Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 487 HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN

CHAPTER 487 HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN

“Fucking hell,” I cursed. I had been at this for weeks now. Trying to make the right portal. The one other Weston needed to actually win this world. Our hidden messages hadn’t been too hard to decipher. A look here, a thumbs sideways there, I was able to read his Haki, and knew which words made him excited. Which words to focus on in our conversations. The trouble was getting the damn Cups. 

It was easy to see they were the key to this whole thing. The Cup of Reincarnation was how this was won in the past. The Cup of Life  was the one thing that gave us the strength we needed to get stronger. Weston needed them all if he was going to win this. 

I studied our chat window again. It was filled with messages from me, checking in on him. He hadn’t replied once. Which I couldn’t blame him for. He was in the fight for survival of this planet. I was simply ready to World Escape when he was. If our plans didn’t work, it was the only way to come back and try again when we were stronger. 

I wasn’t looking forward to any more Manhwa worlds though. I had to keep the canon in Comics going. So much to learn there, this was merely a work trip. Forced to try harder than I ever had before, I cursed at my inability to figure it out.

I had been making Rift after Rift in the world. Sending the few Players we had to the few worlds I had been able to sense. My power somehow able to copy the portals locations, I was at least able to prepare them a little. But the real goal was out of reach. 

“How the fuck do I get to Heaven?” I mumbled, uncaring if anyone was watching me. The real fight was to the south on Jeju Island. 

The angels or Rulers or whatever had taken us to their dimension. Whether it was really Heaven or not, I didn’t know, but I needed to copy that place. My Rift skill had felt the world for those brief moments. Why could I replicate portals to the other places, but not that one? Was there a lock on it? Was I focusing on the wrong feelings? Too many unknowns, I decided to take my skill back to the basics for the tenth time in the last week. 

My Rift skill was alive. The more time I spent in this world, the stronger it felt. I was fairly certain it was feeding off the mana in my body somehow. Everytime I made a Rift, my MP dropped, so that was proof enough. The thing was I didn’t have a numerical gauge on how much chakra or nen I had, but I could tell when I was out. I relied on mentally feeling how much I had left. Having spent years with those energies, mana was still alien to me, I had no idea when or how I was using it. 

Other Weston was able to sense it thanks to a skill, but it was unknown to me. He had tried to explain it, but I still couldn’t zero in on the mysterious power. I knew it wasn’t centered on my body, so it was spread out. More like Nen than anything, my body was soaked in mana. Weston had said our bodies naturally absorb the power, then when we cast spells, that power accumulates where we focus and converts to the spell or skill. 

That was mumbo jumbo Gandalf worthy of telling me something without explaining it well enough. I knew he was right, but without experiencing it or feeling it, I was poking around in the dark. 

I let out an annoyed sigh. Pushing my Rift out, the red portal became that of the first one I had made. A tropical world that was farmed out for experience points now. This was the last plan. If need be, and a World Escape didn’t help us, we would help everyone evacuate. There were plenty of resources on the other side, and the nearest vicinity to my portal was devoid of monsters now. 

“Let the nomads spread,” I mumbled. I would hate to lose the canon to this world. Forcing people to carve out a new spot in a new world. It wouldn’t be so bad really. These people knew of mana, and it probably wouldn’t be too long until they figured out portals. Maybe one day we could come back, take it from the Monarchs, start the cycle all over again. For all I knew, this was the great plan of this world's god. Who was I to fight canon? 

“Fuck,” I mumbled, my eyes focused on the Chat as I let the portal pull back into me. 

I could feel the power struggles happening on Jeju Island. Though I was sitting on the top of a hotel on the Southern tip of Korea, and the fight was happening far away, I could feel it. A fight that I wanted to be a part of but was forced to sit out as I aimed for a hail mary. 

I considered dropping this whole venture again. I could jump in, help Weston, for all I knew, they were close to winning and just needed a little more firepower. Tabi was on the island setting fires to monsters and helping out without a word of complaint. Smiling, it was good to know she trusted me well enough to follow me. 

Out of nowhere a ball hit me. The nostalgic sound of being hit in the head by a rubber ball sounded in the air. The noise brought me back to gym class and my arm shot out on reflex, catching it. 

