The unnerving, gut twisting sensation of being folded in on himself, over and over, until his total remaining body mass could fit inside a pinhole, was brought to an immediate halt with a forceful yank.

Then, all of the sudden, he was somewhere else entirely. Hovering several hundred meters above the ground, he looked out over an expansive range of mountains carpeted by an unending stretch of pine forest canopy.

Feeling somewhat tipsy, after having grown by what felt like a million times his size in less than a millionth of a second, Jun was understandably slow to react when the Cthulle’s fist connected with his sternum and sent him rocketing towards the forest floor.

image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]

Nialla Tallvar, disgraced ascendant and planetary steward, scrutinized the flattened area where the boy, the mercenaries, and one of her failed brood had disappeared. Fleeing to some far off corner of her astral realm, no doubt. After all, now that they’d entered, it wasn’t as if she’d simply let them leave.

She wasn’t frustrated necessarily, not with this little complication. She’d waited eons for a chance to facilitate her rise to prominence. Another few days wouldn’t kill her.

It was the price one paid when associating with one of the Fen’Reale.

Chaos, instability, and unlikely circumstance were supposedly par for the course where their kind were concerned. And she supposed she couldn’t very well complain about it now, not after she’d already used the boy’s nature to such great effect.

Karmic Convergence: The sympathetic alignment of significant events.

Of what little is actually known about the Fen’Reale, the most widespread of their traits is a tendency towards convergence. Prone to attracting, and in turn being attracted by, events of some significance.

It was the bane of any sector or intergalactic organization to suddenly find themselves in the path of one of their fate wells.

According to some karmic experts, the weave of the universe itself appeared to bow under their karmic weight, like a gravitational well in space time—gathering about them valuable opportunities and blood debts galore, like so many moths to an open flame. Often leaving utter devastation in their wake.

Like living natural disasters on a cosmic scale.

Thankfully, this boy had yet to grow into his power. Stunted as he was, it would be a while yet before he could be counted among those monsters.

The fate wells he could produce were paltry by comparison, though that wasn’t to say they didn’t have their uses. If one were to say, thoroughly isolate the boy, for instance?

Place him in a space where all of the truly significant variables were under her control?

Then throw as many of said variables his way until a preferred climax could be reached?

Well, an industrious ascender might just be able to snare one of the most widely feared entities of all the multiverse in a realm of her own making. A place almost entirely outside the notice of the constellation’s damnable sensors.

No, she wasn’t frustrated by recent events. In fact, apart from a few hiccups, things were going precisely to plan.

image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]

Jun hit the forest floor with a deafening WHOOMPH and a thunderous CRASH!

The resulting explosion taking out entire acres of greenwood in a silver blazing, earth quaking, APOCALYPTIC display.

Now, you might be wondering to yourself, how in the hell did he not up and go kersplat—smeared to a fine paste when he tongue-kissed the ground at terminal velocity?

Well, the answer is really quite simple.

Because Skull Duster did a bang-on job of breaking his fall, that’s why, the fucking animal.

But, just hang on a second, you may be thinking.

How had the handsome devil and his trusty companions known a little stunt like that would actually work?

The answer?

Yeah, well, it’s not like it’s a bloody secret there mate. He hadn’t. Sure would’ve been fucked if it didn’t though, now wouldn’t he?

Jun flipped through the air on the rebound of his meteoric impact—spinning through a handful more rotations before he landed squarely onto his back. A mattress of wood chips and sharp rocks made for a very poor landing, believe it or not. Not that he’d expected more from the bowl-shaped crater he’d punched into the ground.

Launching to his feet, he ignored his broken ribs as he sized up the ugly bastard who’d gotten in the first punch. He—gods above, considering the tool between its legs he sure hoped it was a he—hovered not fifty paces away.

“Fucking hell. Anyone ever tell ya you punch like my mother?” Jun spat to the side—only mildly concerned when he saw the pearly glint of a tooth tagging along for the ride.

The beast’s eye twitched like he hadn’t expected Jun to speak. Did the bastard think he was stupid or something?

“Actually? Matter of fact, wager my old mum could teach you a thing or two. Just face it. You’re pretty fucking pathetic mate. It’s a little embarrassing to watch, to be honest.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The bastard's response came in a language that made him swoon with vertigo. It was multilayered and resonant, as if a million voices were competing to be heard. Which, of course, ultimately meant that almost all of them were screaming. Oddly enough, he found he had no trouble whatsoever in deciphering them.

“IMPUDENT WELP.”

“Yeah? That right? Well, if I’m rubber then you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and-!”

The beast attacked—launching itself forward with what had to be an entirely unnecessary flap of its wings. It crossed the fifty paces easily, though it wasn’t instantaneous. Which had to mean that either the burst of speed he’d seen in the clearing was entirely a fluke, or the prick was going extra easy on him.

Jun grinned.

Either way, it was fine by him.

The Cthulle reeled back, ready to deliver yet another of its titanic blows. Ironic, seeing as that was around the same time when Balthazar decided to make his big debut. Emerging from behind his back, covered up to the wrist in a dense sheen of chrome, Jun met the Cthulle’s straight punch with one of his own, and reveled in the feeling of mutual destruction.

There was a brilliant flash followed by a concussive blast as the two were propelled in opposite directions.

Sent tumbling uncontrollably through the air, Jun couldn’t resist the bubbling of mirth which rose up from his chest as the stumps and jagged remains of the forest he’d violated not once, but twice now, whipped past at truly impractical speeds.

And Jun didn’t just laugh, he guffawed maniacally. Racked by hilarity, even as he sheathed his entire body in a thin layer of chrome.

