XaiJu
Zogarth
Zogarth

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Chapter 1062 - Reluctant Choices

Explosions of destructive arcane energy rocked the entire holy city and destroyed hundreds of structures immediately while forcing the fighters from the Holy Church out in the open, killing a few of the weakest ones in the process.

Dozens of attacks arrived at his location, but Jake was too fast and moved close to the ground as he got away. Flying into the air would only make him more of a target, and while he wasn’t afraid of the attacks launched by the groups of Holy Church elites, they were still capable of harming him if he decided to just take everything head-on.

Moving quickly, Jake soon teleported to appear close to the many light mages still trying to channel the huge ritual in the sky. On his way, eighteen monk-like fighters appeared as they put their hands together in prayer, a magic circle activating behind each of them.

Together, the circles linked and formed a construct of pure light energy wielding a simple halberd and heavy armor, the entire thing not even having a head. This was one of Jake’s first times seeing one of the Holy Church’s proper combination formations – albeit a pretty low-level one as he knew the juicy versions could have way more take part- and he gladly met it in battle.

A barrage of arrows exploded upon the golden construct, and to Jake’s surprise, it held on and even protected the eighteen people within. Still, Jake quickly identified a weakness and loosed another arrow that penetrated into the construct and through the skull of a monk.

The instant she died, the balance of the formation was thrown off, and every member of it threw up blood and fell to the ground unconscious, also showing Jake the massive downsides of using a formation like this.

Others tried to get in Jake’s way, but they were too late as Jake finally disrupted the large ritual in the sky for good. He summoned a barrage of explosive arcane orbs and bombarded the entire area while keeping another large construct of light at bay using his bow.

Even after the ritual in the sky broke apart and faded away, the fervor of the Holy Church fighters didn’t diminish in the slightest. Quite the opposite, they seemed to fight even harder than before, and with their sheer numbers and high ratio of healers and other support types, Jake knew this wouldn’t be a quick endeavor.

They didn’t really have any way to harm Jake either, though. At least nothing that could realistically manage to land. Sure, if he stayed still for a few minutes and allowed them to channel some large ritual, they could definitely do some damage, but what moron would do that?

No, his victory seemed only a matter of time... which made Jake question why Jacob had said he should keep Carmen on standby. The Augur had a solid idea of how strong Jake was, right? But he clearly had his reasons, and Jacob didn’t tend to be the type of person to speak empty words.

Releasing a Pulse, Jake noticed that the elites around the head priest and Jacob had regrouped, Bertram also with them. They were clearly up to something, and from the Pulses Jake released, Jacob and the head priest guy were... arguing?

--

“He will die,” Jacob said with certainty in his voice as he stood opposite the head priest. “I will not throw a young one with a promising future to his own death like that. His Path has only barely begun, and you’re asking me to cut it short before I can give him proper guidance.”

“It’s a monster, nothing more, nothing less. One not tolerated according to the edicts of the Holy Church,” the head priest said in between desperately trying to keep track of how the warriors were doing against the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. Needless to say, they weren’t doing very well.

“A young monster yet to even fully learn who and what it is,” Jacob said in a harsh tone. “If given proper time and guidance, I believe-“

“It doesn’t matter what you believe!” the head priest yelled, not caring much about showing respect to the Augur anymore. “Unleash it. Now.”

“Even if I did agree, unleashing him will cause untold destruction. All our fighters will also be caught in the crossfire even if it proves a success,” Jacob continued, unbothered by the priest’s attitude. “Also, the honored Lodestar Matron ordered us to apprehend the Chosen, not kill him. We both know that he is not someone capable of merely apprehending anything. And, again, this assumes the Malefic One’s Chosen doesn’t merely slay him.”

“It’s your pet, if it dies, who cares? And if it wins, it’s your job to stop it from killing the Chosen,” the head priest shrugged. “Though I don’t feel that the higher-ups would be that upset should the Chosen of the Malefic One meet an unfortunate end.”

“This will only escalate matters,” Jacob sighed.

“Are you done?” the head priest said before finally taking out his trump card. In his hand, a small token flashed into existence as he made eye contact with Jacob. “This is a direct order in accordance with the divine edict bestowed upon me. Release the creature to fight the Chosen of the Malefic Viper. Now.”

Jacob looked at the man only for a single second more before sighing even louder than before. “Whatever happens next is your sole responsibility. One I doubt you will be able to bear.”

The head priest just scoffed as Jacob knelt down and murmured some words as a small ritual circle appeared... and in the middle of it, a small box sat, looking oddly monochrome as if all color had been sucked out of it.

--

Jake didn’t have much time to bother with anyone else as he was busy single-handedly methodically dismantling the entire elite army of the Holy Church. He flew and teleported around from group to group, taking down a few here and there, relying on small hit-and-run attacks.

Was this the most efficient way to go about this situation? No, no not really. But it was a very safe way to do it. Moreover, Jake had yet to truly push himself in any way.

In fact, he hadn’t even touched his boosting skill yet and kept away from using any skills that consumed a lot of resources. As mentioned, Jake didn’t see a way for the Holy Church to harm him in a fight, but that didn’t mean it was impossible for them to ultimately defeat him. They had a lot of healers and other support classes, which resulted in a lot of barriers and skills making Jake’s attacks weaker, and whenever he didn’t kill someone outright, they would quickly be healed back up, only to attack him shortly after.

It was a boring and defensive fighting style, but definitely the best after their grand ritual failed. They knew they couldn’t win through sheer power, so instead, they aimed to tire him out – a true and tested strategy from the many wars of the multiverse. Even someone like Jake would eventually get tired.

What the Holy Church didn’t know was that Jake’s resource pools were not exactly ordinary. One could even go as far as to call them anomalous. This resulted in him having far more leeway, but that wasn’t to say he couldn't eventually get tired out anyway. And it wasn’t just about using resources, as Jake could keep those up with potions or pacing himself for the most part.

