Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

[Malcolm Tent]

The Curse Canyon was…weird. It was a canyon, like I expected, and it WAS full of junk, kind of like a landfill, but it was also kind of strange. For one thing, the air and space around the canyon's edges were strange and irregular. Sometimes I could see a heat haze like a mirage, or a cloud of sparkles, or the image of a creeping shadow shaped like a man.

As we walked inside, we passed through several patches of unusual effects that tried to grab hold. Heat, cold, light, dark, it felt like someone had set the air around us to randomize. The strangest part was that the varied effects were often contradictory and pressed against each other, but instead of exploding or fizzling out or whatever, they were just coexisting like it was no big thing.

"This is astonishing," Callie said with an awed expression. We had just walked into a sort of entry nook of the canyon, where the walls of cursed items had risen around the gates. We were on a path that snaked its way through, going ever deeper, and the piles of random junk followed the sides of the path, descending like some kind of sea of trash.

I nodded, glancing around with interest. I had Mornax active, and Callie had covered herself with Adherent fire to block out the effects, but it was still kind of overwhelming. I considered activating Dantalion's data collection ability, but I was pretty sure there was way too much going on here for me to process without using the staff to bump him to the next rank. "How exactly is this place stable?" I asked curiously as we walked. As we entered, one of the guards had followed us inside. I supposed he was there as a guide, but I figured if he was going to get a free traveling companion I could at least learn something.

To my surprise, Callie answered. "Supression," she said immediately. The guard shot her a surprised look, and she nodded back smugly before continuing her explanation. "You ever been somewhere really cold? And sometimes in the winter, the water in the pipes freeze if you don't keep it running, causing the pipes to burst?"

I nodded, and she continued, gesturing to the rest of the canyon. "Well, that only happens if there's a small amount of water. If the pipes are full, they can't freeze. When water freezes, it expands. It HAS to expand. Full pipes don't have the room for expansion, so the inward pressure forces the water to remain in a liquid state long past the normal freezing point."

"So this place is containing so many curses that they're holding themselves inert through sheer force?" I asked with interest.

She nodded. "Looks like. It IS fascinating, though it's also really dangerous."

"Why is that?" I asked as we hopped over a small patch of ominous looking swords that had 'coincidentally' rolled onto the path.

"Pipes don't freeze when they're full…at first," she said ominously. "Eventually, once it gets cold enough, the energy trying to force the water into a solid state overcomes the resistance of the pipe containing it. Then the water freezes, no matter what's in its way. Which in the case of this place means…well…boom."

The guard cleared his throat. "Begging your pardon, miss, but that's not QUITE accurate in this case. The canyon itself is a magical construct created by the dean of several departments. While that might normally be a concern, that would only be true if there was no release valve for the building pressure."

"Ah, so there are pressure releases?" she asked excitedly. "Where might those be?"

"Those would be the crucibles," he said with a shrug. "There are a few devices or places that are catalyzed by the condensed curse energy. Like the Cauldron, or the Compactor."

Interesting names. "What is the Cauldron?" I asked, naturally more attracted to the magical sounding device than the one that sounded like it was made to crush trash. "And how do you know all this? If you don't mind me asking. Are you not just a guard?"

"Guard duty here is more complicated than you might think," he said wryly. "Lots of calculations and rebalancing of energies. Natural formations arise here VERY easily, and the guards are tasked with traveling around and breaking them up before they gather too much momentum. Unless one of the students finds one and purchases experiment rights for it. But that's not too common.

"As for the Cauldron, it's…complicated," he grimaced. "Basically, the Cauldron is where we put potions and liquid creations that go in here. We just dump them all in a big reinforced bowl that does the same thing as this place on a smaller scale. Over the millennia, there have been some truly ridiculous concoctions added, and over the years the Cauldron's contents have become…strange."

I blinked at him. "Im sorry, you're saying people dump random potions, most of which are, by definition, improperly made, into a giant bowl and let it pressure cook under waves of curse energy for millennia? What possible use could they have for that? Like there's no way it's drinkable."

"It's not," he laughed. "But it IS unique. Students can apply to have a vial of Cauldron Concoction withdrawn for credit points. Because of the constantly shifting nature of the Cauldron, every vial is completely new, and its effects can change from one moment to the next. Not all of the potions are failures, either. After so long concocting, the Cauldron has become something of a pet project for the alchemy faculty. They offer extra credits for students who dump any leftover mixtures they have in there at the end of the semester."

I could tell Callie wasn't too interested in that, even if I kind of wanted to snag a vial, so I moved on to something a little more relevant. "Where do you keep the most harmful stuff?" I asked as I looked around. "Stuff that will kill you if you look at it."

