Chapter 260: From Priam with Hate (Patreon)

End of the holidays on my side! Back to the normal release schedule. The next one: Thursday the 8th. Enjoy!

*

You receive the following Title: [Champion - Hoplite].

Your future Tribulations will be doubled until you repay your debt of 9 Tribulations.

Welcome to the Seven Concepts Universe!

The spectral stands dissolved the moment the former Champion’s body hit the water. Taishi let out a sigh as he felt the System retract. If he were cowardly, no one would be brave… and yet, the gaze of an entity capable of creating worlds and upending the fundamental laws of existence made his soul quiver with dread.

Fortunately for him, the System seemed to value the principles of free will and equivalent exchange.

Just minutes earlier, Taishi had been a lost soul drifting towards a mechanism beyond his comprehension, its sole purpose clear: to recycle his soul. Suddenly, he received an offer: to play a role in the future of his people. Dead an hour earlier after failing to dominate Flash’s Unity, the founder of a young nation was reluctant to fade away and thus agreed.

An omnipotent force had torn through the fabric of space-time, hurling him thousands of years into the future before an extraordinary assembly. Seeing a contemporary hoplite Champion, Taishi felt a surge of pride: his philosophy had endured, creating a powerful faction.

Cast as the antagonist, Taishi realized the true stakes of his presence. Victory meant integrating into this new universe and guiding his civilization through the treacherous waters it was navigating. The System had done its job well, generating a body identical to his thirty-year-old self, magically enhanced with physical and mental attributes.

Yet, despite the knowledge and skills he had amassed during a lifetime of warfare and the Flash’s Unity that had cost him his life, Taishi struggled to dominate the fight. Worse, without the aid of the other Tribulations, his arrogance at the end of the duel would have been fatal, leaving his people leaderless. 

Ultimately, I won, but it’s weird that I made this rookie mistake. 

Taishi spent a couple of seconds scanning his body before understanding. The explosive energy boiling within his muscles urged him towards rash decisions. I’ll need to be more cautious going forward…

Nodding to himself, Taishi decided to find his people. The only information he had about this new world was what the System deemed important for his role. Which was to say, not much. Looking up, he saw an ocean dotted with islands. One of them held a bay sheltered from the sea and his only lead—a group of hoplites who had arrived with the former Champion.

Determined they might provide some answers, Taishi almost leaped towards them before freezing. His new perception allowed him to see a shadow cutting through the water, heading straight for him.

It belonged to an alien racing towards him at more than five times the speed of sound. His body was covered in strange tattoos that seemed to repel Taishi’s attention, which was why he hadn’t detected him earlier. These tattoos gave him a demonic and rather unsettling appearance.

The stranger was still too far away to gauge his intentions, but feeling his scales tremble, Taishi recognized an instinctive warning. Drawing his spear into a defensive stance, the spearmaster braced himself for battle. If the stranger had hostile intentions after witnessing his duel, he was either incredibly foolish or incredibly strong. Underestimating an opponent was a fool's game, and Taishi was no fool.

Two seconds later, the demon arrived. Taishi presented the shaft of his legendary spear—gifted by the System—to block a vertical strike. When the two weapons clashed, it felt like he had stopped an avalanche. Brutally thrown towards the ocean, Taishi briefly fused with Flash to dissipate the titanic kinetic energy. As soon as the Unity ended, he widened his eyes, feeling his new body on the brink of destruction.

The stranger struck with the force of a behemoth.

From the corner of his eye, Taishi saw the demon charging again. Taishi flashed out to dodge… or rather, he tried. A crushing aura made him stagger, suffocating his soul and preventing him from connecting with his Concept.

He parried a new blow at the last moment and grunted as his shoulder muscles gave way.

“Who—”

The demon didn’t give him time to finish his sentence and began a relentless combo. Despite his injuries, Taishi managed to defend himself with his superior spear mastery. Dodge, parry, thrust, swing, cut, feint, and grapple—the hoplite warrior used every card at his disposal to withstand the onslaught.

A few seconds into the duel, Taishi furrowed his brows. The style of his opponent was close to Kazuki’s, but where the former Champion was a prodigy, the demon was a force of nature. His feints were less ingenious, his moves less refined. However, he compensated with superior strength and speed. Half the time, Taishi couldn’t even see the attack and moved purely on instinct.

Internal damage was accumulating, and Micro II could no longer heal him. Refusing to lose to an inept opponent, Taishi decided to use Spear Mastery II to turn the tide.

