Chapter 143 - 131: A Long Ass Chapter

(A Month Later)

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

Sparks flew everywhere whenever Vali tried to hit War with his black spear.

Vali wore the scorched armor of the black knights of Lordran. Two horns protrude from the top of the helm, designs so neat of the chest plate, the gauntlets let him move his hands as free as if he never wore it, and leggings that made metallic sound in every step.

Like an experienced warrior, Vali, with his amazing speed, suddenly appeared in front of War with his spear ready to stab the older warrior in front of him with the force of a meteor! But War blocked it with the just the tip of his finger, stopping the spear instantly.

Yet, Vali was not finished yet. He jumped away from War and then shot up, almost crashing to the ceilings. Using the ceilings of the training room, he then used all the forced his legs could muster and pushed himself to go towards War with extreme speed that it left a shockwave that almost destroyed the ceilings! With his spear pointing towards War, he plunged the spear into War's chest that's covered by a golden armor which had the helm designed like a lion.

"Heup!"

The shockwave that occurred upon contact between them destroyed the floor and everything around them, yet War simply took the blow head on, not even flinching for a second. He pointed at Vali's forehead with his hand while the younger warrior's spear clashed upon his armor, and flicked Vali's forehead and then the white haired boy flew across the training room, only stopping when he crashed into the titanium wall.

A deep hole was created in the wall, and smoke filled Vali's vision. When he finally came out of that hole, he was holding his head as if he was in pain. He took off the helm and threw it away out of haste, just to ease the pain he was feeling.

"Aaaaaahh! Shit, this hurts way too much! Couldn't you have been a little softer, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g old man!" Vali yelled a stream of curses towards War, and the older warrior only stayed stoic.

From across the room, War only said, "You are a warrior, am I right? Then you can take at least this much. The Spartans suffered much more than this when they were your age, and they were only humans. Even when their bloodline had all but ended, their strength is still feared even among the supernatural. They were only humans, yet you can't even do a quarter of what they can do when they were your age. How pathetic!"

"Shut it! I am already stronger than any Ultimate-Class being! Can't I just take a break? I've been training for almost a month now!" Vali complained, after immediately shortening the distance between him and War just after a couple of steps.

"A warrior does not complain! A warrior can take on everything that life throws at him! You are a warrior!! War said, trying to at least shut Vali's complains.

The white haired boy only muttered curses. He then readied his spear, its edge shining under the light of the training room.

But then, War took off his helm and smiled at Vali, "But maybe you could take a little break. It has been 12 hours since you started training today, after all."

"Finally!" Vali cheered happily, before instantly running out of the training room to get some snacks and watch some TV to relax.

Now, don't get him wrong, he still loves fighting but not when he loses for like every round. He is still a child, after all. Every single day since the day he became one of Hikaru's pawns, he trained harder than anyone his age. Every day, he was covered in his own blood and sweat while shakily holding the spear that Hikaru gave him.

The first time he got his equipment, he struggled to even move while wearing it. Every piece of the armor weighs a total of 500 Kilograms each, and the black spear was around one ton. They were the heaviest things he had to wear in his life, but it helped him grow his physical strength even further. Due to his genetics as the great grandson of Lucifer himself, he was able to grow stronger quicker than any devils the same age as him.

While he does complain whenever War kicks his ass, he doesn't dislike the training. It makes him grow stronger than ever before, and this is all for the sake of getting revenge to his father and grandfather. Oh, how he loves to slaughter the two of them and spread their innards all over the place.

He had abandoned his other goal, which is to best Great Red, and instead replaced it with another goal; become stronger than his master, AKA, Hikaru.

He found out that his master is even stronger than Great Red, if the light show of him destroying a solar system wasn't enough proof of his strength. Hikaru is by far the strongest being he has seen in his life. Azazel can't even bring himself to look at Hikaru's eyes without feeling fear towards the powerful being.

