Son of the Hero King
chapter-615

Chapter 615-616: Ritual

After placing the witches in the positions he needed them, Sol immediately cut his wrist to let blood flow out in small trickles. He would've wanted the process to be faster, but keeping the wound open was a pain in the ass due to his regeneration. So, all he could do was repeatedly cut his wrist to gather enough blood for the ritual.

I guess I really cannot fault Camelia after this.

Joking inwardly, to give himself some levity, Sol started manipulating the flow of his blood with his hands to draw the magic circle he had in his mind.

The first step was obviously to form a full-on large circle as the outermost perimeter. He made sure that all of them were inside the outermost circle and soon added a second blood circle inside the first circle that only contained him alone.

Finished with the overall architecture of the magic circle, Sol proceeded with the second phase.

This time, two stars with four branches each were drawn in such a way that they looked like a singular star with eight branches extending outward. The first star formed with its branches stopping just shy of the outermost circle, while the second star, with smaller and shorter branches, stopped at the inner circle that he was positioned inside.

Each of the witches stood precisely on the branches of the largest star.

“A compass?” Ambrosia muttered under her breath as she observed the fascinating formation that Sol constructed. From her position, directly above them, she could see the full scope of the magic circle Sol was drawing and no matter how she looked at it, the shape and content of the magic circle could only be surmised to be a compass. Each of her daughters was standing on one of the branches extending from the star, and from the orientation, it was easy to see that those branches represented the North, West, South, and East.

Interesting.

Ambrosia could more or less understand what Sol was trying to achieve as her eyes paused on the star whose branches represented the North-West, South-West, South-East, and North-East directions.

With him as the center and her daughters as the four directions and then the four blank spaces in between… things were taking quite an interesting turn. Her gaze soon moved to what was happening outside of Sol’s dimension and settled on the bleeding girls – the four Dukes who had defeated Lupus – and she couldn’t help but let out a small smile.

Sol was very daring this time. She could only wait and see what the King of Lustburg had up his sleeve.

***

Finished with his preparation, he couldn’t help but nod his head in satisfaction at his creation. He would have never thought that the few lessons he had received from Medea about witchcraft would prove to be so useful to him in critical moments— be it with what happened with Lilith not long ago or now with him.

Using his blood meant the circle was imbued with his divinity rather than the sum he had stolen from Lupus. He couldn’t afford to waste the divinity of a King-ranked being after all. Even more when it was far more concentrated due to him being a Blessed on top.

Meanwhile, he made sure to consume as much of his own divinity as he could. The concentration of the divinity he consumed was so much that some parts of his hair even showed signs of losing the golden glow that signaled his Blessed status and slowly veered towards becoming a lustrous silver-white.

So this should have been my original hair color, huh?

He was reminded of what happened with Camelia when she acted as if she had lost her divinity and blessing. Her original hair color had been brown, it was the vestiges of a time when she had not yet received her Blessed status back when she was still a teen.

“Well, the first phase of the ritual is complete.”

He took another deep breath, doing his best to fight against the seemingly insurmountable pressure of what was ahead and calm down his wildly beating heart. He was betting a great deal now with his current plans and could not afford to fail. Not to mention, he had the feeling that if he was unable to obtain the Name he sought right at this moment, he would never be able to obtain it in the future. Even if he started from scratch like Tiamat or Lilith, the name he sought would be lost to him forever.

For a better future… For a future with no tragedy… I need to succeed right now.

He would not have the same ending as his alternative future self. “Girls, whatever happens next… do not intervene. Do not move. I simply need you to provide me with your power and concepts.”

A solemn voice leaked out of his lips as he made sure that they would not act and destroy what was pretty much his life’s work due to their worries regarding his safety and state.

“It’s finally time.”

So, lifting his hand, Sol summoned the spear he had thrown away and, after turning it around and bringing the point toward him he pierced his heart in a sharp and swift movement.

Blood splashed, his expressions contorted and all the witches, Ambrosia included, watched with pure incomprehension on their faces.

“Only by facing death can I come closer to The End.”

For a dragon such as Sol, simply having his heart pierced would never be a fatal wound. Even more so since the weapon was devoid of any divinity it was originally imbued with.

However, things changed a great deal when he lowered all his defenses on his own accord and let the spear do its job.

And so, Sol faced deathfor the second time in his two lives. Deep in his sea of consciousness, the letters D and E shone with unprecedented light. Meanwhile, in his dimension, the witches looked at each other in dismay before Medea took in a deep, trembling breath.

“Sisters, it is time.” She said with as much confidence as possible.

Medea, the Witch of Time— the Witch representing the West.

Freya, the Witch of Space— the Witch representing the East.

Persephone, the Witch of Life— the Witch representing the South.

Kali, the Witch of the Destruction— the Witch representing the North.

The four directions shone with a bright hue, each of them focusing on the concepts and power that constituted their very existence on this plane. Their respective powers started flowing into the outermost circle that they were bound within and soon flowed into the different branches of the first part of the star. The four branches channeled their power into a singular point and soon, all of their powers brewed into one and focused on Sol alone.

“We need to be careful with what comes next,” Persephone spoke as she gazed at him.

