April 17th, 449 – The day of the invasion

“People of Placeholder!” I called out, my voice and the image of me standing there, wearing the full mithril version of the Hero’s Regalia, being broadcast to essentially the entire world. “As your leaders have informed you, I stand before you because the world is facing an unprecedented threat. The [Demon King’s] prophesied return is imminent, and he will be stronger than ever.”

I paused momentarily but then allowed the skill to take over even more.

“However! We have not been idle these past 15 years!” I roared. “Your soldiers have been trained and equipped far beyond any army of the past and beyond any army of the future! And I know that shall be the case because, after our victory in this conflict, war of its like shall never be seen again!” I held aloft the Hero’s Sword, not the Greatsword variant, since it wasn’t quite appropriate for speeches. “So, [Soldiers]! For your families, for your countries, and for all the people of Placeholder, fight! Fight and bring the whole world into a new age of peace and prosperity!”

I held the pose for a few more seconds and then deactivated the spell.

“Titus Prime, come in,” Jhilsara said over our communicators.

“Go ahead,” I replied.

“I have confirmed the effect of the speech,” she replied. “I did not realize that you had a skill that could cause widespread buffs like that.”

“That’s because I don’t,” I replied. “But Garrik, the 4th [Hero] of Placeholder, did.”

Thank you, you stubborn cavalier. I thought as I finished deactivating the skill. [Echo of a Fallen Hero: Garrik Valhice].

“How are preparations?” I asked.

“Everything is ready, just waiting on your word,” she replied. “What is the situation on your end?”

“Every demon we could find is cleared out,” I stated, looking around at my elite soldiers equipped with adamantium weapons and MARs, fully armored in dragon scale.

It was good that I finally got some use out of my stockpile of fire dragon scales, especially since the stockpile had also been expanded to include almost all of the ash dragon race.

“The demons will be respawned and likely stronger, but at the very least, it will be an extra expense on his end,” I stated. “I was just about to clear everyone out of here.”

As I said that, I gave a sharp whistle and a hand motion. Immediately the troops packed up and marched out in an orderly fashion.

… Well, most of them. Gertrude was among their number, and she wasn’t much of one for following military protocol.

Not that I was willing to rebuke her at that point.

Got a lot riding on you, you crazy battle maniac. I thought.

And then, I was alone. Sitting at a table that I had placed in my throne room and waiting for the demons to come through the portal that I had moved back in there.

I had managed to finagle a more precise time for Admin’s return out of Altsys, so I knew it was just a few minutes until go time, just as night was falling. However, those few minutes felt like an eternity. It was just enough time to start second-guessing every single one of my plans, but not nearly enough time to do anything, even if I found a flaw in them.

It was almost a relief when an imp was hurled unceremoniously through the portal into my throne room.

“It’s time,” I stated. “Will be cutting off comms and continuing with plan D.”

“Understood,” Jhilsara replied. “Though, I never understood why you started with the 4th plan.”

The imp saw me and froze for several seconds but quickly scurried back through the portal when he saw I made no move to attack him.

“It isn’t time for plan A yet,” I stated. “The second letter is the same name as a spell I used to crack an island, and I don’t want any mistakes around that. Plan C was hoping that Joshua would swoop in and fix everything.”

“Could you not call on him with your skill?”

“I’d love to,” I replied. “But I get the same error for Joshua as I do for Erica, Jeremiah, or even Kilroy.”

I paused.

“Target cannot be living.”

And then Admin strode into the room with his army of demons behind him.

I thought he had been a giant before, but he had to have been nearly 15 feet tall this time around.

I was no longer thinking that my greatsword's ludicrous length would be overkill.

That thought was also confirmed as I quickly appraised his jet-black armor that was practically belching hellish flame.

Demon King’s Armor

Armor uniquely crafted for the Demon King

Materials

Unknown

Tier

Legendary

Damage Resistances

blu X, sla X, prc X, air X, earth X, ice X

Damage Reductions

blu 100, sla 100, prc 100

Set Effect

Infernal Aura – Increased power of aura effects. On contact enemies take fire damage.

Helmet Enchant

Legendary Ice Resistance (ice X)

Chest piece Enchant

Legendary Air Resistance (air X)

Greaves Enchant

Legendary Earth Resistance (earth X)

Boots Enchant

Legendary Haste (effective level 10, 9 per day for 10 minute)

Gauntlets Enchant

Legendary Strengthen (effective level 10, 9 per day for 10 minute)

Cursed - Infernal

Wearer takes constant fire damage

No one likes a copycat. I thought with a slight snicker. He had mostly just taken the armor that I had previously and bumped all the values up. I was slightly relieved to find X resistances instead of immunities because that meant that my greatsword could still damage him. He was also missing several other damage types that I had plans around, which I was sure he would come to regret.

That level of [Haste] could be a problem, though. I thought. I figured that Admin would come up with buffs of some kind, but I didn’t think he would have a [Haste] with an effective level of 10, especially not one that he could activate for a full hour and a half.

I didn’t think I would likely last that long in a fight against him.

“Come to cower before me in person?” Admin laughed as he strode towards the table.

“No,” I replied with a shake of my head. “I am here representing the people of Placeholder as their [Diplomat].” As I said that, I stowed the Hero’s Sword. “Let us begin negotiations.”

“Here are my negotiations,” Admin stated as he reached into a black void and pulled out a greatclub that was almost as tall as him. “You will die, and I will destroy your entire world.”

As he said that, he swung down impossibly fast.

Without my buffs active, I didn’t even have time to flinch before the weapon impacted me… and harmlessly bounced off.

“I’m afraid that [Diplomatic Immunity] means something slightly different than you may be used to in this world,” I stated. “So, please, take a seat.” I gestured at the overly large chair I had prepared for him across from me, and he scowled.

“You!” he bellowed at Anger. “Kill him!”

“Yes, your lowliness!” Anger shouted immediately.

He charged me with his own, much more reasonably-sized, club and attacked several times.

They all bounced off as well, but I was slightly concerned about how fast they were coming.

Anger’s definitely level 50. I thought grimly. However, I couldn’t let that phase me. In fact, I needed to ensure that nothing phased me and there was only one [Hero] I knew could help.

You’re up, Elluin. I thought. [Echo of a Fallen Hero: Elluin Hunter]. My memories of the 3rd [Hero] of Placeholder flooded through me. His mannerisms started leaking through, too, but I dismissed that and focused on the skill that only he had earned.

[Calm]. I thought as Anger continued his fruitless assault a bit more.

My shoulders untensed, and I laughed.

“Done yet?” I asked. “Maybe you could get my back instead? I’ve got a few knots in there you could look at.”

Anger growled and was about to redouble the assault when Admin intervened.

“Enough,” he stated and then unceremoniously plopped down in the chair. “It is obvious that he plans to stall for the rest of eternity, so I will stay here and finish our diplomacy.” He said the final word with a scowl.

“However,” he continued, a grin growing over his face. “We are still at war in the meantime, and so my army is free to act.” He looked over to Anger, who was still next to me. “Assemble your troops!” he bellowed. “You move now!”

My nerves would have undoubtedly been easy to read off my face in that following moment as he teleported out the entire contingent of wrath demons if not for [Calm] and my [Actor] levels. As it was, I kept my face impassive, even as one of my clones picked up on the demons entering the capital of Gram… and heading towards our largest contingent of forces.

The upgraded version of the [Simulacrum] spell had allowed me to pull much more information from any of my clones at any point… and I was sure that would be both a blessing and a curse.

“Your armies are weak. Pathetic,” Admin spat. “You are nothing before me.” I wondered if he also had a way to spy on what was going on, which was answered as one of the soldiers yelled and shot a flare up into the sky.

“Call for all the reinforcements you want,” Admin mocked as the demons charged the fortifications Gram had setup around their castle. “It would take your entire army to deal with even my commander.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I quipped as the soldiers suddenly pointed up into the sky.

I got to experience it from two different points of view. One was from a clone on the ground who saw the dozens of specks up in the sky that were falling at impressive speed, and another was from the clone who had completed the teleport that put my forces up there.

That meant I also got to experience the resulting impact two ways as my falling clone attempted to bisect Anger with his prototype copy of my greatsword.

Anger screamed in pain as the ground beneath his feet exploded upward in a fountain of dirt and stone.

My clone was rather damaged but quickly followed it up with another attack on the stunned demon and regained most of his health.

And then, it was time for orders.

“Priority target identified,” my clone yelled out, his voice distorted by a mask similar to Demon Slayer’s. “Configuration Alpha in 3. 2.” Anger recovered and swiped out at him, but he [Flash Stepped] out of the way. “1.”

And then the magic hit.

I had spent far too much time attempting to get an area of effect buff that didn’t rely on music that would also be able to distinguish between friend and foe.

And then, I realized something that I had learned a long time ago. If you aren’t used to having your speed increased, [Haste] has more downsides than upsides. Throw in [Temporal Haste] and changes in gravity, and… well…

Anger swung his weapon around like a drunkard as my clone and his team went to work on him. My clone easily dodged his attacks and dealt huge damage with his greatsword while the rest of the team remained safely at range and pelted him with bursts from their MARs.

And just as Anger was getting used to things…

“Configuration Beta in 3. 2. 1,” my clone called.

Anger nearly ate dirt as gravity doubled, and only my troops were braced for it.

“That fight seems to be going well for you,” I said to Admin. “Just as you planned, you have told them to be incompetent to lure the world into a false sense of security.”

Admin growled and seemed like he was about to jump over the table before remembering that he couldn’t hurt me.

“So, you can teleport a few reinforcements,” Admin scoffed. “No matter. You cannot be prepared to send them everywhere!” He turned his head. “Madness demons! You’re next!”

His assumptions were dead wrong, but I wisely kept my mouth shut. My [Spacetime Commandos] could be anywhere on Placeholder the moment a signal flair popped. Not because I could instantly teleport anyone that great a distance, but because the cast for their [Advanced Teleport] started 10 minutes before the flair popped.

That bit of trickery was only possible due to a clone I had using a modified [Foresight] spell specifically tuned to the special flairs I’d made.

However, that meant I could have some problems depending on where the next teleport went. My coverage was good, but it was by no means 100% of the populated world of Placeholder.

Admin seemed to debate where to send them next, maybe using some type of admin function to search around, but he finally settled on an area with a wicked grin.

His next target was underground in Pumil, and I accidentally let out a small sigh of relief as a single clone faced down the entire contingent of madness demons.

Admin seemed to have noticed.

“You think that a single warrior will be enough to stop that horde?” he mocked me as the dwarven workers ran for cover inside various copper-plated structures.

“No… not if he didn’t have a distinct home-field advantage,” I said with a slight grin.

I felt the magic buildup through our link and then my clone cast.

The spell was a newer tier 3 electricity spell, [Discharge], focused on pumping out as much electricity as possible in an undirected manner. It wouldn’t have been near enough to take out an entire army… if the metal plating the whole area hadn’t been conductinum instead of regular copper.

As we both watched his madness demons get electrocuted with our varying means, I spoke up again.