When the blow he’d been expecting finally arrived, he never even saw it coming. One minute he was tumbling through the air in one direction, then the next there was this lurch, a sudden flash—a concussive BANG followed by a distant howl of frustration—and abruptly he was moving in another direction entirely.

And thus began the worst, most uncoordinated game of tag Jun had ever been a part of. And he loved absolutely every second of it.

image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]

When Raina first arrived on the scene, she was immediately greeted by a nightmarish landscape of apocalyptic proportions.

Whole entire acres of what she could only assume had once been dense forest, had evidently been pulled up by the roots, then smashed into nothing but small kindling—leaving hills of earth and torn up soil the only visible indicators of some titanic struggle.

“So, I really hate to be the one to say it, but what exactly is our plan from here on out? In the likely event our only leverage is now dead, I mean?”

“Don’t be an idiot. They wouldn’t go to all that trouble to bring him here just to kill him,” Viviana snapped.

“Perhaps. And perhaps our once employer simply failed to keep her hired muscle in check, and now we’re all out of even the semblance of protection.”

“Oh, he’s alive alright. My way-finding technique doesn’t work on corpses, and I can still sense him way over that hill. How long he’s likely to remain that way is still anyone’s guess, however.”

“Which means less talking and more marching. We might still be in time.”

And so, without another word, the party made their way towards the hill previously indicated. Reaching the top of the rise in no time at all, they slowly poked their heads up and over the incline, careful not to draw any unnecessary attention, and took in the ongoing scene below.

image [https://i.ibb.co/rw6tMBB/IMG-2711.png]

“Ah… you caught me…”

Jun coughed, spraying blood all over the back of the Cthulle’s hand where it curled loosely around his throat. It was a wet sounding thing, all false starts and burbling intermissions—like he was gargling mouth rinse, only with his lungs instead of his throat.

“Took… your sweet… time though, didn’t you?” Jun wheezed.

One of several freshly broken bones making it incredibly hard to breathe all of the sudden.

Stupid bones.

He was a wreck.

Completely blind in one eye, bruised black and blue where his imaginative use of [Titans Fist] had taken its toll—which at this point could be described as both everywhere and all the places at once.

He couldn’t even feel his left side anymore, and he was pretty sure his two front teeth were missing. If nothing else, he’d taken his beating as best as could’ve been expected of him, and he genuinely took some pride in that.

He’d never expected to win, not really.

Nevertheless, he’d found that it was in the defiance of shit odds that the world really came into focus. You either crushed or you were crushed and there wasn’t a gods damned thing you could do about it. At least it had been one hell of a ride, he thought to himself, just about as ready for death as anyone ever was.

That is, until he caught the brief flash of purple in his periphery, and suddenly his will to live came to with a vengeance, rocking what had to be the hangover of the century. Why did injuries have to hurt so much worse when you didn’t want to die?

Thinking to stall for time, Jun recognized, even in his altered state, that this was probably not the best spokesman for the job. Not that the other guy would be all that much better.

Still, he was on the clock here, and every second might count.

And so, in an instant the billowing silver aura that’d wreathed him all throughout the incredibly brutal all around slugfest winked out, only to be replaced by a ruby red cloud. All at once, his pained grimace of open defiance melted away. In its place was revealed a placid disinterest heavily colored by disdain.

“Well? You have me,” Jun said in a disinterested tone. “I believe congratulations are in order? What happens next? Do you simply have your way with me, here and now, like the rutting mongrel you so resemble?”

The beast’s eye twitched and its hold on Jun’s neck tightened.

“Or, no, let me guess. Now’s when you chop off my head, correct? To later mount on your wall, or some other such savagery? Not that I’m inherently opposed to the idea, mind you. If that is indeed your “plan”—though physically it pains me to even categorize it as such—do make sure to position me so that the lighting hits my good side? It really is the least you can do. There’s a good boy.”

A deep growl began to resonate from the creature's chest.

“Oh! Dear me. You do understand what I’m saying correct? I mean, I know it looks like you couldn’t bang two rocks together if you’d grown up on a stone quarry, but I’d really rather hoped the cover defied the contents, if only just this once.”

“ENOUGH.”

The hand squeezed tighter, abruptly cutting off his air.

“NO MORE TALKING. YOU TALK AND YOU TALK AND YET YOU SAY LITTLE. YOU RUN AND YOU HIDE, TOO AFRAID TO FIGHT. MORE THAN THAT YOU ARE WEAK. WEAK OF MIND. WEAK OF SPIRIT. I BEGIN TO QUESTION WHETHER MOTHER WAS WRONG IN CHOOSING YOU. I FAIL TO SEE WHY YOU WOULD BE CHERISHED WHEN MY SIBLINGS AND I WERE NEVER SO FAVORED.”

“You know?” Jun barely choked through its vice like grip. “That sounds… so much… like a you problem.”

He figured he’d probably bought enough time.

And so, with a concerted working of his will, Jun activated his [Blade Manipulation] mantra for the second ever time, and forcefully ejected hundreds of crystalline blades at speed from point blank range—investing almost half of his overall attention, ruby red aura, and willpower into a singular projectile.

One which he, obviously, made extra careful to angle so that it took the beast squarely in the leftmost of its burning red eyes. When you were out to make a point, after all, it was best practice to make sure it stuck.

Because otherwise, really, why even bother?

The beast screamed in pain as its skin was cut and its eye was mangled. In its haste to get away from the blades, the idiot beast couldn’t drop him fast enough.

And so it was that, as the ground rose up to meet him, and his consciousness truly began to fade, Jun could only smile at the damage he’d dealt his enemy, and at the role reversal he swore it would experience the next time their paths crossed.

Oddly enough, Jun never felt his body hit the ground, though whether that had to do with his being teleported away or claimed by unconsciousness, he couldn’t have entirely said.