Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

Mordred is currently inside a small room that he made himself. As long as his head fits, there’s nowhere that he can’t infiltrate. Clack, clack! His mechanical skeleton quickly reassembled into human proportion, his organs shifted to its intended locations. He quickly made some hand seals, “Rank 0 Zai Kuji-in Ninjutsu (Creation Seal), [Earth Transmutation].” 

The Creation Seal corresponds to the manipulation of the nine elements. After making those hand seals, he clasped his hands before touching the ground with his palm. The hole that he crawled out of quickly closed up by dirt that slowly turned into cave rock. The room is now completely closed off from outside with almost no air circulation. 

Without wasting time, he activate time-path counterintelligence method to block the room from prying eyes with the timeforce he gathered just then.  

While inside the Combat Exosuit micro-plane, he didn’t have enough time to refine the best equipment for all situations. All he has right now are equipment which was prepared to kill Lord Erebus. But, it doesn't mean he’s useless. He took out various materials from his dimensional storage. The most conspicuous object was a large black metal bar that weighed almost 4 metric tons.

Mordred’s finger traced the black metal bar which was recycled from the materials of the micro-plane, including the metal walls, doors, floors, and others. Although his movement looks simple, his finger is imbued with refinement-path methods. The black metal bar is sliced smoothly as if it was cut by a high-powered laser. 

The weapon that he wanted to refine couldn’t be made by only using the tough black metal whose denseness allows it to be the main material for exosuit’s defensive plate. And so, he spared his attention to refine more parts with other materials.

Each alloy block is refined based on its function such as specialized for being flexible, another being a great superconductor, so on and so forth. Those materials seemed to turn soft like wet clay under his hands. Supported with telepathic refinement will, the thick and heavy block of various metals alloys are steadily refined into intermediate products such as plates, coils, springs, small bolts and extremely small circuit boards.

“Quick but steady… I need to quickly refine the weapon before the chicken dies or retreats into the River of Time.” Mordred took a deep breath despite the lack of need to do it. It was his old habit as a human to stabilize his thought. Still, his hands never stopped moving as copious amounts of telepathic refinement wills are incessantly being produced by his Crystal Processor. 

Honestly, with telepathic refinement techniques, assembling most artifacts consisting of a thousand parts is not a challenge for Mordred. This includes simple vibro weapons, guns, simple exosuits and others. Nanomachines too, are possible to refine with telepathic refinement technique, it feels like cheating but it's not. Telepathic refinement techniques are just a smart usage of telepathic will. Of course, without a strong crystal processor, it wouldn't be possible to spend telepathic wills like this.  

He took out all the Day Critter that he gathered which was a score of Flickering Cicada, Autumn Roach, and Ticking Shell Crab. Each of them could be considered as rank 0 time-path materials. He crushed them all using refinement-path methods and then used their biomatter as circuit material. 

Soon, the silhouette of a high-tech railgun is made.

That’s right, the weapon of his selection is a sniper-type heavy railgun.

In Galatreon, railguns are separated into three class: Assault, Heavy and Superheavy. Assault railguns are the lightest railgun class that are used by infantry or heavy infantry as their primary weapons, this could mean rifle-type railgun or others. 

Heavy railguns are the anti-materiel class, designed to be carried by Power Armors or SAA. Due to their relatively heavier weight and energy expenditure, they are effective against beasts with large bodies and thick natural armor. 

As for Superheavy… Well, they are for those giant hulking machines known as mecha or for ship-mounted turrets. 

Typically, the heavy railgun used by non-power armors are the sniper-type because they are more user-friendly than the cannon-type.  And so, the model of sniper-type heavy railgun that he refined is based on the railgun that Kasumi first transformed, [Misaka Mikoto]. Only this time, it isn’t made from liquid metal but true superalloys. 

Back in Holy Terra, he was originally an assassin who preferred to use sniping as his method of killing. Even when he was the Great Archmage, his combat style has always been using spells from afar and teleport when his enemies get too close. In his perspective, sniping is the most efficient method of assassination.  

That being said, the refinement of the 4 meter long railgun rifle barrel, it’s temporal-magnetic rail system or it’s internal computer isn’t the most difficult part. 

It is actually the bullet.

To make a railgun round that would be effective towards a rank 2 time-path lifeform, there’s a need to treat it with time-path or space-path methods. Supermagnetic rounds or even ultramagnetic rounds are essentially lightning-path methods. They are greatly affected by time-path, the chicken will be able to decelerate or even stop the time of the bullet through its time-path radiation alone. Therefore, the bullets he chooses to refine are.. Temporal magnetic round, a variant that was specifically designed to hunt time-path lifeforms.