“Who the-” I said as I turned to what was supposed to be HVAC units on the top of the hotel I was on. Instead I was in a park. Trees around me, a slide and set of swings spread out, there was a small boy standing there with a stricken look on his face. 

“I’m so sorry, mister,” he said. He was a tanned skinned kid. Very tan, so he was from the Mid-East or South America or the like. The odd thing about him was he had no Haki. No presence whatsoever. He looked scared as he stared at me, like any kid that accidentally hit someone would.  

“No…problem,” I said. Turning slowly, I was no longer on the edge of the skyscraper, but sitting on bricks in the ground. The park around me was immaculate. As I stood, I noticed that we weren’t in any city. Only trees could be seen around us. I threw the ball back at him. “What are you doing here?” 

“Playing, of course,” he said as he lifted the dark red rubber ball. “Care to play?”

“No,” I said slowly, knowing that something weird was going on. The place felt real, but the kid in front of me was something I had never run into before. “I’m um, working on something important.” 

“More important than playing?” He asked, as if the notion of that being a possibility never crossed his mind. “What could be more important than having fun?”

“...” I opened my mouth but no words came out. Nothing seemed to fit the situation we were in, and for some reason I felt myself agreeing with him. I jumped to all these places, pushing my way into the story, and having fun while I did it. This whole end of the world crap was far from fun. Real lives, real worlds were at stake, and I wasn’t dealing with the stress all that well. 

For some reason I felt a knot in my stomach begin to relax. As it did, the kid threw the ball at me. I caught it this time, the familiar feel of the raised lines on the ball felt good on my hands. I squeezed the ball, making it deform slightly. Putting some strength into it, I threw it back. The kid caught it with one hand and we played catch. 

My worries slowly dissipating, my face mirrored the smile on the kid’s face. Unsure how long we played, the kid began to talk. 

“It’s funny how simple it is, playing,” he said. “This ball is a tool to help augment it. Change it up. But in the end, you’re just playing. Life would go on without it, and we would find some other way to occupy our time.” I thought there was a hidden message in the words, but wasn’t sure. Was he talking about the Cups just being tools?

“A lot of people are counting on me,” I said as I threw the ball back. The kid caught it and nodded, beginning to spin it on his finger like a basketball. 

“That’s life,” he said. “The world keeps spinning. Balls get passed to one person, then another. The trick is to not let it control you.”

“A ball controlling me?” I asked. He threw it and the ball curved to the side. I moved to catch it. Stepping away from where I had been. 

“It’s easy to control people when there is a goal in front of them,” the kid laughed. I frowned, seeing his point. And for once, it finally clicked into place. I understand the other Weston’s actual goal. It wasn’t the Cup of Life or Reincarnation. It was the Cup of Death. He had been giving me so many weird looks when the cups were brought up. I thought he was focused on keeping the Cup of Reincarnation out of their hands and awakening everyone as Players. But no, the answer was so obvious now. The real trouble was how to get it, and how to use it to control the other side. 

“Don’t be a ball hog,” the kid said. I frowned but threw it back. My mind racing, I had to quit this. Figure out how to make it happen. 

“Keep playing,” the boy ordered as if reading my thoughts. He threw the ball and I caught it, throwing it back again, unsure who he was or how he had power over me. 

“The world keeps spinning,” the kid said. “People count on you. Others hate you. Most are indifferent. Never knowing who you are or caring. Lost in their own little bubble of people and interactions. Wouldn’t it be better to just play ball? Enjoy the little things?”

“It would,” I said with a nod. Our hands moving robotically to throw and catch the ball. “But life requires sacrifice. Your time, health and wellbeing. Even that ball will fade away. Forgotten in a gutter if you let it slip.”

The kid laughed loudly. His face showing actual glee. “I like you,” he said, taking the ball he sat down. Crossing his legs, I hesitated but did the same. “What are you trying to do, Weston?” 

“I think you know,” I said, squinting my eyes. When there was no recognition there I admitted, “I’m trying to remember a place. A holy place I was at.”

“Then just do it,” he said with a shrug. 

“It’s not as easy as that,” I said with an annoyed frown. 

“Have you tried just…letting it happen? So many people try to force things. Instead let the way show itself.” I frowned again, and he sighed as if he were some teacher trying to give a lesson. “So many people try to figure out what the point of life is. They don’t see the answer in front of them…It’s to live. We are set in all these little pockets, going about our lives. Guided by the events and actions of others around us. Sometimes we try to force life, and it bites us back. That’s the point though. Experiencing it all.” 

