LIMINALITY
Table of Contents
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Chapter 42 Chapter 43 Chapter 44 Chapter 45 Chapter 46 Chapter 47 Chapter 48 Chapter 49 Chapter 50 Chapter 51 Chapter 52 Chapter 53 Chapter 54 Chapter 56 Chapter 55 Chapter 56 Chapter 57 Chapter 58 Chapter 59 Chapter 60 Chapter 61 Chapter 62 Chapter 63 Chapter 64 Chapter 65 Chapter 66 Chapter 67 Chapter 68 Chapter 69 ENDChapter 15
Love and hate, peace and war. Janus exist outside of the rules that govern them. He is a free spirit who roams the universe and does as he pleases. His curiosity for life and death often leads him to seek out new experiences, only to learn that everything he does is meaningless in the uncaring cosmos.
Yet he still can't fathom how beautiful the world is despite the blaring sounds of their weapons clashing together with enough strength to tear the fabric of reality apart. To be honest, he could care less about whether he believes in such foolish ideals.
He thrust, blocked, and swung his beloved spear against Cthulhu, who, in return, showed no sign of retreating in this battle. All while being forced to deflect any attacks coming all around, as no more than twelve in total of these eldritch abominations were present here at the moment.
Its magnificent aurora of this wonderful night shows shooting stars dancing above while a bright, luminous moon lights up the dark skies as if it were dawn. But such a heavenly sight shouldn't be an excuse to forget that one must keep oneself safe from harm, especially when they literally destroyed half of the forest.
Hundred kilometers of the once harmonized trees that surrounded him are now gone as their scorching ground has been recently replaced by cooled stone. Moving through the sky with the spear in hand, he and his duelist moved with unbound speed from the ground, pushing one another to their very limits.
The law or concept of time itself holds no restriction on their bodies, ignoring logic or reason in their pursuit to obtain the very essence of being victorious in this fight. Like falling meteoroids, they flew into the air and clashed with one another with resonating blows that would instantly obliterate anything near their vicinity.
To the eyes of a spectator, an individual would see nothing but glimpses of trails and their clashing weapons that cannot be discerned by their vision alone, appearing as nothing but mere flashes of color that pass in a blur. However, to the combatants, they stood face to face with one another, exchanging deadly blows of weapon that tore through reality as if it were fabric of space.
At each other's throats, the battle seemed to last forever and ever. A seemingly endless and glorious exchange of martial skills Their movements flowed like water, yet they struck like lightning. Lightning that rends the earth and rocks of mountain tops. And they are both blindly striking at one another, hoping to catch their foe with their guard lowered.
Even with the overwhelming numbers of his alternative versions, they nonetheless held their ground against the primordial deity with exceptional strength, agility, and coordination. It's obvious that one-on-one would result in their defeat, as some lay dead under their feet.
Janus is enjoying every minute of this, with this much power coursing through him. It's like nothing else matters. The thought of dying just wasn't there. His blood was boiling. He felt alive. A sense of satisfaction comes from getting something out of this.
Whether he wins or loses, none of it matters in the end. Because he realized that he wasn't truly the only one in all of existence who had no value. Where he himself believed to be the unbeatable force of nature and to transcend all things.
Despite how incredibly wrong he was, Janus discovered that he wasn't even alone. He is merely a single figure among the countless legions of other individuals like himself. It was a realization that made him realize that he wasn't even at the top of the food chain.
Bringing their weapons together, the two of them push while half of Cthulhu's personal alternative versions were severally injured or outright killed. "Very impressive," the great dreamer said with a low, booming voice, "you managed to kill some of my copies. A feat that no one had accomplished before."
Not a single word came out of his mouth as the god of time continued to push forward with growing excitement, while feeling a great rush of adrenaline surging throughout his entire body: "I don't know about you, but I'm growing to have fondness for you, and you're giving me a good challenge."
