Chapter 60 - 56: The Dead do Talk

Although Pan was shocked by what he was seeing, he could feel that not even an ounce of life force remained within the shell of the once great goddess, and what was left was corrupted like the dead that John uses like pawns. It was not all of her meaning that she had escaped the fate that many had fallen to, but enough to tip the battle into John's favor. 

"I see now... you are a much bigger threat than we realized. Being capable of making a disease capable of corrupting a god is a big feat even if it was intended or not, but this will end here as..." Pan was cautiously saying before being interrupted as he had planned to stall for both him and his brother to regain their strength even if minimal at best.

"Stop stalling minor god. No amount of time will bring back the strength that is quickly waning from "one" of you. You know that this fight is over and that the only way you'll escape is if both of you rely on your teleporting trick from earlier, right?" John said as to make Pan tense as he wanted him to be reminded of what he did to his brother mere minutes ago, and just like that Pan realized what John was hinting at. It was the fundamental skeleton to how John's undead curse spread and earlier he had his claws deep in his brother's shoulder before ripping out only a small amount of life force. Pan knew that knew John was cunning, but to this extent, he was foolishly unaware.

Not knowing how much time was left for his brother, Pan knew he had to think fast as their one trump card wasn't any use against a being like John despite him being of a lower class. This was truly an urgent problem as he knew that eventually, this would become his eventual downfall. At a loss for words and completely concerned as he, for the first first time since he became a minor god, didn't know what to do. 

Feeling that his end was inevitable Pan braced himself to fight till his eventual death, that was until he saw something he hadn't expected. A spirit, irradiating a small amount of light near the world tree as if to gain his attention, stood staring at Pan with a face of sorrow and eyes that showed deep internal sadness. Although almost no presence was given off from her it was truly strange as it was extremely rare for a spirit, especially one as weak as the one he was seeing, to exude no presence at all. This was truly something, yet he couldn't invest any more of his attention to this spectral being as he had made up his mind. It was time to meet his fate in the best way he could see fit, and that was to weaken John as much as possible so hopefully, the next deity could have a better chance in ending this nightmare before it spread to the other worlds.

Preparing to initiate his next arsenal of attacks Pan positioned his sword and with the intent to throw everything into this last bout with John, he says, "Are you ready for this last dance brother?" 

Talking through their mental connection was something they very much often did as their divinity was something they both shared, yet was bond by to never exist in the same dimension. Their divinity was both a boon and a curse, but it was something they had come to accept and later turn to their advantage.

Within this pocket dimension Agreus who now looked ready to collapse at any time from this undead disease spoke and said," Aye brother, although I am far from battle proficient in my current state and will most likely succumb to this abomination's concoction of a curse, use me to evade and sacrifice me if need to. I am alright with dying for you as long as I don't join his abominable hordes."

Hearing his brother's words struck a chord within Pan as this was never the way he imagined them dying, but this was it. It was their final moment in a battle they foolishly ȧssumed was going to go their way.

Ready to inflict as much damage as possible before his death Pan flew to John at break-neck speeds with his sword ready to deliver an upward diagonal slash until everything went white around Pan, completely white with John nowhere in sight. Looking around Pan's eyes stop on the spirit from before who had hidden near the world tree. 

The spirit looked relatively new to the afterlife, yet she walked confidently with the gait that most senior humans had after reaching a certain age. As she approached, she looked up at the armor-clad goat and said, "Can you stop stalling already and just die you stubborn old goat. There are other important events that must take place to ensure the best outcome we can hope for comes into being." 

Stunned and confused as this was completely unexpected, Pan stares at the female specter before asking, "Something tells me you aren't one of John's undead cretins?"

"Nope... but you and your brother will be though and for that, I am truly sorry." Said the spectral woman.

"Then who are you? Where are we? And what do you mean the best outcome we can hope for." Pan asks with a tone of concern as this specter seemed to know something he didn't, and at this point, he was tired of being surprised by things outside of his knowledge. 

The spectral woman firstly looked at Pan before turning to her left and walking with her head looking toward the ground. Then the woman looked up at Pan and said, "I am by far not the cause of this but a match that seems to always fall into the gasoline around John. John is correct when he says that another is the puppeteer of this fiasco. His intuition has always found that out before anyone else seemed to realize it, but to answer your question I am the person who killed him this time and every other time. I am Alexa Thompson and this time around I am the starter of the apocalypse." 

After announcing who she was Alexa then proceeded to continue saying, "And this is my mindscape, my little white room of thoughts and whatever problems I have bumping around in my noggin when I was alive."

With a disdainful look from his eye through his helmet Pan stares at Alexa before saying, "With what your introduction tells me you knew this would happen?"

