(A/N): Hey everyone, apologies for not posting much; I was enjoying the holidays with my family and will be posting a true chapter tomorrow night, but in any case, I had some time to contemplate. And I had some wild ideas for this story. In any case, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. I won't go into too much detail, and this may be a slight spoiler, but we'll go with the majority's decision.
When Volume Two is released, Merciless will have an epiphany—or rather, several throughout the novel. When he trains with Scathach and the other elders, he will choose one primary line of study to establish as his main thinking and fighting style and two majors to be the side pieces that he can employ with lethal force during conflicts. But you can't be a master of everything, can you? So here's how it'll work: I'll describe all the routes to you, and you'll vote on whether or not Merciless should choose this road.
The routes can be found below.
Beatrice Route: "Hehehe... the flesh, the mind, the body, the soul—the very essence of our existence is merely locked; we must open as the lock put on us is to limit one's full potential; when one is cut, they bleed; when one dies, their soul is carried to the underworld or the Platosphere's heaven, depending on their religion; when one receives a head injury or a supernatural ability that plays with the mind, there isn't much you can do." The essence, on the other hand, is the concept of yourself, you, and only you, and yet stronger beings can control you, which belongs only to you. All of these things are now boundaries, nothing more, nothing less. But what about the bigger question? What if we could control all of these things? What if we could use 100% of our brains? What if our body had no limitations and our potential was limitless? What if our soul could hop into any vessel we chose, corporeal and non-corporeal alike? And what if we could manipulate and customize our own essence however we wanted? Tell me what we would we be considered as then? Man, God, Devil... no, at that point we would have transcended the mind, body, soul, and notion, leaving them behind a wall of unreachability. That in and of itself is greater than any God. We would be a literal living construct with no known meaning, yet at that moment, we transcend all meaning, making us the archtype of supremacy. And that, my friend, is why I became a vampire. I strive for perfection, to become something greater than God. I want to be the living absolute, the embodiment of boundless possibility incarnate into my desired form of choice, which is why I chose to become a vampire, so I will never die, in the hope that one day I will be able to achieve that impossible aim."
You will embrace the full potential of your biokensis if you take Beatrice's hand; you will walk alongside Beatrice on the quest to become something more than God himself—boundless. By following this route, you will become an eldritch monstrosity; your personality will eventually develop into something Lovecraftian in nature, treating the mind, body, soul, and essence as water that may assume the form desired by the user.
Murphy Route: "All of reality is an illusion; everything in existence, including ideas and beliefs, are merely constructs that can be transformed into something else." I devoted my entire life to Alchamyia; like Beatrice, I sacrificed my humanity in order to never die again and continue my studies. I murdered my wife and children, whom I adored, abandoned my religion, and betrayed my people as I sacrificed them to seventh for greater power because that was how much I was prepared to give up in order to become the best version of myself. If you study Alchamyia, your mind will open up to the truth of the world itself, and eventually, everything in existence will be meaningless, because everything to an alchemist is something we can redefine even if it has meaning, and we can give something meaning of our own choice."
By choosing Murphy as your primary source of strength, you will be training to become a reality warper, to the point where even gods will be nothing more than living constructions that, once mastered, may be manipulated to your liking. Boundless beings will tire and be afraid of you since you are not constrained by their power and influence because power and influence are mere constructs to you both; as such, they are meaningless before you.
Ragnar Route: "Tell me what you see when you look about yourself carefully: the ground, the sky, the sea, the tree, the building, the people... What? Whatever it is, you are definitely not seeing the bigger picture. I'll describe what I perceive. WEAPONS? That's true; you heard me correctly: weapons, weapons, weapons. We live in a society where a person needs and relies solely on material objects to murder another person: guns, spheres, knives, explosions, pfftt... How useless! The ultimate weapon is one that can be used without effort. Because everything in this world is a weapon, dirt, air, rain, and even emotions may become weapons. What I will teach you is how to turn existence itself into a weapon, and like me, you will be able to turn events to your will, and nothing will be able to stop you, as everything can be equipped, even the most horrific situation that was designed not to be in your favor, and this is what I mean when I say I am the most free being to ever exist."