"Is that so?" Cthulhu asked calmly, blocking any incoming swings and parrying some of them as the impact from those attacks sent Janus back a few feet in the air. "And why is that? The reason for your admiration might surprise you," he said, flying close to him, who attempted to land a hit on him but ended up being stabbed multiple times across his own chest and neck.
Janus knew both of them would never be permanently destroyed as neither could die until destiny finally decided on who should be victor, teleporting further away to give them some space. "Tell me," he said, briefly stopping, "is this your true power?" Inspecting his own spear as it's covered in strange green fluids from its victim.
Cthulhu sighed, shaking his head sideways in disappointment. "I'm currently weakened at the moment," there was a hint of sadness in his voice. "This is not what I have come for, child," he exclaimed at him with a somber tone. "I wanted to test you, learn everything from you, and see what makes you tick. That is why I am here," she added with a deepened expression.
"Test me? I thought that would be obvious," he spat sarcastically, pointing his own spear at him. "Well, you saw what I am capable of, what I can do when pushed to the corner, and what I would do to get myself the motivation to fight someone on equal footing," keeping his guard up in case his enemy tried something funny, "but now? Your here to keep talking, or shall we finish what we've started?"
Slow, menacing laughter erupted from Cthulhu as he gestured, "If that is what you wish for, then who am I to deny a fellow god who's on the same level as I?" Janus couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this declaration, "You had lots of fun butchering and killing my other selves. Therefore, I'll let you enjoy yourself a little longer." Waving his own hand at him, the god of time is left bewildered, "and that is your distraction."
Grasping this fact, Janus once again felt one of their magical staves piercing through his own back. "Nice try, but—" Something is wrong; his abilities are not functioning properly. Its as if someone nullified his own powers without him realizing it. "How did you..." turning his attention behind, an uninjured replica of his enemy held a blank and emotionless stare that signifies a nonchalanced expression.
"Child," Cthulhu pitied and said to him, "you were so focused on proving your superiority over me that you failed to notice an unseen danger right beside you. A blunder that most arrogant gods would make, costing them their own lives," he finished, revealing several more of his copies hovering over him from the ground to the sky.
He felt stupid; how could he allow this to happen? That is the most common plan anyone would do, but because of his own foolishness, Janus had fallen for a trap that a logical person would try to prevent from happening, and he made the big mistake of not foreseeing this. How laughable, even when it's written clear as day.
Nodding his eyes, "Now prepare yourself," raising his staff in front of him, "this will be a lesson you will learn for underestimating someone who's more than meets the eye," then his weapon illuminated in a green aura as others followed suit.
Every single version of Cthulhu began to chant in the low, raspy language of an alien dialect unknown to the universe itself. The words resonated through the fabric of time and space, rippling the spacetime continuum in an ominous echo that could only be heard by the very ears of the gods themselves.
"Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah-nagl fhtagn!"
As they chanted, Janus could feel the very foundation of his own essence, and his body vibrated in accordance with the eldritch melody. The cacophony of voices seemed to burrow itself into his ears and penetrate deeper into his mind, echoing throughout every fiber of his being.
Their intonations became louder and louder, gradually increasing in intensity until they reached a fever pitch. And then, without warning, a blast of pure, unfiltered blackish, green energy enveloped the entire surrounding area of the ruined landscape like a tidal wave. It washed over everything, enveloping everything within its radiant embrace.
But he still held on, mentally gritting his teeth as he gripped his spear tightly while vibrating violently. With all the strength he could muster, Janus gathered the remnants of his power into a concentrated attack, resulting in his eyes glowing different colors for every second as his whole body trembled, crackling with untold power.
With one yell, every voice in his head spoke through him. Shifting the enclosed dimensional space to fall into pieces, causing the thunderous sound of a million glasses breaking at the same time and unleashing a devastating shockwave that pierced through the air like a hot knife through butter.
Devouring sections of time and its land, erasing anything in ten kilometers around him, vanished into a non-existence state, where such a concept of being the figment of God's creation is entirely obliterated forevermore as his echoing scream stretched out the dimensional fabric of reality.
