Chapter 1023 – Star Sanctum 3 – Overlapping Control


    They all approached the centre of the room together. Once they were about twenty metres removed from the Starkiln, the three Metracanas joined the rest of their kin at the base of the Starkiln. The god of stars extended his head past the edge and looked down at John and his party. The Gamer felt like the glowing left eye of the god was trying to dissect him. Thankfully, that wasn’t one of Enki’s powers.


    “An intruder, how unexpected.” When Enki spoke, John could see the inside of his maw. The left side seemed healthy, the teeth were of a flawless ivory colour, while the right had ugly teeth, their size varying, number and density random, set into black, semi-liquid rot.


    ‘The corruption is bound to his flesh,’ John thought immediately and considered his actions. There was no immediate hostility in the air – the largest source of aggression was Metra. Seminaris would have likely returned the rage of the first Metracana in equal measure, but the First of Patience wasn’t around. That was cause for alarm in its own right. Regardless, the Gamer decided to pursue a conversation first. Any delay would ultimately be to his advantage. “Unexpected? We talked about sixteen hours ago.”


    The celestial dragon tilted his head and leaned down a little bit closer. His deep voice was filled with parental arrogance, as if he was chiding a child. “It never ceases to amaze me that such limited mortal minds can speak such foolishness with such certainty. I know not who you are.”


    ‘The difference between the sleeping and the waking mind is real then,’ John thought and asked another question. “Where did you leave Seminaris?”


    “Another peculiar question from you, invader,” Enki sounded amused. “I haven’t seen the First of Patience in centuries.”


    John looked at Thresta. The Third of Darkness was both visible and kept a straight face. If she was confused about her master’s statement, she didn’t show it. ‘An elaborate ruse or...?’ he wondered and looked over to Leryala. “You were in the Middle East not too long ago and met a woman named Momo, did you not?”


    “...Metra... are you sure you want someone with delusions to be Sargon’s heir?” the Second of Light asked. “Eeep!” she exclaimed, raising her hands when Rex Magnar roared threateningly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m just saying...”


    “Memory editing,” John sighed and scratched his head. He didn’t even try to keep things to himself. “That’s always an option for weaker Artificial Spirits under contract. I suppose when one is a god involved in their creation, it’s possible even for Metracanas.”


    “You lot are disappointing me more by the second,” the First of Wrath growled.


    “What are you even talking about?” Xerxes asked.


    “They are accusing me of malevolence. How daring,” Enki chuckled.


    “No, I’m accusing you of being a puppet. You are not in control of yourself,” the Gamer stated.


    The Starforger’s chuckles grew into a stream of reserved laughter. “Oh, this is quite interesting. Quite interesting indeed. Entertain me then, little mortal, and perhaps I will diminish your punishment for destroying my second forge.”


    “If ya don’t want it destroyed, don’t make it a Lorylim-powered teleportation device?” Rave suggested, causing another wave of laughter from Enki. “What? They operated it like an hour ago!” She gestured wildly at the four Metracanas that they had briefly fought in the basement.


    “What a ludicrous proposal,” the god of stars waved off. “The yarn you weave doesn’t cease to amaze.”


    “I have to respect the influence Tiamat has over you.” John shook his head.


    “The dead have no influence over the living,” Enki continued in his demeaning tone. “Mother Chaos died at Babel.”


    “And so should you have,” Metra shouted. “Yet here you are.”


    “Would you like an explanation, First of Wrath?” Enki asked. “What would I earn by giving it?”


    “A trade,” John spoke up, always keeping an eye on his mana bar. His expenditures couldn’t outweigh his regeneration. “I tell you what you are doing here, giving you entertainment if nothing else, and you tell me what happened to you. That knowledge surely wouldn’t cost you much.”


    “Hmmm, I accept. You start then, mortal.”


    “Know your place!” Enki growled, confirming just how easily he could be ticked off. “A mage, a summoner, such as you thinking you can challenge me in the magical arts? What could you possibly do against me, who seals mana in its purest form?”


