The Jester of Apocalypse

Dukean faced a moderately sized earth golem, clutching the chain and twirling the sword around his body.

It looked roughly humanoid, with bulky limbs and a head that was slightly too large for its body, and it was quite a bit bigger than he was. Yet, it was weak.

The shards of rock were effortlessly dodged and reflected by his blade, and by his estimate, this creature would qualify to be around gold rank in threat, although it was on the weaker side.

Monsters had been popping up everywhere, but neither he nor the others had fought all that many. It was simple. The creatures were just not that powerful yet. Unless one employed a very hands-on approach, it took a long time for a monster to reach platinum rank in threat.

However, this creature did have one characteristic he was happy to exploit. It was tough. And that meant he could at least test some of his power if he held back enough.

Dukean dashed backward and threw the sword forward. The chain instantly extended, whipping out like a snake, and the blade struck the golem right in the middle of its torso. The impact shattered half of the golem’s upper body, blowing an entire arm off and exposing the core.

It dropped dead on the ground soon after.

The chain sluggishly retracted as Dukean stared at the creature in disappointment. "Are you kidding me…?" He asked, bewildered.

This weapon simply defied common sense. It was mundane metal, yet the sheer might of the quasi-spirit inside was enough to qualify it to compete against… well… any weapon Dukean had ever seen.

Including the original that had inspired this version of the chainblade

The speed and force with which it could extend and retract were frightening, and combined with his well-practiced control of the weapon, it increased his combat capabilities many times over.

He briefly checked the core, and finding nothing of value, he didn’t bother picking it up. Some monster would soon come along, so he may as well let it consume it.

Once again, he found himself admiring the construction of the weapon. The mundane metal was a flaw, but it wasn’t nearly as critical as he would have assumed.

Its properties were boosted far beyond what such a metal should be capable of, and it had qi conductivity he thought was impossible. It was to the point where his qi flowed through the weapon as if it were his own body, no, perhaps even better.

Sure, the lack of power of the metal did mean that one’s qi techniques received no boost to their potency, and that was a shame, but the weapon itself had an ability that was mighty enough to somewhat compensate for that.

There was another flaw, although perhaps calling it a fault was somewhat unfair, as it had been his decision to use this weapon. True strikes were still beyond him, as the weapon was highly irregular, making executing a near-perfect strike quite tricky.

Despite the long period they had spent inside the spirit realm, nobody had executed a true strike against Neave and not even against one another. It was shocking that it hadn’t happened even once, at least by accident, but it made sense when he thought of it.

Against that demon lord, they were always on the defensive, and those habits seemed to have extended well into their one-on-one bouts. Actually, that was mighty impressive since that meant that none of them had ever allowed their opponent the luxury of attempting a perfect strike.

Besides Marven, that was. He had to face him, after all.

The level at which their skills were currently at was inhuman. The others didn’t seem to realize just how capable they were now. Nobody was qualified to compete with them at the same, or even slightly above their power level, even the two with relatively lacking talent.

A vast repertoire of movement techniques and countless years of experience using them?

It was frightening, yet… Dukean couldn’t stop a massive grin from appearing on his face.

He looked to the sky, sword hanging to his side, chains coiled like a snake, impatiently waiting for an opponent worthy of its blade. "Mother… we will finally have our revenge." ṞΑＮôBÈ𝓢

***

Hunter held his shield in front of him and his longsword behind him, in a low grip, ready to strike. He ran toward a wall, jumping a few times, seemingly floating off the ground. In mere moments, he accelerated to quite the speed and rammed the shield into a wall.

Cracks spread all around it, and the cave shook.

Hunter dragged the shield out of the wall, and Gabrias clapped, "That’s incredible!"

The tall man was quite the pleasant company, Hunter had learned. Throughout their countless fights, they had gotten to know each other rather well, and truthfully, there had never been someone he considered a friend more than he did Gabrias.

