Chapter one: He who usurped(succeeded) a god
"Unlike what you think I don't consider this usurpation, for what I am concerned this is a ritual of succession, with me choosing you as an inheritor"
"Really, you are probably feeling quite proud, making a murderer out of a 13-year-old boy"
"Well, considering how skilled of a successor I have chosen I would be lying if I said I am not proud, besides one always doesn't need a child to succeed him, a worthy student can be fine successor as well"
"… I am not ready for the role or all the burdens that comes with it"
"No one is ever ready, regardless as they put on the crown they start learning and eventually adopt and fit into the role like a puzzle piece."
"…why me though?"
"Myriad of reasons, actually. May be because I foresaw tutoring you and being succeeded by you, maybe because I couldn't foresee a future where my existence didn't bring harm to humanity, or maybe because I could gaze into your true and unique nature"
"…you knew from the beginning, didn't you?"
"Obviously, in myth I have even been called omniscient and omnipotent, my clairvoyance is the manifestation of that belief, although I came to know about your real nature only when I sought out the successor most fitting and decided to look into you soul to find out what exactly was so special about you"
"With your power you could have breached the Tannhauser barrier and reach another world, you could have gone to an eternal adventure looking for further wisdom and magic, increase your power further. So why?"
"Because the sole purpose I descended was to choose a successor, I didn't wish for further wisdom or power. Although seeing my parallel version in your memory and through clairvoyance: making a fool out of himself is rather humiliating and oddly, rather entertaining as well"
"…."
"Well, some parallel version of myself actually discovered and in some cases even handed over by the supreme lord in heaven wisdom to reach the spiral helix-the ein sof, well you know what I mean. Paths that can grant you eldritch wisdom, true sorcery I believe mages from that world calls them"
"…. Paths? as in plural?"
"Indeed, although I suggest that you choose to master the fourth law first before proceeding to the other laws. Although our world does have a corrective force it is nowhere as annoying as the world where humanity developed an active collective consciousness, honestly the consciousness of the planet though primitive and undeveloped is actually human supremacist and favors humanity above others. But going through the Ymir's entrance several times on quick succession can be harmful for both your soul and psyche"
"You learn something new every day, I guess. Wouldn't Second magic: the operation of parallel worlds or First magic: Denial of nothingness; be better"
"Fourth law will help you survive and even aid you further in your journey as a king, master the second soon after, besides aren't you curious what the fourth law governs over? That curious part of you is what I always liked. That part of you which always wonders: how it happens? Is what sweetened the deal"
"I get the feeling there's more to it, isn't there?"
"Well, I wanted my successor to be unique even among his fellow kings and peers: namely the mages. You are now the king of mages-both in literal and spiritual sense for everything the world is concerned. As I have foreseen it- among your peers you will bear the title: מלך הקסמים (Malik Haksamym)"
"How original"
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you…. Honestly, it all sounds so surreal to me as well. Even after seeing it in your memory, parallel worlds; both you and me bearing physical resemblance to characters of fiction and even after seeing these worlds through clairvoyance and conversing with a parallel world version of myself, I find it hard to believe"
"And I lived with this feeling for the last 13 years-how exactly am I even having this conversation? I am certain that your last attack incinerated my body. How on earth would pandora even resurrect me if not even ashes of me are left behind"
"She can't. Even pandora can't make something out of nothing. Even a single atom of yours wasn't left behind. Judgement of Israel is such a volatile of authority. I believe some parallel version of mine called it by a different name... The best she can do is reincarnate you"
"Great… being born for a third time. I guess the saying "Third time's the charm" does hold some credibility"
"Or I can just make you a body"
"say that sooner, you shitty mentor!"
"Language young man, and I will have you know I am an excellent mentor, the fact you could kill me-a god of magic with magic alone after spending three years under my tutelage should be the proof of my statement"
"How vain! you completely ignored the fact that you forced me into murdering you. Killing a god! how funny! As if any human can kill a god if the said god in question were to take him or her seriously from the very beginning of the battle. No, you forced me to aid in your suicide. You planned this from the very beginning."
