Chapter 17
DxD Universe 1
But what exactly could he be missing? Issei thought.
What exactly was the difference anyway - between powerful but `regular´ supernaturals and cosmic super-beings?
Aside from the concept that `regular´ supernaturals were normally using their own personal pool of magical energy - often also called mana.
While Cosmic Beings were using a higher form of supernatural energy originating from the cosmos itself... as the word said: cosmic power.
Only that Issei and Ddraig where already using this form of power.
What else?
Their thoughts, the way their minds worked, he remembered the now common theory.
Actually this theory originally was about the Dragons. But it was later applied to other `higher beings´ as well.
Was he simply not ready yet? Issei questioned. Was he lacking the experience?
Of course he was.
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He had practically tons of information transferred directly into his mind. And as the holder of the Boosted Gear he had access to Ddraig´s thousands of years of experience.
In his Crimson Awakening Form their minds even connected with each other, literal reading and sharing each others thoughts.
But still - this was not exactly the same as truly experiencing something for himself, Issei also knew.
Their was a small difference between actual experience and information given to you by supernatural means, by living through it. Basically if you had experienced yourself, the knowledge was a part of you. If not, you needed to make a small mental efford to `access´ the knowledge.
That was a small difference that could mean the line between life and death in a dangerous situation.
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And he himself - that meant the human person named Issei Hyoudou, his true self - was still inexperienced.
Yet that also ultimately meant that he needed to learn. But that took time.
Who was he kidding? he thought. Without it all he was just a not even 20 years old human. How could he hope to truly stand on equal terms with centuries or even thousands of years old Cosmic Beings?
`No,´ he told himself. His way of thinking was a mistake and a trap.
xxx
Darien and Spectre had themselves warned him about believing this. If you convince yourself that others will always be better than you, then you will ultimately sabotage yourself with your self-doubts.
Darien and some of the other elder Guardians had actually surpassed beings who were thousands of years older than them. And Faust and other Lords of the Dark Order had done the same thing. Of course not without help or powers `gifted´ to them by others. But with the Boosted Gear and the powers he had inherited when Darien revived him, one could hardly say that about Issei anyway.
So it was possible to keep up with such entities. The question was, could he do it?
xxx
Was he in fact somehow holding himself back? Issei asked himself.
This was actually possible, he admitted.
The most obvious thing came to his mind first.
Was it maybe his lust that distracted him from reaching his full potential?
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He certainly hoped that was not it. Issei thought about his girls and what they all meant to him. He remembered the dates, the romantic moments and important times he had with them.
But also all the sex and making out sessions with them he had nearly every day.
He certainly didn´t want to loose any of this.
But on the other side, he thought. If his lust were truly that much of a problem in reaching the highest level of power, would one of his teachers not have mentioned it to him years earlier?
Besides - he was able to put his lust aside if needed to and concentrate on his job. He had clearly proven that. He did not have sex or had even touched the breasts of any of the girls for over a week now. (Even if he planned to do that with Raynare last night. But given the outcome of their last mission they were both obviously not feeling like it. Not that this mattered now.)
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("I think you are right in both points Partner,") Ddraig spoke to him, ("You are right, you ARE holding yourself back. But lust is not the problem. In fact I believe you have gotten a really good grip on that former weakness of yours.")
"What do you mean?" Issei responded.
("A few of us are born as Super Entities, like myself.)
"Of course," Issei replied drily.
("I admit I might not exactly be at the same level as the Dragon Gods,") Ddraig continued. ("But I have met many strong beings and I know one thing from experience, all of the ones who had started out as mortals and became powerful, truly powerful had one thing in common. Control.")
"Control?"
("Self-control,") Ddraig clarified, ("- not control over others, but over yourself. The ones who worked and fought their way to the top of power were always masters of self-control.")
("No matter who they were, the truly most powerful were always the masters of their own minds. You can feel as much lust, love or hate as you want, but you need to be in control of these emotions instead the other way around.)
"And I am not?" Issei asked.
("No - especially not when it comes to one point - fear.")
"Fear," Issei repeated.
("Fear to LOOSE control. Ever since that incident two years ago, you were deeply afraid to loose control of your power") Ddraig said.
Yes. Darien and Spectre had especially warned him about this border, Issei remembered as well.
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The `final step´. It was a danger. But it was also the greatest step in the evolution of their powers. There was a limit how much cosmic power you could channel through yourself until it entirely consumed your body and mind.
Darien, Faust, most of the leaders of both the Guardians and the Dark Order had all intentionally crossed that border... and came back. In simple words, you gave up your mortal form and let yourself transform into a multidimensional being of pure energy, manage to keep your mind intact... and then restore your humanoid form.
