Will ended up staying an extra three hours, but Natalie didn’t mind after he told her exactly why he was going to be so delayed. During that time, he made some arrangements with Regina. She wasn’t exactly happy that he was practically giving orders to the nation, but she’d acknowledged that short of requisitioning Lu Jie, who was quite unlikely to cooperate with the ESNA, to drop a nuke on top of Cinder, this wasn’t a problem that was going to go away. Already, her people were drawing back, establishing a more stable perimeter instead of trying to push back in and reclaim land.
Liam and Hua updated him on the state of their superdungeon adventure as well. They were encountering magic relics that didn’t look like they’d come from Earth or Arcadia amongst their regularly scheduled contests against the Peace sigils. There was something strange going on in there, but since those who had chosen to remain part of the anti-Peace guerilla force were still holding their own, he decided against doing another investigation that was unlikely to pan out.
He also took some extra time to clear up a few details with Cinder and try a couple things. She was very open to finding a way to turn off her passive, though she obviously didn’t want to give up her power in its entirety because doing so would mean death in this brutal world they now shared.
Attempting to use his demon eye to cut off her connection to the passive didn’t work. Sufficient violence would temporarily disable the passive, but it came back after less than a minute. “Constantly stay by Cinder’s side or she either dies from lack of mana or kills everyone by accident” was not exactly a viable plan for either of them.
Will had brought up the Geneva suppression field, but they’d agreed that until the situation was more stable, they didn’t want to potentially put her in a place where she would both be vulnerable to Peace’s forces and risk killing new targets.
They also considered transporting her to an uninhabited volcano, but…
“Wait, isn’t Yellowstone already uninhabited?”
Cinder looked down. “Yes. I emptied it.”
“Well, nothing we do can turn back the clock on that, but we’re making good steps moving forward. Here seems like the best option for the time being.”
“I agree,” Cinder said. “Please do come again sometime. Even if it’s just to deposit more monsters, this was nice. It’s been a long time since I got to talk to real people.”
“I’ll come by for more normal reasons too,” Will promised. “Plus, I can probably tag you into some chat groups so you actually have some people to talk to.”
She nodded emphatically. “That would be fantastic.”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me…”
“By all means,” Cinder said.
Without Sen in the area, Will didn’t have a great range extender, so he came back the way he’d entered. Navigating out was easier than coming in had been, mostly because the tunnels he’d formed out of collapsing stone were already visible and available to him. It also helped that while he and Cinder had been experimenting, they’d found that using a combination of corruption and the demon eye could temporarily clear the diseased fiery ash around him, granting him more visibility.
He would have opened the portal to the Beyond in Cinder’s room, but he didn’t want her accidentally tumbling into it and potentially getting obliterated by the demonic forces that plagued the place since he wouldn’t be there to protect whoever got in.
Also, Will did plan on bringing more Users here once they figured out a better way to deal with Cinder’s situation, and he didn’t want the only Beyond portal to open straight into the closest thing to hell Earth currently possessed. Equilibrium Mantle was strong enough to keep others alive out on the surface. Next to Cinder? Unlikely at best.
He picked a nice, flat section of ash that was only a little bit on fire and portaled out.
Ayla was in the Beyond now, which was growing to be more common than not. After Dread Executor Azathoth had done the most he could without enabling Peace to use significantly more plausibility, a portion of Ayla’s power had been restored to her, enough that she could once again somewhat serve as a helper.
“Three out of seven,” she said as he entered, all business. “You didn’t kill the rank 1.”
“Nope,” Will said. “Would you have? She’ll be more useful on our side than dead, and her intentions aren’t violent.”
“Depends on the circumstances. If, for instance, I was being pushed by my class to get kills of that type in order to rank up, which I hypothetically very much needed because I was on a timer both because of a core goddess’ machinations and an additional planetary impact, I could be convinced to do so.”
“Wow,” Will said drily. “Can’t imagine what kind of situation that would be.”
“You should be fine,” Ayla said. “My people were more desperate ones. As a people, we tended to lack the human tendency to band together in crisis.”
“Explains why you’re such a dick when I’m in the process of dying,” Will joked.
“I would consider myself particularly empathetic for my species,” she said pointedly.