"Guilty as charged, it's a logic that even I can't refute"
"So, what are you waiting for"
"Even though I am technically dead, both our battle and death occurred in my temple which's nature you already know and both you and I died in my temple so…. And I have enough magical energy to create body for a single person and I have already told you I am only interested in choosing a successor, at this moment I am a disembodied spirit at best"
"…Will this be the last time I am seeing you?"
"Although this is goodbye by no means it is farewell, I will be conducting evaluation exam in future, so you better not slack off"
"And just when I thought I would be free from your hellish training… Why did I even bother to hold high hopes?''
"I heard that brat"
"It was meant to be heard…. Fine do your thing''
"You know k**********, even though I said one necessarily doesn't need a child for the sake of selecting a successor I want to be selfish at least once. You know better than anyone else how my children torn apart my kingdom and desecrated my legacies. So, can I…. be selfish for this once?"
"Old man, haven't you been continuously engaging in selfishness after your descent, but then again it's the nature of gods to be selfish, so I don't hold it against you. Selfishly deciding I am to be your pupil, selfishly ordering me to kill you, what does it matter if you were to engage in another selfish deed. Sure, go ahead"
"You ruined the touching moment, shouldn't you be shedding tears and begging me not to disappear."
"That only happens in anime, old man. Although both the memories of the fictional character whose body I inhabit and memories I possess and the person's look you have, both of us are very much real. This world, gods and magic everything is real"
"How can you be sure that this world didn't start out as a fiction as well. From what I could see from your memory both this world and all the other fictional worlds are real, confirmed by my clairvoyance as well"
"Old man, did you just break the fourth wall? What's next? A god begging me to take his life? A virgin goddess falling head over heels for me?"
"….."
"What's with the long face old man?"
"…. I believe, according to the definition of youngsters these days; you just tempted murphy"
"….. You can't be serious old man. Really…. You got to be kidding with me. As if becoming a godslayer and your successor wasn't enough"
"You only have yourself to blame. You shouldn't have tempted the being called murphy. Even I wouldn't dare to tempt murphy. You dug your own grave now lay in it"
"Shouldn't you be consoling me, old man?"
"why would I? You will be reaping the fruit of your mistake. Next time be more careful. Who am I kidding? knowing you, you will probably wage war against murphy? A war which will leave you bruised, battered, broken and lying defeated on the ground"
"Did you also use clairvoyance to look into it as well. Honestly trying to engage in a debate against being with clairvoyance is like playing fourth dimensional chess game while having third dimensional perception"
"I don't need clairvoyance to determine that. I have known you long enough to know how your thought process works. By the way, we are getting off topic. I won't be stay longer within the border between life and death and pandora has already started pulling your soul into her realm"
"Go ahead, then. Although if you were to change my face or hair color, I swear I will summon you back into the mortal plane again by whatever means necessary just so I can kick you in the nut"
"Insolent until the very end, maybe you were always meant to be a godslayer. To tell the truth even if I were not to die by your hand some other god would have certainly died by your hand and you would have become a godslayer none the less. Well, I would like to inform you that I have decided to create your body in the template of Adam, with genetical, spiritual magical potential similar to mine.
"….. So that's what you meant by being selfish. Honestly, modifying my body and soul… what do you intend to accomplish with this"
"Everyone, even gods, want their footprints to be left in the world. This is my way of leaving my footprint. A body that contains no original sin and thus is free of pollution of mortality yet the soul containing all the original sins and the additional sin of deicide, molded after the first men when he resided in his pure state in the garden before he feasted on the fruit of forbidden wisdom-this essentially changes your existential hierarchy, literally putting you above all mortals: a form of invincibility that renders you unkillable by the hand of man or deity said to be of mortal origins; namely many a deities of steel."
"I get the feeling that there's a reason why you kept original sin in my soul at all"
"original sin is humanity's greatest wisdom and power, it's potential. Original sin is for a lack of better words- humanity's freewill. Removing original sin from your soul: the source of consciousness and mind; will essentially turn you into a kind of automata, no better than a homunculus or a nature spirit without a sense of self. Why did you think the majority of the einzbern homunculus possessed no sense of self? Simple-they possessed original sin in their body but not in their soul. In other words, exactly opposite to the condition, I am willing to provide you with. Had they succeeded in doing the same thing as I, their homunculi would have been conscious but invincible for all reasons and purposes."
