Chapter three:Oileanach na bana-bhuidsich (part-2)
459 AD, location: Isle of skye
"Tell me shisou, have you ever heard of the terminology 'Campione'?"
"Hmm...that oddly sounds like Latin, the official language of romans? I could be mistaken though"
"It's Italian actually, a language which won't be properly established until 900 years in the future. A language which can find its ancestry in Latin. It means 'Champion' by the way."
"Ho... knowledge of the future, clairvoyance I presume?"
The other person didn't reply, just remained silent before taking a deep breath.
"A Campione—a Godslayer—is a supreme ruler.
Since he can kill a celestial being, he can therefore call on the sacrosanct, divine powers wielded by the gods.
A Campione—a Godslayer—is a lord.
Since the power to kill a deity is in his hands, he therefore looms over all mortals on Earth.
A Campione—a Godslayer—is a devil."
"That sounds rather ominous, but a clear-cut explanation to describe someone like me. As scary as I am, I don't think I am that grand"
"I am sorry if this sounds rude but I wasn't talking about you. Even though you have killed gods and taken their powers by the conceptual logic of "assimilating the power of whatever you kill or eat and thus make it a part of your strength" a conceptual empowerment process that Aztec and Viking people practiced, that hero Siegfried was the most popular example of; you haven't been adopted by pandora. The counterforce actively prevents her from influencing the world and spin her web in this parallel world. No, I was talking about myself "
"... I see, you too took the same path as I. Then you should know how I ended up becoming a divine spirit and what waits for you at the end of that path"
"Indeed, I know, it is impossible to remain human after showing the audacity to commit deicide…."
"Do you want me to give you a mercy kill when you end up like me?"
"I told you, didn't I? Even after experiencing betrayal I haven't become suicidal. Although I am rather pessimistic, I will be able to get back up at no time. This path although forced unto me wasn't unappreciated or unwelcomed. Unlike you I have something to struggle for, something to look forward to"
"And what would that be?"
"A promise of humanity's potential and ascension. A promise of hope and bright future"
….
The witch of dun scaith has seen many strange things in her long life. She has taught many a pupil. Some became legends in their own right. Setanta and Ferdiad were exceptional even among many she instructed. However her new pupil compared to others was exceptional even if she were to compare him with those two previously mentioned.
If only she were to compare him with those two in magical potential alone, then he surpassed them by several magnitudes. Setanta was the son of chief god of eire and her new student surpassed Setanta in the magical prowess by several hundred times.
Considering he had more prana than her, a goddess (divine spirit) incarnated in physical flesh, that's not something you can hide or ignore. Honestly if it wasn't for her high perception over reality and mystery she would have mistaken him for a minor god of aboriginal people of some region. His very existence generated mystery. He was practically soaked in mystery and radiated it like some living and breathing divine construct.
She has never seen any mortal being with such a perfect figure and visage. Blonde hair that looked like molten gold, equally bright gold-colored eyes. Perfectly shaped face that mesmerized other's heart and soul. A form of handsomeness that enchanted the soul of all things with conscious will. Perfect muscles without any extra fat, perfectly symmetrical figure with powerful muscles that looked as if a god of craft had carved them. Six packs that looked like grated cheese. Rather than a human he looked more like a sculpture of some god that has been brought out for worship.
The most perfect physique that will bring envy even from a god of beauty, a being that anyone could tell wasn't ordinary. He didn't have anything that could be called imperfections in his visage, he glowed like sun in the dark gloomy castle of dun scaith. Even wraiths and evil spirits were instinctively afraid of approaching him. Honestly, he looked more divine than mortal. Similar to the Chains of heaven that gods of ancient Mesopotamia created. He is the closest thing that can be described as physically perfect. Not too short, not abnormally tall either. A lithe build of a swimmer that had all the compressed muscles in right proportions. An ethereal beauty, that looked like it would disperse like an ephemeral illusion. An ideal image, that looks like it emerged from a fantasy book written for children. An ideal example of prince charming.
So when he approached her with the desire to become her pupil, she was skeptical. Many have under the desire of becoming her consort approached her in the past and became her student. Some of their skeletons can still be found in dun scaith.