Before this transformation you were a supernatural being that was using cosmic power, after it you were a cosmic super-entity that decided to retake humanoid form.
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It was a step that Issei was afraid to take... that Issei did not want to take.
"I am afraid," he admitted.
But this fear was justified, if nothing else, he thought.
He remembered all the warnings he had gotten. And he remembered first hand how it was to actually loose control of his power and of himself.
"But there is a good reason for my fear," he stated. "You remember what happened. It was pure luck that they were able to bring me back."
("Yes - there is and that is the reason why you never go beyond a certain limit with your power. You are always staying at a level where you can be sure that this won´t happen again.")
"Of course I do," Issei replied. "And I will not cross that limit again. At least not until I am at least one or two-hundred years old. I will not risk destroying myself and others and possibly the planet I am standing on, before I even have the chance of facing my enemies again."
He was raising his voice without actually intending it.
("Then you will never have a chance against Darkseid,") Ddraig responded.
"I should not have to fight Darkseid in the first place," Issei called out. "Darien or Spectre should come or Kal El or Jean Grey or Alucard, to help us against him. But the Dark Order has broken the armistance and by what we heard they are fighting them in dozens of different worlds.
There is no guaranty that they will be able to come at all."
("Yes,") Ddraig simply replied, ("there isn´t")
"But even if I took that risk, make the final step, I might end up destroying us all, And even if I actually succeed, it is unlikely that even then I could take Darkseid by myself. It is just not worth the risk.
There has to be other ways to improve our chances. And there is still the chance that the other Guardians will still come to help us. The Dark Order is just distracting them, right?"
("It is of course your decision to make,") Ddraig replied.
("But speaking of distractions. There was also another matter you should take care of,") Ddraig reminded him. ("There is still a soul inside the Boosted Gear that don´t belong here. And her presence certainly doesn´t help to make your powers more stable,") he commented.
"Ravel," Issei said.
("Whatever you decide, it would probably be better to remove this soul before our next battle.")
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Not his Ravel, the one from their world, but the other one he had recently been dealing with.
The alternate version of her whose soul he had transfered into the Boosted Gear. It had only been meant as a temporary solution.
Ddraig was all too right here, Issei knew.
The presence of other souls, the ones of the past carriers, in it had been one of the main reasons for the powers of the Boosted Gear being unstable in the first place, for the existence of the Juggernaut Drive.
Issei had long send off these souls to the Afterlife. Letting another soul into it, no matter for what reason, had probably not been the best idea.
But he had simply not been able to bring himself to let her die.
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Issei talked to his Ravel - Ravel-01 - and her brother Raiser. They had met in the garden of Issei´s mansion and he explained the situation to them.
They had both not exactly been happy about it.
"You actually want us to help you to revive the sister of that maniac?" Ravel said.
"She is a version of you Ravel," Issei replied.
"Just like that psychopath was another version of me," Raiser stated. "Did that make him less of a monster?"
"Her brother had set her up to be killed," Issei reminded him. "I just could not stand by and let her die."
"She had chosen to follow him," Ravel said, "commiting treason, killing their own Satans, fighting their own people, joining the Dark Order. I am disgusted that we are technically the same person."
"She had one of his Evil Pieces inside her," Issei argued. "How much of a choice did she really have?"
"Maybe more than you think," Raiser stated. "Ravel and I had made an agreement with Ayuka when I first took her into my Peerage. We both could contact him anytime and have the Evil Piece removed if we had any `serious disagreements´.
I can not imagine that at least Ravel´s counterpart would not have done the same thing. Even if he had changed his Pieces after he had joined the Dark Order, she should have gotten out before that."
Issei sighed.
He could not even disagree with Raiser here.
"Look - I don´t ask you to take her in. I just ask you to help me create a new body for her. I actually could do it myself. But it would not be her own body without..."
"Without my flesh and blood," Ravel interrupted him.
"Yes," Issei said slowly.
Finally the two had given in. And as it turned out, the two offered a very easy (and in hinsight quite obvious) solution.
They would reincarnate her with the Evil Piece System.
This would also spare some efford and time for Issei. That in the current situation he could truly not afford to waste.
The only detail that made this a bit more complicated than the usual Evil Piece incarnations that happened all the time, was the fact that there was no trace of her body left for the process.
So it would take a bit more than the usual putting an Evil Piece into someone to do it.
They would magically recreate the alternate Ravel´s body, with Issei´s own powers assisting in the process.
Ravel in this moment used a dagger to cut her own hand and draw some of her blood and let a few drops fall on the Evil Piece. It was the Bishop, the same Piece that Ravel herself had when she had been part of Raiser´s Servants.