"I get the feeling einzberns did know about this process but was unwilling to create invincible juggernaut warriors who could have rebelled against them and decided to settle for the opposite, homunculi who could pass for a sinless pure soul and thus could be mistaken for nature spirits: in other words, extension of the world by the world, allowing them to recover heaven's feel: a magic related to soul, without subjugation by the counter force- collective consciousness of mankind. Crafty one, aren't they. A very subtle way to circumvent the counter force"
"…. And you wondered why I chose you of all people to succeed me. Despite not inheriting my clairvoyance yet you figured out that much simply from our conversation. As for my genetic template- in most of the parallel worlds I was born with the highest magical potential possible for a human to be naturally born with through natural genetic processes. So that you don't need to be worried about your descendants, even the so-called elite families of parallel worlds like the barthomelois will weep in envy at the potential of your family and my descendants."
"… I don't understand, why bother wasting so much effort and time in cultivating someone like me"
"Asking something repeatedly despite gaining the answer is not exactly a sign of wisdom, for that's a sign of senility"
"Yet I get the feeling you will give me a different answer."
"Unlike gods, who could do nothing other than surrender against the decree of fate and accept its verdict, people like you namely beings who has the potential to be godslayers actively fight and in some cases win against fate and destiny. I was never meant to succeed against fate, you on the contrary were always meant to destroy the script called destiny. The tapestry called destiny can easily be ripped apart by people like you through nothing but sheer willpower alone. Honestly the true nature of a godslayer is more akin to a rebellious beast than human. The main reason gods hate godslayers is half part envy and half part rage"
"…. That's not the answer I was looking for"
"Yet that's all I am answering for now. When you inherit my clairvoyance, you will get further insight and further understanding over fate, destiny and inevitability."
"….."
"Well, rejoice! You get to celebrate birthday twice from now on"
"You had to pull that reference didn't you"
"While Kotomine Kirei might have been a distorted human with the origin of "Evil" which he awakened partially at an early age thus his evil nature-you have to at least admit it that man was a smooth talker and definitely had a way with words"
"Of all the people in multiverse who could have amused you with wordplay it had to be the evil priest"
"We are getting off topic again, a have one last request of you"
"… Huh, I don't mind keeping it so long it doesn't go against my principle and I have the capacity to fulfill it"
"It's the right of father to name his son in my faith, so will you let me?''
"Let you what?"
"Give you a new name?"
"…. Fine, but you better not give me some weird name"
"Great, through the ordinance of stars, advise of spirits and through numerological ordinance of gematria I hereby name my son and successor מהטבלה(Mehetabel). May the blessing of the YHVH always remain on you as you proceed in your journey to cull the number of false deities and assume my role as a teacher and king"
"I might not be an expert in bible and might have never even opened Talmud or torah, I am sure as hell 'Mehetabel' is a feminine name. Wasn't it the name of a biblical queen or something?"
"Nonsense! 'Mehetabel' was the name of a patriarch of Jewish descent- holding the meaning 'Favored by God' always take pride in it for it represents my bond with you and yours with mine and the supreme lord in heaven"
"I suspect neither stars nor spirits have anything to do with it, regardless, if you say so"
"Besides, with such wavy blonde hair reaching waist, sharp sea blue eyes, lithe figure and such a feminine face you could pass off as a female anyway, so there's nothing wrong in giving you a feminine name. I was even tempted to turn you into a woman several times during your apprenticeship"
"…. So, you do admit that 'Mehetabel' is a feminine name. You sick old man, you were checking me out, a 13-year-old kid? Gross! gross! You are gross!"
"I was not! I will have you know I am heterosexual and have a sexual orientation towards women. My ludicrous popularity with women has even been mentioned in the myth and my virility and charm is literally a part of my authorities! And for your kind confirmation 'Mehetabel' is a gender unisex name."
"That's just make it even worse. You just admitted being a playboy and womanizer."