She actually expected him to demand that she become her consort. He looks no older than fourteen, however there have been far younger skirt chasers (example: Setanta) .Considering she felt his divinity and abundant amount of magical power, she instinctively raised her guard and prepared herself for battle, although she desired death of herself, by no means will she allow herself be humiliated or belittled. Something all gods and occasionally some demigods tend to do before they met their end by her spear.
So, imagine her surprise the person in question despite his high divinity turned out to be a demigod who has sought her out for instruction despite knowing her reputation for breaking her students with spartan training. He didn't speak any lies, showed humble and honest attitude in her presence (not that he could lie even if he wanted to, she is quiet skilled in discerning lies even without magecraft, through cold reading, body language among other things).Apparently his old mentor died by his hand(more like forced to aid in his suicide as he claims).He wanted to complete his mystical education and also become skilled in non-magical combat.
Although he is rather cynical, he is equally optimistic. He didn't bother honey coating his words and spoke the plain truth. He is honest with his opinion. Although he seems to be giving praises, he is actually giving honest analysis. It made others think he is a smooth talker. However he will instantly break that illusion by giving constructive criticism. He is a form of cynic that saw the abyss, emerged from it with sagely wisdom and charm. Despite having a pessimistic view towards reality, he has yet to abandon hope and actually tries to think positively. He isn't naive nor is he a stranger to the harshness of the world. Although he is rather wishful and idealistic. Someone who despite knowing the cruel visage of reality actually hopes for the better.
His nature is such that it makes it impossible to dislike him after knowing his true personality. He is actually rather warm, goofy and rather humorous once you get to know him on a personal level. He isn't arrogant or narcissistic but had a firm self-control and self-confidence unto himself. He is rather sharp, quick-witted and rather wise in both mundane and mystical arts. His last teacher was exceptionally efficient in teaching (both his words and from her own analysis).
Although a cynic, it didn't make him a stranger to the affairs of the world. He is skilled in many arts and crafts and rather talented in both magecraft and worldly crafts(No sir, she didn't moan like a bitch in heat while tasting his home made sweets. That was probably some wraith or evil spirit she killed in the past that still holds grudge till this day)
It seems he already knows martial arts. But not to the level of a war veteran. He is rather skilled in unarmed martial art called Jacob's limbs (a martial art for killing angels of all things) and actually rather skilled in fencing. He picked up her combat style by simply observing her once. Although his mystic eyes that he seemingly is unaware of or couldn't activate willingly is to be given the credit for. The rainbow-colored mystic eyes activated momentarily in the heat of spar and let him perfectly copy her movements and skills that took her several centuries to create in a matter of several seconds. At first it irked her to no end and she asked him about it after one lengthy spar. He replied with genuine confusion evident in his face
"What mystic eyes, what might you be talking about?"
Instantly it became clear to her that he wasn't aware of their existence and probably could activate them only in the midst of extreme concentration. She briefly considered telling him about them before abandoning the idea. If he were to learn of their existence beforehand then he may not put effort on his training anymore and become dependent upon them. And should he face a battle where he could not overcome his enemy with skill or mystic eyes alone he would become a sitting duck.
For a mystic eye of rainbow rank they have rather simple function. Analyze and replicate movements and instantly adding the information in his conscious and subconscious mind. Thus instantly giving him the skills that takes others years to learn in a matter of seconds. Battle precognition seems like another function inherent to the mystic eyes.
However, something did not make sense. As good as they were, rainbow ranked mystic eyes are so rare that they are considered mystery on par with divine spirits. Obviously there functions can't be something simple as movement analysis and prediction. Before suddenly she got a clairvoyance revelation. Okay now this sounds ludicrous. But this hypothesis needs to be tested.
She asked him to spar again, this time only with his magecraft skills. She told him to go all out against her for the first five minute where she will only defend and the next five minute, she will be the one to attack with magecraft against which he has to only survive.
Whoever his previous teacher was, was an magnificent attacks of all kind clearly showed his skill as an average one, spatial attacks using imaginary number both for offence and defense, curses of various origin(some were even of ancient Persian origin) ,even high speed incantation and high speed divine words(she briefly recognized them as angelic tongue or enochian as they are called).Even oriental mystic arts, ancient numerology based magecraft(kabbalah as she would learn it is called after the spar)and astromancy were shown. He was a first rate magus, there was no doubt and he thirsted for more. However this was not what she was looking for. She could defend, dodge or just nullify them with primordial rune.
