Author's Notes:
Firstly, as always, I would like to thank all those who favorite, followed or reviewed my story. Your support is really appreciated and pushes me to try harder.
Secondly, after some thought after reading some well written reviews I ended up agreeing that the original cool down periods I had given to Taylor's Authorities were a little too harsh, so I changed them: Eternity's Sight now has no cool down, Shards of Infinity is eight hours and Golden Hero is forty eight hours.
Thirdly, some of you managed to nail exactly which God would be Taylor's first opponent in the Campione-verse and even the reason behind it. So congratulations to those who managed that.
Fourthly, wow! One hundred reviews in just two chapters! That's absolutely amazing! Thanks for all the support!
Lastly: I do not own "Campione!" or "Worm Serial".
\V/
Heretic God
Anit had heard about Campione, after all what self respecting practitioner of the magical arts had not heard about Pandora's children?
She had heard tales about their unlimited power, their unrestrained might, their absolute right to rule all that they laid eyes upon, and the consequences of defying said right.
There was a reason why Pompeii was often brought up when explaining why it was an extremely bad idea to displease a Devil-king.
There were hours upon hours of lessons regarding the proper etiquette of how one should deal with a Campione, but if you were to remove the flowery speech and unnecessarily complicated polite terms, it's bare bones could be summarized as such: Do whatever they demand; do not piss them off; try to minimize the damage caused as they fight off Heretic Gods to the best of your ability; and pray that they leave your country soon.
But she never expected to be faced with one of said Devil-kings personally, and she could honestly say that she wished that that expectation had held true.
'I really should have stayed in bed today.' She thought with a hint of despair while remaining in her kneeling position, watching the Campione from the corner of her eyes.
She was a tall black haired woman, her deep green eyes taking in Anit kneeling form with a mixture of confusion and displeasure.
"What the hell are you doing?" The Campione sternly asked, stopping right in front of Anit's kneeling form.
"My most sincere apologies if I, or my organization, have offended you in any way Your Grace, I assure you it was not our intention to do so." She replied in a deceitfully calm tone of voice despite the growing dread building up on the pit of her stomach at the possibility of dealing with an angry Devil-king.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about! What's up with all this your grace crap? And stop groveling already! We have no time for this nonsense; do you know what is happening with this freakish storm?" She demanded in an irritated tone of voice, but even as part of her mind started babbling gibberish about how she was about to die, Anit focused into the questions that had just been asked.
'Not now.' She thought with a hint of irritation while discreetly turning off her ear piece that had been ringing for several moments now, she had far more important matters to deal with than irritating and incompetent superiors.
It seemed impossible, especially considering how nonchalantly the Devil-king before her had acted as she dropped off from the sky, as if seeing people flying was an everyday occurrence to her, but the questions being asked truly appeared to hint at it, questions that no one affiliated with the supernatural parts of the world would have to ask.
"If I may be so bold and if such actions would not cause offense to Your Grace, may I be allowed to speak freely?" She asked after making up her mind, a hint of determination entering her features.
"You may do so." Was the woman's extremely dry reply alongside a very obvious roll of her eyes.
But even with the clear show of annoyance Anit noticed that the Campione before her seamed to react far better to a show of personal strength than mere mindless groveling, taking reassurance from that she forged on.
"Does the word Campione mean anything to you?" She asked while raising her head to stare straight into the black haired woman green eyes.
To ask such a question was a gamble, something that could very easily lead to her destruction if it happened to cause offense, but the fact remained that to the best of her knowledge she was unable to place the face before her with the names of any of the seven existing God-slayers, and that alongside the questions previously asked led her to one simple assumption.
The woman standing before her isn't one of the seven already existing Devil-kings, meaning that somehow an Eight Campione had been born without the Council even finding out about it, and said Campione was not knowledgeable about the magical world.
"No I can't say that it does, thought somehow I think that is about to drastically change, and rise already will you." She replied with a wondering tone of voice, the stare she was giving Anit one of silent appraisal.