Constantly being drained of resources led to a sense of exhaustion not shown on the status sheet. The same was true for mental exhaustion. There were many times Jake had wrung himself dry despite still having plenty of mana and stamina after he had done something incredibly intensive. This exhaustion was also why it didn’t work, keeping the same fighters constantly going during big wars by having them repeatedly topped up in resources by support classes. Eventually, they would need proper rest.

Jake was the same. Given enough time and enough bodies thrown at him, his efficiency would fall, and he would weaken until, eventually, he would barely be able to exert his energies. Of course, such a thing didn’t happen fast, and as long as Jake held back on using boosting skills, he wasn’t pressured for time.

He did have a confession, though. Seeing as this was his first battle after meeting the First Sage and his first time exerting himself after having his soul and Sagacity upgraded, he couldn’t help but indulge a little.

That’s why he used far more magic than usual and moved around far more than he had to. He was refamiliarizing himself with his body and despite it not being explicitly stated, Jake felt his increased energy control as he moved about.

Jake would liken it to having increased his mind-muscle connection - something he remembered a guy at the gym always talking about being super important. It was as if he was more connected to his own body than usual, and he could feel the energy move more smoothly. It wasn’t just limited to his body either. Whenever he exerted control over his immediate area and used mana, he also felt a stronger connection.

Did this make Jake a lot stronger? No, no, it didn’t really have any big effect outside of allowing Jake to summon a couple more mana bolts at once without feeling a mental strain. However, it did make Jake feel as if he had a better understanding of what he was doing, and given enough time, this would definitely lead to gains as he would have an easier time improving.

Even now, he subtly improved some things here and there at the expense of the Holy Church fighters. By now, he had killed a few hundred, but he couldn’t even tell the difference, in fact, it was as if he only experienced more and more pressure the longer time went on.

He also kept a constant look at Jacob’s location, and when he saw him place down a formation, Jake felt a slight tinge of worry from his intuition. This made him change target and shoot a Powershot at his old boss, only to find it blocked by Bertram, who’d slammed his shield down and summoned a large barrier all around the building they had moved to after Jake collapsed the other one.

The adventurer party with the head priest also stayed inside this barrier, with the party putting down some kind of formation for themselves. Jake clearly saw they were up to something, but after a few more attacks on the barrier summoned by Bertram, Jake gave up.

Truthfully, he wasn’t confident he could break the barrier made by the Augur’s Guardian, at least not without going all-out. Bertram was someone focused entirely on defending Jacob, and he certainly had the skills to do so.

Jake wasn’t that upset about it, though... because he kind of wanted to see what they were up to. Besides, he had a lot of other playmates to deal with before whatever the Holy Church was cooking up to face him could manifest.

--

Iludar merely stared at the elf who stood there with his sole method of escape in hand. He was unable to fully comprehend everything that was going on. All he did know was that Kindroth had betrayed him... which didn’t make any sense.

He worked for the Holy Church. Iludar knew he worked for the Holy Church. He had been a double agent, feeding them information during the entire war between the Viper and Yip of Yore. True, he hadn’t given much useful information, and in retrospect, knowing the Viper had wanted the battle to happen, a lot of what he’d given could even be viewed as him helping out the Primordial, but in some areas, he had definitely harmed Earth.

A thought entered Iludar’s head then. Was Kindroth also trying to flee? Did he want to use Iludar’s escape token himself? Even if he did so, wouldn’t he just be waiting for the Holy Church to one day hunt him down for his betrayal? Even if he didn’t flee, he had betrayed the Church now.

There was simply no way the meeting between the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and the Holy Church would end with a peaceful resolution. Iludar didn’t believe that for even a second. That being the case, the bad blood between the Church and Haven would be extreme afterward.

Kindroth would have nowhere to turn. As an agent of the Church, he would be hunted down by the forces of the Malefic One’s Chosen, and having seemingly betrayed the Church now... he had nowhere left to turn.

Yet, despite Iludar feeling so certain about his thoughts, Kindroth didn’t seem bothered. Instead, he focused powerful light energy in his hand, making the escape token break apart without activating, resulting in neither of them having any way to escape.

The world seemed to almost stand still for Iludar as he considered his choices. All around him, his elite fighters were putting up a valiant struggle, and they were not getting entirely crushed yet, but he knew they didn’t stand a chance. The metal mage Iludar only had sparse information on was going on an absolute rampage, the True Royal and her army were an unstoppable force, and the witch evidently was far from as suppressed as they’d hoped. All of this not mentioning the army of elite fighters the Chosen of the Boundless Hydra had brought along.

Iludar could fight... but he knew it was meaningless. So, he did the one thing he believed he could do in this situation.

“Disengage from combat, gather at my location... and surrender,” he spoke through the psychic link he’d established with every single fighter. At the same time, he threw down his staff and raised his hands as he yelled:

“We surrender!” his voice echoed throughout the valley. He was full of regret, but there truly was no other choice. “We surrender unconditionally! Everyone, lay down your arms!”

This was his final hope, and all his loyal followers dutifully followed his command. To his relief, the attackers also stopped when their opponents surrendered and disengaged from combat. He knew many of his soldiers likely had doubts even as they threw down their weapons, but they did so nevertheless.

King Iludar knew when he had lost. He had gambled on the wrong Chosen and the wrong Primordial faction. His own failure in leadership had led to this situation, and while he could blame the evident mental manipulation of Ell’Hakan for having led him down this path, Iludar respected himself enough to take responsibility.

As the fighting stopped, he floated down to the ground and sat down on his knees, hands placed on his lap. The entire battlefield had become eerily silent incredibly quickly as Iludar bowed forward and placed his head on the ground in a bow toward the person he’d come there that day to kill. He knew he was being audacious, but he still spoke.

“I plead with you... please show mercy upon those foolish enough to have followed this sorry excuse for a leader.”

Comments

Tftc

Dave

I am curious how Miranda will handle the surrender. She is a lot more ruthless then when she started and the True Royal we all know would kill them or worse. The order would probably normally enslave them, but jake likely wouldnt allow that. I cant see them letting them go not when they attacked earth instead of just fighting for their own planet.

