Chaos Before Order

"The Event Shop?" Magnus' brows were raised at the sight of that phrase.

He could guess what having AoM points allowed him to do. It was most likely a currency.

Thus, driven by the insistence on a reward, Magnus invoked,

"I am the cause of creation,

The maker of stars,

The sculptor of planets,"

Hummmmmmmmm,

Spirit Energy churned around Magnus as he got ready. He needed to cause as much chaos as possible.

Boom!

An explosion occurred nearby, bumping Magnus' red points up by 10. A winged shark was flapping its wings and crashing into buildings, settling his points at 39. And it was still rising.

"Let's start with the guards then," Magnus commanded gravity without his golden sphere. He forced down an area and rooted those there in place.

Monsters instantly came after them and tore them apart despite the difference in threat rating.

As a whole, this Gate Overflow could be rated at around 4, after all. The sheer number of the monsters was terrifying.

Magnus even thought that he did not need to act. But it would be weird for a Trial to be that simple.

"Strong humans must be around Midseer," Magnus muttered to himself as he contributed to the deaths of several more 2-star guards.

"They just don't see the need to act just yet, most likely."

Thus Magnus decided,

"I need to reach 1000 points fast. Destruction also contributes to points. I wonder how I can use that?"

Watching the winged shark flail around like an idiot, Magnus had an idea.

"I'll use you as a cannonball!" He cackled from under his hood, "Gravity!"

Whooom!

A powerful pull acted on the winged shark, pulling it towards a building at a rapid pace. The wind whistled as it screeched in terror; this was not part of its plans at all! Slamming into a building upon its entrance had been an accident!

Boom!

The great weight of the winged shark slammed at the building and caused an entire floor to collapse.

Magnus then manipulated gravity more, forcing the bleeding body of the winged shark downwards. The rest of the building received even more damage.

Cracks appeared on different parts of the building as its own weight now worked against it.

"It's not yet enough," Magnus muttered as another heavy-looking monster appeared. "It's a bit expensive but, I can dine on their souls later..."

"To me!" He bellowed, pulling the monster through the air and shooting it towards the same building that was about to crumble.

Boom!

And crumble it did.

+12

+16

+29

+30

+42

The numbers on Magnus' wrist rapidly rose, allowing a grin to appear on his face. The collapse of that one building subsequently made the buildings around it weaker.

With just a bit more gravity and some cannonballs, Magnus could easily make it to 1000.

.

.

.

The minutes quickly passed by as Magnus caused as much death and destruction as possible. His heart was currently beating wildly in his chest, pumping out adrenaline-filled blood all throughout his body.

He was pressed for time.

So much so that Magnus did not even bother completing 1000 points before he began fleeing.

He stopped at 910 and ducked into a monster-filled alleyway to disappear in a flash of light. Javelin switched with him as his number gradually went up to 1000.

Interestingly, due to the way Magnus used monsters as cannonballs, he killed them in the process. His green points thus totalled around 400. Magnus did not know what that would entail, but it was funny enough to mention.

As if by coincidence, the moment Magnus made it to 1000, a powerful aura wafted over from afar. Magnus involuntarily shivered, and the great horde of 1-star monsters paused for a moment, before charging forward in a great frenzy.

They looked desperate instead of rabid now. Magnus' score went above 1100 swiftly, just as the person holding that aura of power appeared.

"Vile beings..." He heard those words being spoken as if it was a bolt of lightning in a clear sky.

It was a jarring feeling for even the Spirit Energy in the area to suddenly transmit sound.

Just then, a deep, dense fog descended.

Magnus did not know where it came from, but he could guess.

He felt lost. Totally lost.

He couldn't tell the difference between left or right, up, or down, forwards or backwards. It was all just fog.

But he could hear the screams of the monsters in the distance. Their wails of pain overwrote the cries of humans as multitudes of them were mysteriously slain.

Magnus trembled from within his hiding spot. He felt a shadow zoom past him to kill the nearby monsters. A bit of blood splattered onto Javelin's fur, making him jump.

This went on for several minutes.

And when it was all over, the fog was lifted.

Magnus could now see the results of absolute annihilation. Poisonous carcasses were strewn about everywhere, piled up high like mountains. Blood flowed as rivers between these mountains, making Javelin grimace from the stench.

Magnus summoned his original body and instantly began devouring souls by sipping on the rivers of blood and looking like a complete freak for a few minutes. He was able to taste the souls of both humans and monsters and felt a decent increase in his abilities.

His Spirit Energy reserves were back at full once again. And Magnus could train himself a little bit. His Spirit Attributes jumped from 2.0 to 2.3 as he drank, and it was still rising.

As for his red points, they still kept on increasing. People were still dying of poison.

