Options
Bookmark

Chapter 2886: Young Supremes

“Pathetic."

Azarax was leaning on the rocks, hidden from the sun. Sunny was not sure if the ancient tyrant was aware that he had begun to shy away from direct sunlight as of late, but it was not difficult to notice.

The towering skeleton moved his axe slightly, staring at the two of them holding hands with his empty eye sockets.

"The two of you disgust me to the core simply by virtue of being who you are, but on top of that, you are an offence to the very idea of a Supreme."

He clacked his teeth.

“A Supreme is someone who submits to no one... at least not voluntarily. On the contrary, simply by existing, he forces others to submit to him. Therefore, two Supremes can never coexist as equals. Ideally, one will kill and plunder the lands of the other — at worst, one will be conquered but stay alive."

Azarax shook his head.

"Yet here you are, pretending to be love birds. How appalling. One of you should have killed the other a long time ago."

He glared at them and spat:

“And how are you so ignorant and weak? Pathetic, truly pathetic. Is this what remains of the Flame? If so, you shame your ancestors."

Sunny gave him a cold look.

The ancient tyrant was not entirely wrong. Compared to him, they were indeed ignorant in some areas and could be perceived as weaker than the dire enemies he had faced in the past.

However...

"Hey, you fossil. Remind me, what were you doing twelve years ago?"

Azarax grinned.

"Hanging on the tree."

Sunny nodded.

“In all your Supreme glory. Do you know what we were doing twelve years ago, though? Trying to survive as mundane humans. It only took us ten years to become Supreme. How long did it take you?"

Azarax laughed.

“A Dormant human becoming Supreme in ten years? Preposterous. Even I, the great and terrible Azarax, spent centuries climbing to the throne of Supremacy. Stick to the truth, Shadow. You are a terrible liar.”

Sunny smiled.

"Oh, no. I am the most honest person in the world, actually — two worlds, even. So, let me tell you the honest truth... you've been around for thousands of years, and you are still merely a Supreme. Now that's truly pathetic."

He shook his head.

"Plus, the previous rulers of our realm had similar ideas to yours. The world is too small for two Supremes, gaining ultimate power through civil war conquest... crap like that. Not only did it bring unspeakable harm to our world, but we killed those Supremes — together. I'd say that proves my point, no?"

Azarax just gnashed his teeth silently. Letting out a sigh, Sunny looked around the desert.

As the sun rose a little higher, he sighed and spoke to Nephis:

“I don't suppose we will be able to find the Black Skull. Now that I think about it, it's a bit funny... and a bit sad. So many people died during the Battle of the Black Skull, but the Citadel they fought for ended up ownerless. The Skinwalker chased Mordret away, and even when he destroyed the Skinwalker years later, it remained empty somewhere out there, in the Nightmare Desert."

Sunny hesitated for a moment, then spoke to Azarax:

"Hey, do you maybe know who that skull belonged to? It's a huge skull, entirely black, with three eyes."

Azarax glared at him darkly.

“Three eyes? Must have belonged to one of that abominable girl's abominable kin, then. The nephilim."

The ancient skeleton spat on the sand. Only, of course, he did not have any saliva... or lips, or a tongue, or any other part necessary to spit. So, it looked quite odd. Azarax spoke in a somber tone:

"Three eyes... it's the sign of the Void. It's the sign of the angels, and of what angels touched. Nephilim were the same, even if they chose to hide their third eye most of the time. Those horrid things. They joined our glorious army to fight against the gods, but even though we were glad to have their terrifying strength on our side, we weren't happy to be in their company."

Sunny gave him a long look.

"Why did you all hate the nephilim so much, anyway? I never quite understood it."

Azarax scoffed.

"Because they were abominations. They were something that was not supposed to exist — their very existence went against the laws of everything. Things can be either Divine or Unholy, either of the Flame or of the Void. But they were both, and therefore, in contradiction to everything that is right, good, and holy:"

He glared at Sunny.

“But why are you asking me? You have one of those abominations right in front of you, holding your hand. You can just ask her."

Sunny smiled.

“I am asking you because I'm interested to learn what you have to say."

He remained silent for a few moments, and then asked:

“What about Godgrave, then? Was the giant skeleton lying there a nephilim once, as well?"

Azarax leaned on his axe.

“What is Godgrave? Did someone bury the gods?"

Sunny grimaced, then shook his head.

“No. It's just what we call that colossal skeleton — it must have belonged to a creature that was at least ten thousand kilometers tall. And someone still managed to kill it."

Azarax laughed.

