.

“Callidora, what are you doing!?” (me)

“Nothing, just as you wanted.” (Callidora)

“Don’t try to fool me, these nightmares are your doing!” (me)

“No, these nightmares are the trial of the Infernal Grimoire attached to your waist.” (Callidora)

I looked at the book that was firmly attached to my waist, the same book that Callidora recovered from the Avatar of Hate, in it was that claw-shaped pen stuck between its pages as if marking something.

I tried to get rid of these Artifacts several times, but I wasn’t able to do it, I even tried to seek help from the Twins and even then it didn’t result in anything, they didn’t even know what I was going through and yet they warned me about who the possible culprit was.

“Why is this happening?” (me)

“Who knows~…” (Callidora)

She didn’t say anything more, but it was clear that she was doing something, so I resorted to something that would force her to react, I got up and went to do my morning routine before pulling a box from my storage item.

As soon as I started to open it, a tense black light appeared and suddenly Callidora emerged with a small head like that of a fairy coming out of my hand before the rest of her body also came out, she in her tiny form sat on top of the box lid.

“Threatening me with suicide?” (Callidora)

“I know it would work, so why not tell me exactly what you’re planning.” (I)

I know my threat works precisely because she understands that I would do it without hesitation. I’ve also taken precautions to prevent her from recovering my Soul. What I have inside the box is a single-use artifact that would kill me and destroy my Soul, refining everything into a new being, a complete destruction caused by the Cortana Concept, which Callidora could not deny.

My death would mean two things: the loss of the best toy Callidora ever wanted and never managed to obtain until I appeared, and also the breaking of the connection between her and the Chaos Bearer that allowed my birth, as well as generating endless possibilities for her to act.

“It seems I taught you well~.” (Callidora)

“…” (me)

“The truth is simple, this Artifact in your hand is only a part of a larger collection, forged in my attempts to create something similar to you.” (Callidora)

“The core of the collection is the Pen; all the other Grimoires are just parts of the Collection, even though they are individually Artifacts of Origin, their powers alone do not compare to the forbidden knowledge they contain.” (Callidora)

“With you inheriting my power to such a great extent, the pen activated upon contact with the Infernal Grimoire, this generated a reaction in all the other scattered Grimoires.” (Callidora)

“Now what is happening is that the Grimoires are uniting with you through the pen; when they are all together, the true Artifact of Origin created by me will take shape before its new bearer.” (Callidora)

“I don’t want this!” (me)

“Take it all back!” (me)

“I don’t want anything that comes from you, I don’t want these nightmares!” (me)

I thought I would at least have a few days or weeks of peace without her interfering, but now I discover that I have become the focus of several Infernal Artifacts!?

I couldn’t accept this, I wanted to completely reject Callidora, which was impossible, but at least I wanted to avoid continuing to become an extension of her, to stop being manipulated by her and no longer be a hindrance to Zenos in this life.

“Foolish child, this no longer depends on me. These Artifacts have a will of their own and are rebellious to me. My will in creating each of them was to create something similar to you, a body capable of containing my power, be it a vessel, a descendant, a puppet, or even an artifact… but everything failed.” (Callidora)

“But you were a success, the only and impossible success I’ve sought for eternity~… they feel it and are using you to complete themselves, to achieve what they were incapable of.” (Callidora)

“You planned this!” (me)

“You’re the one who picked up the pen and made me summon you here!” (me)

“Exactly, I knew the process would occur on its own and once started it could no longer be stopped, not even by me.” (Callidora)

“Repugnant and cunning bitch…” (me)

“No compliments, I might start to get excited like this~~…” (Callidora)

This wretched woman has always been like this, thinking ten steps ahead. She must have formulated this plan as soon as she felt the Entity of Hate using that cursed book. She had everything planned!

She didn’t care about Hate or the battle for this universe; everything is a secondary game while she pursues her true objectives, and even so, I can’t even feel anger towards her. That would only be a pleasure for her to enjoy; only calmness would be an adequate response to her actions.

“So these dreams are about these Artifacts?” (me)

“Yes, they are marking themselves on you, just as they are marking a part of you on them. If it were anyone else, they would already be dead or insane, but you inherited traits of Zenos’s Chaos power, highly adaptable and going through the process much more smoothly than expected.” (Callidora)

Callidora floats, smiling, touching my face with a smirking expression. This bitch is making it clear that she expected much worse.

“Each of these Artifacts is a Grimoire, containing forbidden knowledge. I scattered them because I couldn’t keep them together; they reject each other.” (Callidora)

“They are divided into 3 types of sections.” (Callidora)

“The first and largest section, containing 66% of all content, is the Compilation of the End, so called because it is a compilation of all evil, profane, and forbidden knowledge of all creation, the basis of my research, full of theoretical information for my studies.” (Callidora)

“The second section, containing 29% of all content, is the Knowledge of the Forbidden, so called because it contains techniques and magic created by me as a basis for all the attempts I had to make.” (Callidora)

“The third and smallest section, containing only 5% of the content, is the Arts of Purgatory, so called because they are forbidden arts capable of corrupting, destroying, distorting, and profaning everything. No Demon has been able to use them, and they are all Living Grimoires, being insane Demons without consciousness; this one with you is just one of them.” (Callidora)

“But what do you gain from this!?” (me)

“You never do anything that isn’t advantageous to you, what happens when these Artifacts are reunited!?” (me)

I felt angry at falling for her manipulation once again, but the important thing now was to extract as much information as possible; only after that could I decide my next course of action.

“When they are all reunited, the Library of Purgatory will finally be inaugurated with you as its ruler, all the forbidden knowledge in the palm of your hands~…” (Callidora)

“Imagine the power~~…” (Callidora)

“What do you gain!?” (Me)

“So nervous~~…” (Callidora)

“I’ll win you over, your strengthening… your chance to achieve Transcendence by inaugurating a Concept, a branch of my own Concept alongside Zenos’s, a connection that cannot be broken once forged~…” (Callidora)

“Why would I do something like that!?” (Me)

“I would never help you with that!!!” (Me)

I opened the box at once. If the process of these Artifacts acting on me couldn’t be stopped even by Callidora, then I would destroy myself by cutting it off once and for all. Inside the box was a bone dagger that emanated a truly deathly presence.

“Think about it, becoming an Entity would allow you to help Zenos by being by his side, also our connection would change, becoming less one-sided~…” (Callidora)

“Everything I’ve always wanted~~…” (Callidora)

“…” (Me)

When I heard Callidora’s final words, my hands stopped centimeters away from touching that dagger. I was so close and yet I felt myself pulling away from it and hesitated to touch it. In the end, I closed the box again with trembling hands.

I knew Callidora was manipulating me once again, but I also knew she wasn’t lying. In the end, the best manipulation was the truth told with the right lie.