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Yholl was sweating buckets. The capital was the only place he could be safe, as the rest of the world was undergoing its terraforming process after having all the dungeon cores drained away. It would be another 10 years before he could leave the city’s safety behind.
He knew he could hide out in the city – turn it into a game of cat and mouse. But without a Wayfinder, which he had dismissed upon Ascension, he could not access The Cosmic System without a Skill.
One which had limited uses each day. And he was all out of uses. If his foes had an (Information) Boon, they could find him. Technically, the palace’s defenses were not something that he had created. That meant the various traps and spells placed centuries ago did not count as him trying to harm the Aspirants.
I just have to hope that it can stall them for 22 hours, he thought.
But then, an idea struck him. What if I accelerated time? I control this world. I could permanently change the flow of time. Speed it up. Then, I can slow it down again to its usual speed.
The thought had never crossed his mind, because he was taught at a very young age not to muck around with time. It was tricky to manipulate and would often backfire.
But he was the sole Ascendant of this world. It was his to control.
Sitting at his desk in the highest tower, his refuge and final hope – he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “World Control,” he stated. The Skill that was only granted by the Planetary Independence Pact to an Ascendant that took over their home world. He didn’t even have to join their faction – but he did anyways, because having allies was always valuable.
But they were all Ascendants. Even their Aspirant Signers were very individualistic and solitary.
Yholl saw the phantom, spectral display in front of him for the various controls of the world. All manner of levers, knobs, and switches that controlled every aspect of reality on the world. He grabbed the knob labeled time and turned it forward.
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Jace saw the world vibrate around them. It shook him to his core. “Dark Matter Cloak (Rank 3) [Group],” he rapidly incanted as he and Priam vanished. They were at the far end of the feast hall and were just about to hit the main corridor.
Time seemed to speed up – but it did not affect Priam or himself, just the world around them. The various animated kitchen objects moved at a speed that was truly dizzying. The other Aspirants noticed something was off as well, as the various containers for alcohol absolutely sprayed their contents when the taps were twisted, emptying onto the floor.
And then, about thirty seconds later of just observing and preparing for…whatever it was, the world returned to its regular speed. A voice echoed around the whole palace. The Archmage Ascendant.
“I have sped up time. The 24-hour post-Dungeon Run feast is over. The Cosmic Corridor awaits. But my offer still stands. Kill the Aspirant known as Flicker, and I’ll give you a Legendary Boon. He is somewhere in this building; invisible, undetectable, and untrackable. Good luck!”
Damnit, Jace grabbed Priam by the hand and flung him on top of his backpack as he dashed down the corridor. The stampede of Aspirants came flooding out and Jace barely kept ahead of the pack. “Priam, do you have any Information Boons?”
“Bloopa’s telling me I’ll have to use the Epic one.”
“Do it!”
Priam nodded and Jace saw a small map appear in the corner of his vision. “Alright! He’s in the top-most tower. It looks like we go up the main stairs, across the dance hall, up more stairs, and then onto the roof to reach the highest tower. The roof has a courtyard or something. A big area.”
Jace nodded and kept sprinting, keeping well ahead of his pursuers who did not know where he was but were just spreading out through the palace – perhaps hoping to bump into him. The stairs were easy to climb, but his eyes spotted the characteristic shimmer of a magical effect. Some type of wall.
Fuck your magic, Jace thought as he punched the shimmer with his Anathema Arm. The trap disintegrated instantly, and Jace kept pushing his way up the stairs.
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“That was fun,” Yholl said with a chuckle. He could accelerate Nihilethelea’s speed so that the world would re-terraform and produce more dungeon cores. Effectively, he could have a Dungeon Run every few days. Ah, but that is for the future.
Too bad it didn’t affect the non-native species who are present. He reached up and felt a slight wrinkle on his ear. That’s not fair, I’m immortal! With an exasperated sigh he stood up and began to descend the tower.
“At least now I’m not restricted.”
Flicker, whoever you are…you will not kill me. I’ve got two Tiers on you, and an enormous repository of Skills. You cannot win.
Jace punched his way through several more magical traps and jumped over or bent around mundane ones – trying to not set them off so his pursuers would instead be affected. As he kept running, his adrenaline pumping through him, he felt that festering kernel of rage in his chest.
