This sea of karmic power, in Daniel’s eyes, seemed alive. Like a dense school of fish, the uncountable specks of golden light danced around his body, eager to dive into his skin and finally become one with him. As this power merged into his body, Daniel felt the strength of his influence increase, charging him with the existential power he knew more than anybody else. Yet, as more and more of this power poured into him, he suddenly realized something.
This amount was far too little.
Each sentient creature was capable of producing the existential power Daniel represented. Every conscious action, every mean word or show of kindness.. They all contributed to the karmic score of the individual, accumulating into either a debt, or a credit.
Yet, what Daniel had noticed long ago, was that most of these debts and credits remained unpaid, for karma could not affect them at the moment of their deaths, at which point the tally the deceased left behind would exist as unfulfilled karma, or power for Daniel to use at his own discretion.
What Daniel had realized, however, was that while he was surrounded by a vast amount of karmic power, the sheer quantity was incomparably smaller than that he had obtained from each of the champions of Horror that had died at the hands of Roley.. And there was an obvious reason for that.
The members of Horror’s horde were all cultivators who had lived an infinitely long life. They were powerful entities, each capable of bringing destruction to entire civilizations. A feat they had each repeated several times throughout history.
Due to their nature, the amount of negative karma they had accumulated was incredibly high.. The highest highest of all types of champions. And despite that, even when combined into Daniel’s body, such power was hardly enough for him to resist the infinite strength of a creature like Chaos. In fact, it would have barely been enough to fight Horror, had the encounter taken place in one of the universes in which his power ruled.
Such an immense amount of power had been completely exhausted the moment Daniel had escaped Chaos’ grasp, leaving him a weak cultivator. If not for the surprise caused by the sudden outburst of power, Chaos could have easily exerted more power to keep Daniel trapped. Who knew what would have become of him at that point.
The power Daniel was absorbing now, however, originated from a type of creature that was completely different from the champions of Horror. The hundreds of thousands of piled up corpses belonged to mortals and low level cultivators, who did not have the time to increase their karmic tally before being slaughtered by the domain of Sacrifice.
“If I am to face Sacrifice, Chaos.. Fate.. I am going to need much more power than this.” Daniel said out loud as the last bit of golden entered his body, leaving him unsatisfied and not much stronger than a normal champion of existence. Had he met Horror now, without the karma of hundreds of thousands of his champions at his disposal, he would have been the one to run, and likely die.
The blonde champion of Sacrifice took a step forward. He had heard Daniel’s words, but he could not understand their meaning. “Face lord Sacrifice? What do you mean?” he asked with sheer confusion and a hint of suspicion.
His simple question seemed to bring Daniel back to earth, forcing him to look around at the now grim scenery, where thousands of bodies fused together due to their decomposed state, dripping with sweet smelling liquids that pooled into the disgusting sickly gray layer on which he was standing.
At the sight of all these dead bodies, Daniel could not help but feel upset.
While he did not detest the idea of these people’s karmic power being at his disposal, it also made him rethink the true value of karma. Was the existential essence he represented just some power specific to his use, or was it more? A consequence to people’s actions, and a true moral punishment or reward to their behavior.. That was what he had believed it to be.
Daniel slowly turned towards the thousands of flying red-robed cultivators, and while on each of their bodies he felt more karmic power than all these bodies combined, he could not help but think that killing them, and taking the power for himself, was against his nature.
After a few moments of questioning his existence, Daniel finally made a decision. A verdict that, he believed, the people that all these corpses used to be, would have admonished him for making. But he did not care. Karma existed to enact its purpose, and that purpose was to reward or punish behavior.
While Daniel delved into these thoughts, the blonde cultivator had slowly inched towards him, and now he was at an arm’s length, ready to strike at any given moment. Before he could, however, Daniel’s eyes landed on his, sending a shiver down his spine. “Make the most out of the time you have left.” Daniel said with a sympathetic tone.
Hearing these words, the blonde cultivator stopped doubting. His arm flashed out of existence, and the red blade attached to it swung at Daniel’s neck, easily finding its target. As it sunk into his opponent’s flesh, the blonde young man felt ecstatic. The blade pierced the whole way through, severing Daniel’s arteries in half, and causing copious amounts of blood to pour onto his blade.
Yet, alongside the blood, came a golden light, which only now the champion of Sacrifice had been able to see.
This golden light seemed to ride onto Daniel’s bood, creeping down the sanguine blade to reach the man’s palm, where it came in contact with something he did not even know had been around him all this time.. His own karma.
As Daniel’s power touched the man’s karma, the two began to merge, and he suddenly found himself bound to space, unable to move. “HELP ME!” the blonde man yelled in a state of panic, as the golden aura that surrounded his body started to weigh against him, forming a pressure he was sure he could not fight against.
