Monarch of Profound Toxin

"What the fuck is that?"

"You have a house here?" Andihar asked. "Did you get your big blue minions to build it for you or did you actually do it yourself?"

"Dude," Eik said as he began walking toward the cozy little structure. "Of course it's not my house. Who the hell would build one here?"

"You just said you wanted to build a house here like four minutes ago," Gul reminded him, following on his heel. "Remember."

"… Shut up," Eik muttered, stomping up the rather nice garden path and making sure to give it a proper stink eye. "What's with this shitty stone work anyway, huh? Yo, Andi, you seein' this crooked ass paving?" Eik mocked jealously.

"Actually, this garden path looks strikingly similar to the one you have back at your hou—"

A big, blue hand rivaling the size of Eik's entire body suddenly exploded out of the front door with a bang and slapped the X-ranker across his every and sent him flying through the air like a bag of corn.

"That's my… garden you're talking about there… bitch." The manifestation of Profound Toxin stood in the doorway—this time in the shape of a nondescript humanoid figure, only possessing vaguely represented human features such as rounded eyes, a lipless mouth, and a nearly flat nose.

Thick clumps of gooey toxin made for a facsimile of human hair that looked more like the style of an anime character than real strands. As Profound Toxin's enormous slapping hand retracted to a more proportionally appropriate size, the avatar of Toxin leaned languidly against the polished wood.

Nods to Andihar and Gul were offered while all Eik got was a glimpse of the proverbial bird.

Both men stared, apparently still capable of being surprised despite everything they had been through since Eik's meteoric rise to unrivaled power. "Is that…" Gul trailed off as the blue, vaguely humanoid figure turned to look at him properly.

"Don't… step on my dandelions," muttered the gooey guy.

"Oh, sorry," Andihar and Gul chorused and took a few steps back only to notice that the dandelions were planted abundantly against the front of the house and nowhere near where they were standing.

"You don't even know what a dandelion looks like, do you?" Eik howled as he stomped his way out of a rocky, smoky crater in the ground, patting down his clothes for dust. "They're stepping in your lavenders, you violent bastard!"

"Oh…" Profound Toxin mumbled, looking from the bed of dandelions to the lavender growing along the edge of the paved garden path. "Then… don't step… on my lavenders."

"Won't happen again," Andihar reassured him with trepidation.

"And why are you planting dandelions on purpose, anyway?" Eik growled. "Their spores spread like crazy and they are a total pain in the ass to get rid of. It's basically an invasive species in a garden. How would you like it if someone planted something like that close to your property? Think of your neighbors-eighbors-eighbors!" he echoed across the painfully empty landscape.

"But… I don't have… any neighbors. I just… like the dandelions…" Profound Toxin's voice had grown slightly quieter as the conversation progressed.

"Hey, Eik," Andihar said with an expression of empathy. "How about you give Profound Toxin a break? No one's been hurt."

Eik's eyes snapped to Andihar, narrowed eyes staring him down. His eye lid twitched as he dragged a finger down his reddened, moderately swollen cheek. Silently he slowly pulled up his shirt and then his pant leg, showing of the welts where he had been hit by the gigantic, blue palm. "No one's been hurt, huh?"

Gul rolled his eyes. "You did insult his garden path, didn't you?"

"Is that something you slap someone over?" Eik questioned, exasperated.

"Yes," Profound Toxin interjected.

"You, shut it," Eik muttered.

"You're being unreasonably harsh, Eik," Andihar said. "Is it so terrible to have built a house and planted a few flowers?"

Put like that, a tiny little lump formed in Eik's throat. Even with a face that basically lacked any expressive human features, Profound Toxin still somehow managed to look dejected. Nuts, man… Why the hell did he have to be such a compassionate son of a gun, anyway?

Eik put his hands on his hips and sighed. "All right, fine. I'm sorry. Why did you do all of this anyway?" he asked. "I didn't know you liked plants."

The humanoid blob simply shrugged. "My nature has… influenced you, and your nature has influenced… me. You like… plants and a cozy house, so I… too, like plants and a cozy… house."

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Wait, I've been rubbing off on you too?" Eik asked. That had never really struck him as plausible before.

"Of… course… Over the course of… our time together, we have… become one and the same… we are one… Something like this was always… inevitable."

"How are you the same?" Gul asked, some of his usual grumpiness shining through his otherwise shell-shocked demeanor. "You were just having an argument."

"That is not—"

"How that works at all, dude," Eik finished before Profound Toxin could.

Both Gul and Andihar waited for the toxic duo to elaborate but nothing seemed forthcoming. "Okay…?"

"We have a house and garden at home, don't we?" Eik asked, continuing their previous conversation.

"That is… not mine to call… home."