"Just for that I will do everything in my power to ensure you get that part of my authority"
"Aren't you being petty, old man"
"Even my patience has a limit and there's so much ridicule even I am willing to tolerate. Unlike my parallel versions I am full of passions and feelings and actually relish in it. Besides, you will be thanking me later words for it and from what I have seen your luck with women you will be needing it…well, time's up I guess"
"So goodbye for now I geuss"
"go ahead my son, be victorious in all your battles and circumvent all your obstacles with wit and prowess. My Beit-hamikdash, the Mafteah Shelomoh, my Aron Habbrit, my Osher, my Hakodesh Chayes, my Hakodesh Iahsen, my Haksama, my Chokhmah, my Hepar and Peer-I give my all to you"
"I except all those things except the last two. I refused to be a complete replica of you. I will be my own person"
"Defiant until the very end, how campione like. Fine then, be your own person but keep the Rshuit regardless. May keter always adorn thy forehead, may chokhmah always reside in thy consciousness, may all of thy actions ought to be taken through bi'nah, even if thee were to fall in despair may thy never abandon chesed, even in the realm of chaos may gevurah be thy torch, may tiferet become thy morning rays, may the scepter of netzah always remain in thy hand, may hod guide thee towards prosperity, may thee be the one to lay down yesod. May thee and thy descendants be the one to hold malkuth. I already gave you my da'at and rshuit. This however is my blessing."
"Thanks, old man"
"You are welcome, haban shely"
Pandora POV
"Well, aren't you an interesting one" pandora muttered. Honestly a god choosing to be slain by the hand of his own student whom he trained and raised and the said student was actually a foreigner in their world holding knowledge of the yore, unknown magic and myriad worlds beyond the veil…. interesting indeed. Pandora's interest was piqued, after all even in her myth she has been declared a curious woman. And now he has also become her son, as well as son of the very god he killed. Seriously, no wonder that man's children tore apart his kingdom. He is the very example of a bad parent. You don't traumatize the child you are willing adopt and certainly you don't incinerate them. Recreating their body doesn't absolve you of the crime.
Regardless of how many blessings and gifts you give them during resurrection the trauma remains hidden in their mind. Let's not even talk of the potential PTSD and emotional baggage they will carry from the ordeal of killing the person who adopted them, for the rest of their life. Seriously will it hurt him in the nut to go through the proper adoption process at least once. Though she should not be talking about proper adoption process. Everyone was aware what it required to be adopted by her: a deathmatch, a battle royale-which most of the time ended with the mutual death of soon to be campione and the god in question. At least she knew how to give good advises and console them after their battle. She was the all-knowing and all giving women after all. She gave graces and boons to both humanity and gods alike.
So, she prepared to soothe the heart of another traumatized child. Yes, child. If it looks like a child, thinks like a child and acts like a child-it might as well be a child. Even though he has the memories and mindset of another adult which he occasionally slips into unconsciously. Well, it won't be far-fetched to say he has memories, knowledge, wisdom of three life times. Third times the charm indeed.
To tell the truth a godslayer, even a new born one shouldn't be having this many authorities nor can they contain so many. However, culprit-the god in question was a willing donor and was more than eager to do whatever necessary to make sure he inherited all of his powers. Going so far as modifying his body soul and genes to ensure his potential for inheritance. Okay I get it, you want your adopted child to become your biological one as well. But seriously incinerating his body with the highest amount of heat possible on the planet just so you can get the chance to recreate his body after the first and ideal man- the perfection incarnate and adding your own genes-talk about being an extremist to the core.
Well at least both he and his descendants will have high magical potential (if you ignore the part about him being traumatized). It's like Adam template was the mold(dice) where the raw materials namely flesh without original sin with the culprit's in questions, biological data was mixed with the original human body's (Adam's) biological data, in other words he is now the only human being whose body was devoid of the genetic materials of Haw'wah(Eve). Honestly this unique condition alone rendered him unkillable by authorities derived from human origin. Many a god of steel who has legend as a human hero who were posthumously deified would freak out should they find out. However, this doesn't mean he is unkillable or invincible. Just unable to be killed by anything derived from men
In other words, it's as if he is like singularity which rejects human derived aggression. Similar to a Nemean lion actually. Sure, he now had the strength to topple buildings and had the speed of a cheetah. Let's not even talk about his sensory perception. Poor kid will have hell of nausea, vertigo and other sensory related problems. It needs not be said he will have his work cut out for him along with the homeworks his mentor left for him.
