Occasionally, something like this would happen. Dan tried not to have a routine. After so long, just as he was good at predicting what Asmodon would do, the demon was able to do the same.
Like the old saying – everything looked like a nail to a hammer. And Asmodon was definitely a hammer. But a smart hammer. He had managed to trap Dan a million times, and getting free was never easy.
Sometimes Asmodon showed that he was very capable of being more than a hammer. Times like this.
When Dan got too predictable, Asmodon and all his forces would be waiting for him in an extremely well-planned ambush.
Dan should’ve been more careful. He thought he knew what Asmodon was up to. Recalling to his bind point in the Boss area had been a bad idea. He should’ve known things had been too quiet and carefully made his way there on foot.
Asmodon usually split his forces up and sent groups of about 30 to each area. Then he’d adjust as the day went on, trying to trap the Game’s last participant.
Dan was expecting 33 or so demons and devils, with or without Asmodon. When he appeared and saw the 200 surrounding him, he didn’t have time to plan, just react.
Dan rolled and dodged away from invocations as he covered himself in flame and fumbled with his belt.
Asmodon sent out dark energy to cover Dan and it began eating away at his armor, but Dan’s fire mana would protect him from the worst of it.
A beam cut deeply into Dan’s leg as he dodged away from some demons and devils. Enough invocations were targeting him and enough enemies charging him that he took a few more big hits.
He didn’t want to blink until Asmodon used his fountain thing or barrage-type invocation.
Thankfully, the champion was impatient, and Dan didn’t have to wait long. As soon as the fountain grew out of the ground right where Dan was rolling towards, he blinked.
And as soon as he appeared, a flying devil smashed into him and lifted him into the air.
That was a pretty recent development. All the fliers would circle within Dan’s blink range, ready for him to appear and grab him.
They used to bombard every possible spot Dan could blink to with invocations. He liked that better. They’d kill a bunch of themselves that way.
As the devil carrying him raked its claws across Dan’s back, Asmodon invoked his meteorite barrage-type invocation.
The champion had no qualms about killing his own troops if it meant he’d also hurt the sole remaining participant. Thankfully, the devil carrying Dan took the brunt of the meteorite storm.
Dan armed and dropped a trigger primed with five Epic Orbments onto the ground. With Blink Speed active, he invoked Teleport right into the path of the flying devil. It tried flying under the portal, but didn’t have time, and smacked right into it.
Dan grabbed the portal and held on for dear life, madly crawling into it. A few invocations hit him before the trigger exploded and flung him all the way through, sending him falling through the air in the tutorial before he landed on the ground with a loud thud.
The healing he received going through Teleport’s portal was significant, but he still had a lot of injuries. That maxed-out trigger would’ve killed most of the demons and devils, but not all of them, and definitely not Asmodon.
He had to suck up the pain. He needed to get up and fight his way closer to a Trial’s entrance in case he needed to hide out in it.
The Teleport Orbment the demons and devils came with didn’t work in the Game, but after a prior ambush like the one he just escaped, a corpse must’ve dropped a modified Teleport Orbment.
A devil slotted it, guessed right, and Asmodon and all the survivors surprised Dan minutes after he had made his escape, well before Bind and Recall or Teleport were off cooldown.
The first key to survival was not making mistakes. Since some mistakes were inevitable, so the second key to survival was not making the same mistake twice.
So, Dan, groaning, got up. He hated leaving all that loot in the Boss area for Asmodon but there was nothing he could do about it.
The tutorial area was already hit with a wave of monsters, but the waves for this area were the weakest. He limped forward, fighting his way around the Core Trial, blinking on cooldown to help heal up.
When all the monsters of the wave were dead, but before looting much, he took out a beast core and began meditating to refill his mana, only stopping to stack Drain Life on creatures sneaking up on him.
Asmodon never came but before his core refilled another wave of monsters did. Once those were dead, he began collecting loot and removing cores.
After checking his belt, he was surprised to find that he only had one trigger left. He thought he had three of them.