But the most surprising part was how submissive War, Pestilence, and Lady Death were towards Hikaru. They literally couldn't speak his name without trembling a little. Those three are the three most powerful beings he has ever seen in his life, even Super Devils can't compare to their strength. Most "powerful" beings in this world aren't even as strong as War's finger, and that's even an understatement.

He had gotten along with the giant lizard living under the caste, since it reminded him a little of Albion. The lizard is kind towards him for some reason but he's going to complain about it since they are now best buds! That lizard is strong though. It could destroy a mountain with a swipe of its claws, but its strength is nowhere near to his master's strength.

Anyway, he'll take a break before he goes to rest, since he is going to train again tomorrow.

(With Hikaru)

"Damn, even this is a bit of an overkill."

Arriving at Stage 1,000,000, he stood up to see a million Black Knights, waiting to kill him.

Now, each and every single one of them are 1/100 as strong as him. They could probably slice him in half, if he isn't careful.

Right now, he equipped no equipment and only came barehanded. He trusts his skills as a fighter, and his overpowered magic spells.

With a snap of his fingers, he muttered, "Celestial Borg," and a transparent blue barrier surrounded him. Like hawks, the black knights circled around him like a predator staring at its prey. Unfortunately for them, it seems like the role is reversed.

The arena he was on is a large stone land that stretched farther than the eyes can see. It's a flat land, so it will be easier for the black knights to move around. But the thing that caught his eyes the most were their formations. Tens upon tens of thousands of archers were at the very back, while black knights at the front had huge shields that he has never seen before. At the middle of their formation were the black knights equipped with melee weapons like the giant black great sword, longsword, spear, and short sword.

All of them looked menacing, but that didn't stop Hikaru from creating a giant sun in the sky that was almost as big as the sun. The heat murdered their armors, but they felt no pain, only the robotic commands of the being that created them.

Hikaru then brought down the sun, engulfing the entire arena with light and heat.

After a few seconds or so, the light went down and all of the black knights were gone, not even ashes remained.

"Hmm, that worked well." Usually, most of them would be able to survive that and immediately attack him so that he won't have the time to cast that spell again. He created that spell when he wanted to know how to create a sun, he named it, "The Nearing Sun". Normally, this spell wouldn't even kill a quarter of those black knights, but since he was able to level up his INT Stat, he now has stronger magic power.

Looking at his rewards, he smiled.

[Rewards: 100 Quintillion Souls, Black Knight's Summoning Stone *100, Black Knight's Halberd *10,000, Black Knight's Greatsword *10,000, Black Knight's Longsword *10,000, Black Knight's Short Sword *10,000, Black Knight's Great Bow *10,000, Black Knight Armor Set *2000, Divine Blessings *100,000, Black Knight Gladiator's Duel Blades *10,000, Anti-Demon Fighting Style Book *10, Junk *1,000,000, Undead Feces *1,000,000]

He immediately threw away the junk and feces that appeared as his reward. You see, whenever he dips his hand into the bottomless box he touches other items, and feces are just gross. They are basically undead shit from undead who ate food and never really had the function to digest it, then it turns into Undead Feces. Fortunately for him, he does have the function to digest, except he doesn't get any nutrients, the food just disappears whenever it goes down his throat.

Anyway, point is, it's disgusting and he doesn't want his hands, or any of his body part, near it.

He nodded at the rest of the rewards. He basically has millions of Black Knight Equipment just sitting in his bottomless box, or storage, and he can better equip his army with these weapons and armors. They are not upgraded, since he'll have to upgrade them one by one and that'll take way too long, but they are powerful equipment and no army in the entire galaxy would be able to beat his future army once they are well coordinated and strong enough to actually face some of the fiercest war lords in the universe.

But he hasn't actually built his army yet, he is just currently training his generals, I.e his chess pieces. War, Pestilence, Lady Death, the giant lizard sleeping in his bas.e.m.e.nt, and Tiamat are barely even qualified to be proper generals for him. He had seen what some galactic empires could do. Even their civilians have the power to destroy mountains, and look at his group. In terms of power, his group loses without him.

