Master of Time

I could be considered as an Otaku then, more or less.

In any case, I did give Sandra Bullock a call to reschedule our date to another time. Since Monday I will be having a long business conversation with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates on expanding their company as well as market share, it will be Tuesday then.

Actually, Tuesday is no good either since I have commitment with Mystic. Maybe I can squeeze Sandra in there somewhere. If not, I will have to move her to Wednesday.

Selene just tells me that my schedules are all filled up on Wednesday and Thursday.

Damn it. My days are getting booked up.

I should do something about that, or it will get out of control to the point that I won\'t really have any free time during the week. Those clones are mighty tempting right about now. Maybe I could use them as a stand in at the office. I would still get the same experiences and knowledges, regardless.

"Alright, Zeus. Tell me about the Black Order and what do they do. I hope that the order is not the one from the Avengers. I don\'t really want to deal with aliens right now."

Aliens do exist, but I am referring to the supervillain team that works for Thanos in the comic. They do appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically in the movie Infinity War and Endgame. Neither movies are released yet in the prime-reality. They might be released earlier due to the advancement of technology.

Nevertheless, Zeus should know what I am talking about.

He seems to know a lot about modern pop culture despite being an Olympian God. He must be at least a couple of thousand years old. Likely a lot more. Definitely.

"Avengers? No. It is more like D. Gray-man\'s Black Order. Less humors and more violence. The Order exists long before Christianity is a thing, but the members do worship basically the same God.

Did you know that most religions worship the same God?"

Yes. I did.

As for D. Gray-man, it is a manga series written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino.

The manga follows an exorcist, who is a part of a religious organization known as the Black Order. He basically hunts down demons and exorcises them with a holy relic that manifested in his arm.

I didn\'t get to read the ending because the manga never finished, not even in the 31st century.

But if there really is a religious organization that exorcise demons, why haven\'t I notice it.

I admit that I haven\'t really paying a lot attention to the religious side of thing since I am not religious, but Shield and Hydra do pay attention, and if they find something that huge, they probably should say something about it.

Zeus seems to know what I am thinking.

"If they are that easy to find, they wouldn\'t be called a secret organization, Max. You might have eyes and ears everywhere, but so do they, just not in the way you think. There are more dimensions in what can be seen."

Zeus pauses for a moment to think to himself.

"But I am not certain if they exist or not in this reality. And if they exist, they might get wiped out after all of this time. Many things could happen in the thousands of years that gone by. But I am hoping that they are still around in some forms."

Zeus is referring to the butterfly effect. No reality is exactly the same as the next, meaning that things can change drastically, especially over the course of several millenniums.

"And what if they don\'t exist, Zeus?"

I question, wanting to know his plan B. If he is like me in his thinking and logic, he should have plan A to Z and probably more.

"If they don\'t, I will have to take a trip into the Twisted Nether, but I think I will have to do that anyway because I need to collect some Spirit Shards. They are needed for cultivating the soul, so I guess you\'re joining me and Zephyr?"

I simply nod as a response while wondering what exactly Spirit Shards are.

Even if Zeus doesn\'t explain, it is quite easy to figure out from the name.

And I do need to cultivate my soul in order to fight against people wielding godlike powers. I can hold my own on the Mortal Plane, but on the Spiritual Plane, it is another matter.

"Aren\'t you forgetting that I need to separate my mind, body and spirit first, Zeus?"

I question. I should get started on cultivating. Or at least get the knowledge of how.

Zeus smiles at me.

"In due time, Max. I am not really stringing you along if that is what you are thinking. It is just that I do lack the means to help you with it unless you wish to attempt fate? I know of three ways to do so, and two of them requires me to have a soul. The third. Well.

It is kind of dangerous."

Zeus explains.

And of course, I want to know the third method.

It can\'t be more dangerous than getting incinerated by the will of a Dragon God.

"The third method is actually how normal people gains spiritual power in the first place. Go and pretty much fight to the death against a spiritual beast. The more powerful the beast is, the better chance of awakening. But it is dangerous because if you lose, the beast will devour your soul and you will cease to exist. Most people don\'t attempt this method."

I am not like most people, and I don\'t think I can actually cease to exist.

"Spiritual beast? I want to try that method. Who knows, I might awaken just like you did."

Zeus chuckles at my request.

"I know you will say that, Max. Most people like us do, actually. But I don\'t really have a spiritual beast for you to fight, but the good thing is, the Twisted Nether are filled with them."

I narrow my eyes and feel like I have just fell into a trap.

"If you just want me to join you in raiding the Twisted Nether then you should have just said so, Zeus. There is no need to beat around the bush since if it benefits me in some way, I am in."

Zeus cracks up and gestures his hands dismissively.

"Alright. But you need to have a spiritual weapon or a magical weapon capable of harming a spirit."

Zeus points out and looks at the black orbs on the table.