He’d have to go grind the Trials where triggers seemed to have a higher drop rate. Those two Trials were his two least favorite since he had to grind them so much.
Triggers hardly ever dropped, but he hardly ever found himself in a real pinch where one would help. And if they damaged an area or Trial too badly, that whole area would close, which could really screw him.
Ideally, he’d farm a bunch of triggers, but the drop rate was so low that replacing the one he just used would take months of his life grinding the same two Trials over and over and over.
A demon tech once told him only three triggers could drop in a year. He wasn’t sure if that was true. He was told that well after all the days and weeks and months and years began running together and time held little meaning. Time would have to hold some meaning for him to test that.
It was all just war. One big never-ending war he couldn’t win. But he could remain, so did.
A big group of grabbers attacked him as he was wrapping up his looting. He sighed as he began looting the new corpses.
Don’t be a bitch. Don’t you go and start letting any quit into your heart.
Before he finished looting, a huge pack of Hellhounds attacked.
They’ll be a sneaker soon too, he thought. I wish I only had to kill demons and devils. Killing them guys never gets old. Or not too old. Aphariel said that helps them out in the war too.
As Dan had that thought, he felt something strange high above him.
He looked up and saw a giant man with wings descending from high in the sky, way above the invisible barrier he couldn’t fly through. Back when he had the Fly Orbment slotted, at least.
The giant wasn’t trying to hide. Dan had never felt anything as clearly as he felt this thing. As the giant got closer, Dan knew it was an angel.
Unlike Aphariel, this one was huge. He couldn’t tell how big yet though. And unlike Aphariel who wore armor, this one only wore a loincloth. Its wings seemed different too. Grander. More majestic.
As the angel landed, Dan couldn’t deny its presence. It made him feel different. Calm. Happy.
The angel was perfectly formed and shaped. It was as handsome as Aphariel was gorgeous, and as young. Dan enjoyed how calm and relaxed the presence made him feel.
Then the angel shrank down into an unassuming and normal-looking man a little shorter than Dan. Nice but casual clothes covered his body as his wings disappeared. He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties and had salt and pepper hair.
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The angel half-smiled as he said, “Give me a minute to take this all in.”
After closing his eyes and breathing in deeply three or four times, he said, “I’ve never been in this type of environment before. It feels so artificial.”
The angel opened his eyes and approached Dan with his hand out to shake. “Geehel. I’m glad you agreed to speak with me. If I’m remembering right, you prefer Dan?”
As hands were clasped, Dan said, “Yes, sir. Just Dan.”
The angel laughed and said, “And I’m just Geehel, not sir. Sorry it took so long to get to you. If I could’ve snuck away sooner, I would’ve.”
Touching the angel was an experience. Dan had never touched Aphariel. Just shaking its hand sent strange sensations into Dan’s arm and throughout his body.
“No problem,” replied Dan. “Wasn’t that long.”
“Most mortals would consider three years a long time.”
“Three years, huh?”
“Or there about,” said the smiling angel. “I’m guessing that keeping track of time in this place isn’t so easy.”
After a moment of silence that should’ve been uncomfortable but wasn’t, the smile left the angel’s face and he said, “What you’ve done here could almost be classified as a miracle. I was speechless when I was told of you. You’re doing something special. It fills my chest with pride. We’re all proud of you.”
“I can’t kill the champion,” replied Dan. “None of this means nothing unless I do.”
The half-smile returned. “I disagree. What you’re doing means something. As does never quitting. I have no idea how you’ve managed to keep sane in here. Sixty odd years. Most mortals would’ve either lost their mind or quit long ago.”
Dan thought he’d feel embarrassed hearing praise when all he had done was continue to fail, but he didn’t. It was impossible not to like this new angel.
Aphariel made Dan feel tense and uneasy, and he hated how beautiful she was, how that made him feel, and the thoughts it caused. There was none of that with this new one.
And Geehel didn’t make him feel the usual feeling people caused him. Dan felt comfortable. At ease. “Thank you, sir,” he said.
The angel laughed and patted Dan’s arm. “Just Geehel, remember?”
