Chapter 60 - Old Gods Part 1

The next day, Shu and the others who had earned the right to the Vault of Kings gathered in the throne room. Some of them asked were the mages had gone? The gold knights present told them that the mages had already left. Practitioners were different as they benefit from going to the Vault of Kings for extended periods as they could cultivate the spirit energy there. This discovery shocked many people who had never been there.

"Hello. I am the Spirit Sage responsible for the illusory array, with assistance of another, that the Practitioners of the sixth stage went into for their second game. A similar situation was to occur for the seventh stage Practitioners, but you youngsters were more bloodthirsty than the organizers predicted. I am known as Light. You may address me as Ancestor Light. Please enter the teleportation array. We will be heading to the entrance of the Vault of Kings," an elderly man in a simple white cloak bowed, his hood hiding his face as he gestured to the door to the right of the throne.

Everyone walked to the door in silence. A flash of light would burst through whenever someone entered the door as they entered one at a time. Shu closed his eyes as he walked into the door. He felt a rush of wind up his body and appeared in an empty desert of white sand. In front of all the Practitioners were eight giant that seemed to be arranged in an eight point octagon formation. His eyes narrowed as he recognized five of them. Four were the illusions he had seen with the Dragon Fox, but why were statues of those five here?

A group of people appeared from the center of the formation. His eyes widened as he saw the image of a bone dragon on one of the banners as some of them carried banners in their hands as they appeared from out of thin air. Each of them wore masks made out of the bones of a magical beast. Their clothing were the cloths of shrine priests and maidens as they bowed in unison. An elderly women approached Shu and the others as she led the shrine guardians forward. At a hunch, Shu changed out of his school's jacket and wore the jacket the Bone Demon had given him. People stared at him as they noticed his white-furred fox ears atop of his blonde hair. he ordered Bahamut and Supaiku to remain silent as the elder woman stepped forward.

"Welcome to the pocket dimension known as the Vault of Kings," the elderly woman began, all the shrine guardians bowing as she did. "We are those who watch the Vault of Kings. You are all worthy of learning of the secret of the Vault of Kings. The immortals who founded the Jokkam Kingdom spread lies about this place, claiming to have made the Vault of Kings. Even now, outsiders try to dig beneath the capital in the hopes to find this place. They never will. The immortals only found the gateway and built their kingdom to safeguard it. The real creator is one of the two Overseers of this world that left our world for another. The third and most powerful knows of this place and my people were given the charge of protecting it."

"Let me tell you about the history of the statues before you. Once, these eight celestial spirits were known as the Great Spirits. They were the highest being of spirits, an existence that none can understand or explain. Even now, Practitioners have spirits inside them, symbolisms of their inner selves. Now they are known as the Old Gods as most religions worship other beings they named as gods," the elder sighed. "Of the eight spirits, five have descended into this world and granted their powers to someone or something. One left to the immortal realm, as its contracted being, did while two have been led astray, abused and used for evil by the beings who completed the Pact with them. I will now explain a little of the history of the four who currently reside in our world. The three who won't be mentioned are Old Gods that have remained silent for time immemorial. Who can say if they exist or long dead? Yet, the Overseer made these statues so their existence must be true. The first I will mention ascended to the immortal realm long ago with the human immortal known as the Black Lotus Immortal. The name of the Old God was Uzarog the Azure, whose likeness is the statue of an azure dragon with gold claws, spikes, and mismatched silver and gold eyes. He was the Old God of the Moon, the almighty Moon Spirit. It is said he created the moons of the universes of the Mortal Realm alongside the Creator Gods. Whether it is true, who can say? As for the other four Old Gods, they made Pacts with several entities since the dawn of time. My tribe only knows the last known Pact maker's history."

"Oh? There are mortals who know of us besides the two I had seen before you?" the Dragon Fox said, waking from its slumber in the core of Shu's soul planet.

"Uzarog the Azure was the one the Black Lotus Immortal made the Pact with?" Shu asked mentally.

"Yes. Hush now. The human elder might explain it all," the Great Spirit said, not returning to its slumber immediately this time.

"One of the Old Gods is Koba Khan the Behemoth, the largest statue of a seemingly ordinary gorilla. He is the Old God of Might. He is the strongest of the Old Gods. No one knows who the Behemoth made a Pact with, but chaos was not caused by the abuse of the Old God's power. It is said that Koba Khan the Behemoth is the one who gave the birds, beasts, and sea creatures the ability to form demonic cores and created the first of the magical beasts," the elder continued. "Even now, the magical beasts of my tribe all pay homage to the statue of the Behemoth when passing it by. The third Old God is one that was abused by the one who made a Pact with it. It is the Old God of Life: Torlagafa the Magnificent."

The elder shed a tear as she continued, "His story is one of pain and sadness. Long ago, a magical beast ascended to the Spirit Sage tier and gained a human form. He fell in love with a girl in a remote nation. However, her family was horrified and could not accept her loving a magical beast, even if had a human form. They secretly dispatched several Practitioners of the Spirit Master tier to kill him. Unable to bear separating with her love, the woman asked him to take them away from her homeland."