“That is impossible. There has never been such a giant in the world. Only the World Tree could compare, but it obviously did not possess a skeleton. So, it could not have been a nephilim... in fact, I doubt that a creature like that ever existed at all."

Sunny took a mental note of the fact that Azarax was not aware of the being whose skeleton had later become Godgrave. Did that mean that the ancient tyrant had been ignorant, or that the enormous skeleton was only created after he had been nailed to a tree?

‘Curious.'

That thing definitely had something to do with the Void, though.

So, Sunny was not sure that he wanted to know the answer.

Comments 91

  1. Online Offline
    + 34 -
    Quote: Ohshitimsorry
    What exactly is the difference between the Void and the Flame? Or rather, the Void Creatures. Both were born from the primordial Chaos, both seek to consume each other, and both are in a constant state of conflict.

    You might argue that Void Creatures are inherently chaotic, destructive, and insane, but is this truly the case? If I'm not mistaken, in the Tomb, the destructive influence of the Void was explained through the fundamental difference between the Void and the Flame. This means that any contact between these two substances leads to a drastic and violent change, which is perceived as destruction, madness, corruption, and so on. In other words, the Void does not cause destruction on its own; destruction only occurs when the Void and the Flame interact incorrectly.

    The Void is described as a chaotic state where anything is possible, and therefore nothing makes sense. However, how can Void Beings exist in such a chaotic state? The very fact of their existence reduces their chaotic nature by definition. This makes them more "stable" and "consistent." Is this not what distinguishes Flame from Void?

    And again, the question is, is the Flame so different from the Void Beings? What if the Void Beings are the same gods as the Seven? It's just that these beings are so different that their cooperation seems repulsive and terrifying to humans. It reminds me of the Outer Gods from ORV. What if the Nephilim and angels are "ambassadors" trying to help two fundamentally different worlds "find common ground"?

    Alternatively, the Void may be nothing more than a chaotic abyss that defies analysis.

    "You don't have to describe monsters. If you call them indescribable"
    - Howard Phillips Lovecraft

    You ask a question then answered it yourself 😂

    Think of it as this, out of the void exist the flame of desire that birthed the 7 gods and humanity. They all aspire to be independent and cleanse themselves from the void hence they prefer to separate themselves in realms away from the void sealing it in the abyss. However, the void is the source where everything returns to. Dream god was not corrupted as you previously said. He simply returned to the void. Separating the deamons from himself in the process of removing the corruption of the flame.
    Read more
    1. Offline
      + 20 -
      Excellently said about the filth of Flame.

      Heil the Dream God
      Read more
  2. Online Offline
    + 12 -
    Quote: CupcakeIsolator
    Not everyone born in dream realm are dreamspawn, with Asterion I'm not so sure why he is one, but Nephis and little Ling are dreamspawns because one was born by the hollow, and the other one was born in the nightmare

    Asterion's whole tribe were inhabitants of dream realm. His mother lived and was accepted as part of that tribe. She was also a first generation awakened along with immortal Flame and nightwalker.

    A Dreamspawn is born when the nascent soul is formed between 2 worlds. Not just the birth location.

    Nephis mom was a hollow. Effie was in the 3rd nightmare while pregnant with little Ling.
    Read more
    1. Offline
      + 00 -
      And how exactly then his soul was born between two worlds? Maybe he was first from war realm to be birthed this way, but like, what's so special about that? Or maybe others born in the drealm aren't dreamspawns because they are part of domain? Either way i think there's not enough information to know exact reason
      Read more
      1. Online Offline
        + 11 -
        Like it's mentioned in the novel itself, how the mother during pregnancy, while the nascent soul is formed has a connection to both realms, dream realm and waking world.

        Asterion best explains how
        Quote: Chapter 2757: The Three of Us

        ‎His tone turned sharp.

        ‎"But there are only three Dreamspawns in the world. You, me, and that Transcendent brat — the rest are all dead. In the wake of the Chain of Nightmares, meanwhile, countless children have been born in the Dream Realm... but none of them are like us. That is because they never belonged to both worlds — from the second of their inception, they had already belonged to the Dream Realm. The waking world will be gone soon, too. Do you understand what that means?"

        ‎Asterion's gaze grew heavy.