He sighed. "The lethal curses are the Chamber. Dean Harper captured a fragment of a Void Child of Overgod level quite some time ago, and he's been conducting experiments on it for a number of centuries. It isn't particularly self aware," he said as I saw my reaction. "It's been lobotomized. He's just using it to test attribute combinations that have a pronounced effect on Void spawned creatures."

Dean Wallace Harper, the Dean of the Department of Atypical Physicality. Also known as the Monstrosity, he was the Overgod in charge of Bethy's department. I hadn't heard much about him, but I got the impression he was the kind of guy you wouldn't want made at you.

"Are we allowed to visit the Chamber?" I asked carefully. "Like to take stuff?"

Callie's vault was fairly unique in terms of utility, and its nature made it so that the more dangerous the item she inverted, the more beneficial the effect. I wasn't sure how something like direct damage would translate (maybe it would make a knife that healed you when you got stabbed), but in terms of utility, we wanted the worst stuff we could find here, and it sounded like the Chamber was where we would find it.

Understandably, the guard wasn't prepared for someone to ask to go to the most dangerous and useless place in the canyon, but I imagined that even if this wasn't a common request it wasn't TOO rare, because he adjusted to the question quickly enough.

"Anything involved in an active project would need to be exchanged," he hedged. "Credit points would work, but alternatively you could submit findings to the project you think might be relevant. If you find something unique, you'll be counted as having contributed to the result that comes from it, and you can redeem your contribution points directly."

I raised an eyebrow. "Contribution points?"

"All large scale research projects award contribution points," he clarified. "These are the currency that postgraduates and even teachers use to redeem benefits. They can be put towards increased research focus, additional manpower, materials, expert consultation from the deans, they can even be used to fund new and original research projects directly.

"Honestly," he admitted. "I don't think it would be possible for you to contribute to a research project the Dean has been operating for hundreds of years, but if students DO earn contribution points, they have the option to cash them out directly. It's kind of like selling them to the project staff because you can't use them. That's basically the only way I could see you getting permission to take anything useful from the Chamber."

I had been wondering why he would mention contribution points if students couldn't get them, but it made sense if there was no other way. Besides, when it came to damaging the Void, Callie and I knew a little something we might be able to contribute. I doubted there was anything we could come up with that an Overgod wouldn't be able to parse at a glance, but it was highly possible that Heretic Fire represented an attribute they might not have seen here before in that exact form, not to mention Adherent Fire or any of our other Void resistance tricks like Leviathan or Zagan.

One of the big benefits of my current path was exactly how muddled some of my demons had become. I was pretty sure I'd accidentally created more than a couple completely original attributes without meaning to. I'd have to study those to learn more about them, of course, because they were the embryonic form of what I would need to do when I constructed my Worldforce. But for now, because of exactly how much variety existed in Mythcrafting (literally anything you could imagine could be an ingredient), there was a decent chance we had something interesting to show them.

Despite my face being covered, I could tell from the guard's expression he knew roughly what I was thinking, and that he wasn't surprised at all. "Do you want me to escort you to the Chamber?" he asked tiredly.

"I think that would be helpful," I said immediately, my competitive drive ignited by this new challenge. Learning new ways to hurt the Void wouldn't be a bad thing either, given the ongoing war back home. Through the bond, Callie's fighting spirit burned as bright as mine, planning to submit both her original attribute and her father's special anti-Void flame for consideration (after a clarification on source, obviously, plagiarism was for scumbags) and see exactly how far our unique advantages could take us here in a place ruled by beings beyond our comprehension.

Apparently, the guard was used to cocky freshmen who thought they knew everything, because he just chuckled. "Yeah, you seem like the type. That was why I followed you in. Come on then."

We both grinned as he turned around a particularly towering heap of what appeared to be axe head, leaping over a ditch to land on what I swear was a refrigerator, and then began to hop from one large object to the next, heading off in a seemingly random direction. I grinned at Callie, incarnating Sammael, and unfurled my wings, igniting my Cosmic Phoenix bloodline as I swept forward focusing the spatial attribute on closing the distance with the guard.

I heard Callie's should of outrage and heard her own wings flap as she blurred after me, her Adherent fire warping the air as she sped to catch up. I didn't even need to look over my shoulder because of the bond, but I did anyway, just to see the look on her face.

Being back in the sky again, flying through this place without a care in the world, was a wonderful experience. For a few minutes, we didn't worry about curses or Domains or Overgods. Just playing around. And racing to keep up with our guide. A race that I won, obviously.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We approached the Chamber relatively quickly. We touched down in a small clearing on top of a literal mountain of junk, and I glanced around to try to spot the details or the nearby landscape of the canyon.

