I have become Legion - 8 - Burning

“I don’t get it.”

Huh? What’s this about?

“Obviously, you’re an exception when it comes to strength.”

Yeah, I guess. Most people are stronger than me. Big sad that I got such a cursed body. But well, that was the only way I had enough points for Legion.

“No seriously.”

What?! I’m being serious. My body is super fucked. Like at best, I’m gonna have the stats of an average person. Not the stats of an average adventurer, the stats of the common peasant. On top of that, my magic power is impossible to control since it’s like the sea.

“You’re good at combat.”

OH! That was what you were talking about. Yeah, I’ll never lose.

“But still, there should be a lot of strong humans.”

Right? There’re a lot of powerful guys out there. Holy Knights, Archmages, Sword masters, and even beyond those guys there’s people who break all the rules of strength. The Barbarian of the Wildlands who’s called a Human Calamity because of his power. And there’s the Sword Saint as well, but well not sure if he should be counted.

“Yeah, exactly. And are you telling me that none of those guys were able to kill a single demon?”

Yeah, well, demons are really hard to kill.

“What the hell are you talking about? It took a single stab to kill Camio, and you managed to corner Valac right away.”

But I’m a special boy.

“Yeah, yeah, you are.”

Well, the actual reason is a little complicated.

“Hmm?”

Do you know about souls?

“I’m a soul without a body, so yes.“

Well yeah. So demons, when they get killed, their souls, of course, should go to the afterlife. Right?

“Huh?”

But you see the problem there, don’t you?

“We don’t have an afterlife.”

Exactly! Since you guys don’t have an afterlife, you guys just hang around. Kinda like evil spirits.

“Still, that doesn’t explain why they’re hard to kill.”

Well yeah. To be honest, demons aren’t actually hard to kill. At least most of them. Of course, there’re exceptions amongst them, like Furcas and Paimon. Those guys would take me a fuck-long to kill.

“Then why?”

Well, they come back to life.

“What?”

Yeah. You heard of the Wild Hunt?

“It’s some form of ritual practiced in this world.”

Once every couple of years, the Time Tower convenes and begins an event called the Wild Hunt. This day is treated as a special day that extends the year by 1 day. Kinda like a holiday. But nobody is joyful. Since during this time, the spirits of the dead are free to walk the earth. Most of those guys wanna kill the living. So people stay inside.

So when this happens, those demon souls can also manifest in the world. And yeah. You can probably guess. They remake their bodies.

“Then why don’t you stop having the Wild Hunt?”

Well, otherwise the spirits of the dead would rage more often in the world of the living. Also, the afterlives would slowly drift away from our world, and like that, more evil spirits would appear. Since they can’t enter their heaven or hell. And by hell, I don’t mean the demon world.

“Why would hell mean demon world?”

It does so in my world. Well, at least sometimes. Anyway, so the Time Tower manages the spirits of the dead by adding a day every couple of years. It also solves the issue of leap years.

“What is the Time Tower to be so powerful to do this?”

It’s one of the mage towers.

“You’re not gonna tell me more?”

Honestly, I don’t know much.

“I thought you knew everything about this world since you played the game so much.”

Slight problem. The Time Tower exists outside time and space, so in-game we weren’t allowed to enter it. But I guess I can indulge you a bit more. The Time Tower is believed to be founded and run by an Archmage with a law trait of Time. They manage a bunch of stuff that shouldn’t get fucked up. They ignore mortal politics, and just act as custodians of dangerous stuff. If they found out about me, they’d probably capture me as well. Throw me in a jail cell till I break out.

“So they’re powerful?”

Yeah. Really powerful. If the rumors are to be believed. But well, they’re not gonna do shit. I’m not even gonna meet a single member of theirs. Now, my buddy, this is called flag setting.

“What?”

You know? Chekov’s Gun? You talk about a thing in the first act so it’s gonna appear in the third act. I said that they’d throw me in a jail cell. So it’s bound to happen.

“First, I think you’re just being insane. Second, why would you want that?”

First, fuck you. Second, why not? I have no clue about these guys. I’m super interested in a faction that never appeared in-game. Are they really just a bullshit mechanic like that one guy online said? Or are they big boy mages who have learnt the truth of the world. It’s gonna be interesting to see.

“You are insane.”

Thank you.

“It was not a compliment.”

That’s up to me to decide.

“So you didn’t really kill those demons?”

What are you talking about? Oh right. I didn’t explain that. True names. Since I spoke their true name to steal their abilities, that was me eating their souls. Like a proper reaper, ain’t I?

“Since when were you a reaper?”

Since I needed to be one.

It felt like the Shadow Demon somehow facepalmed. Which was weird. Like this guy doesn’t even have a face or a palm. But well, that was just me trying to interpret his existence in human terms. Maybe he does have some soul thingy that allows him to feel a spiritual impact as a reaction to my stupidity. Hey wait, I’m not stupid!

“You really are insane.”

Hahahahahaha. No.

So I had been running for about one and a half days at this point. I wasn’t exactly sure whether I was going to make it in time. Honestly, I was feeling really anxious about this entire thing. My goal was to save the entire world. To let no one to die to a Calamity. So how would that track if I couldn’t even save my crush?

