Lewd System: Every Scream and Moan is EXP Chapter 394: The Puppet on Golden Strings

Echidna piped up, watching the man drift there in the air. ’Oopsie. Seems I may have mistaken him for Loki.’

"You idiot," Jax hissed. "Don’t tell me you were sensing him this whole time."

’It’s not my fault, alright? The guy floating up there is a celestial too, so I mixed the two of them up. Mother told me only a single celestial had been granted permission to set foot in the mortal realm.’

"Fuck you and your mother both," Jax spat. "Now I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Loki knew all about you and that brilliant IQ of yours from the very start, and used you to reel me all the way out here for whatever scheme she’s cooking."

’Don’t you curse me. And if mother handed me that information, then there is no possible way it’s a lie.’

"Then explain the two celestials strolling around out here in the open."

’Maybe something changed,’ Echidna said. ’Or maybe nothing changed at all because he isn’t a celestial anymore.’

"Did you crack your head open somewhere? Do you even hear the words coming out of you?"

’I hear them perfectly, and I mean exactly what I said. This man has no soul. It feels like he died a good while ago, and now his body’s just being worn like a puppet for the war.’

"But how does a celestial die?" Jax frowned. "You told me yourself you can’t kill them as they have no real body, that celestial essence of theirs makes them invincible, and even if you cut one down it just regrows from scratch."

’There’s no such thing as a creature that can’t die, dear. Not even gods. But let me clear up your little misunderstanding. Celestials can die in a handful of ways. The first is being killed by their own kind. When one pure celestial slays another, that death is real, the soul travels back to the few primordial gods that remain, to be judged on whether it’s worth reviving. And these days, revival is a rare mercy indeed.’

She paused. ’But a mortal, or anything else, trying to kill them? Then yes. Invincible.’

’The second way is simpler. They just run out of age. Same as any mortal, only their lifespan runs about five times longer, and then they die pathetically in their beds like everyone else. But I sincerely doubt this one died of old age.’

A beat.

’Not with a face that young.’

"Hold on." Jax’s eyes narrowed. "You said Loki’s lived several thousand years, and her father longer still. So none of that adds up—"

’When the universe was first stitched together,’ Echidna said, ’the primordial gods created hundreds of celestials, tools to protect and control the mortal world. They were Immortal with no expiry date stamped on them. But over the long centuries, only a handful of that original hundred are left, whittled down by their own stupidity and their endless squabbles.’

’And a few of those survivors rule the Luminastra. The four great houses. Loki comes from one of them. Her father and mother were both created celestials, which makes her a pure one. Immortal, right alongside them.’

’And from that, you can probably guess what the rest of the pests up there are. Mixed breeds, the lot of them. Either their parents were experimental things the celestials cooked up, or one parent was an ascendant or precisely a slave dragged up out of the mortal world for exactly that purpose. The practice of breeding their numbers like cattle died out ages ago, but thanks to it, the Luminastra’s crawling with impures.’

Her voice sharpened. ’Just like the fellow floating in front of you.’

Jax’s gaze stayed locked on the man, a few golden halos hovering lazily behind his back, his eyes hollow and scraped empty of anything.

And piece by piece, all the mysteries began sliding neatly into place. He had a far clearer picture now.

He cursed under his breath. "So what you’re telling me is, I can’t kill this bastard."

’Yup. Your powerless little ass can’t lay a scratch on him.’ Echidna’s tone brightened. ’But she can.’

Jax knew exactly who she meant. Athanasia, still hurling curses up at the man, and from every word out of her mouth, it was painfully clear he was her father, and that he’d done something monstrous to her.

And if he truly was the father, then Athanasia was a half-celestial.

Jax’s earlier suspicions had already pushed him to dig into both Lavinia and Athanasia. What he’d unearthed on the latter was this: Athanasia’s mother had been a young prodigy at the academy who, one day, simply vanished.

Then, years later, Archmage Rashida adopted a granddaughter who wore that same vanished woman’s features a little too closely, and the whole affair had birthed a small mountain of rumors and unanswered questions.

