Chapter 15: The Apex?

After the discussion with Dad, the party continued, and, following that Alaric's routine went back to normal. It now consisted of helping Mother in the morning with the bakery while taking some time to train magic, training with Uncle Ross and finally working with Dad. The lessons he had before were already just a memory of the past.

Days passed like that and it was finally time for him to be baptized, just as it was before, many people were there and he joined the line of children. Even though, he knew that whatever happens, he would be ready for it, he couldn't really eliminate this feeling of worry building up in his chest.

It took time, the same way it had during the past times, but now that he was part of the line himself it was quite stressful to have to wait for such a long time, for something you knew would heavily affect your life from that point onwards.

After what felt like an eternity, it was finally his turn, and he kneeled there at the altar as the Cardinal, Ark, began prayer chanting the ritual of baptism. In the few seconds that felt like years, the baptism status appeared right then and there for all to see.

[Baptism Status]

[Name: Alaric Nyx Lofn
Age: 14 years old
Sex: Male
Class: Slayer(Normal class/Growth type)
Bloodline: Papinijuwari(7 Stars), Lesser Asura(16 Stars), Dimensional Hero(18 Stars)
Physique: Blessed Human(10 Stars), Dimensional Hero(18 Stars), Papinijuwari(7 Stars), Lesser Asura(16 Stars)
Blessings: None
Fate: Only a path full of challenges awaits him]

[Notice! Master, your bloodlines, and physiques related to your bloodlines have been awakened. You have also gained the class Slayer. Congratulations!]

[As a result of your awakening you have gained the skills: Lesser Asura Form, Papinijuwari Form, And Strong Soul]

[Lesser Asura Form: This skill allows the user to take the form and abilities of a Lesser Devil Asura. Mana will be consumed to access and maintain the form.]

[Papinijuwari Form: This skill allows the user to take the form and abilities of a demonic cyclops. Mana will be consumed to access and maintain the form.]

[Strong Soul: This skill makes one's soul much stronger than the average and allows for it to grow at a much greater rate than others.]

(Hehehehege! I'll be great!) Alaric smiled widely looking at the floating screen in front of everyone.

The whole church was rendered silent as once again the Lofn had produced a little monster.

"This family's children are not normal… are we sure they aren't Devil Worshippers?"

"Don't say such things, it's unsightly even of likely…"

"If only my kid was at least half, heck a tenth as blessed…"

"How impressive, isn't this kid almost on par with the royalty's children?"

"Pointless, he's not living past his twenties anyway."

"Such is the price of overwhelming talent."

Some people were celebrating as this was a big moment, while others were just surprised that this happened again.

Even so, the ceremony continued, and hours later, Alaric was with his family ready to go home. Though he could see many looks of worry around him, he couldn't care less at this point.

(This is great, I'm one step closer to greatness. I just have to get there now.) He smiled to himself.

The worry he had about this matter had now turned into motivation to rise to the top of Mirth, this was just he what wanted from the beginning.

As the family were getting ready to head home, one of the priests approached them.

"I apologize for interrupting, but Cardinal Ark wishes to talk to young Alaric in private." He said with a smile, but something about his tone made it sound like it was more of an obligation to go.

Before anyone else could say anything, Dad looked at Alaric and she asked. "What do you think? Do you want to go?"

(The Cardinal is a big figure and not someone I can just ignore even if I wanted to, it would cause more trouble than it's worth. I'll see what he wants… It will probably be fine. Plus, I could win a lot from this connection.) Alaric concluded as he thought about it.

"It's fine by me." He responded intrigued by what the Cardinal could possibly want from him.

She nodded and nobody objected as Alaric followed the priest all the way to the Cardinal's office, deeper into the church.

Once we got there, the priest knocked on the door.

"You may come in." The Cardinal answered from inside with a calm tone to his voice. So, the priest opened the door.

The inside had two shelves full of books on the left and right wall, while at the end of the room was Cardinal Ark, himself working on his desk.

" Thank you, son, you're dismissed. I'll call you if I need anything else." Cardinal Ark spoke calmly and even had a soft smile on his face, though since his eyes were blindfolded, so it was hard to tell anything from them.

The priest immediately bowed and left the room without saying another word.

"Please do sit down." Ark urged the boy as he pointed at the chair in front of his desk.

Thus Alaric walked there and sat on the chair before looking at and questioning him. "So, why did you want to meet me in private?"

