The Re:Apotheosis update and news thread

RobertBMarks 2022-08-24 19:07:56 UTC #6

Some news! I just finished the rough draft of the second story from Re:Apotheosis Aftermath, which means that the first draft of the entire book is now complete. Editing starts tomorrow.

And, a preview of what is coming on Friday, as the hunt for Daiki Yamato heats up and Stella and Adam come face to face with Jack Death:

Daiki Yamato took a deep breath and was about to speak when a new voice spoke in an American accent, saying in English, “You must be Daiki Yamato.”

Stella turned to face a tall, well-built American with short dark hair, dressed in a black three-piece suit. The man looked at her. “And I recognize you two from my colleague’s surveillance spell.”

“Who are you?” Stella asked in English.

“I am a representative of the other side,” he said, and then turned to Daiki Yamato. “Did they suggest that they were the only interested party in this matter? That’s quite dishonest of them.”

“What is he saying?” Daiki asked in Japanese.

“Joke’s on you, pal,” Adam said in English. “He only speaks Japanese.”

“Unfortunately, my associate and interpreter has yet to arrive, although he is on his way,” the man said, and then held up a flip phone. “You’re not the only ones with cell phones. That said, I was given one Japanese phrase should this situation arise.” He turned to Daiki and said, in accented Japanese, “Don’t trust them. Trust us instead.”

RobertBMarks 2022-08-26 13:46:09 UTC #7

Chapter XVI is live! The race to recruit Daiki Yamato comes to a head in Osaka. As Stella and Adam make contact, they come face-to-face with super-assassin Jack Death – and Jack Death doesn’t take “no” for an answer...

RobertBMarks 2022-08-29 19:40:58 UTC #8

Update time!

First, I just finished uploading The Odyssey of Daiki Yamato, the sequel to Re:Apotheosis, into the queue. It will run every Friday from December 2nd to March 3rd. No need to resubscribe to anything - it will just be added as new chapters to Re:Apotheosis (it was simpler to do it this way).

The text is now locked down and the initial typeset completed for Re:Apotheosis - Aftermath. The collection will include three stories ("The Odyssey of Daiki Yamato," "First Contact," and "Apotheosis"), as well as a 2-part Coda and a special introduction by one of the returning characters from Re:Apotheosis. I also got the ISBN numbers and copyright registrations taken care of today. The current plan to release this book on February 27th, 2023.

(For those who are wondering, only "The Odyssey of Daiki Yamato" will be serialized on Tapas - the other stories will be exclusive to the book.)

RobertBMarks 2022-08-31 13:57:55 UTC #9

So, time to show off two new characters from the sequel, fresh from my artist!

This is Aquila and Kasumi (Aquila's the one in the coat). They are a former god of destruction and her creator, and both of them will be joining Daiki Yamato on his journey home. Aquila is looking to atone for the many bad things she did during her own war against the world of her creators, and Kasumi is trying to make sure that Aquila doesn't get herself killed while doing something stupid along the way. Everybody will get to meet them properly in December!

RobertBMarks 2022-09-01 12:33:27 UTC #10

A preview of tomorrow's new chapter:

“Quite a conundrum,” Adam heard the man in the suit say to Captain Infinite as Atria and Jenny fought. “You are known in my world, superhero. You could end the fight between our associates in less time than I could blink, but your friends still wouldn’t be able to draw their guns before I killed them.”

“Just let them leave,” Cap said.

“I haven’t lived this long by allowing people to shoot me in the back,” the man in the suit said. “Threats get neutralized as soon as they are identified. That is how it works.”

“Will you at least give me your name?” Cap asked.

The man smiled and shook his head. “Against a god among men, a mere mortal requires every advantage he can get, wouldn’t you agree? Speaking of advantages, I believe you have met my other associate.”

Adam looked around, and then up. Gliding to the ground behind Cap was the tall thief with the horns, the orb floating behind him. As he descended, he raised his hand. The masonry around them began to shake.

“And now the fight is fair,” the man in the suit stated.

RobertBMarks 2022-09-02 14:11:40 UTC #11

Chapter XV is live! The battle over Daiki Yamato comes to its brutal climax as Jack Death claims his first victim – and Jack Death never misses...

The story is now past its halfway point, so please let me know what you think by commenting - also, please like and subscribe!

RobertBMarks 2022-09-06 17:36:37 UTC #12

Since it's already been unveiling in another thread, here's the cover art for the sequel, The Odyssey of Daiki Yamato, which will be going live on December 2nd.