“This may come as a shock,” I started. And yes, the pun was intended. I needed him good and angry, after all. “But this world is ready for anything you can dish out. It might be a good idea for you to cut your losses here and start negotiations.” I paused and cocked my head. “For a starting point, I was thinking that you just leave, and I don’t kick your asp or make you waste any more manipulation points. What are your thoughts?”

He didn’t dignify that with a reply beyond a growl.

“Deceit demons!” he barked. He broke that army up into several sections, and I just sat and watched.

“I know your weakness, [Hero],” he spat as he teleported them out, group by group. “You can’t stall much longer.”

I didn’t have a visual of all of the squads, but my clone in charge of scrying picked to follow Trickery.

And so, I watched through that link as the deceit demon entered the same orphanage as last time. He and the other demons all moved silently and came to a stop with their blades hovering over dozens of sleeping forms.

“You really think I’d be stupid enough to leave my biggest weakness wide open?” I asked.

As I did, recognition dawned on Admin’s face, probably because he was immune to illusions… unlike the unsuspecting deceit demons.

“Stop-“ Admin started to call, but it was too late. The blades all flashed downward… and made loud metallic clangs as the knives hit solid metal.

The deceit demons had only a split second to realize they’d been had, and Trickery even bolted for the door.

They were too slow as each of my surprises detonated in a magical explosion that sent all of the demons back to Hell.

… And also completely flattened the orphanage. Which, I belatedly realized was probably not the most heroic of actions, even if the residents had long since been evacuated and there were more than enough funds to care for them after the war.

Eh. I’m doing my best. I thought with a shrug. Then, looking back to Admin. “So, what are you here for, Admin?” I asked. “Since you aren’t willing to turn tail and run, maybe I could offer you some of what you came for instead?”

“I will take this world, and I will have your head on a platter!” he seethed.

He sent out the greed demons under Avarice next. Fortunately, I still had more of my troops in reserve, and I was able to meet that attack head-on.

“How about I offer you 10% of the world’s mana pools a day converted to manipulation points?” I asked Admin. “So, instead of wasting manipulation points on this pointless war, you could go home with a bit of steady profit.”

“I will have 100% of their mana when I own this backwater world,” Admin spat. “Your offer means nothing.”

“But my offer would still be more manipulation points,” I countered. “As a part of your takeover, you’re probably going to kill off a lot of people, including most of the higher-level ones. You’ll also probably restrict weaponry, which in the case of [Sorcerers] and [Wizards] are the wands and staves that give them their extra mana.” I shook my head. “A lower tax rate-“ I made air quotes. “-would end up giving you a better rate of return because it wouldn’t inhibit growth.”

He glowered at me and wordlessly sent off the next group of demons.

He was running out of direct combatants, so he sent the sloth demons and gluttony demons off as a pair into a random Dryadal town.

Another flare was popped, and my last group of [Spacetime Commandos] was sent out to engage them.

We watched the ongoing battles in silence for a bit. My clone had taken out Anger long ago, but the demons under him had still managed a few casualties before my clone and his troops mopped them up.

It was similar with Avarice, and also with Voracity and Tiredness.

The only casualty-free fights were the ones with Hysteria and Trickery, where I had basically taken them all out simultaneously with traps.

However, I knew that things wouldn’t hold out like that forever.

How many rounds do my troops have left? I asked internally. I had intentionally ordered them to be free with their ammo during the start of the fight so that we could project strength for negotiations.

That wouldn’t hold up over time, though, and I needed Admin to get all of his demons out of the throne room.

“I lower my offer to 5%,” I stated as the final demons were mopped up. “Though, it’s looking more and more like you should be the one paying me.”

Admin’s only reply was a wordless yell of rage. “[[Force Respawn – All]]!”

Ready for round two. I thought. I doubted it would go as well, especially since he hadn’t even made use of the lust or envy demons.

As the demons all hurried back through the portal into the throne room, Admin sneered.

“Your pathetic world is putting up more resistance than I thought it would,” he stated. “So, I will merely send all of my troops and crush your feeble army!” he bellowed.

In an instant, the entire room was emptied of the weaker demons. It was only Admin and me left.

He gave me a wicked grin. “And I will come back for you myself later,” he stated as he prepared another function.

I had gotten what I wanted. The demons were all out of the throne room, but Admin teleporting away from me and joining the frontlines wasn’t something I had entirely anticipated.

Fortunately, I could put a stop to that.

“[Hero’s Challenge]!” I immediately barked out.

We were shunted off to the skill’s copy of my throne room, and Admin smirked.

“[Diplomats] cannot use skills on the one they have engaged diplomacy with, now can they?” he asked while hefting his club.

“Oh, fr-“ was all I got out before he blurred towards me.

I [Blinked] to a far corner of the room as I pulled out my sword, shifted it to greatsword form, and then frantically tried to apply my buffs.

It only took a second, but that was far too much time to give someone at level 100. Before I could even start, he had [Flash Stepped] across the room and brought his greatclub downward in a crushing blow.

I needed to get my buffs off at any cost. Even burning an important skill cooldown early.

The club bounced off me as there was a flash of red, and Admin ate the damage from [Reflect Attack].

And that gave me just enough time to activate my new and improved spells.

[Hyperspeed], which took the place of [Haste] and included a time component.

[Combat Clairvoyance], which was a better version of [Foresight] designed to give me more data and help me find the optimal path for the fight.

[Overclock], used for my mental processes since it turned out that I couldn’t think fast enough to handle [Hyperspeed] alone, and I also needed to process the data from [Combat Clairvoyance] in a tiny fraction of a second.

And finally, [Strengthen] became… [Titus’s Strengthen].

Hey, not every spell name is going to be a winner.

The magic took hold, and Admin went from an impossible-to-see blur to a possible-to-see blur, which was good enough.

My greatsword flashed up in a gravity-assisted arc and met his greatclub’s blow midswing, just as I had calculated and practiced thousands, if not tens of thousands, of times.

It all went exactly as predicted, except for the ear-splitting clang of metal on metal, and the shock of the blow nearly wrenching my weapon from my hands.

The only saving grace was that Admin was even more surprised than I was. That gave me an opening to [Blink] in, give him a nasty slash along the legs, and then [Flash Step] out.

His roar of pain gave me the briefest of interludes, and I made the mistake of checking on the battle against the demon army.

Despite nearly all of my clones teleporting in there to help, things were not going well. Several of my clones nearly died and had to be pulled out, my commandos were swiftly running out of ammo (at least, the ones whose gun barrels hadn’t overheated and fused shut), and the armies were taking heavy casualties since Admin had teleported some of the demons into the backlines of our forces.

I was also not in a position to be that distracted. Admin appeared behind me with his next [Flash Step], and I barely spun in time to catch his weapon on my own. I was knocked off balance, and I [Blinked] away…

Only for me to see Admin anticipate my movement and squash me in my vision of the future. I tried to turn it into a fake, but he didn't go for it in the split second I had left.

With all my clones engaged, my mind was split too many ways, and I froze for less than half a second.

And that was all that Admin needed. His greatclub came down…

System: The Demon King has slain the Hero! As the Hero has named no successor, a new Hero will be chosen

“Ha,” Admin chuckled at my body, laying there broken in the impact crater he had made.

As the [Hero’s Challenge] skill flickered and brought us back to normal space, Admin gave a full belly laugh. “That was all you could do? Land a single blow on me before dying?” He spat to the side. “Pathetic.”

As he said that, my army was crumbling. My clones faltered as the spell connecting us frayed. The last defenses of Placeholder were being easily overrun, and the world was doomed.

… Except I wasn’t done just yet.

My eyes snapped back open, and I jerked the greatsword from off the ground and scored a blow clean across Admin’s face.

He screamed in pain as he jerked away from me, and I followed that up by [Blinking] behind him and scoring another hit across his back.

He clumsily swiped at me with his hand, but I [Flash Stepped] back from that.

“What!?” he bellowed. “How!? The System confirmed the kill!”

“Did you really think I was stupid enough to come in for the final boss fight without some extra lives?” I quipped as our weapons collided once more.

By that, I meant that I had about 100 stored copies of [Control Z] set to revert the last attack I took whenever I took fatal damage.

Honestly, that wasn’t something I had fully been able to test. I had tried it out on some (willing) clones, but I hadn’t been 100% sure that it would work.

Our weapons collided once and then twice more, and the state of the battle sprung unbidden to my mind.

The reinforcements arrived.

Air dragons swooped down from the sky, blasting demons apart like they were toys, my summoned monsters and the earth dragons were teleported in courtesy of the fey, and an artillery barrage I had fired almost an hour ago rained down from the sky.

Giant balls of pure light fell to the ground and exploded, dealing tremendous damage to the demons while bringing any of my living forces back up to full health.

“What is that spell?” Admin seethed.

“[Holy Arcane Barrage],” I replied as our weapons met again, and my teeth rattled. “You can thank Saint Sarah for the assist.”

As Admin continued raging, I got the mental go-ahead from my clone to continue with phase 2.

It was time for my next plans.

Our weapons clashed again; I [Flash Stepped] backward and charged [Sunder]. A [Blink] followed by another [Flash Step] was enough to give me my opening, and my blade cut through him with a thunderclap.

He roared in pain, and that meant it was time to go.

“Catch me if you can!” I taunted as I activated the portal I’d left and sprinted through.

It was vital that I made him angry enough not to think too hard and chase me down. If Admin ever wisened up and realized that he could just force me to him by going and attacking the innocents… well, even my best plans for those situations were tenuous at best.

I was relieved when Admin [Flash Stepped] after me and was right behind me entering the portal.

I was less relieved when his follow-up blow connected, and I had to use another one of my “lives” as I was basically splattered against the dungeon wall, but at least I got him to follow me.

I came back to life. As I did, the squad I had left at the demon castle sprang into action and moved through the castle into the now-vacant throne room, Gertrude at the lead.

I had a lot riding on her, but I could only wish her luck as I started casting my preparation for plan E, electricity.

“This metal,” Admin said as he noticed the entire room was covered in conductinum. “You think that trick will be enough to stop me?”

I [Flash Stepped] away as I finished up my cast.

“No, but it should be enough to tick you off,” I replied. “[Discharge]!”

It turns out that if you don’t care about directing any of the electricity and have ridiculously high magic skill levels, you can pump a lot of lightning out of a single mana bar.

Said electricity was also constantly trying to fry me and had to be kept at bay with a constant cast of [Ground], but that was a small price to pay to watch Admin’s health bar start moving downward consistently for the first time in the fight.

I [Flash Stepped] around him, playing defense and only scoring the odd hit here and there to restore my mana.

It worked surprisingly well, and I wondered if plan E would succeed when he reminded me exactly why Admins would never lose under normal circumstances.

“[[Restore Resources]],” he barked, and his health jumped back to full. Then, dungeon-reinforced material or not, he started smashing the ground and breaking up the channels so they wouldn’t conduct my attack.

His distraction let me land two more free hits on him, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make up for what he had just restored.

To win a war of attrition, I would have to work through all of his manipulation points and his health. I already knew that fact going in, but that didn’t stop the experience from being slightly demoralizing.

The good news was that I was only on plan E, and his distraction was a perfect time to try plan F, for fetter, which was also a chance at a free win.