First thing I noticed was where we appeared to be. The canyon extended in all directions, so I couldn't say for sure, but I THOUGHT we might be in the center of it all. It certainly felt like the center. Of the canyon. Of the universe. It was…heavy. I could feel the power weighing on me, beating on the air like the heartbeat of a colossal giant whose very blood had a gravity to match a thousand suns.

There was a hole not far away. A single dark square surrounded by a rim of innocuous grey stone. Carvings covered the rock, almost invisible from wear and time, if not for the subtle blue glow emanating from within the lines.

"This is the Chamber?" I said, trying not to let my voice shake. "It's certainly…impressive."

The guard just smiled. "It's funny. So many people have come here to see this. They come for the unique opportunities, or the items, or the project. Ultimately, they come for the power. But so many of them miss the obvious truth. Power isn't an abstract. It's a truth. A destination as well as a journey. I've seen many places in this academy, but this is the only place where I've seen this particular phenomena. Do you understand what I mean?"

I swallowed as I stared into the hole. "Power is an attribute," I said slowly. "This place has so much energy it embodies the CONCEPT of energy. That's part of what the Dean is making here, isn't it?"

He let out a laugh. "A byproduct," he admitted.

I turned to look at him directly. "I never asked your name," I said accusingly. "And you didn't offer it."

"Both of those statements are very true," he said with a wide grin. Too wide, actually. In fact, a lot of things about him were slightly off. He was too tall, his shoulders too wide, his eyes had no whites, just endless seas of green. How had I not noticed that. It was so obvious in retrospect, but I just…hadn't seen it.

Which made me pretty sure who I was talking to. "Dean Harper, I presume," I said with a sigh. "The Monstrosity?"

He let out a barking laugh. Literally, it sounded like a barking dog. "Well, I kind of gave it to you, but I suppose being willing to admit it so easily is its own kind of impressive. You're not upset about my little joke, are you?"

Callie was frozen, staring at him as she realized what I had not ten seconds before. "You're an Overgod," she said slowly. "You…why are you here? What is someone like you doing guarding the canyon? Don't you have better things to do?" Her voice was shaky, and I could feel a bit of panic through the bond, though I returned it with my own reassurance to try to help her through it.

"He's not a guard," I said immediately, sure of that fact. "I bet there's only ever one guard here, and it was the other guy. I'm more curious how you knew we were coming, and why you'd bother meeting with us. We're not in your department."

He shrugged. "You're interesting. I sensed something unique about you two. Something deadly. Not to me, obviously, but we hunters of the Void can smell our own. I suspected you might have something to contribute to my little case study here, and I wanted to see what it might be."

"But how did you know we'd even be here?" I asked cautiously. "Are you watching this place at all times or something?"

"In a certain sense," he said casually. "It's more…primal than that. I am, at my core, a beast. What kind I shan't say, but a beast I was, and that comes with certain instincts. Once you reach the heights I've attained, those instincts cease to be bound by things like time or causality. You could consider it a form of precognition, or you could consider it the exact opposite. It depends heavily on perspective. I knew you would be here because you came here, and you probably came here because I knew you would. Cause and effect tend to warp around creatures like myself."

I grimaced. "I bet the Dean loves that."

"Why do you think he created this academy?" he said dryly. "The chance to study Overgods in our natural environment is hardly commonplace, and the intersection of so much fate is a contradictory soup of temporal inconsistency. We each have our own peculiarities in that regard, and we study each other as often as the students who arrive."

I glanced back at the entrance. "So you wanted us to come here. To see what we could do to the Void Child. You think we have something you've never seen before?"

"Possibly," he said with a shrug. "I am very old, but my lifespan is not infinite. There are indeed things in creation I haven't seen. Admittedly, their number grows fewer every year, but I don't suppose the supply has dwindled completely just yet."

Callie stared at him suspiciously. "You're in charge of Bethy's department," she said slowly. "Did she tell you about us?"

That did sound like her, but I didn't think so in this case. This wasn't about Bethy, this was about us, and our relationship with the Void. Sure enough, Dean Harper chuckled. "The Hybrid? No, she and I haven't had time to speak one on one. Her kind is rare, admittedly. Especially spawned from such a potent vampiric bloodline. But I've seen Maenad Vampire hybrids before. If she seeks me out I may see fit to gift her an opportunity, but she isn't interesting enough to warrant a personal visit. You, however…your power is fascinating."

"The Heretic Flame came from my father," she corrected. "He was-"

"A Void Vessel who rebelled," he said impatiently. "Obviously. I'm not an idiot, girl. But I'm not talking about that. Your other aspect is more interesting. An Anti-Void perhaps? It's difficult to describe. Not simply an attribute, but the foundation of a state of being. An inversion, maybe, or perhaps a divergent reflection. A twisted mirror of the emptiness between realms. And the opposite of emptiness should be fullness, but that's not what you possess."