To refine it, he used up all the remaining Day Critter that he gathered and used a portion of his timeforce crystals, but due to the lack of quality, he can only refine… two temporal magnetic rounds.

“Fuck...” Mordred cursed while two golden marbles telepathically float on top of his palm. “This won’t be enough. I’ll have to… wear it down to a level where my shot would be effective. I’ll have to engage in melee. The railgun’s 4-meter long rail barrel is crucial to build up momentum; I can’t reduce the length to make it mobile or lengthen the rails to make it more lethal without special lightning-path metal.” Mordred quickly stored his bullets away. “I need support from someone else…” Valerie appeared in his mind for a fraction of a fraction of a second before he rejected the very notion of that idea.

“Valerie shouldn’t be able to operate a high tech railgun without training. Even if I use the telepathic hypnotic will that I've secretly accumulate in her sea of consciousness, it will affect her performance. Well, it's not like she was able to follow the movement of a rank 2 time-path lifeform in the first place. 

Then… I should make a self aware weapon, a Soul Artifact… or not. I don’t have sufficient soul resources to make a rank 1 one on the spot. If I sacrificed my soul foundation now, I'd be wasting so much time and resources to pull it back up… think, think!!”  Mordred’s crystal processor has always been overclocked the moment he started the refinement process. 

Even though there’s so many things that he considers, only 0.1 second has passed in reality. “Found a possible solution. I can summon one of my servants in Lemegeton. The chance of success of this plan is around 50% but it should be enough.” The moment he decided, he instantly took action. 

“There’s no time to waste. The spider is actually a corpse, it is being manipulated by a beast based on a type of parasitic wasp¹Something like Emerald Cockroach Wasp . If my deduction isn’t wrong, after the spider corpse loses its function, a swarm of wasps will be used to wear down the chicken and then the Wasp Queen will swoop in for the kill...” 

Mordred activates an investigative method to check up on the battlefield. The two-kilometer distance is swept under supersonic sound waves. “They are wrestling and the chicken is still having an advantage. As expected.”

As long as their power level is more or less equivalent, rank 2 beasts could continuously brawl their opponent for half a day. Their biological energy reserve is simply that vast. But still, it isn’t wise for Mordred to waste time. The chicken year beast is a rare specimen whose flesh and blood is a heaven-and-earth treasure. Even with homefield advantage, Mordred isn't confident the chicken will win without suffering heavy wounds. To recuperate, the chicken will return to the River of Time which was a major loss in Mordred's part.

He took out the blood of the rank 1 beast that he slaughtered. Most of them have been solidified into blood crystals for ease of storage, each radiates strong energy. 

The blood of rank 1 beasts are more powerful than rank 0 beasts, that was already obvious. Since Mordred doesn't have blood to cultivate bloodline power, these blood crystals are actually useless for him. But, he has a blood-path killer move that can fully utilize these blood crystals.

Mordred drew a sacrificial ritual formation from a blood vial that wasn’t crystalized. The runes are extremely complicated, more so than the one he made when he’s still a rank 0, because his target this time isn’t a mere subordinate of a Demon Great Duke. When everything was in place, Mordred started the incantations. The demonic language that came out of his mouth would stimulate one’s negative emotion such as desire, rage, lust, or others but he could handle this amount of influence without repercussions. 

“Rank 1 blood-path killer move, [Blutopfer]!” Just like his previous attempt at Demon Summoning, the first step was to provide the necessary energy for the ritual formation since summoning a demon is an exceptionally complex technique that consumes a great amount of energy and telepathic resources. 

As the blood crystals melt into pure streams of energy, Mordred closed his eyes as his crystal processor deduced the ritual's targeting algorithm. He need to summon a specific target, any error would be a great loss of energy and time, it might even fail his plan. In less than a minute, he finished deducting. 

“Rank 1 soul-path killer move, [Lemegeton Projection: Demon Summoning]!”

The ritual formation shone in the purple glow of soul-path. The rank 1 version of Lemegeton Projection is far stronger than the one in rank 0, but the energy that Morded provided is far more than the required amount because he wanted to call a specific target.

From the red-purple sacrificial formation, a hand reaches out. Unlike the typical demon who has a grotesque appearance due to their evolution for combat, the hand is covered by a pure white glove. Then, the hand reaches out to the air to pull out the rest of its body. Slowly, the demon reveals itself.

The first impression that anyone would say would be… elegant. The fair-skinned demon is wearing a sharp black tuxedo suit, white glove and having an elegant demeanor. The only problem is its face which was devilishly handsome with sharp features and long elf-like ears. His eyes is crimson red on top of black sclera, his hair is short black. From a glance, it was obvious that this demon does not look like not a demon at all. 