Then again "No pain, no gain". Although godslayers get a magic core equivalent to the divine cores of god to power their authorities the paranoid bastard created within the newborn's soul several thousand magic circuits of high quality and grafted within his body magic crests (an idea he ripped off from his parallel world version-someone should sue this guy, really how far are you willing to go to empower your successor) with absurd amount of magical knowledge which even pandora finds difficult to decrypt. And she was supposed to be all knowing!
But still to gain so much power all of a sudden. She really hopes he doesn't become a tyrant. The thing is a godslayers physical and spiritual composition was somewhat similar to the heretic gods. This is why it is rather difficult for them to produce children with ordinary humans. For all reasons and purpose, they count as a separate species, thus the difficulty. As a result, should they adopt a mindset similar to gods, they will probably exercise greater control over their authorities than those who actually gives a flying fuck (pardon the language) about subtlety.
That's why Voban, Luo hao, Doni(from a parallel worldline, this world's sword idiot hasn't been crowned yet) enjoyed greater freedom than those who actually cared for property destruction and self-image. In other words, the greater a godslayer's craving for freedom, the greater his battle lust, the greater his ego and pride, the greater his arrogance-the greater his control over his own prowess. In other words, the closer their mindset to heretic gods, the greater their own control over their powers and lesser were their limitations and restrictions.
Restrictions were actually self-imposed. Unlike what most people tend to believe pandora wasn't the one to impose restrictions on the authorities of the godslayers. They were actually self-imposed mental inhibitions that a godslayer put on themselves on a subconscious level. They do so, out of their inherent desire to not yet leave the boundary of humanity and only kind and caring people tend to have them. That's why authorities tend to evolve. As changes occur within a godslayers psyche on a subconscious level and they slowly fit into that role, authorities changed and, in some cases, lost restrictions and on rare cases gained more restrictions (most of the time such rare cases involved the death of a close one associated and the authority in question somehow linked with the incident)
In other words, the one who puts shackles in the feet of a godslayer weren't gods or her. It's themselves. Their inherent desire to not become inhuman as others called them and not be treated anymore differently than their beloved mortals is what became their chains.
In other words, for godslayers, kindness and benevolent nature is what may become their sword of Damocles. This situation can be explained by several examples: Godou Kusanagi of a parallel worldline couldn't freely use all his authorities due to self-imposed limitations and restrictions (he is still the same even in this worldline), however under Lancelot du lac's authority "Insane rush" he became a battle loving berserker who abandoned all reason and logic and thus gained a mindset similar to a heretic god. Under such a mindset he was able to easily ignore the self-given mental suggestion of "Remaining a normal human" and embraced the nature of "Battle loving tyrant" thus was able to use all his authorities without any restrictions so far. However, the moment "Insane Rush" was dispelled he regained his clarity and previous mindset- he instantly regretted his actions and his restrictions were back like before, proving the previous mentioned theory.
Another example was a relatively new godslayer called Rokuhara Ren. Due to immense use of his authority and Aisha's foolishness his authority "Retribution of Nemesis'' was temporarily sealed. However due to his reluctance to become a tyrannic warmonger under the self-imposed misunderstanding if he were to part with his authority forever, he might be able to use it one last time. Thus, he gave himself (he actually believed his authority had a will of its own-what an utter bullshit) a self-suggestion and was able to invoke it in the climax of battle but was later sealed away due to the nature of self-suggestion. If he were to feel an intense desire and urge to use this authority again while in a pinch, he will be able to unseal it and gain strength stronger than ever due to the overwhelming self-confidence.
Few other examples are: Doni's Ripping arm of silver which due to his intense desire to turn his own existence into an invincible sword capable of severing all things in creation turned his bare silver arm into a swordless sword. Aisha (of a parallel timeline) due to feeling regret over causing distortion in the axis of space and time settled for a alternative, thus was able to turn his bidirectional time travel authority into a parallel world travel authority. It still messed with space time but caused less harm than before. Godou due to his desire to protect others and survive and acceptance over the fact that he couldn't get back to normal life and now must become the devil king exterminator was able to convert "Once per day for each authority of Persian warlord" to "Once per 'half a day' for each authority of Persian warlord". Due to his creative mind Godou through self-suggestion was able to fuse several authorities together and even create new artificial authority with the help of Athena and Circe.