Vali can't even beat War, though it's only reasonable for him not to since War has more than 3,000,000 power level while Vali only has around 16,000 or so. If he calculated right, War is almost 300 times stronger than Vali.

Currently, he has the Sacred Gear, Divine Dividing. He took it from Vali because he decided to bring this back to one of his children, Taiyou maybe? Yeah, Taiyou is more calm and collected, even surpassing Shikamaru's son in terms of intelligence. Though, they are still growing, so some things might change in the future.

Once he finds the Boosted Gear, he'll give it to Emiyo because he thinks that she is much suited for the Sacred Gear. She is as energetic as her mother, when her mother was a child. Trust him, he knows how "energetic" Azumi was, and still is. Anyway, Emiyo is hot blooded and will probably do rash things like saving a village or something without knowing the details behind why the village was attacked in the first place.

Emiyo will be perfect for the title of the "Red Dragon Emperor" but he'll change it into the "Red Dragon Empress". He'll castrate the dragon if he has to, just to achieve that title for his sweet daughter.

Somewhere, in some place, a red dragon shuddered.

(Scene Change)

The little planet he left alone for a month had turned into something he might call "A Really Shitty Place". Turns out, more than 40,000 years had passed in that little planet of his and, how do I say this, the church that Roddrick built after slaughtering a bunch of people that was dedicated towards him, Hikaru, as their god have been filled with a bunch of popes that are really into kids. Now, that church was dedicated for him by one of his people, and pedophiles roam that church? This is blasphemy towards him! He'll go down there immediately and kill those f.u.c.k.i.n.g shits! He created them and he can f.u.c.k.i.n.g destroy them, that's for sure!

The small planet orbited around a small sun that was 10 times bigger than the small planet. There were two small moons that he created for the little planet. Under that small solar system, he created, was a grass plain that stretched as far as the eyes can see.

The small solar system he created was inside a barrier that engulfed them with darkness, with the small sun being the only light that brightened them. He plans to add more planets soon, but not now. He has something to do, and that thing is to strangle all the popes to the death.

As he was just ready to shrink himself to a microscopic being and jump into that small planet he created himself, he sensed something. It was despair, coming from a little boy in that little world.

He zoomed his vision into that world, only to see 5 thugs surrounding a boy and a girl. The boy shakily held a dulled long sword against the five a.d.u.l.t thugs, while the girl hid behind him. Now that he looks closer, those thugs weren't really thugs, they looked like priests.

(Artorias POV)

I need to escape with Ruth! If I don't, they'll capture and do unspeakable acts towards her!

The five priests in front of me smiled like vile creatures of the wild, like goblins. They all had hungry looking eyes, but they were not looking at me but at Ruth.

I'm scared, no, terrified to fight against them but Ruth is my friend, and friends are always there for each other!

"Be a good boy and just give us the girl and we'll let you live. We'll forget that this happened, okay?" One of them said. I saw their eyes licking Ruth all over the place, and I instantly got mad.

"S-Shut up, you filthy priests! If only all of you didn't exist, then our lives would've been better!" I screamed at them while shakily holding the dulled sword my father had.

"Tch, let me kill him, Airon. He's talking just like my pop, and I hate that."

The one named Airon just nodded nonchalantly, and said, "Just don't hurt the girl, she's an important object for the pope. Maybe once he's finish with her we'll get our turns."

The more I listened to their conversation, the more I got angry at them. These are the people my parents bow down to? Laughable, they are no priests, they are vile beasts that don't have the same privilege as I, a human, have. But what can I do? I don't have any strength nor power to use to defeat them, but I have to protect Ruth!

I saw the one who said he wanted to kill me, slowly walked towards me. He licked the blade he took out from the sheath by his waist, and said, "Hehehe, I'll make this as painful as possible, boy. You'll regret having been birth into this world after I'm done with you! Hah!"

The priest attacked with the blade, which I clumsily blocked with my dull sword.

