[SLAYER SYSTEM ALERT]
Greater cosmic energy detected.
Natural Order compromised.
Chance of complete Natural Order collapse: 75%
Enacting Valiant Supplementary Powers…
Enacting Interuniversal Framework Protection…
Analyzing threat risk…
Analyzing Quintessence expenditures…
Determining infinite futures…
Observing humanity…
Violently, Alexander’s eyes ripped open and his mouth hung wide, tasting iron and mud on his tongue. A wheezing cough tore through his throat, blood seeping down his lips. He was half-standing, somehow, leaning against a cracked concrete wall, must’ve been knocked out. He leaned forward, stumbled onto his knees and sprawled out, clutching pebbles and scratching the grimy [Ironcloths] protecting his palms, coughing more.
“Jesus…” was croaked out of him. “Jesus Christ…” and croaked again, this time with extra emphasis. Weakly he slapped his head and tried recalling what’d happened.
The only thing he got was more pain and rocks in his hair.
“Alex!” someone shouted his name, someone familiar, someone whose voice he should recognize but couldn’t. Hands gripped him by the shoulders, hoisted him up, and a waterfall of black hair greeted him.
Kaiya. Kaiya, thank God for Kaiya.
She thrusted something into his hands. His [Sword of Conquerors]. Right, he needed that. He forgot why but he definitely needed that.
He sheathed it. Couldn’t trust himself to hold it steady in this state. He checked his holstered [Lapaz]. Still there, and he assumed his [Rosario] was in his [Inventory].
Kaiya urged, “We gotta get outta here—!”
Some sort of missile or rocket flew above their heads in a horrible whistling noise tearing through reality, crashed into the office building one hundred meters down and exploded in a puff of orange flames and black smoke. Kaiya cursed in Japanese and suddenly Alexander was reminded dearly of Operation Scorcher.
“C’mon!” Kaiya urged as, inexplicably, she ran towards the direction of whatever sent that missile. Other humans (Apocalyptics?) or something otherworldly from a similar universe? Whatever the source was, the answer wouldn’t be given by standing here.
“Shit, alright then!” he exclaimed, feeling his heart pound once more revitalized with the sweet nectar of adrenaline. His mind, although hazy at first, began to sharpen. His breathing was excited yet steady.
Looking over his shoulder, a malformed man-thing, basically a linebacker hopped up on every steroid in the world, laid dead with its arms blown off. The bastard responsible for his sudden amnesia, then.
Feeling a little bit better now, Alexander followed Kaiya into the chaotic street somewhere in the Encampment, and they were not the only ones here. He crashed into the shoulders of at least three scrambling soldiers. Almost fell on his ass, again, when running into a policeman heavy with black ballistic armor, and a hound snarling at his side. Civilians filtered from the buildings, screaming as they exploded through the doors and windows, coming from between the alleyways, fleeing from an unknown threat. Threats.
Everyone had someplace to be. Some knew their places, others weren’t so lucky. Rifles and swords had their units and teams to chase after.
While Alexander had no idea where his was, other than Kaiya, here.
Alexander fell behind, pushed back constantly by the mixed crowd, gritted his teeth and forced himself through, yelling nonsensically for everybody stay the fuck out of his way, pushing as much as he needed to. He caught up to Kaiya at an intersection, using her wild raven hair and outfit as a reference—
An ear-tearing screech rang and he turned to the right.
Tires.
Barreling down the street was a humvee he’d find anywhere, except there weren’t Ordoians behind the wheel but thin twigs of humanoids had. Laughing, pale tongues exposed. They were dressed in tattered gowns and their skins a sickly sand-color, resembling something like mages but acting like rabid wolves.
Sticking the upper half of their bodies out the passenger windows, the maniacs brandished firearms that’d probably been stolen too, rattling off lead into the crowd around them as the humvee floored it deeper into the street. Anyone in its path were the unluckiest, just another tally on the wall, sent brokenly flying or smashed as red paste.
Everyone on the intersection was next.