It took a few moments to prepare, which he graciously provided by smashing up the rest of the dungeon, and then I cast. “[Clockstop]!”

Part of me thought that it wouldn’t have any effect. That he would just keep going undeterred.

So, that part of me was shocked when the magic took hold, and Admin froze in place.

I couldn’t hurt him while he was stuck like that, but I could move his body around a bit. And so, I quickly shoved his arms behind his back and went into my inventory for the largest pair of handcuffs that had ever been made… composed entirely of couragium and enchanted with Elnil’s weaken enchant that they had used on me to great effect so long ago.

I shoved his weapon into my inventory, stole his gloves, and barely snapped the cuffs together when he unfroze.

“[[Modify Character]],” he barked as soon as he came out.

I silently cheered as he used his manipulation points to give himself a higher resistance to being temporally stopped. That expenditure cost way more manipulation points than I could have squeezed out of him with another [Clockstop].

Then, he noticed the handcuffs and began pulling them apart. They grunted and squealed, even with them weakening him, but barely managed to hold.

I didn’t waste any time. I used [Limit Break], sacrificing as much stamina as it would take, and upped my speed even more as I continuously slashed him.

“[Strengthen] activate!” he barked in between his grunts of pain.

Unfortunately for him, he probably hadn’t paid too much attention to how his armor kit was enchanted, so he didn’t realize that I had stolen his ability to use [Strengthen] when I took his gloves.

That bought me a few more seconds of free attacking before he wisened up.

“[Hell Blaze]!” he cast.

I’m not sure if he also gave himself access to [Overchannel], a stronger version of that spell, or if the magic skills he gave himself were just that ridiculous, but the entire room was engulfed in black flame that somehow felt hotter than the trips I had taken to Hell.

I was unaffected since I still had [Fire Immunity], and I continued the assault, but it only lasted a few more seconds before he snapped the cuffs.

He summoned a new weapon out of nowhere, used [[Restore Resources]] again, and we were back to square one.

The only difference was that now he had had more than enough.

“[[Delete Character]],” he commanded, scowling at me.

That function call hit me like a sucker punch to the soul.

The only saving grace was that I was in a unique position to be prepared for that kind of thing. At AltSys’s suggestion, I had stored up a decent number of manipulation points, and my increased magic skills had even allowed me to keep them for quite a while without them degrading.

So, instead of being instantly erased, Admin and I were locked in a battle of wills and function code that was mostly just us staring at each other and me sweating a whole bunch.

I thought I had prepared enough manipulation points going into the fight. In fact, I had taken a typical engineer approach and determined the maximum amount of manipulation points I could possibly need… and then doubled it.

It wasn’t enough. His attack slowly stripped away all of that, encountered 2 unexpected layers of resistance around me being the [Demon Lord] and [Hero], and then it dug deeper and deeper into me.

And then it hit an unyielding bedrock that surprised both Admin and me.

He quickly canceled the effect.

“A candidate… again…” he muttered. Then, his face twisted in fury. “Traitor!” he shouted at the sky. “I know this is your doing! When I find you, you will suffer 10,000 deaths!”

To translate, [Memory Protection] and AltSys reinstating me as a candidate had come in clutch.

I had also burned through every single manipulation point I had stored, but at least I could take comfort in the fact that his assault seemed to have been much more expensive than my defense.

… Even if said defense left me feeling hollow, sick, and slightly disoriented.

I raised my weapon and pointed in Admin’s direction, and he scoffed.

“It seems I have taken you and this world too lightly,” he stated. “[[Force Respawn – All]].”

I barely stopped myself from sucking in a breath. Gertrude and her team were moving to the gate. If the entire force of Hell respawned and stood in her way, even she would-

“[[Change Coordinates-“

My relief was palpable. The path would be clear, and the army could handle another round with-

“: Random Destinations]],” he finished with a vicious grin.

Oh, frick. I internally tried to swear. My mental activity went into overdrive as suddenly all of my clones were engaged with trying to find and stamp out literally random demon attacks all over the world.

And while there was plenty of empty space, it seems that his function hadn’t been quite that random. It swiftly became apparent it was randomness only among populated areas.

“And now, to deal with you,” he said, cracking his neck. “[Haste] activate.”

No sooner had he said that than he was simply gone.

He didn’t even [Flash Step]. He simply moved so fast that my eyes couldn’t even track him. I only knew he hit me when I picked my broken and revived body up off the floor.

However, I didn’t even have time for that. Before I could even get reoriented, I was dead once more, and I went through a dozen stored casts of [Control Z] before I got a handle on things and [Blinked] out.

I couldn’t keep up with a hasted admin with just my buff spells… and so it was finally time to crack open my untested plan L, [Limit Break].

I quickly fed that greedy skill all my lower-leveled subclasses. Things like [Diplomat], [Barber], [Hunter], and [Priest]. Pretty much any class that was 5 or lower, and I didn’t see myself using in the fight.

That represented centuries of work and it was gone in a flash… but I could suddenly keep up.

And that’s how I learned he was struggling with the speed. I just hadn’t noticed.

Our next clashes went solidly in my favor, and I snuck around his guard as he would stumble or miss-estimate.

However, my sacrifices wouldn’t last forever, and I needed to get on to the next plan if I wanted to keep on schedule.

I bolted for the other side of the room and activated the next teleporter. I hopped through with Admin right behind me… and we both fell from the hovering portal toward a pit of daves.

Well, both of us until I quickly blinked out of there since I knew what was coming. Admin on the other hand, wasn’t prepared and was quickly swarmed by the slimey monsters.

And, these weren’t your average daves. No, these were below daves, the nasty monsters who preyed on adventurers by latching on and then inverting their gravity.

So, I got a moment of reprieve as a yelling Admin was lifted off into the sky.

Things were going… not well. All of my clones were engaged with demons across the entire world, my commandos were running low on ammo and beginning to take casualties, and there were a few places where demons simply ran unchecked.

The upside was that the random teleportation hadn’t only done them favors.

Several demons were teleported to “occupied” towns that were only full of summoned decoys, so the most they could do there was property damage. Other demons were summoned in the heavily populated city of… Atlantis. A level advantage only does so much for you when you have to fight underwater against a race that was specifically built for it. Finally, there were even some demons that were teleported right outside of a very familiar forest. I had a clone scrying in on that, so I listened as they walked through the mists.

“Twould seem that for the first time in ages, we have not guests, but intruders,” Secondavia’s voice echoed through the wood. “Thou shalt regret thine trespass.”

I couldn’t see much of the rest, what with my immunity to illusions, but given the demons’ screams, I could only come to a single conclusion.

I’m really glad the fey are on my side. I thought.

And that was about when disaster struck. My clone finally got a scry lock on Anger just as he broke down one of the anchors for a pocket dimension bunker with thousands of people huddled safely inside.

With no temporal flare, I didn’t have any advanced warning. The soonest I could get a clone there was 10 minutes, and by then, it would be a massacre.

Fortunately, I had one final card to play. Or, I guess, to pray.

“Mishael, you’re up,” I said to the sky.

Not the most pious of prayers. In fact, it was probably closer to blasphemy than not, but thankfully, the forces of Heaven answered anyway.

A beam of light shone from Heaven, and Mishael descended, along with a small contingent of other angels.

Anger stopped what he was doing to sneer at him.

“You’re outmatched, archangel,” he spat. “I’m twice as strong as the last time we met!”

“You are not the only one,” Mishael replied as he calmly drew one shining sword with a blue tinge… and then a second. “And by the light of Truth and Justice, you shall meet your end this day.”

As the two clashed, I had a few moments to wonder if my naming sense had been a bit off for Mishael’s new couragium weapons, but I didn’t have enough time to cringe because I suddenly found my bones crushed as Admin appeared behind me and blasted me away with his greatclub.

[Control Z] took effect, but I still rolled and bounced a great distance before [Blinking] to dodge his next attack.

Great. I thought as I realized that was no [Flash Step]. He’s figured out how to use [[Change Coordinates]] in combat.

That meant any further attempts to use gravity would be moot, and I mentally scratched a few of my sketchier plans off the list.

With the sequence thrown off, I decided I might as well skip forward to W. Once again, I activated a portal that I had left nearby the other one, and Admin followed me through.

We found ourselves in an enclosed dungeon room that was completely submerged, not just in water, but in holy water.

That gave me a double advantage since Admin was taking damage over time and because [Blink] was superior to [[Change Coordinates]] since I was much more used to using it.

Despite all that, I only landed 10 hits on him before he wisened up.

“[Hell Blaze],” he gargled out.

For someone without [Fire Immunity], the resulting superheated steam would likely have been enough to flash fry them.

As it was, I could only lament the loss of all the mana that had been used to make that holy water… and the loss of yet another life, as a single moment of being stunned by Admin’s magical output was enough for him to land another hit on me.

From there, it was a scramble to get through the next teleporter and activate the next plan. I appeared in yet another dungeon and was about to proceed when I saw something impossible.

“What the frick are you doing here!?” I shouted to the random adventurer who had camped out in my dungeon room. Admin and I clashed weapons as I continued shouting. “Get out of here! Go!”

“I will not go, [Demon Lord]!” he shouted back, drawing his sword. “Because I am Dave… [Son of Dave]!”

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Admin had found a much softer target, and I immediately found myself on the defensive … for someone in the line of my sworn nemeses.

“How-“ I blocked a blow. “-do you-“ I blocked another. “-always show up-“ I blocked a third. “-at the worst times!?”

“I… have a skill for it,” he said dumbly, likely in shock from the sheer speed and violence of the exchange occurring in front of him.

And then I slipped up. After all, I was no [Knight] and didn’t have a skill for what I was doing.

As Admin appeared behind him, all I could do was shove him out of the way and take the hit in his place. Then, immediately as [Control Z] fired, I had to go back to defend him.

I realized the obvious answer quickly.

“Let me cast a spell on you!” I shouted as I continued my frantic defense.

He blinked several times in confusion and fear before giving me a slight nod.

And that was all I needed. A hand on his shoulder, a cast of [Advanced Teleport], and another death was all it cost to get the civilian out of harm’s way.

… He had been teleported to a random area in the ashlands since that’s where I had most of my dungeons, but that was a minor detail. I was sure he could figure it out.

“Enough cheap tricks,” Admin spat as I [Blinked] out of the way of his next attack.

“Sure,” I replied. Now, on to the expensive ones…

I activated the next portal and made sure I had my timing with my clones just right. I would have only a fraction of a second to avoid the coming attack, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t get caught up in it.

My timing was impeccable. I went through the portal, both plans were activated simultaneously, and an unsuspecting Admin was on the receiving end of a direct hit from both.

A quick sidenote about those plans. They were very similar. They were both a result of the thought experiment of “how can I get a giant metal rod moving as fast as possible.”

The fact that I lost two lives just from the blowback of the massive kinetic missiles, and a third upon my subsequent crashlanding miles away from the blast zone meant that it was a resounding success.

I had to shake off my daze and struggle to remember where I was and what I was doing for a moment before a clone helpfully jumped in and gave me a report.