*Clang*

While I held the handle of the sword, my hands felt numb after clashing with the priest's blade. He's strong, but if his strength is just like this, I can probably beat him.

The priest smirked, then said, "You're probably thinking that you could beat me, right, boy? Well, let me tell you something, there's a reason why most people fear us."

The priest spread lifted his arm, and spread his hand widely before a ball of blue flame appeared on his hand, "And it's because of this, magic! Everyone is afraid of us because we have magic! Not even a hundred farmers can best one of us priests because we have magic! A single spell can obliterate an army of trained soldiers! Heh, now that I've opened your small eyes, die!"

"Artorias!" Ruth screamed.

He shot the blue fire towards me. As the ball of fire slowly engulfed my vision, my life flashed right before my eyes. I saw the moments when my parents trained me to fight with the sword, when they trained me how to hunt in the wild. Is this really how my 11 years of life is going to end? It's kinda unfair, really. These vile beasts will probably live a long life with luxuries in their entire life, while most people in this world will die starving somewhere. I hate this world, I hate the one who made it, I hate, I hate, I hate them all!

If only these priests would disappear from this world… If only I had that kind of power… maybe…. Just maybe… I wouldn't die here.

I closed my eyes, readying myself, and after a few seconds, nothing happened. I didn't feel pain, nor anything like that. I opened one of my eyes to peek, then opened both of them as I stared at the scene in front of me. The ball of fire was in front of my face, but it was suspended in air. Now that I looked around me, everything stopped moving.

I saw the priests, and they weren't moving while they were standing up. But even then, they still have this vile look on their faces. I just want to kill them… maybe everything will be over once I killed them.

"Boo!"

"Aaah!"

I yelped in surprise as I heard a voice behind me. I turned around to see an a.d.u.l.t man wearing strange clothing with this uncomfortable smile on his face. But there was something wrong; his feet weren't touching the floor.

"Why, hello there, Artorias, was it? I see that you're about to die. Let's not beat around the bush, so I'll introduce myself. I am the one who created this world, the one you said you hate. I was about to just kill all the priests in this world when I saw what has happened, but then I saw your name. Artorias isn't a common name, for it is a name of a warrior. A warrior who once stood against the abyss, but in the end was overcome by it. Then he became a warrior who was caught by the abyss but still fought the enemies that he swore to fight to protect his people, and then he fought another warrior from the distant future, who bested him with great difficulty even when his arm was broken. He was called, Artorias, The Abyss Walked." That smile grew even more wider; it was as if he was looking at a toy.

"Why are yo—"

I was interrupted by him, "Now, you might be asking why I am explaining this to you; it's because I want you to become the next Abyss Walker!"

"What?"

"I know that you're still a child, so I'll give you a training book that contains all of the previous Artorias's fighting style and a long sword that's two times bigger than your small, puny body. I will then grant you a single blessing. Choose from these three; Superhuman Strength, Large Amount of Mana, or Both?"

"I still don't understand what's happening." I said honestly.

"Choose now, or have this chance be gone forever from your life." He said, still keeping that eerie smile.

"Uh, both?" I said, unsure as to why he would put such a great option there.

"Good choice! I knew you weren't stupid!" The self-proclaimed creator of this world snapped his fingers, and everything exploded in white.

(End POV)

(With Hikaru)

He giddily made a box of popcorn appear in his hands while having a flat screen TV on top of a table sit in front of him. This TV is connected to Artorias's vision, so Hikaru would be able to watch the boy's life just like a movie.

"I thought I wouldn't be able to get something out of this small planet, but that was not true, at all! I have a free TV Series in my hands!" Hikaru said, while trying to control his excitement.

The reason he is this excited is because he knew that this boy is some kind of anime protagonist, but the great thing about this is that the boy will live his life without any kind of script, unlike animes these days.

He had a remote that is connected to that little planet. This remote has the power to pause that world, change the POV into someone else other than Artorias, and some more.