His blade began to glow, and the alien laughed as he parried. His own spear was enveloped in Spear Mastery I and a second strange aura. Before the spearmaster could analyze this new power, the demon opened his mouth. A torrent of flames burst forth, and Taishi swore before using Spear Mastery to slice through the attack.

A silver aura enveloped the tip of his spear, cutting through the world before him, splitting the infernal stream in two. In the span of three seconds, Taishi’s mental endurance evaporated to allow Spear Mastery to protect him. Just as his stamina hit rock bottom, the flames vanished, revealing the demon less than five meters away.

Ignoring his exhaustion, Taishi thrust. His spear struck the alien’s chest, sliding along a rib to reach his heart. The weapon's tip sank with difficulty into the flesh, surprising the spearmaster. With Micro II, his physical attributes, and his legendary spear, he should have been able to pierce a steel door. Yet, he struggled to reach the demon’s heart… which seemed unperturbed.

“Is that all? I expected more from a ninth Tribulation,” said the stranger in contemporary hoplite dialect.

“… I was the eighth Tribulation. The ninth was the ability for my people to heal the leader they chose.”

“I see. How many times?”

“Does it matter?”

“It does,” said the demon, grasping the spear to pull it out. Taishi was stunned to see his heart and flesh regenerate in less than a second. “Let’s fight.”

The command jolted Taishi back to reality. “Pardon?”

“Let’s fight,” repeated the stranger. “I need more data to analyze your style and relay it to my friend.”

Taishi scowled. “I’m not a show animal. I refuse—”

The demon briefly vanished before a titanic uppercut shattered Taishi’s jaw. The hoplite flew a hundred meters before regaining his balance and stopping. He looked up just in time to dodge a dozen javelins thrown at supersonic speed. One exploded mid-flight, releasing a terrible flame that singed the hoplite’s eyebrows and scorched his bald head.

Taishi used the little mental endurance he had regenerated to slice through the explosion. Taking a moment to catch his breath, he assessed the situation. He knows too much about me, and I know nothing about him. Retreating would be strategic.

Without another word, the hoplite founder merged with a beam of light and… screamed in pain as he reappeared less than a centimeter away. A light fog began to reveal itself around him. The mist had diffracted his light beam, threatening to decompose his body like a prism with white light.

“You refuse? I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”

Taishi almost jumped at the voice behind him. He tried to turn and grimaced in pain as a spear impaled him like a poultry. A raging swing failed to eliminate his opponent but forced him to retreat.

Seeing a thin smile on the demon’s lips, Taishi roared with rage. He had buried everyone who had underestimated him, and he would do the same today!

*

Title won!

[Champion Killer - Bronze] - You have slain the Champion of a civilization without a designated heir. Life will become complicated for them, but one person’s loss is another’s gain: you receive the racial Talent of the Champion. Note: This Talent takes one of the three free racial Talent slots (⅓ used). This Title is more common than one might think. You are living proof that anyone can become a Champion.CHAR +10%

[Hoplite Warpath - Gold] - Enhances your talent for physical violence.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Hyshana said, her face dark.

Priam turned slightly, and the atmosphere around him blurred. Under the influence of his anger, Pyro heated the air.

“You know it doesn’t matter,” he said, staring at the corpse at the end of his spear.

“It matters to the living,” Hyshana corrected. “You’re the only one who can turn back time.”

“Would you have preferred I did nothing?!” Priam’s voice rose before he realized he was addressing the widow. “Sorry…”

“You were… are his friend, but you’re not his family. It was my duty to kill Taishi.”

“He would have won.”

“I would have died with honor.”

“Honor makes you do stupid things,” Priam spat. “It’s because of it that Kazuki tried to save people who don’t deserve him.”

The general clenched her fists before looking away. “In this crazy world, my people cling to their traditions. Between the founder of our civilization and the last hero… Their choices were understandable. Yet, I hate them for it,” she said before diving.

Priam chose not to respond. Lifting his spear, he tipped the body in his direction and plunged his hand inside to grasp its heart and absorb the affinity within.

Lvl up: [Tribulation Hunter - Unique] lvl 9META (Chance) +9

Tribulation Affinity detected.

Your Soul Tier is too weak to support an increase of your Tribulation Affinity.

Decomposing Tribulation into sub-Concepts.

Soul Harmonisation:Choose a sub-Concept compatible with your soul:

Tier 0:

Ice (25%), Vapor (21%), Iron (34%), Air(42%),...Motion (53%), Light (88%),...Emotion (22%),...Puzzle (24%),...Luck (18%),...Volume (45%),... Measure (33%),...Breath (91%),...