Greg Alverson

Who would have thought the augur is behind the desolate child? Tyftc.

Trumangolorian

There was a hint at the end of the chapter in which the FK self sacrificed to imply some part of him still existed

Xien

Jake vs Desolate Child of Loss round 2!

Greedsmith

Why does everyone think DC and FK even fused there is no reason to suspect that and I don’t think Jacob knows their connection otherwise he’d knew how majorly he fucks his own faction with this or maybe that’s the plan

Phil Ritter

Tyftc

Chloe

I was correct. It came back with the fallen king fragment.

Crjourdan

Kindroth is smart enough to know Miranda wants to root out the dregs of EH's army and how to make it happen. Her being prepared is a given as a witch, Kindroth understanding that fact setup this triple cross without needing to communicate much if at all with Miranda on the topic. Ty4c Zogarth!

Roy

Called that shit

Kyler

Soooo was I right or was I right? 🤣

Xien

Yeah his choices seem conflicting. Maybe he only wants to play the "good leader," Now that he has ran out of options. This is his best bet. Don't respect King Iludar, there is nothing to respect about him.

Blaq Jesus

Quotes like that lead me to believe that Jake is essentially a self insert for Zog lol. Copy pasted personality. Respect.

Blaq Jesus

It makes the story unique at the very least I guess.

Blaq Jesus

Yes and no, but i don't think he has much of a backlog if any and has simply been writing on the fly. But, that being said, he has stated repeatedly that "there is no set schedule."

Blaq Jesus

It wouldn't be the first time Jake deviated from his own thoughts. I do agree with you, however, let's just wait and see.

Blaq Jesus

I don't see why you didn't tbh, but I can't wait to see the clash.

Blaq Jesus

You are wrong on this one. It was stated that the mask has lost its connection to the FK as the lines in the description talking about his soul resting inside disappered after his death. Also it would be pretty stupid if the mask lost its effect if the FK died.

Martino Zanchi

My man I believe that if you think about just a bit more you can understand that Kindroth was in on this with Miranda. Do you think Miranda goes around with an army in her pocket every day?

Martino Zanchi

Who reckons they’ll kill off iludar but either just exile or apprehended the soldiers?

Asher Mack

There are a couple things here. The DC killed FK in jake’s mind from the other chapters and at the same time jacob said it would only get bad if someone jake knew died? or something like that. So did jacob only get the DC after that battle or before. If after who was controlling it before? Next kindroth should be in trouble since he led everyone there to be ambushed and only attacked llundar after they started to lose.

James Evans

Personally I remember a few chapters after the FKs noble sacrifice, it was alluded to that he may have merged or taken over the desolate child’s true soul. Just my opinion

Swan

👀 who is this? Where’s the real iludar? Further is Jacob trying to hook Jake up with a new bestie? Could it be whatever amalgamation of the fallen king and the plague thingy? Jacob is dismantling the holy church? What gives dammit! 😂

Xien

I actually like Iludar

KollegvomMirgan

Jacob’s personal safety isn’t the issue with the desolate child. He feels confident that within a few months, he can get it to find a productive path. That means that he believes it can be turned away from trying to destroy worlds. Thus, since it can be subdued and helped in such a short time, it is not an unnecessary danger.

Luke Scheffe

When the desolate child was retrieved, it was just an aura clinging to a shard of the fallen king’s finger.

Luke Scheffe

TFTC!!!!

Jose Reyna

Yes Jake sealed it within scales in his soulspace after upgrading scales.

brjenness

I believe Jacob follows the Primordial but not her church. I bet if Villy killed the Loadstone Matron for this, there would be either crickets or a “LM effed around and found out, we were unaware until it was too late and matters have now been settled” statement.

Lynderyn

IIRC: the next scheduled post is always when Zog feels like posting. There was a nice long author’s note whose TLDR boiled down to if you want to complain, I don’t need your money, here’s the door, and don’t let it hit you on the way out

Lynderyn

DC is a false god, and people like Carmen hard counter false gods. I doubt a false god would go after an Augar of Hope, which is why Jacob was not worried.

Lynderyn

I really hope that the Desolate King rises and targets the Church

Andrew P

I thought the gains from the core of desolation were sealed in the stomach realm due to Jake Juice empowering Villy’s records.

Lynderyn

I believe the defeated and probably not entirely dead has people assuming they will be tied together.

Lynderyn

The only things I remember about the desolate child are it was defeated but not killed and it is a false god. FK may or may not be dead as he was defeated again, but I believe FK’s true soul is contained by Jake’s mask, hence it showing when FK has/had soul damage. FK was defeated but Jake has not complained about the mask sucking so I believe FK as we know it is just a clone/avatar that may or may not be returning.

Lynderyn

Im forgetting—Where did we learn that the Desolate Child and the FK are related?

Drew G

That was mostly guaranteed after EllHaken was killed.

Comeback Kid

Fixed some stuff.

Zogarth

So that’s why Carmen is needed. The Desolate FK will be handled be her as Jake takes out the rest of the branch of the church to purge the wicked. Kudos! Did not see that coming!

PrimalFan

or maybe the first sage is and has always been an almamation of all records.. a library if you will

brjenness

rem...Jake's scales are made of desolation and absorb desolation and convert it to mana.

brjenness

That is actually a really good idea with the falling king being a master in soul magic his ability to manipulate the soul of the desolate child to actually take over his body which would ultimately separate him from jake like he wanted

derrin davis davis

Or the one who hard counters the desolate child and thus subdue it easily.

Luke Scheffe

I think we get the latest in his stock, so if he can't write that day, there's nothing to publish. Peeps on royalroad don't get a chapter either and they are way behind us.

meh

And yet Jacob told Jake to make sure and bring Carmen, the one hard counter to the desolate child and the one who could easily kill it permanently. Clearly he doesn’t share your confidence.

Josh

I can see that Steven. We'll see how it plays out tomorrow.

TyranT-Rex

He only took positive steps for them after he lost his personal escape route. As a leader, having that at all makes him a total piece of crap. Doing something halfway decent after having his selfish options taken away is not a very significant credential. He’s better than the turd you accidentally trod on, but he’s not much better than the mat you wipe it off on.

