Chapter 44: Exotic Summon: Jovan Ritez
The next day.
Under the morning sun and gentle light over the garden, Aidan, Solenne, and Tom stood under the giant oak tree.
"It’s time." Aidan rubbed his palms. "Tom, you better pick a target I can recruit."
"I can’t pick a target, Master!" Tom snorted. "I am just nudging the result so that it is close to what you want! So you have to pick better."
Aidan smiled wryly. "Fine, fine. Let’s start."
Exotic Summoner!
As usual, an ethereal connection formed between Aidan and his target.
Something only he could see, a slit in time-space involving only him and his target, whether the target was dead or alive. The only condition to satisfy the summoning condition of this talent was the requirement of being exotic.
Aidan’s consciousness drifted over the portal.
In front of him was a world of depression.
All sorts of negativity flooded this place.
Gigantic pillars with unknown symbols and carvings, broken statues reaching thousands of kilometers high.
The entire planet was... destroyed, covered in a miasma of carnage, death, and ruin.
Aidan was at the highest point of this world, in front of a black throne that burned with black flames.
Upon the throne sat someone.
Humanoid, with a crimson neon-liquid crown.
No skin, only a glassy sheen, jet black.
A dark-gold light armor with white glowing patterns was the only thing that allowed light onto his face and showed its outline.
Aidan was familiar with that expression. He had worn it in many lives before they ended and new ones began.
The expression of someone who had lost everyone dear to him and could only make peace with it, whether he liked it or not.
***
[Jovan Ritez]
[Race: Human]
[Rank: Divine | Final Stage]
—Titles—
[Refused One]
[The Noir Who Taint All]
—Stats—
[Attack = Divine-10]
[Speed = Divine-10]
[Defense = Divine-10]
[Health = Divine-10]
[Control = Divine-10]
—Talents—
[Cursed Vessel: Colored King Black (X)]
[Star of Miss Fortune (SSS)]
***
Aidan’s eyes were shining.
’This is crazy! A Divine-rank, and that too at the peak! Just what I wanted.’ Aidan was excited.
’I can’t afford to lose him.’
"Hey, brother. How are you?" Aidan asked with a smile.
Jovan’s ears twitched, and the colors over him flickered before his eyes opened. Surprisingly, they were white-gold.
"I... would like to go back to what I was doing before you called me out." Jovan spoke, his voice holding no emotion. "Can you leave?"
Aidan looked around. "Aren’t you bored here? Come with me. We’ll have fun. I see you’ve got a troubled face as well. Maybe I can help you."
"But I am already dead." Jovan looked around. "It’s just... I couldn’t move on, so I am bound to this world. The world I... destroyed. My world."
Aidan blinked. "Really? It doesn’t look like you destroyed it."
Jovan stared at Aidan. "I destroyed it. My talent brings misfortune to people around me and turns it into fortune for me. One fortune wasn’t really a fortune. It was a curse, and I accepted it. And that led to this world’s destruction."
"So I destroyed it. Now, would you leave?"
Aidan sighed. ’Tom, I need help.’
[Tom: I figured it out. There are threads still connected to him. Threads of people who are alive. Five threads. They... don’t seem to harbor goodwill towards him.]
Aidan’s eyes glinted. ’So there’s foul play here?’
[Tom: Ask him.]
"Jovan. What if you were trapped by others? Others who used your talent to put the curse on you? I don’t know your story, but I know one thing. There are still five people alive there, and they are not your friends or family."
Jovan’s eyes trembled violently.
The aura and colors around him started whipping and crackling.
"N-No... that can’t be. They are my allies! They are not my enemies!"
Power rolled out like lightning and a flood.
"YOU ARE LYING!"
A thousand-kilometer area around the spot was utterly demolished with thundering black lightning and black streams of corrosion, wiping everything into pitch-black earth.
Aidan smiled ruefully, completely unaffected by all of this. "Sorry, bud. I am not lying, and I am not here physically. You can’t hit me. There’s an endless chasm of distance between us, so calm down and listen."
A white light burst out of Jovan’s armor, suppressing all the negativity and darkness as Jovan returned to normal, his emotions controlled.
"Sorry, sorry, Diana..." Jovan caressed the armor and whispered, now oozing sadness and melancholy.
"What five people are you talking about? Can you tell me something about them?" Aidan asked.
Jovan looked at Aidan. "I am talking about an alliance. A force fighting on the front lines against the Terrors eating away at the realm."
"Cloud Whirl Galactic Alliance." Jovan looked below, at the world he destroyed. "This planet was one of the ten pillars of this alliance, and I was one of the ten alliance leaders."
Aidan was dumbfounded. "Wait, what did you say? Cloud Whirl Galactic Alliance?"
[Tom: Dayum.]
"Cloud Whirl Galactic Alliance." Jovan nodded.
[Yes. He is in the same current realm as you, Player Aidan. Realm number 1839.]
Aidan grinned. "Jovan, you are lucky. How about this? Let’s figure out who screwed you over and take revenge. Because it is clear that you were taken advantage of."
[Player Aidan. The decision to recruit this being might bring more trouble and increase your chance of death. Both of his talents bring disaster to those around him. You might not be able to handle the Colored King Black, the thing that grants this human the label of Exotic.]
’I’d like to know more about that Colored King Black thing later. For now, I must recruit him!’
Jovan stared at Aidan for a while before finally speaking. "I... was avoiding the truth. I was failing those who loved me and died because of me. Pathetic, right?"
Aidan sighed and smiled wryly with a nod. "Yeah, it is pathetic. It’s time to snap out of the bubble and step into reality."
"You show no mercy." Jovan smiled, his armor glowing with warm light.
Getting off the throne, he floated before the slit in space, in front of Aidan.
And knelt on one knee.
"If you give me the chance to step into reality once again, I will serve you with my utmost loyalty. And... I want revenge."
Aidan grinned. "Now that’s the spirit. Welcome to your new home, Jovan."
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