Plan P, for portal, was a direct hit. An adamantium rod the size of my torso was accelerated to terminal velocity via two portals that were placed vertically above each other. Then the bottom was deactivated with precise timing.

Plan R for Railgun, AKA Operation Biribiri, AKA A Certain Magical Railcannon, also succeeded. The 30-meter-long railgun that was powered by a clone’s lightning and magnetism magic blew apart as it fired and killed the clone, but that was within expected parameters.

What hadn’t been expected was the sheer destruction wrought by the simple power of Newtonian physics. My clone got a scry visual, and everything west of the dungeon I had teleported to was just… gone. All the way to the world boundary at the far west.

There was also an impact crater that cracked down to the “world foundation” and had opened a giant portal to the Below. In other words, without the Below to absorb an unknown portion of the hit, I would have likely caused an extinction-level event for Placeholder.

What’s the damage to the other plans in the ashlands? I mentally asked the clone.

Many of the dungeons didn’t make it. He thought. We only have plans T and Z remaining.

And the portal for plan Z? I asked since I knew it wasn’t time for plan T yet.

You just opened a big one. He replied.

“Point taken,” I murmured. Plan Z, or the inverted Z plan, was pretty simple. Take the fight to the Below and use its unique features to my advantage.

Since Admin had taken a tumble down there and hadn’t yet resurfaced, that meant I had enough time to prepare. I popped in my belowsight eyedrops, readied [Invert Gravity], and then sacrificed more stuff to [Limit Break].

Then, it was a quick drop down the hole and another [Advanced Teleport] to get to Admin’s location.

The destruction was even worse than I anticipated. The rod’s kinetic force had blasted out miles of the rocky substrata of the Below, and Admin was at the bottom of the crater, lashing out at the enemies that he had attracted from everywhere down there.

“Having fun?” I called as he lashed out randomly in the darkness at the enemies he couldn’t see.

“I don’t know what this place is, but you can’t keep me here forever,” he spat. “I will figure out its coordinates soon enough!”

He followed that up by [Flash Stepping] in my direction and lashing out with a wild attack.

At least, he [Flash Stepped] in the direction I had been. I wasn’t so stupid as to just sit there after taunting him.

My own [Flash Step] had taken me a decent ways away and, finding a section that still had a semi-stable roof, it was time to begin plan Z.

I inverted my gravity, got up on the ceiling, and then stowed my hero weapon. Out came my own M.A.R.

Where the normal ones were made of mithril, mine was made of couragium, down to the bullets in every single magazine I had.

This is possibly the most wasteful plan I’ve ever made. I thought as I took aim and opened fire.

Multiple rounds a second made of the most precious metal in Placeholder peppered Admin, and he yelled in pain. He teleported in my direction and took a swing, but I made sure to only burst fire and then move, making his attempts to squash me against the ceiling futile.

Despite the tremendous waste, I couldn’t deny that it was effective. He was forced to use [[Restore Resources]] twice before I ran out of ammo and stopped my deafening assault.

“Ha… ha!” Admin laughed when I finally stopped. “I knew you didn’t have enough to stop me.”

“You’re right,” I replied. “I’m fresh out of bullets.” I paused. “But I’m not out of ranged attacks.”

The M.A.R. went back into my inventory, and out came my other ranged weapon that I could actually hit stuff with.

A crossbow. This one made not of adamantium, but the even sturdier and more heavily enchantable couragium.

He teleported and tried to squash me again, but I easily [Flash Stepped] out of that path and then had an easy falling target to aim at.

And I couldn’t help but call for a bit of Elluin with my [Echo of a Fallen Hero] as I stuffed my next attack with power from [Limit Break].

“[Trueshot],” I whispered as I released the bolt.

There were twin cracks of sound. One from the flash of lightning that pierced through Admin, and the second from the bolt that followed it at well above the speed of sound.

It was one of my most impressive attacks in that combat so far, and that’s why I couldn’t help the frown that came over my face as Admin’s health bar stopped at three-quarters.

Carp. I thought. There is a damage cap.

That also explained why Admin had been just fine even after being hit by two possibly world-ending kinetic attacks earlier. He likely had only been dropped to half health even after that.

That was disappointing, but I shrugged it off and loaded my next bolt.

I [Flash Stepped] out of the way of Admin’s next attack and took another potshot at him.

“Enough!” he shouted. “[[Edit Character]]!”

It took him longer than I expected to modify himself to allow sight in the Below, but I wasn’t afraid of Admin because of his brains.

That made things a bit dicier as he could actually locate me. The end result was that I had to spend more time dodging and less time shooting, but that wasn’t all that bad. After all, plan Z was more of a delaying tactic than anything. I didn’t think I would really wear him down enough.

In fact, he might wear me down first. I thought as I sacrificed some more stuff to [Limit Break]. I didn’t sacrifice much. All I needed was some extra reaction time. However, it was a balancing act. Not sacrificing enough would cause me to lose lives, and I needed as many resources as possible going into plan T.

“I would start it now,” I muttered to myself as I avoided another blow and took a shot at the falling Admin. “But I can’t cast that with my clones taking up so much bandwidth.”

Speaking of my clones, their influence was getting quieter. It seemed that they had cleared out most of the demons, which meant we were likely due for a respawn soon.

Admin picked up on the same thing.

“[[Force Respawn – All],” he growled. “[[Change Coordinates]].” A look of confusion stole over his face. “I said, [[Change Coordinates]]!”

A wide grin broke over my face.

Did she do it? I mentally asked.

My clone obliged with some memories from an [Advanced Scry] feed.

Gerttude, her body in a constant state of burning and regenerating marching through the depths of Hell. Then, her taking down a giant black-winged monster with a bleached white skull that seemed to be the boss. Finally, her warcry as she [Great Cleaved] the obelisk that appeared upon its defeat.

I didn’t know how Heaven and Hell’s obelisks worked, but apparently, that was the right call. She had cut off the demons’ ability to leave Hell… which left no one for them to target now that they were newly respawned except her.

I was half a second away from calling for Primavia to assist with a [Grand Teleport] to get her out of there, but I stopped when I saw the manic grin on her face as the army approached her.

Looks like you’ll go down like you always wanted. I thought as I bore witness. Taking down as many enemies as possible before they finally drag you down with numbers. I gave a brief salute. “Godspeed, you crazy old birch,” I muttered.

However, that was too much time spent on introspection. I was still in a fight, after all.

I almost avoided Admin’s next swing despite my inattention, but he managed to clip me on the shoulder.

In Placeholder, with an attack that was that strong, it didn’t really matter. The fact that it was a glancing blow just meant that my trajectory was slightly different as it killed me and ragdolled my body.

The awkward part about returning from that was that my [Invert Gravity] temporarily faltered, so I fell towards Admin a bit before I clamped that back in and crashed onto the ceiling.

Is it time? I asked my clone who was running overwatch.

Just about. He replied.

And I could tell. My unspoken question was if my clones were no longer needed, and I could tell that was the case because they were slowly, 1 by 1, severing themselves from the spell that connected them to me and freeing up more and more of my mental capacity.

Best of luck. Was the last thought I heard through the connection. Then, my mind was completely free and clear. My thoughts and feelings were now 100% my own, and my mental processes had a clarity that made me feel like I had been on autopilot for the past several years.

Though, it was an effort not to think too hard about the fact that all 100 of my clones had essentially committed elaborate magical suicide at my command.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” I said as I deactivated my [Invert Gravity] and fell to the floor.

Admin was surprised for half a moment but then sprang into action with yet another swing of his greatclub.

I easily dodged it with a [Blink], which put me back on the floor and negated the momentum from my fall. Then, I pulled a portal frame out of my inventory and quickly set it up.

“See ya, loser,” I mocked Admin, immediately entering the portal and appearing in the time wastes.

I deactivated the portal. Not because I didn’t want Admin to follow me, but because I wanted as much time as I could buy before he did.

It was time for my final plan on the surface of Placeholder. Plan T for the time wastes.

And that plan included a spellcast unlike anything I had ever cast before.

Better get started. I thought as I attempted to assert control over the time mana from the entire 100+ mile radius of the time wastes.

That in itself was as difficult as it sounds. However, there was another wrinkle to that plan.

I had re-entered the time wastes, which was supposed to be a one-time-only dungeon. Last time I tried that, I had been assaulted by memories of past, present, and future of my time in there, coming so thick and fast that I couldn’t make sense of them at all.

However, that was without [Overclock] and years of training of essentially having my brain split into 100 different compartments.

I tuned out the unneeded memories and doubled my focus for the spell.

I hoped I would have enough time to have the spell ready before Admin figured out the teleporter and got it working, but he was a bit smarter than I gave him credit for. He appeared before me in just a few minutes and yelled something or other at me.

I… couldn’t really spare the mental processes to parse his speech, so he was more like an angry adult in Charlie Brown yelling at me underwater than anything.

I ignored him. Or maybe I yelled something back, I couldn’t honestly be sure, and then we were back to fighting.

Our weapons clashed, and I was at a distinct disadvantage since all my spellcasting prowess was focused on my next spell, and I had none to spare for a [Blink].

However, I knew more about our environment than he did. And so, as his second swing approached, I felt an eddy of time come through and slipped into it.

I hadn’t cast [Temporal Anchor], and that had been 100% on purpose.

In the Admin’s view, I simply disappeared for several seconds, whereas to me, no time had passed. To make things even better, Admin had aggroed the denizens of the time wastes and he was under attack by the temporal versions of all the different mobs I had seen back then.

Spiders, daves, and wolves.

I was more than happy to leave him to that, and I entered [Sneak] to slip away quietly. Waiting out the clock until my spell was ready was a more than viable strategy.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Admin had shelled out the manipulation points to get the [Detect] skill because he caught me slinking away and [Flash Stepped] in my direction.

The battle was rejoined, but instead of going for hits, I was simply making a fighting retreat toward the city, which frustrated him even more, if that was at all possible.

I doubled up on said frustration when we reached the dungeon portion.

The dungeon had some ghostly sentries that, if they caught you, sent you all the way back to the beginning of the city.

Slipping past the first few and watching Admin get caught by them and teleported back bought me about half a minute, but that was it. With a yell of rage that my brain still didn’t bother processing, the sentries all disappeared, and a part of me figured that he must have disabled the dungeon.

That was… not ideal, and I tried to [Sneak] away, but Admin managed to get the drop on me and hit me with an attack that sent me hurtling through several of the buildings.

I died from the initial impact but was revived by [Control Z] just in time to watch my HP get chunked by my impersonation of a human wrecking ball.

Fortunately, I kept hold of both my spell and my sword, so all I had to do was dust myself off and get ready to fight again.

I may have also shouted something snarky at him. I don’t know. I was still fighting on auto pilot, but taunting Admin seemed like something I would do out of habit more than anything.

Anyway, I stopped running, and we resumed our clash. Our weapons met with clanging shockwaves, and I was purely on the defensive.

Then, disaster struck.

I had put a lot of mana into my buff spells, but they still couldn’t last forever. And unfortunately, their time was up.

One second, I was keeping up fully with Admin; the next, I was thinking in a fog, moving through molasses, and my arms were heavier than the weight of the world I was carrying.