Arieh Sochaczevski

Broken, and slowed, but not stopped. It’s been quite a while now, and this is one of those diminishing returns situations. He gets the most right up front, and more details and nuance slowly after that. He should have a solid - if basic- understanding of desolation that he didn’t have before. As for Carmen, she’s a counter to false gods, but I’d what’s left of the Desolate Child still a false god? Even if so, I think the interaction between her and Jake after he handles it without her will be hilarious.

Arieh Sochaczevski

I wish these gods had the balls to clean their own houses instead of manipulating others to do their dirty work

John Durrett

Jacob’s opinion isn’t what’s relevant here. Jake’s is. You argue that it’s a danger. Jacob doesn’t believe it is. As such, I can say with confidence that Jake doesn’t either because he’s just as knowledgeable. Past actions clearly do not weigh into Jake’s opinions, and the fallen king isn’t resurrected no more dead than the desolate child. Both had all but their true souls destroyed, so they are already even.

Luke Scheffe

Jacob’s opinion is irrelevant. That thing ate more than a dozen planets and killed the Fallen King. It would be a massive deviation in character for Jake to leave it alive.

Josh

Wait, if the Desolate Child is killed, doesn't that guarantee Jake becomes the administrator for the Throne of the Exalted Prima?

Dim

Which now has me thinking... Desolation of the Soul.... Good Lord.... If that little piece of the Fallen King absorbed those records and is incorporated into the FK's revival....

Gingerlochs

Man... When the Augur tells you: you done fucked up .. The audacity of that priest - pulling rank to make Jacob obey.... If any part of the Fallen King is in that bebeh, that priest is gonna find his soul fried xD

Gingerlochs

It was pretty clearly stated there's a massive internal divide within the Holy Church pantheon, largely because the Holy Mother became a bit more hands off, leading to other higher ups like the Lodestar pushing their own agenda. It's been hinted that Jacob is supposed to the start of her attempt to right the ship from the bottom up and clean up the church to a certain extent. And every God wants an augur. When Jacob got the class originally he was FLOODED with offers, he could go anywhere, but he believes the faction with the most people is where he's needed most

Okra Died

Sweet!

Michael Ferguson

It wasn't an attempt at flaming or w/e. Thought Zogarth might not be aware. That was all.

Ray Light

Meh, it's just a day, not a month so just relax lol

Mohammed Sheekh

Hoping his desolation resistance is high enough to withstand the child and when he recognizes it's the fallen kings soul he can absorb or store it back in the mask some how

Booz Dowg

Basically I’m taking your idea that his bloodline can read records, then expanding it further. His bloodline isn’t only reading records, but remembering them eternally as well - thus this idea of storage. Then the beginning of the mini FS arc came to mind, with those questions of forgotten records. Then I remembered the FS is dead but still live on through his skills and his records. And it’s the system that’s managing skills and records. So why not keep track of all records through the eternal mind. That would explain some hows on whys being asked during FS’s and Jake’s meeting. Maybe it’s clearer put that way. Tbh it’s quite late where i am and I have had a long day, plus my idea isn’t quite fully formed even in my head.

Lizy Flore

I also got the impression villy was referring more to the false deity thing when he said runemaidens were a hard counter. But it wouldn't surprise me if she hard counters the desolation too in this particular instance. Carmen's body is imbued with the blood of Valdemar. I don't think that's something a C-grade concept of desolation can effectively combat. It's one thing to damage her physically, but trying to attack her existence on a conceptual level like desolation does is like bypassing Carmen to square up with Valdemar instead.

Fyre

I don't fully understand your idea, but from what I am picking up it's really interesting.

Grond (James)

yeah. but he also told them to escape.

brjenness

It makes me think of something… at the beginning of this mini arc, those questions « what really were records » and « what happened to records that were forgotten » were brought up. Your theory is giving me this crazy theory. There are been a lot of thought on what « eternal mind » really means as a bloodline. It had been theorised that the eternal mind allows his mind to remain eternal, even after his death, and that would explain the fact that he knows things he shouldn’t. But then you have Villy who sees him as a system humanoid. What if… and I’m gonna do a mix of your theory and what I said above… what if the system is using his « eternal mind » to store records ? If his mind is eternal then no matter what happens to it, it will remain. And bloodline are known to be recycled by the system, which means it had had an access to it at some point, which would explain the very different bloodline Villy got that what the fandom had deduced. And we know he absolutely transcended the concept of transcendence skills, and after him transcendences were heavily limited. And, also, the system made his skills (meditate and identify) into system-granted skills, which means it already integrated some of his… stuff. Why not his bloodline too ? That would explain why the memory lane was a place created by Jake and allowed by the system, and not something the FS did. If his « eternal mind » is used by the system to store records, then « he » can not really control it, only witnessed the records stored. And if "he" is part of those records, then it creates something that shouldn’t be possible… a meeting between someone dead that cannot forget and someone who -somehow- reached out to that person. If that’s true, then it makes that meeting really sad, cause the system really « re-created » him just for Jake at a specific level that will allow them to meet. It also means that the birth place of the FS are not stored in his mind… so the « first sage »’s eternal mind that is used by the system no longer remembers it. Idk if I explained that correctly but simply put, I think the system can be using his « eternal mind » or something similar or maybe a copy to store records. Which really makes him a Librarian of Records and/or some kind of system developers. Anyway, what a badass character.

Lizy Flore

And Jacob specifically believes that the desolate child isn’t an existential threat, ergo it isn’t. So, again, why would it need to die?

Luke Scheffe

Thanks for the chapter.

Joshua Little

Didn’t it combine with a remnant of the fallen king?

Crjourdan

oh sure... be nice to the guy who purposely rewrites the story so that my predictions never come true making me look like a fool.

brjenness

Yeah no. The Desolate Child is a living calamity; Jake can be pretty dense about what constitutes an existential threat to the galaxy and what doesn't, but he's not going to allow it to live. Also, it's been heavily implied that Carmen is a hard counter for desolation as a Runemaiden, and unless Jake straight-up ignored Jacob's advice (which again, Jake is dumb, but not THAT dumb) she's on standby and will get called in when the Desolate Child shows up.