Admittedly, his personality was a little weird, and he had a passionate reverence for Neave to the point where he nearly deemed him a god.

Well, it wasn’t that strange, and he could see where he was coming from. He still found it so weird; every time he thought of it, it felt so incongruous. This was the same kid as the one he had been beating up his entire life?

It felt so surreal. And, honestly, quite scary at times. Hunter didn’t have the same reverence for Neave as Gabrias, but he was afraid of him. Neave had repeatedly reassured him that he didn’t care about the past, but that was barely soothing, given how crazy he was.

He was broken out of his thoughts as Gabrias spoke, "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, sorry, nothing,” he rushed to apologize. “Say, do you want to test your bow against my shield?"

"That…” Gabrias hesitated. “Are you sure you’ll be fine?"

"Yeah, this thing is sturdy. Don’t tell me you believe I would fall to someone like you?"

"Lord Neave’s creation is not to be underestimated, Hunter," he declared, yet again using that creepy tone of his.

"Uh…” Hunter shuffled, scratching the back of his head. ”Right,” he said as he stepped to the side, putting some distance between them. “Give it a shot anyway."

Gabrias squinted at him, then shook his head. “I suppose some lessons have to learned the difficult way.”

The tall man pulled the bow off his back. His fingers gripped the tight wire of the longbow, and he seized it with all his strength. The string was drawn back, and rapidly, a giant arrow of ice manifested, nocked to its entire length.

The arrow released, flying at Hunter, who readied himself. The arrow struck the shield, and the clash pushed him back a little. However, as the arrow shattered into a fine powder, a frigid gust of wind washed over him, rapidly cooling the shield, freezing it to his hand, and creating a layer of ice across the surface of his body.

Hunter found himself frozen stiff, and even the ground around him was covered in ice. Gabrias rushed forward, panicked. However, the frozen teenager’s eyes shot wide open, and he stared behind the giant man in fright.

The tall man turned around, coming face to face with a nasty abominid. He instantly reacted by firing an arrow, surprisingly hitting the creature's head. Due to the lack of power behind the swift shot, the projectile itself didn’t sink all that deep, but the creature’s entire head and most of its body froze at the contact with the chilling object.

Gabrias turned around, rushing at Hunter again with panic in his eyes, checking his body to ensure he was alright. The ice thawed gradually, and Hunter regained some movement in his body.

"Sh–Shit… I–I sh–should ask Ne–Neave to fi–fin–find me an ice resistance spi–spirit po–power."

Gabrias laughed awkwardly, yet Hunter could tell that there was a hint of ‘told you so’ in his eyes. Yeah… these weapons were definitely not to be underestimated.

***

Marven had been running around, checking the situation in the surrounding area. Neave had brushed it off far too quickly, but the old cultivator feared the return of the diamond-path assassin.

It was risky, yes, but he still firmly believed that that kid should have been executed. They didn’t know how he had appeared out of thin air like that, and if he could repeat that trick, any of them could be dead before they knew it.

The concern that the kid would explode was a little absurd, in his opinion. And even if he did, Neave certainly had more than one way to kill him from a safe distance.

There was, of course, always the possibility of some sort of curse being released upon his death, but that was less of a threat than the intruder's freedom and potential return.

He hadn’t spotted the assassin or any signs of his presence anywhere. The demons were nowhere to be seen, either, which wasn’t the best news, if he was being honest. Those creatures were up to something, and they wouldn’t find out what the easy way.

The monsters were spreading like wildfire, and ironically, those would be the least of their problems. Just as all the others were, Marven was quite excited to get the opportunity to test his new skills and power.

Perhaps more so than any of the others. He had been stuck at the same point for so long that it felt damn liberating to grow a bit. And he hadn’t developed by a bit, either.

He went through the caves, utilizing potent movement techniques to flutter around like a ghost. Eventually, he appeared before the main chamber and made his way inside.