        ‎"It means that there will never be a fourth Dreamspawn. We three are all there is, and all there'll ever be. And since the youngest is still a child, you are the only other member of our kind to have reached adulthood. And yet... you have denied your own nature, discarding it in favor of pretense and self-deception."
        Read more
  3. Offline
    + 10 -
    I have been thinking about Azarax slowly being afflicted by Shadow Gods curse and why he was nailed to the tree. I think on top of his punishment to have to watch the battle take place over countless years without his participation there was another purpose. He has displayed the ability to subjugate other deathless with his abilities. While that may be due to him not being fully succumbed to the curse maybe he can in fact subjugate all the deathless in the NM Desert if given time and lead them into the Forgotten Shore to wage war on the rest of the dream realm from a land with no sun meaning no hiding in the ground for day to pass. It’s mentioned that Sunny is recovering from wounds sustained by the Will of the deathless he is fighting so I think there is solid ground to say that Azarax will in fact slowly take control of the deathless with his own Will and wage war on the rest of the Dream Realm and become a much bigger problem for our Supremes and humanity as a whole. Very curious to see where G3 is leading us with these continued hints at Azarax’s promise to wage war on Sunny and Neph.
    Read more
    1. Offline
      + 20 -
      Once sunny or nephis achieve apotheosis what will measly army of supremes and saints be worth? Consider it was stated that the gap in power from mundane to supreme is confirmed to be less than the gap from supreme to spirit. (Plus nephis and sunny will have 7 cores)
      Read more
      1. Offline
        + 00 -
        Except it was also stated that sacred and divine creatures also participated. There's no confirmation they're still there but I wouldn't count out the possibility. How azarax would defeat them I have no idea lmao
        Read more
        1. Offline
          + 00 -
          They did just say that azaraxs power increases with each kill so it is possible he could be equal to a sacred but that would be a crazy amount of kills
          Read more
          1. Offline
            + 00 -
            Yeah I was thinking the same thing. There's a ridiculous amount of deathless in the desert but I don't think it could bridge the gap of supreme and sacred. It was confirmed that the largest gap between ranks was this one after all. Perhaps if he manages to conquer everything in the dream realm and then challenge them he could pull it off
            Read more
    2. Online Offline
      + 01 -
      Seems more likely Azarax will loose rationality and remain within the desert to participate in the endless battle.

      That's his heaven and hell was remaining tied to the tree.

      His constant threats to kill sunny and neph is just his way of thanking them, showing gratitude.

      You don't understand how a conqueror Azarax thinks, if he wants to kill you, he would have done it yesterday and ask today who it was he killed yesterday. Threatening them "someday I'll kill you', what do you think that means?

      It's comradery...
      Read more
  4. Offline
    + 20 -
    “No. It's just what we call that colossal skeleton — it must have belonged to a creature that was at least ten thousand kilometers tall. And someone still managed to kill it."
    this thing was almost as large as the diameter of earth how large is the dream realm really? ik each realm is a universe but wow.
    Read more
  5. Offline
    + 60 -
    Didn't you say he's losing his memory sunny? Maybe he forgot troll14
    Read more
  6. Offline
    + 40 -
    "It only took us ten years to become Supreme. How long did it take you?"
    Damn sunny, stick it to the old bastard
    Read more
  7. Offline
    + 20 -
    Were the chapters always this short?
    Read more
    1. Offline
      + 10 -
      This chapter is especially short.
      I was surprised when it ended
      Read more
      1. Offline
        + 00 -
        Why?!!! sigh cry crying_kitten
        Read more
  8. Offline
    + 30 -
    you know now that I think nephis [longing] ascended ability makes sense she can't be consumed by corruption cause she is herself a contradiction she is half unholy herself, maybe that's the reason...
    Read more
    1. Offline
      + 00 -
      Solid hypothesis, on top of that, she has divine lineage of the sun god, who was the freaky one and was the reason nephilim came into existence. Maybe that helps, idk
      Read more
    2. Offline
      + 01 -
      That was an Attribute, ifrc
      Read more
  9. Offline
    + 60 -
    Wow!! Does this mean Nephis might also be able to awaken her third eye sometime in the future !!!!!!
    Read more
    1. Offline
      + 10 -
      I hope not its a sign of void, as he said...
      Read more
    2. Offline
      + 10 -
      Probably during apotheosis, because she will be more connected to the world, her own humanity dampened to minimum levels, and indifference increased, which might let her get to her 3 eyes form
      Read more
    3. Online Offline
      + 12 -
      I think I can already see a bit of her 3rd eyelid slightly opening up on her forehead...strange I never noticed that before it was mentioned...
      Read more
  10. Offline
    + 40 -
    I'm living for Sunny's sassy retorts. He and Nephis clearly understand each other's strengths, which is more than Azarax can say about anyone he's ever teamed up with!
    Read more