Crimson Eternal - Book 6 - Chapter 31 (Patreon)

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Table of Contents

Click the following link for the 1600 word chapter 31:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g9HbHSRQhdGfEyPbuR2kYJ4cq3PsqC9IbR-wBMB7J5k/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

Within the Plane of Pestilence

Raja and the Grand Spirits continue to fight against the Horseman of Pestilence as massive storms of pure pestilence rage all over the place. With the pharaoh and Grand Spirits fighting back with large storms of different elements and miasma. But the massive serpent repeatedly interferes, gradually pushing them back and making the battle lean more towards Pestilence’s side.

The pharaoh narrows his eyes in irritation.

Even with the assistance of numerous Grand Spirits, I’m still too weak to defeat Pestilence. At this rate…

Raja’s gaze turns towards Aria for a brief moment before refocusing on the battle.

At this rate I won’t be able to serve as Aria’s most powerful aide whenever she needs me.

This thought drives Raja to put more effort into the battle than he originally would have. But even that’s not enough.

So he orders in a change of plans. He begins to search for a specific Gate while having a Gate opened near that Gate leading to a specific disaster system. Then he baits the serpent towards the Gate and manages to trick it into going through the Gate.

Pestilence lets out a loud roar of anger, but he’s already too late as Raja orders his subordinates to attack the ruler of the disaster system. Following which said ruler locks down the disaster system. Completely blocking the Horseman of Pestilence from entering the disaster system to help the serpent.

Raja lets out a sigh of relief at seeing the plan work. Because he wasn’t sure if it would work. Not with the enormous size and power of the serpent companion.

It looks like our Gates have advanced further than I thought.

The Horseman’s roars continue to grow louder, expressing far more emotion than Raja has ever seen him express. Which proves that the serpent is the only thing Pestilence truly cares about.

Part three of the plan is now underway.

The first part of the plan was dealing with the Grand Pestilence Spirits and the pestilence energy filling the Plane of Pestilence. All before Pestilence himself finished recovering and joined the fight.

Then the second part of the plan was to make Pestilence drop his guard after he and the serpent joins the battle. Making him believe that Raja and the Grand Spirits were losing.

And the third part of the plan was to separate Pestilence and his serpent to deal with the serpent.

All to take the serpent out of the equation and to enrage the Horseman of Pestilence.

But there was one thing Raja didn’t expect when he and the other Grands came up with this plan that is just how much the Horseman of Pestilence cares about his companion.

When they killed Famine’s companion, Famine barely even batted an eye.

Now, though? When they’re nearly on the verge of killing the serpent through the use of a disaster system ruler?

Raja understands very clearly that the Horsemen of Famine and Pestilence are two very different individuals.

The Horseman of Famine cared about no one but other Horsemen. And he only cared about them as fellow gods in his eyes.

But the Horseman of Pestilence cares about his serpent like the only companion he has in the universe.

And that much is clear to Raja as he sees Pestilence’s eyes begin to glow with a very bright and sinister light. Meanwhile he lets out a hoarse roar, releasing immense amounts of pestilence energy all around them. So much that Raja himself begins to feel the effects of it.

That’s not all, though. Because Raja soon receives a call from people reporting about the plagues once again spreading throughout the universe.

Except that this time the plagues are far more deadly, and for more numerous.

And they’re still avoiding the Horseman of Death’s territories.

Pestilence begins to strike at Raja and the Grand Spirits with far more force than before. All while pushing towards the Gate where the serpent was sent through in a clear attempt to break through the Ruler’s space-lock.

This is… unexpected. He cares about that serpent a lot more than any of us expected.

Raja now begins to feel the faintest hint of regret for choosing this plan. But nowhere near as much regret as he can only guess the other Grands are feeling.

Because he knows this is likely the only way to defeat Pestilence and his serpent.

The Horseman of Pestilence is just too powerful otherwise.