“Paimon, is that you?”

That’s right. The one in front of him is Demon King Paimon.

“My king!” ‘Paimon’ kneeled, but his movement still gave off the aura of elegance. In that instant, Mordred knew he had summoned the right demon.

“It seems like my targeted summoning is successful.” Mordred muttered in delight. 

The real Demon King Paimon has died even before the death of the Great Archmage. 

Demon and Devils, despite their conflicting nature, have something in common: the ability to use their descendant as medium to resurrect themselves. It was normal for demons to ‘die’ but not really. Of course, there's a side effect like what Mordred experienced, which was a severe loss in memory and attainment level, there was also a chance that their 'past' memories wouldn't resurface at all, rendering the whole purpose of 'resurrection' fail.

Since that is so, Mordred has already drafted a plan so that when he resurrects, he would be able to carry one of his most loyal servants. After all, he has the power and resources to become a Brave, there’s no point in truly restarting from zero, it's better if he uses his accumulated resource to accelerate his progress as long as it does not compromise the greater picture.  

It needs to be said that demons are the arch nemesis of devils. Demons are chaotic evil, they are the true form of chaos, while devils are lawful evil, they are more like an army instead of a ragtag bunch of berserkers. 

Amongst the 72 Demons sealed in Lemegeton, Paimon is special because he is one of the most knowledgeable amongst demons. Hundreds of years ago before he was subjugated by 'Devil King' Mordred in Demon World and sealed in Lemegeton, Paimon was researching a method to transform demons into devils.

Demons are inherently better in terms of pure combat potential, but devils are not to be underestimated either. In a vast battlefield, devils might not be able to match demons but their orderly maneuver allows them to stand equal to a demonic army. 

That being said, a conversion from a demon into a devil is not a simple matter as Paimon needs to deal with his personal existential contradiction. A disparity of opinion between mortals would manifest in the form of verbal disagreement, but for rank 6 Sovereigns who almost reached the realm of the divine, it would be an existential rejection. 

Simply, all demons would have an inherent rejection of devils and all devils would reject demons.

However, Paimon was a special demon king as he rarely used his combat prowess to shine in battle. He was the demon king who used cannon fodders or his agents to achieve his goal. In a certain perspective, isn't his style already resemble a devil more than a demon?

Since that is so, he has always been looking for a chance to convert, but doing so would mean a drop in strength as his method isn't perfect. The question is always if he is willing to pay the price of resurrection. This was very dangerous as nobody could guarantee his safety until he reached his previous power level. ‘Devil King’ Mordred’s invitation, temptation, coercion, and enslavement contract was the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Well, it was probably the enslavement contract since any Demon Kings have their own ambition and all, but it is irrelevant at this point. 

With Mordred’s 'help'²Plunder, forceful acquisition in his research, Paimon finally found a relatively safe method to convert into a devil without losing too much of his memories and identity. The flesh and blood of Devil Paimon was made from cross-breeding Paimon and Mordred’s descendants. The experiment was done in secret, but the devil fetus that hosted Paimon’s soul has successfully grown into a rank 1 Desire Devil.  

In a sense, Paimon have become a true slave because Mordred's have certain level of influence upon his descendant. Of course, there's also a great benefit in being Mordred's experimental subject. Unlike other demons or devils from foreign world, Paimon is not supressed by the Morgen World's World Will. He can walk the earth without the need to worry about the world's karmic retaliation, as long as he did not garner too much attention.

“Hahah.” Paimon released a chuckle that came from the bottom of his heart. “As expected. Magus is extremely tricky to deal with. Not even the Hero that killed that old monster Demon King Maximilian can kill you.” He stood up and made a respectful bow of introduction as even among Kings, Mordred is considered as the cream of the crop. “I, Former Demon King of Grand Strategy and a new Desire Devil, Paimon, have responded to your summons. What is your order, my king?” 

Mordred smiled. “How's your time in Lemegeton? Have any other demons started to notice the increasing number of devils?”

“Hah! My King, you are truly a ‘Magus’, your kind are infamous in the Astral Realm! ‘Demon Recycling Plan’, was it? In your perspective, Demons are just raw materials to breed more devils. Truly an evil scheme befitting a Devil King!” Paimon praised. “Not yet. It took me decades to convert into a devil, and I was already eager to become one in the first place. It would be completely different for other demons, especially those old demon kings, including that old fart Bael or Asmo.”

