Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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[It started as an act of protection.]

[We, Divine Bloods, just wanted to protect our own. The vulnerability of our blood was a glaring weakness that everybody exploited heavily. I personally witnessed many of my kin slaughtered through that same exploitation.]

[To protect ourselves and our descendants, we created some sort of a machine that could give a 'coating' to our blood, a protective film if you will. One that would resist the harmful tools of our enemies against us.]

[Even with our apparent excellence, building this machine caused us to stumble a lot because our physiology was just that different. We are unique, even amongst ourselves.]

[Because at our core, we're just blood. We don't need flesh, organs, or bones. Everything else was just a convenient addition to us. But of course, existing merely as floating ounces of blood in space makes us extremely vulnerable.]

[The flesh, organs, and bones we crafted for ourselves were for protection, yet they also made us unique from each other, and that is what was making it difficult for us.]

[But through years of hard work and effort, we managed to do it.]

[I can still remember the day when the prototype was built. We called it the 'Phantasmal Furnace'. It's the machine that would give our blood a protective coating that made us resistant to harmful elements.]

[This machine was immediately put to the test because we suffered another attack from The Brood. As usual, they sent waves of Screechers and Heat Bugs—the same army combination that usually slaughters my kind by the thousands within minutes.

[But, with the Phantasmal Furnace, we prevailed for the first time in a while.]

[We killed all of them. The voices of the Screechers couldn't stop us, and the Heat Bugs weren't able to melt our blood because of the protective coating...well, not as fast as they had before.]

[My kin reveled in this victory, and in this high, we even launched a counterattack. We raided one of their strongholds. We got rid of three nests in quick succession, forcing the Brood to suffer immense loss.]

[News of our victory and counterattack shook the entire Chaos Realm. They couldn't believe that we won, but the evidence was clear.]

[You can imagine just how high we felt at that moment. I think that even our fallen were laughing and rolling in the afterlife because of this.]

[Because of that, the Phantasmal Furnace became our Holy Instrument, one that we must swear to protect and worship with our lives. Without it, we were vulnerable, so it only makes sense for us to protect it at all costs.]

[Beyond that, the Phantasmal Furnace at that time was just a prototype—a barely finished product. It hasn't shown us what it could truly do. There was still a lot of work ahead of us, and the buzz from our victory made us crazed and greedy.]

[We wanted more.]

[And I guess this was where we got lost in the translation. Because what started as a simple preservation act turned into a plot to lord over the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm.

[As we built and enhanced the capabilities of the Phantasmal Furnace, the miracles it brought us were immensely life-changing.]

[Our unique physiologies no longer mattered too much. Our lifespans were extended, and our living conditions were improved. Heat no longer evaporated our blood; instead, it purified us. This old weakness and vulnerability is now turned into a tool for us to ascend. And it wasn't just limited to that.]

[Year by year, we steadily grew more powerful. We started as a mere colony, but within a mere decade, we expanded into a galactic empire that nobody could ignore.]

[We, Divine Bloods, have turned ravenous at some point. With the Phantasmal Furnace, everything was possible for us.

[The ability to plunder the memories of our fallen enemies?] We had that. The ability to seamlessly pass on information regardless of distance? We have that. What about turning our enemies into puppets? Making them unwilling spies to their own kind for us? You guessed it! We have that too.]

['Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' This was true for us too. As we grew more powerful, we demanded more, not only for ourselves but also for our surroundings.]

[Our belief that we were born 'divine' became even stronger than before, especially now that we were practically the most dominant force in this Chaos Realm.]

[Communing with the Phanstasmal Furnace was no longer a simple act of protection for us. It became an act of ascension. The reason behind its creation has been warped by time and excessive greed for more.]

[Before I knew it, our world and my kin were no longer the same. In that time, status was determined by how many 'Ascensions' one had. At some point, the right to use the Phantasmal Furnace has been given some sort of a price tag.]

[As one of the engineers that worked on the very first furnace, I'm usually swamped with work.]

[Don't get me wrong. They didn't exploit me. They couldn't because, in their eyes, I was no less than a god, not by virtue of strength, but by wisdom. They didn't want to offend me because they wanted me to keep making furnaces for them, and they would do everything to make that a certainty.]

[Because I'm always occupied, I remained mostly ignorant of what's happening around me. I usually lock myself away in my office, drowning in my research.]

[They told me that my work wasn't far from being done. They said that our enemies were constantly figuring out a way to counter our progress. Sure, I've seen that our situation was becoming better, but I also knew not to underestimate the large forces of the Chaos Realm, so I believed their lies.]

[When I said that they were determined to keep me working, I meant it. Because there were multiple times when they would show me fabricated scenes or stage plays to make me believe that our situation remained dire.]

[It's ridiculous, but at first, I wholeheartedly believed them.]

[Thinking about it now, they were probably laughing at me behind my back. Thinking that for someone who's considered to be one of the brightest minds of the race, I was pretty stupid and naive for believing their lies.]

[But as their requirements for me became more absurd and demanding, I started suspecting. I became more convinced that something was wrong because every time I show even a hint of defiance, they will immediately do something to set me on the 'right path.']

[From then on, I knew that I had to know the truth, no matter how awful it was. Doing that wasn't really hard for me. All I needed to do was to attach a few additional things to the furnaces I make, which appears innocuous but could actually record information that went straight to me and was written in a code only I can understand.]

[I even built a hidden base right under their noses and they never suspected a thing.]

[But, as I gradually compiled the information I had received so far, I was chilled.]

[We, Divine Bloods, had become tyrants. And I, of course, am not blameless. In fact, without me, they probably couldn't have done half of those things, so I'm just as guilty as they are.]

[I...]

[I am guilty. Because of my creations, my kin were no longer the people I once thought they were. All of them have succumbed to the allure of power.]

[No, this isn't about us becoming tyrants or the conquerors of this chaos realm. Any race that's powerful enough will eventually have this kind of desire; that's nature at work there.

[What horrified me is how perverse my kin has become, no less than because of the furnaces I built.]

[We've come to the point where we're no longer afraid of others. We have practically had this entire Chaos Realm under our heel, yet because of our greed and lust for more, the weapons we usually aim at our enemies are now pointed at each other.]

[It was a mad scramble for hegemony. A grand tournament to see who can truly ascend to the throne and be crowned as the Divine Blood Emperor—one that could command the entire race, lord over this chaos realm, and lead his people to conquer other chaos realms and, eventually, the entire Primitive Universe.]

[I was already waist deep into this mess before I even knew it, and my options were very limited.]

[But beyond that, I mostly just felt profound sadness because I thought I was helping. I thought I was fighting for the good cause in my own way. All I ever wanted was to be useful to my people and give them sanctuary. I've once sworn to contribute my abilities to protect my kin, yet it was my own kin that used my creations to hurt each other.]

[I didn't want to be part of this mess anymore. I've already done enough damage as is, so, I plotted my disappearance. And as one of the brightest minds of the Divine Bloods, this was but a simple matter to me.]

[Alas, the real mess was only just starting...]