"Alaric, I'll be very direct with you, to show my sincerity. I'm an Oracle." Ark smiled at him and calmly answered.

(Damn it!! Out of everything he could have said, he said one of the worst.) Alaric was not pleased with this reveal.

As one might have come to expect from the name Oracle, or even a Seer is an individual who can see the future to a certain extent, and as anyone who understands what that entails would tell you, they are a pain in the ass to deal with; and will definitely lie to you at some point to get the outcome they want.

In AF, people who can see the future are some of the most dangerous in the whole Omniverse, because the limitations of their abilities are almost none!

It basically boils down to the fact that they can see a limited amount of possible futures, depending on how powerful they are; and how they can't get all the information about what they see, as they can only see the future from their own perspective.

Though there are individuals who can see other people's futures like Diviners and prophets; that however, is another can of worms. Diviners can't see their own future, while prophets see a general future as if they are watching the world from a third-person perspective.

Then again Seers are more dangerous than Oracles since oracles are chosen by some Celestial to have their future sight, while Seers are born with that ability plus they can see all kinds of paranormal phenomena.

"What do you want from me?" Alaric keep it simple and clear, as no Oracle would approach you without a plan, especially if they are willing to reveal their identity when there are full-on organizations dedicated to capturing or killing people who can see the future.

"Don't worry, I have no ill intent toward you. I will tell you right now that if you succeed a very bright future awaits you, but It won't be a seamless road, there will be some bumps and holes along the way." Ark said gently waving his hand in surrender to show amicability.

"Oh, nice. So, are you answering my question?" Alaric couldn't let himself be led by this guy, then again he might've had reacted the exact way the other side wanted...

(This is why I don't like Oracles, I was tricked by these kind of people a few time while playing AF... If it wasn't for my saved files I would have been in deep trouble many times.) Alaric thought as he remembered the times he was tricked into bad deals or disadvantageous situations.

The worst was arguable that you can't ever be sure of who has future sight unless you see their status, but because of how dangerous doing so is, nobody with half a brain would claim to be one. Then again it's a very rare ability that's sought out everywhere in the mortal side of things.

"Yes, I will. I want to form an alliance or maybe it would be more appropriate to call it a partnership with you. If you take my offer, many things will be revealed to you about this world." Cardinal Ark continued to smile and calmly replied to the boy.

"Things about the world you say? Do you have any idea how vague and useless that could be?" Alaric sighed before he replied.

"Come on, I'm sure you know more than enough to understand what I mean. After all, you're a bit old to be playing pretend." Cardinal Ark smiled widely as he answered with a very nonchalant posture.

"… You lack passion… I don't like it… Just say what method we're using for the contract." Alaric forced a smile back as he replied.

"Oh, don't you say? I think I just don't have the energy for passion anymore. Anyway, the method we are using is a magic contract, though I would be fine making a celestial vow if that is more in line with you." Cardinal Ark clarified still keeping his smile.

"No, a magic contract works perfectly for me." Alaric answered since magical contracts are the most powerful and reliable binding contracts in the mortal world; breaking them never ends well.

"Great, we can sign it this instant. I didn't expect such cooperation from you." Cardinal Ark proposed and stretched his palm towards him.

"I better not regret this, I've already made too many deals in this life." Alaric complanied as he remembered how many contracts he's already connected to.

A bright green light shone as multiple symbols appeared on top of their hands as a partnership magical contract was Initiated.

[Master, Are you sure you want to complete a partnership magical contract with the individual 'Arkeal Ven Hell'?

Yes or No?] As he expected the system could interfere with this kind of thing, and it would be possible to break it, but there was no reason to do it.

(How useful, this will come in handy later.) He was happy to know it had such a function.

The principle of a partnership magical contract is that both parts can't harm or lie to each other. So it wasn't too bad a deal. If things went south, there were a few ways to get out of this type of contract.

He chose yes, and the contract appeared in the green symbols above their hands before disappearing, completely. They both pulled their hands back before he asked.

"So, what secrets did you have to reveal to me?"

"There's quite a bit going on. First and foremost, I'm a fallen angel named Arkeal, Ark is just my human avatar's name; second, the Solar Knights are coming.

"Third, a war is on the horizon with Mormial at the center of it; and fourth the Apostles, Null Devotees, and Devil Fanatics of Crismentia will soon be free of their restrictions. While I would like to, I can't say much more about it." Ark calmly dropped bombs on him with a smile on his face.

