BXBX NOVEL Chapter 386 385: Serious Talk
Jahi PoV
Mom stared at me in silence for a few moments, leaning on her gargantuan blade as she slowly gathered her thoughts.
"So... Nua\'Morte. Ka\'Hondi. Both are Arch Fiends; Arch Fiend of Deathly Pestilence and Arch Fiend of Wrath respectively. Now, what do you know of what makes a Fiend a Fiend?"
I frowned at Mom as she stared at me quizzically, her ruby eyes glittering in the descending sun\'s light as she waited for an answer.
"You told me that they were creatures born from strong negative emotions tied to certain places or things. Specifically, you told me that Ka\'Hondi was born from the anger and hate that festered between two giant powers millennia ago, that those people grew to hate each other so much that something was born from their hate and given form."
"That\'s... true. To an extent. A normal Fiend is indeed born of potent, bountiful negative energies, and they usually fall under four domains; four domains that we\'ve managed to record \'names\' for, and understand what they are.
There\'s the Ka prefix, which deals with violence, anger, and bloodshed, and those Fiends tend to be angry, hateful beings that rarely manage to converse with others, even other Fiends; Ka\'Hondi is amongst the rare few that retains some form of... sentience and consciousness, being capable of thought and understanding consequences.
Then there\'s the Nua prefix, which tend to be Fiends related to decay, death, disease... physical rot is the most common amongst the Nua Fiends, and they are relaxed, incredibly durable creatures that understand that eventually... everything crumbles under the ultimate rot; time.
A rarer group of Fiends are the Tza Fiends; harbingers of change, deceit, and dark thirst for knowledge, the Tza Fiends hold secrets that could do both good and bad for the world. They\'re hungry for new knowledge, and they will do anything to obtain that knowledge, even bargaining their very existence to others at the chance to study something that intrigues them.
The prime example of that is Tza\'Yul, the Arch Fiend that the Empress has bound inside after displaying her arcane prowess to force it to yield... otherwise, such a proud, arrogant being of such vast arcane knowledge would never bend the knee.
Finally, the more... odd cluster of Fiends; the Sla, revelers and hedonists that lust after everything and pain or pleasure in excess. The Sla are both the easiest Fiends to kill, and the hardest all at the same time. Unpredictable in nature, they thrive off of one of the most common sins of mortals, meaning their power can be incredible...
Those four prefixes are the four domains of the Fiends, and made simple, they encompass four of the seven deadliest sins us mortals fall victim too; Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, and Lust, while all four are Prideful and Envious to the extreme.
That sound good for a recap of the Fiends?"
I gave her a nod, watching as she smiled wryly at me.
"Good, but it gets worse. Obviously, they aren\'t all bad, since Pride - in certain amounts - is healthy and useful. Envy is the same - the desire to obtain something pushing you further isn\'t wrong. But, it becomes a sin in excess.
Now, the Fiends are sinful creatures; obviously, since they were born in sin, they become sin itself. However, they encompass more than that sin; pestilence isn\'t a sin, nor is death, yet Nua Fiends all pertain to disease of some kind.
They can encompass good as well; Ka\'Hondi is amongst the few that isn\'t inherently evil, and that is because Ka\'Hondi also draws power from Honor and Valor. Tza\'Yul is an Arch Fiend of Arcane Knowledge. They\'ve provided good to the world as well... but that is still outweighed by their evil.
Now, why does this all matter? Why should I bother telling you - or reminding you - about Fiends that you will rarely ever see?
It\'s simple. Millennia ago, Fiends walked amongst the world freely, fighting amongst themselves to spread their respective \'domains\' amongst the mortals by establishing Ceremonial Grounds where they would draw power from. Those Grounds have all been destroyed or locked away with the sealing of the Fiends all those Millennia ago.
However, with the resurgence of Nua\'Morte, that suggests those seals placed amongst the Fiends are weakening, and that means that the world is about to get a whole lot more dangerous. Creatures that are nearly unkillable will resurface and begin to once more spread their domain, and with such a powerful Fiend living in our basement, we need to make sure you are strong enough to keep that status quo.
From here on out, the things you see will become more unexplainable; things will happen that simply shouldn\'t be possible. Creatures that should be weak will become real threats to cities, maybe even countries. As Heir to our House, I need to make sure that you understand that going forwards.
When we get this over with, your Mother and I will sit you down properly and talk this over, but from here on out, understand that what we might face at each location isn\'t just some normal monsters or people.
They could be subject to those Fiends, or the Fiends themselves. Things will be stronger from here on out, and unluckily for you, that Light Magic you are so proud of? It\'s like poison to Fiends, same with Dark Magic as well. The two fall under the same umbrella for them, and they despise it with a passion. The way fire can melt flesh, Light and Dark Magic can severely injure those things that are incredibly hard to kill with such ease.
You, Jahi, are a threat to them, and while the more common Fiends might fall to your blade and magics easily, the real threats - the Arch Fiends - will not. They will see a threat to them, and move to eliminate it before it can kill them too. Thankfully, Nua\'Morte can\'t do much after just managing to escape its seal, and it\'ll take time for the others to escape as well, so we have time to get you stronger. Like... Knight level stronger."
My brain felt warm after such a large influx of both incredibly useful information and the recap of older knowledge still processing as Mom stepped forwards and clapped my shoulder, smirking at me as she said "Mull it over, but just know you have a year or two before things go to hell in a hand basket. More than enough time to whip you into shape and begin preparing for the worst of it. And tie up some loose ends as well... Either way though, oh daughter mine, it seems things just got a little more interesting~!"