Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Energy roiled in the catacombs as Sorin and Melinoë rose in the air and distanced themselves from the others. This was an admission of weakness on both their parts; Sorin didn't want his friends caught up in their aftershocks, while Melinoë was clearly wary of external interference.

A golden python measuring a thousand feet in length emerged from Sorin's body and plunged towards Melinoë, who didn't dodge as Sorin expected but shattered into nine mirror fragments. Each one transformed into a different aspect of Melinoë. Madness mirrored sanity, and youth mirrored age.

The golden python struck the center image—or at least tried to. Just moments before it made contact, the central image and the remaining nine superimposed, transferring its position temporarily. The python turned around to attack a second time, but by then, a dark face had appeared above Melinoë. Its eyes lit up, and Sorin's mind was sent reeling.

"Your fears are known," spoke Melinoë, tightening her grip on Sorin's mind. "Your vice is imperfection. You are your own worst enemy." Her words provoked the Madness in Sorin's body and scrambled his logical functions. His body began transforming in harmful ways, breaking Sorin's concentration. The golden python collapsed, taking with it a large portion of Sorin's energy.

The Madness in Sorin's body provoked a series of harmful transformations, forcing him to divert the attention used to control the python. The snake collapsed and, with it, took a large portion of Sorin's energy.

Fortunately, limited energy wasn't something Sorin had to worry about. He quickly tapped into the fully opened gate on his body and replenished his losses. Next, he wrestled control of his body away from Melinoë and used it to send a spray of needles in her general direction.

Distortion ensured that only a fraction of the needles struck, but this was enough for Sorin. A small poisonous seed took root inside all nine mirror images and started pillaging her energy to grow thanks to Sorin's new divine ability, Autogenesis.

"Your connection to the city runs deep," said Sorin as Melinoë retreated to purge the poison. "It's your greatest strength but also your greatest weakness.

"I!

"Summon in my name!

"The remnant power and authority belonging to the line of Asclepius!

The Temple of Asclepius, located several miles away, lit up and readily ceded control of its remnant energy to Sorin. Since Asclepius was now permanently out of the picture, Sorin's authority superseded all others of his line.

Along with the temple's energy came a fifth of Delphi's authority. The temple forcefully ripped it away from Melinoë and delivered it to Sorin.

The authority was accompanied by a stream of divinity pillaged from the Core of Civilization. Sorin did not take it for himself but sent it right back into Delphi, greatly alleviating its chaotic state.

"The Kepler Clan is and has always been one of Delphi's custodians," explained Sorin.

Melinoë schooled her expression and chose another direction to attack. "Since you're not completely cold and still sympathize with the common people, I'll use your pity as the anchor and your compassion as the connection. Descend into Madness!"

Millions of images poured into Sorin's mind, suffocating him in mind and spirit. Fathers were fighting their sons, mothers were strangling their children, and brothers were dying in each other's arms. Thanks to his control over Strife, Madness, and Violence, he was able to confirm that these events were, in fact, taking place. It was only thanks to Administrator Pollen and the Chief Oracle that the population hadn't gone completely insane.

I need to deal with Melinoë quickly, or else there won't be a city left to save, thought Sorin. Corruption was already taking root, and many people had already mutated.

Though Sorin loathed to reveal the extent of his control over corruption, he had no choice but to do so now. He activated Toxic Metabolism and devoured the Madness infecting him, then immediately used it to boost his strength and speed.

Nemesis transformed into a spear, which Sorin swept in an arc, destroying hundreds of nightmares Sorin had birthed using the chaos in Delphi. Simultaneously, he used his left hand to trace five serpentine spell circles as he chanted an incantation.

"Five poisons.

"Five deaths.

"Five fates converge in a conflicting cycle.

"Peace is a wilted flower.

"Love is a poisonous river.

"With my blackened heart, I draw upon thee,

"Five Poison Apocalypse!"

Five powerful spell circles ruptured and filled the entire city with poison. It struck indiscriminately and even infected his companions, but thanks to his quick intervention, their poison was cleansed before it could affect them.

What remained of Melinoë's nightmares melted away as she summoned a glass egg around her nine selves and evaded the deadly attack. She then distorted space to arrive in front of Sorin and take advantage of his exhausted state.

They clashed dozens of times, with neither side coming out on top, until finally, Melinoë slipped up and took a spear to the chest. "You're not just able to devour corruption," she said, wiping a trickle of black blood from his mouth. "You can also control it!"

"I can do more than just that," said Sorin, pressing the attack. Melinoë staggered backward under his sudden onslaught. She deflected every blow but was unable to stop the influx of poison into her body.

"That spell just now," said Melinoë, struggling to evade his attacks. "I didn't block it properly. Your target wasn't me but the catacombs instead! She coughed out a mouthful of black blood. "This isn't Madness. This isn't Violence. It's Strife!"

"You realized it too late," said Sorin, piercing another bloody hole in her body. Putrid guts poured out of the opening; her body had half-rotted away without her knowledge.

Finally, a resigned Melinoë stopped evading. Sorin's spear stopped right before her neck. "You win this time, Sorin Kepler, but mark my words: I will get my revenge. If not in this life, in the next one. If not the next one, then the one after that."

Sorin shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Melinoë. This is the end of the line for you. Autogenesis: Transformation."

Melinoë's body was currently filled with Eater of All, Symphony of Blood, and Call of the Ferryman. If he did nothing else but wait, it would eat away Melinoë's body within the next ten seconds. But a quick death was far from enough punishment for someone like Melinoë. Sorin converted the three poisons to Gorgon's Lament and Night Lily's Chains, freezing both her body and her mana in place.

