(We're not quite there yet, but we're close enough to 1100 stones that I'm confident dropping the chappy early. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who voted. Despite what the haters think about the story, your vote week-on-week assures me I've got to be doing something right. I'll see y'all on Monday with a fresh chappy.)
In front of me sat Shin, beaming in an ornate chair of black leather and silver.
He slowly clapped.
"Befriending Jean Grey, turning her against the Professor, and securing the trust of the Phoenix, all within two months of transmigration. You're on fire, Axel, or should I say Dante. Because with those mighty big balls of yours and swagger, I could have mistaken you for the real thing."
I was inundated by an avalanche of emotions when I laid eyes on Shin– shock, surprise, anger, hate, violent rage.
"It's been a while," I said in a surprisingly restrained voice.
Shin blinked, rubbing his chin. "If I couldn't read your mind, I would've sworn you were actually happy to see me."
"It's not that I don't appreciate the face-to-face–" I started, and Shin cut me off.
"You're wondering what you're doing here."
"Pretty much," I said.
"You're here for two things," he said. "First, a quest update,"
A fresh screen appeared in front of me with a snap of Shin's fingers.
Quellitrax's invasion
A Lesser Fragment of Quilltrax has followed you here from the Void between realities for what was denied him. Your essence. Beat back 5 Incursions of the Insatiable Eldritch.
2 of 5
Time till next Incursion 2 weeks.
Rewards: One class token from the Shin's Multiverse-famous Shop. (Unclaimed)
One weapon upgrade token
One skill upgrade token
5,000 Red Orbs
Quest for Limbo
Free The Dark Knight Sparda, kill Mundus and the four other Arch Demons roaming the Marvel Universe, and wipe out Belasco's army.
Hand over the Belasco to Shin and submit control of Limbo.
Reward: 2 Advanced Class Tokens, 1000 stat points, a World Key, and 1 Legendary-tier item from the shop.
Shin's Treasure Hunt– Mainline Quest
Acquire the true flames of the Phoenix Force (20% complete)
Acquire the Space Stone (1%)
Acquire the Soul Stone (0%)
Rewards Unlocked
One Gacha token for Shin's List
(T)Seed Essence of Gluttony
???
???
"And to reward you," Shin said after noting I was done reading. "I mean, I've sent dozens of champions after the Phoenix over the millennia; you're the first not to get completely annihilated on first contact."
"So, I was fucking right!" I said. "It was a suicide mission."
"Eh…" Shin shrugged. "You had a 2.83% chance at survival. It helped immensely that you made friends with an emotionally unstable Jean, and I chose a universe with considerable multiversal bleed."
"Multiversal bleed? Did you mean Belasco's ritual?"
Shin snapped his finger. "Got it in one. The Greater Muliverse is a complex and dangerous place. While it's true that I have infinite power, at least from your perspective, I have to follow certain rules if I want to stay alive. Beings on the Multiversal level and beyond typically don't like it when you fuck around in their backyard. Outer Beings like me who are not innately born with incomprehensive levels of power have to grow it the old-fashioned way through pillaging and plunder. And the easiest way to do that is by targeting Universes with Multiversal bleeds.
There's so much shit going on that one soul randomly hijacking another doesn't raise that many flags. And once you have somebody on the inside, you can drip-feed them power while they pursue your objectives."
"A symbiotic relationship of a sort."
"Exactly."
Shin was still a total asshole from my perspective, but I could see where he was coming from. The Space and Soul stones were important but not as important as the Phoenix flame, which seemed capable of manipulating reality on an unprecedented scale.
My mind went wild with the possibilities. Did he plan to unshackle the stones from the universe and use the Marvel Universe as an infinite battery to empower himself and his pawns?
Or did he plan to merge with it and the stones to boost his powers even more?
"I like where your head's at," Shin said. "But, like everybody else, you'll just have to wait and find out."
Still, I found a flaw in his incredible plan.
"But the Phoenix knows you want her flame," I pointed out. "What typically happens when an Outerversal Being like her catches you in her backyard?"
Shin raised a brow at the question.
"For the Phoenix and other purpose-driven beings like her, nothing will happen as long as you don't interfere with their interpretation of their purpose," Shin said. "You think I'm the first being that's tried to rob her? She's eternal and fundamentally tied to all of reality, in every reality. She doesn't need to bother with the Rat Race if she doesn't want to. All she cares about is his carrying out her cosmic duty of creation and destruction. Finding a perfect host, though," Shin mused, "now, that's the real find. The bird already has a few perfect hosts, but nurturing one more is always worth the hassle if it will further her purpose."
