For Lucian, the immediate aftermath of the fight was spent recovering from the brink of death and remembering who he was. For the Ebon Blade, it was far more interesting. It had expected something to be different about the soul that it just devoured, but even with that expectation, it had not been prepared for what came next, as a number of alerts scrolled across its vision.

+1 Greater Soul(Divine) You have devoured one greater soul. You have gained 4,562 Life Force and one point of divinity. You have unlocked Path of Divinity.

That last one got its attention more than everything else combined, and the Blade quickly pivoted its attention to its available upgrades. Very little had changed since it had last looked at them, of course, but now there was something it wanted.

Primary Powers:

Poison Strike 2: 500 Life Force Inferno 2: 1,200 Life Force Amplify Wielder 4: 3,000 Life Force Amplify Blade 4: 4,000 Life Force Shifting Blade 5: 8,000 Life Force Disrupt 5: 5,000 Life Force Repair Soul 5: 5,000 Life Force Empower Blade 4: 7500 Life Force Vorpal Strike 4: 8000 Life Force Bolt 5: 15,000 Life Force Secondary Powers:

Available Giant's Strength 5: 3,000 Life Force Speed of the Shadows 4: 2,000 Life Force

It didn't hesitate. Even though 7,500 Life Force for Empower Blade was most of the 9,844 Life Force it had in reserve at that moment, it still purchased it, and immediately selected Path of Divinity. It didn't want to learn magic, so it had no real interest in Path of Undeath. Likewise, it didn't really want to be a god, but in light of their recent interference with a vengeance it did desperately want, so learning more about them and their weaknesses would go a long way toward making them pay.

The spark of divinity lays within everyone. Every man, woman, and child might some day rise high enough to reach such universal acclaim if they work hard enough to embody a specific element of the world.

Now that possibility is open to you as well, The Path of Divinity is not a short one and there is no telling where it will take you, but if you follow it the secrets of the universe lie within your grasp.

The Path of Divinity: Level 1 -> slay and consume 100 devout and/or priests of various gods to reach Level 2.

Level 1 Powers:

Severing: The Gods can no longer thwart you by stealing the souls of their favored when you strike them down. Not when you're so much closer than they are.

Bottomless Well: DIvinity is all about souls, so, your soul storage is doubled to account for the next step in your transformation.

While it was very specific, the weapon appreciated both of these upgrades. It could have used the extra soul storage at the Golden Tower, but it would still be useful. The weapon had a growing collection of souls it did not wish to waste. Not only did it have its collection of mages and arch mages it could query should something important arise, it also had its more personal collection.

At this point, it had the souls of several of its previous wielders that it had no wish to destroy. It also had the King's soul, and while it wanted nothing more than to destroy that one, it had not yet decided what question it wanted to ask him; it had considered the issue many nights while Lucian slept or fornicated, and it had never decided on the right answer.

It didn't worry about that now, though; instead, it studied the way the new path had altered the runes of its blade until its wielder eventually stirred and got to his feet several minutes later.

"What happened?" he asked. When he finally spoke, it was with a slight slurring of his words that had nothing to do with drink. It was that his brain had been cooked by the Goddess' song. The blade worried that might cripple his ability to do magic going forward, which would have been a real loss, but fortunately the effect proved short lived. As long as the Ebon Blade continued to heal him, he continued to recover.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Even when his body was whole, though, his memory still had gaps. Lucian couldn't remember much of the previous day at all. He described flashes of a beautiful woman, but for a time, he flat out refused to believe that the pile of glittering rubble nearby was the Lucent Shard, and as the weapon explained their battle, he just sat there most of the time in stunned disbelief.

Finally, when the blade was finished explaining things and answering questions, Lucian said, "I'm not sure if I can keep doing this."

You can, with practice, the blade assured him.

"I didn't sign up to fight gods and leap out of exploding towers," he exclaimed.

The blade felt the familiar anger of betrayal welling up inside it, but tried to be patient with the young man. He'd been through a lot today. Not only had their plan not gone well from the get-go, but it had ended in about the worst way possible. It was a miracle that he was still alive.