***

Harel stared at Neave in shock. She watched the entire process of his work, and it was genuinely bewildering. Dozens of glass balls sat on the floor, all lined with incredibly intricate inscriptions.

Every one of those balls had a terrifyingly large ball of spirit melted into it. She had asked whether he could use multiple cores more as a joke than anything, but it seemed to have prompted Neave to give it a shot anyway.

Was it even possible to use that many cores for this?

Also, the body was something Harel had never seen before. Golems usually looked vaguely humanoid. And by vaguely, that meant they just had two arms, two legs, a torso, and a head.

This thing’s body would be frighteningly close to a person in shape. In moments, Neave constructed countless intricate bits and pieces, and upon testing them, they came together to form almost artistic body parts, arms of pure metal with many complex joins and slips that damn-near perfectly resembled a human limb.

Neave clicked his tongue and groaned every few seconds, but at the speed at which he worked, any ‘problem’ he encountered was seemingly instantly rectified.

Soon, he manipulated several pieces of branches over to him and began shaping tiny crystals in different shapes and sizes. He would be done shaping the object and engraving it instantly, and he immediately moved on to using alchemy techniques to somehow alter the material.

He used dozens of techniques per second, and the flashes of color almost made Harel feel nauseated.

The way he inscribed the object was also terrifyingly efficient. His tendril of liquid spirit, manipulated by his life force, would worm its way into a chunk of metal. Pieces of that metal would swiftly melt, and thinner-than-hair threads would fly off the lump and line the surface of anything he needed to inscribe.

As for the pieces of the golem’s body, of which there were thousands, he inscribed runes directly onto their surface.

Soon enough, a large pile of parts was neatly arranged around him, and he began assembling the golem’s body. At a speed that sounded like whips fluttering through the air, he grabbed one piece after another and assembled them with incredible precision.

Seven large cores were arranged in the middle of the torso. They seemed interconnected by thin metal tendrils, for whatever reason, and tons of tiny pieces of glass shards were also arranged in intricate patterns around them.

The clicking of his tongue got significantly more frequent, and he had to disassemble the whole thing dozens of times and put it back together to achieve whatever he was trying to do.

While doing something so complex dozens of times insinuated that it took a while, it really happened over mere minutes.

Gradually, the inside of the torso was arranged in a way that he seemed to be mostly happy with, and he closed it, assembling an insanely intricate layer of pieces that appeared to be stimulating muscles, with metallic tendons connecting the muscles to the joints that would later move limbs.

Every piece of the golem’s body had a tiny glass shard embedded in it, and every major muscle had a core in the middle that was intricately interconnected with all the other centers and minor pieces.

Once he was done with the torso, he groaned loudly and disassembled the entire thing again, starting from the beginning. This time, an additional layer of impossibly dense threads was added to the mix, and it seemed to be leading to right about every piece of the golem's body several times over.

He groaned and disassembled everything again, this time creating another pile of immensely tiny crystals that accompanied the thick ropes of threads.

A massive collection of tiny metallic threads was converging into a giant glass prism just below the golem’s neck, which would likely be connected to the head.

Harel was mesmerized as she watched Neave assemble the head.

The object was far more complex than the torso, and he was almost constantly groaning as he assembled and reassembled it. A supremely intricate collection of crystals was arranged, and he seemed stumped on how to build it correctly.

Soon enough, however, he finished and proceeded to the limbs. By the end, the entire golem looked like a metallic human.

Once finished, Neave groaned again and proceeded to disassemble the entire thing.

Harel couldn’t believe her eyes. Despite what seemed to be immense irritation, the sheer degree of patience and meticulousness he displayed was impressive by anyone’s standard.

Even worse, as she watched him do the entire process again, she couldn’t even comprehend what he was doing differently this time. Once he was done, he freaking disassembled it again!

Harel fell over in shock and barely regained herself as Neave put the thing together again at blazing speed.

Once he was done, he harrumphed and declared, "Bit crude, but good enough."

What a monster!