(A fallen angel... Oh my, that's already a whole problem on its own. Then you add the frikin Solar Knights to it and well, I might just have an aneurysm... They are fanatics who are... Well...

(Human supremacists who believe all the other races should be nothing more than slaves, and especially hate demons and half-humans as a curse that should be purged. Their presence will certainly cause trouble.... And I have half-human family...

(To top it all, there's a war coming... With my country as the center... Great... But the Apostles, Null Devotees, and Devil Fanatics?… Don't tell me it's one of those worlds…) Alaric tried to digest the information.

"I know you can't say too much because future, but what's all this stuff about Apostles, Null Devotees, and Devil Fanatics??" The boy questioned.

"Actually it's good that you asked, as I was about to show you. We'll be a part of their meeting, now give me your hand once more." Cardinal Ark without losing his smile responded.

Not wasting too much time, he gave him his hand.

It was then that he felt this weird blurring of his surroundings before his focus came back and they were now in a different room with 23 stone thrones on a similar stone circular pillar-like alter, surrounded by a dark stone temple of sorts. In all of this, he and Ark were at the center of the altar.

"Would you look at that, you have some gall to show up like this." A voice came from one of the thrones, and Alaric looked only to find a man with red skin, long black hair with white tips, a malicious smile like none other, wearing pitch-black armor, and sitting as relaxed as one could be with his face leading onto his hand.

(Who is this guy?… Just looking at me makes me uncomfortable… this is… it's as if I want to rip off my own skin… That means this guy must be…) Alaric could not help but look in shock as he contained his urges.

"Hi! It's been a while… Now, Alaric, this man is the Demon Moon, Ariz Gotsuvornia. A very dangerous individual and I don't advise getting on his bad side." Ark calmly introduced the man without losing his smile after greeting him as if he were meeting someone from his past.

"Would you look at that, a high human? No you're not quite there, it's just bloodlines and physiques, how cute...

"Is this what you're going to be putting your 'faith' on?... You disappoint me, Arkeal." Ariz smirked before commenting.

(This situation seems to involve the top dogs of the planet… or at least the high-tiers, it seems… I don't want to be in the middle of this… I'm not qualified to be here yet, if a fight broke out, I would 100% die…) Alaric's cold sweat built up as he did his best to resist the urge to self-harm.

"You underestimate him, and where are the others? I thought I had calculated just the right time..." Ark despite still having a smile on sounded confused.

"I'm the only one here, the others found themselves stranded and I have no time to help weaklings." This time after he spoke Ariz looked at the boy.

Before anyone could do anything else, Alaric noticed that Ariz was no longer on the throne, but instead right in front of him, looking at his face with Ark's head in his right hand.

"I have to admit though he has some potential... Top bloodline, top physique, and blessing...

"No, blessings, and he seems to be doing relatively well for a human at his age. But is this it? As I thought quite a disappointment Arkeal." Ariz commented looking at him and Arkeal's head interchangeably.

"You judge too soon, you'll definitely regret those words." Arkeal's head began speaking despite being detached from the body.

"Maybe in the future, but as is, this kid is too weak... Hey kid, I don't know if this airhead told you, but the reason why he's talking to you today is because of a vision from 27 years ago, back then this bastard was living like a slave and-" Ariz began by talking to Arkeal before turning to the boy and began telling a story, then he got interrupted.

"Ariz! How could you simply open the seal?! You know we have a limited amount of time! You should have waited for everyone!" A Human looking woman appeared now sitting on another one of the thrones.

"Don't waste your breath on him, he won't listen to you." This time a man, this one having elf-like ears appeared on a throne.

"Who cares about Ariz... I'm more interested in this little man here... Oh, Arkeal's here, so that's it... Isn't this one bit too weak?" Another man, this one being very tall and having four arms appeared standing behind Ariz and started looking at Alaric.

"Seriously, we haven't even started yet and you all are already making a fuss about everything." Lizardmen appeared and reprimanded everyone.

It did not stop as more thrones were filled.

This led to another discussion starting before...

"SILENCE!... I'm telling a story... Which part was I at again?" Ariz shut everyone up.

"The part where we leave." Ark replied.

"Ah yes, the part where yo-... Don't you da-" Ariz was tricked for an instant before flames appeared on his horn and he was about to threaten them, but once again everything blurred and the two were back at Ark's office with his head attached to his body.

"What the hell just happened?!" Alaric had experienced things like this in the game, but the first-hand experience was just a completely different level.

Chapter end