Alex

Zog doesn't have a set schedule. He releases them when he can. Let the dude have a day off.

Jake Johnson

TFTC :) Sad I still didnt get to see Lillian fight but looking forward to the FDKoL v Jake rematch :) Suggested Edits: "he is not *someone* capable of merely apprehending someone" repeated someones perhaps "a being" instead? "Jacob looked at the man only for a single *more second* before sighing" should be "second more" "didn’t work *just* to keep the same fighters *constantly* going during big wars by just having them constantly topped up in resources by support classes." repeated justs and constantlys suggest removing the first of each. "and he could feel the energy move *smoother*" should be more smoothly

Xander

Lol or just have Umbra do it.

Ty Cooper

If she wanted the Loadstar Matron gone, the Holy Mother wouldn't need help from Jake or Jacob unless she's too squeamish to be her own janitor with all that entails. It's her church and she's a primordial.

SunStar

I think the only reason Jacob can even stand in opposition is because of the influence of Jake and being in his proximity. That is the only reason he can look at what the gods are doing judgingly.

Ty Cooper

Hey I am just happy he is one of the only authors I follow that still tries to post five a week. If he misses some here and there it's ok. I still on average get two more chapters a week more than the others.

Ty Cooper

I’m predicting that the Desolate Child is defeated, but not killed, and the, as part of the agreement between the order and the holy church, Jake and Jacob have joint custody of it, making it Jake’s second adopted child. The fallen king isn’t resurrected just yet, but this eventually leads to it somehow.

Luke Scheffe

I kinda think the Holy Mother backs Jacob's thinking. Do notice how the head priest pulled out a token that made his orders be followed or you were going against the church. Kinda signify Jacob is in another camp but is trumped by a higher priest than himself. Jacob lost earth and is now a follower not a leader. I think they took that from him but he is still a guide and and respect him as a auger only. The high priest was even hating on Jacob for following his path but not happy he is being a guide to all and not just holy church members or prospective members.

Ty Cooper

A day of travel also means a day without writing. No, he can’t post.

Luke Scheffe

Thanks for the Chapter enjoy your trip!

Tristan

Dude be nice to Zog he's allowed to not post and he was nice enough to give us a heads up

Tristan

I dunno, he was planning to escape and leave his army to die as a "necessary sacrifice" up until Kindroth took the escape token from him.

Vinstro

I don't think it's desolation that she hard counters I am pretty sure it's false God's she hard counters witch is what the desolate child is

zukerburg

The Holy Church is broad enough to be divided against themselves. It is fundamentally his Path to guide them, even against their stated interests.

Phallusar

About the author note: Posts can be prepared and planned, similar to Instagram posts. So there is no reason not to post according to schedule?

Ray Light

Good theory, it aligns nicely

Vega

Jacob & Bertram clearly don’t condone how the Holy Mother does things, but can’t jump ship. It’s a shame that the Vilas couldn’t use an Augur in his faction, or can he? Augurs are said to be in demand by gods, but faith-based factions so far seem rare. No matter the fact that gods in general seem to be worshiped, few gods seem to utilise faith as a source of power. Are Augurs only in demand by factions empowered by faith? On another note, hoping Jake could turn the Child of Desolation into an ally. Frankly, my only regret about this chapter is that Jake will barely get any exp from this fun little massacre.

Vega

What if it's the Fallen King fragment and Jake uses his understand of desolation from his Palette and the mask to make Desolation King.

Alex Lane

I think I recall that the warriors from Valhalla, especially the Rune Maidens, are very good counters to desolation damage.

Baged

Thanks for the chap! Not sure what this means, thinking it's a typo: "he knew the juicy versions could have way more take part" Edit - the next sentence helped clear it up, meaning more people could take part... Makes sense now

Steve

Villy casually told him to just have the ruinmaiden fight it and it will be fine. I have a feeling villy has tried to destroy a ruinmaiden before and has a funny story about it. I have a feeling Carmen will get powered up by desolate child and go nuts.

Ty Cooper

True but i cant imagine hed take it well either way considering his record with dealing with things of that nature

LongMickeyRicky

Precisely my thoughts

Grond (James)

If his bloodline was to actually read records that would fit with all he's done and why his bloodline gave perfect memory

Bob of Doom

You know I got to admit I didn’t really like Iludar before this but dame you have to respect him after something like that didn’t for a second try and save his own life just went straight for saving his people of course this could all be a plan to eventually incite a revolution or something so who knows

Phoenixdrop

I don't think he's going to even fight the desolate child much That's why Bertram told him to have Carmen waiting is backup

Rob Lyon

This is why Bertram told him to have Carmen waiting in the remix she's a direct counter to the desolate child

Rob Lyon

Maybe or maybe the king is dead and just his true soul is within the mask and he gets resurrected later and if Jake can figure out how to resurrect something with the true soul then he can maybe resurrect The vipers family

Rob Lyon

Even if she loves the fighters live I think she'll kill the king because he was the ring leader and one who's started this entire idea

Rob Lyon

Decimal child is the entire reason of Bertram told Jake to have Carmen waiting as backup

Rob Lyon

No after the king died the mask updated a little bit and said that the true soul of the king lies with him so the true soul has not went back to the system yet but I don't think that's going to have anything to do with what's going on now releasing the desolate child is why Bertram told Jake to have Carmen waiting in the wings she's a direct counter to the desolate child. I think the king will get resurrected by jake later using his true soul. I also think that that will help The viper be able to resurrect his family once Jake works out The kinks

Rob Lyon

I think this is all a setup by the holy mother to clean house and get rid of a problematic faction

Rob Lyon

The desolate child coming back is why Bertram told Jake to have Carmen waiting in the wings she's a direct counter to it. I think this is all a plan at the holy mother's to clean house and take care of a problematic faction in her church

Rob Lyon

I was thinking about the First Sage, and what makes him so different. What if he had a deep understanding and ability to manipulate Records? We have seen how people have blood lines able to manipulate almost everything unless so why not this? You did say his bloodline was slightly different than the one the Viper got. It would also explain how he had such in-depth understanding as to create both the Meditate and Identify skills. Edit: As someone pointed out below, if he could read records that he would have perfect memory because he would know his own records. He would understand how everything works, so he would also understand how to push the boundaries. Hence his perfect recall

Grond (James)

I also think this is the holy mother's way of cleaning house and getting rid of a problematic faction

Rob Lyon

I think it more the lodestar matron then the whole church. I honestly think this is the holy mother's way of cleaning house and taking care of a problem faction she wants gone

Rob Lyon

I thought it was Kindroth that created the desolate child. Having it be Jacob was a surprise to me.