He knocked the sword from my hands, but I figured I would be okay. I had enough lives left to finish my cast, and then I could reapply my buffs.

I, once again, underestimated Admin’s intelligence.

“I figured out your trick,” he spat as he dropped his weapon and grabbed me with both of his overly large hands. “You use time magic to stop any attack that kills you. Well, let’s see how well that works when I squeeze the life out of you!”

Admin’s new mode of attack was slow. It was only taking a few HP off me a second. However, just as he predicted, that would be disastrous for me. The trigger for my [Control Zs] was my death, not dropping below 0, and that would prove to be a disastrous mistake. If I dropped below 0, I would be unable to fight back, and he would be able to work through every single instance of that spell in short order.

I struggled and writhed against his grasp as he continued crushing my whole upper body, but it was useless. I couldn’t [Flash Step] with my feet off the ground, and I didn’t dare drop the spell I was working on since it was my only hope.

Faster, faster! Come on! I urged myself to no avail. The cast would take at least another 5 minutes, even pushing myself harder than was safe, and I would be dead before then.

“Any final words?” Admin asked. “Not that I care to hear them,” he mocked.

There were a lot of things I could say. That I would never give up. That he would regret this. That he was going to lose no matter what.

However, as I looked up and saw a rapidly approaching figure, the only thing that came out was.

“Watch out for the unicornisus,” I croaked.

“The what?” he asked, so confused that his grip lessened ever-so-slightly.

And then, it hit him. Or, more specifically, Skyquake moving at maximum speed rammed him and knocked him clean off his feet.

The unprepared Admin let go of me to catch himself, and that gave me a few precious seconds.

I landed on my feet, scooped up my sword, and immediately jumped on Skyquake’s back.

“Go!” I shouted, kicking into his sides.

Automatic translation informed me that the resulting whinny Skyquake gave was not pleased. However, he knew what was at stake and immediately took to the air.

Admin shot a [Hell Blaze] at us to try to down the flying horse, but Skyquake easily dove underneath it, and soon we were out of effective range.

Next, Admin tried to teleport nearly on top of us with his [[Change Coordinates]], but attacking in the middle of freefall is awkward, and I blocked his attacks with my sword.

It seemed increasingly likely that I would wind down the clock until my spell was ready with no issues… and then Admin finally had enough.

“[[Edit Character]],” he growled, his eyes blazing.

I wondered what he could possibly give himself that would help in the current scenario, but as wings made of darkness sprouted from his back, I immediately had my answer.

Frick. I internally attempted to curse.

And so, the chase was on. Admin was much faster, but Skyquake actually knew how to fly. He kept us out of danger by diving, looping, and flying in close to the dungeon’s buildings and alleyways, the latter of which Admin couldn’t really fit down.

Unfortunately, Admin was a juggernaut who was rapidly getting used to his new wings. He crashed through the buildings as if they were made of paper and grabbed Skyquake’s leg.

I frantically swung my greatsword at his arm to try to get him to disengage, but he just ignored it and dragged us down toward the ground.

That would be a death sentence for Skyquake, and then for me shortly after.

I slowed my spellcast to wrack my brain for solutions, but someone beat me to the punch.

A light shown down from Heaven.

“Heaven stands against you, foul demon,” an angel I didn’t recognize declared as nearly the whole host of Heaven descended.

Part of me wished I hadn’t sent Mishael to deal with Anger earlier, but I couldn’t be too angry with myself or the summoned help as the angels flew down to engage, and Admin was forced to release Skyquake.

That led us on to sky chase part 2, which went mostly the same. The angels did their best, but they were little more than speed bumps to the overpowered Admin, who could almost totally ignore their attacks.

After the chase continued for a few more minutes, Admin finally got a lucky shot on Skyquake’s hoof, and the poor flying horse dropped like a rock.

Some angels dove alongside and were able to keep us from splatting into the ground, but Skyquake was close to death.

“Give him these, and get everyone out of here,” I stated as I pulled some health potions out of my inventory. Then, nodding to the horse. “Thank you. I wouldn’t have made it without you.”

Skyquake nickered weakly in response, which autotranslate told me was something slightly derogatory, but I put that aside as Admin landed with a heavy crash in front of me.

“Ready to give up and die, [Hero]?” he spat.

“I always knew I would never be enough to defeat you by myself,” I started. “As soon as I heard that you would be coming back in person, at level 100, and with as many overpowered items as you could bring, I knew I couldn’t win. Not in a 1 v 1.”

Admin snorted but didn’t say anything. By rights, he should have attacked me there, but I had two things going for me.

First, he didn’t know that those were the words to a spell. And second, I was an [Actor] and he was my [Captive Audience].

“So that’s why I didn’t make this a 1 v 1,” I continued. “I got all of the help I could. I pulled out all the tricks I could. And now it’s time for the biggest one yet thanks to a little hint that another admin gave me about thinking like a programmer.”

Admin’s eyebrows furrowed, and then his eyes shot wide open as the magic of the entire time wastes funneled inward toward me.

My [Actor] skill was broken, and he rushed me.

I broke his line of sight by [Flash Stepping] straight up into the air.

“For your defeat,” I whispered as I fell. “I cast… [Recursion]!” I shouted the final word as I landed and immediately followed it up with a [Sunder].

There was a thunderclap and Admin’s scream of pain, but I didn’t take any time to dwell on that.

“0!” I called, and then [Flash Stepped] out of the way. I wasn’t a moment too soon because…

“[Recursion]!” came another shout from behind me, and it too was followed by a thunderclap of another [Sunder] being used. “1!” he shouted, along with Admin’s next yell of pain.

“What is this!?” Admin shouted as he looked between me and the newcomer.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I scored another clean hit on him.

“Seeing double?” the other me asked as he also moved in for a blow and was subsequently pasted by Admin’s counterattack.

However, I wasn’t worried. He wasn’t just a clone of me like my simulacrums were. He was me. Just pulled from the past. And that meant he had everything I did. My gear, my skills… and a copy of my remaining contingency [Control Zs].

And he wasn’t anywhere near the last one.

“[Recursion]! 2!” called the next voice, and we were only just beginning.

Soon, it was 5 on 1. Then 10. Then 20.

And that gave me plenty of breathing room.

“Reapply buffs!” I ordered. What went unspoken was the ordering and why each of us had shouted out a number right after our cast of [Recursion]. Whichever number each of my copies was, they knew that was the order to take turns in.

It also helped with distinguishing between melee and ranged since there were only so many Tituses you could fit right by Admin. That’s why numbers after 10 were starting to cast spells and pull out crossbows after they landed their initial [Sunder].

“Party up!” I called and instantly tried to invite the first 9 Tituses that had been pulled out of their time.

That part was a mistake. It turns out that the System really doesn’t like you being in a party with yourself. The first Titus joined, and the System started throwing errors. The second Titus joined and his name and health bar overlapped with the first. And, as the third Titus joined, the party intent system tried to kick in but fed me multiples of every single Titus’s intents into one incoherent mess.

“Drop parties!” I quickly called, and not too soon, as that distraction caused a few of us some uses of [Control Z].

This is the problem with not being able to test stuff. I grumbled as we got back into a partyless rhythm. But it’s not like this spell can ever be repeated.

A part of me wondered what the time wastes would be like after I was finished with it, but I resigned myself to the fact that I would likely never see.

Anyway, several more Tituses poured in, and Admin’s health bar started dropping like crazy.

He combatted that by spamming his [[Restore Resources]] and even a [Reflect Attack] on one of the [Sunders]. However, he was completely outmatched. I didn’t even have to worry about defense since there were plenty of mes to share the hits.

And then he finally had it.

“ENOUGH!” he bellowed and triggered an admin function. “[Omni Strike]!” he shouted.

The last I had seen that skill was when Jake used it to absolutely obliterate a horde of daves that were falling at his party from the ceiling.

My temporal copies and I fared little better.

“Keep up the attack!” I called as [Control Z] reverted me from being a stain on the floor. “Rolling [Disrupts]!”

We [Flash Stepped] and [Blinked] back into position, and Admin tried again.

“[Omni Stri-“ he started but was cut off by my loud snap as his skill fizzled. He was left making a normal attack that one of my other copies easily blocked.

“[Omni-“ he tried again, only to be cut off by a snap from Titus 1.

And so it went down the line. With a cooldown of only a minute and several dozen Tituses to work with, Admin could only keep taking the hits and use [[Restore Resources]].

However, I was running out of time. My temporal copies were starting to flicker in and out, and there was a distressing build-up of some type of magical energy I couldn’t really quantify.

“Rolling [Sunders]!” I called. “Give him everything you’ve got!”

I went first and hit him with a [Limit-Broken] [Sunder]… but I was slightly hypocritical there as I didn’t pour everything into it. Just my mana, stamina, and health that I subsequentally regained from my greatsword’s enchants after I hit him.

I had to leave some gas in the tank for the next round.

The other mes were under no such restriction, though. Their [Sunders] resounded, packed with the power of sacrificed resources, skills, and perks. They all ate through a chunk of Admin’s health bar, but…

Not as much as I hoped. I thought, as each took only about 5%. I had hoped that they would get all the way up to the damage cap and do a quarter of Admin’s health bar, but it seemed that wouldn’t be the case.

And I was pretty sure I knew why.

[Limit Break] is based on sacrifice. I thought. And they all knew they weren’t going to last anyway.

However, that wasn’t the biggest part of my concerns. As my temporal copies continued [Sundering] one after the other, the magical buildup continued, and I finally figured out what it was.

All the magic I had been using from the time wastes was reverting from time mana into the typeless magic used for [Mage Bolt]. In other words, we were standing on top of a primed, typeless magical nuke.

I wasn’t sure if my contingency spells would last through something like that, but I hesitated to just leave a bunch of mes alone to die.

They didn’t hesitate, though.

“Get out of here!” one called right before Admin pasted him.

“Don’t just stand there like an idiot!” another added.

“Thank you all,” was all I could say. And then… “[Panic Button 2].”

I reappeared on my island and then flipped on an [Advanced Scry] to watch the end of the fight.

My temporal copies were winking out one by one, and then… well the scry itself cut off as the time wastes exploded.

I winced at that and activated a scry at a wider angle.

The good news was that there wasn’t a giant crater where they used to be. The better news was that the explosion didn’t seem to have destroyed much of the terrain at all.

The bad news was that Admin was still very much alive after that.

“[Message] Primavia,” I cast. “Time for plan Omega. Ready for you to transport us.” I paused. “And this will likely be the last you ever hear from me.” I took a deep breath, then clenched and unlenched my fist. “Take care of Placeholder for me, okay?”

Primavia: We hath locked the location, and the spell beeth prepared.

Primavia: Fare thee well, Titus. Thy memory shall live within us for eternity

Then, with a rush of spatius magic, I was right back to where it all began.

The tutorial.

Plan Omega. I thought. 1 v 1 with no distractions. Pray for some last-minute [Hero] BS, and if that fails… well, at least he’ll struggle getting out of here for a while.

“Where are we?” Admin asked, looking around at the giant ants and lava channels of the tutorial boss room. “Where have you taken me!?” he raged and kicked one of the startled ants.

