Versatile: Alternate World

Ringing at the top of the Spire, the gunshot jolted the unconscious Cult Leader awake. As for the remains of the boss, there are still remaining parts of the boss left after shooting the eyeball. It cracked open and some kind of jewel was left behind. I picked it up and the item description appeared before me though not with the usual puns it has on its notes as the notes are missing and only the normal info is there.

[Soul Orb of the Fallen God]

Type: Item

Info: The last attempt of the Tormentor the False God to preserve its life and wait for another soul to manipulate.  Since it wasn't usually dropped by the Tormentor after it was killed, it remains on the corpse which allows it to bypass the safety process of staying alive after being "killed". If destroyed, the remaining life of the Tormentor that was left behind the Soul Orb will dissipate, causing the Tormentor to die and no longer return to this world.

Those words are enough for me to learn that this thing was the last attempt of the Tormentor to remain its life to the world in hopes to regain its life. Also, from what I can see, it seems the cores that I collected back then were the core that was used to contain his life. Perhaps the reason they are much bigger than the core that I am holding right now is that the Tormentor previously put a curse on someone who happens to be the Cult Leader. Using her, the Tormentor managed to grow its power.

But since I ruined its plans, the events that transpired happened, and my battle against the boss became a bit easier. It wouldn't have turned this easy if the boss was not weakened enough which forces it to merge with the Scourge which consumed its body.

I inspected the item closely and thoroughly before throwing it to the ground and was about to stomp it to pieces. However, before I can do so, the Cult Leader stops me and used a restraining spell on my legs to stop me from doing the deed.

Although the spell was easy to break free of as it was weak, I didn't do it and turned to look at the Cult Leader.

"Stop what you are doing or those feet of yours will separate from your body."

"Oh, so you are awake. You missed the showdown between me and your so-called "god" and ended up in my win. Look at that, your "god" decided to retreat to this little glass ball that can be shattered anytime."

"Don't dare to mock the "god" who saved me from the pain and disaster which caused my life pure pain and suffering because of this curse of mine. I am willing to follow him and become his devout believer to the point that I don't even mind giving him my body to resurrect himself back to this world."

"Ha! Are you seriously trying to give your life to the "god" that put the curse on your body? What a joke. I didn't know you are running the whole circus all this time, I didn't notice it."

When I said all of those, she looked confused as hell and she frowned after hearing all of the words I said.

"Can you repeat the words that you just said?"

"Oh, that's right. You were unconscious during the big reveal so you missed out on all of the info that was revealed. Can't blame you though, so let me explain. The "god" that you were adoring was the one who put a curse on you ever since you were a baby. He orchestrated everything so that you will gain resentment to everything which in turn, feeds his abilities and regained his lost powers of his. You are his cultivated specimen, meant to be something he will harvest once you are ripe."

Hearing the revelation, she stopped in her tracks and turned to look at the orb that contains the soul of the Tormentor. She just stood there, sweating after realizing the situation that she was in. After all, who wouldn't be surprised if the "god" that you believed in was the cause of all the suffering that happened to you your entire life?

"Is what you said the entire truth?"

"Yep, I am 100% sure. Also, remember that he possessed you? You thought at that time he was about to possess you right and you willingly gave up so that he can resurrect? The reason he possessed you is to extract the curse he put on you and use it to power himself back again after staying at your body, getting fed off with all the emotions that you earned from various experiences in life. He used that to power up himself. He can easily remove it by himself and not kill you from the very beginning but since he does not want to do that, he "guided" you to bloom faster, and now, here we are."

The cult leader grits her teeth as she learned the truth. To be honest I was expecting her to die here as she was indeed the vessel for the Tormentor to manifest as a living being in this world and I was surprised he just used the curse to do so. Perhaps the Tormentor did it for some reason as to why he decided to just take the curse instead of using her body to manifest. Still, whether he uses her body or not changes nothing, the boss will still die and will be killed in the end, the only result is that she remains alive and know the whole truth behind her so-called curse.

"So that was the main reason? So it wasn't all just a coincidence that I found the core and made contact with him? It wasn't all a twist of fate that we encountered each other? All of this was an orchestrated plan of his?"

She then picks up the little core on the ground. I can easily take it back from her without a problem but I waited for the betrayal of words she would be saying and trying to eat the core so that she becomes the Tormentor once more which means I can finally finish up the boss without being bothered with the tentacular version of his because that thing is more of an annoyance than a dangerous encounter.

But contrary to my expectation, the Cult Leader throws the orb to the ground and started stomping it repeatedly. When it didn't break, she grabbed the nearest brick that is currently lying on the side and repeatedly smashes the core.

"You f*cker! I trusted you with my life that you will grant me the wish of my death but who would have thought that a f*cker like you was the actual cause of this curse of min?! DIE!"

She continues screaming while repeating bashing the core with a brick. She didn't even notice me break off from the spells she restrained me with and focused all of her attention on what she was doing. I was kinda disappointed with the outcome as I thought she would become the final boss that would resurrect the boss after his last HP bar has been consumed. But to see something like this was something a bit enjoyable too.

The Core seems to be unbreakable at first but even metal breaks when repeatedly hit by something. The core is not an exception as the cult leader continues to bash the core repeatedly while cursing the entity that is resting inside the core. She hit it, again and again, and again until...

CRACK!

The core slowly cracked. The Cult leader is showing no signs of stopping so soon and continues to repeatedly bash it with the brick. I must say though, she is full of hatred for her to bring out her inner beast and try to destroy the remaining power left by the so-called "god"  so that he can revive himself again.

It took an hour of her bashing the core repeatedly. I stood there on the side, observing her as she continues to bash it. She obviously slowed down but she didn't stop. Her resentment is something that cannot be stopped by mere fatigue. But before her fatigue settles in and takes her body over, the crack that previously appeared has grown bigger and as she repeatedly continues doing so, so are the cracks slowly covering the whole core.

​ Seeing the situation, she didn't hold back and used all of the strength that she had, all of the hatred, and everything that happened to her life to have been charged with that strike.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

SMASH!

The core exploded into thousands of pieces, like a glass ball falling to the ground after it accidentally roll from a high place. And with the core gone, the remaining spirit of the Tormentor waiting and biding for his time to get resurrected once again dispersed, screaming as his life has dissipated into the air.