“I’d make a clame about changelings there, but that feels racist.”
“It probably feels that way because it is.”
“Fair point. Anyway, I think I’m on track to hit seven. I’ve got Blurr’s deal, who should be a 10k-er if I remember correctly, then possibly Pixie and Warr. Regina and the superdungeon group have info, too, which should make the last one pretty easy.”
“And if one of them turns out to be sympathetic?” Ayla asked. “Peace burned plausibility to begin a ritual two months ago. Do you know how bad that is?”
“We’ve been over this, so yes,” Will said. “Yeah, yeah, if she didn’t hide it from us, then it means she doesn’t need to. I still have four months.”
“So what if those four months become one and you still don’t have them? What if Pixie and Warr are fellow fighters like you? Your life isn’t the only one riding on surviving Peace, Will, and even you aren’t going to be able to manage that kind of fight as a silver.”
“I know, I know,” Will sighed. “You know, it’d be nice to have one objective that doesn’t involve the possible destruction of everything I know and love.”
“Aw, you love me? That’s sweet.”
“Everything I know and love and Ayla Dreamer, former system fugitive,” Will corrected himself. “To answer your question, if it comes down to that, I’ll do what I have to do. I’m not a naive idiot.”
“I know you aren’t,” Ayla replied. “But even the most pragmatic of us have moments of weakness.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Good hunting out there, Will.”
“That’s almost the title of a movie,” he said. “Matt Damon, Robin Williams. You see it?”
“No, but I read the summary, so I know it’s good.”
“Dear god, you people have no taste,” Will said, shaking his head. “Alright. See you when I see you.”
While he’d been working his way back stateside, he’d passed through the UK to keep up with what was going on there. Fortunately, he’d had the presence of mind to also drop a Beyond portal, so he emerged straight into gloomy, bombed-out London at the base of the fourth Big Ben. Honestly, he wasn’t sure why they kept on putting it up, but if the Brits wanted to do dumb shit with their magic, that was their choice.
Will: In the area. Where should I be heading?
Natalie: Michael and I are in a chopper about five miles north of London. Want us to pick you up?
Will: Just slow down a little. I’ll catch up.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
The difference between Yellowstone and London was night and day. The previous place had been a hellscape because of magic. This city was just like that because it was England. It was grey and raining, just like always, but that didn’t affect Will at all. He welcomed an easier environment to use Equilibrium Mantle on.
The city itself had been destroyed and reassembled a couple times, and it was now stable enough to support a population of about a million, which was honestly pretty impressive given the average size of post-apocalypse cities. There were three or four distinct factions controlling different parts of the city, Blurr’s included, but they had mostly hashed out boundaries now.
After a tumultuous period at the start of the cycle and shortly after the trial of the champion, the worst elements had been excised. Will had been part of the the most recent excursion. He didn’t regret joining it, since they had been deplorable people—on the level of the Iron Boys back from just after the tutorial, except with actual power this time. Unfortunately, they hadn’t had anyone with ten thousand or more kills, which meant he hadn’t gained much out of it personally apart from some expendable loot and a portal location in the UK.
At least Sen was usable here. Will’s familiar alerted him to the presence of several hundred particularly perceptive Users in various parts of the city looking up at him as he used Wind Walker to air-dash up and away, forming wings with the hunger phantasm afterwards to propel himself. Expendable items could create small explosions behind him, propelling him forward at higher speeds. With the combination of Equilibrium Mantle functionally negating air resistance and Wind Walker continually boosting his speed, he could get up to very high speeds with ease.
Sen found Blurr before long. True to her word, she was in a helicopter about a thousand feet above the ground alongside her second, Michael Cunningham.
They slowed the vehicle for him, which was considerate of them but wholly unnecessary. Will’s senses of timing and proprioception was at the point where he could have done this with his eyes closed. He matched their speed, then slid in, taking a seat inside.
“The blades are silent this time,” he noted. “That’s nice. If I had to do one more goddamn text exchange while you two are right across from me, I was going to lose it.”
“Good to see you too,” Michael said from the pilot’s seat, saluting sardonically. “You know the headsets were here for a reason, right?”
“They were unformed rank and uncomfortable. You might as well text at that point if the sound is going to be compressed that much. Pleasure to see you again, Michael. Blurr.”