Honestly "Sinless Body"- body devoid of original sin could be considered artificial yet an original anti-humanity authority only unique to him. Even his fellow godslayers will be helpless against it. Such an absurd form of defense. This however made him a suitable candidate for battle against the King of the end. Basically, this is the polar opposite authority of the godslayer of ten lives who later became a god due to posthumous deification. Unfortunately, the priests writing Ramayana didn't have enough insight about the nature of gods and how exactly apotheosis and deification worked and thus technically doomed the venerated crown prince by unknowingly turning his worst enemy "Ravana-Godslayer of ten lives" into "Ravana-Demonic deity of ten lives". He really wants to see the crown prince's face when he figures that out. Perhaps she should buy a camera to record his face.
The "Sinless body" authority worked under a very simple logic. Due to being the template of original Adam before he feasted on the forbidden fruit- his body didn't contain any sin and was thus still in the living shape of god. Since all beings descended and thus remained inferior to Adam before his fall from eden his existential hierarchy is thus the highest barring YHVH and Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, lesser beings (those who originated from humanity and held authorities which was crystallization of their deeds as a human) thus held no sway over him. The same condition extends to angelic deities for YHVH declared Adam t be superior to all other life forms including angels.
With this power alone he could defeat all other godslayers considering godslayers are still somewhat human and also believed themselves as such. And if he were to pick his battles wisely could defeat majority of the steel deities who had their roots in humanity including demigods. Although against gods who had origin as a pure god, it wasn't much of a help other than granting further resistance like preventing instant death against someone like Balor. Speaking of deities with ocular powers, did he really have to give him the "Eyes of the lord". Wasn't a body without original sin enough. At least he didn't tell him about it nor could he copy authorities permanently. Even she feared the consequences if he got that much power while in his emo phase. It's a combination of the copy wheel eyes and Godou's authority ama-no-murakumo. The culprit in question at least had a little tact. Mystic eyes or her divine butt (according to Epimetheus-the pervert, it's fine butt by the way). She was getting off topic again. Since when could mystic eyes let you copy authorities-temporary it may be? Let's not even talk about the ten authorities he inherited (yes, so far as she was concerned it was a ceremony of inheritance not of usurpation) from him, ten blessings he was additionally granted.
Since she was talking about restrictions-what did it mean now that his new body and soul was both similar and further closer to the gods than the campiones originally became when they went through the usurpation ritual. What did it mean since his mindset towards magic and worldly wisdom was exactly quiet similar to the deity he inherited and was adopted by in both physical, spiritual and metaphysical sense-whose blood now blew through his vein? Intentionally done to the child, so that the deity's lineage could be preserved through his bloodline. Similar mindset, similar personality, similar lineage, similar body composition, similar spiritual composition. How far were you willing to go to ensure your successor's superiority. As battle crazed as Verethragna were, even he didn't go so far.
The answer was rather simple-he will inherit them as they were. Without any modification, restrictions and limitations so far. The only consolation for the other gods is due to his and his father's similar mindset they will have hard time evolving this ten authorities. Hopefully he would overcome his emo phase soon. Lest the world gets burned. As she was monologuing, the target of monologue suddenly begun stirring and she paid her attention to him
"The Black art that Epimetheus and I left behind" She chanted with her childlike yet melodic voice as he slowly stirred back to consciousness. "The sacred birth of an illegitimate child, shrouded in darkness, born of a fool and a witch" He slowly begun to open his eyes. "A secret rite of usurpation, only possible through the sacrifice of a god. All conditions have been met."
"Did you peek inside my soul as well?" That's the oddest question any godslayer ever asked her soon after gaining consciousness in her. Regardless, like the cheerful trigger-happy woman she was, she nodded her head vigorously.
"Honestly, divine folk have no sense of privacy" he started rubbing his hair backwards and begun to complain "At least you could have asked before peeking, not that my refusal would have stopped you" Wise successor indeed. "Do you hate me?" he suddenly asked.