I follow his gaze and frown slightly. I have speculated why Zeus just left them in the open like that. He could have stashed them in his inventory and away from view, but he didn\'t.

And the only reason that he did not is for me to see them plainly and simple. I think I am more or less a pawn on his chessboard right now, playing right into his plan. He probably is going to use me as some sort of bait in the Twisted Nether.

Zephyr too.

How annoying. How very annoying.

But honestly, Zeus does hold a lot more cards than I do right now.

I actually have more cards up my sleeves. They are hidden for now, but I think Zeus does know about them. It makes sense, considering he is elaborately steering me into a decision that he already knows I will make if given the choice directly.

"And how do you suppose I get one, a spiritual weapon. I assume it has something to do with the evil spirits you manage to capture in the monster core."

I play dumb.

"Yes. While we, I mean Zephyr and I, do have all our gears despite not being the original, we find them to be severely degraded. This is because they lost their spiritual power. That is why we need to borrow spiritual power from others in order to even stand a chance in the Twisted Nether."

Zeus picks up one of the spherical orbs in one hand.

"By the way, what kind of weapon do you prefer, Max?"

Zeus questions.

"I suppose a lance will do. I like poking things."

Zeus chuckles before shifting through his inventory to find an enchanted spear. It radiates with magical energy once it manifests in his hand. It is quite a piece of art.

"This is called the Spear of Longinus, Max. The weapon that kills God. Just a copy now anyway, but still powerful. It should serve you well, but at the moment, it stands no chance against a spiritual beast."

Zeus presses the black orb against the spear, forcing out the evil spirit onto the spear. A ghastly scream was heard before the spirit is absorbed into the spear, turning its glow into a shade of black.

The spear is then handed to me.

"Here. Hold it and have a feel. Do not give into it no matter what."

Zeus tells me.

I shrug and take the spear into my hand. The moment I touch it, an ominous feeling washes over me and causes me to shiver lightly. It didn\'t go away, always lingering there.

"Good. Your spirit seems really strong, Max, at least a lot stronger than the spirit that is now inhabiting the weapon. It is always a problem of wielding cursed weapon, but we will we do with what we have."

Zeus casually states. It would be nice if he would have told me it is a curse weapon in the first place. I don\'t think he is using me as a test subject since he is so sure that it would work. That just means he had already tried it before.

"Thanks for the gift, I guess."

I response and twirl it in my hand for a bit. The ominous feeling is still there, trying to invade my mind and infect my sense of reason, so it is a good thing that my mind and spirit are really tough to break.

"Take a few more and let the spear absorbs it, Max. The more spirits the weapon contains, the more powerful it becomes. Even animal spirits do add something to its overall strength, but no one want to fill their spiritual weapon with weak souls."

Zeus directs me.

I follow his direction, finding it quite easy to let the spear takes in another evil spirits into itself.

And once it did, the dark aura becomes more stronger, overshadowing the magical glow. There is also a sinister feeling radiating from the weapon. The ominous sensation that I am feeling also becomes a lot stronger.

"Be careful, Max. While it does get stronger with more spirits, it becomes harder to control, and in the heat of battle, it might cause you to go berserk. I have seen quiet a lot of people go on a rampage in a crucial moment before they let their weapon dictates their actions, thus massacring enemies and allies alike."

Zeus warns.

It is a good warning. It is already become difficult to wield after absorbing the 5th spirit. Zeus gives me a total of 6. That means he probably manages to capture 18 spirits in total. 2 are missing on the table because Zeus and Zephyr probably have used them.

I allow the Spear of Longinus to absorb the 6th spirit into itself, forcing its malicious aura to explode outwards in a tsunami, washing over the room.

It is completely pitch black, and it is extremely violence. It actually wants to slash forwards to slice up Zeus, but I have to restrain it through sheer willpower alone.

"You say that they are evil spirits, formed after a human soul are twisted in the nether, but how can a human soul can emit this much energy?"

I question. I mean 6 human souls in total. Its spiritual energy, while tainted, is extremely dense.

"That is because they are no longer soul of a human, Max. They are soul of a demon. Time flows very differently in the Twisted Nether. One day here, a thousand over there, more or less. These souls are trapped there for decades. It takes a bit of effort of pulling them back from the nether."

Zeus points out, grimily.

"A soul can handle much punishment, but over hundreds thousand of years of torture in the Twisted Nether? A saint will even turn into a devil."

That is an interesting piece of information. The Twisted Nether is like a factory, turning good soul into evil one. How can I use that?

"And the strength and power of a spiritual beast is equal to the number of years they have lived. You actually have six spiritual beasts of a hundred thousand years locked up in that spear."

Zeus adds with a sheepish smile.

Eh? What did he say!?

"And you\'re telling there like 5 of these things are loose in the world right now?"

Goddamn it, Zeus!