After five minutes came to an end, she decided to go offensive. A single primordial version of sowilo turned into a fireball of hundred meters in diameter. It was at this moment he realized just how much of a greenhorn he was and to contain the rune he decided to seal it in numerology-based division technique and divide it in several hundred small fireballs than proceeded to change their trajectory towards her. She was actually impressed, taking your opponent's strength for your own is actually a testament of your skill.
So she decided to invoke an Isa version of primordial rune and freeze everything including his magical energy flow. Let's see how you deal with that, apparently he instantly uttered a divine word which promptly accelerated the flow of his magical energy by forcing the mana in the environment to enter into his system in a controlled manner. What an interesting kid.
She decided to turn the wraiths and evil spirits against him by invoking Eihwaz,Jera and Pertho together. Eihwaz for attracting death,Jera for its relation to death coming from earth in the form of evil spirits and reverse Pertho to give him the misfortune of attracting the said evil spirits towards him. What now kid?
As several hundred thousand evil spirits rushed toward him he instantly uttered a divine word, which she could vaguely figure out could be traced to black land of kemet through her clairvoyance. Which produced ethereal ribbons which then proceeded to hogtie all the evil spirits. Momentarily his pupils lit up in rainbow color before he proceeded to draw primordial version of reverse pertho in the air before waving his finger in her direction. Then proceeded to instantly create several anti-spirit bounded field around himself.
Then he proceeded to remove the bindings from the spirits and they rushed towards her in reckless abandon. This kind of proved the clairvoyant revelation she received, but it's still too early to come to a conclusion. She smirked and proceeded to invoke sowilo again,she could briefly see his pupil lit up in rainbow color
The holy purification fire conjured by sowilo lit up in a magnificent blaze that consumed all the evil spirits surrounding her, as soon as the purification of evil spirits were finished she reversed the rune and drew raidho in the air. Instantly the life-giving flames of purification turned into searing cursed hellfire that neared his location instantly drawn by the homing beacon function of raidho.
Instantly, he too invoked sowilo and conjured fire of purification property and proceeded to draw Isa as well. Instantly the curse was nullified by holy properties of sowilo and the heat was frozen by near absolute zero temperature produced by Isa. That was the final nail in the coffin. She couldn't help it, her bloodlust increased and a grin made its way to her face. This kid's potential was far greater than what she expected it to be. Only if he had come earlier. No there might still be hope. May be just maybe he could…..
One last test then, she told herself. Instantly several runes lit up in her throat drawn by invisible ink. Gebo, Ansuz, Lagaz, Dagaz and most accurate transliteration to the runic word would be "Galdr"meaning " To Sing" and as if corresponding to its meaning she sang out,"Beith,Luis,Fern,Sail,Nion", "Muin,Gort,N'Geadal,Straif,Ruis", "Uaith,Dair,Tinne,Coll,Cleirt"
Ogham or Celtic runes as they were often called were invoked for the sake of druidic mage craft and wicca rituals. Instantly tree roots start emerging from the ground and start wrapping around each other until they form a gigantic figure made out like a wooden cage known in druidic ritual sacrifices as "Wicker Man". Now is it only Scandinavian sorcery or you can copy this as well.
Instantly he started chanting the same incantation as her, much to her glee. Tree roots started emerging from earth in front of him and started taking a similar shape before forming his own giant. Instantly both giants engaged in a duel of might and endurance. However, it became evident to her that her giant was superior, although it's power can be attributed to the ogham incantation runes whose power has been increased to ten to forty times through the runic word inscribed in her throat in invisible ink.
"Galdr" will increase the power of verbal or oral incantations and divine words several magnitude and imbue them with mystery that can create spells which can even wound the normally magic resistant divine kind, although not to a great degree it still can wound them. One can sing out the runes verbally and still affect the opponent from a distance without drawing them in the air. As a result, Wicker Man gained the mystery, strength and durability similar to the divine spirits of lore.