Okay, she wasn't expecting that "Eh! Why would I hate you?" perhaps he does have that part of Epimetheus in him, hence the current situation.
"Unlike your other children, I am neither courageous. Even though I desired and adored power, I wasn't eager to pay the due for it. I always set my goals to high and majority of the time failed to achieve them. Unlike them I am not overly skilled in armed or unarmed combat either. Although I am innovative and knowledgeable in magical and mundane arts l lacked the overwhelming power to properly utilize such knowledge. Despite possessing the desire to wield my mentor's power I lacked the courage. Even when he could see my desire, he also saw hesitation in me. Despite possessing a similar attitude towards knowledge, when he asked me to cut the guillotine rope, I chickened out. I refused despite possessing greed, with my self-imposed mental limiters which denied murder and greed."
He took a brief pause from self-criticism," Even though i had the desire to ascend to the higher realm, desire to fulfill my greed i decided to be a hypocrite and despite possessing the desire for power repeatedly denied my desire by telling myself: what would you do with such power, who will you protect, what need do you have for possessing such overwhelming power. You are not the person whose body you inhabit nor are his memories, desires and ambitions truly your own. Unlike him, a human supremacist, who even went on per toe with gods and gave his life if it meant humanity can proceed further, you possess no such desire and certainly aren't a leader material. You are but a convenient fake who can't even overcome his own hypocrisy" a brief pause "All your other children for all their tyranny are honest with their desires, even Godou Kusanagi! Unlike me who couldn't even overcome his hypocrisy!"
Pandora gently placed each of her palm in each of his cheek, an affectionate gesture, gazing into his now golden eyes with a soft gaze, she said, "Unlike what you believe, there isn't any absurd standard or criteria one needs to fulfill to be adopted by me. Well, to tell the truth there's no criteria at all. You of all people know how some of them became godslayers. Alex used trickery and Ren didn't even participate in a battle, still till this day Godou and Aisha didn't learn any form of armed or unarmed combat. Stop putting absurd expectations on yourself. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Greed? Who doesn't possess it? Even I am not free of greed. Hypocrisy? Aren't you confessing your shortcomings and insecurities now? How come you still claim to be a hypocrite? Stop Setting absurd benchmarks for yourself only to fall into depression when you fail to achieve them"
A pregnant pause before she continued," You don't need to live up to some absurd standards or expectations. Neither mine, nor your mentor's or yourselves'. You are fine just the way you are. You don't need to be unique or anything. For you are making me proud just by existing. So, enjoy your life more. You are you. Not the 'book nerd' of the previous life as you think yourself to be. Not the man who fought and bled alongside god-the so-called fictional character and human supremacist. The current you are more than that, you are the king of mages, a godslayer, a Rakshasa raja. The current you are far better than all other incarnations of yourself. Accept it. For peace will only come through acceptance"
He kept gazing at her with his now soft molten gold-filled eyes, eyes that will one day even lay waste to gods, "You know, I didn't have a good relationship with my parents in previous life. I needn't tell you what kind of relationship the magus part of my memory had with his. It wasn't until actam became my hav did I learn about affection. In this life I didn't even knew them. So, will you?"
Her heart missed a bit, could it be what she was thinking of, "Ah! can you be a bit more specific?"
He grabbed both her hands with his own, his hands are warm, "Will you become my aima?"
"Yes, finally after all these years someone accepted me as a mom. I will definitely be your mama" Honestly she was starved for motherhood. He couldn't understand, after all the gifts and affection she gave to those ungrateful children, whom she didn't have any obligations towards but loved nonetheless, will it bruise your ego if you were to accept her even as a step-mother instead of outright rejecting her. Is their Ga'avah really that big? From now on I will be you shely and you my aima.
"Can you tell me how I actually reincarnated in this world, why exactly I possess the body and memories of a magus of all things."
"Hmm… reincarnation is a very complex web, that even I find difficult to understand. And I can tell you it wasn't that dead apostle. I actually know his handiwork and encountered some of his victims. He wouldn't bother fusing your soul and memory with a dead mage's. You would have developed dissociative disorder if that had been the case. Nay, he either uses class cards or an inferior application of heaven's feel along with spiritual evocation to do the job. The fact that you actually didn't develop multiple personality disorder despite possessing two sets of memories means your soul wasn't fused. That only leaves one conclusion. You are recalling"
"Recalling…...wait you don't mean?"
