On top of Gary's tower was the flat top of it, and a runic pillar in the center. On this pillar a new throne had been attached. Angela sat on this throne. This was her office.
Below her, a circle of Geco officers stood guarding her. Fully equipped with both runic armor, and weapons. 7 melee fighters, 5 ranged, and 4 spellslingers.
A flimsy makeshift cage, that couldn't contain a cat, let alone two men, was placed in front of the pillar. Caleb, and Koba were meditating and waiting.
Angela was in the middle of a long speech, and was gesticulating wildly. Everyone was tired of listening. "...really don't get it. You're part of the new ruling class, and you have the authority to do whatever. Gary doesn't seem to have kids, so like this is all yours. I just think this plan of yours was a stupid idea. I mean when he gets here, I have no idea how upset he'll be, you know? All I have to do is follow orders. So, no hard feelings right?" She pointed the back of her hand at Caleb.
Caleb did not react.
There was silence for some time.
Caleb opened his eyes, and looked at Koba. "Master's coming!"
Koba turned into a silver streak, and flew up the pillar.
Angela held back his silver-clad fist with one extra hand. Her right hand was over her mouth as she yawned. Her left scratching the back of her head.
She used her extra arm to telekinetically launch Koba off of the tower. She then grew 3 more extra arms. Various runic weapons filled her arms.
"AHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAAHAAHAHAAHAAAAAaaaaaaa…" she laughed maniacally as she jumped off the tower to give chase.
Caleb launched himself at the runic soldiers. They were too much for him to handle, but Koba assured him that he could probably handle Angela, if Caleb gave him time.
There were 16 Geco Officers, 15 after Caleb decapitated, bare handed, the one most distracted by Koba's leap.
The rest took on battle stances.
A massive shockwave shook the air. A good portion of the city was probably fucked.
Fix later, Caleb thought as he hurriedly used his newly acquired runic sword to deflect the spear charge of an officer that sprouted wings.
The winged officer was an expert spearman, and her strikes kept Caleb on the back foot.
Just as he finds an opportunity to strike, a sword sneaks up on him, and then two daggers, an axe, and another sword! The rest of the officers had surrounded him, and they were not playing fair.
Good. Caleb erupted into his new Thunder-Lord's Frenzy. His body moved in unnaturally, Gary-like, ways avoiding every strike, as he contorted in mid-air his runic sword, as if possessed by its own will, performs a swing. Just a simple swing.
The sword officers, and the dual-dagger officer doubled in number, but halved in size.
The axe officer triple backflipped out of danger. The spear hero was not in range.
Caleb then landed, and stood there menacingly. Multi-colored lighting sparks emitted from his body.
Three lasers came at him while he was vulnerable. He successfully deflected two, but one struck his shoulder. He didn't flinch as the gaping hole closed. He put out his hand.
The spellslinger hero cursed as he saw three of his comrades get sliced, and absorbed. Their enemy was stronger. "We're fucked!" He kneeled, and placed both palms onto the ground, and began channeling.
The barker officer barked out through his hand. "DAEMON!"
The word DAEMON! in red appears in mid-air in front of his hand. They rapidly shot towards, and into Caleb.
Caleb was infused with the unstoppable urge to dance. Dance he would.
The laser musketeers are still recharging their muskets.
The ranged hero threw her musket to the side, and pulled out a black bow. She didn't have a quiver, but two of the ranged officers had talents for the infinite production of arrows. They mostly acted as her quivers, and occasionally shot too. They were pretty good shots, but they were here to support the hero.
The ranged hero's right hand vanished. It moved too quickly. The quivers could barely keep up.
Caleb was somehow keeping up, and stepping closer. His body was moving strangely. In flow.
The barker grew pale and pulled out a mace. Their spell had backfired. Pummel to death it is. They charge.
The spear hero, and axe officer charge.
The black magic officer casts a veil of midnight onto the field. Obscuring Caleb's vision, something he didn't need at the moment.