RobertBMarks 2022-09-09 13:23:36 UTC #13

Chapter XVI is live! The life of Princess Stellaria’s fiancé hangs in the balance after being shot in the chest by Jack Death. As the creators and creations gather and wait anxiously to see if he will live or die, Atria Silversword faces the consequences of her mistakes...

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RobertBMarks 2022-09-15 14:53:09 UTC #14

A preview of tomorrow's chapter, Chapter XIX (this time properly numbered)...

The Destroyer took a moment to watch Habiki Matoyami tap away at his computer. The man was so focused on the screen he hadn’t even noticed three people enter his apartment, Jack taking a position to block the door and Jenny blocking the window. The Destroyer collected his thoughts – this was the man who created him, the god of his world. The first words he spoke to this man had to be properly chosen.

“Who the hell are you people, and how did you get in here?” the man said in Japanese, looking around frantically.

“Are you Habiki Matoyami?” The Destroyer asked in Japanese.

“Who’s asking?” Matoyami demanded.

“I am your creation,” The Destroyer replied. “I am The Destroyer.”

Matoyami looked at him with incredulity. “Prove it.” Then his eyes flickered to the orb floating behind The Destroyer, and widened.

The Destroyer raised his hand. An unseen hand lifted Matoyami off the floor. “Since getting to this world I have improved my skills, creator. I no longer need spoken incantations.” He lowered his hand, the unseen force putting Matoyami back down.

Matoyami sat down, his jaw open. “How is this possible? How are you here?”

“You created me to have the powers of a god. I used them. I have questions.”

RobertBMarks 2022-09-16 13:27:20 UTC #15

Chapter XIX is live! At long last, The Destroyer meets his creator, and his war of liberation begins...

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RobertBMarks 2022-09-21 19:09:05 UTC #16

Here's a preview of Friday's chapter:

“So, have you met your creator yet?” Fred asked. “Or author, or designer, or whatever the term is?”

Stella shook her head. “We came to Japan just so that we could do that, but with everything that happened, we missed our chance. I keep telling myself that we’ll do it another year, but it took us years to save up for this trip, so I don’t know if it will ever happen.”

“And what would you say if you did meet him?”

Stella shrugged. “I don’t know. When I first got to this world, I had all of these questions about what I was, why my world existed, why it was the way it was, why we had to quest and fight...but most of those were answered in developer interviews Adam showed me. And then, as I built a life in this world, so many of the things I once cared about stopped mattering so much. I still miss everybody I left behind, but that place is not my home anymore. I know that I’m somebody’s creation, and I still want to meet the person who created me. But I’m also a graduate student, and a fiancee, and a friend, and all those matter so much more. I guess all that would be left is to say ‘thank you’, but since I’d never be able to prove who I am, they’d never know what I was thanking them for. I don’t know what else there would be to say.”

“Well, I would suggest that you figure it out in the next couple of minutes,” Fred said. “The development lead of Chronicles of Arcaniana is waiting in the hallway for you right now.”

Stella blinked. “My creator is here?”

RobertBMarks 2022-09-23 15:48:25 UTC #17

Chapter XX is live! Princess Stella’s fiancé Adam is stable, but in a post-operative coma. As Adam’s family gathers and Stella sits her long vigil, waiting for her beloved to wake up, she hears some startling news – her creator has come to find her, and has an important question to ask her...

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RobertBMarks 2022-09-28 14:04:53 UTC #18

A preview of Friday's chapter:

As the others stood and left, Atria took a deep breath. Cap remained seated beside her.

“There is something we need to do,” he said once they were alone in the room. “Golf. Tomorrow morning.”

Atria shook her head. “Not the time.”

“It is exactly the right time, and you need it. I can tell.”

“How?”

“Well, there’s that thousand-yard stare you just did, for one thing.”

“There’s too much to do here.”

“‘Captain’ isn’t a superhero name, you know,” Cap stated. “It was my rank in the American Army back in the Second World War. I led men into combat in the largest war my country ever fought, and I was on the front lines of the Battle of the Bulge, which was our most desperate moment of that war. And a week into that battle, my men looked better than you do right now.”

RobertBMarks 2022-09-30 15:51:11 UTC #19

Chapter XXI is live! While Princess Stella sits vigil over her comatose fiancé in the hospital, Atria Silversword, Captain Infinite, and the creators plan their next move...and Atria makes a fateful promise.