As Issei had said, that part was actually not really neccessary for the procedure. With the Boosted Gear and his current level of power he was easily able to form a new body out of thin air.
But it would not truly be `Ravel´s´ body. And it would not actually be a Devil. More a human-dragon hybrid looking like her. Not that this would be such a great problem. She would simply not longer be a Devil, but it would be far better than being a disembodied soul inside a Sacred Gear.
But using a bit of Ravel´s blood and DNA as a base would allow them to create a body that was truly identical.
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Raiser, as they knew all too well, had originally already a full sized Peerage and no pieces left. At least until the loss of his Queen. For which he would receive a replacement piece very soon.
But Issei did not even wanted to bring that possibility up to him. He knew how Raiser felt about the loss of Yubelluna. Probably like he himself did about Gaeriel.
So using his new Queen Piece to revive a member of the same group that had killed Yubelluna, even if it was a double of Ravel, was probably the last thing he wanted to do.
And he didn´t have to either. Ravel had offered to use one of her pieces. As a pureblooded Devil she possessed a set as well, had however never used it since she had been occupied being a member of her brother´s Peerage.
As strange as it sounded that she would take another version of herself into hers now.
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"Are you ready Issei-kun?" Ravel asked.
"I am," he responded.
Issei activated his Sacred Gear and Ravel the Evil Piece at the same time.
With Issei channeling a bit of his own energy into the Evil Piece and a body was forming around it.
A body looking exactly like Ravel... a very naked Ravel.
Not that Issei didn´t like it. But he gave a short blink of his eyes and clothes were appearin on the newly formed clone-body.
Ravel herself however didn´t seem to care much at all if her copy was stark naked or not and just starred at Issei with a stern look on her face.
"Okay - continue," she told him.
He nodded.
Issei began to transfer the soul and spirit of the alternate Ravel from the Boosted Gear into the body.
For a short moment he actually heard her mental voice calling out during this.
Then Ravel begann the last part of the procedure she and Issei had put together.
The actual regular Devil reincarnation. If they had not needed to create a new body and place the stored soul into it first.
Where she fully activated the magic energy and the small part of her own lifeforce inside the Evil Piece and bonded it to the to reincarnate body. Changing and in case the body was dead, reviving it, turning it into a Devil Servant.
And then... she suddenly stopped the process.
The half-animated clone-body suddenly opened her eyes wide, cramped up, opened her eyes wide as if to let out a scream... but the loud never came. And it sank back down unmoving... dead.
Issei sensed that the soul was no longer inside the Boosted Gear. He had just transferred it... inside a body that had still been unable to live on it´s own.
"What have you done?" he asked Ravel aggravated.
"The right thing," she answered coldly. "You were wasting time and energy to revive an enemy who had helped trying to kill you and the others before... just because she, well - was me," she added the last part in a quieter tone.
"All that why we are in the middle of a crisis," Ravel continued. "This Thenis just came here and threatens us all with a black hole and somewhere out there the Demons and this Darkseid character, preparing invasions on our world and who knows how many more. All that while a part of your team is stripped of their power.
And if the soul of my wretched double distracts you from dealing with all that, then to the abyss with it," she exclaimed.
Issei said nothing for a few moments.
`Ddraig has she always been like this?´ he asked silently.
("I hate to say it to you Partner, but to some degree, yes - she was,") he replied.
"Besides - if you helped to create her new body," Ravel continued, "even if it is indirectly over my Evil Piece, is there not a chance that she will inherit some of your powers, like Murayama did - or you from this Darien - and become far too dangerous?"
Issei could not even deny Ravel´s arguments.
He thought about how powerful Murayama had become after he had revived her. And his own powers had just begun to evolve back then. If he resurrected and formed a new body for someone with his powers like he was now, how strong would that being become? How could he have just overlooked this danger?
("Because you weren´t thinking straight,") Ddraig told him. ("You weren´t since the last mission. Neither was I by the way,") he admitted. ("Ever since we faced Darkseid and Thenis, I wanted you to get stronger as quickly as possible.")
But... Ravel was the one who had offered to let them use her Evil Piece without even mentioning that she feared that... and then sabotaged the entire resurrection instead. It was obvious that she had just wanted her counterpart dead and was not above to deceive him about it.
Issei moved his hand and over the connection he had with Rias and the others he accessed Power of Destruction and used a small blast of it to annihilate the body they had just created together.
"Ravel..." he said, "you are not wrong. Spending time reviving an enemy, when we are facing problems like now, sounds like a stupid idea. I admit that I made my decision based on my feelings. But that is not really the point here, right?" he stated.