The tens of thousands of red-robed cultivators immediately sprung to action. They unsheathed their weapons, and spilled the blood their arts required before dashing towards the intruder, yet, before they could go too far, the air that surrounded them started to change.
The atmosphere that only moments ago was not unlike that of any other garden planet, was now extremely viscous, like honey, or molasses.. It gripped at the cultivators’ bodies, weighting on them, and forcing them to slide onto the ground.
Shocked by what they were seeing, the twelve other candidates immediately realized that Daniel was not a foe that they had the right to fight, so they turned to leave, but as they tried to move, they realized that their feet had sunk into the platform’s smooth surface. Some had sunk down to their knees, while the taller among them had sunk down to their shin, yet none of them had understood how.
They could see the stone wrapped around their legs, but they could not feel its cold and hard surface. It was almost as if the stone had morphed under some obscure law of space, preventing them from realizing what was going on before it was too late.
What they were unaware of, unfortunately, was that there was never a moment after setting foot on this planet in which they had been safe. This was the planet Daniel’s system had created for him by using his understanding of natural mana. He could change its shape, expand it to a hundred times the size, or turn it into the size of a rock. Every gust of wind, every grain of sand, every drop of water or drifting cloud.. They were all under his control.
“Who-who are you? Why are you doing this?!” the blonde cultivator asked as the surrounding scenery slowly started to grow in size. His tone was full of panic. He could not understand what the nature of the golden power was, nor to which aspect of existence it belonged. All he knew was that all the existential power of sacrifice he had produced felt like a grain of salt against the mountain that was now pressing onto his body.
Daniel smiled. He found his struggling expression quite amusing. Completely different from the feeling of pure satisfaction he had shown as he took one life after another, completely unaware of the possibility of having to face the consequence of such a choice.
“I am not doing anything. You did this yourself.” he said as the blonde man shrunk to the size of an atom. Then, when the man could not hear him anymore, he added, “Pay your debt.. And earn your freedom back.” The moment he finished speaking, what looked like a normal golden speck of light floated towards him, and dove into his body, starting the near-endless suffering the blonde cultivator would have to endure for the following millions of years.
The same happened to the twelve candidates, as well as the tens of thousands of red-robed cultivators, who had started to feel the same immense pressure land on their bodies before inevitably starting to shrink.. When nothing of them was left but a cluster of microscopic golden lights, they too dashed towards Daniel’s body, forming a golden hurricane with him at its core.
Once alone, Daniel closed his eyes. He could feel an immense amount of karmic power within his body, but also how it was not connected to him. In his eyes, such power was more similar to coal.. Used to heat the room that each of the people he had trapped was stuck in, fueling their sufferings or rewards.
The only power that was within his grasp was the unfulfilled karma that had once belonged to the mountains of corpses. And while it was not much, he still felt grateful to some degree.
Suddenly, a thunderbolt flashed across the sky, and landed directly onto the biggest mountain of corpses, setting it ablaze. Powerful winds followed right after, carrying twigs and dry leaves that were aimed at feeding the flames..
Soon enough, the large fire had turned into an incendio that covered the entire castle, as well as the mountains of corpses that surrounded it.
—–
When the fire finally died out, several hours later, Daniel found himself in the middle of dunes of ash. Yet, his body was completely clean.
“What happened here? Are you done?” Roley asked as he slowly descended from the sky. He had no idea what kind of events had played out on the planet, after all, nothing was left of those who inhabited, for they were either turned to ashes, or trapped into Daniel’s karmic domain.
Daniel nodded.
The moment the two had come upon the cluster of planets, Daniel had made a request. He had asked that Roley stay behind, while he visited his old home alone. A request that Roley had a mind to reject, but that eventually, he chose to indulge.
Daniel did not want Roley to see what type of massacre had happened on his planet. One which he could witness from far away in the distance. He wanted Roley to keep the good memories he had of their old home, and of the planets where his people would soon live. He wanted to, so that he would not refuse what he intended to do next.
“I am.” Daniel said as a gentle breeze lifted the ashes, and carried them across the entire planet. “I am done with this place.” he then added as he slowly turned to look at the black castle that had been purged by the fires he had created.
Confused, Roley asked, “What do you mean?”
Daniel did not respond, and instead, he stretched his arm forward. His fingers curved, and his hand took the shape of a claw, which he used to quietly grab at the empty space in front of him. As his fingers closed, the planet on which the two were standing on suddenly collapsed on itself, shrinking to a size that was just right to fit in Daniel’s hand.
Now the size of a fist, Daniel looked at the planet for a few moments, then handed it over to Roley while saying, “This is your now.”