“Do you ever plan on using my first name to talk to me?” the latter asked, amused.
“No. Your parents should’ve picked a name better than Blurr if they wanted people to use it.”
“You—glad to see you’re the same as always, Will.”
“So, who’re we jumping today?” Will asked. “It’s the 10k-er, right?”
“His total count’s something more like fifteen thousand now,” Natalie said. “That’s the one, though.”
Will had let it slip to a number of his allies that he was looking for specifically hostile elements with kill counts of over ten thousand for unspecified reasons. They’d looked at him weird for that, but it wasn’t the strangest request for combat they’d seen, and Will had built up enough goodwill for them to not pry further.
“I think I remember this guy,” Will said. “He was a top ten earlier, right?”
“He was rank 8 at the time of the human summit, which he attended and left,” Natalie confirmed. “We weren’t able to ambush him in time then, but he hasn’t grown that much in power since. Like we said then, he stopped hunting people down as actively after he got ten thousand.”
“I’ve confirmed that you get something at that mark,” Will said.
“There’s no way your kill count is that high,” Michael said. “Or should I crash this chopper now and do the world a solid?”
“First of all, I’d survive that. Second, it isn’t. I talked to the first-ranked leaderboarder earlier. Blurr can fill you in on that.”
“You what?”
“Anyway,” Will continued. “What’s he now?”
“Rank fourteen,” Blurr said. “Henry. Blizzard Arcanist.”
“I see him,” Will said, looking down the leaderboard himself. “Gold 4. Sponsored by some random chucklefuck, looks like. Any more info?”
“Otherworlder, but you knew that already,” Blurr said. “Appeared during the trial of the champion in Birmingham. I was stuck up on the tournament asteroid, but Michael here was scouting the place out.”
“Following a lead,” Michael said. “Missing folks from the town I took the tutorial in, see.”
“Let me guess,” Will said. “The town froze over.”
“The town froze over,” Blurr confirmed. “Not fast enough to kill everyone, but by the time I got back to England, the kill count was at over ten thousand.”
“What is it with these dickhead otherworlders and killing cities?” Will asked.
“Area of effect powers are the most effective way to level up quickly,” Blurr said. “Trust me on this one.”
She was at the same level Will was, though the Brit was a couple ranks lower on the leaderboard now.
“I guess so,” Will said. “They’re the ones that stick out and level fast.”
“Hasn’t done it to any other cities, though,” Michael interjected. “Used to be rank 8, but he slid even when people above him died.”
Cunningham was a newer acquaintance of Will’s. They’d met during his brief stint clearing out London. The other man was a Silver 7, but he had gotten there without any core usage, and he was a deadly mark with his sniper rifle, an epic-rarity growth item he’d picked up at the conclusion of a dungeon he’d cleared as part of Blurr’s squad.
He was also one of the few people Will knew who could track a single target down faster than he could with Sen, which bumped his importance up a lot.
“Are we not going to bring a larger team?” Will asked. “Gold-ranker, city-level AoE, 15k killcount, you don’t want more people?”
“Do you?” Blurr asked. “I seem to recall you being a solo player.”
“Never claimed to be,” Will said. “Actually, I’m pretty aware of the power that numbers can bring.”
She arched an eyebrow. “But?”
He sighed. “But you’re right. Anyone else would probably get in my way. There’s a few exceptions to that. Actually, you mind if I pick one of them up? She’s been getting antsy about not getting involved.”
“Hasn’t your elf friend been dealing with the Everest superdungeon?” Blurr asked. “I remember you saying that last time.”
“Yeah, but there’s only so much they can accomplish there with the firepower they have. Most of their time is spent grinding. She’ll probably hit gold with the next major fight she takes.”
“Feel free to invite her along,” Blurr said. “I distrust her about the same amount that I do you.”
“That’s hurtful,” Will said, feigning a deep wound. “You should trust her less. I guarantee that you wouldn’t be saying this if you saw her play a hand of blackjack.”
“I’m sure,” Blurr said drily. “Your sense of humor hasn’t improved since we last met. I’m actually impressed. It might be worse.”
“I’m worse,” Will replied airily. “You can’t go around killing the worst humanity has to offer without losing a few marbles.”