"You could have told me that in the first place. Instead you agreed to help me with this, but had never any intention to actually do it. You lied to me."
"Yes - I did," Ravel admitted on her part. "If you want to end our relationship because of it, I am not able to stop you," she said.
Raiser at this point turned around and walked away without saying anything. He did not really wanted to get involved in any relationship problems between Ravel and Issei. Especially not right now with Yubelluna´s death on his mind. Besides, his sister had known what she was doing and accepted the risk that it could harm their relationship.
"No," Issei decided, "this is not what I want. I don´t want to break up. I... I think just need some time to get my head clear," he said.
"I understand," Ravel replied quietly.
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Issei was walking back inside the mansion. A hundred thoughts were inside his mind.
As he came back inside, he came across Asia, Rias and Raynare. At least two of them should share the bed with him tonight.
"Are you alright Issei-kun?" Asia asked him.
"You don´t look so well," Raynare stated.
"It´s... - I just had a fight with Ravel."
"I guess she didn´t agree to help you?" Rias questioned.
"Oh no - she actually did," Issei replied. "But then she suddenly turned around and interrupted the resurrection... at the worst possible moment. The soul of her counterpart was lost.
"I see," Rias said. "Are you having doubts about...?"
"If you want to ask if I have doubts over my relationship with her? No," he answered. "I actually understand why she did it. But that doesn´t meant that I will just accept it."
"Me and Raynare have done worse things," Rias said, reminding him.
"That was a long time ago," he stated. "It is nearly forgotten now."
"Not for us," Raynare replied. "I for my part will always feel bad about it."
"Lets not longer talk about this," Issei said. "Where are the others?" he wanted to know.
"Xenovia, Murayama and Yuuto are still with Irina and Kuroka," Asia told him.
Of course. They, just like Asia, were still unable to use their powers. Their teammate Kuroka-06 has also already been trying to use Senjutsu to try to remove whatever block Thenis had put on them. Without success. Like all their other attempts.
But tomorow they should return to Universe-23 to ally with their Heaven Faction. They could not afford to wait any longer.
That meant they would have to leave the four of them here. But what if Thenis or someone else decided to come back? Logically he knew they could just send them to the Underworld. There was no reason they should stay here by themselves. But even them it did not really solve his fears.
He just felt worried about them all. Not just the currently powerless Asia, Murayama, Xenovia and Yuuto, but all of them. He did not want to see any others of them die.
What could he do to protect them better?
`The Final Step,´ it went throught his head. No - that could make everything even worse.
"Can we maybe do something to bring you to other thoughts?" she asked him seductively.
"I-..." He was not sure himself if he wanted to or not.
He looked at her, her face, her figure, her breasts.
Then his eyes turned to Rias and Asia and their bodies.
`Well - damn it all,´ he thought. They might all die on their next mission anyway.
He took Raynare´s hand, pulled her towards him and started to kiss her.
Then he draw Rias closer as well, let his hands glide over their bodies, grabbed their breast and switched between kissing them both.
"Issei," Asia said a bit impatiently.
He let go of the two for a moment and moved on to her. With one hand he was findling her small breasts and with the other caressing her ass.
Raynare cast a small spell and the clothes she were wearing were replaced with the same highly erotic dress she had carried during their last mission.
Issei turned back to her and took her back into his arms.
The four then entered Issei´s room together.
Issei was carrying Raynare in his arms and put her on the bed. The pushed up the skirt of her dress and she was spreading her legs while Issei was opening his own trousers.
"Yes - do it," Raynare said.
He moved the thong of her black leather outfit that she was wearing under her dress out of the way. Then he positioned his hard dick and pushed into her.
Raynare was moaning loudly as he thrusted faster and faster.
Rias and Asia were so far only watching. But then they suddenly felt multiple hands touching them.
As they looked around they saw no less than five more Issei´s who were wrapping their arms around them. Psychic clones that Issei had just created for them. And the copies were starting to take their clothes off.
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Another two hours later Issei was lying half-awake on his bed, surrounded by the sleeping and naked Raynare, Rias, Asia, Irina and Murayama. The last two having joined them later.
As someone suddenly appeared in the room.
"It seems you have been enjoying yourself Issei. Getting a distraction from all the problems?" said a voice he knew all too well.
"Ophis," he said. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I had just happen to overhear a conversation between you and Ddraig," she stated. "About this way for you to become more powerful quickly. But that it is dangerous."
"Of course you are having an eye on me," he commented.
"From time to time," Ophis admitted. "My offer to team up still stands after all," she /it stated. "Well - If this method is so dangerous, maybe I could help you out and protect you why you try it?"