Tier 1:

Glacier (12%), Cloud (21%), Steel (22%), Dioxygen (21%),...Kinetic (35%), Heat (56%), Combustion (43%), Shadow (23%),...Love (7%),...Logic (15%),...Stochasticity (11%),...Geometry (19%), Tempo (8%),...Will (25%),...

 Or increase your current Affinity:

Pyro (90%)

The fragment shimmered with instability, and Priam had to make a choice fast. Pyro was a stellar option for quickly reaching the coveted affinity, but he knew he would soon be facing death again, which would only boost that attribute further. If he really needed to crank up his affinity, he still had a Tier 1 Affinity Token stashed away.

His add-on highlighted three Concepts. Kinetic could easily serve as a stepping stone to elevate [Kinetic Control] to the ideal legendary rank he coveted, but its current affinity was low. On the other hand, Light and Breath were two Concepts he had an extraordinary natural affinity for. The former could prove useful for evolving Pyro to Tier 2, while the latter…

[Breath - Concept] - Natural Affinity +9% (100%).Affinity overflow… Your soul expands slightly.

Title won!

[Useless Sage - Bronze] - Your soul is so perfectly attuned to a Tier 0 Concept that it would take nothing but a thought to connect. Yet, you reject this power.A wave of esoteric energy from Breath floods your soul, resonating with its very essence. Aether flow became slightly easier to manipulate. Minor increase in the capacity and strength of your lungs.Your breath is strong. Take a gum, please.META (Chance) +10%

The new Title did little to satisfy Priam. Kazuki was anything but weak, and yet he was dead. For the first time since the capture of Sphinx, Priam had to face the brutal truth: he wasn’t powerful enough to save his loved ones, and that realization stung.

Of course, the time rewind and the information he could pass on to Kazuki might change things, but this situation was anything but typical. If he kept climbing the mountain called Zenith, sooner or later, he would have to bury his friends. The thought twisted like a knife in his gut.

He spiraled into dark thoughts until Hyshana’s mech burst through the surface of the water. Cradling Kazuki’s lifeless body, the hoplite removed her helmet and let out a primal scream that pierced the heavens. As her voice cracked, two tears streamed down her face and fell onto her husband’s still features before she pressed her lips against his.

“Burn him,” she whispered, embracing the corpse. So close to the end, she knew there was no time for a funeral.

Priam hesitated for a heartbeat before obeying, overwhelmed by the love and pain radiating from the grieving widow.

As the magical flames consumed Kazuki, turning him to ashes, Hyshana held him tightly in her arms.

*

Priam landed on the beach alongside Hyshana. She looked like Anakin after a dip on Mustafar, her scorched face giving her a fierce, otherworldly look.

“Hoplites, you received the same news I did: our Champion is dead.” The hoplites listened in silence, their eyes gleaming with emotion. “As your Sword General, I command you to trigger your Tribulations in advance, one after another, so our friend Priam can pass on vital information to your future selves and boost your chances of survival. Questions?”

All fell silent, except for one soul who stepped forward.

“Yes, Clark?”

“Lord Priam killed our Champion. Do we really need to—” The hoplite fell silent as a deadly aura emanated from Hyshana. “I… Our founder. He killed our founder,” the soldier corrected himself before continuing. “How can we be sure his intentions are pure?”

Hyshana let out a mirthless laugh. “The weak shouldn’t ask such questions. If Priam wanted us dead, we’d offer only token resistance. Get stronger, and then you can question the motives of the powerful.”

Under normal circumstances, Priam wouldn’t have backed Hyshana’s words. But today, he was exhausted, heartbroken, and all too aware that more misfortunes awaited before the rewind.

Clark saluted and turned to Priam. “I volunteer to trigger my two Tribulations first.”

It was time to make Valaryth tremble.

*

Status: PHYSICAL:Strength 755Constitution 1 199Agility 897 Vitality 1 147Perception 814 MENTAL:Vivacity (D) 599 Dexterity 673 Memory 875Willpower 1 168 Charisma 738 (+41) META:Meta-affinity 898 Meta-focus 423Meta-endurance 719 Meta-perception (A) 433Meta-chance 308 (+34)Meta-authority 234Potential: 12 472 (+3)Tier 0Sun points: 1 488 111[He Who Eludes Death] charge: PRIMED[Tribulation]: Five Tribulations pending.Future Tribulations delayed until:Time: 152 days 13 hours 19 minutes 14 seconds.Next thresholds: 12 attributes > 600 / 6 attributes > 900 / 1 attribute > 1 200