Gestation by John Gold (tohfa e dulha read online .TXT) 📕

Donovan, excuse me. It’s an emergency. Anji is doing necromancy.” Moro contacted Eliza via the infonet during the seminar, having created a screen in the auditorium.

“What, he’s raising corpses?”

“I wouldn’t have bothered you over something like that.”

“Then, what’s the problem? Mass sacrifices again?” She stopped. “No, you would have told me that right away. Okay, out with it.”

“Anji made a pentagram that covers more than a square kilometer. He’s using blood magic and necromancy, and it’s hard to say what end result he’s going for.”

“But we told him he can’t do mass sacrifices! What is he trying to do on that scale?”

“I’m not sure. I counted 2500 corpses he’s using as energy sources.”

“Oh, god, did he slaughter a whole city? Bring him here this instant!”

“I can’t, the ritual has already begun. It took me a while to collect the facts since the seal is so big.”

“Mm…” Eliza grabbed her head, almost as if she had a toothache. “Show me.”

The boy was covered in blood and sitting in the center of an enormous magic symbol. Mysterious writing covered every inch of his body, and his left hand held onto a bracelet on his right arm.

The corpses were disintegrating into dust, which formed into a black cloud and migrated between the levels of the seal, going from circle to circle to draw the energy of death into the center. The blood seal was so powerful that it was starting to catch fire. Finally, all the energy gathered in the center and was swallowed up by the magic symbols on the boy’s body.

∞ ∞ ∞

I’m thrown back into the astral, where I’m greeted by the howl of thousands of souls. A minute later, an enormous island forms, and I am thrown onto it with incredible speed. If it wasn’t for my instantaneous healing and empowered body, I would have died from the impact. My whole mental body senses creatures looking at me. They’re so great, their wrath and scorn burn all the way through me.

“I don’t care what you think! I’m going to do it!”

The only response I get is a barrage of corpses pouring down on me from the sky. They’re shooting at me! I use a large, flat rock as a shield, as catching one on the head might be enough to kill me, though the rock soon starts to crack.

Soon, I realize that it isn’t zombies raining down; it’s demon-possessed bodies. They’re all maxed out on mana, too.

I have to do more than just kill them, I have to burn their bodies. I batter them, break them, set them alight. Every fire arrow turns one of my enemies into ash that will never harm me ever again.

As soon as I finish off the demon-possessed bodies, a river of other beasts pours out of the astral and heads in my direction. I’m hit with magic, arrows, spears, swords, cold, fire, and rocks. I lose track of time. Giving up is not an option.

A lone cliff is the only high point on the island, and thirty-meter leaps take me there. I find myself on the tip, grab my bow, and start shooting. The charge I put into each arrow, however, is so strong that the astral itself starts vibrating and drifting. As I fire down at everyone trying to get to me at the top of the cliff, I dodge large projectiles. The arrows and magic being fired at me bounce off harmlessly.

Finally, the battle breaks in my favor and the enemy starts to retreat. As soon as the island is empty, I go back to feeling the angry glances being cast in my direction.

“You think I’m afraid of you? You think you can kill me just because you want to? I don’t care who you are, and I’m going to get what I want!”

In answer, an unknown power tears the island in half, something like a sword. At the last moment, I catch a glimpse of the blade’s owner, somebody heading right toward me, but then I’m pulled out of the astral. Wait, what? My opponent turns out to be me, only in my demon appearance and with a sword in my hand. The blade flashes, and I’m sure that it’s on par with my bow. I’m flooded with the yearning to take it for myself.

Astral bone sword

A chimerologist wanted to create a sword that would be the personification of himself. It is linked to both the soul and the body of its master, being no less than another of his body parts.

Effect: Lets you create spells and imbue your sword with them. The durability of the sword depends on your stamina level, and the maximum charge is equal to your mana. The speed at which you can empower it depends on your morale.

Requirement: Non-level ability

That isn’t an item; it’s a chimeric skill. So, I was almost killed in the astral with my own sword? I created something beautiful, wonderful, and surpassingly powerful. It had to have been my sword on the island, which means it had to have been me.

∞ ∞ ∞

The boy left the astral seventy-five hours later, having spent almost four days in the capsule. The orphanage cocoons weren’t designed for that, so he was hospitalized as soon as he got out. He then spent two days at the hospital. Eliza, in turn, slept for almost a full day after her seminar.

After this incident, the boy’s punishment was to spend almost six months away from Project Chrysalis. He sent a full report on child rights to the people in charge, however, indicating what the maximum punishment could be. Vaalsie gave him a month on top of that for breaking the rules governing the capsule, but the boy was still over the moon that he was only getting two months.

∞ ∞ ∞

Anji spent those two months well, passing all the exams he had lined up for the next three years of study. One requirement for getting citizenship was a minimum level of education.

∞ ∞ ∞

It’s been fourteen months since I started playing Project Chrysalis, and