Ragnar is one of the verse's most powerful weapon masters; if you train under him and learn his teachings, you will eventually exceed them. You will be on the path to liberty, and you will be able to change all odds against you in your favor. As you can see, you will be able to use anything that comes your way as a weapon. You will also be able to use any weapon in the verse, regardless of compatibility or circumstances. You will effectively be a walking plot armor in a way, as even reality warpers will find it impossible to defeat you because you will have mastered the art of weaponizing everything in unconventional ways, allowing you to become a walking, living reality anchor.
Quincy Route: "Knowledge is power, and knowledge comes with age; however, just because someone is older does not mean they are smarter or have more experience, because someone with more knowledge on a subject can dwarf someone with years of experience." However, as tedious as learning can be, it is the most powerful weapon for manipulating situations. As a politician, I lie frequently, even to my wife and children. I've learned to twist and manipulate numerous truths to my advantage, to the point that even the vampire king and Lord Seventh himself can't tell whether I'm lying. I am a master of mind games. I do not require raw power to win a war; my knowledge has enabled me to become a fearsome being in the supernatural community. There is a reason why the concept of the gods of knowledge never crosses me. Because, no omniscient or omnipresent being can accurately foresee my acts, because no one knows my next move... and if they do, it is all according to my plan."
By pursuing the Quincy Way, you are on the path of an unrivaled manipulator. This path is not about tremendous power but rather about studying and experiencing so much of everything, as well as learning how to regulate one's emotions and expression, as well as learning how to communicate with others and use them to your advantage. That by the end of the day, you will be a master of action, politics, manipulation, lying, and being so unpredictable that omniscient beings will digress to nigh omniscience as they know everything but you.
Morgan Route: "Existence is vast; our cosmology alone is so vast that even living forever will not allow us to explore even a tenth of a tenth of it." As a magus, I am fascinated by all things mysterious; as such, the greatest mystery of all that is currently known and cannot truly be explained is creation itself. But finding the wellspring of all that is and will be is my objective; I believe it is the outcome of greater magic, and as such, I wish to possess that magical nature. Therefore, it is something I want more than anything else, in the hopes of discovering the source of it all—the very first blight of existence that gave us life. I will devote my endless life to discovering the truth of existence for myself. Many believe there is a single true god, while others believe existence is a contradiction because if there is a single real god, then the bigger question is who created god, and who created the god who created the one true god, and so on and so forth. Well, I refuse to believe everything is a twisted paradox of limitless hierarchies; one day, I will be the one to gaze behind the unknown and see the source of all existence; that is my life's mission, to discover where everything truly began."
By pursuing the Morgan Route, you will travel into the unknown and learn everything there is to know about magic, including how to steal all the magical nature that comes your way. Magic will become second nature to you, to the point where you will be able to turn the magical nature of others on their own holders. Because magic in this world, at its highest level, is an expression of omnipotence, you will be able to achieve anything. You will be a jack of all trades, able to learn and absorb the magical nature of other worlders, not from your universe, and one day you will uncover the truth of existence, whatever that may be.
Scáthach Route: "Bloody hands, screaming men, women, and children alike, flying limbs, withering lives, and corpse after corpse in my way... Eventually, all life looks and sounds the same when put to rest."
The Scáthach Route is by far the deadliest and easiest route; if you embrace Scáthach teaching to the absolute, you will dismiss the Quincy path entirely as even a secondary alternative. Because there is no discourse on this path, only action. Taking Scathach's hand and learning her god-slaying style, as well as pushing its potential strength to even greater heights never seen before, will lead you along the path of a true destroyer, and there will be nothing you won't be able to kill very literally, whether it's God or the vampire king himself revered as the most unkillable being to exist, by your hands alone, all lethal attacks will be seen as a killing one, after all, dead is dead.