"Indeed, you are recalling your previous lives. A phenomenon that believers of Buddhist faith call pubbe-nibas annussati(recalling of former abodes). One of the six steps necessary to achieve Buddhahood. If you were to go through spiritual penances and ascend further in the hierarchy you will not only be able gain knowledge, wisdom and powers of previous lives by seeing the key points of these lives like a movie but will also be able gaze at other's previous lives and will be able help them recall the past lives and absolve people of their karma or wield karma itself as a weapon."
"...!?"
"Ah! Am I encroaching into a difficult topic, i understand if you are being annoyed at me for not explaining things with further clarity"
"Ah! That's not it I am just wondering what could have been the catalyst for such a thing. To think i was actually both the original magus and the astrophysicist, i guess you learn something new every day. But really what could have triggered it. Is some higher being really pulling the strings or is this just a natural occurrence. After all neither was I follower of Buddhism nor did i practice magic related to shugendo or hojutsu "
"Even I am not sure what exactly triggered this after all multiverse and all the lifeforms occupying these worlds are infinite in number for even someone like me to keep track off, but I can tell you this from now on regardless of how many times you die or reincarnate, you will at some point of your life remember and gain everything of your previous lives. This is as much of a curse as it is a boon. The only option left for you is to keep climbing the existential hierarchy until you reach the zenith and achieve emancipation from the cycle of transmigration."
"For a devil king to try to become a bodhisattva, how ironic!"
"On your defense you don't have any choice. Although there's more. This particular stage of Buddhist ascension only can be achieved by those who accumulated great positive karma in previous lives only to reap its fruit in current life and those who has a grand destiny and further opportunity for positive karma. Means even among your fellow godslayers your role is special."
He took a deep breathe before releasing a deep sigh "And just when I thought I would be gaining a break…. Neither gods nor destiny will give me some semblance of peace"
Pandora's gaze softened, "You don't have to follow the decree of the gods or destinies. I told you, didn't I? be yourself. Be what you wish to become. Not because others have ordained it"
"Isn't that why I let actam choose a new name regardless how feminine it sounds. I didn't want to dwell in the past and wanted to start something new, wanted to be someone new. From this point on I am only and only Mehetabel. I will hold no regret in casting my old names aside."
"That's the spirit…. I guess time's up. Your body is about to wake up. Time for you to start your journey as a king. I, pandora the all giving women hereby declare Mehetabel as the fourth godslayer, all of you now bestow this child with both your blessings and your curses"
"Goodbye, aima" he muttered, before he disappeared from the boundary of life and death and rejoined his sinful soul with his now sinless body.
"I wonder what kind of saga you will weave upon this world, from now on I will be observing your journey as you write your own tale, ********* *****." the last part of the mutterings were unheard as the bearer of the name no longer accepted or acknowledged the name as his own. But someday he will accept this name: for ascension, prosperity and peace comes through acceptance.
Author notes:
I am a first-time writer so please don't flame, however honest opinion and constructive criticism is welcomed. Neither English nor Hebrew is my native tongue, I use google translator for Translation and transliteration. So please excuse this first-time writer.
By now I am sure almost 80% of the readers have figured out who the heretic god was that became Mehetabel's mentor from all the authorities in Hebrew language he uttered, obviously he is a deity of jewish folklore- have been giving hints like crazy and you need to be a blind idiot to not see through it. The biggest hint is Mehetabel's title as a campione. Google translate it and all your answers will become clear if it hasn't already. As for Mehetabel's identity as a magus,it's evident just from his new name, the god's naming ceremony declaration and added description of his physical appearance. If you still can't figure it out then shame on you… although his name will be revealed much later.
There will be many more Jewish, Biblical and Buddhist real life religious anecdotes and references.
This isn't a fate exclusive crossover; it will draw reference from multiple franchise and verses.
Next chapter will have further twists.
By the way, did I reveal too much information in the first chapter or did I make him overpowered from the get go. Write in the review.