I started with nothing. And people like this Archmage took everything from everyone else, leaving us in the gutters. The heat grew further, and Jace could see the flickering crimson nebula around him once more. But he didn’t care as he kept pushing up and ran through the dance hall.
The smooth, wooden floor was polished to a bright sheen, and he felt once more that sense of righteous anger. The magnitude of the inequality that he saw here compared to the town when he first arrived and saw the tenement houses and state of squalor.
He passed through the dance hall and up the next set of stairs, ascending the spiraling staircase at a slower pace due to the confined space and the numerous non-magical traps. The first one he barely caught sight of as he came to a stop just in front of a tripwire. “This isn’t good,” Jace muttered as he knelt.
Priam got off his back, “Can you disable it?”
“Yes, or we could go around it. But, the smartest way to do traps is consecutive, back-to-back traps.” He reached into his pack and pulled out the flashlight. Cranking it for a charge, he flicked it on and could see the slight crack in the staircase just beyond the tripwire. “See that? A secondary trap behind the tripwire. If you jumped over this, you’d land on that.” He glanced at the walls to either side.
“Disable it, then.”
Jace shook his head, “No. We need these active for any Aspirants who are coming this way. It will slow them down.” He motioned to Priam, “Get on my back again.”
Priam did so and Jace jumped up, planting his legs on either wall to the sides. Thanks to the tight space, he could use his leg-claws and his hands to spider-climb along the walls – avoiding all of the traps on the stairs and the numerous tripwires. The few magic traps he simply disabled with his Anathema Arm and a thought.
Arriving at the top landing, he got off the walls and opened the heavy, iron door. It opened to an open space. The air that blew by was cool and crisp. The ground beneath was a well-laid bit of stonework that was in a pattern of some sort that he couldn’t make out from being on the same level height-wise. There were several planters with trees, bushes, and flowers spread about.
A rooftop garden with a fountain in the center and several benches. A relaxing place if not for the impending fight that Jace knew was coming. He set Priam down, “Make sure you put your Benediction on yourself,” he stated.
“Right!” Priam shut his eyes for a moment and then his body bulked up. Not quite as muscular as Jace thanks to his super soldier serum from Velenar Prime – but for a bunny-boy he was jacked.
“Ollie, can I keep the Cloak on him but remove it from myself?”
“Yes, you can be selective about it,” the otter stated.
“Good.” Dark Matter Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Jace thought as he drew the Starstorm Sword. The blade ignited with the crimson and purple nebula – the same crimson that crackled around his Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3). The honeycomb gold was duller and only flickered in places – still present but the visual effect was seemingly suppressed.
Walking to the center of the rooftop garden near the fountain, he waved to Priam. “Shut the door and stay thirty feet behind me. Further back if you need to get out of danger. Worst case scenario, get to the portal and get to Khrox.”
“Right! I’ll support you from behind! It’s what I’m good at, after all!”
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Jace nodded and looked up at the taller tower. There were several balconies on each floor, and he spotted the Archmage Ascendant on the tallest floor. Pulling back his arm, he threw the Starstorm Sword.
It sailed up in an arc, losing some momentum as it shattered dozens of barriers thanks to his [Astral Annihilator] Evolution on his Swordmage Stance (Rank 3). The barriers shattering must have alerted the Archmage, as he stood up and moved to the side. Jace recalled the sword as it passed within inches of the man, and it warped to him.
“Well, you’re here, somewhere,” Yholl shouted from the balcony. “Why don’t you show yourself and we make this a bit of a fair fight?”
No way, Jace thought as he threw his sword once more. Again, it shattered barriers, shields, and wards before the Archmage sidestepped. Jace missed by scant inches again, and recalled the blade. I’ll kill you for dooming your people. For hoarding all this magic, all this wealth. They will get their home back!
<<<<<>>>>>
[Quest: Kill Yholl Tristrus.]
[Time Limit: ASAP.]
[Reward: Artifact (Equipment) Boon.]
[Sender: Nethal Species Representatives]
<<<<<>>>>>
“Would you look at that,” Ollie said with slight bemusement. “They pooled their resources to give you a Quest.”
“How’d they know?” Jace asked as he kept an eye on the Archmage who was standing at the railing, scanning the area Jace was in.