"What do you mean by crude!?” She said in an almost pleading tone. “I’ve never seen anything this intricate in my life!"

"Hmm?” He turned to face her. “Hah, by your standards, of course, but even a wild golem is more flexible than this thing."

"What the...!?” She started, unable to believe what she had just heard. “You do know those are living creatures, right? That’s your standard!?"

"That’s merely a benchmark."

Harel looked around for anyone, hoping to find someone who could tell her she wasn’t losing her mind.

Marven walked in at this moment, staring at the thing on the ground with bulging eyes. "Neave, dear heavens, what is that thing!"

"Oh, hey, Dad, this is a golem!"

"I… Oh lord."

Harel stared at the thing in disbelief and turned to Neave. "Why is it so complex?"

"Thank you for asking, dear Harel!” He thanked. “Usually, golems use one energy core and one command core. And the number of joints they have is kept to a minimum to make the inscribing process of the command core as straightforward as possible. I’m sadly limited by the materials at my disposal, so I can’t make the energy conduction veins fill the necessary criteria. They’re made of mundane material. Thus, they can’t bear the burden of too much energy. But, when using multiple cores, I have to solve numerous problems.

"Now, usually, the command core and the energy core are connected to one another, and together, they connect to all the joints. Due to the sheer number of joints this golem has, as it can move its limbs at any angle and even spin them around, and due to the number of energy cores and command cores implanted, I had to connect every single one of them to every single other one, which is far too crude, but I haven’t really yet thought of a way to centralize the exchange of information between the pieces. The crudeness of this method makes for an exponentially vast number of connections, and I messed up the order quite a few times.

"Also, I had to manually construct an intricate perception system, as it couldn’t utilize spirit senses due to the low-rank material used. I ended up settling for a dual system. One that detects heat signatures and one that detects movement relative to the golem’s body. The problem with having both of those in the same body is that they tend to overlap rather frequently, and the movement-related one has a few crucial weaknesses, such as the inability to detect room temperature objects that stick to the same position relative to its body. It’s unlikely anything will use such a strategy to avoid the golems, but I still built in a low-priority air-movement-detection system, just in case.

"As for the command core of the golem, I could have inscribed a simple, standard set of commands, but nothing of that complexity exists due to the number of joints. I ended up settling for a discriminant imitation system that learns from humanoid creatures in its range of perception with manually built-in discrimination for movements unsuitable for maneuvering or combat.

"That on its own isn’t enough, as its peculiar body has capabilities of a range of movement far greater than us. So, I created a system that will only realize its full potential far later, once more of them exist and once they have enough enemies. Simply put, the golems employ a set of semi-random adjustments to their movement in combat, and depending on the observed effectiveness of those movements, they decide whether they would replicate those adjustments again if they found themselves in a similar scenario.

"Given enough time, the golems would learn how to fight in nearly any situation, as they account for the environment, number of enemies, body shape of enemies, heat signature, attack patterns, attack power, frequency, precision, and order, as well as how long the combat scenario lasted. The golems can, through touch, exchange information on combat experience and teach the others what they know.

"There is some other minor stuff about partial self-repair and system hierarchy that would take too long to explain. Sadly, they’re a bit too fragile due to their peculiar construction, so I must give them some damn sturdy armor, but I’ll look to create redundancy here once I finally centralize the exchange of information between moving pieces. So… what do you guys think?"

As he turned to them, he saw the slack-jawed, wide-eyed expressions on their faces.

"Uh? Hello?"

Despite waving at them, they seemed stuck in some sort of stupor. Suddenly, Marven started chuckling, which turned to wild laughter, quickly joined by Harel.

Marven cackled merrily, slapping his thighs as he kept getting redder and redder in his face. "Hahaha, hey Harel, do you think we qualify as something like heavenly messengers ourselves?"

“Hell no! The heavens are probably jealous!”

Neave stared at them quizically, outwardly playing the oblivious child, but inwardly, he pumped an imaginary fist.