Then, he made the ground below him a concrete floor that was around 20 meters in diameter or so. He also created a sofa two times longer than his body, so that he could lay down whenever he wants. A box of ch.i.p.s that he kept inside his bottomless box, some large bottles of soda inside a cooler, tons of popcorns, and then he changed his clothes into sweat pants and a comfortable hoodie.

And for the finishing touch, a body pillow of Azumi dressed in maid costume.

"And… here we go." He said, then turned on the Flat Screen TV and pressed record, showing Artorias's POV.

(Artorias POV)

I woke up to something exploding in my face. It felt hot, but it was tolerable. When the blue flame faded, I saw the five priests looking at me in shock. I wondered why, until I realized something. The thing that hit me was the blue fire from earlier! I wasn't even hurt when it hit me! I looked at my arms, only to see bulging muscles in my thin arms. I am wearing a cheap shirt that my parents could only afford with their money, and blue pants.

I saw my hair dangling in the corner of my eyes, only to see It has become azure. And my hair was long, already reaching my shoulders! I wasn't like this earlier!

Then, I felt something heavy behind my back, so I reached out for it, only to feel a leather pole, then realized that it was a handle of a weapon. There's a sword in its sheath, tied behind my back! What the hell is going on!?

"Artorias… is that you?" I heard Ruth's voice from behind me, so I calmly turned around and smiled at her.

"Of course, who could I be other than your friend? You're so silly sometimes, Ruth." I said to her, just to calm her down.

Then, suddenly, I felt something hot hit my back. I turned around, only to see the priest holding a blue flame, saying, "Don't be arrogant, boy, just because you managed to take a hit from me, master of fire, Halam!"

Right, these guys are still here.

I confidently looked at them, and said, "I don't feel losing today!" Then charged towards them with no weapons. It was rash, I knew that, but I felt invincible! I felt like I could take on the entire world right now! Is this power given to me by the creator of this world? It doesn't matter, what does matter is that I now have the power to change the world for the better! To change it into a world where Ruth can live peacefully! Ruth is my friend, and I will protect her for the rest of my life!

I bulldozed right through the five of them, I felt their bones crack when we made contact. I was like a tanker, every move I made was filled with power behind them. I was about to move once more, when I turned around and saw that they weren't moving anymore.

When I saw their broken corpses, I didn't feel any guilt, only exhilaration. I killed them, the vile beasts that tormented everyone in this village, I killed them! They are no longer here! If I kill the other vile beast sitting on his throne right by the church, then this village will be free from their grasps!

Yes, these beasts are no humans, they are worthless, unchained beasts that should be slaughtered like livestock in a farmhouse! No mercy shall be given to these beasts!

I didn't notice it, but at this moment, I had the smile of a feral beast, ready to kill its prey; I.e the church. The church, they shall die by my hands!

"A-Artorias… are you okay?" Ruth asked from behind me, her voice filled with worry for me.

I turned around towards her, I saw her flinched but I didn't know why, and I said, "Of course, Ruth. I've never felt any better! I have saved you from these beasts, how could I not be okay? Don't worry, Ruth, soon, all of them will be gone. No one shall torment you, ever again!!"

I gripped her hand tightly, with a smile that could only be equaled by these beasts but I didn't know that, at the time, I was plunging deeper into the abyss.

"Artorias, you're hurting me." Ruth said, trying to get my hand off hers.

I let go of her, and apologized, "I'm sorry. Did that hurt? Let's go home and have you patch up."

"N-No, I'm fine. Artorias, what happened to you? You seem so obsessed with something, is something wrong?" Ruth asked, still having that worried tone in her voice.

Unknowingly, I still kept that smile as I said softly, "As I've said before, I'm fine. There's nothing to worry about, Ruth. You're such a worrywart, silly."

"I-If you say so. Come, let's go home before everyone finds out about this." Ruth said as she grabbed me by the hand and led me towards our "secret base" in the nearby mountains.

(Scene Change)

Every kid in the Village of Gahalla has a secret base of some kind, it's just that Ruth and I took it a little further and made a base in the nearby base of a mountain just around the village. No one knew about this base except me, my mother, and Ruth.