“That would be me,” Xera’s voice said from Ollie’s mouth. “You think I’ve been idle? Getting ahold of the approximately one million Nethal was one bitch of a challenge. Getting them to elect representatives was just as difficult. Artifact Boons only come in the (Equipment) type, and it takes not three, but five Legendary Boons to make one. Now, hurry up and kill him!”
Ollie shook his head and his eyes snapped to Jace’s. “You’ve got this! You just have to get him down here.”
Jace nodded and fired off his grapnel line. It attached to the tower, and he retracted the line as he went rocketing up towards the Archmage. He did not try to plant his feet – knowing that the change to the tower would be immediately noticeable – and instead let the grapnel line fade, re-shot it up to the roof above the Archmage, and pulled himself up to that.
Pointing the blade, he shot up towards the man and attempted to stab forward – but his sword stopped mere inches from him. The man turned to where Jace was and grinned, “There you are! Thought you could get through my Anti-blade Shell Skill? Idiot.”
Jace pulled the sword back and finished the retraction until he was on the roof above the top-most balcony. His clawed feet crunched into the stone, and the Archmage looked up at him, raising the thin, wooden wand. Jace swapped his sword to his grapnel arm, and raised his Anathema Arm in front of him to negate whatever was incoming; confident that it would be some type of magic or spell-based Skill.
“Revealing Burst!” There was a pulse of white, radiant light that surrounded Jace. He saw the Dark Matter Cloak fade away, and the Archmage grinned. “There you are! Flaming Sphere!” A ball of fire the size of a car surged towards Jace from the tip of the wand.
He punched it with his Anathema Arm, destroy the magic, he thought. To his horror, he felt the searing heat and screamed out as the flame pushed forward towards him. The Pulsar Ward cracked and shattered inward, and Jace felt the flame against his body. Thankfully, his armor with the (Burnguard) Augmentation gave resistance to it. But the mass of the flaming, bubbling sphere still pushed him back onto the roof and he had to let it push him or else risk being consumed by it.
“How’d it get past my Shield?” Jace asked through gritted teeth as he was blown backward.
“Some spells are built to pierce magical barriers,” Ollie replied. “Since the Cosmic System classifies spells as Skills, I would bet that a few of his Skills have the [Shield breaker] Evolution.”
Digging his feet-claws into the roof, the sphere continued to go past him before turning sharply and pursuing him. You have got to be kidding me! He raised the Anathema Arm. Arbiter’s Anathema. The Skill vanished into a puff of glittering golden motes. He felt Priam’s healing Skill go off as his burns were soothed and golden light enveloped him for a brief second. He could see the Priest, far below, standing near the fountain in the center of the rooftop courtyard. Good, he’s still cloaked.
“What’s the plan?” Ollie asked.
“I gotta get close to shatter his phylactery,” Jace muttered. He dropped his sword, fished inside his pocket for the two halves, and deftly put them together with his one hand. “Get within 5 feet to shatter it and make him vulnerable to death.” Firing off the grapple line, he swung around the tower, running along the vertical surface to gain speed, his clawed feet kicking up masonry and sending it down to the chasm below.
The Archmage must have heard his approach, as a sphere of blue-white lightning crackled out from the wand. Jace put the Anathema Arm up once more. Arbiter’s Anathema, he thought. The crackling sphere of electricity disappeared, and the Archmage looked quite confused. It bought Jace time to get in close – passing by him with scant inches between the two. Jace reached into his pocket and squeezed the smooth, round rock, feeling it crumble into nothingness in his palm.
The Archmage bent over and let out a scream of pain. His form flickered and vanished, replaced by a skeletal figure with burning, green emeralds where the eyes would be. “You dare?!”
Jace raised his black and gold arm once more. Arbiter’s Anathema, he thought – focusing on that blade barrier Skill surrounding the Archmage. At the same time, he retracted the grapnel line and shot it once more at the Archmage.
The barrier surrounding Yholl vanished with a golden glimmer and the grapple line got ahold of him. “What?!”
Jace let himself fall, retracting the line and pulling the Archmage with him. Digging his claws into the tower to slow his fall, he let the undead Archmage fall past him. Using the (Returning) Augmentation, he recalled his Starstorm Sword to his hand and carved into the Archmage as he fell.
