Chapter 21 - The Leviathan Awakes

The Crowned Reaper who loses his magic.The appearance of the Necropic Virus.The rise of a blinding light. Those were the 3 prerequisites of the Leviathan's revival. The Crowned Reaper who loses his magic. On Earth, certain people have cultivated a strong attraction to the divinity of tarot cards, for good reason. As you broaden your scope of the cosmos, the power of fate cannot be overstated. Fate is celestial intent given form, the very blueprint of existence. From fate, prophecies are created, promising both great gifts and doom to its subjects. And the tarot cards find themselves as the translator of Fate, Celestial Intent, and Prophecies. In fact, the very essence of these cards is defined by evoking celestial intent as fate itself, creating a prophecy in wait. In a normal setting, receiving the crown chakra card would mean that you are about to take control of your destiny, setting ablaze your path amongst the cosmos. You will become the perfect embodiment of all that you are. This is a powerful card, giving you the power to surpass fate itself. Those who receive the crown chakra would often find themselves undefined by the boundaries of restraints, imposing their own will on those around them. There would be no one and nothing in the cosmos capable of telling you no. The magician further emphasizes this point, as it details the manifestation of your strength, of your very will. By using your surroundings to your advantage, you create a foothold for yourself amongst all of reality. Combined with the crown chakra, those under the boon of these cards are often unstoppable. Think of Caesar, of Macbeth. Reality itself would bend to its will until fate would find its new toy. This assessment would perfectly describe the king. He was once viewed as an agent of death by the other kingdoms. His unprecedented rise in power in his own kingdom sparked unrest across the plane. His neighbors weren't just fearful of his ability to impose his will upon them, but also his avaricious desire to do so. Setting out for conquest, the other kingdoms had no choice but to bow to him. Obtaining a practically omnipotent rule, he molded the planes to his desire. His kingdom would be the strongest in the land, and the other kingdoms would exist solely to satisfy his dreams. Until fate throws its hand in, revealing the third card. Yoku. The young upstart, tired of his father bending the knee to a tyrant, took it upon himself to restore his house's valor. Vakash, the young upstart, tired of his people sacrificing their lives to a tyrant, took it upon himself to restore his kingdom's glory. Thus, the king died. Symbolized by the reaper. The king's death, and Miko's failure to save him, was the first of the 3 prerequisites. The appearance of the Necropic Virus. What was supposed to be the greatest gift for humanity turned out to be a virus, expediting their self-administered extinction. Mark worked himself day and night, disregarding the light of the surface for his dark work. He was so self-righteous he thought he could defy fate, defy human nature, even though he was a human bound by fate. There isn't much to explain that hasn't been already. You've seen the unending grief, loss, and darkness brought by human intervention. Humanity's extinction, and Mark's failure to stop it, was the second of the 3 prerequisites. Then there was one. The rise of a blinding light. Every life is defined by a few moments, where a person finds out who they truly are. For most of our lives, we walk along the edge between light and darkness. We pay a waitress a fine tip and then turn around and whisper some mean comment about her hair. We tell our parents we love them but then lie about some mistake. The little smiles and hidden glares are nothing. Anyone can perform these kinds of deeds. Every saint is capable of performing a deplorable act, and every murderer is capable of performing an act of kindness. It's nothing special. Anyone can say hello, good day, how's it going. Anyone can say shut up, I hate you, you're ugly. Again, it's nothing special. It's only a few moments in your life that define most people. The few moments where you leap from that edge and declare yourself as either an agent of light or an agent of darkness. Do you save the person from a robber, or are you the robber? Miko is one of the only exceptions to this rule, a being inhabited by both unending darkness and a blinding light. A being untethered by fate. A being who did not need to bow to anything. A being who held all of the gifts of both light and darkness. For the moment though, he has denied all of the darkness inside of him, allowing a rising, blinding light to rush forth. Thus, the third requisite is met. Even the one untethered by fate has chosen his role. He was the savior. Sadly, fate was a lady that was quick to scorn. She did not like being forced to give a role. His punishment for that would be an enemy he could never hope to beat. The formidable Leviathan, who even in its earliest seconds of life would be far superior to the orc Miko had fought. In reality, the Leviathan was so superior to the orc that the comparison shouldn't have even been made. As Miko gazed upon this giant behemoth, stretching hundreds of meters into the sky, soaring so high it was blocking out the sun itself, he had one thought. His strength is already on par with Vakash! Miko This is... insane. This can't be happening! I saved the princess (Aruna!) just for my quest to kill both of us. Why the hell did my system send me on such a quest!? Even after I survived inheriting it, it still wants to kill me at every turn! What kind of bullshit is this! Even as terror filled my existence from the sheer size of the thing, I couldn't pry my eyes away from it. Ignoring Aruna's hand tapping my shoulder, I stared at the Leviathan, sweat falling down my face. This isn't real... "Miko... where's Roan?" Aruna's timid voice forced me to address her. Moving my eyes away from Leviathan, I allowed myself a glance at Aruna. She was brushing off her fear to scan the battlefield. Roan? He came too? I began looking myself, using my enhanced senses to hasten the search. It didn't take too long before I found him. He was a few hundred meters to the left of us, holding his hand to his side. Like the princess, he was injured. However, it wasn't enough to knock him unconscious. He was constantly using healing magic to keep himself alive and awake. That meant his wound was deep. Picking Aruna up, I ignored her startled yelp and ran over to Roan. Once we reached him Aruna practically flung herself from my arms, the fortifying aura of healing magic forming from her hands before she even reached him. Roan groaned, saying, "I'm sorry." Aruna told him to be quiet, then looked at me while tending to his wounds. I'm all out of mana... "Go kill that thing, Miko. I can handle this." Shocked, I kneeled down beside Roan, glancing a timid look at Aruna, exclaiming, "Aruna! You just woke up from the dead, don't over-exert yourself." At first smiling, she quickly put on a stern expression, saying "Go." Even without my enhanced senses, I could tell that she was quivering from fear and fatigue. However, I also saw a defiant strength, determined to save her comrade. More than that, a dear friend. I knew she was going to be fine. In a flash, I returned to the Leviathan's waking spot. His ascension almost finished, I didn't even bother looking up to see how much he towered over me. That knowledge would only hinder my ability to kill it. My system suddenly flashed a screen in front of me. Fury counters will reset in 5 seconds. Everything had happened in under 30 seconds... My entire world changed. With a wild pace, I began scouring the ruins for any life. As the milliseconds passed by, I didn't even bother thinking about losing the buff. If I lost it, I'd be dead. 2 seconds le- I found a lone corpse, somehow still breathing. Its head was cut clean off before the system could even finish relaying its message. You now have 30 seconds left. Enemies killed: 532,723. Your stats are currently experiencing a 532,723% increase. I had 30 seconds to kill the Leviathan. Turning around, I steeled my resolve and narrowed my eyes at the Leviathan's great expanse. Even if its head reached the stars or beyond, at this moment I had to be strong enough to kill it. Knowing I had no mana to cast my spells, I readied my sword, now the size of a longer dagger, and charged forward.