Dan nodded his head. “You seem a lot different than Aphariel. You an archangel?”
“How much do you know about Choirs and Orders?”
“Only a little,” replied Dan. “The first one’s angels, the second’s archangels, and the third’s…uh, principalities.”
“Correct. Those three Choirs make up the first Order, the Order made to interface with mortals and deliver the message and word of God. I’ll just say I’m not supposed to be here. The Big Guy knows. He knows all. But no one else knows I’m here. I won’t tell if you don’t.”
Dan surprised himself by smiling. “I ain’t got no one to tell anyhow.”
Geehel laughed heartily before saying, “You certainly don’t! That’s why I’m here. You’re stuck. It’s a war of attrition. Neither you nor Asmodon have managed to strike a killing blow. He has a much longer natural lifespan and has more than a few tiers on you. You’re not close to hitting a 7-Star Soul.
“Eventually Asmodon will win this war. He’ll win by attrition of time. You get old, slow down, take a big hit, and it’s lights out. You take a dirt nap and wake up in Hell. I don’t want that. Not after all you’ve sacrificed to get where you are now. Sixty odd years of non-stop war. You deserve a better end.”
Dan couldn’t help it. He became excited. He prayed he wasn’t being offered false hope. Then something in the back of his mind told him a sneaker would be attacking soon. “Sorry, sir…I mean Geehel, I got fighting to do in a few seconds. It won’t take long.”
Sporting the same half-smile, Geehel said, “You don’t. I’ve frozen time. We won’t be bothered. Relax. Get comfortable.”
“You can freeze time?”
Geehel laughed and said, “I can do a lot more than that.”
The half-smile left the angel’s face again. “Let’s get serious for a moment. Why haven’t you repented? Asked for forgiveness?”
The excitement Dan was feeling went away and was replaced by bitterness. “I ain’t trying to save myself. I’m trying to win this Game and save my world.”
“You pray every day,” said the angel as more of a statement than a question.
“I do,” replied Dan.
The angel looked Dan in the eye for a long moment. “But you don’t repent or ask for forgiveness. Is it because you believe your sins were justified?”
I don’t want to talk about any of this shit, thought Dan. To change the topic, he said, “I asked Aphariel the first time we talked, but her answer didn’t make no sense. If archangels are equivalent to Hell’s high pantheon, why don’t the principalities and higher-ups force an end to all this shit.”
“What did Aphariel tell you?”
“That y’all ain’t getting involved,” replied Dan. “That this ain’t y’all’s fight. It don’t make no sense why though. Just one big fight and all this bullshit would be over and done with.”
“I hate to say it, but she summed up the situation. Outside of very specific reasons, even principalities aren’t supposed to interface with mortals. They share an Order with angels and archangels but serve a different purpose.
“Since the Game and the war, principalities have had to pick up the slack for the first two Choirs. And they’re doing about as well as you’d expect, which isn’t very.
“It may seem cold, so I’ll explain a little more. The Light Bearer dragged the archangels into this mess. The archangels dragged the angels into it. God wasn’t too happy about any of it, and the other Choirs are smart enough not to further piss off the Big Guy.
“People tend to remember the Alpha part, but not the Omega. If He gets involved, he could fix everything by unmaking us all. There’s no predicting what’ll happen when He becomes angered. The archangels fixing this on their own is the only way out. Believe me, this sucks for everyone involved, not just mortals. Did she tell you about the war?”
“Yeah,” replied Dan. “They’re trying to force Hell to end all the Games.”
“Did she tell you how the war’s going?”
“Not really.”
“It’s not going well. A different kind of war of attrition.”
Another silence passed that should’ve been awkward but wasn’t. Finally, Dan said, “Thanks for answering.”
“No problem. I’m here to help. Answering a few questions should be the least of it.”
Dan wouldn’t let himself get excited again. He hoped Geehel was offering to help him win the Game and not just with redemption. Or any shit like that, he thought.