This elicited a scream as the crimson and purple caught the edge of his boney-leg. “Slow Fall!” he shouted as gravity slowed its hold on him and he gently, excruciatingly slowly, descended. “You…you!” There was a burning rage in those eyes that would have shaken Jace to his core if he was fresh from Earth.
But he was hardened by surviving near-death after near-death experience. This Archmage Ascendant did not make him afraid. And any fear that might exist was overwhelmed by his desire to enact justice. The festering hatred that burned in his chest felt so hot that he could have sworn he was still inside the flaming sphere. Raising the sword once more, holding onto the building with his right hand and clawed feet, he spoke softly and with malice. “Incinerate him. Pyromancy – Activate.”
An enormous gout of flame burst out from the blade, consuming the shrieking Archmage. A split-second later, the magic vanished as the creature before Jace seemed to absorb it. He cackled and laughed as he floated down to the ground below atop the palace. “I can absorb magic you fool!”
Then Skills it is. Jace kept the sword raised. Dark Energy Mine (Rank 1), he thought as he focused it on his own torso. Detonate. Gravity ceased its hold over him, and Jace launched himself from the wall of the tower – sword pointed right at the Archmage’s chest.
He raised his hands and began to channel a sphere of energy that he brought down – a swirling mass of water that crashed into Jace from above. He couldn’t swing his sword to sunder the Skill in time, and the water that pummeled him sent him tumbling to the ground. With a massive crack, he slammed into the stone floor.
He felt no pain this time – from the water or the impact as his Dark Matter Shield absorbed the blow. But he was tired. So, so tired. He pushed himself to his knees as the Archmage stood near the fountain about thirty feet away.
Jace saw the golden radiance cover him once more – the healing Skill from Priam – and the golden honeycomb of his barrier also appeared. Jace got to his feet and took up a ready stance as he faced off against the Archmage. “You die today. This world isn’t yours!”
The Archmage cackled as he held two, small, white orbs in his hands. “You think you can stop me? I’m 2 Tiers higher than you!”
But I can level up. It won’t automatically kick me out. Jace grinned as he saw the characteristic, golden glow manifest in the sky above Yholl. Priam’s about to Smite him. Jace launched himself forward.
The Archmage laughed and launched the two spheres of white light, but Jace was ready. He kicked off the ground he was traveling horizontal to, launching himself into a spin, that enabled him to cut through the two Skills with [Astral Annihilator]. This elicited a shriek of outrage from the Archmage.
Then, the bolts of divine wrath struck down five times. Each time, it left a lingering, golden glow that was quickly consumed by the following strike. The Archmage was screaming in agony, and several Skill-based shields and wards popped up around him.
Jace got next to the Archmage and stabbed the blade forward – but it met nothing. “What?”
The skeleton cackled, “Idiot.” It vanished.
Jace deactivated the anti-gravity of the mine and rolled to his feet. “Where are you?” he shouted.
“I pulled that little invisibility stunt just like you did before. And, I replaced myself with a duplicate. Clever, eh?”
Jace looked up and saw the glimmer of a Skill. He threw his blade up and the Archmage appeared as Jace’s weapon sundered the invisibility.
“Oh? You do have that rabbit-man here.”
Jace looked over and saw Priam. Wait, how can I see him? I didn’t dismiss the Skill.
“I can see your confusion,” Yholl stated as he crossed his arms, floating above them. “Simply put, I used Skills while invisible to be able to spot him. The same Skill I used on you up on that tower.”
Jace could hear the sound of footsteps coming up the palace stairs, and he slammed his palm to the ground. “I want this entire area to be sealed off in a shell of rock. Geomancy – activate.” There was a rumbling as the marble stone crenellations at the sides of the courtyard shot upward and formed a latticework dome over the combat area – encompassing the tower as well as cutting off access from the staircase behind the two.
“Why you!” Yholl pointed at Jace, but then smiled as he moved his finger over to Priam, “Healer first, as Thellor used to say.”
Jace looked over at Priam and ran over to the younger rabbit-man Aspirant.
Yholl spoke with pure malice and hatred, his voice shaking with rage. “Death’s Touch.”