Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

If one were to rank influential events on Pandora, the Cataclysmic Emergence would easily take first place, even when compared to the Twilight of the Gods or the Grand Bargain struck by the Nameless Hero and the Eighth Evil, Hope.

The reason for this was simple: the emergence of the Evils had shattered the protection of divinity and immediately corrupted the environment. Humanity had never recovered from the blow, and the fall of the gods had only worsened their position.

Hope was naturally the strongest Evil; The remaining Seven Evils were ranked according to how heavily they influenced their environment. Death, for example, was ranked second and had single-handedly halved the lifespan of mortals and limited the lifespan of everyone below Flesh-Sanctification to a single century. Flesh-Sanctification cultivators had once been able to live as long as a millennium, but after the arrival of Death, this had been cut down to two or three centuries, and only in the most exceptional cases.

Next up was Disease. Whereas Death directly limited the lifespan of mortals and cultivators, Disease reduced their life expectancy. Though physicians had stepped up to limit the influence of Disease, it took an inordinate number of resources to limit the Evil's activities. Diligence in this regard was not optional, as entire cities could be lost with a single slip-up.

Strife was ranked fourth out of eight, first among the five Lesser Evils. Unlike the other four Lesser Evils, Strife corrupted karma instead of acting directly and was, therefore, an amplifier of Violence, Madness, Hatred, and Jealousy.

According to Gareth, Strife was a rare form of corruption, at least when it came to individuals. Agents of Strife were the strategists of the Seven Evils. Though weak physically and magically, their ability to calculate, manipulate karma, and remain hidden was unsurpassed.

Though Sorin's assimilation with Strife was lower than with Madness and Violence, it had reached the level of manipulating causality and probability. But that was far from enough if he wanted to disrupt the balance between these five demonic factions. Sorin had no choice but to deepen his assimilation with Strife so that he could better perceive the karmic web linking these factions.

Sorin's desire for battle and conflict increased. Issues that Sorin hadn't really thought of, like competition in his family and invisible battles for influence, surfaced in his mind. Karmic threads that had once been invisible to him, like pink threads of charm and gold-and-black threads of pact, could now be seen. Theoretically, they could also be manipulated.

Manipulation required a key node. Sorin chose the group of Steel Light Porcupines and suffered several piercing wounds to his body to close the gap and inject the leader of the Steel Light Porcupines with a heavy dose of Strife.

The Steel Light Porcupine's karma threads wavered. The pink thread of charm weakened, and the blood-red thread of feud deepened. By using the lead porcupine as a conduit, he simultaneously affected the other members of his group.

Unfortunately, Sorin failed to influence the thread of pact. His actions only caused the porcupines to hesitate—a good thing for Gareth and the others currently retreating.

Naïve, said Azrakul to Sorin. To succeed, you'll require a deeper assimilation. Come, my student. Accept the teachings of the master.

"Pipe down, will you?" snapped Sorin. He pulled back from the lead porcupine, snapping the quills piercing his body in the process. Then, he used Adder Rush to loop around his opponent and pierce a bare, spineless patch at the porcupine's wear. This time, he injected Madness and Violence into the porcupine.

Violence and Madness cannot break threads of pact, said Azrakul in a lazy voice. Only Strife can affect the web. This is an immutable fact. Look, I'm not trying to bully a junior—simply give in and…

Azrakul's voice trailed off as the porcupines, now red-eyed and irrational, unleashed a barrage of needles on the group of Gold-Fur Dire Wolves. They do so despite the threads of pact, and no backlash occurred.

"You were saying, Azrakul?" said Sorin.

Well played, Sorin, well played, said Azrakul. By clever use of Madness and Violence, you were able to manipulate the intentions of the web. Thinking outside the box is exactly what an Agent of Strife excels that.

"I'm no agent," said Sorin.

In due time, said Azrakul. Like my master, I like to play the long game.

Now that the Steel Light Porcupine was taken care of, Sorin had no reason to remain; he pulled away and watched chaos beak out.

The wolves suffered immensely from the lead porcupine's surprise attack but were helpless to retaliate due to the pact. The reason for this was simple: Sorin had altered their perceptions and reduced their rationality via Madness and Violence. They did not see the wolves as recipients of the pact and could, therefore, break the rules without any repercussions. This pact depended on intentions, not actual actions. The lead porcupine truly hadn't intended to attack the wolves.

Noticing the sudden change in attack patterns, Gareth called off the retreat and had Lawrence ambush one of the lesser Thunder Panthers. He appeared behind the panther and used a skill called Shadow Garotte to immobilize it. Gareth followed up with a shackle shot, buying Sorin just enough time to close in on the weaker panther.

The alpha panther tried to stop him, but Lorimer and Fenrig intercepted the powerful demon. Sorin was able to place his bare hand on the Thunder Panther and manipulate the karmic web using Strife. He simultaneously altered the panther's personality with Madness and Violence.

"Release him," said Sorin. Lawrence and Gareth retracted their skills, and the Thunder Panther shot out to the nearby porcupines, further destabilizing the battlefield. Due to the chains of pact limiting them, each group was unable to retaliate.

The nymph, being the mastermind behind this alliance, couldn't let things play out in this fashion. Since threads of pact weren't easy to overcome, she commanded the Thunder Panthers and the Steel Light Porcupines to kill their afflicted party members. This was an internal affair within the groups and not governed by the pact.

Sorin had expected this, however, and had already arrived at the wolf pack with the support of his companions and infected their alpha. It counter-attacked the panthers and the porcupines, and this had a noticeable effect on the threads of pact.