Yes - someone like Ophis could. But...
"It is just that I don´t trust you," Issei replied.
"Now - this is mean," she stated flatly. "I have saved your life after all."
"And you openly admitted that you only did it because you want something from me. Not to mention that you stood by and let several other people die."
"Yes," Ophis said bluntly. "But if you agreed, I would protect your friends as well. We would be allies after all."
For a moment Issei was tempted. He was not even sure if he could believe a single word. And even then, it was common knowledge that Ophis wanted to kill Great Red. So in exchange for her so called protection, she would most likely drag them all into a conflict with the other Dragon God.
And who knew what else Ophis was planning.
"If you don´t trust me, perhaps I could ask someone else for you?" she suggested. "Come with me."
Issei sensed how Ophis powers teleported both of them away - to the Dimensional Gap, he noticed the destination.
He did not resist it.
A moment later they were both standing somewhere inside the empty room of the Gap.
And they saw the large form of Great Red flying in some distance before them.
"Ophis," he called over to them. "And what do you want here?" he asked Issei.
"Great Red!" Ophis called out. "Issei here wants to try something. Something that could help him become stronger and stop some very annoying beings from conquering out world and maybe coming here as well. Do you think you and me could help him out a bit?"
This was it, Issei thought - the `Last Step´. He remembered the story Darien had once told him about his own past.
End of Chapter
Author´s Note:
The seconds part of this update contains the short story Rise of the Immortal. That mostly centers around the origins of the two OC characters `Darien´ and `Faust´.
The plot of the actual story will be continued next chapter.
Rise of the Immortal
There existed not only one reality, one universe, but many parallel to each other.
Things that were cosidered fantasy in some universes - supernatural powers, magic, sorcerers and demons - were daily occuring things in others.
Or like in some worlds, these things did exist... the people living in them were just not aware of it.
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Phase 0: Myth
In one universe out of many... a few years after the Fall of King Arthur...
... King Arthur - who had truly existed (at least in this world).
But not quite in the way later people imagined it. Not a Knight from the middle-ages, but a celtic ruler who united the tribes of the Island after the retreat of the Roman Empire and reforged them into a new kingdom.
At least for a time. But, like in the legend that would follow later, the kingdom ended in ruin and war.
But there was another part were the legend was wrong. (Or at least this world´s version of the legend.) Because - at least here in this world - the evil that had destroyed Arthur´s Realm was never destroyed in turn.
Here Mordred, after making a pact with the forces of darkness... Well - it was not entirely correct to say he died... Not in the strictest sense of the word anyway.
But it was also not entirly false to say that he lived... at least not as a normal human or as a mortal - not anymore.
But he was not the only one.
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Phase 1: Pact
Britannia ca. 500 AD
Somewhere in the Forests of Britannia, not far away from the gathering place of a large army, a young man was sitting inside a circle of fire.
He was Mordred, the Black Knight, the Dark Prince, the New Lord. This were only a few of the `titles´ that were applied to him. (And the same titles would be given to others as well.)
"Master - you are the only truth I have seen in their world full of lies - with their hypocrisy and falls causes. I pledge myself to you entirely - my soul I offer to you freely as a gift. I will proof myself worthy," he said.
He knew that the presence he was talking to was the same Darkness that had once tempted and transformed Lucifer. But he had long accepted this and embraced it.
"And together we will purge this world."
He felt his power rising as his soul connected to his Master.
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At another place, not all too far away, a similar makeshift sceremony was taking place.
It was not far away from the camping place of the forces who opposed Mordred´s in the recently broken out civil-war - Arthur´s forces.
This one was taking place inside a small abandoned Christian chaple, that had been build right beside an old Druid Shrine - holy ground to two religions. But in opposite to so many others, the two men taking part in the ritual knew that if one faith was true, it did not mean that the other had to be entirely false.
And that both deserved at least a certain level of respect. As even the Catholic Church would admit many centuries later, `all religions possessed aspects of the truth.´
One of these two was the elderly figure of the Sorcerer Merlin. The other was a young man sitting in front of him.
He was Galahad, the son of the already legendary Knight Lancelot.
"You understand what I am asking for?" Merlin said. "Like your father and Mordred you have been born with the gift of a Sorcerer. A gift that I have helped you to awaken. But if you accept this, there will be no turning back."
"Yes," Galahad replied. "I will protect this world and all others from the ones who don´t accept them. Not because I desire it, but because someone has to. I accept to become your successor and I pledge myself to the one God who stands behind all others."
He understood, as well as anyone even could understand something like this. Merlin had spend a long time preparing him for this day.
