Headed by a Snake

Chapter 952 The Promise Of Ash & Fire

?** Content Warning: Graphic speech and sexual overtones. **

"Reincarnation?" Konstantin frowned, "Impossible."

"It is TOO possible!" Lone insisted. "The Tree God did it too! He reincarnated! And-- and then I beat the sh*t out of him! With my hands!"

The bandaged man shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Are you trying to tell me... you're the Human God now?"

"No! I'm-- I'm just a regular human!"

Konstantin remained unconvinced...

"You're serious?" He asked in a monotone voice.

"I'm very serious!"

"You're seriously... *just* human?"

"That's-- that's right!" Lone sniffed, "So f*ck off!! You're not interested anymore, right?? RIGHT?!"

"I'd like to inform you that my Mind Control magic works just fine on regular humans."

"Ah?"

Lone felt his voice catch in his throat. It became hard to breathe... not just because of the pain, but as if something was blocking his airway.

"I-- but... you... you want to f*ck an elf? An elf king, right? --which... which I am not?"

"I did, yes," Konstantin shrugged. "But you've ruined my f*cking sun, whoever the hells you are. Therefore, for the next several bells, I'm going to ruin your anal cavity."

Lone wanted to run. He wanted to walk. Even crawling was acceptable-- but his body refused to listen to him. All he could do was cry... and scream at the top of his lungs.

"DUDE?! SERIOUSLY?!?!? Do... do you even..." Lone gulped, "Do you even... like me?"

What was he saying? Was this a result of that guy's magic?

...

? FIND. THE. SWORDS! ?

« Oh, I will, my lord. »

Konstantin sighed in exasperation.

Was any man in the Realm as unlucky as he was?

He could scarcely remember a time when he *didn't* have the voice of a god rattling his brain every waking moment of his pitiful life.

...He'd spent several suns in City-State Whitehearth, preparing for his moment of glory.

He had the Arcanite Princess artifice a tracking device for the Swords of the Forgotten King... but such an item had proved unnecessary.

The deeper he delved into the Tree God's accursed forest... the closer he neared to his prize, his patron's incessant complaints grew in both volume and frequency.

It almost made him regret choosing to become a direct follower of the Dragon God.

Granted... the Hex God was little better.

He pawned off that shadowscale bastard to that Romanov brat and didn't think twice on it.

Anyroad, because of the Dragon God's not-so-subtle urging, Konstantin was able to find the Elf God quickly enough, but...

...something had happened.

Instead of the godly, Elven being he hoped to find, Konstantin instead found... a human.

Surprisingly, the blubbering buffoon's naked body *was* somewhat impressive. He was cut like a statue-- a physique scarcely afforded to any mortal in the Realm.

The bronze-skinned man was unique in that he had a pittance of Divine Resonant Energy... but he lacked the almond eyes, elongated ears, and various other assets that made an elf... an elf.

Konstantin was like a treasure hunter, seeking a trove of legendary proportions.

...but instead of finding riches, his efforts for the past several years had culminated with naught but mud and white sand.

His disappointment was immeasurable-- his frustration, nigh overwhelming.

Still...

...The human that remained in place of the Elf God would make for an appropriate *plaything*-- albeit one that suffered from mediocrity.

"No," Konstantin admitted... "I don't particularly *like* you. But it matters not."

"?Hold Still?.

"?Be Silent?.

"...and mentally prepare yourself for what happens next."

His target, a mere human, was unable to resist Konstantin's Command Spells.

He even cast two simultaneously-- and without somatic or material components.

...While it was highly unlikely that the man had the willpower of a Saint or a rare trait that weakened the effect of Dragon Magic, the ease of Konstantin's success only annoyed him.

In Whitehearth, Konstantin had blood from the Arcanite Princess. The particularly potent life essence, in theory, could augment his Domination Magic by an Entire Rank.

That blood... was something he had gone well out of his way for-- and it turned out to be useless.

Konstantin couldn't even use it for a different project. Blood sharply lost its efficacy as an arcane catalyst as it spoiled. By the time he returned to Archangel, he'd need to discard it *and* the enchanted vials he used to store it.

Ophelia Moonwell-- how useless was that woman? Whether it was her artifice or her blood or even the pleasure he derived from breaking her body and mind, Konstantin could have gone without and been better off for it.

Stars and stones...

He had come to the Tree God's Forest prepared to force a god into submission.

Putting down a half-dead human was a simple matter, but doing so almost felt... beneath him.

The naked human laid on the dirt, covered in sweat and earth.