Alexander cursed madly and lunged towards Kaiya, grabbing her by the back of her collar and pulling. His footing slipped. They were caught mid-fall by bodies, people who too saw the vehicle coming, and together everyone tumbled like drunk college frats.
By a few meters, it missed them.
There were screaming but he didn’t know which were caused by people and which were metal. A good dozen got caught by the humvee, a handful more were clipped. Alexander watched as one unlucky man was launched over his head, twirled around and around in the air before crashing onto the pavement limp and dead. Then a worrying warmth touched his cheek from the left. The humvee had its front flattened, aflamed, smashed against a reinforced concrete barrier that had stopped it, and nearby forces seized the vehicle and killed every last bastard inside in a hail of vengeful gunfire.
Alexander scrambled onto his feet with Kaiya, both sharing a mutual look of “What the fuck just happened?”. Mutually they knew that time was not on their side, and they had to continue forward.
Wherever the rest of their team was.
Alexander ignored the crumpled and bloody corpses as they passed. The Encampment was the loudest it’d ever been. Helicopters airborne, thundering. A scene drew his attention down an alleyway. Some sort of shadowy panther was crawling on the walls with a Slayer Team trying to hunt it down. A street further, heavy gunfire pushed a burnt-looking monstrosity, whose torso was just a conglomerate of heads, out a three-story window. It squirmed on the sidewalk. It was dead. Just the nerves acting. Spooked honking was behind them. A series of three heavily-armored vehicles—Alexander couldn’t remember the official name—but these weren’t operated by maniacs this time. But they drove just as fast.
Turning left, Alexander saw the source of where that missile had came from, standing in the middle of the street.
It was a monster, alright. A hulking mass of twisted flesh—not dissimilar to the Tormented Flesh—fused together by at least ten corpses. And guns. Its right arm was a rocket launcher; scattered across its body was other weaponry like a heavy machine-gun, rifles, shotguns and pistols.
A walking flesh-armory.
Just a few meters out from Alexander’s and Kaiya’s position were a magically-made red barricade where both soldiers and Slayers were stashed behind, shielded from sheer volume of lead.
Likewise, the two Baptists decided to use the building’s corner for cover.
Alexander produced his [Rosario] and canted around the corner, aiming down the sights.
[Skill Activation: Certain Shot]
Blew open a good hole into the flesh-monster—
He almost pissed himself when a bullet ripped through, striking the corner, splashing a healthy wash of concrete over his face. He shrieked and stumbled back, and Kaiya caught him so he wouldn’t fall.
“You alright?!” she asked him.
“Yeah!” Alexander swore, wiping the concrete dust off his face, cursing and swearing.
“That’s one of its abilities!” cried a Slayer close to them, huddling behind the sturdy barrier. “When you shoot it, it immediately shoots back with near-perfect accuracy! It’s fucking bullshit!”
Kaiya groaned. “That thing’s in our way to Prim-Zero!”
Prim-Zero? Alexander blinked a few times—both to get rid of the concrete in his eyes and to jog his memory—and like spontaneously finding the solution to a math problem, he remembered the events leading up to this. After encountering Prominence and Construction Crew in Camp Primary, everyone split up to complete Sage’s tasks more effectively. Alexander, for example, went with Kaiya.
While running errands…
He peered up.
Within the borders of the Ordo Outbreak Barrier, a new night had covered the city, another one casted by the Kreutz Sungrazers. It had blossomed brightly as every false star in the deceptive cosmos exploded into vibrant supernovas. Like a black canvas being splattered with hauntly paintballs, each a miniature sun. Luminous colors. Breathtaking sights. And the obscuring night was suddenly as vibrant as an afternoon.
It’d happened without warning, no prior indication. At first it could be seen as a spontaneous event, one without a significant cause, but in this war-torn city under these circumstances, any surprises were met with dread and shock. Just like the collapse of Pillar Vesper, just like the OBDs. Nobody knew why this happened or what it’d mean. Not in the first few minutes anyway.