"The title of Campione is given to those extremely rare few that have accomplished a formidable, almost impossible, feat, the act of slaying a God." She plainly stated, immediately noticing the startled look that had entered the Campione's gaze.
"In the immortal words of the famous Italian mage Alberto Ricardo: Campione, God-slayer is a supreme ruler. Since he can kill a celestial being, he can therefore call on the highly divine powers held by the Gods; Campione, God-slayer, is a lord. Since the power to kill a deity is in their hands, they therefore have the power to dominate the mortals on Earth; Campione, God-slayer, is a devil. Therefore of the entire humanity living on earth, those who have the power to oppose them do not exist!"
"And that's what you are, you are a Campione, a mortal that has slayed a God and stolen its divine powers." She said in a calm tone of voice, silently watching as confusion, disbelief and realization warred within the Devil-king's green eyes.
"Tell me everything." The God-slayer commanded, all emotion leaving her eyes in favor of a steely determination.
Taking a deep breath and rising to her feet Anit Khalfani, Guardian of the Council of the Sands, started talking. All the while a small part of her mind remarked that this day wasn't turning all that bad after all.
\V/
Taylor had both seen and heard a lot of unbelievable things in her young life; man and women capable of bending the very fabric of reality to their will, gargantuan monstrosities whose only purpose in existence was destruction, and even an alien creature whose power was so great that the only term it could be ascribed to was God-like.
But now after hearing this woman, Anit apparently, explaining the current situation, both in regards to herself personally and to the reason for the freakish weather, she could only come to the conclusion that, apparently, her home reality was not the only one where weird shit happened in a weekly basis for no apparent reason, not by a long shot.
'And apparently I can remove the 'like' from God-like in regards to Scion.' She idly though as she digested what she had just learned.
Magic was apparently real in this reality, with both human practitioners of the art and fantastical creatures straight out of myth and legend roaming the earth. Up to and including Gods themselves.
According to Anit her new powers were called Authorities, powers that she had stolen from the Heretic God she had slayed. Heretic Gods being Gods that having grown tired of their legends had descended to the human world, rebelling from their tasks.
If a mortal were to manage the impossible task of slaying one of them they were reborn by the witch Pandora as Campione, the only mortals capable of facing the Gods in combat, and as such all magical organizations literally bowed down to their demands.
And apparently she was now one such Campione, one of the eight still living Devil-kings that called this planet home.
Her first reaction was to question the validity of the mage's words; it seemed utterly absurd after all. But at the same time she knew them to be true, some kind of instinct all but confirming her words, and Anit, now that she had stopped groveling or showing that polite façade she apparently used as a mask, seemed trustworthy enough.
It would definitely explain why one of her new powers apparently all but turned her into a female form of Scion's avatar after all.
Not to mention that the name Pandora immediately brought to mind a foggy memory of warm motherly purple eyes.
"My life can't ever be normal, can it?" She murmured to herself, gaining a curious look from Anit that she ignored in favor of looking to the center of the storm, where a Heretic God was about to manifest.
Not all Heretic Gods were inherently malicious, but the fact remained that their very presence caused major changes on their surroundings, like a God of the weather causing massive storms on his wake or a God of war seeding conflict wherever he roamed.
That resulted in the fact that a Heretic God could literally wipe out a city by simply existing, and thus had to be driven off as quickly as possible. The only problem being that the only beings capable of such a feat were the Campione themselves.
'Great. It's the Endbringers all over again, and somehow now I have to play the role of freaking Scion and drive them off.' She bitterly thought, letting out a tired sigh.
"Anit Khalfani! What are you thinking turning off your ear piece?! Get rid of this stupid woman and get back to your post immediately!" An angry voice bellowed, cutting her train of thought. "I grow tired of your impertinence! I've been tasked with this mission by the Council itself and no half-baked Guardian like you will jeopardize it!"
Looking towards the annoyingly grating voice Taylor saw a sharply dressed man with greasy black hair approaching them while being flanked by two bulky bodyguards, some kind of energy shield keeping the billowing sand away from them and their pristine looking clothes.