Tim Campbell

I honestly think that it's all according to the holy mother's plan I think she's cleaning house and getting rid of a faction of upstarts that could cause a problem for her and the church down the line

Rob Lyon

Good thought. No question that between him and Carmen he'll be fine, but it'll be intesting to see if he brings Carmen in on the fight.

Tim Campbell

Last we knew Jacob had only 1 revive left I thought?

Little Silly

I'm pretty sure this is all to the holy mother's plan as a way to clean out a upstart faction from her church

Rob Lyon

Yep

John Durrett

Yeah that's why Bertram told Jake to have Carmen waiting in the wings because she is basically a direct counter to the desolate child

Rob Lyon

wonder if he’s got s grasp on the concept yet.

Tony Breckenridge

Jake is still absorbing that desolation corrupted plantet core in palate?

Tony Breckenridge

That's why I Bertram told him to have Carmen ready she's basically a direct counter to the desolent child so they're going to do a ritual The child's going to pop up Jake's going to send Arnold a message Carmen's going to beam in and whoop its ass wow Jake takes care of the rest of the Holy church. I also think that Jake will have to kill Jacob and Bertram to sell the ruse to the lodestar matrons faction But that's fine because if I'm not mistaken Jacob still has two revivals in the bag and as long as Jacob's alive Bertram can revive. I'm pretty sure this entire thing is just the holy mother cleaning out a faction of upstarts in her church

Rob Lyon

Yes and no. Wtf does he even have the thing as a pet project???

John Durrett

Personally I think Jacob is working with orders from the holy mother to get rid of the loneStar matrians faction . And if the holy mother has Jake do the dirty work and clean house she doesn't have to get her hands dirty and can play it off as the lodestar matrons own fault

Rob Lyon

Honestly I think Jacob is working with orders from the holy Mother to clean up a fringe faction of the church. I think she wants the loadstar matron and all of her followers gone. They are close to breaking the bloodline accords. Plus I don't think the holy mother truly wants EH'S blood line in the church. Yes there are a group of religious fanatics but with that bloodline the lone Star matron could make a move against the higher ups in the church maybe even the holy mother.

Rob Lyon

Rings a lot of bells here on this earth. ;)

John Durrett

He created the desolate child

John Durrett

Yes, thank you for the chappy Zogarth!

JJB4345_80_815

Yay the desolate child will finally be put down for what he did to the fallen King

Matt Spratte

Desolate child not king the Fallen King is suffering major soul damage inside the mask.

William WIlson

No desolate child currently. Jake and villy may use the loot from him as materials to bring back the Fallen King.

William WIlson

No the true soul always resided in Jake's mask and can be felt it's just super weak. However I think the loot from the desolate child will be used in resurrecting the king

William WIlson

I think we will see the King again, with a new name. If he also has desolation powers that would be awesome. Jake will need strong forces to defend his territory when he is busy.

KenTX325

What!? Jacob is trying to save the desolate child? I don't know if he was the one to get it from the world after it killed the king but was given it, maybe. Or maybe it was Jacob's fault that it came about. Tried to cure the child of EH's influence, but in doing so messed the desolate child up well to becoming the desolate child. I believe Bert wanted Carmen to defeat it and Jacob is just acting it up so Carmen cleans up one mess while Jake cleans up the EH soul issue. Maybe this is Jacob's way of fixing all his problems/mistakes using Jake as a cleaning crew. The Holy Church is definitely getting kicked out of the milky way galaxy.

Ty Cooper

Jacob realizes this lol. His hands are tied by this Lodestar faction of the Holy Church.

Palmer Evans

Don't forget palate is broken right now, so hes not receiving much info if any at all because of how slowed the pace is now

Tirae

Yea, yea for sure this time... *laughs in unique life form*

Boomer

The holy church seems to have a lot of conflicting internal factions, and I think the issue is that Jacob isn't in the chain of command of the faction causing the problems. Hence sabotaging the church indirectly. We already know Carmen hard counters desolation kid, and Jacob straight up told him ahead of time to have her on standby.

Sébastien Kingsbury

Brokenish it does what is does really slowly and on the one thing "forever" but I think Jake's sneaky snack will fix that right up when the event is over and villy can help him eat it.

Boomer

Yeah that's what I was thinking too

Justus Saucedo

No I don’t think so.

Allen Hartman

Don't let Carmen distract you from the fact that in 1998, The Undertaker threw Mankind off Hell in a Cell, and plummeted 16 ft through an announcer's table.

Swaggernaut77

First the brainwashing bloodline and now the child of desolation that ate at least 12 planets…Jake needs to wipe out the Holy Church in the Milky Way completely. And Jacob needs to wake up and pull his head out of his ass. He’s not working for the good guys here.

Josh

Enjoy your trip!

Naotsugu97

…man, great chapter, if it wasn’t for the chance to remind us and Jake how Jake’s bloodline can take over emotionally due to instincts, I- wait…maybe my idea is still what will happen…extremely unlikely, but interesting. Jake and the Child will have big instinctual hate boners exacerbated by killing each other’s important friends. If SS was here I would expect him to point out where Ell’Hakan is to let the DC help Cheeto ‘ascend’ (aka become desolate = death). But hey, maybe Jake leaves fugue and tries trickery if he can calm down…and DC doesn’t copy the Fallen King’s form too much.