The Centerpiece, the pillar that provided a protective barrier around the Encampment, shut off and the barrier collapsed. Instead, the energy powering the device was siphoned, visualized as a wispy golden trail leading deep into the city like a dirt path in a forest. Four other trails were seen. Thicker, bolder.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
One for each remaining Pillar: Dawns, Windvent, Flares, Creekwood.
That was no coincidence. It was exactly what the mysterious stranger had warned them, the man who appeared during Operation Darkspace.
This was the Kreutz Sungrazers’ plan, and the one that might do Ordo in.
Monsters appeared everywhere, manifesting through portals or naturally. Naturally, what the hell did that mean? Alexander squeezed his eyes shut to think. Naturally: just like the Tormented Flesh, a curse created from the innocent lives killed in the initial invasion, when a Comet had turned ‘an environment that does not permit phenomena’ into ‘an environment that does permit phenomena’—a ‘non-magical environment’ into a ‘magical’ one.
To sustain the effect, they used the magical energy stored within the Pillars like parasites sucking nutrients, dealing two simultaneous blows to the city: the damage caused by the monsters; and the depletion of the Four Pillars’ crystals, weakening the Ordo Outbreak Barrier.
To summarize, the Sungrazers had transformed the entire fucking city into a magical urban hellhole, powered by tens of thousands of negative experiences.
So in response, the first thing in order was to secure the Encampment. The Dawn Baptists were scattered. The guys down in Primordial Zero needed aid because even the fuckers got down there. So Alexander and Kaiya volunteered to go there.
By the looks of things, glancing at the frustrated men and women behind cover, they were going there too.
“Rocket!” cried one man. The shielders reinforced the barrier, thickened it and added two more layers right before a hot rocket crashed into the surface. The outermost layer shattered completely but it held strong, resulting in no injuries but definitely a lot of ass-clenching.
Enough lead rained on the next layer, cracked it, splintered it like glass, then that broke too, returning to the status quo before.
Currently they had no viable means of penetrating the street. Not without becoming another body.
Just as Uprise was searching for an alternate route via the [Map], the solution to everyone’s problem came from the skies. It was a plummeting sunfire comet. The flesh-monster drowned in sunheat, burning in a blinding yellow as its flesh darkened before being rendered into dust. In its place stood a familiar blonde Slayer in grimy armor and illuminated hair, glowering about him, standing like a victorious tyrant over corpses.
Prominence.
Say all you want about him but there was a reason why he had the position of Vice Guild Master.
With his physical reassurance, the barrier dropped and everybody repopulated the streets, bringing immediate aid to the wounded. A few teleporters, it seemed, kneeled by the wounded, stating something about their powers. Many stayed but the rest moved to Primordial Zero, most likely, or whatever they were needed.
Alexander bit his tongue and they approached Prominence as he watched the men and women filter by him, with some giving their thanks. I bet he hasn’t heard anyone thanking him in a very long time.
“Prominence,” Alexander called out to him, cold yet professional, expected from the Conqueror of the Baptists, with Kaiya behind him.
The Bastard gazed down at them, specifically Alexander, having a venomous contempt in his eyes. His mouth opened a smidge to show his pink teeth as though he brandished a few inches of sword-steel as a warning. “What is it, Conqueror?”
Alexander told him plainly, “Once we secure PZ and I get my Baptists back, we’re reconvening in the House of Engineers with Sage.”
“Is that an order from you or Seraph?”
“Common sense.” Alexander purposely bumped into his shoulder as he passed, facing the direction of the underground complex. “This is a Sungrazer’s work so that means it's ours too. We need all the help we can get, and there’s no such thing as too many heroes.”
“Fine.” Prominence walked by Alexander, and for a moment his heart trembled feeling the sheer pressure that the Bastard produced naturally on the account of his high-rank. But Alexander refused to show weakness. Not to a man like him.
The Bastard looked at Primordial Zero cold. “Don’t fall behind, Conqueror.”
~~~
[Companion Alert Bracelet]
An emergency alert has been manually activated from [Ariella’s Bracelet] at 11:56AM.