Oops. I didn’t mean to reveal that. But well, come on, she’s really pretty. Well, if this is a novel, then you wouldn’t be able to see her. Long black hair. Light Blue eyes. Uhh, I’m bad at explaining people, actually. Yeah nevermind. You’ll know when I see her, right? But I’m justified.

She also has a shitty backstory. Her parents were killed by forest bandits when she was just five years old. Then she spent almost ten years living amongst the cold forest up north. She ended up being blessed by the Law of Winter during this time. Yeah, as I said, I think I at least said. She was meant to be an origin character. She would’ve had the EX Grade trait [Frost Queen]. But as negative, she got given a bunch of curses. The reason is simple. She got lonely in the north, so she became a wanderer. But during these travels, a lot of assholes got mad at her. Why? Well, that’s because she was following the energy of winter.

Ah, I didn’t explain that, did I? While seasons might not exist in this world, winter does exist. More specifically, it’s a massive storm of cold magic power that wanders the world. So anyway people started association her with winter. They said bullshit about how she was bringing winter. Even though she was just following her subconscious connection to winter. So yeah, she ended up getting a bunch of curses like that.

And the village we’re going to are about to do a witch burning. First of all, that’s illegal. The order of witches has made a truce with the church of light. Second, that’s fucked up. I already burned myself alive a bunch. That shit hurts like hell. Maybe that’s why we always think of hell having a fiery energy. Then on top of that. She isn’t even a witch. Those fuckers just decided to lie and burn her for no good reason.

So since she’s pretty and has a backstory, isn’t that enough reason to develop a crush? Yeah, no clue. I just like her. And thinking that she might soon be burning alive is making my face twist in anger.

“Hey.”

Yeah, my buddy?

“Somebody is following us.”

Oh, is he here already?

“Who is it?”

Holy Knight Aaron de Teir.

“Huh? Why?”

He’s a helper. She might need a healer. And… You know. If I fail then. He’ll be able to bury her with the proper rites.

It was fucked up in-game. She couldn’t even be given a proper burial. She was doomed that her soul would be consumed by winter in death. Didn’t even have the possibility to go to heaven. Even though she had a high faith stat.

“So why exactly is a holy knight following us?”

Uncomfortable with him? Yeah, I’d also be, if I was a demonic parasite. But don’t worry, buddy. I won’t allow him to touch you.

“Reason.”

Yeah, yeah. That guy is here because we met before. Just before you woke up. I “stole” a bunch of holy embers from an inquisitor stash. They shouldn’t care though, right? Yeah, probably. Anyway, that guy found me. He was surprised since I could navigate the misty forest, and also handle so many holy embers. So he’s interested in me. I told him that I’d kill a demon, and yeah, I did. You remember Valac, right? It wasn’t that long ago.

“Of course. I’m not as mad as you are.”

Fuck you. So since I found out the date, I knew that guy’s route. Actually, he was going to go to that village after meeting the saintess. He’d discover what happened to the girl and prosecute the villagers. Church crime and all. So since I knew he was going to be in that city at that time. I needed to make a big splash. You remember how I killed Camio. I made sure to make a lot of noise.

So he went to talk to the guards’ commander and found out that somebody killed a demon in that town. He’s probably guessing it’s me. Since I said I’d kill one. So instead of saying ‘hi’ to the traveling saintess. He decided to follow me.

At least that’s what I think.

“I didn’t realize you were this good at manipulation.”

The hell are you talking about? That’s just a normal amount of manipulation. Something anyone can do. Right? Yes, that’s right. I don’t even need to ask you since you’re gonna spew some bullshit about how I’m insane. I ain’t listening to that anymore.

“Do you think he’ll really believe that you killed a demon, though? You said that killing demons is hard.”

Oh that? He already knows I did it. He’s a devout dude who worships god every day. Well, the god of light, that is. And that big guy would tell him that I killed two demons. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Since that’s something easy a god can say. Without needing to expend their power, to break causality.

“He’s approaching.”

Well, what do you think? He’s on a divine empowered horse. He’s buffing the fucker while I’m just running with Limit Break. No way I’m running faster than a horse. If it was just a regular horse, I should be able to run equal, but not that guy.

“So what’s the plan?”

Huh? Just keep running? I mean, we can chat while running. And I’ll explain to him what’s about to happen. Since now I’ve killed a demon, no actually I’ve killed two of them. The Warrior Pope won’t be gunning for my head.

“I see.”

So I kept running for a bit. It wasn’t that long. Just like ten minutes till a horse showed up on my side.

“Hello, demon killer. It’s been a couple of days.”

“Oh hey, Holy Knight. Yeah, it was a bit. You see, I did kill a demon.”

And that guy was finally here.

“You did indeed do that. Where exactly might you be headed that you’re running all the way?”

Like before, his voice is really deep. Like, dude, I’d love to have such a deep voice.

“An illegal witch burning.”

“What!?”