A golden serpent coiled around Melinoë and threw her down onto Apollo's temple, where Charles had been drawing a massive spell circle. Even Sorin, the wielder of the Ten Thousand Poison Canon, was wary of the spell that had been building up the entire time.

"It looks like I owe you one, Sorin," said Charles, trapping Melinoë inside the spell circle and activating its runes. "Would you like payment in cash, artifacts, or favors?"

Sorin shook his head. "Consider this a gift to mend relations between our families. By the way, how reliable is this method you spoke of?"

Charles chuckled as he took out an empty vial of poison from his robes. "This spell circle is laced with a poison called Tears of Achlys. Our Hargrave Clan can only produce a single vial of this divine poison every century. It's typically used to deal with demonic threats aligned with Death, as slaying them tends to be an impermanent solution."

Sorin felt his poisons get forced out as the spell circle thrummed to life. Melinoë tried to take advantage of this opening to escape but was quickly pulled back into the center by hundreds of magical tethers.

"Charles, you treacherous slave!" screamed Melinoë. "How dare you use Achlys's venom against your superior!"

"Interesting words coming from you," said Michael, picking himself up off the ground. "You betrayed all of humanity and are getting your just deserts. Do you need my assistance, Charles? I hear this spell can be extremely taxing."

"No, thank you," said Charles, biting his tongue and spitting a glob of blood onto the spell circle. "I don't want to risk splitting the credit. Besides, your energy and mine are incompatible. It's possible for Melinoë to take advantage of that conflict in order to break free."

Charles raised his staff and began muttering an incantation. The spell circle lit up and pulled on Melinoë's body until it split into three. These three portions were none other than her physical body, her mana body, and her spiritual body. They were quickly invaded by a vicious black poison that burned away all three energies, producing a golden mist that poured into Charles's body.

"You think this makes a difference?!" screamed Melinoë as the poison reached her head. "The Evils are awakening and will soon launch their offensive. It won't be long now before the twelve cities are overrun and Olympia falls!"

"Pipe down, will you?" said Charles, kicking the spell circle. Melinoë screamed as her bindings tightened and the poison reached her chest.

Michael frowned. "Should we spare her for interrogation? Any information she provides would be very valuable."

Sorin raised an eyebrow. "Would you trust anything she says?"

"I suppose not," said Michael. "Carry on, Charles.

"By the way, it occurs to me that I'll need to report what happened to the Source of Corruption. Originally, it was to be sealed, but now, it seems to have vanished.

"What did you do with it, Sorin? That's something demigods were powerless and had to seal away. I might be able to turn a blind eye to certain things, but this isn't one of them."

Sorin shrugged. "I'm really not sure, Michael. I was just trying to destroy a piece of the source and reduce its ability to damage Delphi. I was about to succeed when suddenly, it rushed into my body." He picked the silver fox head medallion off his chest and showed it to Michael. "It's a good thing Lord Hope gifted me this medallion. It protected me at a critical juncture."

Michael gave Sorin an appraising look. "You've done humanity a great service, Sorin. I will naturally report your exploits and your explanation, word for word. That being said, I'm sure Administrator Pollen will want to question you about the mission personally. A representative from Olympia will likely seek you out as well."

"I look forward to cooperating with their investigation," said Sorin. While he'd lied about the scope of Hope's involvement, too many coincidences had occurred for him not to be involved. In fact, it was almost guaranteed that Hope had intended for him to encounter Strife and for Asclepius to intervene in the way that he did.

Sorin eyed Melinoë, whose three bodies had already half-burned away. Her eyes were glazed, making it clear that even if she managed to escape this situation, she wouldn't be the same. "If that's all you wanted, I need to go tend to my companions. Stephan's arm isn't looking too good. I imagine he'll require a full bone reconstruction. I hope your clan's life mages can assist our Kepler Clan's surgeons during his surgery."

"No problem," assured Michael. "These few survivors will be the future pillars of humanity. No expense will be spared assisting their recovery."

Sorin rejoined his companions and ensured Stephan's condition was stable before taking a look at the unconscious Daphne. He was relieved to discover that she'd fainted from mana exhaustion and not a mental attack. All she needed was time, and she would recover in full.

As for the rest of his party, they'd suffered only minor traumas that would heal with time. Only Lorimer's condition was uncertain, but Sorin wasn't worried, as his cocoon was safely stowed away inside his void space.

It only took a few minutes for Melinoë's three bodies to fully dissolve. Golden light erupted from Charles as he sucked her divinity, thereby completing his second divine mission.

With Melinoë's Death, the city's corruption grew chaotic and uncontrolled. A golden portal immediately appeared above the Temple of Apollo, causing extensive damage to the now-redundant sealing array. "What happened just now? Did you succeed?" asked Administrator Pollen as he walked out of the portal. "Where's Melinoë? What's going on with the source of corruption?"

A woman walked out of the portal behind the Administrator. She was none other than the Chief Oracle of Delphi. The corruption in her body had dropped significantly, revealing a cultivation base that didn't lose out to the Administrators. "It's gone," she said, her gaze sweeping across the Temple of Apollo. "The Source of Corruption is gone!"

The Administrator and the Chief Oracle ignored the people present and scrutinized the Core of Civilization. It took them a whole hour to confirm that nothing was amiss and that the corruption had indeed been taken care of.

Sorin had no doubt that the matter would be greatly scrutinized in the coming weeks, but he was too tired to care. He knew that there was still a huge amount of work to be done on the surface.

They would be cleaning up this mess for years to come.