A Fungal Dream

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From the flames a figure has risen, a red giant with twisting horns and burning magma dripping out from his mouth and eyes risen

“It is I, a lonely servant! I wish to receive a servant, born from the pits of hell, to aid me in the accomplishment of my destiny and bring the world closer to its end!”

The demon leaned forwards, towering over as drops of magma burned the floor.

“YOUR SMELL… YOU ARE A SINNER… YOUR SOUL WILL FALL INTO THE PIT… THERE IS NOTHING FOR YOU TO OFFER. FOR THE DISGRACE OF CALLING ME HERE. I SHALL PERSONALLY TAKE YOU WITH ME, TO JOIN THE CHORUS OF THE DEAD.”

The red giant opened his palm, which was glowing hot, like the still liquid iron from a forge.

“Lord, aim your holy light towards the enemy of your people and bring down your judgment upon us. Amen.”

From the direction where the door was, a bolt of light flew at the demon, hitting it on its shoulder.

The demon screamed, and the spot which the light touched became black with vapor escaping from it.

“WHO DARES?!”

“Me.”

Between the demon and the wheelchaired figure, someone else appeared.

A man in a black suit, a top hat, bandages covering his upper face, with a beautiful staff hanging on his back.

“If I may, you should stop that. The floor will burn if you drop more lava on it.”

*****

Holy fuck, what did do?! Why did I do that?

I just followed that girl through the tunnels under the manor, making me seriously wonder if there was an actual city under the house of War ( I started to call her War because I forgot her actual name), only to arrive at this mess.

A cripple and a demon, in a dark room.

Sounds like a bad joke you would hear in a church.

The demon looked at me in complete shock, while the idiot who summoned it was tended by the girl.

Okay, I need to get the hell out of here.

“I KNOW YOU. APOSTLE OF PUTREFACTION. YOU ARE A STRANGE SIGHT. A BEING THAT WIELDS OUR POWER AS WELL AS THOSE ABOVE. A SOUL TAINTED BY HIS POWER YET MAINTAINING ITS PAST PERSONALITY. WHY DO YOU STEP BETWEEN ME AND THAT SINER? ITS SOUL WILL FALL INTO THE PIT WHEN IT TAKES ITS LAST BREATH.”

“Sigh, you are annoying.”

I took my staff off my back and put it before me.

“May this place be blessed in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. Amen.”

From the tip of my staff, a small wave of light washed over the room.

The demon screamed as small lice crystals formed on his body.

This actually worked. Can I make up random prayers and when I slap an amen to the end, it becomes effective? Need more testing. I should do something cool, something that will make me look good.

“You know I had always amazed me how the powers of heaven and hell react to each other. Hell usually burns everything that touches it. If heaven is its counterforce, then it would make sense to freeze everything. Still, I can’t understand why people wish to go there. A world of cold up in the sky, my fear of heights is just screaming, and I prefer warmer climates.”

“YOU BASTARD! WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?!”

“It's quite simple. I am going to exorcize you. Send you back into the pit as a popsicle. Unless you leave.”

“EVEN IF I WANTED TO, I COULDN’T! THE SINNER IS THE ONE WHO HOLDS THE CONNECTION OPEN! UNTIL WE DON’T SIGN THE CONTRACT I WILL NOT LEAVE!”

“…What if you make a contract with me?”

Having a demon around could be useful. Extra muscle to protect me and I might be able to send it to a faraway place for it to bring me materials.

The demon started to laugh so loud that the entire building was shaking.

“AN APOSTLE WISHES TO MAKE A DEAL WITH ME! THIS IS A FIRST! ALRIGHT! SWEAR SERVITUDE FOR ETERNITY AND I SHALL GRANT YOU-“

“I think you misunderstand. What I want isn’t power. At least not from you. What I wish for is a familiar.”

“AND DO I LOOK LIKE ONE?! I ALREADY OFFERED YOU MY DEAL TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!”

“Sigh, then you gave me no choice.”

I concentrated my power on my staff making the orb shine.

Without my book, I can’t remember the full text bit if I am correct then-

“Exorcizámos te, ómnis immúnde spíritus, ómnis satánic potéstas, ómnis infernális adversárii, ómnis légio, ómnis congregátio et sécta diabólica-

(We cast you out, every unclean spirit, every satanic power, every onslaught of the infernal adversary, every legion, every diabolical group and sect-)”

As I chanted the room was getting more and more illuminated, while the flames of the demon were slowly extinguishing.

“STOP! ALRIGHT! FINE!”

Oh, thank God! This is all I memorized!

I stopped the chant, staring at the half-extinguished demon.

“I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO BECOME YOUR FAMILIAR, BUT I CAN GIVE YOU SOMETHING BETTER. KNOWLEDGE THAT CAN GIVE YOU POWER BEYOND YOUR WILDEST DREAMS.”

“…Alright. In exchange for the knowledge, I shall stop the incantation. But I want you to give me something else, in exchange for sending you back.”

“…AND WHAT IS THAT?”

“I want the incantation which allows me to summon demons who are going to follow my orders.”

“APOSTLE OF PUTREFACTION, TELL ME YOUR NAME.”

“…I am Darwin. Darwin Right, The Life Father.”

“DARWIN RIGHT YOU HAVE A DEAL WITH THE DEMON PRINCE HEXATRON!”

The flames rose around him, swallowing him back into the ground.

“…Is it me, or I have been scam- oh, never mind.”

Inside the still shining circle, a small thong of flame appeared, making two items appear.