He shouted out. Yeah, well, he’s not a fan of burning. This guy went through using holy embers, so he knows how it feels. Or it could be that since he’s an enforcer of papal laws that he doesn’t like peasants who break them. Bit of noble arrogance? Probably not, actually. This guy is a proper guy. Also born as a blacksmith’s son. So yeah.

“How’s your horse?”

Honestly, having a Holy Knight with me would allow me to deal with the witch burning without any fighting. While yeah, I could attack them for heresy, but if I murdered them all, I’d probably have some legal troubles. I could always run faster than the law, though.

But since I’ve got a Holy Knight here, why not use him?

“He’s getting tired. I don’t he’ll be able to make it to the village.”

“Unfortunate.”

I pulled out a rope with a high divine power conductivity from my void storage.

“Here, take this.”

I threw one end of the rope to the Holy Knight.

“What is this?”

“I’m gonna give you divine power. Keep your horse going.”

He looked at me with suspicion. Well, I was excommunicated a couple days ago. So how much divine power could I really have? Well, with Legion, I regenerate divine power faster than I can expend it. But I can’t really tell this guy that I’m one of the monsters that’s meant to end the world, now can I? So instead I’m gonna have to cover that with the truth. Oh, you thought I was going to lie? Ain’t no way. I don’t like living a lie.

“Calamitous Powers.”

I was a “faithful” of the Calamitous Powers. Fun fact, the Divine Power of the Calamitous Powers is all of them. Since it’s an all corrupting power, it needs to act like all divine power. So yeah, he can use my divine power for his own miracles.

Unfortunately, he’s now glaring at me.

“Hey don’t look at me like that.”

Another fun fact. The First Hero also served the Calamitous Powers. And he said these words:

“I’m a faithless of the Calamitous Powers.”

It’s a funny wordplay. I’d surely have been good friends with the guy. Also, it means a quite simple thing. I use the power of the Calamitous Powers for good. Trick a god by being ballsy as hell, and that way you can defeat it.

“You know, right? You can use my divine power.”

Like come on, I’m already sending it through the rope.

“Shouldn’t you use it for yourself? How long can you run?”

Good points, unfortunately they don’t make sense. I can run forever, after all. But I can’t really state that, can I? Cus, how would I explain it. Also, I still don’t like lying. So let’s do this.

“I’m a troll.”

Wordplay.

“You’ve heard of the nine lives necromancer?”

Misdirection.

“I’m a necromancer reaper.”

Half-truth.

“So I’ve got multiple lives.”

Technicality.

Yeah, I like trolling people online. Why are you looking at me like that? It’s a victimless crime. Then that bit of misdirection with the necromancers is gonna make him believe I have that. What am I talking about? It’s called Life Vessel. It’s a trait that some really rare necromancers have. They can use it to store life energy for future use. So come back to life, as an example. Or run for a fucklong is what I’m implying. Added with the extreme life energy of a troll. Yeah, it could make sense. Maybe. But don’t question it. Because that deduction is the trick that I want you to believe.

Now, buddy. I told you right. I’d be a reaper. That’s my false identity. Since I can’t really call myself Legion.

“You’re an idiot.”

So responded my buddy.

“You’re almost like an immortal.”

And he bought it.

“Yeah. Haha.”

I wasn’t almost like an immortal. I was an immortal.

Then in the distance.

“Smoke.”

Aaron said it. Yeah, in the distance I saw smoke. The sun was going down, and you could see the red on the horizon. So this was fucked. What if they had already burned her?

[Warning! Using magic power beyond your capabilities comes with consequences.]

My overwhelming magic power extended into the distance. It was only as wide as my head, but it was long enough to reach the village.

[Warning! What you are about to do will result in unavoidable death.]

I ignored the system messages. I am Legion. Death is meaningless to me.

[Warning! Consequences will be applied.]

All the pain receptors in my body screamed out in pain as my vision changed. I didn’t have enough magic power to perform spatial distortion to drag my entire body to the village. So I dragged just my head. It was ripped off from the rest of my body, and the space between me and the village shrunk to nothing.

Since it was an instant death. Legion reformed my body. But my body still burned with the consequences of my action. I couldn’t stop here though.

A burning pyre.

I broke through all limits as I ran towards it. The flames engulfed me. The smoke entered my lungs. Twin pains, spiritual and physical, combined to create the greatest torment I had felt so far. But my goal was right in front of me. I could not give in. She was right in front of my eyes. Tied to the central pillar of the pyre.

My gladius was left behind, so to cut her free, I’d need something else.

[Warning! Using magic power beyond your capabilities comes with consequences.]

I again ignored the warning. Pain was something I could handle. But to lose a person right in front of my eyes could not be allowed. So, forcing my magic power into a new but familiar formation, I grabbed onto the pillar. My magic power enveloped the pillar, and I crushed it by squishing the space it took. Pushing my limit break to its limits, I lifted the log high into the air. And I threw it out of the fire. Squeezing just slightly more of my already negative life force into magic power, I cushioned her fall by reducing the space she fell.

And then I collapsed.

A great pain took over me. I was burning alive. But the pain of the pyre was nothing compared to the pain applied as a consequence for me overextending my magic power like that.