Chapter 2: Four-Lifetime Lock Released!
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"I know the truth."
Riven stood back up and looked into her eyes.
"Elisa, we will find justice... somehow we have to—"
Although Elisa was shocked at first, she shook her head and looked down.
"It’s pointless."
"...?"
"It doesn’t matter if it was her or not in the end... What can we even do? Riven, you’re not even Awakened and... my power... it’s all gone... we can’t fight back."
"But—"
"Stop saying stupid things and sit down! Enough! Do you want my sister to kill you or something?!"
"..."
Riven realized she was not wrong.
Indeed.
There was nothing they could do.
Both of them were still powerless. There was no chance, no path forward.
Riven and Elisa would lead the same lives as before, and nothing would change.
He sat down, deep in silence. Elisa looked back at him for a few seconds and then returned her gaze to the television.
She began crying silently once more.
Riven was broken-hearted, feeling the despair of a predestined fate pressing down on him.
What was the point of returning to the past if he had no way to fight back?
No strength, no connections, no nothing!
Maybe he possessed some knowledge of the future, but so what? It was not as if a mere mortal could do anything with it.
Perhaps if he had returned to the very beginning of the Appearance of the Gates it might have mattered, but now? Twenty years in? It was hopeless.
Riven returned to his room and dropped onto the bed, watching the sunset through the window.
"Did I live all those lives for nothing?"
As Riven began to sink into despair, something suddenly appeared in his vision.
BBZZZTTT!
Holographic windows buzzed into existence, glitched and strange, as if something was trying to claw them away from him. Yet they fought back.
"W-What...?! What’s happening?!"
It was absolutely bizarre, as though some force was attempting to take away whatever was coming toward him.
"Stop...! Stop!!!"
He screamed, extending his hand toward the blinding light. The glitching windows buzzed even more violently.
[ERROR, ERROR, ERROR, ERROR...]
Red messages of "Error" constantly flickered in front of him. Riven covered his ears and groaned in pain as the loud sound became horrifyingly sharp and annoying.
"What the hell is happening?! Who are you?! What is this?"
As he screamed in fury, Riven’s eyes widened.
It stopped.
Then all the strange numbers and letters rearranged themselves into a single window.
And that window suddenly divided into four.
[Temporal Delay Complete.]
[Four-Lifetime Lock Released.]
[The {Demonic Authority of the King of Gluttony, Beelzebub} has been unlocked.]
[Awakening Successful!]
[Class: Predator]
[SSS-Rank Talent Obtained: Dormant Apex]
[Monster Eater]: You can consume Monsters to gain power and Level Up your Class.
[Gluttony]: There’s a chance to absorb the Stats and Skills of what you consume.
[Talent Devourer]: You have a small chance to devour one of the Talents of what you consume.
"No way... I... I awakened!"
Riven almost screamed, only for his voice to be cut short as he saw the next notification.
[x10,000 Reward Multiplier Activated.]
[The {Demonic Authority of the King of Greed, Mammon} has been unlocked.]
[Note: This Authority was sealed across previous iterations. Delay ended.]
"...?"
It did not end there either.
[Love Investment Authority Online]
[The {Demonic Authority of the King of Lust, Asmodeus} has been unlocked.]
[Target Detected: Elisa Frostbane]
[Status: Critically Crippled | Potential: Supreme+]
"..."
And finally, an ancient book-shaped window opened, blazing with golden-red flames.
[Sovereign Codex Recognized.]
[The {Demonic Authority of the King of Pride, Lucifer} has been unlocked.]
[Host has been marked as a "Lord". The Frontier Wastes await their new Ruler.]
[Domain-Building Functions have been unlocked. Please claim your Territory and initiate Ascension as a Lord.]
Riven sat on his bed and then heard a voice.
"What’s happening? Why are you screaming?"
It was Elisa.
Riven fell silent for a moment, his body drenched in cold sweat.
He was euphoric right now, yet he tried to hold it all back.
He wanted to scream, to kick the walls and laugh like a maniac.
But he did not want to make a scene in front of his wife.
However...
"I’m fine."
That was all he said as he stood up. A wicked smile appeared on his face.
It finally happened.
Something had happened!
The meaning of living those four lives had been there this entire time!
These were his Awakening "Authorities" all along.
He was destined for so much more!
But it had all been taken away from him, four times in a row, before he mysteriously returned to the past.
And now, everything was going to change.
Oh yes, it was.
No more Mister Nice Guy.
No more cowering in despair, hiding from danger, and laying low.
This time, Riven was going to claim everything with his own hands, stop those bastards from ruining humanity’s chances of survival, and help his wife finally take revenge on the bitch of a sister she had.
But first, he had to try something with her.
"Elisa... I’m sorry for what I said earlier."
He walked back to her and smiled, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.
She eyed his hand with mild annoyance, yet she did not seem as angry as before. Perhaps having opened her heart like that made her see him differently, or maybe not.
The truth was that Riven did this to test his Third Authority.
The power of Asmodeus.
In this world, every Awakened obtained an Authority.
Some were minor, belonging to nameless beings that had been imprinted into their existence.
Others awakened powerful Authorities based on Ancient Gods, such as Elisa’s Divine Authority of Skadi, the Goddess of Winter.
But Riven’s Authorities were perhaps something that had never been seen before, and he had received four of them from four different lifetimes.
Beelzebub, Gluttony.
Mammon, Greed.
Lust, Asmodeus.
Pride, Lucifer.
Four of the seven cardinal sins had granted him incredibly powerful cheats that would make even the greatest Awakened in the world piss their pants in shock and disbelief.
And fear of the endless growth that Riven could achieve!
Now he had no limits. Not even the sky was the limit. Nothing had a limit for his growth.
He already felt stronger on his own. His stats had likely increased a little from all the Authorities stacking together.
But it was clear that to grow faster he would need to enter a Gate.
In this world Towers did not exist. That had been his Second Life. However, Gates did exist and were similar to the Towers. Some were enormous, containing several Stratums.
But for now, he should at least try to do something for her and test whether his Authorities could stack and combine together.
"Investment..." he thought. "Elisa, do you want to drink some tea? Let’s relax for now. Sorry about what I said earlier."
"..." Elisa blushed a little but nodded silently. "Fine. But don’t add too much sugar this time, okay?"
"Sure."
It was time to test that Authority first.
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