Raja grits his teeth before looking briefly at Aria to calm down a little bit with her godly and precious aura as she sips at her wine watching the show. Then he focuses on the battle again while hoping that their strategy works.

And that the serpent will really be taken down by the ruler.

But one thing he doesn’t notice is that a certain spectator who was watching the battle is now nowhere to be found.

Aria

I find myself sitting a bit closer to the edge of my seat as I watch the battle. Because it just got a lot more interesting with Pestilence’s genuine rage.

It’s kind of nice to know that Pestilence does care about someone. He’s not like Famine, who literally cared about no one in the universe.

At best, Famine cared about the role of Horsemen. Not the Horsemen themselves.

I heard he didn’t even bat an eye when his companion was killed. Which is sick and twisted.

That thought has me picking Asher up and hugging him to my chest. Because I couldn’t imagine Asher ever dying.

No matter how much trouble the little guy can cause, he’s still my little friend for life.

Fortunately it’s not possible for him to die, since he is also immortal just like me. So it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about it.

Still. Just the thought of him dying…

I shake my head before hearing Asher meowing, which makes me lower my head to find him looking up at me from my chest. Then I lower him down to my lap again and lie back down.

There’s nothing to worry about.

On a side note, I can’t help but wonder where War went. Since he was right here, but he vanished in the blink of an eye. Not long before that serpent was sent through a Gate too.

What’s he up to? I kind of assumed he would watch the battle until the end.

Maybe he got bored?

Well, it doesn’t really matter what’s going through his head right now. I just care that the battle has gotten more interesting.

Also, Pestilence is still avoiding affecting my territories even while he’s rampaging. So he still has enough sense in him despite the danger to his companion to think things through.

He no doubt doesn’t want me interfering.

Or, rather, he doesn’t want the Grand Death Spirits interfering.

I doubt he actually feels much of any threat from me at all. Even if I can’t die.

After all, I’m far too weak to harm him. Even my best attack likely wouldn’t even leave a scratch on his skin, much less pose a threat.

But the Grand Death Spirits are a different matter entirely.

Just one Grand Death Spirit is nearly on par with a Horseman of the Apocalypse. And that’s the weakest of the three Grand Death Spirits, Zwei.

Zero is probably stronger than Pestilence altogether.

I don’t like the idea of ordering the Grand Death Spirits to do things, though. And I can’t actually summon them either. I just don’t have the skill for it.

At most I could ask them to go to the Plane of Pestilence to fight him. But then Pestilence would just leave the Plane of Pestilence if I did that, and the Grand Death Spirits wouldn’t be able to follow.

So, while I could be a major nuisance to the other Horsemen through the Grand Death Spirits, I can’t actually kill them. Not unless they’re somehow locked inside of their own plane, or inside of my plane.

I continue casually drinking my wine for several more hours. All the way until something changes in Pestilence.

What exactly it is that caused this, I’m not sure. But something changed, that’s for sure.

He’s mad.

Absolutely. Freaking. Mad.

So mad that he actually starts to affect my territories as well, making me really glad that I decided to store all of my wine in storage spaces over the course of this battle. Since they would be ruined in moments if I didn’t.

The answer soon reveals itself as I notice through the Gate that the disaster system the serpent was sealed away in reopens.

Or, rather, the time-space barrier crumbles, revealing a wasteland of a solar system behind.

No one is inside it anymore. Just corpses.

Whether they’re the corpses of the enormous flocks of birds that were in it, the ruler of the disaster system known as the Calamity Phoenix, or even the corpse of the serpent.

They’re all there. With some strange wounds added in that look almost like a blade on them both, mixed in with the serpent bites on the birds and burns on the serpent from said birds.

My eyes narrow a little bit. Especially when I notice War already casually sitting on his recliner beside me with popcorn already popped again.

He didn’t…

Did he?

My gaze returns to Pestilence when I hear a loud roar that sounds like half a roar and half a scream echoing from him. One filled with pain, anguish, and rage.

Pure.

Unadulterated.

Rage.