Little Silly

Oooo, the church is gonna be in trouble, and the child is going ti be wasted, that was why they said Carmen, muahahah can't wait to see the head priest's reaction

Shadowessence

Perfect counter or only viable counter?

Joseba LM

Yep - Villy had mentioned that she hard counters him !!

Ali Asgar Amin

Can't really see that much trading happening with the church after Jake's done doing his thing...

D3monEmper0r

it’s the desolate child watch

Hussein Zenki

Daaaamn. Unexpected honourable surrender from King Iludar. Indentured servitude with a timer? Let him work for the betterment of Earth and to pay for his crimes? Or execute Also, when the text said the box was a curious monochrome - child of desolation. I’m sad because it’s a child, and now being forced into another conflict before it can grow. Before it could make rational decisions to potentially become its own person (and not be tied to the church). That head priest better get a double serving of death and dismemberment! What a c**t TFTC

Tom C

thanks Zogarth.

Rewdan

Yeah I really enjoyed Augur basically saying "Just don't complain later!"

Adurna

I think they’re actually a pretty fantastic example of a multiversal faction. They have existed for such a long time that they have become a complete society filled with preconcocted beliefs that were all made to benefit those at the top. They established what is good or evil, with that determination purely depending on if it benefits them or not. It is such a simple but genius thing that honestly makes total sense, especially in light of what we’ve learnt recently on how easily inflicted people can be persuaded to act by charismatic leaders.

Enzo Elacqua

I don’t think he is politically involved enough with what is going on in his faction to know.

alejandro jimenez

Isn't palate still broken?

Sarianne Roodenburg

saves them all leaving the king's fate up to Jake who let's him live

brjenness

I imagine it’s more of a merging of the FK and Desolate child of loss making it into a new being entirely

kinglemur

Is it? I thought the true sole was gone. (Or with the system now) I thought that the almost unkillable healer guy with the life sensing bloodline said that the fallen king died for sure this time.

alejandro jimenez

I'm of the opinion Jake already knows

brjenness

Palate is broken af and it stated he’d only absorb a trickle so…no I don’t think Jake will do any better. And apparently Carmen is a perfect counter to Desolation or false gods so I’m looking forward to that.

ABTelford

Nah it might be more of an upgrade if Jake uses origin energy

doctordirt

Great chapter! Two great fights, and I can’t wait see what the desolate child of loss has become.

ABTelford

It's the Desolate god thing.

Daniel Brian

Really dislike the Holy Church. They seem determined to play with and perpetuate evil things, justifying it as "good" because it benefits them.

Drew

You’re taking my birthday off! That’s pretty neat

Borbino the great

Holy Church: We can definitely be trusted to use the planetary brainwashing bloodline morally Also Holy Church: Lol he doesn't know I'm hiding a desolation natural calamity behind my back

Gareth Morgan

Turn them all into record snacks

Gareth Morgan

I don't know if someone mentioned it yet, but these two events told together are mirrored to each other. We have Jake invading an enemy planet, openly confronting their leaders. While Iludar is trying to sneak in and setting up a trap to kill the leader. We have the inside man Kindroth "helping" the invaders who is loyal to the defenders, while Jakob is actually helping the invader. And when the result is known one side surrenders trying to save as many lives as possible, while the other triple downs having no regard to sacrifice evrything. That's why I think Iludar will actually survive this (he just wanted to have a future for his faction), while Jake kills the Holy Church people.

Endern

I am hoping the fallen king is back in some form and chooses to side with Jake, and also upgrading his mask in the process! The holy church would not see that coming and it would be funny af

Crjourdan

*glass shatters, music starts to play*

joe schmoe

But the true soul of the fallen king is still on Jake’s face

Lynderyn

I’m expecting Jake has learned a thing or two about desolation as a concept by now.

Arieh Sochaczevski

There are contracts that can be agreed to that are not slave contracts. If they’re system enforced they don’t need to demand permanent obedience at the pain of death. A temporary period of full servitude (forced labor or some such) as punishment followed by a permanent expulsion from the 93rd and agreement to take no action that will knowingly harm any of the factions involved.

Arieh Sochaczevski

Thanks for the chapter! If Jacob is bringing out the Desolate Child, I wonder if he’ll even need to call Carmen. He’s had that piece of a world core in Palate for quite a while. He should have learned quite a lot about desolation by now. I also wonder if this will turn out to be a step in resuming the King. I hope so.

Arieh Sochaczevski

It has been specifically mentioned that it is because she is a rune maiden. That she is one of the few people in their grade that can kill it for good. There is something special about their path for killing false gods.

Mike

Just to remind Y'all, Carmen is waiting in the wings with a steel chair, specifically for this occurrence.

Signspace

When the guy who's entire Path revolves around seeing the future tells you it's a bad idea, it's a REALLY bad idea.

Ritsu

DOOMFOOT MAKES HIS RETURN!!

Jo

Kinda cool that he surrendered rather than doing the boring “I will fight to the very end” stereotype. I am very interested in what happens next. Also imagine how pissed Jake is gonna be once he hears about the attack on his planet. Oooooo the next few chapters are gonna be juicy, my friend.

Jo

I have a theory. The Desolate Child of Loss is now mixed with the Fallen King. So Something like the Fallen King of Desolation is all that’s left. Well when Jake eventually fights it. He manages to break through to the records that make it and stabilize its existence. As for what happens after that not sure I’ll make this edit to clarify some things. Thank you for reminding me that the FK soul is in fact still on Jake’s face. That is a true fact. But you also have to remember the FK is a unique life form. And his ability to have his soul on Jake’s face and have a body is well unique. What I’m getting at is that the Fk is dead he died fighting the DCL. But their records mingled and that has been nurtured for this new being. Will Jake’s soul mask do something to help this process. Who knows. Again this is just a theory

Mateo Lopez

Jacob calling it a child points against that one. I also would hate for the FK to get a zombie comeback

Karim Saadi

Lmfao, My thoughts exactly.