Kosmos and Nathan had given their daughter this device, a [Companion Alert Bracelet], outfitted personally for the Angel of Angels. It acted as a monitoring system, constantly measuring Ariella’s health in several areas, such as her heart-rate—out of fear of unexpected circumstances and concerns prompted by her father. And in the event of serious danger, they had taught her to press the buttons on each side of the bracelet three times in quick succession for the screen to turn on and show a white circle with a red emergency triangle inside. Then, she had to hold the circle until the outline completes the perimeter.
It was only to be used in dire emergencies.
“Don’t worry, it’s gonna be alright!” Firebrand assured Ariella as he cradled her in his protective, warm arms. He had ripped up a blanket and wrapped it around her eyes as a blindfold, knowing they would inevitably encounter traumatic sights. After scavenging through the drawers, he also found noise-canceling headphones and secured them to her head, so she wouldn’t (hopefully) hear the sounds.
Unfortunately for him, Firebrand was one of the worst fighters for this environment. Usually small corridors were amazing for him: hallways of death where flames could only go in one direction. Not here. Primordial Zero had been fitted out with extensive fire-combating measures; while he could use brute force, it’d mean breaking something and possibly hindering everyone. Not to mention potentially harming civilians or allies.
So the SS-Rank was put on Ariella protection duty while everyone else was fighting through Primordial Zero.
They couldn’t teleport their way out of here, because Initiate said “teleportation was risky” for Ariella, who was only five-years-old and “might especially be weak to mana”. Besides, the idea went bust when they found out that spatial abilities weren't working, so they had to do things the old fashioned way.
Vernon preferred that, obviously, because his parents were on the higher levels.
They were on level thirteen, the Hugos were on eight, and Ordo was on zero. Hopefully, everyone could find their way to the emergency tunnels.
Althea, although she would never admit this to his face, somewhat wanted the Hugos dead. Very much dead. But she’ll be a good person and save as many people as they can.
Or I’m gonna die trying! she thought to herself, hunkering down a barricade that’d been raised from the floor thanks to the very meticulous defensive systems in Primordial Zero. Shadow-made bullets rattled the steel. The extravagant corridors felt very narrow as some ricocheted, tearing through wallpaper and plaster. Before her was a spider-web of black wisps and multiple corpses on the ground, bloody guards and crumpled piles of suits and sweatpants—Zeroes. At the end were multiple infantry squads where each man was condensed in shadows.
Shadow soldiers manifested from thin air wielding shadow rifles, shooting shadow bullets, and got hurt like shadows.
Intangible, basically.
Althea glanced to the left and right, spotting the remaining guards they had encountered earlier. They tried firing into the shadows but the bullets went straight through. Energy projectiles from Vernon’s [Modified Energy Rifle] worked, managed to turn one into smoke, but the suppression fire made it suicidal to even peek over the top, lest you’d want yours torn off.
“Initiate?” she asked, concerned.
“I’m fine, just a scratch,” gritted the teleporter as she bit the cork off a [Health Potion], spat it out and drank the fine liquid. The gash on her left arm began to clot. She looked down their side and saw Firebrand’s vibrant crimson hair peeking out from another barrier, curling over Ariella. “Maybe one of us head into a room, break through the walls and flank the shadows.”
“Firebrand’s on protection,” Althea fought, sliding onto the ground, a little bit anxious with all the bullets hitting the barricade. Only he had the ability to break through reinforced concrete easily but that left the Angel unprotected. One of them needed to retreat to his position and hopefully avoid getting shot in the ass. Lots of risks. Too much risk, when considering Ariella’s place.
To defeat the shadows, you needed magic. Lots of it at once.
Althea sucked in her teeth, and followed on her thought. “Lemme try something first.”
“Take your time,” Initiate humorously said, letting her.
From her [Inventory], Althea took out her [Spirit Hibernation Capsule]. Inside this capsule was a D-Rank Lightning Spirit given to her by Alma as a gift for being a holder of the [Sovereign Spirit Beast Physique], a positive condition that allowed Althea to assimilate into magical creatures and adopt their powers. She became like a “zoo” for them. A house.
