NOVEL NEXT Merged Body Art
The knowledge from the Merged body art flows into me, filling my mind almost instantly. A voice, burning with power and authority, rings out in my head. The voice is low and fills my ears, and almost feels as though it’s tearing through my brain. The voice of King Ancalius.
“The Merged Body Art is a technique not for the faint of will. It requires perfection, and nothing less. Sessions of meditation will take upwards of a year to complete for even the slightest gain in power. I, myself, took nearly a century to reach the third circle.”
I sit down on the floor and focus entirely on his words,
“What you may have heard about this art is entirely untrue. It is NOT the combination of Aura and Mana. Rather, it is the product of an entirely different form of energy.”
Oho? I don’t remember this part of the book. So I’ll have to use a different form of energy? I reckon that may be the Eldritch energy I’m sensing from it.
“The Merged Body Art, or to say it’s true name, The Eldritch God Eater Technique, is much more incredible than any technique a single man, woman, or god could create. To create the first circle of the technique, one must first reach the Tenth circle in either mana or aura, create a body composed entirely of mana, and have access to a small source of Eldritch energy.”
I can’t help but smile as I hear this. I already have everything I need in order to begin this technique. At least, if the energy coming from this book is actually eldritch.
“Eldritch energy is the energy that is released by the bodies of dead gods, and to a lesser extent, demons. In order to collect the Eldritch energy I needed, I traveled into hell via a portal created by myself using a technique that shall not be named. I managed to kill several different types of demons, but they never gave me enough energy. It was then that I stumbled upon a large gathering of Druegar surrounding what appeared to be a large tower. This tower emanated the exact energy I needed, and so I snuck upon it. Using magic, I managed to carve a small hole into the side where I hid for a century straight, absorbing the energy coming from the tower.”
Dead gods and demons release the same energy? I suppose that makes sense. There are demonic counterparts to gods, so I would assume demons are just the demonic counterpart to angels. Which means I could likely gain the same energy from a dead angel as well.
“After this century was over, I had broken through to the third circle of this technique, and my word, was it powerful. It was at this point where the tower began to move, and I realized that I had been living inside of the shell of some demonic hermit crab. Naturally, I assumed that if I were to kill this beast, the amount of eldritch energy it would generate would be immense. But, I was wrong. After killing this beast, the thing that it had released was not, in fact, eldritch energy, but instead a wave of miasma. The energy filled my body and led to… Irreversible effects.”
King Ancalius was infected by miasma? That wouldn’t make any sense… The man lived for centuries after creating this technique…
“However, this book is not an autobiography. I’m sure books about me shall be studied for centuries to come.”
Yikes. That didn’t age well. I’m probably one of the few people alive today who even know the name Ancalius.
“To begin learning this technique, I have left you a strand of the hair of a dead goddess. It should contain enough eldritch energy to help you get started. First, you must force out all mana or aura from your body. This should bring you near death. Quickly, you must begin to absorb the energy coming from the hair strand. This process will be painful. Much more painful than when you destroyed and rebuilt your heart. The energy will run rampant throughout your body and will begin to destroy your entire being. Let it happen. Allow this energy to destroy everything inside of you, and you will find yourself born anew as a first circle practitioner of the Eldritch God Eater Technique.”
His voice quickly disappears, leaving me with the sound of wind blowing in from the entrance to the tomb. So, I simply allow a rogue energy to ravage my body from the inside after weakening myself to the point that even a child could kill me? Sounds like a fun time, to me. The only issue is that he never stated how long this method would take to complete… I could be here for as little as a minute or as long as a century. He never clarified how much of his time in the tower was spent starting off the technique versus growing in strength.
I have people to worry about back home. I have a war to finish. I have a demonic and divine invasion of the world to fight against… But I can’t do anything with the power I currently have.
Fuck it.
I begin to rapidly release the mana from my body, instantly filling the air around me with a dense collection of mana. Rai on my arm quickly slides off my arm in a drunken state as the energy fills her stomach beyond what it's ever been before. This energy quickly grows to cover the entire continent, making weaker magic practitioners feel nauseous, while filling the bellies of any monsters around. As it reaches halfway through the ocean, I feel the last drop of my mana dissipate.
Immediately, I feel as though everything is wrong. It’s as though I’ve spat out my last bit of air while floating through the ocean. My entire body screams at me to fill it back up even a little. I grab the golden strand of hair from the book and begin to absorb the energy within, nearly recoiling in pain as it forces its way through my skin and into my body. Its pathway through my arm feels as though plasma is being forced through me without burning away my nerves. It feels as though millions of daggers are flaying my skin, waiting for it to regrow, and then flaying it again. It’s as if lightning is tearing through my body. I’m unable to keep my arm still as my muscles begin to flex on their own. I can see the fibers being torn through under my skin.
I become unable to take the pain silently any longer, and release a guttural wail of pain. My entire existence becomes an inescapable torture as the energy beginst to tear away at my Dragon Heart. As the last bit of eldritch energy is sucked from the lock of hair, it turns into motes of light that drift off and disappear into the air.
Slowly, the pain begins to subside and leaves my entire body sore and exhausted. I nearly pass out onto the floor before the energy within my body settles. I take a few seconds to catch my breath as the exhaustion slowly dissipates. I reach out and pick up Rai, placing the limp, drunken snake over my shoulder. I go to stand up, feeling my legs turn to jelly.