And before she could do anything, he rushed to his own wicker man and proceeded to touch it. For a brief second it glitched and then begin to ripple and then suddenly her senses picked up that it gained the same mystery, strength and durability as her own wicker man. Strange, whatever buff spell he had given it seemed to mimic her own wicker man.Was it really a buff spell, although the brat had good magical energy control he didn't seem to spend even a simple drop of it during the buffing of his wooden giant. Although she could sense that a great amount of mystery was instantly brought forth and imbued with the wooden giant by whatever means used, it didn't require a single drop of prana.
Regardless he has already proven her hypothesis and she has accurately gouged out his proficiency in combat: mystical or otherwise. Honestly, he is hundred times better in combat than setanta or ferdiad. Although he seems to lack unarmed combat experience
That will be solved in no time. After all if things go well he might as well be her last student. OH…. his Wicker Man has fallen hers. She should begin his magecraft training soon.
Her hypothesis was perhaps he isn't only capable of movement prediction or analysis he might also be able to analyze anything he sees with his mystic eyes meaning enchantment, information, mysteries, illusions and secrets. In Other words, his eyes see the 'Truth' of the world, information and concepts in their raw and bare form, analyze them, decipher them and recreate the observed concepts so long as it is within his capacity to do so.
Thus, theoretically he should be capable of learning any skill, mage craft or technique just by observing it only once. Honestly, it's far scarier than it sounds and this might be her only chance to fulfill her only wish. And she will have this brat grant it to her whether he likes it or not. She was well aware that she will be letting him down in the same way his previous mentor did….. Did she care, not in the slightest. She has long since stopped caring.
She will train him far harder than she trained setanta and he can't survive then that means he would have never been able to fulfill his wish. He wants power, she will give all her power and wisdom to him. And he will be her salvation. She will give him everything he needs and far more… in return he will once again be forced to cut the guillotine rope, she will tolerate no hesitance from him.
"Go and take a bath, you stink" he seemed to hesitate for a second before nodding and running to the castle. Honestly the kid is a training maniac. If she told him to do hundred pushups, he did hundred and fifty, if she told him to run ten kilometers, he would run fifteen. He was stubborn like an ox and refused to back down if a challenge was thrown towards him. He trained until he collapsed. He trained like a man possessed. For someone who simply wanted to be a sage who taught people in hermitage, he had ridiculous willpower. She really wondered what motivated him. What kept him ongoing. Only if he appeared several centuries earlier….
Well, there's no point in crying about what didn't happen. Although she had no future, he had a bright one in front of his. One where someone like her didn't exist. Thus when he fulfilled her wish, she will give all her arms, wisdom, land, castle, territory and power, And most of all Her "Authority". Unlike her who created her own hell, he will certainly make his own paradise. A paradise where there's no place for someone like her.
Author note:
Well, he started his training under shisou, before you start screaming how did he defeat shisou in a magecraft battle, he actually didn't. She was holding back and did't go all out he will be killing some gods of nasuverse. And as for hermitage, don't worry about it, he won't start a secluded life, rather he will bring people from around the multiverse to train and teach,
In fact he won't be opening his hermitage in a long time, and by the time campione canon has started he will settle down and take it easy as a teacher and will be a retired sage. He will be rather old spiritual wise and will be the strongest godslayer in his world. He will be far op than he already is.
He will be like a neutral mediator among mages who will be renowned for his wisdom and wise counsel. They will call him sage king among other things
As for romance and campione girls, honestly it won't work out with anyone barring Liliana. Erica is a traditional upstanding prude of a magus and gold digger(honestly am I the only one who thinks she was gold digging),Ena and Yuri were sent to Godou for controlling him through honey traps. Our protagonist will understand all their intentions from hundred miles away.
Don't worry though, there will be slow and deep romance with a lot of passion.
Spoiler: The heroine will be from an apocalyptic world (the world is real in a fictional sense) where civil war of gods pretty much destroyed both civilization and gods alike.
Naturally cannon won't start for another 12 years so he has a lot of time. However due to him bidirectionally time travelling and dimension travelling he will be mental and spiritual wise far older, remember he is the fourth campione instead of Alex and he will take Alex's another kill.