"Sir, you don't understand, this is the Eight Camp…" Anit hurriedly tried to explain, only to be immediately cut out by the man.
"Silence! I will not hear any excuses regarding your insubordinate behavior, now be done with this nuisance!" He went on in that particular self assured manner of those that had been born to privilege.
She immediately pegged him as one of those useless bureaucrats that somehow always seemed to pop up in positions of power in large organizations, despite commonsense all but screaming that was a bad idea, the kind of man that actually created problems instead of solving them and believed himself to be always right. The kind of man that always got what he wanted due to his family connections or other such nonsense.
She took an immediate dislike to him.
"Be sure that I will inform the Council of this insubordination! Why the nerve to act out in such a …"
"Shut up." Taylor barked out, piercing him with an annoyed look. Anit had been useful and helpful up to this point, while this guy was nothing but an overcompensating waste of space, meaning that in her mind what she was about to do was a foregone conclusion.
"Why you ignorant mongrel! Do you have any idea who I am?! I'm going to have you…" He started in outrage before suddenly deflating and freezing up in place, much like Anit had done a few minutes earlier, the two bodyguards by his side fairing no better.
"No I do not, and quite frankly I don't care." Taylor said adopting the stern tone of voice she normally used to command unruly teammates during dangerous missions.
Anit had said that all magical organizations would literally bend backwards in order to avoid even a hint of her displeasure, it was time to see if that held true.
"Now stop wasting my time and begone from my sight!" She proclaimed in her most condescending tone of voice, as if an adult talking to a particular dimwitted child.
With that she turned back towards Anit, as if the man and his followers were unworthy of her attention, her formidable willpower in full use to contain the massive smirk that wanted to appear on her face at their startled sputtering looks.
Lisa would have been proud, she was sure of it.
"Anit what can you tell me about the God that is about to descend?" She calmly asked, noticing with a tinge of amusement that the olive skinned mage seemed to be fighting back a smirk of her own.
But before she could respond a sudden blast of heat washed over them, the howling sandstorm seeming to triple in intensity as a golden figure appeared amidst the dunes.
The creature looked like a golden armored man with the head of a beetle, two truly massive pincers protruding from his jaw, a pair of metallic golden beetle wings on his back, and a long golden lance in his right hand.
With a gasp Anit took in the slowly raising God before turning towards Taylor, a worried look in her eyes.
"That's the Egyptian God Khepri, he who comes into being; he is a God of creation, the sun's movement and rebirth." The Egyptian mage immediately explained, stopping for a moment to wonder about the annoyed eye twitch that seemed to have appeared upon Taylor's face.
'They named me after a freaking bug God?!' She thought with annoyance while taking in the God monstrous beetle-like head.
\V/
After calming down in regards to the source of the title she had bore during the Golden-morning Taylor had initially wondered how to deal with the threat at hand, after all at the moment she only had at her disposal two of her Authorities, Eternity's Sight and Golden Hero.
And while the Golden Hero would be indubitably invaluable in surviving the looming threat, much less vanquishing it, that still left out the fact that at the moment she had no practical way to reach the God amidst the dunes and absolutely no ranged capabilities.
But before she could ponder upon the merits of waiting for one of her shards to finish recharging or to simply run towards the Heretic God, said God proved the point to be moot, as one fact that Anit had briefly explained proved itself true.
Gods and God-slayers felt an intense natural dislike for one another; it was a visceral inborn hatred that was not unlike two apex predators intruding into each other's territory, meaning that the mere act of even standing in sight of the other was more than enough to incite a deep seated instinct to attack.
And the beetle headed God in the distance apparently was no exception, unleashing a bellow of fury before rushing onwards towards them while being carried by his golden wings.
"Get the hell away from here!" She commanded Anit even as she concentrated into the well of power that now dwelled inside her body, her mouth already intoning the spell words.
If this thing was anything like an Endbringer, then she could not afford to not go all out right from the start and hope to keep breathing.
"A hero endures; Stalwart and firm; Unyielding and unafraid; Dauntless and resolute; His might unequalled; his power unmatched; his mettle incomparable; For he is the symbol of that which shall remain past eternity's end. A hero endures."