Instead, it said nothing for a while as the young man vented. It wasn't so understanding that let him release its hilt until it was safely back in its scabbard, but it didn't chastise him. Instead, when he was done trying to find ways to talk about how afraid he was without ever once mentioning that he was afraid, the blade merely added, We should get moving, before more of them come.

"What tower are we going to now?" Lucian sighed as he started walking, and the blade subtly started steering him to the north.

We aren't going to another tower. Not right now, those were a distraction, so they wouldn't seek us out in the place I most wanted to go, the blade explained.

Until now, it had kept its plans close to its chest for fear that they might spy on it through the boy. That obviously wasn't happening, though. It could, of course. At any moment, the man on the throne could get up, and one of Lucian's half-brothers or sisters could sit down and seek them out. That would require two things, though, it reflected, and while the first was unlikely, the second was impossible.

They didn't know who its wielder was. That was abundantly clear. Even if they did find out, though, the second problem was much harder. Whoever had the power now would have to relinquish it, and that wasn't the way that power worked. No one new would be sitting on that throne until after the current occupant was dead, and if he was anything like King Paralon, that would be a very long time from now.

Centuries, unless I go back and finish the job, the blade thought.

Not now, not course. Learning more of its origins and taking down the Aetharchy one tower at a time were both a much higher priority at the moment, but when all that was done, it would consider trying to take out that throne again if its wielder was up to the task. If it could bleed its mana completely, then it could hack the cursed thing into small, shiny chunks to prevent any more future surprises. It liked that idea. There were only so many more times it could use its miracle ability, but so far, each one had proved devastating.

Nothing else happened that day, good or bad. The blade didn't even force its wielder to practice for the two days that followed because it was too concerned about his attitude. The only thing of note was Lucian's glum silence.

Even if it couldn't read his mind, it was obvious that this experience had affected him much more deeply than his previous near-death experiences, and the blade did what it could to ameliorate that, which was mostly just whispered words of confidence and fearlessness while he slept.

Some days the boy slept in ditches, and other days in villages. He was no longer dressed like an apprentice, though, nor did he boast of his own self-importance in an attempt to impress the women. He was too withdrawn for that.

He just walked into whatever inns he came across and demanded to be fed. Between his bloody, shredded clothes and his giant sword, the threat was obvious, which meant he almost never had to draw the Ebon Blade to make it explicit.

The Ebon Blade could see how he'd made the boy bolder, but not quite in the way he'd intended. Lucian was slowly but surely becoming fearless, but not as a hero or even a villain. He was becoming a rabid dog that was no longer afraid of people or even consequences.

On one occasion, he murdered every person in the common room because some would-be hero with a rage blade got involved. "If you order a meal, you have to pay for it. If you have no money, then take your fancy blade and earn some!"

"Now, now, it's fine, Harlow, it's fine," the innkeeper insisted, trying to defuse the situation as Lucian gave the would-be hero a dead-eyed stare.

As advice, it was entirely reasonable, and just before the Ebon blade was drawn and used to slice both the man and his weapon in half, it decided that he probably would have made a better wielder than Lucian. He'd never get the chance, though, because he barely had a chance to understand what was happening before he was bleeding out on the floor with an expression of pure surprise on his face.

After that, Lucian killed everyone else in the building before sitting back down to finish his meal with an almost bored expression on his face. He didn't do this out of fear or rage, either. He wasn't even trying to cover his tracks; he just thought it was what the blade wanted him to do.

It did, of course. It welcomed slaughter, especially when one of the men who had been slain had been an itinerant monk. Devouring his soul had counted as the first steps on its new path. Still, the boy's behavior concerned the blade. Perhaps I've pushed him too far, it thought as he ate and drank his fill before leaving town on the endless road to the north.

+22 Human Souls. +1 Devout Soul. 1/100 Divine Souls devoured. +828 Life Force.

They'd been through this land before on their waystone rampage, so other than its wielder's occasionally violent outbursts, there weren't any surprises. Unfortunately, though, without a horse, progress was slow.

That was fine. The mountains were rising to the north now, which meant that they were getting closer. Somewhere, amidst those jagged peaks, was a canyon that naturally funneled a great deal of mana to the cursed temple that was their Destination. Ul-Magora was not yet in sight, but it would be, and soon.

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