We stayed a while longer in the meeting, talking strategy and divvying up responsibilities. Jean and I were tasked with finding Ulysses Klaue, a Wakandan criminal sitting on a fat stack of Vibranium.

We hoped to return Klaue and the Vibranium in exchange for weaponry and manpower in the upcoming fight. With Wakanda's isolationist policies, I knew I was likely looking at an either-or situation, but if I had to choose, I'd settle for manpower.

I already knew how to make a Vibranium SHIELD as well as several medieval weapons thanks to my new skill, and Jean digging through Strucker, Trasks, and Whitehall's head.

Madripoor.

He had gained substantial power and influence, using his cache to buy incomprehensible wealth and surround himself with some of the most dangerous mercenaries on earth.

I could think of no better proving ground for Rin. Plus, I bet the Red Orbs wouldn't be bad after all.

But it would have to wait until I was done with my third incursion.

Yup.

I bet you think I forgot about that.

I had a week before my inner world was available again, and I planned to take on the invasion by myself, more or less.

I needed the orbs, experience, and my speed, Devil Trigger, and phasing skill almost guaranteed my win. If things went wrong, I could always exit the realm, and get Jean.

As she was now, though, she'd only slow me down. She was plenty powerful, but speed just wasn't her strong suit.

There was also the Shin of it all. I'd pissed him off by rejecting his offer, Again. And he was determined to get his pound of flesh this time.

How it would manifest was a mystery, but as sure as the sunrise, I knew it was coming.

In preparation for that, I'd started working with infernal metal.

They had a ridiculously high melting point and were three times as durable as Steel, and that made them great for Arcane enchantment, or at least, one form of it.

Probably because of the energy attunement, Angel enchantments had half the output regular metal did and took a huge dip in durability after each activation. However, they still ended up being far more durable than the average enchanted steel dagger or sword.

Adding a rune of Protection, which ran on demonic energy helped a bit, but only if the blades were large enough.

Two runes were the limit for smaller weapons like daggers. Four was perfect for larger weapons like say a long sword. Six was the maximum an armor piece like a breastplate could take. Vambraces and Greaves took two each just like the daggers.

After one week of smithing, I felt like Arcane smithing was halfway through the Basic Tier. Gunsmithing got some love during this time as well. After talking to a Japanese sorcerer, I got my hand on a high-quality gun armory. It was hell heating up the Infernal metal and sealing the cracked barrel of Thunderer, but I got it done. My effort did not suddenly make the weapon operate at 100% efficiency. For my troubles, I did get the energy cost down by a third. Each shot of Thunderer now costs 50 DE instead of 75.

While I was doing barrel work, I also invested in modifying the Sawn-Off I stole from Kroul way back when. The replaced Barrel bore one rune for impact, one for reinforcement, and the last for energy storage. The end result was a Sawn-off with enough juice to send the average man backflipping, literarily.

---

I stood in a clearing, draped out in the best elite body armor the Sanctum could provide, which turned out to be black loose pants and a well-fitting black spelled with a few interesting effects.

Standard Master Underclothes (Modified)

A standard pair of Master Sorcerer fatigue that has been spelled with a potent Blood Magic Spell.

Brutal Exchange. For a heavy blood tithe, gain a blood shield made from half of the vital essence sacrificed. If the shield is not triggered within an hour of the last drop of blood sacrificed, the Shield spell will be lost and channeled toward repair

I gaped when Yao handed me the set.

"At least this way your blood won't go to waste," she said. It took a great deal of self-control not to wrap her up in a hug.

"Thank you," I said, oddly emotionless. "You have no idea what this means to me."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She smiled. "I think I do. And do come back. Jean is still upset that you refused to bring her along."

"It has to be this way," I said, folding my arms. They rested on my chest piece, which was patterned like Damascus Steel, tinted red.

I was about 80% sure Shin was coming for me during the Quellitrax fight.

He was all sorts of petty, and I wouldn't put it past him to drag Jean, Rin, or even Yao into our beef just to stick it to me.

I came up with all sorts of crazy theories, during my preparation.

Shin body snatching me and using me to attack my allies to force my compliance, taking away my skills or weapon mid-combat to trip me up, and so forth. When I'd shared my suspicions with Yao, she told me that she legitimately did not know to which extent Shin had dominion over me

Thus, the best and only place I could face this upcoming fight with some semblance of control was my Simulacrum.

It was isolated, and I was in no danger really. I'd packed enough explosives to level a small town, so I felt somewhat confident heading into the fight.

"I'll be fine," I promised. "I have armor, failsafes, and I can always bail if things get too dicey."

"Jean will kill you if you don't make it back," Yao said. "And I'll raise you from the dead and take my turn too."

I grinned. "Miss me already."

I activated my skill and the world flipped around me. I stood in a familiar environment. Red Sky, thousands of broken structures, a deep nebulous sea lapping underneath.