Ruth is an orphan, and she has always been hiding in the corner shyly while reading a book. Everybody in the orphanage bullied her because of she was different from the others. While everyone had bright colored hair, she had black hair, just like mine, or used to, since my hair mysteriously changed into azure blue.

I met Ruth when I saw her alone outside of a forest, reading the story of Roddrick, The First. I always fancied that story because of how awesome and cool Lord Roddrick was. But I didn't believe in the God, or the creator of this world until I saw him myself. He gave me this strange power for some reason, saying that he wanted me to become the next abyss walker.

Anyway, Ruth and I got along because of our similarities. I, too, like reading books because they hold great amount of knowledge. Some old people were saying that we have become too addicted to these books and told us that back in their days, they had to memorize everything and rely on books. I call that bullshit, I'm sorry mom for my language, these old people are just relics of the past. Books were created since the start of time, but they were only popularized 80 years ago, which is just a ton of shit.

Every day I would come to the orphanage where Ruth was staying in and played a lot with her. Some kids my age taunted me for playing with the weird girl, but I beat them up black and blue that they came crying to the patron. I flipped them the bird, then continued playing with Ruth.

Days passed back then, and when my parents saw that I was happy with Ruth, they decided to adopt her, so that we'll be able to play at home. But don't get me wrong, she's my friend and forever will be my friend. In law, we are siblings, but to me, we are friends.

But then, the day came when the church began to kidnap children, especially girls. They were about to take Ruth away from me, so I ran away with her. My parents were the ones that were ready to give Ruth to them, just so they could leave us alone, but I didn't give a damn. I don't want to give my friend to those vile beasts, they should not be able to exist, and even breath the same air as I do! They are just worthless monsters that should be gutted and killed by wolves!

Unfortunately, not everyone had the same opinion I have. They respect these vile beasts, instead of hating them.

I ran away with Ruth but they caught up to me in no time.

Now, after killing them with the newly acquired power the creator gave me, I escaped to the secret base in the mountains, where no a.d.u.l.t venture too deep into because of the wild beasts that lurked here. Wolves, bears, badgers, tigers, and even lions live in this mountain. But Ruth and I are agile because we are just little children, and we could hide from them every single time.

We arrived in our secret base. It is an underground base with wooden logs and planks supporting the surface from falling down on us. We have a chest in here that we built together, it's full of stuff like weapons, some leather armor we stole from the town blacksmith in the past, and other stuff like wooden weapons that we could use for protection.

There are also meat jerkies hanging from the metal wires we set up, so that it would dry up and we could eat it. But from time to time, ants would try to eat them, so we used anti-ants' repellant that we bought from the magic store for 10 copper notes.

The good thing about this repellant that it doesn't affect the meat jerkies, only the ants.

While we call this our secret base, this is more like of a home to us than my parents' house. My parents are busy people, and are always working. The only reason they adopted Ruth was because they wouldn't worry about me beating up other kids in the orphanage for bullying Ruth. And it saves them the headache of worrying about me whenever I go to the orphanage alone to play with Ruth.

Don't get me wrong, my parents are good people, it's just that they are too brainwashed by those beasts from the church.

I put down the long sword that I think the creator gave to me, and studied for a moment before looking at what Ruth is doing.

Ruth grabbed a meat jerky that was hanging on the metal wires and ate it, "T-This should calm me down a little." Then, she sat on the log that we dragged inside to become our chair, and said, "What are we going to do now, Artorias? They are hunting us, no, me so that they could satisfy their wicked l.u.s.t. I'm scared, I don't know what to do." She held the meat jerky firmly. She was afraid of what will happen in the future.

I kneeled down in front of her, and said, "Don't worry, Ruth, I will protect you forever. No matter how much time has passed, I will lay my life down just for you. So, please, don't worry and relax. I'm here, aren't I?"

She smiled at me, all her worries gone, and said, "Thank you, for always being there for me."

I hugged her, and said, "I'll be there for you, always."