The moment the last syllable left her lips she immediately felt the change take over, the up till now biting sands being bellowed all around completely failing to register upon her now golden skin.
She felt the power coiled down inside her muscles, the might that now rested upon her limbs, just like she knew that if she so desired she could easily increase them by increasing the density of her transformed body at a moments notice.
But such introspective thoughts were quickly set aside, as Khepri barreled forward, tackling her with the strength of a freight train, her body resilience managing to handle the attack undamaged but the sandy terrain making it so that she was unable to find purchase in order to stop the God's momentum.
"Usurper! Thief! Abomination! How dare you step upon these hallowed grounds!" His monstrous head hissed, the voice oddly human despite his insect like jaws. "You shall not taint this place any longer!"
Ignoring the God rabid shouts Taylor instead focused into drastically increasing her body's density, her feet sinking in the sand until finally she managed to ground Khepri's charge to a halt.
Even while taking notice that in this state the God's golden lance could only barely leave superficial scratches upon her reinforced skin she pushed her power even further, until finally she believed to have achieved a level of strength upon which she could fight back.
Moving her fist backwards she could not help but feel as if she was moving underwater, her movements slightly more sluggish than what she was used to, but she could cope, her now enhanced strength balancing her increased weight. And as soon as the God drew his lance backwards she launched her fist forward, connecting against his golden armor with a thundering cracking sound.
Watching him sailing backwards, a basketball sized dent on his chest, she did not waste time waiting to see the effects of her attack, propelling herself forward with powerful strides she gave chase, explosions of sand erupting in her wake due to her body weight, she knew the creature before her would not fall so easily.
Her caution proved valid as the God righted himself mid fall, his golden wings holding him in place slightly above the ground as he directed a murderous gaze towards her approaching form.
"I'm the one that guides the sun in his path through the heavens; I'm the guardian of Rah's might! May all those who stand against us perish upon the radiant glow of our majestic light!"
Taylor could feel the power within the God's words, the same kind of power her own words now held as she called forth her Authorities. That alongside what was hinted in the phrases just spoken made her skid to a halt while at the same time raising her body's density as high as she could as fast as she could.
The very next moment her world exploded in an all encompassing blast of golden flames, the force of the blast enough to throw even her impossibly dense body backwards as waves of extremely strong heat washed all around her.
Hitting the ground with enough force to leave behind a long deep trench Taylor shook her head in an attempt to focus her mind, still shaken by how close that had been, of how had she wasted even a moment before increasing her body resilience she would now be nothing but dust in the wind.
Taking in the glass covered surface she was now standing upon, she started to understand what Anit had meant when she had said mortals stood no chance against Heretic Gods.
All around her in a radius of more than a mile the billowing desert sands had turned into glass after being superheated by Khepri's attack, and judging by his angry filled stance and scorn filled eyes, said attack hadn't really phased the deity.
If he could use such an attack repeatedly he could literally raze a city to nothing in mere minutes.
'He really is just like an Endbringer.' She grimly concluded, determination filling her form as she took in the threat before her.
Using the solid glass surface she was now standing upon as a platform, she launched herself forward with all of her body quite considerable strength, barreling forward like a golden missile, as shards of glass exploded all around her she tackled Khepri midair, just like he had done earlier in the fight.
The only difference being that at that very moment Taylor's body weighted considerably more than the average oceanic trade freighter.
Using that particular fact she brought the God down into the ground with all the momentum her body now held, glass and sand being thrown high into the air as they cratered the landscape with a tremendous thump.
Not letting up she started hitting him with fist after fist in a controlled pattern, while at the same time pinning Khepri down with her weight, unminding of the blistering hot flames that were being thrown against her body in an attempt to push her back.
She could feel her lungs starting to scream for air, air that she would have to leave the flaming crater they were now inside in order to obtain, but she refused to let up on the advantage she now held.
It was quite clear that she had the physical advantage between the two of them, her golden body far stronger and more resilient than the God's armored form, as the deep cracks and wounds all around him clearly attested.