Like Mordred a short time earlier, he felt the magic power flowing inside him getting stronger. And deep down he felt his connection to a Force outside his world growing.
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Phase 2: Ascencion
Several years later - The Middle East... Somewhere in a desolated area…. close to the Holy Land
They were both reaching out to it at the same time - Galahad and the now immortal Mordred... to the glowing object that was floating in the air between them.
A object that until a few moments ago seemed like nothing but an ordinary cup. A simple cup, not made from gold but carved from ordinary wood, that a few centuries ago the son of a carpenter had been drinking from.
But at the same time it was also called the Holy Grail, a sacred relic.
Now however the object showed it´s true nature as the two men were reaching out for it and it was now glowing in a bright light and was levitating in the air nearly a meter above the table it had been standing on before.
What they had before them was now nothing else than a vessel for a part of the power of God himself - maybe even a channel directly to him as some people claimed.
Not any lower incarnation of God... but the one who was reigning over all worlds.
They both had entered the hall where the Grail was kept at the same time and having been fighting each other for the last minutes without a winner.
They used a combination of sword-fight and magic powers - clashing blades and magic to back up their physical strength.
Until the powers the Grail held suddenly showed themselves and they both turned around, each trying to reach it before the other.
They were inside of the temple of an mysterious religious Order of Warriors that had been watching over the Grail for centuries. A `temple´ however that was build and defended like a fortress.
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The fortress-temple was also not an actual building in the strict sense, but a large cave inside a rock-formation, with the imposant looking entrance gate being carved artfully out of the rock.
The location of the place was somewhere in a forgotten part of the region that centuries later would be called the Middle East - not far away from the Holy Land.
And yet for any normal wanderers it was nearly unreachable.
Or better said the fortress and the area around it was separated from the rest of the land by a thin magical barrier - the work of Sorcerers.
But both Galahad and Mordred were gifted and trained in the same powers as well and could easily overcome the barrier.
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Now nearly all of the members of this Order were dead, slaughtered when Mordred and his allies - some servants of his Master, others hired mercenaries - attacked.
The area, outside and inside, the temple was splattered with dead bodies, remains of the battle that had taken place. Or maybe rather two separate battles within a short time. First the attack from Mordred and his men, then Galahad and his followers - mostly surviving members of the Round Table and old allies of Merlin - who had come to stop them. At that time however the members of the order defending the temple had already been slaughtered.
Mordred was here because his Master – the dark mirror-image of God – wanted to change the power of the Grail into one of Darkness.
Galahad was here to prevent exactly that from happening. He had not wanted it´s power for himself.
In fact a part of him feared it, even if the Grail´s power came from God, would it change him even more?
... but if it meant to keep it out of his opponent´s hands...
Now however some of the Grail´s powers were showing themselves, triggered by their presence. Two beings who had reached mystical and supernatural power that far surpassed any normal human - one warrior for the Light, one for the Darkness.
And so they broke of their fight and turned around to run and reach for the Grail... and as it turned out (as if fate had wanted it) they both touched the Grail at the same time.
In the moment their hands touched the physical object, they sensed the presence behind the Grail reaching back to them, touching their own and calling out to them. They heard their voices speaking in their minds, the one of God and of the Darkness, asking them once more if they accepted.
And they felt themselves changing once more... even further away from the mortal humans they had once born as...
... and turning even more into avatars of the Light and the Darkness standing behind them.
xxx
And this was exactly what Galahad had feared about it.
He had never wanted or asked to be immortal. In opposite to most other people, he knew for sure that God and Heaven existed and that if he died, his soul would move on to the Afterlife.
If he would ever die that meant. But the pact that he himself had made with Merlin and God himself had moved this in a far, very far, distance.
All what immortality meant for him was a large barrier between him and everyone he had cared for when he was mortal.
A barrier that he could only bridge for a short time with the technique to summon spirits that Merlin had thought him, but never truly overcome.
And that was not everything. He knew he was developing more and more away from a normal human being.
xxxx
Phase 3: Eternity
The world had changed drastically in some aspects and staid the same in others.
It was in the early 19th Century in Northern Germany.
A seemingly young man was sitting under the audience in a theater building in the town of the small Kingdom of Hannover, that was currently subject of the English King.
Not that this made much of a difference to him anymore. While he still held attachment to his old country, he long considered this entire world his home.
The name he was currently going by was John Darien. One of many he had used over the time.
xxx
But the man was anything but young. For centuries now he and the ones he had chosen as his allies, had been there and defending this world.
Continuing what Merlin had begun even longer in the past. He had done the best to follow the footsteps of the centuries old Sorcerer.