“Then, it’s a good thing that I’ve accelerated the time inside Lemegeton to be faster than  Morgen World’s.” Mordred nodded, he didn't elaborate that he was preparing to give Lemegeton to his big brother in the far future. Mordred prioritized converting Paimon in his previous life because he is extremely knowledgeable regarding a lot of things. He is aware of the existence of Magus in the Astral Realm. If he was allowed to warn other demons or gods, it would cause complications in the long run.

“Right, I need you to do this…” He passed his telepathic will.

Paimon has an instinctive reaction to dodge the cloud of telepathic will, but he immediately suppressed his instinct as it was rude to Mordred. “I apologize, my king. Force of habit.”

Morded did not take it to heart. When he was at his peak, his wisdom-path methods were well-known amongst demons and devils, especially devils. It is normal for Paimon to develop ptsd. 

Paimon slowly digested the telepathic will and nodded. “A temporary sniper? I got it.”

“It’s so easy with a capable devil by my side. I should’ve done that from the beginning…” Mordred complained to himself.

Paimon mentally rolled his eyes. He is in no means loyal to Mordred. If not because of the strict contract that basically force him to serve Mordred for all eternity like a slave, he would have already tried to kill his summoner. If he was summoned when Mordred was a rank 0, he would be able to somewhat do something about the contract, but since he’s also a rank 1 like him, that would be impossible. Besides, killing Mordred wouldn't actually kill him since he must've prepared countless contingencies.

There’s no way Mordred wouldn’t know about that. Thus, it was an obvious provocation in the form of pouring salt on Paimon's wounds.

“Since I got myself a temporary sniper, it’s easier to work around the chicken's weakness. Go, I’ll take some time to prepare.” Mordred ordered.

Paimon bowed politely. He dismantled the 4 meter long railgun barrel and carried the magnetic rounds that Mordred gave him, among them was the precious temporal rounds. He used his own counterintelligence method before leaving the room.

With Paimon’s departure, Morded glanced at the leftover materials from refining the sniper railgun. He took them back inside his dimensional storage, then took out a bunch of parts. “This was prepared for killing Lord Erebus, but the Tributary is more important in the short term… if they break, I’ll remake some more. Also, I need a test drive to gain valuable combat data, the chicken would be able to provide what I need.” 

The parts that he took out are actually magic machinery parts. They are shoulder pads (missile launcher), vibroblade claws, metal plates and other mechanical body parts including a secondary reactor set. The amount of parts that he took out from his dimensional storage was a lot, comparable to that of a real power armor.

“[Beast Configuration: Lupusrazor]!” Mordred’s body broadcasted command codes that the modular body parts received. Guided by Mordred’s AT-Field, they are magnetically attracted towards his body, each part seems to know where they are going. 

The first one that latched to his body is the shoulder pads (missile launcher). Then, more and more mechanical parts attached to his body incessantly, covering him in thick black metal.  

After all of the parts assembled, he used his Myriad Synesthesia to get a glimpse of himself.

He is now almost 3 meter tall. His feet have become digitigrade, his arm is covered by a long vibroblade claw gauntlet and instead of wolf tail, his was a lizard-like appendage with a spear edge. If not because his body is covered by non-reflective black metal instead of fur, he could be considered as a giant 2.8 meter tall lycanthrope. 

That’s right, it was a magic machinery armor. Though, this couldn’t be classified as exosuit nor power armor because it was specifically designed for Armored Soul Tribe in the first place, like spare parts for machine lifeform.

“Calibrating movement solutions…” Mordred clasped his clawed hand, then tried to test the limit of his limbs. All the metal plates in his body flapped multiple times as his body’s parameters were being adjusted for combat. Unlike when he was unarmored, he could no longer bend his limbs to impossible angles because of the rigid structure of these metal parts.

“All system’s green. [Synchronization: Structural Fortification]!” Mordred synchronized his AT-Field with the new body parts. At this instant, his black metal body gleamed in myriad colors but they eventually shone in gold hue.

Thanks to the constant hunts ever since he came to the underground passage, Mordred has collected a good amount of souls. The souls are funnelled to treat these ‘extensions modules’ with soul-path methods. This is why he couldn’t make a Soul Armament, his soul resources are simply all used up. In exchange, he could use his AT-Field to reinforce the defense of his armor. 

Whoosh!! Mordred immediately runs back towards the chicken quickly like a beast after leaving a time-path counterintelligence method in the room. Each of his step gouged the earth as his body weighed almost one metric ton if he did not activate any anti-terrestrial magnetism modules. Yet, not long after his figure disappeared, time seemed to revert back. His footsteps are erasing itself as if time is rewinding.