But that advantage was limited by how long she could use her Authority, all that Khepri had to do to defeat her was to get away and take to the air where she could not follow and bombard her with his flames until her time was up and that would be it.
It was all a matter of time, not only for the battle as a whole but to this particular exchange.
An average person could hold their breath for up to two minutes, so now it was all a matter of if she could deal enough damage to take him out before she was forced to let go in order to not suffocate amidst the flames.
"From the sands thou were born; to the sands thou shall return! Rise children of the sands; rise and consume all in thy path!"
Khepri bellowed in anger with his inhuman mouth despite the punishing blows he was enduring, pure fury in his maddened gaze.
And before she could even react to the words uttered Taylor felt countless large bodies colliding against her side, massive claws scraping against her body, seeking purchase, attempting to dislodge her and throw away her balance.
Throwing one hand forward she clamped down on one of Khepri's arms, while with the other she attempted to bat away the blurry figures that were attacking from within the sandstorm, but in that moment of inattention an truly massive burst of golden flames was unleashed straight against her chest, the resulting explosion throwing her backwards and straight out of the crater with a loud tearing sound.
Rising from the ground she greedily took in massive gulps of air while searching for Khepri and whatever had attacked her, a vicious smile on her face despite the God having escaped due to what she now held in her hands.
Locking eyes with the furious God as he exited the crater she felt her smile grow, for not only was Khepri battered and bruised, ichor leaking from his wounds, but his left arm was completely gone, having been torn out when Taylor's grip upon it was proven to be stronger than the arm itself.
"You have done well abomination. Few can say to have ever wounded me so." He grumbled as the forms that had assaulted her materialized from within the billowing sands. "But in the end you are but delaying the inevitable."
Massive beetle like creatures the color of the sands, easily the size of large dogs and sporting razor sharp claws and massive pincers, their exact numbers hidden amidst the sandstorm but what she could see easily hinting at several dozens of them at minimum.
"As the sun sets in the west, so it shall rise from the east; as darkness comes forth, so too shall the light return. And as such may the cycle be renewed, for I am one with the wheel of rebirth!"
The God stated, his actions swiftly followed by a sudden furious burst of flames covering all of his body, as if attempting to devour Khepri with its fiery wrath.
And yet before Taylor's disbelieving eyes she could see flesh knitting and wounds closing, bruises disappearing as if they had never happened and his arm growing back into place in an impressive display of regeneration, until he looked as pristine as if the battle had just started.
"You got to be kidding me!" She couldn't help but exclaim in annoyance upon seeing all of her efforts turned null and void in a matter of seconds.
This was extremely bad and she knew it, the fact that Khepri was apparently a regenerator completely changing the picture of their battle, since now she had no hope of slowly withering him down, the fact that nearly a third of the time she could keep the Golden Hero's Authority active had already passed doing nothing to help her mood.
"You will die here Usurper." He declared, fury gleaming within his eyes as he pointed towards her with his re-grown arm, the sandstorm picking up speed and strength as if sensing the God's anger.
"Devour!" He commanded the scarabs, which immediately swarmed forward, pincers clicking and jaws shrieking as they rushed towards her.
\V/
Author's Notes:
I thought that making Taylor first opponent be the very God that originated the codename she had receive during the Golden-morning was quite fitting, so Khepri is the first opponent she will face in the Campione-verse.
Khepri is an Egyptian God, usually depicted as a man with a beetle head carrying a golden scepter. While Rah is the God of the sun itself, Khepri is the one responsible for moving the sun across the heavens. He is also associated with rebirth and creation, since for the ancient Egyptians the scarabs seemed to simply sprout out of nothing from within the sands.
Ps: I nearly forgot to mention this: the power ranks of the Shard's of Infinity are only superficially based upon the PRT threat assessment ranking, since Campione Wiki tells that the Campione affects the Authority, and the PRT threat assessment ranking is something that Taylor was deeply familiar with, so that's the form the Authority took. But in this case it really is a ranking of power 'levels', each one a magnitude greater than the last going from one to ten.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review before leaving.