Alexa looks towards an empty space between them and waves her hand causing clear glass with a multicolored glow to appear. The glass takes the form of Alexa, but in an unknown medieval armor with a large claymore pointed at a large creature with demonic features. She points with an open hand with her palm facing upward and says, "At the beginning near my own death I had thought that I had somehow developed some sort of... clairvoyance, but now after my death, I know that they were nothing more than mere memories of the past. Past that seems to have been forgotten by even the gods by how wide your eyes have widened." 

Indeed Pan's eyes did go wide as he was sure he remembers the past history of this world including the history of the other two. He was certain that all of his information was correct. So he looked on at Alexa with his eyes closing slightly to hint at her to continue.

"You know when I soul or a spirit is destroyed they leave behind soul shards that are only seeable to the dead and those with a close connection to death. But what exactly happens to the soul shards of these destroyed spirits? Nothing. Nothing happens until the biggest of the shards gains a will of its own and begins to repair itself to the bȧrė minimum by pulling enough of itself back together. You know what I am referring to Pan."

Pan knew exactly what she was referring to it was the act of self reincarnation, when a shattered soul wills itself back together to the point of just being equivalent to half a newborn baby's soul and begins a process of merging with a newborn. The child is essentially seen as stronger and has a stronger vitality than other children. Some even speak of the other worlds of The Trinity of Worlds, while some speak of worlds unknown.

They have many unique aspects, but the one common unique aspect they all have is memories they claim are from different people or their past lives. With this understanding, Pan came to a conclusion and asked, "How many times have you reincarnated?" 

"Wise goat proves his wisdom quite effortlessly, but to answer your question let's just say enough to know that The Trinity of Worlds was once a near-infinite multiverse of worlds. That John and I have fought more than a billion times and I have lost more than a billion times, this time it seems I have lost without even putting up a fight. I just hope that my family this time can pick up the slack and hopefully end this once and for all as I have no will to fight what seems to be the inevitable end anymore." Alexa says while waving her hand back and forth while creating more glass structures that depict several battles between her and several monsters that represent John's past lives. Some appear to be dragons, large demons, and even a giant planetary machine that seems to be ready to destroy a ship with Alexa on board. 

Pan walks around some of the glass structures silently as if pondering about something he wants to say well versed until he says, "I don't know how we have been fooled all this time. All I know is that whoever it is they have to be among the High Gods, the ones who supposedly chose John to be a god of death, if not higher." 

"So not even you have an idea of who it can be... Of course, you wouldn't know they would've had to blend into their role or roles effortlessly throughout all of their schemings. The only thing I can say is that with three worlds left whatever their goal is it's coming to completion soon. And whatever comes afterward is anyone's guess." Alex talks to herself while walking back and forth and taking quick glances at Pan.

Pan seeing the thinking Alexa turns his back to her and says, "If it's my destiny to die then I'd rather meet it now, fighting in hopes to weaken this abomination for the next god to have a better chance at ending this... Perhaps your family might be the ones to deliver the final blow. Maybe not, but after my death, it will no longer be my problem."

"I know. I too hope that something changes for the better because this game of war and death between me and him has gone on long enough, to be honest." Alexa says outspokenly while looking at Pan's eyes that have long ago lost hope. 

Pan solemnly turned around with his back facing Alexa, to signal his wish to return to his mind but before that happened asked, "Why exactly did you pull me here exactly? It couldn't have been to give me more things to be concerned about before I die right?"

Alexa who was quiet for a brief moment appeared next to Pan as if she had teleported and said, "See, I was really hoping to give you some clarity before you died, but then again, I guess it was to have one last talk with my former mentor." 

Before Pan could question her on how they had a mentor and student connection Alexa waved her hand towards Pan as if waving a fly away and then Pan was back in his own body, still in the middle of his last attack against John. 

This would've infuriated Pan but at the moment he was too tired to waste time thinking about that while also in the midst of an attack, so he simply pushed it to the side. Although in his mind it would've been nice to have more clarification as to what exactly their connection was. 

Outside of his personal thoughts, Pan was closing to landing his last attack when unexpectantly a bright and fiery light pierced through the right side of his ċhėst, piercing both of his lungs, and out the other side. The strength of the attacked not only pierced Pan but also knocked him several meters away from John who was as still as a statue. 

Pan who was in pain knew exactly who had attacked him as he looked up to see the undead corpse of Delia's with her sword pointing at Pan from 20 meters away. Pan knew that the attack he just suffered was fatal, although he was wondering why Agreus hadn't switched with him until he looked towards John who was summoning, from a shadow portal, an undead Agreus. Although confused as to how Agreus's body could appear without him going back to their shared pocket dimension Pan was ready to accept his fate.

Pan knew that with Delia, Agreus's, and soon to be his corpse John had gained a tremendous boost in power.

Close to succumbing to his wounds, he looked towards Delia who was having trouble speaking, but managed to bȧrėly say, "Welcome to the legion."