Lowly Ascent

'Shit...' Nihil felt something wrong.

'Is he going for Darla, why? Does he know something? Shit, my body is still getting used to everything, I can't leave the planet's core yet or else I might accidentally dissipate. Without strong pressure, I can't keep my main form!'

Due to his new form, Nihil didn't have a shell like the rest of the world, he was a pure conglomerate of soul.

This was a perk and weakness as he needed to control every inch of his body before he could move about, a mistake he almost made first exiting the well. Luckily, he didn't teleport to the top immediately and instead swam, finding the issue early on.

'What can I do? I'm a demi-god for everything's sake!'

Nihil was reminded of his conversation with Doom:

"So I'm a demigod now, what does that mean?"

Doom laughed, "Well, I'm just using demigod since it's the most appropriate. You don't need faith like actual gods. Wherever faith lives, divinity does as well. You already had a cult so I used demigod as a power ranking for you. However, if you are serious, you can tap into the power of faith, as it only relies on the souls of others. An easy power to follow, but its ceiling is its Concept, Faith."

Nihil's interest was piqued, "So, what do I have to do?"

"Well...." Doom thought for a moment, "First get titles for yourself, it shouldn't be hard since your subconscious will do it for you, a perk of divinity strangely enough. The world had titles for you long ago. I have a few religions here and there as well." It chuckled.

Nihil pressed it. "Get to the point."

"Oh...yes, well, once you say your titles, if the one who knows it believes in you with pious, they become your believer, and the result is you have power over them to a degree. But you are not a true god yet so unless you used other means to connect your souls with a contract or brand, it's hard to act as a proper god since you have less control over the recipient."

Nihil finished remembering and acted quickly. Again he manifested in front of the well.

Seeing him reappear and look at her so intensely, Darla felt something inside her move, and she as a result moved as well, standing up to meet Nihil at the well.

"Oh? This is an interesting change. Wait..." Kain grew suspicious.

"Little Raven, you love me, yes?" Nihil asked.

"Of course!" She answered.

"Then kill thyself."

The sound of water dripping and flowing echoed in Darla's ears. Nihil's words may have stopped but they continued in the girl's head.

"Kill thyself."

"Kill thyself."

"Kill thyself."

She couldn't bear hearing those words. Even so... she smiled.

"Okay."

The knife of the False Herald was coincidently sitting on the well. Darla picked it up and brought it to her throat.

Just as she was going to pierce her neck, Nihil stopped her. "Wait...before you do it, say my name, with your mouth and in your heart."

"You're name?" Darla felt something odd.

Kain felt it as well, he had a bad feeling. "Stop this at once." He wasn't planning on waiting anymore, but it had already begun. Nihil already sent another wave of soul energy to the surface. More so, this batch was of the highest quality.

The well began to overflood more and more. The water was no longer clear but as dark as ink.

Before Kain could get closer, the well burst with a black pillar that moved about like a giant serpent. The dark dense energy bashed against Kain and barred him from reaching his target.

"Stars help me! Let God's kingdom in the cosmos rain down on non-believers!" He wasn't the religious type. Coincidently, Kain believed in a cause with zealousness as a requirement.

The power of his attack held within it the power of God. Using the soul sacrifice Magi magic, Kain mustered stars the size of cars.

Glistening in their might, the stars collided with the dark snake and the two collided. But Nihil was half god while Kain was nothing more than a mortal using the soul magic of a dead being. Even with Kain's arm glowing brightly and enhancing his attack, allowing the stars to go beyond the spell's allowed speed, it was nothing before a half god's soul energy condensed over the years.

Nihil ignored Kain's attempts and once more focused on Darla.

"Little Raven, you only ever called me one name, not knowing my real one. But now, so much has changed, and I am something new. So this one time, I shall grant you my true name, but you must pray to it, you will call it out, and you will engrain it into your heart and soul."

Darla had no qualms about agreeing, she had already begun to go half-mad. "Of course!" She was more zealous than any cultist in the whole world.

She had lost her friends, she had lost her parent, and then another. Crushed beyond belief, and in a scenario such as this, she would do anything for the familiar warm feeling she had once had from Nihil.

"Then I shall recite it to you." Nihil closed his eyes, for his name was not his to come up with but the world's.

As his voice boomed with divine might, the spirits of the world joined his call and in a great orchestra, said his name, spreading it throughout the planet, in dreams, and in the hearts of all.

Nihil began:

"I am Nothing, I will be Everything.

"I am the Crimson Haze.

"I am Limitlessness!"

Nihil's words broke the chamber, cracks forming from his words, water spouting from the seems. The spirits recited his words, adding to the clamor in a contrast of countless voices.

"I am a Survivor of Fate!

"I am a Cockroach that does not die!

"I am an error upon the very System that Rules All! An Enemy of the Universe!"

Spirits began to implode on the final stretch, they could not contain Nihil's titles, and they were not powerful enough to usher them. Those that survived though, spoke loud and clear, their words his own, echoing their strength a thousandfold.

"I am the Monarch of Black!

"I am the Spring of Nonexistence that Swallows All!"

Boom!

The entire chamber collapsed and the underground lake above came crashing down. However, not a drop neared Nihil or Darla, it didn't dare to stop a god's declaration.

Kain and the rest were swept away by the tide. All the while, Darla was repeating Nihil's titles one by one.

'Monarch of Black, Spring of Nonexistence that Swallows All!' Her zeal was stronger than even Leon's.

"Kill thyself!" Nihil's words acted as law.

Slice!

Crimson ran down Darla's neck as her vision turned blurry. All the while, she repeated the titles.

'Good job, my little raven. Now, at least this way I can keep you from harm's way...'

Darla's body declined as her blood was siphoned from her. She died not long after. Yet the death of the shell was not the end, for when it cracked, the soul would come out and only then dissipate.

"Come, my Daughter, enter my kingdom, my soul. I will find a way to fix you, I promise."

From the broken shell, a shining soul emerged and entered Nihil's hand. To him though, the soul was small and fragile, no brighter than a small nightlight.

Nihil opened his mindscape, and like how he absorbed the Mist ghosts, absorbed Darla. He did not turn her into a ghost for him to command, he instead did something very different.

Taking the extra finger he created from Doom's soul, he placed it in Darla's own. The reaction was violent, Nihil used everything in his power to control it.

On contact, the finger melted into Darla's image and began to rapidly expand. Slowing this process down, Nihil used a mass amount of his energy to use distortion. He changed how the infection worked, creating a balance between Darla and Nihil's souls. By the end, her soul gained a dark sheen and seemed stronger than ever.

'You are now truly my daughter. But doing this is no more than a seal to keep you from dissipating, I need more power to manipulate your soul to become one like my own. I'm sorry, my little Raven.'

He couldn't help but sigh in the silence that dawned upon the echoes of the past, he was left in a void of still water, the Ancient city and the cave that housed it filled and brought to the bottom of the world.