Ascension of the Nephilim

The decision of Breveros was what Nightwing was waiting for.

He needed Breveros to make the decisive decision and request to remove the curse so he could again go through the agonizing process and resist it.

Nightwing used many schemes and poured the power of Mysterion and Tyrannos into the soul of Breveros.

Mysterion was the force that Destiny fought against, for it attempted to cover and hide Breveros. Tyrannos was to give Breveros the rebellious spirit of defiance and wrath.

True enough, Breveros fell into uncontrollable rage and anger the past days.

He was bipolar and would remember the embarrassing moments that limited him.

He even suspected that perhaps his brother and father were behind the sabotage of his illustrious would-be career.

The cultivator and fighter within him were awakened. The power of Tyrannos did not change him but heightened his pride of his. He found out he had potential and was failing at it!

It was a cruel truth. He believed that many of the cultivation mistakes that made him slower than his brother were his fault. But he might have been unlucky!

Were the potions made by those powerful alchemists mixed properly? Were the magical cultivation fruits liberated from the worlds below properly ripped? Or did some worm of some sort eat it? Was the energy formation circles that were used correctly? Or did the experts make a one-in-a-million mistake?

Breveros was questioning his entire life. He thinks that even his decisions in the past and how they were all interconnected keep him weak and give him bad luck.

But now he found out that he was actually strong! And not just strong, but stronger than his father and brother!

He who once accepted his place was now raging at the heavens.

His decisive choice was set as he could not bare it much longer. Unknown to him, it was this same rage that Tyrannos had felt when he discovered the things of the universe and the limitations given over to him.

"You choose Mystery? Do you know what you are asking?"

"Of course!"

"I don't think you do. Do you understand the strange, skin-peeling, soul-quaking, malevolent sensation that will be harsher this time? And do you know that this will put you in a position of this war that pits you against Destiny? It's one thing to be like me, a True Neutral. It's another to disavow Destiny." Nightwing asked again.

"Disavow?! Am I not the one that Destiny disavowed? When we fought, I lost without even wounding you! You are but a mere Cardinal! My real power would have been enough to end you! I have great potential, but I was defenseless when I saw your woman because of my unlucky state! I would have died against you!" Breveros brought out his rage.

"...True. I have a few tricks up my sleeve, and you didn't even make me use them! The truth was, I felt a prodding to kill you. But I realized that it was a way of Destiny... You were already discarded then..." Nightwing agreed.

"All because of the choice you will make in the future... This will come to pass. And frankly, I'm not sure whether I should do this now! Because this ultimately puts me in the position of becoming an enemy of Destiny! I am trying to escape this war or move out of the crosshairs of the war by becoming Destiny's ally. But it seems I was met with bad luck in meeting you! Such bad luck that it will force me to be Destiny's enemy anyway!" Nightwing cursed.

"My bad luck is forcing you to be an enemy to Destiny?!"

"Yes! You see, I have no choice but to ally with you! And in this specific circumstance, I need to hide or remove my bad luck to survive the current calamity. But doing so will make me Destiny's enemy anyway!"

"So you are... refusing to hide me in mystery because it will make you an enemy to Destiny?"

"How can I refuse?! I will still die here because of your bad luck! Who knows what will happen?! Will I face a Protos Endoxus the moment we leave this region?! This was the plan all along! I thought I could have fooled Destiny and joined his team. But I was foolish to think it would be this easy! I will end up becoming his enemy, still! Don't you see? I am in a place where I have no choices!"

"So you will help me?"

"Yes! But I can't stay for too long in this place! They will eventually find out! And you have no choice but to go with me!"

"How long will it be until my brother and father betray me?"

"...It won't be immediate. There will be years that will pass if I am successful. My power of True Neutral is Mystery. I cloak things for a time, but the rule is... it has to be revealed soon. Or rather, there should be an intention to reveal it. It cannot work if the hidden one does not want to know the secret. I do not conceal. I conceal so that it will be revealed. Mystery that births freedom. That is the Corruption I walk in!"

"...I have to reveal this. My brother and father deserve to know. In the end, they are only used by Destiny... But as my path will eventually lead to betrayal, I will come clean and escape. I need Mystery to free the chains that limit me!" Breveros sighed.

"Whatever. I don't really care about you. I care about myself. If you are going to pull me with you, then I need to know your secrets! Do you understand? I need something that can help us flee! You are still able to gain access to it!"

"What do you need...?" Breveros asked with hesitation.

"I need information and power. I know about Impyernos. But knowing about him is not enough! I need something else. Who are the Fallens or Gods that you serve and the Corruptions and Blessing that you have? If we want to survive this, we must take as many things as possible!"

"You want to steal some of our heritages?" Breveros frowned.

"And whose fault is it that we have come to this?! Do I want to do this?! You imbecile! No! But when I went down there and saw the great power of those Mountain Deities that my master sealed, I was shocked! Do you know how lucky they were to be free like that?! They must have found a compatible heritage somewhere within the Black Bog Kingdom! We were supposed to only get in here and defeat the divided armies of the Black Bog Kingdom and press on to the Midlands! But now we have all of this!" Nightwing roared in anger.

Breveros was quiet. He was still considering the events. Was this the plan of Nightwing all along? But the vision was very clear. The world he saw in his memories was very pure. There were no Blessings and Corruption. There was just a battle. It matched the words of Nightwing that spoke of a strange future.

But the greatest proof of Nightwing was the bad luck he faced all his life. He didn't understand it. And it was only then that he realized his father did not invest a lot to understand the mysterious curse behind him. Also, Lord Impyernos, being a Fallen, would have known this! Yet he never spoke or brought up the strange case!

Yet, he could not abandon his family when the choice was offered.

"Chose another way. I will not betray my family or reveal the heritage we have. I will flee with you and help you flee. I will spy to set us free. But no more." Breveros answered adamantly.

Nightwing sighed.

"See, how unlucky I am?! This was Destiny's trap! He used a pawn like you and made you miserable all to bring out a man like me... Whatever the case... I will fight Destiny! Fine. I'll cover your bad luck in mystery. But you will see that not only Destiny, but even your family will also abandon you!" Nightwing spoke harshly and walked away.

"He still won't do it, huh?" Nightwing thought to himself.

"Huh... And here I thought it would be enough." Luigi spoke as he listened. He had been within Nightwing's attire and was like a Time Core that Nightwing freely used in his previous battle.

"Well, considering what we saw and how only Estus was drawn to our side, I'm not surprised. I guess it's time to plant the seeds of doubt. Breveros is willing to betray Destiny. But not his family... Then we just have to plant the seeds... Kyros's allies must be strong to survive the calamity. I have helped them, but they have to find a way to conquer Crowns, and Victor Crowns at that, if they want to survive. So Breveros must lose to them. And imagine what Breveros would hear if he heard the Steele family speaks of a deal between Destiny and Fate and how his family betrayed him!" Nightwing chuckled.