The vampire Geco officer, the only nonhuman, and an actual ascended gecko, so you know, levitated in the air and summoned blood bolts around itself. It did not send them towards Caleb. It merely kept them around.
The quiet officer, who had not moved an inch, and only had a knife, made his move.
He shadowblinked into the veil behind Caleb. He was hit in the chest by a round object. He looked down, it was the barker's head. He looked up to see a light rainbow moments from annihilating his existence. Before he died his last thought wa
Caleb absorbs the barker, and the quiet officer. He was still in flow. The spear hero troubled him but now he had the advantage. The arrows were coming, with the random laser here, and there.
The axe officer was good at dodging, but Caleb managed to catch them off guard. The officer had snuck up behind him, thinking they weren't seen, and then been kicked straight off the tower. They watched, and felt, Koba, and Angela striking each other as they fell.
Angela was using telekinesis to throw things at Koba, and grant her opportunities. Koba was taking it all, and getting stronger by the moment. He would peak at some point, and rapidly exhaust.
Caleb then deflected, and pushed off the spear hero.
The spear hero quickly tried to right herself while falling. She watched as Angela managed to use one of her knife-legs to stab Koba in the leg, and slice at his face. After righting herself she flew back to the top of the tower.
She landed, and saw the corpses of the infiniquivers, and musketeers. The ranged hero's effectiveness was lowered significantly. The ranged hero herself was encased in a blood bubble, her bow, and musket lay broken next to her. The spellslinger hero was also in a blood bubble.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The black magic officer had quietly morphed into spiders, and crawled away.
The vampire gecko officer was using the blood bolts to hold Caleb back. It was also considering retreat.
The spear hero charged at Caleb. He easily blocked her, and deflected her. He called down a series of lighting strikes on the hero, and was moments from striking down the gecko.
The spellslinger hero finished channeling. "Found it!"
The entire area was encased, and Caleb felt the wonder escape from his body. His strike was ineffective.
He defended himself well, but could only face a pummeling.
The spear hero did not participate, as the lightning strikes had knocked her out.
Angela, and Koba bounce off of each other sending another shockwave out.
All action stops. A powerful presence is here, and Gary too.
"What, pray tell, the fuck is going on here?" A much younger, like 25, Lord Gary, with a floating goolet at his side, descended from the sky, and stood on the throne on top of the pillar. "Angela, status report!"
Angela did not lower her stance, and did not put away her extra arms. She paused for a moment, and stared directly at the goo. "Uuh, coup attempt…"
Koba's entire focus was on the goolet. He had a sharp focused glare. "Is that daemon under control?"
Gary redirected his attention. "Huh?"
"Is. It. Under. Control?" His skin began to crack and small bits of light escaped.
Gary looked at Goo Dude. "Dude, u good?"
Goo Dude grew a smile. "Chillin bossmanz."
Gary turned back, and pointed at Goo dude with one hand. "Yeap, under control." He smiled.
"How?" Hissed Koba.
"Hmm? Ah, a group of daemons crowned me their king." He began to dig for gold.
Angela, and Koba looked at each other, and then back at Gary. Angela summons out a soul contract, and it's ripped to shreds by her psionics. She loses a chunk of power, but she'll live. She begins snapping.
Gary quickly realized that he should not have revealed that. He flicked away his gold, and began to warp away just in time, the goolet rapidly fies towards where he appeared.
The space where he was, was locked, and Koba's silver form rushed through.
Gary sniffs, and nods as he hovers. He pulls out the hand cannon, and starts firing shots at Angela, who he sees as a bigger threat. He empties his hand cannon, and, before he can reload, he's forced to block Koba's flurry of fists.
Caleb is still keeled over on the roof of the tower. He took critical damage, and, while he had enough vitality to restore himself, he needed a bit of time.
The remaining Geco officers reach common confusion, and unanimously decide to run the fuck away.
Angela rapidly blocks the mana-infused bullets, and begins to channel a powerful telekinetic spell.
Bored mountain feels the new sensation of someone removing its belt. Hmm, curious.