His eyes showed no defiance-- only fear.

That would soon pass... and would be replaced by something more amusing.

The muscles of his lips spasmed, but the magic stifled his screams.

He would not speak for the rest of his life... as Konstantin planned to kill him as soon as he finished.

Very few humans had any intrinsic value to them.

...That one, however... did pose an interesting question.

He had asked... if Konstantin 'liked' him.

It made him wonder... if he *truly* enjoyed the company of men.

He supposed he did.

But... thinking on it, he did not seek out carnal pleasure out of... attraction.

His actions... were righteous.

Konstantin was a worldly man-- a just man.

He did not want for much... but for all to be as it should.

In the Realm he lived in, only those in power could enact their wills as they saw fit.

While the strong ruled, those inferior bit their tongues, knelt in prostration-- begged for their pitiful lives to be spared, if need be.

Konstantin, *himself,* was human.

Therefore, he knew very well... that humans... were... WEAK!

As for elves... they were even moreso...

How DARE they-- how dare those *creatures* propagate themselves as superior to others!

That wall of arrogance, so carefully built to protect them from the harsh truths of the Realm... Konstantin sought to break it.

It was only right!

He liked it when they screamed for help. He liked when the crying stopped and how the tears continued in silence.

He liked the broken look in the eyes of his victims.

And the men... so highly did they value their supposed superiority.

The 'breadwinners'... the 'honorable'... they who wielded their swords of war for their king or their ancestors or in emulation of the heroic lies fed to them by their leatherskinned, flesh-rotted elders...

The men struggled for longer.

They fought against the Domination Magic until their muscles burst and their tendons snapped.

The fire in their eyes would rage and rage... until suddenly... it would extinguish, all at once.

Seeing that... was beautiful.

It was... as it should be.

The Realm would always suffer its injustices... but Konstantin sought to correct that, wherever he saw otherwise.

? THE SWORDS, MORTAL!!! ?

« With all due respect... »

« My lord has been sleeping for thousands of years. »

« With the Divine Resonant Energy left by the Tree God and the recovery of thy essence in the Swords of the Forgotten King, your revival has been hastened by centuries. »

« With everything going so well... is it necessary to be so impatient? »

Konstantin knew he was foolish for trying to convince a god of anything at all.

--but he had grown so weary.

? MY AWAKENING... IS NIGH... ?

? HEED... MY COMMAND. ?

Konstatin sighed aloud.

...Conceding to his patron wasn't so terrible, though.

He took solace in the fact that, for every moment idle, an age of despair would pass for the unlucky reincarnator under his thrall.

"Fine..." He muttered. "What onerous chore wouldst thou have me do first, o' master of mine?"

? YOU WILL RELINQUISH THY MORTAL BODY. ?

? YOU WILL HAVE THE HONOR OF BEING MY VESSEL. ?

A cold shock shot up Konstantin's spine as he realized the magnitude of his patron's words.

"M... master?"

? I HAVE GRANTED YOU MY VOICE-- TO CORRUPT MORTAL HEARTS INTO SERVING THEIR ONE TRUE GOD. ?

? WITH THE TREE GOD'S DIVINE ESSENCE, I SHALL RAISE AN ARMY TO LEAD. ?

? I HAVE GRANTED YOU MY AUTHORITY-- TO WARP BLOOD AND FLESH INTO MY GLORIOUS IMAGE. ?

? WITH THE ELF GOD'S DIVINE ESSENCE, I SHALL FORGE WINGS ANEW. ?

? I HAVE GRANTED YOU MY PATIENCE-- BUT NO LONGER. ?

? CLAD IN THY MORTAL FLESH, THIS GOD-- THIS EMPEROR SHALL SOAR THE SKIES OF THIS REALM. ?

? I WILL REKINDLE THE FIRES OF WAR WITH MY TERRIBLE BREATH! ?

? I WILL CONQUER THOSE PEOPLES WHO HAVE DARED TO LIVE WITHOUT KNOWING MY FIERY WRATH! ?

? ALL THAT WAS ONCE MINE, WILL BE MINE AGAIN AND FOREVER MORE. ?

? FOR I AM THE PROPHECY. ?

? I AM THE PROMISE OF ASH AND FIRE. ?

? I AM THE END OF ALL SUNS. ?

? I. AM. THE DRAGON GOD. ?

? AND YOU, KONSTANTIN DUNZIS, ARE BUT A TOOL IN WHICH I SHALL USE TO EXACT MY IMMORTAL WILL UPON THIS REALM. ?