The nymph desperately wanted to take Sorin out and directed a group of individual demons to attack him. Gareth and company switched their focus to interceptions and facilitating Sorin's activities.

One by one, Sorin corrupted the demons, ignoring the eagles and prioritizing the three groups on the ground. It wasn't long before the demons could no longer tell friend from foe. Even members of their own species were not exempt.

This proved too much for the threads of the pact connecting them. They weakened until finally, the threads shattered, and chaos broke out.

"Let's pull out of here and let them fight it out," said Sorin, deflecting a violent attack from the alpha Thunder Panther. Increased strength and survival instincts were side effects of Violence; there was no way around this downside.

Fortunately, the eagles, sensing the dissolution of the pact, retreated. Sorin and company were able to safely pull out and regroup outside the Sun and Moon Clear Well. They watched from a distance as the nymph did its best to smooth over relations and purge the corruption from their system using the clear well. Unfortunately for the nymph, three forms of fused corruption were too difficult for it to handle. It was unable to stop all three groups of demons from killing each other off until only the leaders remained.

At this point, the survival instincts of the remaining Steel Light Porcupine kicked in and it decisively retreated. The alpha wolf, on the other hand, went down the route of Madness and chose to die with its pack.

Only a wounded alpha Thunder Panther remained. Fenrig wasn't as strong as the Thunder Panther. Still, with no external interference, he was able to draw its aggression. At the same time, Sorin stacked poison and Lorimer bit at its vitals.

After a prolonged battle, the alpha Thunder Panther collapsed, and a bloody three-star core pulsing with thunderous energy was pulled from its body.

Sorin tossed the core over to Gareth and walked up to the lake where the nymph lived. The nymph was clearly aware of the role Sorin played and was glaring daggers at him.

"If we enter the water, we'll be at a huge disadvantage," said Sorin to the nymph. "It won't be possible for us to snatch your possessions. That said, I hate to leave empty-handed. If I were to choose between leaving you be and returning later or directly poisoning the Sun and Moon Clear Well, I'd choose the latter.

"Though this will destroy most of its value and the treasures within, there should be some items worth salvaging. There's also your core, which I know for a fact is worth a pretty penny.

The nymph's eyes widened. She shook her fist at Sorin and dared him to try.

"Very well," said Sorin, cutting his wrist with Nemesis. Blood oozed out of the wound and into the water, forcing the nymph to draw upon the Clear Well's powers of purification.

"As you can see, I can do this all day," said Sorin. "So, I'll give you a choice: give me five of the Clearlight Sun and Moon Vine fruits and eight of the twelve treasures located in the depths of the Clear Well, and we'll leave. You have my word on it."

The nymph hissed curses in a language Sorin couldn't understand. "What's she saying, Astley?"

"She says you're going too far," said Astley, sounding amused by the exchange. "She says she can give you a single fruit and three treasures."

Sorin snorted. "I'd rather poison the well and be done with it. The bounty for a three-star nymph isn't small."

The nymph once again hissed out a reply. "She says two fruits and five treasures is as high as she's willing to go," said Astley.

"Three and six," said Sorin to the nymph. "That's my final offer."

The nymph was silent for a while before hissing again. "She says that is acceptable, but our group must swear a pact not to return for a hundred years."

Sorin nodded. "I'm not personally against this, but I believe my companions won't be willing to accept such a risk." Sorin was actually eager to try out a pact. By studying the thread, it might be possible to learn how to unravel it.

"Pacts are a form of corruption," cautioned Gareth. "As a God Seed, you might be able to resist its influence, but please be aware that you should try minimizing such exposure."

Sorin nodded. "Don't worry, I know my limits. Nymph, I will sign the pact and I alone."

The nymph hesitated, but in the end, she sent out a drop of water filled with pink runes. Thanks to Strife, he was immediately able to decipher the contents of these runes and their karmic implications.

Sorin found the terms acceptable and drank the droplet of water. Yet before the black and gold thread of pact could completely take shape, it shattered and was replaced by a tarnished gold thread enforcing the exact same terms.

The nymph expressed shock at the development, but only for an instant. Her expression quickly returned to normal, and she immediately dove underwater and returned with the items mentioned. These items, Sorin noted, were the better treasures being grown in the Sun and Moon Clear Well's waters. Sorin recognized Purple Fog Sea Grass and Striped Ochre Weed. The others possessed three-star strength but didn't match any poisons or alchemical ingredients he was aware of.

Sorin took the items into his Apothecary Medallion and nodded at the nymph. To his surprise, the creature bowed deeply and sank beneath the water.

Before the pact, your status was hidden, explained Azrakul. But as the pact was signed, your tarnished divinity hijacked the process and took it over. You were immediately recognized as a superior corrupt entity.

Sorin turned to Gareth, who looked concerned about what had just happened. "It's done. We've earned a small fortune in cores and ingredients. As usual, I renounce my claim on the cores due to the high value of the ingredients."

"I'm more concerned about your current condition," said Gareth. "Are you fine to keep going? Do you need rest?" Due to the unique bond their shared as Watchman and corrupt individual, Sorin was unable to hide the depth of his corruption from Gareth.

"I'm fine," said Sorin, and this time, it wasn't a lie. In fact, he felt better than ever. It was like he'd been living his life blind thus far. This single step allowed him to see the world's true colors.

"Even so, the rest of us still need to recover," said Gareth. "We'll retreat fifty miles away and make camp before resting for three days. During that time, I'll inspect everyone thoroughly for contamination before we head into the deepest parts of the forest where the strongest predators are located.