She frowned. "It's not…it's not a reflection. Not really. It's a shadow. My vault is reflective, and based on the same principles, but it's not the same. The Adherent Fire is something else. It's the result of the opposite of me, not of the Void. The opposite of a Heretic. The opposite of Void destruction, but not the true Void."

He nodded with interest. "Doppleganger," he said, like he was chewing the word. "Shadow self. You've had quite a few strange encounters. But then, you'd have had to. Unique things only come from the collision of coincidence."

"Why do you WANT her Adherent Fire?" I asked. "It doesn't really destroy the Void. Not like the Heretic Flame does."

"Children," he sniffed. "So impatient. "It's a foundation, boy. A seed. A possibility of something new. A Void that is not a Void. A space that is not a space. Tell me, boy, with such a parent, what children might emerge from such an abyss? What creatures might come forth?"

I knew what he meant, kind of. Callie had done something like that one, in The Quiet Room during my trial. Created a sort of false Void that ran beside a space so isolated that even gods couldn't get inside. It had been an impossible, ridiculous thing, but at the time it had seemed less important than everything else going on.

As for his second question…I hadn't considered that. But thinking about it, I wondered if he might be right. Because the Adherent Fire was the opposite of the Heretic Fire, but like Callie said, it wasn't a real reflection. There was a seed of the original deep inside, a spot of black in all that cobalt blue. If her not Void germinated Not-Void Children, would they inherit that Heretic nature. Would they be a natural counter to the Void Children?

"So, what do you want, exactly?" Callie asked suspiciously. "Just a sample of the flame?"

He snorted. "Nothing so crude." He snapped his fingers and a strange object appeared. It was almost perfectly round, but looking close I could see that it wasn't smooth. It was some sort of multi sided prism with so many sides it both was and wasn't spherical. "I want a spark. A seed to germinate. The start of the downfall of the creatures I so despise. In all Chaos there is Cosmos, after all. What is the beginning but the precursor to an end?"

I glanced at Callie, wondering what she would say. "What will you give us for it?" she said slowly. "Aside from contribution points. Will you tell us more about the Void? About what it is and how to fight it?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose that wouldn't be out of the question," he said slowly. "Though it will diminish the contribution points I might grant for accomplishing my task. Not to mention I don't know exactly what might come of this experiment. It's a fascinating potential path, but potential is inherently unrealized until it ceases to be."

We shared a look, but it wasn't needed. The Void was our biggest problem back home. If we could learn new weapons to use against them, it would help Atlas defeat Morwenna, which would tip the god war entirely back in our favor.

"Fine," she said slowly. "But rather than contribution points, I want you to help me pick a few useful items that will work well with my Vault. Let's say three of them. No price paid, I get them free and clear." She was gambling a bit there, but not much. Dean Harper was an Overgod, and this was his project, if anyone knew the items inside it would be him, especially given what he's just told us about his potential precognitive abilities.

He shrugged. "Very well, my aid picking three treasures from my collection. I can even help you suppress any of the ones that might be too dangerous. Do we have a deal?"

I got the impression we were getting the short end of the stick here, and I knew Callie felt it too. But it didn't matter at this point. Even if the flames were worth an immeasurable amount, they would only have value like this to Dean Harper. Callie had been around the Dean of the spatial department multiple times, and he'd never expressed an interest in her Adherent Fire. The Monstrosity had some kind of issue with the Void, and it was the only reason we'd been approached.

Callie nodded, and he grinned that too wide grin. "Lovely," he said, tossing her the sphere. "I trust I don't need to instruct you on the process?"

"I've done it before," she said simply, focusing her eyes on the orb.

A flame kindled inside it, and she focused on the point of light to the exclusion of all else. Dean Harper nodded in satisfaction, then turned to me. "So, how about you," he said casually. "I got the impression you might have something interesting to share."

I considered my options, knowing he'd have seen most of them, probably. I considered Mephistopheles, but the candle had been bought here at the exchange, so I doubted it was that. I went with my first instinct, and incarnated Leviathan. He watched with interest as the demon descended into my body.

"Nothing ground breaking," he said after a moment. "But a reasonable defensive attribute. I'll give you a hundred contribution points for it."

I hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Fine," I said. "Now tell me what I can get with those." If possible his grin got even wider, and I couldn't help but think I'd just made a mistake. It was too late to back out now, I supposed. All I could do was stay the course.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We descended into the Chamber without me deciding what to use my contribution points on. There were just too many possibilities, and I couldn't decide what I should commit to. I was considering spending them to get my hands on another keystone artifact I could use to alter one of my demons, but I didn't have a demon in mind, and given what department Harper was in charge of I also had to consider the possibility of getting my hands on another phoenix flame, so I put it on the backburner for now.