"To answer your original question," Shin said. "If it were anybody else other than the Phoenix, then I might have a real problem on my hand. If we can't come to some type of compromise, we fight. And for beings on my level, that's no small undertaking. Multiverses will end, and the fighting won't stop with us. Beings above and below our level will join in and result in a skirmish that will raise another Outerversal being or something stronger. It might result in the end of all things or even birth another Multiversal cluster. It's anyone's guess what will happen, really. And that is why we generally avoid conflict with each other."
I sat in silence for a moment to take it all in before I asked. "Then, what about QUELL?" I demanded.
"Well," Shin shrugged with a shameless grin. "Invasions from the descendants of Cthulu are not that uncommon. Out here in the far Void, they're a dime a dozen. Letting one of them consume a universe or two is usually a small price to pay for not pissing off the big man himself."
Cthulu, huh? That certainly explained the boundless hunger. "And what's to stop beings like QUELLITRAX from never stopping their consumption spree?"
"Their father," Shin said. "The big man is pretty strict with his offspring. They get disintegrated if they even think of triggering a multiversal war."
Shin painted a terrifying and vivid picture of a Multiversal Cold War of all-powerful entities who'd prefer to negotiate than fight. Shin didn't strike me as the warring type, but kind of like the US and Russia, he sunk resources to make sure he would come out on top if he ever had to fight.
It was all making sense now– his callousness, coldness, and duplicity. It came with the territory of being a multiversal scavenger.
Given everything I've learned, I still wondered who or what was restricting Shin, as he claimed.
"That's a topic for another time," he smiled. "For now, enjoy your rewards and keep up the good work. You're in the major leagues now, kid."
I had a dozen other questions, but the god looked like he was done talking.
Looking down at the reward tab, I saw the unclaimed Class Token that I'd almost completely forgotten about and the two fresh rewards I'd gotten for nearly dying to Phoenix-Colossus.
(T)Minor Seed Shard of Gluttony
Gacha Token for Shin's List
The latter seemed promising, but the former struck me as odd.
I used Devil's Eye to read the description and was a bit alarmed by its description.
(T)Minor Seed Shard of Gluttony
Inherit a fundamental fragment of Shin the Avaricious's power forever altering your being.
You will gain.
Race Suffix–Become the Nephilim of Hunger
Essence Reaper–Gain a tiny silver of strength from every foe you fell.
Avaricious Gaze– Will replace your current identification skill and allow you to see the estimated power level, top skills, and weaknesses of your opponents.
That was a fucking upgrade if I ever saw one, but it would inextricably tie me to Shin. So far, he'd shunned, abused, and manipulated me. I didn't think getting in any deeper with him was a good idea.
"I would be cautious, too," Shin said. "But the thing is, you're not just another Aspirant anymore. You're my main line to the Phoenix. It makes sense that I want to invest in your future."
I quieted my mind, not allowing myself to react immediately. "Can I think about it?"
Silence.
"I suppose you could," Shin said. "Don't take too long, though."
Thankfully, the god didn't have much else to say on the matter, letting me focus on my second reward.
I was no stranger to the concept of Gacha, yet this felt a bit too generous. I was used to the penny-pinching Shin. The god's sudden generosity and access to his private collection struck me as a bit odd and justified my earlier hesitation.
I used the Gacha anyway, and the results were unexpected, to say the least, but oddly appropriate.
Red Leather Trenchcoat (Forgery)
A Forgery of the signature trench coat worn by the Legendary Devil Hunter in another reality.
Grants +10 Dexerity and + 15 Endurance
Ability: Mid-tier durability, Self-repair– the jacket will mend itself when fed demonic energy.
"Like it?" Shin asked with a self-satisfied smile. "Perfect, isn't it?"
"Yeah…"
"I thought you needed better protection after your embarrassing display earlier," he said. "Things are about to get much more interesting from here on out." Shin leaned forward in his chair, staring straight into my eyes. "Yao will fill you in later, but be extremely wary of the demons. They don't fuck around."
"Noted," I said slowly, taking the god's word to heart. I'd never seen him so serious…well, except for when he was screwing me over.
Shin abruptly leaned back into his chair, seemingly put out by my thoughts, and declared, "I suppose I've kept you long enough. I'll let you get back to it."
He snapped his finger, and I awoke to a fresh hell.
(If you don't want to wait till Monday to continue the story, Check out my Patreon. Patreon.com/ArtandCreativeWriting. Read up to Chapter 68. I'm dropping two fresh chapters tomorrow, so stay tuned. It's going to be epic.)
P.S. I'm doing a soft relaunch of the book and I'm currently editing and rewriting sections of the book that were more controversial. Some have already been updated. Others are coming sometime next week. I'd appreciate you pointing out any typo you spot.