Although, his green points had now overtaken it at a massive 20,000.

It seemed like Magnus had just witnessed a battle between two 4-star threats. One was a monster tide, and the other was a single man, and maybe a small group of elites.

It was amazing, to say the least.

Poof!

A Scroll appeared in front of Magnus' face as he wiped the blood off of his lips. He was currently bloated from how much he had drunk.

[[ Points Notification ]]

[[ You have received 40 Apocalypse of Monsters points. The points have been supplied to your Ring of Chaos. ]]

[[ Current total: 60 AoM points. ]]

Then another one arrived just right after.

[[ Event Shop Instructions ]]

[[ The Event Shop can be accessed through the invocation below. ]]

{=[=o=o=o=o=]=}

"You are the essence of all collaborations,

The source of all materials,

The master of transactions,

And the supplier of all conscious beings.

I bow to the sovereign of gold."

{=[=o=o=o=o=]=}

[[ Only three items will appear on the Event Shop at a time. The Event Shop refreshes every time all the items for sale are sold. Happy shopping! ]]

Magnus read through the Scroll and excitedly made the invocation.

An ethereal scroll then appeared before Magnus. It sat there, seemingly invisible to anyone else around— not that there were any.

There were only three items on the Scroll at that moment, just as the instructions mentioned.

It seemed like no one had enough AoM points to purchase them yet.

[[ Spirit Ring (4-stars): 1200 AoM points ]]

[[ Fruit of Youth (2-stars): 240 AoM points ]]

[[ Card of Intellect (1-star): 60 AoM points ]]

Seeing the items for sale, Magnus couldn't help but be slightly disappointed. Everything was way beyond his current savings, and the only thing he could buy—the Card of Intellect—was rather boring.

With Master of the Hivemind, he could already process thoughts as four different minds.

He was pretty smart, at least when it came to rote calculations and processing power. Though, ingenuity was another matter. He had to rely on himself for that.

"I'll just save up my points so that I can buy something good in the future," Magnus spoke to himself as he looked away from the ethereal Scroll.

He put his attention back on the aftermath of the Gate Overflow. He unsummoned his original body and allowed Javelin to roam about and eavesdrop.

There was nothing much to learn about save for the grieving that was going on. A lot of people died, and it was all because of Magnus, again.

At this point, Magnus was growing numb to it all. He was doing what he needed to grow stronger and enjoying it at the same time. That was what he had decided on doing ever since the Otherworld Trials started.

Just as Magnus was thinking about such things,

POOF!

Thousands of Scrolls popped up at that moment. They appeared before the eyes of all the people present. Save for Magnus.

Magnus snuck a peek at one of the Scrolls and discovered something... mildly concerning.

[[ Optional Event Trial Scroll: The Chaotic [Gatemaker] ]]

Just the title already made Magnus wary. The Otherworld Trials offering an optional Trial? Shocking.

[[ Your current sorrow had been brought upon you by a single person: The [Gatemaker]. Tear this Scroll to accept the fate of the chase. From the moment you tear this Scroll, you will bind yourself to a search for the truth. ]]

[[ Find the [Gatemaker] and end their life so that the Apocalypse of Monsters will slow down. ]]

[[ Become the hunter, instead of the prey. Search for the reason for all your sorrows. Scour the world for the one who gave you your scars. ]]

[[ Reward: Instant promotion to 3-stars ]]

"...Whoa," Magnus gasped. "That's an excellent reward..."

Even Magnus was tempted to hunt himself down.

Too bad he didn't receive the same Scroll.

If he did, all he would have to do was kill his original body as that was the one that bore the title [Gatemaker]. Then, he could instantly achieve 3-stars. He could then just steal back his original body with Mirror World Thief and all would be fine.

But the Otherworld Trials still considered all the entities of the Hivemind as one, after all. Even though abilities were more or less separate, like Blessings, Curses, and Titles, Trials came only once, and they seemed to be very specific.

Magnus thought about assimilating someone who tore such a Scroll into the Hivemind and then having that body kill his original body. There was a chance that would work, but wouldn't it be simpler to just... assimilate a 3-star existence?

Perhaps.

That, and Magnus thought that it was much more worth it to undergo the special ritual that Master of the Hivemind had. It would allow him to strengthen the rest of his members greatly, leaving no one behind, as well as feed the Blessing itself.

If he just assimilated a stronger being to allow easy breakthroughs, Master of the Hivemind was not going to gain a thing. Although training it slowly by supplying it with Spirit Energy still worked, Magnus knew that the ritual was there for a reason.

It was there to allow it to grow beyond the supposed limit of 6 lines. And for that, Magnus needed as many rituals as possible.