Fortunately, my deliberation at least wasted enough time for Callie to finish condensing her anti Void inside the sphere. After that was done, it was time for us to make the trip down to learn more about the Void from our host, hopefully this had all provided some intel that was worth the cost, otherwise we'd wasted potential gear Callie might have gotten on nothing.

We approached the hole in the ground slowly. "So do we just jump in, or…?" I trailed off, waiting for some idea of how to proceed.

Dean Harper clicked his fingers lightly, and there was a ripple in the space around us. Not the air, mind, the SPACE. Whatever he did had shifted the underpinnings of reality on a layer beyond the physical. In fact, looking closer it didn't feel like spatial manipulation either. More like he was interacting with reality itself.

There was a low groan and the stone around the hole warped and shifted. It wasn't smooth or fluid, either. The rock jerked and twisted, screaming in an almost inaudible subhuman warp as it was forced to become something it wasn't meant to be to suit the unnatural will of the monster accompanying us. Finally, after about a minute of the unsettling reformation, it stopped, and we were standing at the top of a shaft of darkness ringed by a steep set of stairs that only extended about a foot from the wall.

"What the fuck was THAT?" I asked in an appalled voice.

Harper shrugged casually. "You wanted a method of descent. Now there's one there. You'll find the underpinnings of creation are more malleable at my level."

Which was an understatement. Because that wasn't Mythcrafting. It wasn't even Worldforce as far as I could tell. That had been…thought. He'd just smashed his merciless will into the universe like a club until it did what it was told. The rock had been in PAIN. I was starting to understand why they called him The Monstrosity.

Of course, I didn't say any of that, because I wasn't an idiot. I mounted the stairs and descended, though I went first just in case. Callie was still at C-rank, and I wasn't risking her safety. Especially since I had the Seal protecting me, and an A-rank suit of armor outstripped any defenses she had on hand. We hurried in, both of us eager to be as far away from Harper as possible right now. Which both did and didn't work, because he vanished as we headed down, but appeared at the bottom when we reached it. Joy.

"Welcome to the Chamber," Harper said proudly as he gestured around us at the walls…which I immediately realized were made of fucking BONES.

"Is this an Ossuary?" I asked slowly, stepping away from the walls as best I could. The bones were more than just calcium and marrow. They were steeped in the same kind of power that was brewing topside. Namely, they were all cursed. Every single one of them.

Along the walls, stretching off into the darkness, I saw small alcoves, within which pedestals of bone held up weapons and artifacts. It was a formation, all of it intricately slotted together. The bones were sucking up the cursed energy that the crucible was focusing into this place and then transmitting it like wires transmitted electricity into the weapons, which were giving it shape and function.

The energy from the alcoves rose like heat, collecting on the ceiling above us and being swept up in a torrent of dark power that flowed off into the distance like some horrible river. Even looking at it hurt my eyes. Harper chuckled. "It's wonderful, isn't it?" He said happily. "Certain materials have attunements to certain attributes, as I'm sure you know. Even mundane materials have inclinations. Bone, for instance, has a deep connection with the attribute people often refer to as 'resentment'. Resentment is, of course, the component medium of curses, and as such, bone soaks up curse energy like a sponge. It's an excellent conversion matrix for the crucible."

I looked around at the walls of interlocked bones with a slightly sick feeling. "Where did you GET all these?"

"Oh here and there," he shrugged. "Curse bones need to come from the unwilling, but you'd be surprised how many students wander in with corpses in their spatial storages. And of course, the bones don't need to be human. Plenty came from monsters and beasts hunted for credits. We buy at a premium if you have any to spare."

He headed off down the tunnel, and we followed, mostly because the idea of standing around alone in this place made my back sweat. This was not a safe place to be. "So…why curse energy? Does it have some sort of special effect on the Void?"

"In a sense," he said hesitantly. "First, we should start with the obvious question. What do you think the Void IS?"

Callie answered. "The Void is the soul of the universe. The spiritual emptiness that stands opposite the flesh of realspace. People like to pretend it separates worlds, but that's not it. It lays across reality, not between it."

He nodded. "Well put," he complimented. "That's absolutely correct…and also completely wrong."

"What do you mean?" I asked as Callie flinched back a bit. "How can it be both?"

"Because of the nature of the Void," he said patiently. "The most direct manifestation of what I mean is something you're familiar with. Recursion. Recursion is the power of belief, the trend of faith as a force that moves creation. It is, in some ways, the collective belief of reality, altering the universe in the same way that more individualized recursion alters us on a singular level."