I was about to reply when the ants all stopped what they were doing and started screeching.

And as hordes of useless giant ants and fire ants rushed Admin, I couldn’t help the smile growing on my face.

AltSys, you mad genius. I thought as I remembered that forgotten mechanic of the tutorial.

Not because of the first wave. No, Admin still took most of those out with a single [Omni Strike]. My smile was because I knew what was coming in the second wave.

The elite ants. The ones who could choose to be immune to either physical attacks or magic ones, and who all rushed Admin wearing their black, physical-immunity carapaces.

The look of sheer confusion on his face as his overpowered greatclub bounced off a level 5 ant was worth more than all the gold of Placeholder to me.

Soon, they had him completely surrounded and were biting him. Unfortunately, their bites also bounced off since his armor rating was much higher than their attack, but they were still plenty annoying as some of them wisened up and started grappling him as well.

It was the perfect stall, and that was exactly what I needed because I wasn’t just sitting idle either.

Have to get rid of those wings. I thought as I attempted [[Edit Character]] on Admin. The bad news was that it would be expensive. The good news was that-

“[Hell Blaze]!” Admin finally shouted in frustration, only for no magic to come out at all.

-I wouldn’t be the one to foot the bill. With the tutorial’s magic drain in full effect on him, he had been wiped out of mana a minute after he set foot in the tutorial. And with the drain inverted on me, that meant I had all sorts of mana to play with.

The good news was that I figured out how to make his wings run on mana instead of stamina, so they quickly flickered and died.

The bad news was that stalling time was over as Admin finally figured out that he just had to toss the ants into the lava rivers, and since those monsters were cowards, that meant that the elites were soon scattered and fleeing.

That meant I had to kill them as I fled an irate Admin. I needed to go downstairs for the next part of my plan and that meant finishing the rest of the boss fight.

Admin misunderstood my intentions as the boss appeared with its customary screech.

“You think something this pitiful will help you?” he asked with a sneer and one-shot it.

“Nope, but thanks for the help!” I replied as I touched the obelisk and activated its elevator down to the lower floor.

Admin joined me on the platform, and our clash resumed. However, I needed to make my next move quickly if it would be any use at all.

“Say, you sure I can’t just pay you to make you leave?” I taunted as our weapons continued generating shockwaves as they crashed into each other. “I have 10 million gold that I’m willing to give you.”

“You think you could pay me money from this pathetic world?” he sneered, and I ducked underneath one of his horizontal swings.

“Not only could I pay you money from here,” I replied and then [Blinked] prone on the floor with my back to the ground and a hand up in the air. “I insist.”

He had half a second to look confused at my odd behavior before a 10 million-gold coin appeared in my hand… but that wasn’t going to do. After all, if I was going to pay someone like Admin it had to be in pennies, didn’t it?

Placeholder’s odd usage of coinage immediately accepted my intentions and I braced against the crushing mass and incredible volume of 1 coin suddenly turning into a billion. Admin wasn’t so lucky. Caught off guard, he was shoved off the platform because of the sheer volume and mass of the metal.

… At least, I think. I couldn’t exactly see what happened directly after since I was literally buried in coins. However, a quick [Blink] put me on top of the pile, just in time for Admin to reappear and [Omni Strike] the entire stack of coins.

I blocked the portion of the attack that got directed at me, but the rest of the coins were launched off the platform into the distance.

I assumed that plan had been a complete bust before I noticed that Admin was slightly shaking.

“Corruption… are you a complete lunatic!?” he bellowed as he simply stared at me. “Do you have any idea what that amount of corruption could do to this system? TO ME!?”

“Yes,” I half-bluffed. “So, I am more than willing to negotiate your surrender.”

For half a second, it seemed like he was almost considering it. Then, with a shake of his head and a growl, he muttered. “No… I can’t. I can’t go back without it.” Then, turning to glare at me. His next response was another swing of his greatclub, and we were back to our clash.

The limited maneuvering room on the platform was a bit of a problem, and I could have been in trouble if not for the fact that Admin was distracted by the corruption off in the distance below.

Twice on our way down, he made the mistake of looking directly at it, which caused it to lash out and attempt to corrupt him. The first time, it missed and the System quarantined it immediately. The second time, it grazed his cheek and I got some free hits in as he yelled in panic and had to use manipulation points to carve the corrupted portion out of himself.

And then, the elevator docked and we were on the lower level.

Time to see what AltSys had in store. I thought.

“Activate special boss!” I called out as I placed a hand on the obelisk.

I [Blinked] out of the way of Admin’s next attack, and it made a loud clang as it hit the obelisk and bounced off. However, I was more distracted by the two inky shadows that seemed to slither out of it and take up positions in front of both of us.

They quickly shifted shapes, and as the boss health bar appeared titled “Void Facsimiles,” the shadowy figures now had adopted our looks and weapons.

“So, how much of a copy are you?” I asked the void figure.

It responded by [Blinking] behind me and lashing out with its greatsword.

I parried its attack down to the floor, but it used the grav-boost enchant to turn that into a spin and another attack.

“That answers my question,” I muttered as I [Flash Stepped] away.

From there, the battle was on. The clash of our greatswords rang out as we also lobbed [Air Bolts] and [Earth Bolts] at each other, all the while disappearing and reappearing around the ring.

The only upside was that Admin seemed to be having a worse time with his matchup. Or, at the very least, he was worse at defense than he was at offense, so that meant the two traded a lot of blows.

The bad news was that the real Admin would win relatively soon. I highly doubted even a “special boss” would copy an admin’s ability to use manipulation points to restore their HP.

That meant I was on the clock with my own fight, and it was going nowhere.

I pressed the offensive and finally landed a blow… but it seemed that it wasn’t only my weapons and fighting style that had been copied. The void copy died but immediately came back with a [Control Z].

“I don’t have time for this!” I growled as I pressed the offensive and even pumped up my speed with [Limit Break] to try to get a hit in. “I don’t have time for this stupid, ‘face yourself’ metaphorical BS!”

“Wrong,” the shadow said quietly, and then, in my brief moment of shock, hit me with an [Air Strike] roundhouse kick that sent me flying into the arena’s wall.

It didn’t really hurt because of my armor, but I still had to shake my head to clear it.

“You can talk?” I asked. “Good. Then, if you’re a copy of me, you know what’s at stake here. Just help me out with fighting Admin and-“

“I will help,” it replied. Then, its body started morphing a bit, and I looked in shock as a dark halo appeared over its head. “Just not in the method you may prefer,” it sneered.

“Pride?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes. It is time that you face yourself,” it sneered. “All of yourself.”

I had seen enough. “[Heal]!” I immediately cast. My healing skills weren’t great, but if I did enough damage to break his pride, that would already be game over.

The magic entered him and didn’t seem to do a thing and my question of why was answered immediately as his sword began emitting a familiar glow.

He can’t have all of my stuff. Especially not-

“[Sunder],” the haughty voice sneered.

[Blink] let me dodge it as the first thunderclap boomed… but I was completely unprepared for the second… or the third.. or the fourth.

“Do you see what kind of power you could have?” he asked as he casually strolled up to my prone body, with me still trying to recover from being essentially bisected 3 times in quick succession. “Not even an admin would be enough. You could win here handily and then go back to Placeholder and claim your place as King!”

“No deal,” I spat as I pushed myself up with a shaky arm and then reclaimed my weapon that had fallen alongside me. “I know exactly what type of ‘king’ I would be with you at the helm, and I would rather die than see that again.”

I readied my weapon as the shadow sighed. “A pity. But I suppose there are other options.”

Its form shifted to a feminine one… the only feminine one I had ever had.

“Titania,” I muttered. “So, envy. Alright, what’s your pitch?” I asked as I [Flash Stepped] forward, and she blocked my next swing.

“With my power you could be someone else. Anyone else,” she said. Then, nodding over to Admin. “Wouldn’t you do a better job than him? Don’t you deserve what he has more than he does?”

“Yeah, I’d probably be a better admin than him,” I replied as our blades clashed. “But, are you freaking serious? Who would ever want to be a demon?” I snorted. “They’re the most pitiful creatures in existence. No thanks. And don’t even bother tempting me with anyone else. We both know that no one else I know could stand up to Admin.”

“What about Joshua?” it asked as our blades locked.

“Can you actually copy Joshua?” I asked.

“… No.”

“Then I rest my case. See ya,” as I said that, I landed a cut through its middle, and it split in half.

It reformed into two familiar shapes. The twisted and broken form of madness, and the old and thin form of deceit.

I scowled. It was time to speedrun these stupid encounters.

“You aren’t even a choice I could make, and even if I did, going crazy would in no way help me out of this mess,” I said, pointing my sword at madness.

“And you!” I turned my weapon on the other. “Your primary gimmick was illusions. That wouldn’t help me a bit against someone who can’t even see them.” I waved my weapon dismissively. “Next.”

Madness reformed into a rather corpulent version and I scowled.

“Greed is just as useless here, and I don’t even know what you actually did even when I had you.”

Then, I turned back to the reforming deceit and saw… a child version of me?

“Immaturity?” I asked. “Really?”

The child form cringed. “Y-yeah. Good point.”

“We all done here?” I asked as the two forms merged back together and started to grow.

“No,” it answered. “Because we saved the best for last.”

It morphed and shifted between a larger and smaller frame, but eventually settled on the smaller one. A spitting image of my first life.

“Wrath?” I scoffed. “Do you seriously think that I’m interested in turning into a giant rage monster? No.” I shook my head. “I’m a hundred times stronger than stupid wrath form. Get out of here.”

I looked over at Admin since I was sure that would be the end of it.

The greatsword that jutted through my chest argued otherwise.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” the shadow replied as I fell to the floor, revived, and then barely dodged its next attack. “I’ve been with you since the beginning. I’ve always been there. Watching. Waiting. Ready to take control.”

“Yeah? Well, you won’t get control again, you overblown hissy fit,” I snarked as our blades collided. “All you can do is waste my time while I should be fighting the real fight.”

I [Blinked] behind him and swung at his back, but he ducked below the attack and [Air Bolted] me in the face.

I growled in frustration as he dodged my next swing and followed that up with nothing but more [Flash Steps] and [Blinks].

“Stand and fight me!” I growled.

“Why?” it asked. “Does my stalling make you angry?”

“No!” I shot back immediately… if not entirely truthfully. “Annoyed, maybe, but you aren’t even worth getting angry at!”

“Is that so?” it asked. Then, dropping its weapon, it [Blinked] behind me and turned my head toward Admin.

“But what about him?” it asked. “Surely you’re angry at him, aren’t you?” it whispered.

“No,” I lied, my weapon forgotten as the battle was now solely in my head. “I’m not.”

“Not even after everything he’s done?” the shadow whispered. “Everything he’s planned to do? Think of all the innocent people that he’s going to hurt. Doesn’t that make you angry?”

I grit my teeth and tried ineffectually to shake the shadow off of me, but I couldn’t.

“You’re not even angry about what he’s going to do to the elderly?” he asked. “The weak… the… children?”

I’d had enough.