"That's a steaming load of turds and you know it. Didn't you just say we are one and the same? Every bit of what is mine is yours. That includes the home," Eik snarled angrily. "And don't you dare make me repeat that sappy shit, so you'd better get it through that thick, squishy dome of yours the first time."

Despite the lack of proper expression, the widened eyes and the mouth hanging slightly ajar revealed enough of Profound Toxin's astonishment to leave no room for doubt. "I… I am…"

"I am building my own house next to yours here once everything is over and done with, however, so you better get rid of those damned dandelions before I move in next door," Eik grinned.

A trace of an experimental smile touched Profound Toxin's lips as well. "That is a… deal."

Gul put a hand on Eik's shoulder, putting himself between the two of them. "If I remember correctly, you've mentioned before that time flows differently here on Toxin than it does at home, no?" he asked.

Eik nodded as he knelt down to get a whiff of a flower seeded on Toxin. "Hm, it's… no different from the ones at home, surprisingly enough. Oh, and yes, that's right. Even after hours in here, it's usually not been more than thirty minutes by the time I come back out."

"Well, I was wondering," Gul continued. "Would it be possible to stay here for a little bit? I would like to familiarize myself with my new skill, if only for a little bit. We're approaching something terrible, after all."

Eik let himself fall into a sitting position "That's fine. I should check my levels, anyway"

But just as he was about to get started, he looked up to see Profound Toxin standing over him, hesitating to speak.

"What's up, homie?" he asked. "Do you have something to say?"'

"I welcome… the Supreme Divinity to… his realm…"

Eik raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Thanks, but I'm pretty sure I've been here loads of times before, mate."

Profound Toxin didn't seem to want to expound on its words but didn't seem to want to go away.

"Was there something else I could help you with?" Eik asked.

After a few more seconds of hesitation, Profound Toxin seemed to forget to open its mount but the words still flowed with the same cadence and tone that it always did—imitating Eik near perfectly but with the faltering of someone struggling to pronounce every syllable deliberately.

"I would… like to watch when you… interact with the messages from the…" it said but paused as the next words seemed to fill it with a deep sense of disgust. "the System…"

Eik chuckled and patted a patch of green next to him. "Plant you ass in the grass and let's get to it."

The blue humanoid simulated a humorous exhalation of air and did as instructed. Eik held up his arm and got started on the first messages.

Meanwhile, Andihar had moved a little ways away so as to not disturb the others as he brought out his shield. The crystalline formations of Azure Aegis flowed across its surface, reinforcing offensive and defensive capabilities along with a significant boost to its general utility.

With sharp, rapid movements, he practiced control over the crystal. For many years, combat training had been a token effort for both Gul and him. Administration of the family businesses had simply taken priority and slowly but surely pushed aside the daily practice that had been a stable of their younger years.

Training with purpose like he was doing now had already become unfamiliar territory but it felt good to realize that he was, once more, taking genuine steps toward getting stronger.

Closer to Eik and Profound Toxin, Gul immediately manifested his powers in his hands, the blue energy of Profound Toxin granted by the skill Toxic Taint weaving itself intricately into the darkness. It was clear that this substance was somehow capable of building itself onto his existing power almost seamlessly to allow him to harness it without having to get used to an entirely new way of fighting.

"Hey," he called to Eik who had just begun looking through the notifications. "Shouldn't you use this ability on more people? It seems seriously powerful, and with no downsides that I can tell so far."

Eik pursed his lips. "I probably will. Until now I haven't been able to use it again since Andihar but I definitely have another one in me still."

Gul raised his eyebrows. "Huh… Well, great!" he muttered with some surprise and went back to his experimentation.

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 364]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 365]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 36…]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 374]

[Acquired Monarch's Will — Lv. 375]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 255]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 256]

[Acquired Living Manifestation — Lv. 257]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 472]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 473]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 47…]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 482]

[Acquired Profound Toxin — Lv. 483]

"I'm hoping for a new evolution when I hit Level 500," Eik told Profound Toxin.

"I do not… enjoy this quantification of my… nature."

Eik shrugged. "Tough luck, dude. I kinda need this right now."

"I… know…"

***

After a couple of hours they were all ready to go back.

When Andihar and Gul made to say their goodbyes to the manifestation of Profound Toxin, the humanoid shape stopped the beefy elf with a hand laid flat on his chest. The movement was so fast that the man didn't even have the chance to register it before it connected.

"Wait…"

With a face full of trepidation, Andihar stood deathly still, silently obeying the words of this unfathomably ancient entity.

"You are… ready."

"Ready?" the elf asked. "Ready for what?"

A charge of blue shot from the center of Profound Toxin's body and through its arm as it answered.

"You are ready to… receive more of the Blue."