Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Upon seeing the tiny spirit safe next to Godslayer, Alex felt a huge sense of relief.

“You saved him?” he asked Godslayer, the anger and resentment in his voice stripped away almost instantly.

“Yes,” Godslayer said, his voice still containing pain, both from having failed to kill the God and from having overestimated himself. He had failed to change entirely.

With the memories of the Artifact God returning to him, he thought he was a different person now, but no matter how much he wanted to change, he was still Godslayer.

Death and Darkness were not something he used; they were a part of him. So long as he used them, he would be corrupted by them. He had no power to change himself.

That was a devastating realization for Godslayer.

“How did you do it? I didn’t sense anything,” Alex said.

“At the moment when I realized I had no energy to defend myself, I knew the sword would be the one to bear the burden of Purplerain’s attack, and I knew I couldn’t let it do that. So, I dragged him here right before the attack landed, letting go of all intention to defend ourselves. I managed to do it in the nick of time, or else he might have truly died.”

The dull light that was Midnight pulsed lightly.

Alex got closer and took the spirit in his arms. He could get a great sense of pain and fear from it. It was hurt and scared. Since it had been ripped away from the sword, it had not come out of the place without some damage.

“He’s hurt,” Alex said. “Can we heal him?”

“He needs to get back into the sword,” Godslayer said. “Without it, he will continue to deteriorate.”

Alex panicked slightly. “What do we do? Can we put him into another sword? I have other swords that are the same—”

“It won’t work,” Godslayer said. “The next sword he goes to must have a connection to him.”

“Meaning… I have to reforge the broken sword,” Alex said. “Assuming I survive this, sure. I have to find better ingredients, though. We can’t let this get repeated.”

Godslayer agreed. “Take your time. I can keep him from getting worse if I focus entirely on him and do nothing else.”

“Will you have nothing else to do?”

“I probably will, but this was my mistake, so I will fix this. I will protect him for as long as I can,” Godslayer said. “Now you go and protect us. That woman probably won’t be able to protect us any longer. Go and see what is up.”

Alex nodded and went out immediately. The first thing he did was place the broken shards of Midnight into his Soul Space, then he looked up to see the 12 gods gathered right in front of him, conversing about his fate.

Not a single one could make a decision at all.

* * * * * *

“All right, Starsight, explain from the beginning what it is that you saw this time.”

Upon the Storm God’s request, Starsight began her explanation as the other gods gathered around.

“I divined again, only this time I saw a future where he is dead,” Starsight said.

“And?”

“I… I saw destruction again. I saw Qi die, and void bleed into our world. The moon was swallowed by the void, the sun stripped away by it as well. In a world where he dies, we die as well.”

The Storm God frowned. “Until further notice, no one is allowed to touch the young man,” he said, immediately stopping the likes of the Sword God from taking the opportunity to kill him.

The others had no reason to kill him with the new information, so they didn’t feel forced, but the Sword God was in absolute shambles. He couldn’t allow the young man to live. Godslayer would absolutely reveal to them the truth about the Slayers.

If that truth was revealed, he could bow out of this life on his own.

“How do we know that we can trust her?” the Sword God asked aloud. “She just said we need to kill him, and yet she says this now. What do we trust?”

“I must agree with the Sword God here,” the Puppet God said. “Were we duped into thinking that we had to kill the young man when we didn’t have to? The Fatekeepers’ words are supposed to be absolute and without any error. Their reputation is why we do things without question. If she is changing her own words this drastically, this soon, then who are we to trust going forward?”

The others agreed with her words.

“Why did you change your words, Starsight?” the Storm God asked.

Starsight seemed conflicted at that moment, wondering if she should tell them the truth or not. She could, but then… how was she supposed to explain it?

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t you answering?”

“I…” Starsight took a long moment to decide what was right here. In the end, convoluted as it may be, truth would be the only thing she could tell them right now. “I didn’t change my words. I am simply telling you the truth.”

“So it’s a truth that he is going to destroy our world?” the Storm God asked.

Starsight nodded.

“And it’s a truth that without him, the world is going to be destroyed?” he asked again.

Starsight nodded.

The Storm God frowned.

“I know how this looks, Your Majesty. You want to believe that the young man has no effect on the outcome of the future, but his survival or lack thereof is the primary catalyst for all of it happening.”

“I do not know how it is possible, but that is the future I saw,” Starsight said.

“Are you saying that we need to kill this young man, but we also must not kill him?” the Storm God asked.

Starsight nodded. “As weird as it sounds, that is exactly what I have divined, Your Majesty.”

“Then…” the Storm God said. “The world is doomed either way, is it not?”