Kali gritted her teeth, as she felt some resistance in her side. Her power of Destruction, while close enough to the concept of Death in a certain way, was causing certain dissonance as it did not mesh particularly well with the power of Life that channeled out of Persephone.

It was a core flow of her being, ever-present, a constant reminder of her inferiority and difference from her sisters. Not being able to learn the concept of Death had been her life’s greatest regret that haunted her still to this very day… which was ironic when taking into account that as a Reincarnator, few should be more acquainted with Death than her.

It was only after she finally stabilized the meshing of her concept as far as possible could they finally transitioned to the next phase of their roles.

“Sol is fucking crazy. I swear this is the last time I participate in one of those rituals.”

She cursed; even as crimson light shone in her gem-like eyes.

『 Avatar -::- Shiva 』

The current procedure Sol was enacting was similar to the process they went through when changing Lilith's race, thus saving her life. Kali couldn’t help but wonder if Sol had some suicidal tendencies, seeing as though he was enacting such a life-threatening procedure once more. However, she knew that, at this juncture, all she could do was to believe that he would pull things through somehow as they did during Lilith’s case.

As such, similar to her role in Lilith’s life-saving procedure, Kali used her power of destruction to attack the interior of Sol’s body. Unlike the time with Lilith, however, Kali’s first target was not Sol’s veins, but rather… the remaining divinity that was settled inside Sol’s body. As a Chaos Dragon, Sol was extremely resistant to any form of magic, so she had to make sure she didn’t use too much power in the process or else his bloodline would negate her magical powers.

The procedure was a very delicate process where she had to make sure to not destroy his body while destroying only the targeted areas within his body that they needed for the completion of the procedure. Not only the procedure itself, but the divinity that she was trying to extinguish was actively resisting against her will, making the procedure far harder than the case with Lilith. Even so, she continued the procedure with as much care and meticulousness as she could muster at the moment, trying her very best so that Sol wouldn’t be affected beyond a certain threshold.

When she was finally finished with her ever-so-delicate task, Sol’s majestic golden hair had been completely replaced with a lustrous silvery white, a stark contrast to his original appearance. However, she still didn’t have the leisure to marvel at the sudden change.

I am becoming an expert in burning bloodlines.

Starting with Lilith and now Sol. She hoped that this would be the last time something like this happened.

Ugh, I feel like I just set up a flag.

“Persephone,” Kali said.

“I know.” Persephone was not flustered.

This time, Persephone acted before Medea. Her goal was not to heal him, only to heal any damages that might have happened to his vein and counter the power of destruction.

『 Avatar -::- Demeter 』

An endless assortment of flowers blossomed all around Sol as the energy of life overflowed. This time, Persephone did not have two Phoenixes like Hathor and Isis to give her a hand, so she had a lot more on her plate than ever before. However, she was not worried about the extra pressure… because she knew that this was not the ending of Sol’s journey, his story wouldn’t be cut short yet.

“I am done. Medea, it’s now your turn.”

“Yes.” Medea was only able to give a shaky nod to her sister. It was now time to stop Sol’s body in time. Once again, his Chaos physique proved to be a problem due to its resistant nature. Being too competent came to bite back on their hands this time around, as Sol had even developed resistance against the machinations of time itself. However, as he was putting no conscious effort into defense, the difficulty was somewhat lowered.

『 Avatar -::- Chronos 』

Please, Sol, please, you have to be alright.

More than any resistance Sol’s body could put, the most difficult thing Medea had to overcome at this instant was none other than her shaking hand. It was imperative to keep Sol suspended in time, as they had to stop his body’s regeneration process and make sure that Luxuria’s divinity did not form inside him for the time being.

She hated every passing instant of what she was doing to Sol, her mind already envisioning so many ways this whole charade could go wrong, however, she still chose to go through with her task obediently. Not because she had no opinion of her own, but simply because she believed in Sol and believed in his competence, on his success.

And on the off chance that he failed? She would make sure that he didn’t have a trip to the underworld alone.

“Freya, help. Now!”

“Roger.” Freya did not show her flippant attitude this time around, the situation was too important for her to be acting frivolously. Since Sol, the owner of this dimension, was unconscious, she needed to use her powers to limit the space inside which Medea’s powers took effect. Only through this method would they be able to reach the highest efficiency possible, consuming less energy to attain better results.

『 Avatar -::- Ouranos

』

Space warped at her fingertip and a bubble covered Sol’s body, making sure that all the energy channelling inside him was kept inside that space and didn’t leak out.

From above, Ambrosia observed each of the steps taken by her daughters. Many of the experiences and theories she created over the years were being executed in front of her, and she appreciated the chance of being able to observe all of them firsthand.

She was also ready to act and share her own energy once it became necessary. Meanwhile, she could also see that things were getting quite rowdy outside the dimension. The new demigod was fighting Camelia while Lilith had engaged the Oni and the two were now in a standoff. Lilith was no slouch but her opponent was undoubtedly extremely powerful just from the bare minimum that Ambrosia was able to sense.