One of them was a scroll made from some sort of skin.

The other item lying next to it was a book. It was black and dirty, with stains of dried blood covering its cover.

“Sigh, better open these at home.”

I put my loot away and turned behind.

The assassin girl was attending to the one in the wheelchair, whispering words to her that I couldn’t hear.

“Milady, I shall leave now. I await you and your friend tomorrow for your appointments. Don’t be late.”

Before they could say anything else I turned my power on, disappearing from their sight, and walked back to my lab.

Once there I took a deep breath and put the loot on one of the empty tables, then I opened a bottle of whiskey and drank the whole thing.

“Holy fuck! I need to stop doing this!”

I was already disfigured from fights, and it was a miracle for me to be still standing with a fuckin’ hole in my skull I need to find a way to fight without putting myself in danger.

“Things are moving fucking too fast! One life-threatening danger after the other! If this continues, I will die from exhaustion! Soldiers! I need soldiers!

“Wilds are too weak; I need something stronger. Perhaps giving them the same mechanical augmentations as I had, but I have a feeling that it won’t cut it.”

I looked at the stuff on the table.

“…Can I turn demons into kayeri? Demon kayeri, with a mechanical skeleton and a vascular system filled with drugs. Or maybe I will dissect it. Having another anatomy chart in my collection.”

I was about to reach for the scroll when I felt something.

It was emitting from the book.

Like a magnet, my hand was drawn to it and opened it.

“…Is this a joke?”

The pages were completely empty, except for some blood stains on them.

“Damn it! That horned bastard tricked me! I swear I will waterboard his red face in holy water the moment I find him and figure out how to make the stuff! At least he could have given me a drawing of a gun or something!”

When I hit the table with my fist, I saw something.

From the blood stains, red worm-like lines have started to crawl on the two pages in front of me, forming texts and drawings.

Once all the lines were in their place, I had the full blueprint of something that looked like a rifle before me.

“…I want the chemical formula of cocaine.”

When I was in university, my roommate who kept singing that German song had a poster that showed this compound. I remembered it because the teachers confiscated it after he attempted to make the stuff based on it.

The lines on the pages started to move, reforming into new texts with the perfect depiction of the chemical formula, the steps to make it, and the way to use it.

“That red-faced bastard. He didn’t lie. Can this book actually answer all my questions?”

I looked at the cages which contained my rats which showed no sign of progress.

“… Tell me the utility of the white mold.”

The lines moved again, this time they split to make more of them, making the pages flip as they gave me more and more knowledge.

As I was reading it, my mind was absorbed by the text, opening up to the world of possibilities.

“Yea. Yes! With this, I can work with.”

*****

Sharon POV:

“Where are you?~ I bought cake!~”

The Apostle of war entered the laboratory carrying a tray with sweets of variable sizes, only to drop it, when she saw what was before her.

In the middle of the lab, was a corpse that was held standing by chains attached to the ceiling.

The corpse's chest was open, its ribs pried open with its internal organs missing.

On the floor a magical circle was drawn with blood, containing symbols that looked outright demonic to her.

“War? Is that you?”

From behind the corpse, Darwin showed his shaved head, smiling like an idiot.

“Come. You want to see this.”

War took a few steps sideways seeing a chair, sitting in the middle of the same sort of a magic circle with a bowl containing a white substance put on it.

Darwin took the bowl and sat on the chair and put his hand into the substance.

“Ehhh, Darwin what are you doing?”

“Something amazing.”

Both of the circles lit up in a greenish light and a hum could be heard, that reminded Sharon of the sound of a fly flying next to her ear.

“Something-“

“-truly amazing.”

“Eee?!”

Without any warning, the corpse started to speak with Darwin’s voice, scaring her for a second.

The corpse tore the chains off its body and turned towards here.

its eyes were shining with a greenish light as the

“Apostle of War, meet the weapon you created.”

*

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[

Name: Darwin Tim Right 'Plague Father'

Race: [ True Kayeri (Mechanically Augmented)] LV: 1/10 000 (1/10 000)

Main Class: [Dark Apostle of Putrefaction]

Sub Class: [Life Father]

MP: 6000/6000

Blessings: [Blessing of Nergal] [Blessing of Airmed]

Active Skills: [Basic Steady Hand] [[Hive control] [Hive Absorption] [Hive Repulsion] [Mold Field] [Basic Spirit Voice] [Aether Vision] [Steam Engineering] [Dagger Arts][Presence Concealment] [Lock Picking] [Mold Manipulation]  [Fly manipulation] [Plant Manipulation] [ Decomposing touch] [Plague Berserker]  [Inorganic conversion] [Plague Mist]

Passive Skills: [Body Knowledge] [ Plant Knowledge] [Medicine Knowledge] [Stamina Enhancement] [ Movement Enhancement] [ Reflex Enhancement.] [Basic Sponge Mind] [Perfect Stomach] [Hive Mind] [Music Instrument Knowledge[Healing Hands][Medical Senses] [Medical Mind] [Surgical Precision] [Mechanical Skeleton] [Toxic Air] [ High Regeneration] [Organic Clockwork] Demon’s Presence]

Affinities: [Basic Farming Affinity] [Basic War Affinity] [Basic Pestilence Affinity][ Basic Fire Affinity.] [Basic Life Affinity] [Basic Death Affinity]

Titles: [The One Who Saw a Thousand Worlds] [Knowledge Driven] [Chosen by Flies] [Medicine Pioneer] [Hive Master] [Giver of Life] [The 13th Dark Apostle]

]