We headed deeper into…something. Some kind of labyrinth of bone. "The Void IS the spiritual component of reality, where realspace is the physical. However, the reason this is important to note is that recursion has a much deeper impact on spiritual matter than physical."

Callie froze, her eyes going wide in horror as she figured something out. "You're saying the Void is…nothing? Potential? That the manifestations it produces are subconscious alterations based on what we believe as a collective?" Her voice was horrified, and I didn't blame her. If that was true…

Harper shook his head. "Not exclusively, though partially. What you're missing is that while universes don't have WILLS exactly, they do have…echoes. A universe is a realm, and is created by a creator god. This is a distinct position outside the cultivation hierarchy, mind, and shouldn't be confused with gods or Overgods. Regardless, because of this process, it is important to remember that universes develop certain tendencies."

"So the Void is a reflection of the subconscious of the creator god who created it?" I said uncertainly. "But wouldn't the Void be huge, spanning multiple planes? How does it pick which tendency to express."

"Calling the Void 'The Void' in the singular is inexact," he clarified. "There are many Void, just as there are many realms. The Void is usually a sort of amalgam, a composite of multiple factors. Culture and belief do have some effect, as does the natural tendency of the universe. However, the latter manifests itself more directly than one might expect."

My eyes went wide. "Void Children!" I said excitedly. "They're the manifestations of the tendency?"

"Well reasoned," he beamed, seeming genuinely impressed. "They are indeed. Void Children are the direct manifestation of the originator tendency. They act as a sort of guiding force for the Void and its denizens. If recursion is the wind that blows across the fabric of the Void, Void Children are natural windfarms. Or perhaps antibodies would be more accurate. You could consider them the subconscious manifestation of the suppressed portions of the creator god's psyche. Literal inner demons."

I frowned. "So…we need to beat them," I clarified.

"Well, not necessarily," he hedged. "Void Children can vary based on the nature of the creator god that spawned them. Some can be reasoned with. Some are quite mad. Depending on your situation, you may be able to make peace. But barring that potential outcome, you WOULD need to remove the Void Children, or at least disperse their centralized leadership, in order to take control of the general trend of the Void. Without the Children to guide the spiritual aspect of creation, recursion will become the dominant force in the spiritual space, and the Void will change to better reflect the denizens of realspace. Though whether that's an outcome you would desire can vary wildly."

We walked as he talked, heading deeper and deeper into the maze of tunnels. "Ok, this is all fascinating," I said slowly. "But what does it have to do with this place? With the resentment?"

"Ah, of course," he said with a chuckle. "I got a bit distracted. Hazard of age, I'm afraid. I so rarely get to discuss my hobbies, and I tend to wax philosophical when given the opportunity. The answer to that is simple. What IS resentment?"

I shrugged. "It's…bad feelings?" I said vaguely. "A manifestation of animus."

"It is, and it isn't," he said, with the tone of someone frustratedly trying to describe a flavor they've never tasted over the phone. "But the answer I was looking for is that it is a subconscious force that interfaces directly with inner demons. More than that, it is often used as a shield against them. How many times have you heard of someone using hatred to divert animus from one target or even from themselves?"

"That does happen," I said slowly. "But I'm not sure I understand your point. You're…what? Altering the Void Children with the resentment to repurpose them into helpful entities?"

He stopped walking. "No…" he said slowly. "But that is a FASCINATING research direction. I may use that. No, we aren't applying the resentment to the Children at all. Rather, we're using the resentment to trigger the universe's natural defensive instincts against the Children themselves. Essentially tricking the body into killing its own immune system."

We finally came to a stop outside a huge pair of bone doors, and he turned to face us. "Should our research bear fruit, we would be capable of weaponizing the conscious remnants of the tendency, for whatever values of consciousness you might believe exist, against the Void Children. These natural defenses are very real. In fact, prior to the advent of our current method of cultivation, they were triggered fairly frequently. Ancient Ascendants used to call them 'heavenly tribulations'."

He turned to the door, bracing his hand against it. "As it stands, we haven't managed to rouse that particular reaction yet, though we've taken steps to explore the reasons why. Namely descending to lower planes where the creator gods were weaker and the tendency is more easily influenced. But the star of this little project is, of course, the most powerful of my research subjects. The being I described to you in the canyon."

Pushing on the door, he swung it open, letting it fall ajar to reveal a colossal chamber inside, presumably the one that gave this place its very name. "This is an Overgod level Void Child. The purest manifestation of a realm's inner demon I have ever found…and I believe, the key to extinguishing the Void Children from all planes and handing control of the Void back to the denizens of the realspace that it echoes." And with that, he turned and walked into the Chamber, and we followed closely behind.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The Chamber was huge. Legitimately one of the biggest things I'd ever seen underground. In fact, it was so big I couldn't see the edges. Past a certain distance, clouds of mist obscured the edges of the room, and even directly on the other side of the door we weren't up against a wall, so I couldn't even use that to estimate room size.