Jax smiled and settled back on his heels. "I’ve never been the type to stick my nose into somebody else’s family business. So I’ll stay right here and enjoy the show. At least until the moment my one and only usable sword looks about to snap in two."

Athanasia lifted her face to the sky. "You have no idea how badly I’ve hungered for this. And at long last, here it is. My chance to pay you back for all of it. For the ragged memories that come hunting me every single night. The ones of my mother crying, begging on her knees in front of you. The ones where she wept herself to sleep, night after night."

Her voice cracked with fury. "My grandmother told me everything about upper-realm trash like you. The ones who toy with mortals, who assault them for sport. And my mother had the misfortune of being your chosen toy that time around. It all made sense then. The bruises. The screaming I heard bleeding through the walls at night."

"You made her every day a living hell. And the second you’d wrung all the fun out of her, you tossed the two of us back down to our realm like garbage."

She raised her chin. "So tonight, I’m going to make you feel every last second of what she went through. Scream for me, father. While your daughter breaks you apart with her own two hands."

With that, Athanasia’s eyes flared a molten gold. The faint celestial essence scattered across the battlefield, spilled loose from the puppet’s own attacks, began flowing into her, drawn in like iron to a lodestone. Her whole body lit up, and she rose slowly off the ground, floating upward until she hung level with him.

The instant she reached his height, a colossal void rift tore itself open behind her.

Golden chains came pouring out of it, several snapping tight around him at once, more still snaking through the air toward their mark.

But the celestial reacted in a blink. The halo rings behind his back loosed a volley of golden lances,

each one shearing clean through a chain until every last link lay broken. Then his hollow eyes found Athanasia charging in with a sword raised, and just like that, she became his next target.

Athanasia didn’t so much as flinch. She could already see his aim was sloppy, sailing well wide of her actual path.

She smiled. He’d swallowed the bait whole. Because her real spell had already closed around every one of his limbs, dozens of hellish hands erupting straight up out of the earth itself, clamping down on the celestial midair and pinning him helpless.

Seizing the moment, Athanasia surged in, grabbed a fistful of his hair, and yanked his head up to show him the pitch-black sword in her grip. "Do you recognize this blade? It’s the very same one mother once held. And it’s the very same one that’s going to end you."

She drove the sword forward, but a mere few inches from his chest, her father simply winked out of existence, reappearing a good distance behind her.

Athanasia clicked her tongue.

Watching the whole thing unfold, Jax spoke. "You know, I think you might actually be right about him this time. The whole dead-inside thing. Look how quiet and vacant he is up there. But still, is it really that simple to leash a celestial like a dog?"

’Impossible,’ Echidna said. ’Unless you happen to be a primordial god.’

Then the mention of primordial gods jogged something loose in her memory. ’Oh. Oh, Jax, now it all clicks into place. You know back when we were fighting the primordial? Mother’s eyes ended up drifting to the god’s crown, the one that lets whoever wears it store any dead celestial’s energy, which means the wearer can leash and puppet celestials at will.’

’But the very second mother struck that god down, the crown got snatched away right in front of our eyes. And the thief just vanished into thin air.’

Her voice dropped. ’Mother was absolutely livid. And she said, right then, "Tracking down that rat would take far too much time. We’ll proceed with the alternative instead."’

Echidna went on. ’I’m guessing mother pieced together that it was Loki. And knowing that notorious little snake, she scrapped her whole plan on the spot. So yes. It’s entirely possible Loki’s the one wearing that crown right now.’

Jax cursed her name. "Damn it. There’s no telling how many more celestials she’s got queued up and waiting for me."

But that same word, celestial, seemed to spark something behind his eyes. "Echidna. That power you told me about before. Can you use it to slip me inside that guy’s head?"

’Why on earth would you want that?’ Echidna said. ’It’ll be a complete waste of effort. There’s nothing in there for you to pull out.’

"Maybe." Jax gave a small shrug. "But there’s something I need to confirm for myself." He turned his gaze back to the fight. "Oh. And one more thing. I want to bring Athanasia along with me too. I’m counting on you for that."