RobertBMarks 2022-10-05 12:38:12 UTC #20

A preview of Friday's chapter:

Stella took stock. It was just after dinner. Adam was still in his post-operative coma, but the doctors said that he should wake up any day now. Fred and Rachel were back at their hotel room getting some much needed sleep. Mitsubi and Kaguyama had already been for a visit and left. Atria had held a meeting in the morning, had work she needed to do all afternoon, and would be coming by in a couple of hours to tell her all about it, and Cap and Alice would be stopping by later in the evening, but otherwise she would be sitting vigil alone for the time being. Until Atria arrived, it was just her and Adam.

So, who was the third person in the room?

Stella’s heart sank as she looked into the shadow in the corner of the room. The man in the black three-piece suit who had shot Adam looked back at her.

“Good,” he said in English. “You’re awake.”

Stella swallowed. A cold sweat ran down her back. She mustered her courage. “Kill me if you must, but please let him live.”

“Stop,” the man said. “If I wanted to kill you, I’d have done so. I have questions. You are going to answer them, and you will be honest and forthcoming. I don’t need to tell you what will happen if you aren’t.”

RobertBMarks 2022-10-07 14:50:30 UTC #21

Chapter XXII is live! Sitting her long vigil over her comatose fiancé, Princess Stella wakes up to find she is not alone – super-assassin Jack Death has come, and he has unfinished business with them both...

RobertBMarks 2022-10-12 14:11:54 UTC #22

A preview of the first of Friday's chapters:

Akari Soto returned to her house to pick up some supplies and necessities to discover that somebody was already inside, waiting for her.

He sat in a dark corner, a tall man in a leather jacket, a long black sword in his lap, his long hair drawn into a ponytail and a scar down his left cheek. For a moment, Akari considered calling in the security detail who had escorted her home, but decided against it. She knew exactly who he was – she knew him as well as she knew herself.

“You weren’t hard to find,” said Daiki Yamato.

“I was never trying to be,” Akari said. “You’re actually him, in the flesh – you’re Daiki Yamato!”

“You know, when your friends told me I was fictional, I didn’t believe them at first,” Daiki said. “But there was this little part of me that kept pushing to know for certain. So I went to a bookstore and I asked them if they had ever heard of a light novel series about a character named Daiki Yamato. And they had.” He held up a copy of the first volume of Ascension of the Legendary Sword Hero. “Do you have any idea of what it’s like to read your own abduction and trauma, along with every thought you had as it happened?”

RobertBMarks 2022-10-13 13:53:21 UTC #23

A preview of the second of Friday's chapters:

Jenny Calhoun was idly tossing and catching a ball in the corner she had claimed for herself of the abandoned warehouse when she saw Jack Death finally return, a briefcase in his hand.

“You’re back late,” she said. “It’s almost ten o’clock.”

“I had a lot of thinking to do,” Jack stated. “Where’s Roy?”

“He’s in the back with the new girl.”

“New girl?”

Jenny nodded. “Apparently, there’s another one of us. Some girl from a fantasy story. She came looking for cloak boy, or so Roy says.”

“I wonder if it’s that Athena person he mentioned.”

Jenny shrugged. “I didn’t catch her name.”

“Does she have a tail?”

RobertBMarks 2022-10-14 15:26:13 UTC #24

Chapters XXIII and XXIV are live! First, Isekai hero Daiki Yamato confronts his creator over his suffering. Then, super-assassin Jack Death, still reeling from his confrontation with Princess Stella, makes a fateful decision on the eve of the first major attack of The Destroyer’s war against the creators.

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RobertBMarks 2022-10-19 14:43:47 UTC #25

A preview of Friday's chapter:

“So, what happened, besides Adam waking up?” Alice asked.

“We’ve identified the man with the horns,” Atria said, motioning to the lieutenant. He began passing out a handout. “Everybody, meet The Destroyer, from an anime called Reincarnated as the Most Powerful Hero in the World, produced by Samurai Filmworks. His creator is Habiki Matoyami, who we are now attempting to contact.”

Alice frowned. “My handout is in Japanese,” she said. “I can’t read this.”

“Here, take mine,” Cap said, trading.

“I watched the first episode of that,” Kaguyama said. “It wasn’t so much bad as mediocre. It was just a basic power fantasy with an audience-insert character.”

“Based on the material from the show, The Destroyer is a devil king trying to conquer the world for reasons unknown,” Atria said. “He doesn’t seem to do much more than show up in post-credit sequences and shout at underlings. We do know that he supposedly has the powers of a god, and he built this tower using his magic at some point in his back story. Otherwise–”

“That shithanger!” Akari Soto exclaimed, slamming her hand on the table. “I’m going to kill him when I get my hands on him!”