But that wasn't what held my attention. No, that particular honor went to the THING in the center of the room.

The Void Child Overgod looked…wrong. It was almost humanoid. Kind of. It floated in the air, made of shadows too dense to make out individual details, but also lustrous enough to highlight certain features.

Subtle things about it were off, in ways that hurt to look at. Its shape was a mockery of humanity more than a similarity. Like someone had tried to design the most horrible, offensive caricature of a person they could imagine, and then dipped it in some kind of conceptually despicable acid and let it start to melt.

It was suspended over the room high enough up that I suspected it was bigger than I had guessed, perspective warping my perception of it to make it seem more of a size with the humanoids it mocked.

The actual suspension was being done by, oddly enough, chains of energy. One of them formed above us, channeled through the door from the river of resentment that had been flowing over our heads during the walk. There were innumerable chains, all linking together and braiding into bigger chains in midair to create sturdier ropes of links that would actually fit around the abomination.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Harper asked proudly. "I defeated it in single combat in a higher realm I visited. The fight lasted a hundred and twenty thousand years. I almost died over a thousand times. I did die at least seven. It remains one of my most cherished memories."

I noted the oddly long arms, the broad shoulders, and then I glanced back at Harper. "Did you base your body off that thing?"

"Of course," he said immediately. "It was one of my mightiest foes. I incorporate the power of all my defeated enemies into my form. Admittedly, this diminutive human appearance is not my TRUE visage. Should you lay eyes on my primal self your mind would tear itself apart in a desperate attempt to protect your soul from destruction. Even this fragment is far beyond what a mortal brain can accommodate."

I sighed. "Alright, fine," I said as we took in the monster. "You're scary, the Void Child is scary, this whole place is scary. So…what does that do for us? Why do you need Callie's Adherent Fire? How does it relate to your plans?"

"Excellent question," he all but shouted. "I had an idea once I saw your wonderful flame. The anti Void can nurture anti Void Children. If the Void Children themselves are antibodies of a sort based on the subconscious, could we not attune the anti Void Children to the conscious, or rather, to the more overt tendencies?"

Callie's face lit up. "You want to slip them into the system and use it to trigger the tribulation force," she said excitedly. "I understand! The Void Children are a natural expression of the creator god consciousness. If you can trick the more active portion of the tendency into accepting the anti Void Children, they might influence it. The anti Void hates the Void. Its core is the Heretic Flame. If the tendency weaponizes the anti Void Children you're hoping that hatred will be absorbed and give the resentment something to latch onto."

"Precisely," the Dean said proudly. "Of course, this is hardly a short term solution. Even for one such as myself the timescale of such a project is momentous. This possibility may only become viable far, far in the future. But still, it IS a research direction, and that in itself is worthy of celebration. After all, what purpose is there in research if not to innovate?"

"Understandable," I said after a moment. "But is there anything more…direct you can tell us? I mean, we've got a lot to unpack here, admittedly, and this is going to do us a lot of good long term I suspect. But do you have like…a few other attributes we might be able to weaponize?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "I suppose I might be able to part with something that could help as one of the girl's promised reward items. But the question then becomes, what exactly are you hoping to accomplish? Do you want to destroy the Void Children? Subvert them? I don't know your situation, so it's difficult to make suggestions for that purpose."

I turned to Callie. "Well, you're the Void expert, love. So, do you have any ideas what might help you? We could just go for some directly applicable abilities like buffs or enhancements. The opposite of curses."

She bit her lip, clearly thinking. "The opposite of curses," she said slowly. Her eyes flicked to Harper. "Do you have any curse based phoenix items? Do such things exist?"

"They do," he acknowledged. "And yes. Are you planning to attempt to weaponize your husband's bloodline abilities against the Void Children? I suppose a curse with a consciousness might be more likely to interface with the tribulation force. I haven't tried that tactic. Another possible avenue to pursue."

She shook her head. "Not like that," she corrected. "Resentment is…it's not what we need. That's like trying to cure poison with poison. Void Children are the inner demons of the tendency. You don't fix resentment with more resentment. You fix it with forgiveness."

My eyes went wide. "You want to invert a resentment themed phoenix artifact with the Vault and then merge it with one of my demons," I said in shock. "Create a phoenix whose sole purpose is to alleviate the subconscious darkness that manifests from the Void?" It was brilliant, honestly, in a very crazy sort of way. I wasn't sure I could even use one of her manifested items as a base for a demon…but I also wasn't sure I couldn't.