While his dark counterpart was doing all he could to spread chaos and destruction in the name of his and his Masters twisted idea of `improving´ it.
Both of them had continued to recruit allies and followers and two opposing organization had formed around them.
Galahad had lived through first the Saxxon- and later the Normannic Invasions of his British homeland, the islamic conquests and the crusades meant to counter them and seen the atrocities both caused. The Reformation, the following Church Schism and the 30 Year War. The discovery of the New World, the rise of the British Empire and countless other events - some in every history lesson, others long forgotten except by Galahad himself and the ones who were like him.
xxx
He had watched conquered become conquerors and the other way around, victims and culprits constantly changing and switching around, atrocities happening in the name of God, so called `believers´ openly commiting to violence while preaching non-violence...
... always singling out the ones who were only the slightest bit different from themselves and herassing, harming and even destroying them. But only if they were safe in their own position, only if they thought they could do it without risk for themselves...
... blind fanatics mindlessly repeating dogmas even if they didn´t match reality, contrasted with people always walking the path of least resistance and mindlessly repeating they were told, believing convenient lies over obvious truth and common sense... religious and philosophical fanatism paired up with cowardize and opportunism...
... and how nothing truly changed. How mankind and the entire world just seemed to run through the same circles again and again. Seemingly without end and without ever learning anything.
In opposite to his old opponent however, the man once known as Galahad never gave up hope in humanity completely. And so he never became a part of the Darkness instead of fighting against it.
Even if he often understood all too well why he did.
Sometimes it was unsettling to himself just how well he understood his enemy.
He had also often asked himself the question: Were the people of this world (and all the others) truly worth it or was the darkness actually what they deserved?
The sobering answer was: Many in fact weren´t.
But many others were worth it. And in opposite to him he would not accept the believe that the only way to improve the world was burning most of it down.
xxx
And it was not only this world anymore. He had learned a long time ago to open portals to travel between distances and different realms of reality. Just like his old enemy had.
He had seen the same things not only in this one, but in several other realities as well.
It was over four centuries ago that he had for the first time successfully opened a portal to another reality. Actually he had made some `successful´ attempts before, but everytime his psychic and magical powers had warned him not to pass the portal. Because it was impossible for human life to exit on the other side.
His mind literally screamed at him. It was a feeling like he would be crushed if he stepped through it. That it was an environment impossible to survive even for him.
xxx
The first alternate world that he set food on... was one where humanity seemingly did not exist. It was an Earth that was only populated by animals. With no `civilization´ as it was known.
He had seen some tribes of apes that lives in some kind of larger communities. But that was it.
It was a sobering experience to have demonstrated like this what he had already been told before by others. That humanity did not need to exist for the rest of the world to do it. It was only arrogance that the world was made for them instead of humanity being a part of it. Maybe God´s highest creation, but still a creation and not the reason the world existed in the first place.
This had also led him to question what had been behind the portals his powers had warned him not to open.
Centuries later after both human science and his own powers evolved even further, he got a real answer. Realities where the laws of physics and time and space were completely different from their own and where life like they knew it had never a chance to exist in the first place.
It was the first he had visited, but not the last.
He had sensed that Mordred had been experiencing with the creation of portals as well and when he finally succeeded, Galahad and some allies followed him.
It was a world where humanity did exist. But their history was vastly different from their own.
xxx
It was a world where Alexander the Great had lived longer because he had been convinced to delay his failed campaign to India until years later. He had left a heir and started so a dynasty of rulers over his empire. As a result Europe had become Greek dominated for centuries instead of Roman.
Christianity still existed and had become a major religion in that world, but not the solely dominant one like in his world. Instead it shared the continent with another religion that was a mixture of the old greek one and the Egyptian, with some Persian elements.
And this Christianity was not really like the one he knew either. Instead it was something that the Catholic Church would have most likely considered as major heresy.
Christmas for example was not celebrated in December, but in late Spring, after Easter and was of course called differently. (Because it was not merged with the Roman Sol Invictus Day and the Winter Solstice as Galahad learned later.)
But as Mordred and his followers started to spread their influence over this world. They used the lingering resentments and prejudices between the christians and the other religion to spread dissent between them, recruited agents and followers for themselves from the natives, commited acts of terror to destabilze society.
Just like they would have in their own world.
Despite all the differences, they all realized quickl that the people themselves were ultimately not really that different at all.
And Galahad and his allies fought to stop them and also recruited allies from the natives as well.
Their battle in that world finally ended in a standstill. With both sides moving on to another world and then another.
And so it went on for centuries.
xxx
Yet ultimately Galahad always returned to this world, this reality. The one he had been born in and he considered his home. He had sworn to protect this world after all. And for some reason, Mordred always returned as well.