“YES!” I exploded and shook the shadow off me. “And why shouldn’t I be furious!?” I shouted as I loomed over my twisted clone. “Why shouldn’t I be angry when he wants nothing more than to cause suffering for his own twisted happiness!? Why shouldn’t everything within me fight against every single thing that he stands for!?”

My shadow nodded, and my heart sunk. It had won. I knew it. I was sure that wrath would overtake me once again, but that form was no match for Admin.

“Then, remember,” it stated as it faded away.

Unbidden my thoughts jumped to two beings. Mishael… and Joshua.

It focused on some of their specific reactions to demons.

It focused on their anger.

And I… I finally understood.

I picked up my greatsword from where it had fallen and slowly dragged it behind me with one hand as Admin defeated his own copy.

“Finally done running away?” Admin mocked as he saw.

“Yes,” I replied softly.

Admin [Flash Stepped] forward and made a great horizonal swing that I made no effort to dodge.

My greatsword also didn’t move an inch.

But that was because it didn’t need to.

My free hand caught the club and stopped it dead in its tracks; my gauntleted fingers causing a caucaphony of metallic screeching as they slowly bent and twisted the metal in my tightening grip.

“H-how?” Admin asked as I rent a metal that was likely meant to be indestructible.

“I finally realized something important,” I replied as I wrenched the weapon from his hands. Immediately after my body ignited in white flame. “It turns out that wrath doesn’t only come from Hell.”

Fear showed on Admin’s face for only the second time since I had seen him, and he immediately tried to get away with [[Change Coordinates]].

But I wouldn’t let that go so easily. A quick activation of [Echo of a Fallen Hero: Shalia Zinphyra], gave me access to [Relentless Pursuit], and there was nowhere he could run.

Every time he disappeared, I followed right along with him. And no matter how he teleported, my blade found its mark.

Meanwhile, my greatsword which had been difficult to wield in two hands felt disarmingly light in a single hand as I slashed through Admin again and again, all the while peppering him with whatever magic I could think of with my free left hand.

“[[Emergency Evac]]!” Admin said. I had never seen the function, but I could tell its intended purpose. He was trying to leave Placeholder entirely.

“[Hero’s Challenge],” I started. However, even a [Hero] skill struggled to contain an admin function like that.

I threw my own manipulation points behind it and eventually managed to stave off Admin’s retreat, leaving the admin cowering there before me.

“Mercy!” Admin shouted as he cowered on the floor, still taller curled up in a ball than I was standing up. “Please! Stop! I’ll do anything!”

“You should have thought of that before you came here!” I shouted and threw in a [Sunder] for good measure. “You should have thought of that before you killed children!” I shifted my greatsword into Alder’s gauntlets and slugged him in the face with a [Thunderstrike].

“And now you’re going to suffer for each and every one of them. Just like you made me suffer,” I seethed as I grabbed him by the collar of his armor and hauled him halfway to his feet.

I expected fear. I expected begging. I didn’t expect the smirk that came over his face.

“So naive,” he grinned.

His hands clamped around my body and began squeezing as the white flames died out.

“Heaven’s wrath is a terrifying thing,” Admin said as I struggled uselessly. “But it is two sides of a coin with Hell’s.” He chuckled. “And the same goes for its cousin, justice with its inverse of revenge.” He leaned his head in closer. “And someone wanted revenge just a little too much. Didn’t they? And once you did. You were mine.”

I spat in his face, but he just ignored it and laughed as my health bar went down.

I uselessly tried to [Blink] or [Flash Step], but no movement abilities worked while you were grappled like I most definitely was.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Samson Stonebreaker]!” I grunted out. “[Fortitude]! [Body of Adamantium]!”

My body turned the jet-black of adamantium, and my resistances went through the roof… but that was only delaying the inevitable, and Admin knew it.

“Don’t worry,” Admin replied. “I don’t mind waiting another minute to crush you. In fact, this just lets me savor your defeat even longer.” He must have caught my unasked question about how he knew the duration of the skill because he continued. “Don’t think I’m so foolish as to not know the powers of each of your so-called [Heroes],” he spat. “And none of them will help you here. So, struggle and die a multitude of painful deaths.” He grinned. “Or give up and suffer them anyway.”

“[Holy Heal],” I cast, but he didn’t budge. “Power of light restore health to my ally. [Holy Cure]!”

He grimaced a bit in pain, but compared to his health bar, I may as well have tried to put out a bonfire with a squirt gun.

It was such a simple situation, but one I was eminently unprepared for. I needed help, and there were precious few people I could turn to.

“[Advanced Message] Primavia,” I gasped out as Admin continued to squeeze tighter. “Hey. In a bit of a pinch. You don’t happen to have another [Grand Teleport] ready, do you?”

It was an outside shot because that was the only level of teleportation that could impact us when we were in a dimension that was so far away. The answer was as unfortunate as it was expected.

Primaiva: Nay. The leylines lie depleted. We can offer thee no assistance

I cursed my luck as the pressure grew, even against my adamantium-reinforced body.

Really wish I had left a clone right now. I thought with a grimace. However, there was no way that I could have cast [Recursion] with even a portion of my mind taken up by a simulacrum.

My mind jumped to another option. Another skill that would work out in a similar way, but it had one fatal problem.

Its owner wasn’t a [Hero]. I thought with despair as the timer for my skills ticked down and my death approached ever closer.

But… I had a thought and then grit my teeth. Why the frick not? Who’s to say that only people with the class should count? She was a frickin’ hero, no matter what the System had to say. I tried to activate it, but it failed.

But I was the [Hero] now, and I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“[Limit Break]!” I shouted through clenched teeth and then shoved that greedy skill even more of my skills and perks until finally… the restriction broke and I could feel it.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Lindsey Besti]!” I shouted as [Fortitude] and [Body of Adamantium] both expired.

Admin kept a wary eye on me, watching and waiting for my next move, but he relaxed slightly as he didn’t see anything else to worry about.

And that’s because I had used Lindsey’s [Sand Clone Technique] to make a clone behind him.

Just have to surprise him. I thought as I heard some pops coming from my body and my health started dropping precipitously. But how the frick do I control this clone!?

I had no idea how to use the skill, and I seemed to have zero control over it.

So, I was just as surprised as Admin when the figure gave him a sharp kick to the back of the knee that caused him to stumble forward, and then leaped into the air, wrapped its legs around his neck, and slammed his upper body into the ground causing us all to go into an awkward tumble. Only the figure rolled out cleanly.

I knew only one person who could move like that.

“Lindsey?” I gaped as I recovered from our tumble and saw the form of my sand “clone.”

“You always were my most troublesome pupil,” she said with a hint of a smile. “Glad to see you are finally using that for the better.”

“Lindsey, how are you-“

She held up a hand. “There is no time. And I am nothing more than your memories made into temporary flesh.” She looked over at Admin, who had resummoned his greatclub and was pasting dozens of sand clones that Lindsey herself had made. “But, is it not time to bring others to the fight as well?”

I saw the implication immediately and couldn’t help but give a brief fist pump.

“Plan omega is back on!” I shouted toward Admin as I shifted my gauntlets back to a greatsword. “And I’m about to power of friendship all up and down your asp!”

He growled and used an [Omni Strike] that took out a majority of the clones.

I needed a tank. Fast. Fortunately, the best one in Placeholder was fresh on my mind.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Samon Stonebreaker]!” I called out, and as Lindsey created a fresh clone it shifted into the stocky dwarf.

“Can you tank him?” I asked.

“Aye,” Samson answered as he readied his shield. “And if I can’t, no one can.”

He activated [Fortitude], [Body of Adamantium], and then one skill I had almost completely forgotten about. [Taunt].

The look of sheer rage on Admin’s face as it snuck through his resistances was exquisite, and with a [Blink] I was behind him and got some free attacks on his back.

Meanwhile, Samson blocked the gargantuan weapon with his much smaller shield and was making a good showing… but he wouldn’t last forever.

At least, if I didn’t have a healer lined up for him.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Sarah Smith]!” I called out, and Lindsey created a clone that shifted into the wolf-eared patron saint of the dryadal church.

“It seems you kept your promise to see me again after all,” she stated.

“Yeah!” I called out as I blocked an attack for Samson who looked to be running low. “Not the time for tearful reunions, I’m afraid!”

“You’re right,” she stated, turning to the threat. “Begone, demon! [Holy Radiance]!”

Too bright to look at directly, the healing she emitted was more than enough to stabilize Samson, and slowly, but noticeably, tick down Admin’s health bar.

Tank and healing were taken care of, and now it was time for DPS.

And boy oh boy, did I have a lot of DPS.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Elluin Hunter, Shalia Zinphyra, Jonathan Andrews, Garrik Valhice]!”

The young elf marksman, older elf duelist, and the human swordsman all appeared as expected, and after giving me a brief nod, they simply started pressing the attack.

The main surprise was Garrik, the lion-maned beastborn, who was summoned with his own copy of Earthquake. However, that made sense in hindsight.

I never really could picture him without his horse. I thought.

From there, we really started pressuring Admin hard. Attacks and hero skills flew thick and fast. And the best part was that he didn’t seem to realize that just because he was taunted didn’t mean he couldn’t immolate all of my new party members with a single [Hell Blaze].

But I wasn’t even close to done. I had been mainly summoning [Heroes] after all, so why not expand the scope?

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Alder Orinala-“ I started, not entirely sure if the second part would work. “and the Hero’s Shadow]!” I called.

I must have mentally tied him to that group enough because immediately after, they appeared with the bestian [Monk] and the knife-wielding elf he loved at the forefront.

“Looks like we have the fight of our lives ahead of us,” Alder stated. “Are you ready, you battle maniacs?”

“You ask that as if you are not the biggest one of us all,” Shadow Leader scoffed lightly.

“True,” Alder chuckled.

And then the Hero’s Shadow sprang into action. We even had another healer and tank to help spread and mitigate the damage.

Admin was soon fully on the defensive, and his attempts at retreat were swiftly cut off by Shalia’s [Hero] skills.

“Enough!” Admin shouted. “[Hell Blaze]!”

He had finally figured out the workaround for [Taunt], and only a last-second [Disrupt] saved the echoes of my former friends and foes from being all wiped out in an instant.

But that wasn’t sustainable. As Admin growled and readied to cast again, I wracked my brain for solutions.

And the one I came to likely had no business working.

But, I was a bit too committed for that to stop me.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Timothy Pace]!” I called out.

What form did the dog-eared [Wizard] take? The youngest version of himself? Back when he was a precocious child who was a bit too happy to include allies in the area of effect of his [Fire Balls]? The slightly older version of himself that faced me with Jake and the rest of the party at the end of my first life?

No. Neither of those would help me. And so, the form he took was…

“In what world is a lich a hero!?” Admin belted out as the king of the undead appeared.

“In this one,” Timothy intoned as he took to the air. “Because I gave my life in an attempt to fix the mistakes of my past, and I would gladly give it again.” His eyes glowed a dangerous purple glow. “Simply to keep it from the likes of you.”

Admin roared and cast another [Hell Blaze], but this version of Timothy came equipped with the spell I had never figured out.

[Counterspell].