Koba's strikes are initially overwhelming. Gary Is only able to block half the strikes. Each hit feels as if designed to break him apart. He doesn't, but it hurts so, so much.
He takes a strike to the solar plexus. The fight is engulfed in fog. Gary teleports out of the fog, and heaves.
"Hey dude, need help?" Goo Dude offers.
Gary, too overwhelmed to respond, nods.
"All I can do for you is fuze." He smiles.
Gary doesn't reply. He doesn't want to, but he feels that he is limited…
Before he can agree Koba flies out of the fog, and strikes his sword. Gary pushes him away, and the two once again begin striking, and deflecting each other. He doesn't know how much longer he can handle it. He opens his mouth to ask Goo Dude to fuze.
wait…
Koba rapidly begins to lose momentum as the exhaustion catches up to him.
Gary takes advantage, and takes the advantage. Koba is being pushed back, and many cuts appear on his face and body. "Any time now, Angela!"
Gary feels space lock again. Koba retreats.
Bored mountain suddenly feels the new sensation of levitation, flight, and crushing something important. Then it died. What an interesting life. Those were its last thoughts. How satisfying.
It was over. Gary was dead. The tower was broken, but Koba could still leave. He flew around the now ruined city. He found Caleb digging himself out of the rubble. His body was broken, but healing. “You ok, friend?”
Caleb spat blood as he was pulled out, and nodded.
Angela was sitting on a non-broken building nursing a headache.
As the three begin to unwind, the vampire gecko officer approaches Angela. “bad news boss, Tersids are here with an army.”
Angela stands. Now that she’s aware, she can feel the enemy. Too many, too strong.
“You have a way out of here right?” She looks at Koba.
They gather who they can among the remaining Geco, and open a slit in space. They leave, Caleb stays, but with a silver badge that can guide him. A gift from Koba.
He heads to the training grounds to find Cara. He finds something he refuses to understand. He sits in confusion.
Out of the space-slit walked a man with black runes flowing out of his skin. The runes would turn to ash, and dust in the air. He looked towards the training grounds, and started walking.
On his way he noticed that the city was in chaos. People ran around looking for loved ones, or fleeing, and a foreign army was seemingly occupying the place. A small group of POWs was being paraded through the streets by Tersitones, the special staff-wielding supersoldiers that the Tersids had created. Using bio-constructs, they had been genetically, and mentally enhanced, and enslaved, but who cares.
A couple of Tones stopped the man. One was about to ask a question when the staff of the other blocked the man’s fist. A staff struck him in the gut, and he jumped back. He was unharmed, but these fish sure are tough.
He was now surrounded by Tones. He began ruthlessly beating them, as he fought his way to his target.
Caleb sat in front of the training room entrance. The entrance was a magic stone that you needed to spit on to open. He was sitting on this stone inspecting the silver badge.
He heard fighting getting closer. The fighting spilled into the little clearing he was in. The Tones stopped fighting, and began to surround the man, and Caleb.
Caleb did not react, and looked at the man. “Who are you?”
“Rutnot. I'm here for that sphere of annihilation. Useful to me, you know?” Rutnot pointed at the ground.
Caleb blinked slowly. “I see.”
Rutnot had seen this before. He coughed into his hand. “Was she… Special to you?”
Caleb stood up, and turned around. He spit onto the rock, and opened the door. He turned back towards Rutnot. He nodded, closed his eyes, and looked up at the sky.
Rutnot had a bad feeling, and quickly went into the training room to get the sphere.
The Tones, who had been patiently waiting… For backup. Charged at the two.
The wonder took Caleb, and Caleb took the Tones.
The Tersid Coalition forces were marching towards a big battle. Their forces had been ambushed in the city, and lured out into the woods. Now the Tersid’s forces were being disintegrated by one guy.
A fully armored soldier, along with similarly armored comrades, charged at Caleb. The life-stealing lighting burned through his armor, and began to siphon his lifespan. He was instantly disintegrated, but Caleb gained little for it. Tower thralls sacrifice lifespan for power, and after they learned that Caleb was gathering vitality for power, they quickly began to fight him at full power.