In fact, it would make a lot of sense. Several of my demons' original forms had been based on attacks I had stored from Callie, so there was precedent for it. I'd need a demon who would resonate, but I was pretty sure I actually had one. Genesis Burst was made to heal souls, and this would essentially be healing the soul of the universe, on a very small scale.

Honestly, it was something deeply theoretical I wouldn't have even considered if I hadn't been training Mythcrafting with Professor Hawkins recently. I was blown away by the whole idea. I hadn't even considered combining Callie's vault and its inversion with my ability to integrate objects via Brad's mysterious attribute. I glanced at Harper. "Would that work?" I asked slowly. "What would an inverted resentment attribute do to a Void Child?"

"Haven't the foggiest," he said with a cheerful shrug. "Do you think manifesting this much energy is simple? This project is the accumulation of generations of research and funding. It's the collected resentment of an entire academy's worth of students' failures and mistakes collected in the most streamlined way possible. The amount of resentment collected and shaped in this place is beyond the scale of what you could possibly conceive from your limited perspective. Manifesting an antithetical force on this scale would be impossible. And anything less…"

"Wouldn't work," I sighed as I glanced up at the captured Overgod. "So do you think it's worth trying?"

He laughed at that, though not unkindly. "Of COURSE I do. It'll be a fascinating study. I'm curious how it would even function. Would you need to purify them alive? Would destroying them purify the negative trend? Will anything happen at all? So many interesting questions."

"And you have a phoenix artifact that'll work?" Callie asked again. "What is it exactly? It has to be at the right level for us. I can manage a B-rank artifact, but nothing beyond that."

"Phoenixes are fascinating creatures," he said with a nod. "They have almost no natural affinity as a species. Or rather, they have an affinity for affinities. Phoenixes are the ultimate evolvers. They can adapt to almost any environment, change to suit any type of energy. There is almost nothing in creation that a phoenix can't embody. I suspect it has to do with the mechanics of their rebirth. Regardless, yes, I possess an item created from such a phoenix."

Snapping his fingers, he did…something. There was a shudder and a device appeared in his hands. It was, quite frankly, the most horrible thing I'd ever seen. A black metal gauntlet with spikes coming off of it. It had what could generously be described as a shield welded onto the forearm, but was, in reality, something more like a sawblade, except it was sort of domed (or maybe coned, since even that had a point) with small slits in it.

"This is a lantern shield," he said with amusement as he saw our reaction. "The flame inside of it is a substance I affectionately refer to as 'Hatefire'. Most people assume it's some kind of ghostflame, but in fact, it originated from a resentment attributed phoenix whose soul was bound into the shield by a relatively mad witch hunter I once had the misfortune of meeting. This item is exceptionally old, and has degraded over time. It is currently approximately low B-rank in terms of Impact. The Hatefire has been eroding the structure for quite some time."

Considering the guy who made that claim had casually mentioned have a hundred and fifty thousand year FIGHT, not long ago like it was an evening at the theater, I didn't want to know what he considered exceptionally old.

Callie, meanwhile, was staring at the object, looking wary but determined. She reached out and touched it, and it vanished. "That's one," said Harper with amusement. "You have two more."

"What do you think I should try?" she asked the Overgod. "You said you'd give advice."

He nodded thoughtfully. "I believe you should take advantage of ambiguity in the nature of your power. There's a spear in here that absorbs blood to enhance its durability. An inversion of that would potentially be the ability to ERODE the durability of other objects the more blood it SHEDS. Which might be useful."

"That would work," Callie said with a nod. "How about something purely beneficial?"

"An inverted curse," he nodded. "There's a cursed set of manacles that prevents wounds from healing. Deeply unpleasant items. I suppose an inversion would create healing shackles, which might be useful. Their ability to shut down regeneration is one of the most effective I've ever seen, so I suppose the inverted set would be able to heal injuries regardless of the cause."

Callie lit up at that. I couldn't blame her. That sounded incredibly overpowered. "Those would work," she said excitedly. "When can I pick them up?"

He rolled his eyes. "You can't. The Lantern shield was never an integral part of this formation. The other two are. I'll need to extricate them manually and send them to your residence. For now, I believe I have upheld my end of our bargain. I have research to resume." He tossed the sphere of Adherent Fire into the air with excitement. "You two know the way out. You can go."

And then, suddenly, he was just…gone. We turned and saw the door rushing toward us, warping the very space until it swallowed us up, slamming shit behind us, I looked around at the walls and the bones glinted menacingly in the low light. I called for Zagan, coating us both in purification, and I triggered my rank boost just in case. "We should go," I told Callie quietly. And then I took her hand and we ran. Worst. Host. Ever.