He thought he’d made that statement jokingly enough, but even Will could feel the ripple in his own aura. Blurr and Michael both quieted, their own auras indicating that they’d gone on edge. The Chaos Summoner unconsciously reached for a knife at her belt.
Maybe a bit too truthful of a joke, Will decided. Without the atmosphere to continue his particular brand of slightly morbid, slightly dated jokes, he decided to return to business. A quick exchange of messages later, he had a plan.
“My portals don’t move with vehicles, so I’m going to pop in and out once we’re over Birmingham,” he said. “We are going to Birmingham, right?”
“Yes, though it looks a bit more like Arendelle now,” Blurr said.
Will frowned, processing the sentence. “Your ability to call me out on my pop culture references is officially revoked. You can’t say shit about me making a bad reference and then go for fucking Frozen.”
“Calling you out, as you call it, has yet to work. I’ll force-feed you your own medicine until you’re as sick of it as I am.”
“That’s not how medicine works.”
“Speeding up the chopper,” Michael announced, wisely not paying Will and Blurr’s conversation any mind. “Should be there in under an hour.”
Will cycled Sen in and out of the helicopter as they picked up speed. Aza, on the other hand, did his own thing. If anyone from the monster-infested countryside cared to look up at them as they passed over at nearly the speed of sound, they might catch a Guardian Angel familiar clinging to the bottom of the vehicle.
Most of the monsters and people dotting the countryside didn’t bother with them. A good chunk of the disparate civilizations here were either friendly towards the primary UK factions or just wanted to be left alone, while the wandering monsters weren’t fast enough to catch up to them. Once or twice, they slowed down so Michael could gun a problematic-looking monster down. When that happened, Will used the phantasm to deliver corruption, never needing to leave the chopper.
Eventually, they reached what Will would only presume was Birmingham. Equilibrium Mantle once again proved itself to be a remarkably helpful skill, negating the chill in the air, but it was clear from the surroundings that they were approaching. The plant life was dead for miles out, and the ground became colder and frostier the closer they got towards the city.
It was an eerie sight. There were people still moving within it, but the bulk of the humanoid figures had simply been frozen in place, rendered into dead, icy statues.
“Michael, can you work with this?” Blurr asked.
“Not without something belonging to him,” he said. “There’s a lot of crap blocking the way, and it doesn’t help that there’s still a solid fifty thousand people alive in here.”
That did surprise Will, but he supposed he couldn’t see inside the mind of a sociopath mass murderer.
“Then it’s a good thing we have some,” Blurr said, conjuring a bloody scrap of cloth from her inventory. “We weren’t able to kill him at the summit, but our efforts weren’t all wasted.”
“Fantastic,” Michael said, accepting it. Magic swirled around him as he triggered a skill that Will had witnessed many times during his last outing with him.
It took less than a minute.
“Inside the Council House, Victoria Square,” Michael said. “Should I rain fire?”
“One second,” Will said. He vanished, a black portal abruptly appearing before passing through the back of the helicopter.
A few moments later, dark shadows crept into the helicopter, followed by two people.
“Natalie,” Caiyeri Seven said, inclining her head. “I don’t think I’ve met the other one. Pilot?”
“A bit better than that,” Will said.
“Three and a half seconds, by the way,” Blurr said. “You’re late.”
“Caiyeri was in the middle of a game,” Will said.
“Was not. I was fighting.”
“Your inner demons, maybe.”
“Enough of that,” Caiyeri said. “When do we start killing?”
Michael took that as his cue, firing the twin bronze-rank machine guns mounted on the helicopter. A silver-rank missile followed.
In the center of the city, a blizzard formed in reverse, snow rising from the ground.
“Now,” Will said, jumping out of the helicopter.
Caiyeri watched him fall, then turned to Natalie. “He’s so dramatic about these things.”
Natalie sighed. “He really is.”
“Keep us updated,” Caiyeri said, walking backwards. “We’ll let you know when—“
The rest of her words went into the wind, stolen as she simply fell off the edge of the chopper.
Natalie Blurr, Chaos Summoner and leader of a coalition of Users over ten thousand strong, groaned in defeat, waving her hands to activate her summons.
“Birds of a fucking feather,” she complained.