To see what the angel was really there for, Dan decided to cut to the chase. “I’d be appreciative of any help you offering. I hate to push my luck, but I reckon the best help I could get is enough Stat points to improve my core and anything furthering along my Soul-grade.”
Geehel laughed and slapped Dan’s arm. “If I’m sticking my neck out to help you, I’m pulling out all the stops. If I gave you something tangible here and now, our side would automatically lose this Game due to outside interference.
“Everything you’ve done, all you’ve gone through, will have been for nothing. And our side needs a win. What I’m offering is worthwhile help. Help that sidesteps the rules and gives you a real shot at winning this Game. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds great,” replied Dan tentatively and with a voice filled with suspicion.
The angel’s half-smile grew wider upon hearing Dan’s response. “I have some dominion over time. Not much, but some. I can do more than stop it. In some instances, I can reverse it. I can send you back to initiation. Give you a second chance. You can do it all over again. Think you could do better with a do-over?”
Dan couldn’t stop it. Excitement flooded through every inch of his body. A do-over was exactly what he needed. “I’d do anything if you could send me back to before my daughter died. Anything.”
Geehel frowned and put both his hands on Dan’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry but I can’t do that. Redemption and repentance can’t be sidestepped. Technically, I could bring you back to the moment after you killed your former wife’s father, but regressing to this Game’s initiation, a point connected to this plane, has the same result and costs significantly less. I truly am sorry.”
Dan took a moment to let all the disappointment that had replaced the excitement run its course.
When he could, he said, “I’m not sure if that sort of do-over would change much. If I did it all again and did everything right, I’m not sure I could get strong enough to beat Asmodon. Not with how things work here in the Game.”
The half-smile replaced the frown. “When I said I’d help, I meant I’d help. I have it all worked out. How does starting with a full revelation sound?”
Dan looked up and said, “Sounds great, sir.”
“Geehel, not sir. And I shouldn’t have said you’d start with it. I can put a script in your head that kicks in at one of those Soul step rewards. Instead of a piece, it’ll tattoo your current full revelation into your Spirit Nexus. As soon as you can earn one of those rewards, your Soul jumps up four grades.”
If that was possible, Dan could actually have a real shot at beating the champion. If he were allowed to change Traits, he’d, of course, pick Stalwart Soul as his first Trait too. Having an extra two grades was just what he needed.
He knew a shitload more about self-cultivation than he did when he started. Benefiting from all the knowledge of the self-cultivation book from the very start was big too.
Two extra Soul-grades, he thought excitedly. The angel was offering actual help. Real help. A real chance to defeat Asmodon.
“And that’s just the start,” continued Geehel. “That self-cultivation book you have hints at it, but it doesn’t go into details on how to clear your cores and channels the old way.
I’ll teach you how, and a lot more besides. How things worked before there were Classes and Orbments. I’ll set you up for success, Dan. We’ll plan it all out together. How’s that sound?”
Dan couldn’t help smiling again. “Still sounds great, sir…I mean Geehel.”
“Good. You can’t say a word about any of this to anyone. Or about me. Mortals should never see me or know of me. People are going to know something’s up, so just be cryptic with your answers. Just tell them you’re not allowed to talk about it and let them fill in the blanks.”
Geehel still had his hands on Dan’s shoulders, and the touch continued to send what felt like waves of positive energy along his arms and throughout his body.
Dan didn’t like being touched. For whatever reason, this was different. It didn’t make him feel uncomfortable. He nodded his head in agreement.
“Good,” replied the angel. “It’s safe to assume you’ll receive some high pantheon visitors again, so I’ll protect all your memories from this Game’s initiation to the point of your regression. I won’t be able to hide this from certain powerful entities. One in particular. The Light Bearer. He can’t stop me, but even if he could, he wouldn’t. He’ll be betting on you failing. I’m betting you won’t.
“I wish this help came without a cost. Such a feat requires an expenditure of tremendous power. Certain sayings pop up in every mortal culture for a reason. Take your pick. Nothing in life is free. You always have to pay the piper. You get what you pay for. There’s always a catch. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”