Chapter 168: The Path to Supremacy
Gwen's workshop was simple and old fashioned, filled with books, alchemical ingredients and artifacts.
In truth, she had no use for artifacts, after all she was a sorcerer from the age of the nightmare spell and thus, she had access to memories that helped her sorcery more than some ancient artifact.
She read ancient books she had learned about herself, documenting plenty of long forgotten knowledge.
The books themselves were not original but instead replicas Gwen and her people had made using the knowledge they learned about in their nightmares.
There was knowledge about Mictlan, the first divine realm to be infected by the nightmare spell and the first divine realm to fall to the dream realm.
The books talked about the supremes of Mictlan. The winged serpent the last descendant of sun god, the eagle, who's madness encompassed the heavens, the otter who sailed the oceans of the sun realm, the eel who was banished for the crimes of her mother, the leopard who's spear had slain fallen gods, the ape who led an army of unstoppable warriors and the Hummingbird who led a legion through the skies.
All of those sovereigns were extraordinary individuals who attained the throne of supremacy, and later on some of them had even challenged the fifth nightmare and became gods.
Mad gods yes, but gods nonetheless.
Her grandfather had even done a dark and terrible ritual, with the help of her grandmother Verdona, to take over the mantle of cursed tyrant condemnation, who was once Ketzelkan...
Now, with her grandfather long dead, the cursed tyrant had been freed from the ritual and returned to Mictlan, what was left of it, that is.
There were other stories of course, but they were vague and fragmented as not many people conquered nightmares that happened outside of Mictlan.
But still, they had managed to gain some knowledge about other places of the ancient past, such as the place known as the forgotten shore, the tomb of Ariel and the chained isles.
None of them had clear ways of attaining supremacy... Well to be specific, she knew how but she lacked the necessary traits of a supreme.
A Supreme is someone who claims rulership over the world, or at least a part of the world. Their distinct trait is the authority they wield and how they wield it. Each supreme is unique and their will is naturally different from other monarchs. This distinct trait is born from an act of supreme defiance, which can be many things.
'Grandpa never had an act of defiance himself... But grandma Verdona did...'
Her grandmother's species, the anodite was much like humans in their ascension, in the sense that she needed to establish a domain to become supreme, but at the same time she could also form multiple cores, making her possess the best traits of both the humans and the noble creatures.
Gwen brought out a parchment and wrote her thoughts about supremacy. This was something she had been doing and researching for years now.
Supreme beings had to possess a consciousness vast enough to encompass an entire realm, leading them to abandon parts of their former selves in pursuit of divinity. This was something Gwen could handle, as her heritage in of itself made her inhuman.
Much like Ben, she was not a full blooded human and Thus her mind was strange and inhumane, so she had assumed supremacy would be easy for someone like her... But she had thought wrong, unfortunately.
Gwen had met some of the conditions to become supreme, such as mastering her source element, mana, which was a unique form of soul essence that only a few could use.
The people of the beast realm saw her as their leader, her fame had even surpassed that of Ben Tennyson in the last ten years, so those people could become the subjects of her nascent domain.
But she was still lacking when it came to the strength of her soul and the capacity to wield her will.
She had the necessary will, yes, but she did not know much about wielding it. After all, Gwen was a sorcerer who used magic and her aspect to change the world, not her will. The two might be similar but they were profoundly different.
She could not perform an act of defiance without the necessary will and so she was met with a dead end.
"You do realize staring at books all day won't help you become a demigod right?"
Gwen turned her head up to see who had said that, in truth she did not need to do that as she knew the identity of the visitor quite well.
Standing beside the doorframe and leaning on it was a breathtakingly beautiful woman.
She was tall and slender and there was an air of mystery around her, as if her eyes held countless questions and mysteries.
She was, of course, Charmcaster. The second most powerful sorcerer from the beast realm. A woman who was once her mortal enemy, but one who had set aside their differences to protect their people... What's left of them that is.
"You don't say, hmmm what should I do instead? Pray to the dead gods?"
Charmcaster shrugged.
"Maybe listen to me for once and try a ritual or two."
"Oh like your uncle? Who wanted to harness power from the path of profanity?"
"You say it as if your grandparents hadn't harnessed the powers of a cursed god before."
"They did it out of desperation, unlike your uncle who was a power hungry Maniac."
Charmcaster chuckled at her words.
"And aren't we desperate, Gwendolyn? If anything we're even more desperate than they were. When I told you to help me use the power of your cousin while he was stuck as Alien x, you refused and that playing with a Celestialsapien is dangerous, right? And Now, you also refuse to listen to me."
Gwen remained seated, however she was slowly getting slightly better.
Charmcaster plans have always involved dangerous and borderline suicidal ideas to gain powers. Whether it was to gain new abilities, increase the rank of their aspects or even ascend in rank.
"Spare me your sarcasm. It's not helping, and if you're hinting at your most recent idea, then yes, I refuse to listen to you, because, and I say this with no offense, you are the craziest bitch I have ever met in my life."
Charmcaster only smiled at her words, then she summoned a storage memory and brought out a simple piece of paper, with a single paper inside.
The paper had a drawing resembling a gargantuan golem on it.
"It's our best chance. Forget the fourth nightmare and attaining supremacy naturally for now. Why bother becoming a god yourself when we could simply build ourselves one?"
There it was... Charmcaster's latest idea, one that was even more audacious than the rest.
It involved the creation of golems, something which Charmcaster was a master at due to her aspect.
Her plan was to create a golem so powerful, it could not only help them get rid of Azarax's army, but also be powerful enough to cross the realm boundary and enter the realm of war god.
A supreme Titan golem.
Such a creature was far above what Charmcaster was capable of, but with Gwen's sorcery and magic, it could work.
On paper, the idea sounds brilliant. No sane person would refuse such a plan, as it would bring salvation to their people. However, nothing is free in this world and this golem would require a steep price.
Charmcaster's aspect itself was not that strong, as her golems were not true creatures.
She planned to augment this golem using sacrificial sorcery, the same one the people of the forgotten shore had used long ago and the same one that her banished uncle had been a master at.
Charmcaster said only nightmare creatures would be sacrificed to give birth to a supreme Titan... But sacrificial sorcery never ended well.
And more importantly, Charmcaster's plan involved building a golem with a spirit, a bound one sure, but a spirit nonetheless.
It did not take a genius to figure out that a supreme Titan, born out of the blood of countless nightmare creatures, was a bad idea. One that could lead to their demise...
But right now, Gwen was running out of options.
She had not found the path to supremacy yet, and there was no way that she could challenge the fourth nightmare With her companions...
And so, with the plague of steel invading their realm and no other option, Gwen was forced to make a gamble.
She looked at Charmcaster, her mortal enemy turned into an unlikely ally and rubbed her temple.
"... How long would it take for the golem to be built?"
Charmcaster did not smile or anything, as if she knew Gwen would agree from the very start. She simply handed her the piece of paper and said in a slightly bored voice:
"With the galvan's technology and your magic, I'd say about seven months... Of course, we'd also need to send some of our best champions to fetch us some Corrupted and great abominations."
"I'll ask Rook, Kevin and Ben to go....well, I suppose there's no point in procrastinating. Let's start now?"
Charmcaster raised an eyebrow.
"You seem slightly too eager about this, don't tell me..." She suddenly covered her chest with her hands and turned away. "But Gwen! We can't! What would Kevin think? His girlfriend cheating on him with an attractive witch? He would be heartbroken!"
"..."
"..."
"Get the hell out of my workshop and go prepare your equipment."
"Yes ma'am!"
Gwen let out a long sigh... She had a feeling this would not end well at all.