CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 634: Fictional Reality

Malrik struck first, prompting everyone to charge at their assigned foes without a moment's pause or reluctance; at such exalted levels, all knew that a mere instant could spell the difference between life and death, triumph and loss, victor and vanquished in an irretrievable flash.

In that instant, weapons smashed together like raging comets in cataclysmic collision, Astra energy blazing with stellar fury, powers igniting in a blink as they surged forward at velocities beyond measure or comprehension. The Empire quaked beneath the colossal power of these so-called humans, their mere existence warping the world's very foundation.

Suspended mid-air, hundreds of kilometers distant from the fray, hovered Morthen Wargrave, the Wargrave First Great Elder. Opposite him floated three Royal Cabinet members, poised rigidly in the sky, their stances firm but fraught with tension. Despite their numerical edge of three to one, the Cabinet members refused to relax their vigilance in the least, their expressions stiff as if choked by some bitter poison, the sheer proximity to Morthen Wargrave threatening to smother them.

Their names were Daniel, Gabriel, and Israel.

"What are you so afraid of? I'm just one man, you know," Morthen remarked with calm composure, his voice light and almost offhand, while the golden book from before drifted peacefully ahead of him, still as stone yet exuding an unseen pressure that bore down on the entire field.

The simple truth behind their hesitation to attack was his identity: Morthen Wargrave.

Centuries back, survivors of that time remembered Morthen well; his name alone instilled terror that slithered through spines. In those days, he and Azaron's father, the prior Wargrave Primarch, dominated their generation's peak, vying for Primarch supremacy as the era's mightiest, until Morthen suddenly stepped aside, declaring no desire for the honor.

Contending for Wargrave Primarch demanded unmatched prowess and freakish genius, and Morthen had teetered on the brink of seizing it. Yet what rendered him utterly horrifying back then was precisely the book now hovering before him.

Unlike fellow Wargraves who summoned typical arms like swords, spears, or bows, Morthen's awakening yielded a book—yes, a mere book. And while others gained elemental bonds, Morthen unlocked something utterly unique: Fictional Reality.

True to its title, the power turned fiction into fact, channeling through his soul-bound tome to enact the inconceivable.

Its mechanics bordered on the ridiculous. Fictional Reality demanded Morthen immerse in tales and novels, forge profound emotional ties with their fictional heroes, and from those bonds, summon one of the character's abilities into the real world, etching it forever into his soul-bound book.

Yet this godlike power bore constraints, albeit minor against its vast promise.

First, no more than one ability per fictional figure or story could be drawn. Second, the exact power emerged randomly, tied solely to the bond's intensity and flavor. Third, deploying these without his soul-bound book drastically weakened their might and precision.

For instance, his earlier Mass Teleportation, sans book, could shift only thousands at best. Only via the book did its full, boundless scope unleash.

One more limit: emotional bonds couldn't be faked, nor could he tamper with source materials. No whispering to writers, no twisting plots, no puppeteering figures for gain.

The Wargrave clan once tried gaming the system with custom tales of godlike beings and powers, but despite Morthen's sincere attachments, nothing manifested. The meddling voided it outright, unbeknownst even to him.

In theory, Morthen held access to an endless assortment of abilities and powers, restrained merely by the genuineness of his emotional ties and the depth of his immersion in reading. Once those prerequisites were satisfied, virtually no bounds existed to his accomplishments.

Time could be frozen or rewound by him, the departed revived, worlds annihilated, star systems crumbled, or primordial forces from creation's dawn commanded—in theory, he might achieve all that and beyond, solely if he brought those powers fully into existence.

Thanks to this outrageously dominant and matchless power, Morthen once reigned supreme over the world centuries past. He inspired terror everywhere precisely because of it, his battle approach entirely erratic, with no foe able to predict which power he'd summon next. That sheer unpredictability explained why people from that time dreaded his soul-bound book above all else.

Eventually, though, many came to think Morthen's flaw was in striking him prior to his soul-bound book completing its page turns and enabling an ability's activation. Yet that idea amounted to nothing but vain illusion. Morthen excelled in total dominance across all facets, having long fortified even his apparent vulnerability.

The soul-bound book carried its own innate power: each time its pages turned, time froze completely around Morthen. During that suspended instant, physical actions were beyond him, yet he retained the freedom to choose and trigger abilities undisturbed, rendering true ambushes utterly futile.

This very trait led him to embrace the role of Librarian. He reshaped a portion of the Wargrave Library into his exclusive territory, a haven overflowing with novels, where he devoted countless years to reading, delving into myriad narratives, and forging deep emotional bonds with characters from boundless realms.

Indeed, Fictional Reality ranked among the most absurdly potent abilities chronicled in Wargrave family history, a force so immense it evaded all standard logic.

Nevertheless, the question lingered inescapably: what manner of abomination was the prior Primarch? What abilities did he command, what might did he unleash, to rival or even eclipse a figure like Morthen Wargrave?

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