Jo

Tftc

Matthias

I mean yeah but half of that creature was soul tied to Jake for a Long fucking time. So what says it doesn't keep all the power and feels the splintered remains of what was once a soul bond.

Daniel is ŁØNE

To feed the lagoon.

NovaZero

how much is his position because of el's powers.

brjenness

Time for Carmen to put the Desolate Child over her knee and give it a good spanking.

Sayjinlord

Yeah I could totally see him being either traded back to the church, or be a military leader since I don't think haven actually has one yet.

HardcoreLace756

any possibility we are about to see the desolate king (formerly fallen king) and he senses his connection to jake?

brjenness

Fix

Zogarth

banishment?

brjenness

I don’t think it will, remember it had a visceral hatred for our MC? So I doubt it. It could destroy the planet though.

mitchell kaiser

TFTC

Sailesh Kumar Kumar

Yeah this will just give Jake more reason to point to regarding El....if they bring back one they can bring back another

AA

Arthur, I think?

David Sanders

As they don’t keep slaves will they all be executed? Surrender does not absolve what they have done.

Xarow

Or it just switches sides. That would slap the priest in the face.

Xarow

Menace to Society

Burkes

Jacobs dad? I forget his name.

RadiantSpren

Judging how the settlement started, they'll spare the followers. But the king has to die if they managed to kill anyone from haven if no one died, their is wiggleroom, Jake has given up revenge before for political gain if Miranda asks him too. But I feel this is Miranda's time to give the thumbs down, Ceaser style. 👎

Steven Myer

Tftc

Beemoss

Uff, if they thought Jake was unreasonable before they gonna shit their pants now. Stop bringing back foes he already defeated!

Karim Saadi

No, it's The Desolate Child vs The Rune Maiden. I can't remember who said it (probably Villy) but they said Carmen would have handled the desolate child easily

Stuart Thwaites

Carmen's Runemaiden skills that give her the impervious skin is one of the only things at their level that is supposedly a counter to desolation magic. If you recall Jake's vision of Valdemar and the Viper fighting, and since the Viper was a desolation expert but Valdemar was still able to shrug it off. The idea here is that Carmen does the same.

Adam

TFTC. Nice to see Iludar has the ability to admit when he’s lost and face it.

Loststar7

Well she is a witch so she could probably use them some how.

Posiden 300

Um I don’t like the implications of the Jacob having something relevant to the fallen kings aftermath with the desolate child… As Villy would, “What did they do now?”

Justin Moen

That coupled maybe with jake being informed of the attack on earth should lead to a bloodline fueled rage

LongMickeyRicky

Here comes the desolate king of loss

Rimantas Podlinevas

Great chapter - thnx Small typo: but that wasn’t to say he couldnøt eventually get tired out anyway.

Iza Wozniak

Baged

Jake going up against desolation again? Feels like time for a break through

Lawrence Dillon

I hope we see a primal bloodline go absolutely berserk seeing the same creature that killed the king. Havent really seen Jake confronting someone who killed one of his friends since the tutorial and it was a fucking slaughter

LongMickeyRicky

Desolate child Vs runemaiden (1)

Gwiddion

Is Jacob pulling out a child of loss?

BuckleYoPants

I Can’t wait for the Desolate creature to be punched to death 🤞

mitchell kaiser

man, you know, now that I think about it. the first sage kinda reminds me of trismugustus. considering the guy invented alchemy, was that intentional?

deus vault

I bet its the desolation child coming back for a round 2

Mohammed Sheekh

So Carmen will kill the desolate being, though I don't think it's been explained why she is a natural counter to it. I know it was mentioned a few times that she could counter that false god. I think Miranda will execute Illudar and forget to ever mention it to Jake unless he asks. Pretty sure Kindroth was her agent all along. So much fun in this chapter! tyftc

Darshar Griffonmane

Thats what i thought. Now that he surrendered, i’m sitting here like “well now you just made it weird, mate”

Burkes

Spares them all

TyranT-Rex

So now it’s going to be the “The Desolate child vs Primal Hunter (1)”

Ali Asgar Amin

is that REAL fucking leadership in what is essentially a seasonal antagonist??

Kevin Watson

Spares the followers

TyranT-Rex

Iludar doesn’t strike me as a bad person, just bad at gambling. I could see miranda giving a second chance to him, just like she gave one to that one fella i don’t remember the name of who tried to make a rebellion or something lol. Maybe he’ll make a good advisor or something, idk. Or maybe he fucking dies next chappy, all will be revealed.

Burkes

Kills them all

TyranT-Rex

The desolate child is making a return. Round 2, FIGHT!!

Cory Sauls

Alright let's take some guesses. Does Miranda spare him and his people? Just his people, or kill them all?

TyranT-Rex

Tyftc !

Staudi

Thanks for the chapter

Kt-x

Tyftc

Frédéric Cantin

Well at least he surrendered

Unlisted Pokémon Hudson

that wasn’t to say he couldnøt eventually. Vi vill nåt, ænd kænn nått!

Exaiter

Self-deprecating Antagonists are such a pain in the behind because they only come out after they lost and it makes killing them feel wrong, although they almost always deserve it. I feel more like kicking Iludar in the nuts than killing him but killing him is definitely the smarter thing to do. Him and his goonies - fanatism like this doesn’t just evaporate - it festers.

Jana

Time for Jake and the Desolate Kin... Child too meet again.

Naotani

Nice thank you for the chapter

joel southard

Thank you for the chapter. I wish you a good day of travel.You will be missed.

GeneralBlack

Tftc also port way through and oh no. So Jake is killing the matron eventually

Alex

Thankies zogie

Phasmatic7

Just post twice on Thursday, we'll allow it, it's ok.

GayRehabProject84

Thank u for the story

C0bra$

Dear Zog, you make me feel like a junkie and I love it lol

Paul B

Thanks for the chapter

Connor

tyftc

Devillelouch

Finally, the weekend was to long 🤩

Foxtotulu


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