The spirit’s name was Shandian, resting inside the capsule in a bed of dark clouds and lightning.
She wanted to meet him later, after becoming a full-fledged Slayer and learning [Elemental Communication] or something, but fuck it! There was no better time than the present.
This was the contingency she had anticipated.
“Come on out, Shandian!” Althea grabbed hold of the top and did her best to unscrew it. Didn’t work. This thing was screwed on tight like a stubborn water bottle; after a mountainous waste of effort, she screamed in frustration and decided to hurl it at the floor.
That time, the special glass broke instantly.
Like a genie in a bottle, an electrifying cloud of intense lightning roared. Sharp jolts snapped onto exposed skin and the cumulonimbus faded, leaving behind a very peeved Lightning Spirit hovering in front of Althea. He was a diamond-shaped mass of purplish-blue smoke and sparks, the color of the twilight high in the atmosphere, with two golden eyes condensed at the top. At the very center was a distinct spirit core. He emitted harmless lightning as natural as breathing, but these things could hurt.
This thing’s Magick was in the A’s if Althea recalled correctly.
Shandian noticed the gunfire and his anger turned into sharp panic as he ducked into cover next to Althea. “Rava?!” he said. His voice was static yet oddly cute in a way.
Instinctively he huddled close, seemingly taking Althea as his new master for now. He probably sensed the innate potential given by the [Spirit Beast Physique].
Then, using the chaos of the situation to her advantage, Althea pleaded, “I know it’s a lot to take in but we need your help! Otherwise none of us are making it outta here!"
Shandian looked like he understood.
Distancing himself from the group a meter away, the lightning around him got violent. The bolts were thicker and brighter. His golden eyes narrowed with determination and vitriol as he flew up, sending roots of hot lightning towards the shadow infantry, branching out across the hallway. Any bullets caught in their path were burned away.
Althea heard inhuman groans, then oddly enough, the sound of moving water. Was that it?
Slowly everyone poked their heads out of cover and collectively sighed in relief. Besides from the obvious evidence of a fight, it was like the shadow soldiers never existed at all.
A few guards remarked about the Lightning Spirit before quickly recomposing themselves, checking on their equipment and anyone lying on the ground. No survivors, everyone was dead judging from the chatter. From the shadow infantry, probably double dead too from Shandian’s lightning.
Vernon scrambled onto his feet and cradled his [Modified Energy Rifle], seeing Shandian and waving. “Hey? You friendly, little guy?”
Shandian lowered himself. He’d used a lot of mana. The gaseous shell was thinner, exposing more of the spirit core within. Its heart, in other words. Despite his exhaustion, gold eyes squinted at Vernon before turning to Althea. “Ra, rava.”
Althea didn’t understand but she agreed completely. “I know, but moving onto more important things: you know what I am. You know what I can provide for you.” I’m the Spirit Beast Queen, after all. “But I can’t give you foundation just yet, not with this body, not any time soon I think. If you’re patient and willing to team up with me…”
She pulled a necklace out of her [Inventory], the [Spirit Housing Necklace]. Like the capsule, the necklace had a palm-wide locket to store Shandian until then. Additionally it also acted as a battery pack, allowing him to replenish himself with mana but it wasn’t perfect. He needed [Essence Cores] or any items that were packed with delicious mana.
Althea swung the [Housing Necklace] around, confident. “I promise to be a great master. And uh, I kinda need your decision now.”
Shandian stared at Althea for a few beating moments, his eyes changing shapes. Then finally he said, “Rava, rava.”
She didn’t need a communication skill to understand his decision because he entered the [Housing Necklace]. The locket warmly hummed and took on a violet color.
[Shandian is now Object-Bound.]
That’s the best I can do for now.
“Everyone good?” Firebrand asked as he approached, having a shoulder turned to the front. Ariella was in his arms, her head buried in his chest. She was shaking, afraid.
“We’re good,” replied Initiate, holding onto her wounded left arm still. “Let’s get out of here. The sooner we leave, the better.”