"After being on the run for a long time....the two lovers could no longer escape their fate as the woman was on the verge of giving birth. The assassins and the Practitioners and mages of several human religions found them at last and a great battle ensued. Alas, the magical beast could not protect his lover and she and their unborn child died from the shockwaves caused by his battle with the Spirit Masters and mages. He wept with pain and asked Torlagafa the Magnificent for help to get revenge after making his escape. His request was accepted and a Pact was made. They annihilated the various religions and the nation of his lover. Then, the chaos reached its climax," the elder sighed. "He wanted to bring her back to life, knowing Torlagafa the Magnificent was the Old God of Life. He was warned of the consequences, but the magical beasts did not care, using the life force of the Old God to reanimate his beloved. Alas, both parties of the Pact died, but she was not brought back. Something else came out: a miasma of blood and the emergence of the first of the demons on this planet. Now there were three races of power: human, magical beast, and demons. The planet only had one of them until the Old Gods became involved. One race was made with good intentions, one was made through an act that defied Heaven's Will."

Everyone stared at the beautiful statue of a giant black tortoise with a radiant shell with crystals over its surface. The sky blue eyes of the statue held an aura of majesty and many people felt sad after hearing its tragic tale. Shu could feel the emotions of the Dragon Fox within him in grief. Clearly, the tale had truth in it. The elderly woman took out a radiant purple gem and admired it. All of a sudden, it sped to the hands of Shu. Shu stared at the crystal curiously while all eyes fell on him.

The elder's eyes opened wide as she stared at his ears and summoned her magical beast dragon. It was a giant, purple dragon of the Spirit Master stage. It stared at Shu and dipped its head in reverence. The elder realized what it meant and the other members of the tribe were soon informed, telepathically, that they were not to speak of the truth to the outsiders and wait until they were alone with Shu. Shu's eyes met with the elder and he realized she had guessed the truth while the other Practitioners stared at her giant dragon with awe.

"Ahem. The fourth Old God is that of the statue of the giant black phoenix with a gold crown of feathers on its head. It is the Old God of Destruction: Malikutai the Divine. This one used to have a Pact with a human, but it destroyed him and tried to take over this world. Most do not know, but we were informed by the Overseer that Malikutai the Divine is the one that gave birth to the race soon to be known as the Hyperion," the elder said. "This Old God was confirmed to exist before Uzarog the Azure made a Pact with the Black Lotus Immortal, but after the death of Torlagafa the Magnificent. You can say this Old God was the second recorded, but the first Old God to truly walk the path of evil. The Heavens punished the Old God, but phoenixes difficult to kill. Legends say the Hyperion were punished many millennia later for trying to gain the powers of the gods by fusing with the ashes of Malikutai the Divine and bring out its resurrection. The Overseer cannot tell us as it is a taboo to speak of it as it is against Heaven's Will. Perhaps the new sovereign of the Hyperion is trying to repeat the history of its ancestors? We can only hope it is not true."

"The Old God was evil? Is this the one you asked me to kill as the price of my Pact with you?" Shu asked the Dragon Fox.

"Yes. I don't know about what the Hyperion did, but Malikutai was killed once and is being revived. It should prove interesting what my history is," the Great Spirit answered. "Keep the radiant purple crystal with you. It is indestructible and has a hidden property. What it is, you will have to discover in time. You're different than other mortals as you have fused with the body of me, a Great Spirit and Old God like Torlagafa."

"The fifth Old God I will talk about is Laozi the Undying. He is said to be as old as time itself. He is the Old God of Stars. It is said that his orange eyes allow him to see the stars and planets in the infinite galaxies and universe. He could all kinds of energy in the universe and watched over the Old Gods. Bards would always include Laozi the Undying in their myths and legends, claiming that it was the Blessing of the Dragon Fox that was the cause of the hero's miraculous escapes from death," the elder finished, glancing at Shu before allowing the guests to admire the statues. "Again, I won't mention the last three Old Gods as my tribe has been told nothing about them and know no records of any interactions with them."

"The part about the eyes seems to hold some truth," Shu thought as he joined the others in admiring the statues.

"We will now send people into the Vault of Kings. Be advised to follow the rules. Those who placed third may pick one item and cultivate the spirit energy for one hour. Those who ranked second may pick two items and cultivate for four hours. Those who ranked first may pick three items and cultivate for twelve hours. The three statues I neglected to name will not open as the entrance to those sections of the vault does not exist. Each Old God has their own select area in the vault that contains items, weapons, armor, and other objects pertaining to what they represent and the power they were believed to possess. Choose wisely. When your time is up, you will automatically appear at your respective academies. This is to prevent anyone from stealing what you have chosen. Each and all items require a soul binding so only you can use them until you die. When you die, this particular soul binding will destroy the item when you die. Think of it as the ultimate insult to whoever tried to kill you," the elder laughed. "If you have won a ranking before, you will not receive a special storage bag. These bags can be soul bound to you as well. So long as you live, no one can open the storage bag. This is the free reward for coming this far. I suspect that it will serve you well in the future."

Shu and the other first-timers received a white storage bag that seemed to appear as the white sand beneath their feet. They quickly transferred what was in their storage bags to the new storage bags and replaced it under their clothes.. The elder smiled and began calling names at random, regardless of rank or cultivation, and waited until the called person chose a statue before calling the next one. People stared in wonder as each person would disappear as soon as they touched their chosen statue.

When Shu was the last one to be called, the Dragon Fox materialized behind him, shocking all the shrine guardians who quickly bowed on their knees with their heads on the ground. He narrowed his eyes at Laozi the Undying, the Dragon Fox standing proudly in its spiritual form.