    The dragon god closed his intact hand, as if he was slowly compressing something inside it. At the same time, John felt a duality of sensations. One was a pull, as if a circuit inside was forcefully removed, the other was a surge, the energy that usually fed that circuit being rerouted. The feeling ceased, the Unstable Arcana and Mana Chain crumbled away into fading particles, and two windows opened.


    ‘There it is,’ John thought and checked his MP bar. The Max Mana he had been granted had simultaneously been generated, leaving him with a giant amount to work with. He suppressed a smirk.


    Gods were powerful, that much was unsurprising and almost redundant to say. They were beings of Fate, coalesced into a singular entity, and this brought with it special abilities beyond simple might. Whether those abilities were predictable and simple, such as raising entire volcanoes with one’s will, or more elaborate, like becoming a swarm of unnerving creatures, every god had something that was on the level of a latebloomer’s Innate Ability. For Enki, this was his ability to control magic and consolidate it into stars, an ability he had extended to seal the spellcasting capabilities of others inside their body in the shape of raw power. Lingering doubt about its exact interaction with his system had been the final hurdle. Now the path to victory was clear.


    “Like I need a couple of spells to defeat you,” he declared defiantly and had Gnome raise a series of pillars for him. He used them to get up further and further, towards the top of the Starkiln. “As long as I have my elementals, you won’t win.”


    “Hope... what a misplaced feeling,” Enki scolded him and directed his attention at Gnome. “You are no Gilgamesh, all your magic is mine to dominate.”


    Once more, John felt that pull and expansion within him, then the next window opened.


    Gnome was gone from his thoughts immediately. This was the sole worry John had about this affair: what happened to his familiars while they were sealed this way? In order to follow the path to victory, he had to push that worry aside. It wouldn’t kill them, he knew that for certain, everything else could be sorted out later.


    “No,” John gasped, acting as if the loss hit him hard. “What are you...?”


    “Ohhh, so this is what bothers you?” Enki fell for the performance. Intelligent as he may have been, despite the pain of active decay numbing his brain, the god of stars was also extremely arrogant. “Let’s see you despair, perhaps that will teach you manners.”


    John fell to his knees on the last pillar Gnome had raised for him, fifteen metres away from the edge of the Starkiln. Helpless, he watched as Enki sealed away his elementals one after the other. Each sealing took a moderate amount of time. The god of stars couldn’t just snap his talons and make it happen. He needed to analyse each of the elementals for a moderate amount of time, before understanding the spell enough to remove it. Thanks to his shield, he was uninterrupted in these things. Undine was the last to be sealed away.


    Screaming with impotent rage, John raised his hands. First, he used Purgatory to cast a torrent of Arc Lances. The effort was nullified immediately. Then, John angled his fingers. For the first time, he had the necessary resources to combine ten Arcana Rays. An absurdly powerful streak of arcane energy torrented out from the spot where the ten individual rays intersected.


    The united attack was several times broader than the individual rays and created a deep, blasting sound as it cut through the air. Silver collided with silver, attack against shield. Magic contested for supremacy.


    John could see a flash of panic in Enki’s eyes. The previous leisure of his movements suddenly grew very hasty. Even he must have felt the pressure from that attack. As threatening as it might have been, the person it originated from was still weaker than he was.


    “Impressive,” Enki gave begrudging respect again. “Certainly, more than I expected of a pest... what is so funny?”


    John had started to chuckle. His plan was too far advanced now for the god to stop him. “See, engagements like this are what I excel at,” he allowed himself a moment of boasting. “You are, without a doubt, stronger than anything else in this barrier. Yet, you are not nearly as threatening to me as the swarm of Lorylim within your Sanctum. Fundamentally, the only thing I have to be afraid of is a lack of information. As the saying goes: know yourself and the enemy and you need not fear the outcome of a hundred battles.”


    One Magus Step and John was on the Starkiln. One Skitterstep and he was behind the barrier. One jump and he was up to Enki’s face. One punch and the god stars was sent flying off his pedestal.


    Absurd things happened when planned modifier stacking was enabled.