I shifted in my red medium armor, which consists of a chest plate, Two pauldrons, greaves, and vambraces.

"Let's get this show on the road."

With just two hours to the third incursion, I got to work, rigging 20 different floating islands with unique explosives. After some light experimentation yesterday, I figured out a nifty little trick to give the explosives I'd acquired from one of Hydra's many safehouses a little extra oomph.

I engraved clumps of rough infernal metal with as many storage runes as I could get away with, storing a shit ton of demonic and Angelic energy. They sat at the heart of each bomb, and when they went off, they carried enough oomph to shred just about anybody, save for the Cambions, I think.

I'd gotten two new skills for my experimentation,

Explosive Mastery (Basic)

Grants you basic knowledge of how to make, craft, and strategically deploy explosives.

The new skill didn't excite me though. In fact, it made me even more wary. Shin likely saw the notification and knew what I'd been up to, but I did not let that deter me either.

I worked through the night in silence, pushing the skill as far as I could reasonably. The result was an arsenal of bombs that had even I a bit taken aback.

With five minutes left on the clock, I started with my final preparation, summoning a series of weapons, bandoliers, and leather attachments I pilfered from Yao's vault.

First was a waist bandolier, which I hooked all of my enchanted knives. I strapped on a back sheathe under my armor, which carried a Runed Katana I forged a few days ago. Two side holsters carried Ebony and Ivory, and my free hands gripped Rebellion. Betsy rested in a side holster, strapped to my leg.

Carrying all of my weapons like this was not ideal, but I had no idea where or if the attack from Shin was coming. The easiest way to trip me up would be disabling Weapon's Vault, removing my regeneration skill, or maybe even an energy manipulation skill.

My strength, I was convinced, was the only thing I could probably rely on.

When the counter reached zero, it happened. An ominous dot materialized on the platform in front of me and swelled to the size of a gigantic black doorway that swallowed up most of the platform. I summoned the clunky remote detonation device I'd set up for the fight and tried to keep from fidgeting as a voice boomed out.

"LoNG tImE No See MOrsEliNG. YoU'VE GRoWN. GoOD. CoNSuMING You WiLL Be THaT MucH SaTISyING."

I raised Rebellion.

"Didn't happen last time. Won't happen this time, Quelli. Are you going to keep trying to talk me to death, or are you going to finally start trying?"

The sky exploded as Quellitrax cackled. It was a long sobering thing that had me sweating a little bit at the end.

"Be CAReFUl WhAT YoU WiSh FoR?"

Five shadowy silhouettes emerged from the gate, and I was immediately on guard. Instead of shadowy sinewy monsters, the things that stood before me were once people.

They were dressed in ornate armor you'd expect out of a high-fantasy video game with a variety of weapons. One brandished a Katana, another a Staff, the third a pair of claws, the fourth a sword and a tall tower shield, and the fifth carried the largest sword I've ever seen.

In fact, on a second go-around, they all seemed eerily familiar.

It reminded me of a sword I saw in an anime I used to read, Berserk, but it was not quite right.

Elden Ring!

It was from fucking Elden Ring.

They all were.

I scrutinized them further, noting that none of them were truly alive. Black ooze dripped from the sorcerer's face, even as it was hidden below his wide-brimmed hat.

The warrior had a similar look about him as well.

"I thought you'd appreciate the callback," I heard a voice say behind me, and I spun around, immediately swinging Rebellion, but it went through the figure. It was Shin, standing in his glorious 5ft 2-inch body.

"You were right to take my threat seriously," he grinned. "It occurred to me that you don't appreciate just how much I do for you. So, I'm done protecting you from the big guy. The bets are off. He can invade you now at any time, or any place, but only two more times. And as a personal fuck you for not doing as you're told, I'm giving old Quelli a leg up."

Notifications flashed in front of me.

Shin the Avaricious has removed your access to the following skills.

Angel Evade

Paradise Simulacrum

Devil Trigger.

My eyes went wide.

"You fucker..."

I couldn't fight at my full strength, and I couldn't leave.

"Yes," he grinned. "Hurl curses at me. Like that will help you. Those motherfuckers he picked out are some of the toughest Tarnished he rustled up when he stormed a variation of Elden Ring. So, know you're in for the fight of your life."

I knew there'd be consequences, but not like this. I set my jaw. I wished I'd asked Yao to come at least, but I'd wanted to protect her.

The Tarnished were a group of anointed people in the Elden Ring universe that could essentially level up, gather strength, and complete the main mission of the game, which was to become Elden Lord. They'd likely match my strength at least. I was a bit unsure about the speed and durability.

"I'd slit my throat before I'll bend to your whims," I said to him.

Shin shrugged. "We'll see how you feel when you're bleeding out through every orifice, with an eldritch god closing. You'll take my downgraded deal and love it."