Admin’s spells fizzled in place, and Tim shouted to me.

“Whatever you are planning, you should hurry! Your skill is starting to unravel!”

I started pouring power into [Sunder] and [Limit Break]. I knew it would come down to ending this in a single shot, but a part of me was still hesitant, even as I started dumping most of my remaining perks and skills into it.

However, I could hesitate just a bit longer as I brought in the last of the cavalry.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Sam and Garret Newman]!” I called.

“I hoped you would call us!” Sam shouted out. Then, looking at the largest figure in the room. “Hey, [Demon King]! We’re gonna kick your asp! Aren’t we?” The last part directed towards her husband.

“Whatever you say, dear,” he replied with a chuckle.

As a lively cat-eared [Sorcerer] fired off a not-very-effective [Elemental Echo] empowered [Air Cutter], and Garret charged in a [Rage], I realized I had one other [Berseker] that I could call.

Well, assuming she had actually died.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Gertrude Armstrong]!”

As that battle maniac formed out of the skill, she immediately gave me a scowl.

“What’s the matter, Einstein? Couldn’t let me rest for two minutes?”

“And let you miss this?” I asked, gesturing at the ongoing battle.

“Yer right,” she said, and then gave me a grin that sent a few nervous shivers up the back of my spine. “I woulda killed ya if ya let me miss this.” And then charged in right behind Garret.

Yeah… a part of me is still scared of her. I thought.

However, I had made a tactical error. It turned out that summoning a whole bunch of people who had never fought together was not necessarily the greatest idea.

I now had two [Raging] [Berserkers] who were getting in the way in the frontlines. The Hero’s Shadow operatives had popped smoke, which was disastrous for line of sight until I blew it away with a [Breeze]. And the healers and tanks were uncoordinated and using up more of their resources than they needed to.

I needed to fix that fast, or I wouldn’t have time to finish charging my [Sunder]. And… unfortunately… I knew just who to call.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero:-“ I started and then sighed and shook my head. “-Doom Fury],” I muttered the final part.

“I knew it! I knew he knew our name!” Ethan, the elven [Wizard], called as the four formed.

“Yeah, he was definitely trolling us,” Nick, their [Rogue] replied. “What a complete asp.”

“Or maybe the name is just awful?” Sam, the [Cleric] groused.

“No time for that,” Richard cut them off. “Listen up, boys and girls!” he shouted over the din. “We got ourselves a raid!”

I always gave those four a lot of flack… but I knew I could trust Rich to get the fight back and coordinated.

Which meant it was time for my last summon. The one I was looking forward to the least, but whose help I needed the most with this final attack.

“[Echo of a Fallen Hero: Jake Smith],” I said quietly.

And then, he was there. Just as I remembered him from my first life. The first [Hero] of Placeholder, and-

“You’ve got a lot of nerve asking for my help after you killed me,” he stated flatly.

-the second person I killed.

“In my defense, you killed me first,” I said weakly.

His serious look broke out in a small, lopsided grin as he chuckled. “Fair enough,” he said. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Figured I would hit him really hard,” I said, nodding towards my greatsword that was glowing with the prepped [Sunder]. “Any advice?”

“Widen your stance slightly,” he stated immediately, and I complied. “Align the edge better and focus. The blade has to be a part of you.”

“Got it,” I replied. “Anything else? The skills seem to be at just about their limits.”

He drew his blade and stood next to me.

“Screw the limits,” he said softly. “If you can’t use more stamina, use your mana or your health. Or your frickin life force or something.” He gave me another lopsided grin. “Just do it, [Hero].”

How could I argue with the very words I had given him so long ago?

I was ready.

“Everyone!” I shouted. “Get ready to hit him with all you got!”

Richard helpfully translated that for the others without a [Hero] skill as “lock him down.” And Tim was the most helpful there as bones burst from the ground and grappled Admin into place.

“So what?” Admin sneered as he struggled. “You’ll waste it all on one attack, and I’ll be fine.” He spat. “The most you can do is a measly 1 million damage.”

System : Not if I step in. [Suspend Damage Cap]! GO! NOW!

We needed no further prompting.

“[Great Cleave]!”

“[Trueshot]!”

“[Holy Cure]!”

“[Pierce]!”

“[Thunderstrike]!”

“[Sunder]!”

And then it was my turn.

Time slowed to a crawl as I unleashed my skill, no words leaving my lips. And, whether it was my intense focus or the resulting sound temporarily deafening me, it was deadly silent, and I could hear only my heartbeat as I flashed forward.

My blade met resistance, but it cleaved through it instantly like a hot knife through butter.

And soon, I was standing there, on the other side, with Admin rearing back and yelling in soundless pain.

He had survived, but I knew he would. But my attack hadn’t been in vain because he was overdrawn on manipulation points. He was in the negatives, and that meant he was finally vulnerable. He could die now. I could feel it.

And all that stood between him and death was a single hitpoint that he clung onto.

But I had sacrificed almost everything. My weapon fell through my hands, unusable. My armor dropped off leaving me in my simple adventurer clothes I had come to Placeholder in. I had no more access to magic and skills.

But I had one last thing I saved, even from my [Limit Break] firesale.

My inventory.

My mind raced a million miles a second, but with no more levels my body felt like a slug encased in molasses. A staff with a stored healing spell appeared in my left hand painfully slowly as I spun to face Admin, and a crossbow appeared in my right.

My heart hammered in my chest, and my lungs ached as, for the first time in a millennium, I needed to breathe, but there was no time for even that.

I activated the spell, I shot the bolt-

A panicked Admin [Disrupted] the spell and [Flash Stepped] forward past the bolt to knock the staff from my hands.

-and the weapons phased through me since I was technically not allowed to use them, but they were replaced by vials of holy water that I chucked point-blank into Admin’s face.

Admin recoiled and yelled, and I couldn’t help the triumphant “Yes!” that burst out of my lips as he staggered back in pain.

That joy was pretty short-lived.

Admin wiped the water from his face and hit me with a backhand that was now multiple times faster than I could see coming.

Without the benefit of the System protecting me from attacks, I felt pain the most naturally I had ever felt, and there was no HP barrier to stop me from spitting out a tooth that he had dislodged with his casual attack.

“How?” I asked, lying on the ground in a daze.

“I simply gave myself a new skill,” Admin said with a grin as he loomed over me.

I grimaced as I watched his slowly-refilling health bar.

[Battlefield Regen]. I thought. He saw what was coming and yoinked Gertrude’s skill right before I emptied out his manipulation points.

With just a second’s worth of that skill, he had already regenerated more HP than I could possibly hope to deal with only items at my disposal.

It’s time. I thought. The only thing I had left I could do was make him angry.

“So, ready to surrender yet?” I asked.

The boot that crushed my torso at least killed me quickly, and, fortunately, or unfortunately, I still had a lot of [Control Zs] left.

“Do you have any idea what you cost me!?” Admin raged. “I will tear you limb from limb! I will bathe in your blood! You will know pain like no one ever has before!”

And he swiftly proved that those weren’t idle threats with the power of [Control Z] undoing his most damaging attacks, just to let him do them again.

I was conscious through it all but increasingly delirious. As the minutes dragged on, I grew to regret giving myself so many lives.

Fortunately, there was an endpoint.

“5 lives remaining,” my spell intoned.

Yes, I had included an audible notice for that. It would have been embarrassing to lose track.

And while Admin had worked out the majority of his frustrations by that point, that brought a smile to his face.

“We’ll do this again in 50 years when I respawn, yeah?” I asked, my head lolling a bit and my eyes unfocused.

I wouldn’t respawn after I died, but he didn’t need to know that.

And that was a good enough jab to rile him up and get him to rip through my remaining lives.

“No lives remaining,” my spell intoned as my body lay there, broken on the floor.

“And now, you die,” Admin seethed as he loomed over me. “Any final words?”

“Last… chance…” I croaked out. “To surrender.”

I don’t know which ticked him off more. What I said, or the absolute sincerity with which I said it.

All I know is that his fist met my face, and the world went black.

.

.

.

.

And, next I knew, I woke to him slapping my face.

“Good,” he growled. “I was worried you died too soon. I needed to see the look on your pathetic face when you found out there will not be a rematch.”

And the reason for his certainty was obvious. He was standing on the edge of the platform, dangling me over the void and corruption with a single hand.

I didn’t have to fake the fear that showed in my face and in my trembling hands.

My timing was off. I tried to pull the item out of my inventory, but it would be too late.

“And just in case you thought I missed it,” Admin stated as he pulled out a familiar blue light that made my head hurt. “Take comfort in the fact that you failed as you are unmade for all of eternity.”

With that, Admin prepared to let go.

Stall! You need time! Just stall! What does he want to hear!?

“Never… forgive… you…” I croaked out.

“For what?” Admin asked. “For killing you? For taking your precious world from you?” He smirked. “Or maybe it’s for what I will do after you leave? Maybe I’ll set up a daily sacrifice in your honor. Kill a child every single day for what you’ve cost me and inform the world it is all your fault. What do you think of that?”

“Not… even… that…” I choked out, and Admin relieved enough pressure for me to actually take a gasping breath. “I knew you would do all of that. I knew you would make the world into your own personal Hell. But that’s not what I can’t stand.” I gently shook my head. “No. There’s one thing and one thing only that I will hold against you forever. It’s completely unforgivable . Something that is unthinkable even for a fricking demon.”

Admin leaned a bit closer to listen, glee at my misfortune evident on his face.

“You didn’t fix the bugs,” I stated.

His face rapidly shifted to a look of confusion and then one of panic as my arm shot out and the item appeared beneath it.

The bandit obelisk.

Admin tried to release me, but I was already latching onto his arm with my other hand and saying a single word.

“Claim.”

The explosion launched me sideways and away from the platform, and Placeholder’s buggy grapple physics did the rest.

Admin, the obelisk, and I were now all in freefall into the void.

“You maniac!” Admin shouted in fear. “Let go! You’ll kill us both!”

“That was the plan!” I shouted back my face split with a manic grin. “Or, more specifically, plan A. Don’t you know that in Placeholder heroic sacrifices always work!?”

Admin bellowed and tried to hit me off of him, but I had his arm in a death grip, and there was only so much leverage he could generate in mid-air.

And then, we hit the corruption.

System: ERROR! Protected Entity corrupted! Alerting all available admins!

System: ERROR! Protected Entity corrupted! Alerting all available admins!

One message for both of us. Admin undoubtedly got the alert, but so did-

System : It’s dangerous even messaging ⮹□◆, but as a candidate, I need ⮹□◆ ♋⬧ ♋ tie-breaker. Admin ❖□⧫♏♎ against dumping the entire tutorial, but I ■♏♏♎ ⧫□. Quickly. Otherwise that corrupted obelisk is going to be a ⬧♏❒♓□◆⬧ problem

“Do it,” I croaked. “Just… take care of Placeholder for me.”

System : Don’t w□rry. I will.

System : Hero

[Hero]. I thought. I do like the sound of that.

And that was my last coherent thought before the tutorial’s memory was jettisoned.

With that, Titus, the final [Hero] and the final [Demon Lord] of Placeholder, was no more.