Some of the troops would barely survive thanks to the bell guardians, sentient bell constructs that could shield others, and take massive damage. Caleb made them a main priority, despite their lack of vitality.
He was almost killed by the soul-whispers of the Nuesang assassins. They were sentient landmines that would slowly travel to a place, and lure their prey in. Caleb was too frenzied to care about anything, but eating their vitality. The Nuesang assassins were made almost purely out of it.
A lighting strike landed uselessly on him, as a small group of elite cultivators mounted on mechanical animal constructs charged into him, and attempted to pummel him to death. This did not work. The animal constructs proved stronger than their riders, and useless without them.
The lighting strikes were from Pante’s spark pillar. Pante was a “mage-king.” He owned a single cave, on an island, but he was too strong to ignore. Unfortunately, his spark pillar, while good and strong, was countered by Caleb, who was not the intended target. At least, since they were a long-range construct, Caleb could not destroy them.
Caleb kept beating down his enemies, and gaining more, and more power.
The Caretaker Ancestor, who was temporarily restored in order to fight Gary, decided that this guy was now the bigger threat. He ordered his legion of spirits to kill him.
Caleb quickly ran out of living opponents, and began fighting grass spirits. Mindless ghosts made out of a unity of grass souls. They were weak, but plenty. They had no vitality.
After clearing away so many, they began to fuse into brute spirits. These spirits were still mindless, but tougher, and better at fighting. They had no vitality.
The Caretaker Ancestor got frustrated. He activated his great wolf projection, and turned into one.
Caleb's sword dices through the body of a Brute spirit, and a massive ghost wolf grabs him, and starts to shake him around. He shocks the wolf. He is thrown to the ground heavily damaged. He begins to heal, and stands on one knee. He glares at it. It lets out a great howl that heavily weakens, and suppresses him. He is exhausted, and ready. He refuses to back down.
The ghost wolf begins to charge up a breath attack. Caleb looks down, as death gets closer, and closer.
The Gilder Rock Saint approaches. This is the other expert that was meant to kill Gary. She wears a gold suit, and is carried on a violet gold-trimmed palanquin. The gilded shields, her personal supersoldiers only slightly weaker than a Tone, and stronger with her gear, carried it. They all wore gilded fiend masks, and had golden shields. Hidden in the shadows were her black bloods, duty-born long-bowman trained from youth to watch over, and protect the rock saint from any inconvenience.
Caleb felt the presence of a living being. He then felt that he was moments from crossing the border. He only needed a catalyst. He smiled a toothy grin.
The Caretaker Ancestor sent a transmission to the Rock Saint. “Wait, stay back!”
The Rock Saint was going to ignore the geezer, but Caleb had already arrived at her face with his sword. The sword had pierced through the palanquin. The golden shields carrying it went poof. The black bloods could not physically react in time.
Caleb began to devour the saint. His body began to overflow with wonder, and light, as he levitated in the air.
The ghost wolf launched his laser at him. This should have interrupted his ascension, but instead it boosted it.
Caleb was now a wizard, and he was still in the middle of his frenzy.
The light on his body receded, and focused on his sword. His half naked form stood over the ashes of his enemies. He turned towards the ghost wolf.
It was then split in two by the light sword.
The Caretaker Ancestor dissipated.
Caleb stood alone. He looked up at the sky.
An orange goolet levitating in the air, and having watched all of that, decided to head off now. He flew into space.
"Hmmm." Gary, with a familiar forlorn feeling in the pit of his stomach, was hovering over Helena. "I’m just gonna wash my hands of this.”
Orange Goo Dude vibrated. “Probably, a good idea, bro. Seems… unsalvageable. Say how are you flying without losing any cultivation?”
“What?” Gary was confused.
“That chasin’ starlight technique is designed to hurt you every time you use it. You literally cannot master it without constantly resetting your cultivation, my dude.”
“Oh.” Gary began flying in a random direction.
Orange Daemon Dude nodded to himself in understanding.