He had, just like Mordred, in more than one world met the infamous Vlad the Impaler and later sensed from the distance how he became the powerful Vampire King known as Dracula.
Another being who could be like them and had a similar potential.
At first he was tempted to try to prevent this from happening. To use his own powers to stop Vlad´s supernatural transformation.
But he had sensed the same darkness around Vlad that had turned Mordred into what he had become. He heard it telling him not to interferre and he felt his own magic being repelled.
He had accepted that maybe this had been meant to happen.
xxx
The play he was watching right now was named Faust.
A story about a man who made a pact with a Devil and was stuck in a struggle for his soul knew it was based on an older german myth, while the current version was written by the famous `recent´ author Goethe.
If he was honest, the main reason why he was watching it right now was the fact that his old opponent had been using the name the last time their paths crossed - `Johnathan Faust´, as the man who had once been Mordred called himself in this age.
Besides using a few other aliases of course, just like Galahad himself did.
For the parallels, there were however also as many differences to the character Faust. For one Mordred never `struggled for his soul´. He knew exactly what he was doing and gave his soul to the darkness willingly. He became it´s agent and faithfull champion - in a sense a Demon in his own right and more.
In fact Galahad questioned if Mordred identified himself more with Johann Faust or with Mephistopheles. He certainly possessed aspects of both.
In the end he had the impression that he had based this name more on the play itself than any of the characters in it, on the situation itself.
xxxx
Phase 4: Godhood - the late 20th/early 21st Century
The world had changed drastically once again. Even more than before. Humanity had evolved technically to a point that they could travel into space, destroy entire continents with nuclear weapons and manipulate genes.
Things that were once believed to be only possible through supernatural powers.
In his and Fausts own home-reality this development had happened and in several others had also had similar timelines.
But it was not only the world that had to change.
xxx
It was time. He was standing in the middle of an wide open landscape.
The planet however he was was standing on was not Earth. In fact it was not even a world carrying life, but an unpopulated planet somewhere in space.
His magic power was the only thing protecting his body from the vacuum around him.
He was going to make the next final step in his own evolution. A dangerous last step.
That was why he was here on this planet empty of life.
His opponent had done it just a few days ago. The planet that Faust had been standing on when it happened had been turned into a lifeless wasteland.
He was not sure if it had been intentional or accidentally. But since the alien population on that planet fit the description of what both Faust and his Master considered an, as they would call it, `irredeemable flawed´ society, he concluded that it was the former.
He begann. The man calling himself Darien completely released the energy that existed inside him for so long. The magic powers he had been born with and also the Cosmic and Holy Powers he had gained.
He raised his energies to a level higher than ever before... more and more.
He gave up any attempts to holding them back or restraint them in any way.
He completely let go... and then pushed even further.
And at the same time he felt pain shooting through his entire body, that became worse and worse.
In this last step, he let his powers completely transcent his human body and basically turn himself from a very powerful but still organic lifeform, into a higher-dimensional being of pure suernatural energy and then `partly´ back.
And exactly there lied the danger.
He opened a door from that he might never really return.
When he made this final step, giving up his mortal and even his human existence nearly completely, he risked his power completely consuming not only his mortal form, but also his mind. And loosing himself in the process.
He felt how every cell in his body was burning. As they were consumed by the energies he himself had unleashed.
But at the same time he felt his whole self growing, literally expanding.
A part of him wanted to scream. But he did not longer had a physical body to do that.
He felt like he was seeing the place from dozens of different places at once. But not only this place.
He could see into different planes of existence, different dimensions and universes, bordering and interlapping with the one he had just been standing in.
This was it, he thought - the point of godhood and beyond or madness, or both.
He heard voices calling out from all around him, forces that were calling out to him.
And also the dark urges to just stop thinking, stop caring, let go of everything that had made him human - or sentient - just complete loose himself in the power.
And through all of that, he suddenly believed he heard the voice of God, the same he had heard many times before.
Ever since he first heard it when he made this oath over 1500 years ago and that had been guiding him ever since.
Galahad, John or Darien - or whatever he called himself - used all his concentration, focussed on his own thoughts and emotions, drawing himself back from the chaos and madness.
And then a few moments later, it was over.
He was standing where he had been before, seemingly back in his own body that he had instinctively recreated from a molecular level.
But now this body was not much more than an extension of his true self.
His "true" self was now, in a sense at least, a being of supernatural energy that existed beyond the dimensions of this world and had just chosen to retake the shape of human.
Now he would be able to face his old opponent Mordred or Faust of whatever else he called himself on equal terms when the time came.