He shook his head, his haki showing slightly as he leaked sadness. “All this talk about home, and rightful owners. I really just wanted my people to live a little. See the next day, get to experience the gift of life given to them. Let them see over the next hill, meet the next group of people, make new lives to experience it all with.” He smiled even wider somehow, tears in his eyes as he looked around. 

“This world is so beautiful. Nature is just so awesome. Everything we could ever need is here.” Tears fell down his cheeks and I felt it. I felt that beauty again.

Looking at all the life around me. There was so much I didn’t understand, and never would. It simply was…beautiful. The swaying of the trees in the wind, the swings as kids swung on them. The laughter of more as they slid down the slide. Just pure…wholesomeness. A moment of unfiltered bliss that crept upon me like old age. Slow but there. 

“What the…” I said, wiping more tears from my cheeks. The kid was no longer there, but I felt them. All of them. The women and people I loved throughout my life. Their presence was all around me. All just hovering as if their breath was touching my skin. I felt them as goosebumps moved across my skin, and my Rift awoke.

The red light shooting out of me unbidden, a new gate was opened, behind it was home. Wiping the snot from my nose I stumbled, stepping out of the dream and into the portal. 

White assaulted me. Everything a pure pale color I was back. Back in the world I had seen from the Ruler. This time, I wasn’t the size of an ant though. Buildings around me, they were normal size instead of like mountains. Every structure made of pillars and white stone, I used zetsu, pulling in my lifeforce to stay hidden. 

“What the absolute…heaven,” I said, not willing to piss off god with a curse. I had no idea what just happened. Either meeting the Absolute Being or the King of Man or both, I didn’t know, but it was a surreal feeling. That kid was something far beyond what my mind could comprehend, and I had to push away the serenity he had put upon me as I tried to focus. 

I was on a mission. I had to succeed or else he was fucked. The world would go to hell, and for once we would end the canon without succeeding. I shook my head, looking around as I put my game face on. 

No angels or Rulers around me, the ground was white bricks. A real physical place, I kept expecting to see people playing harps, or relaxing, but this wasn’t the heaven I had made up. It was another world, with monsters.

I began to fly straight up. My clothes a stark contrast from the white around me, I knew I would be seen at any moment. But there was no one. I was alone. My Observation Haki everywhere, there was nobody home. 

“Are they helping?” I mumbled, unsure if they had decided to help Weston. I didn’t know, but I was on a mission. 

Flying around the vast city, the buildings spanned off into the distance, disappearing into white. Clouds overhead, and nothing distinguishing around me, I simply flew. 

-ANYTHING!?- Weston sent in chat. I cursed, bringing up the windows. He had been asking frantically for a while. 

-I’m here! Give me a few-

-Thank god! Hurry!- He sent. I nodded, agreeing with him that we actually had someone to thank for once. Annoyed it had taken them so long to step in I flew on, trying to find something. 

Then as if it was calling me, I felt the presence. Life itself. Far in the distance it was in a building slightly taller than the others. Breaking the sound barrier as I sped up, I stopped just inside the pillars of the structure. Before me was a tall pedestal. Atop it were three cups. I could feel them from there. 

On the left was the Cup of Life. The tall chalice radiating life itself. Pure Nen, haki, and a dozen other energies exuded from it like it could bring all the dead back to life. Next to it was spring time. It radiated some nen, but was more of a beginning. Ready to start anew. 

The last and final was death. Everything wrong in the world focused on one physical object. As if touching it would kill me, I gulped as I stared at the chalice. They were my end goal, the trigger I needed to end this thing. The…tool.

“How can I…” I mumbled as I floated toward them. No Rulers around me, the place was empty as I approached. I didn’t know how to make this tool into what I needed. 

-HURRY!- Weston sent. 

“Fuck you,” I spat. “So much fucking pressure.” I looked around. “Sorry god, didn’t mean to curse or whatever…” No one answered.

I looked back to the chalices and an idea hit me. “Maybe if I…” I began to gather Hoken in my hand. It had nen and Haki, as these chalices did. Touching the chalice it dimmed slightly, I smiled, an idea coming to me.