Also Sprach

**Also Sprach** is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Mazdayana and follows the perspective of damned Ritualist Shiruka.

## Main Arc

### Demon God Rises

Demon God Sorath haunts Mazdayana, his army of Demons scouring the Plane, torturing and killing innocents without fail. Against him, the Kuri clan - an exorcist, ritualist and demon-hunting Bloodline - attempts to struggle with the demonic Deity, and manages to force him to be Summoned into the material world, becoming vulnerable. However, even with all their preparation and secret arts, the clan barely manages to wound Sorath before he slaughters the whole clan, seemingly bringing an end to its opponents.

However, ritualist Kuri-ma Lehrion managed to use a powerful seal in order to sacrifice his Soul and salvation, ensuring that his son Kuri-ma Shiruka would survive. Shiruka does so, and ends up alone in a desolate world, surrounded by the corpses of his family. Desperate for power, he uncovers the forbidden Magic of Inferno and makes a pact with demons to obtain more power, driven by revenge and singlemindedly seeking to kill Sorath.

### Demon God Falls

Shiruka spends seven years breaking his own body, wandering in search of power, dealing with demons and other otherworldly creatures, making pacts with the seventy-two Demons of the Demon Nobility to enhance his power, and finally ritually killing 666 demons in order to force once again Sorath to materialize. When he does so, Sorath is trapped in a ritual-bound cage and forced to fight against Shiruka.

However, despite Shiruka's increased strength, Sorath takes a second injury but still manages to hold the upper hand and defeat the vengeful ritualist. As he deals the final blow, Shiruka activates a final seal, one that is able to bind a Demon God to his own body. He merges with Sorath and absorbs it, gaining a twisted and wilted demon arm, an incredibly powerful Demonscent Curse as well as the promise of eternal damnation - for him and everyone he will love.

### Another Foe Appears

However, despite Shiruka's sacrifice, shadows still linger on Mazdayana. A powerful demonist known as Goetius calls forth the power of seven **Demon Lords** in order to wreak havoc and sow chaos in Mazdayana. Shiruka, despite being damned and weakened by his battle with Sorath, prepares himself for another battle and confronts Goetius's army of brainwashed cultists and elite warriors known as the **Demonknights**.

During his first battle, Shiruka saves young cultist Layla, a girl without memories or emotions. Unable to finish her as she takes a quasi-lethal fall, he brings her home and nurses her back to life. Layla then becomes his most trusted ally and helps him regain the power of the 72 Demon Nobles as well as to overpower each elite Demonknight, freeing the six demons bound to them. Only a single foe then remains : Goetius.

### A Tragic Destiny

Shiruka finally confronts Goetius, who reveals himself as a desperate priest whose followers turned on him and almost killed him as he could not stop Sorath ; yearning to prove the existence of the Deity he worshipped, he turned to black magic in order to taunt "God" and force him into action. Shiruka mocks that perspective and engages battle, a harsh conflict since Goetius has called upon the most powerful Demon Lord, Lucifer himself.

Shiruka defeats Goetius, yet the latter completes a black Ritual and sacrifices himself to become a quasi-Demon God, a horrible demonic aberration known as a Blasphemy. Shiruka calls upon his pacts and desperately manages to deal a final blow, erasing the Blasphemy, but the consequences of Goetius's magic have already torn a hole in the universe, a portal leading directly to Inferno. Shiruka attempts to seal it but finds himself unable to. The portal seems to require a human soul before it can close.

Shiruka is about to throw himself in the pit, but he is interrupted by Layla's arrival, as she reveals her memories and feelings are back. She was Goetius's daughter, her Soul sacrificed as a hidden clause of the contract he made with the Demon Lords. As she sees the man she loves murder her own father, she feigns attacking him, quickly overpowering him with the aid of exiled Demon Lilith. Then, as the battle rages, she distracts Shiruka and jumps into the pit, destroying her existence and closing the portal, leaving nothing but a traumatized Shiruka, once again alone in an empty cathedral.

## Other Arcs

### Sigma's Tale

Sigma first appears before the confrontation with Sorath, spending time with Shiruka and encouraging him. She assists powerlessly to the massacre and watches as Shiruka attempts to avenge his family with self-destructive rites ; she attempts to protect him, but understands she will not be able to stop him, so she merely tells him to watch out and not to become an instrument of vengeance.

She appears later only to see Shiruka once again lose everything he loves as Layla sacrifices herself before his eyes, causing the appearance of a cruel Specter. Sigma defeats it before comforting Shiruka and promising him he will one day find true happiness. She then leaves Mazdayana.

## Characters

* Shiruka, formerly Kuri-ma Shiruka
* Kuri-ma Lehrion
* Kuri-ma Katarina
* Sorath
* Layla
* Goetius

## Trivia

* The story's name is a reference to Nietzsche, a pattern repeatedly used in Shiruka's story both literally (with references to Zoroastrianism, and the doctrine of good and evil) and ironically (as the storyline has deep undertones of amorality, sacrifice and transcending one's weakness)