Strands of time were pulled out of their natural stream by the sudden shift in space, for he became the rift, which in reality pulsated with an unearthly violet hue. Its appearance was sickening to look at; it was as if an invisible, all-consuming vortex had appeared from thin air and was ready to suck anything unfortunate enough to wander into its vicinity.
And as the final embers of the spell faded away, a vast cloud of dust rose into the air as a result of the disturbance, obscuring everything within the range of the horizon. Only when the mist had cleared was the damage of Janus own destructive might revealed in its terrifying glory.
Not a sight of the land, trees, grass, hills, or whatever is present in his eyes. None of it remained, no trace whatsoever that it existed, having let his body float with his head hanging low to the air and his eyes now focused on the beautiful starry sky.
With a visible gap in his heart from the inflicted wound he had received, Janus wanted to say something, anything, but no voice came. Instead, small trickles of purple liquid fell to the air and flew off into the distance, showing how damaged his very own being truly is.
He was so tired and mentally exhausted from what had transpired in the last hour of combat that it took most of his mental and physical state to not collapse to the floor right this instant. What kept Janus floating and continuing to move was them.
"We actually..." Huffing, trying to get his voice out, "defeated them," a wave of relief washed over the narrator, "you have no idea...how glad we are that this is finally over," detailing the tedious battle they have to endure throughout the whole night.
After hearing that, Janus simply gave a weak nod, unable to utter any other word other than acknowledging their victory. But he knows this is far from over; this was only the beginning, and deep within his essence, that truth is worrisome.
"I didn't take fondly of what we had done," Vesta proclaimed with regret in her voice, "using violence is never the answer," expressing her displeasure for her belief in non-violent methods in contrast to their belief, "and it pains me to do such action when we know there were no choice in the matter," expressing her sympathies towards those they have wounded and killed.
Quirinus snickered at her response. "It's kill or be killed," he responded to her belief while rolling his eyes. "This is the same reason why I've grown disconnected from showing mercy," he said, openly disagreeing with her words and notion. "I've seen countless wars and seen plenty of men die for their causes; thusly, the lesson I've learned is that this is a world where everyone has to fight to survive."
Out of nowhere, Culsans laughed out loud at everything that had happened: "This is certainly entertaining!" He shouted with excitement, "What a crazy night it had become!" Seeing what the dreamlands have in store for them, "all the insanities, wonders, horrors, and all sorts of things!" Finding enjoyment out of all the madness that went down.
"It's finally over." Happiness streamed across Saturn's elderly tone of voice. "I'm glad it is over; all this stress has got to my mind." He was so happy, he began clapping, "You—I mean, we all showed them what they got themselves into. Oh how it felt; such empowerment surged through me as you all fought, and fought, and fought again until our enemy's fallen." Speaking for himself, they all made him proud.
While the rest were content with what had transpired, Janus felt happy for the longest time in his life, having accomplished what was his desire. The deed was done, and he understood that he has ambition like everyone else, which gave him the necessary drive to do what was necessary.
"What now, Janus?" Portunus asked, "Now that the ordeal is over, what do you intend to do?" Questioning the future that lay ahead of them.
At the question, he glanced to the ground, seeing nothing but the deep, flattened rocky ground beneath his own back. "I don't know," he whispered in honesty, having absolutely no clue what to do next. "I don't know..." Closing his eyes shut, he said, "But all I know is that this has taught us something that matters," breathing the stale, warm air in and out.
"And that is...?"
"That strength isn't measured through powers nor quantity," he spoke quietly while he felt his blood coursing through his veins, feeling the heartbeat drumming steadily and strongly. "Instead, it' the resolve you have to overcome the greatest obstacle. That was what drives you to go beyond anything else." Slowly, he lifted his left arm up and out, extending to the sky above with a final answer in mind.
"Purpose to have."
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