As for Wukong, the monkey king joining their side was quite an unexpected development, but it was very welcome for them in their current scenario. For some reason, Lupus’ head had once again fused to his body, but he now resembled a monstrous abomination at the brink of losing his sanity. Whatever deal he made with the Wings of Freedom and whatever power he had gained in return had clearly come with a steep price to pay.

Thankfully, with all the King-ranked beings and above busy as they were, Setsuna and the other girls were free to move as they wished while they healed their injuries. Things were definitely heading in a very good direction.

I hope you will not disappoint me.

Ambrosia had a feeling she was about to witness an epoch-making moment and she hoped it would be through Sol’s victory. It would be quite hard to find another son-in-law so capable, after all.

***

Sol’s plan hinged on many aspects and luck was definitely one such factor. For most people, luck was nothing but an abstract concept that could not be measured or manipulated, but for Sol, things were a little different from the ordinary. Sol knew that there was a certain someone who would never stay still without acting once the ritual started and he was betting on that.

In the capital of Lustburg, Scheherazade was flying frantically with a worried expression etched on her tiny face. At present, she was accompanying Chloe inside the church and she could not help but fidget restlessly for a particular reason. “Are you alright?”

Chloe asked, but Scheherazade could only show her a weak smile in response, “Sol told me to not intervene this time. Because what he is trying to accomplish involves many Kings and Demigods, and I might die if I try interfering.”

Scheherazade clearly remembered what state she ended up in when she helped Sol while he was trying to become a Duke. Her powers had been very useful back then but she did nearly die as a result and if Sol didn’t awaken when he did, she would have perished without a trace of her left in this world.

Now the situation was far worse and deadly. However, she knew that she could not just stand by and do nothing.

As such, placing her hands together, she prayed. She could not do much if nothing at all for that matter. She was only but a Duke, in the end. But, even so, she made a small wish, a wish for good luck and success in all of his endeavors.

It was nothing but a small wish, but her body froze and here she found herself falling toward the ground. Had Chloe not caught her, she would have crashed helplessly.

Holding on to her fading consciousness, Scheherazade made another wish. She wished that at the end of the day, they would all be reunited and have fun just like they did with everyone present before the war separated them.

***

Scheherazade was not one of the failsafes Sol had in mind. She was too weak to change much at the moment, but there was something else. Someone else who had power high enough to skew the events to his advantage.

For what he wanted to do, it was necessary to affect the order of the world while following its intricate rules. To become a King a being needed their own legend.

Sol had worked tirelessly for his legends to pass, for him to succeed at this juncture, but out of all his measures, the one measure with the most chances of success was without a doubt the girl who had acted alone all this time without any input from him.

Nefertiti.

Presently residing in the forest of the elves, Nefertiti was focusing on the link between her and Sol. This link was something she had selfishly asked him to give her back when they were in the dragon territory because of nothing but her sense of insecurity and inferiority.

Now, though, this link between them was paramount in her having the right timing.

“Girls, are you ready?”

Hiding all the worries in her heart, Nefertiti turned around and showed a bright smile to the small assembly of elves watching her. They were all people she had slowly and carefully converted to a small degree. Sol had expressed his wish of not wanting her to abuse her power of Servitude and that made her worry what what she could do without using this power.

Thankfully, Nefertiti discovered that she did not need the power to accomplish what she had set out to do. The elves were already too entranced by what dragons represented, and it had been easy for her to ensnare the less experienced ones who had no firm faith in any of the other dragons.

A chorus of voices answered her, and the weight on her shoulders seemed to lighten alongside their symphony. She didn’t know how helpful what she was about to do would be but she knew that now wasn’t the time yet.

She had to wait. Just a little bit more.

“Very well, we will soon start the litany.”

It was time for her to help her lord.

***

In the Astral Realm, holding the threads of destiny in her hand and weaving them in an intricate pattern, the three sisters of Fate were hard at work.

Skuld was panting and breathing hard as if she had been running non-stop for a thousand kilometers. She could feel it in her bones, the moment she had been waiting for was fast approaching.

A new nexus, another point that would forever change Fate and advert the dark timelines she had been trying her heart and soul to avoid.

They will wake up, and those who have already woken up might go into a frenzy.

As things were reaching this far, she knew that those who had been asleep even in the Dark Timeline would now wake up to intervene. This would mean that from today onwards, all her future knowledge would be completely useless and even her powers to see the future would be severely affected by the newly awakened adversaries’ influence.

Once all of them woke up, the future might even become worse than what they had anticipated or had to go through already in the other timelines. In the worst case, even Order and Chaos might wake up and enter the fray. Such a scenario would lead to certain doom, there was no doubt about that.

However, Skuld knew. As someone who could see and affect the future, she knew and understood this one truth more than anyone.

“If you let all the possible ways something can go wrong stop you from acting, you will never take a step forward.” She spoke to herself, trying to control her fears.

For every action taken, hundreds of thousands of bad things could happen as a result and yet people had to act and make choices. Even refusing to make a choice was a choice in itself and for that very reason…

“Let’s fight for a better future.”

They had to fight, fight for the future they envisioned. Her hands never stopped, even as she thought of all the possible ramifications of what was about to transpire.

A new age would descend in the world and her darling would be at the forefront.