52

The Purple Dungeon Gate

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Not a single thing could prepare them for what they saw.

No matter what happened, humans would always believe in the strength of civilization. A force that brought them luxury and safety they had taken for granted.

The ruptured sky. The celestial phenomena. Even with the advent of monsters and the appearance of gates, each of them still had a glimmer of hope that humanity would pull through.

Yet, their final expectations lay in front of them. The truth of their reality couldn’t be more clear.

The five of them stood in silence. The strength that had carried them here - pushing them through the freezing night - all faded. Not a single one of them thought of escape.

“No way…” Hilda said.

Each of them muttered in their own voice of disbelief, but all had the same expression. Shock and defeat. Their arms slumped and their breathing slowed.

Open windows betrayed what was outside. The entrance was covered with shards of glass. Blood painted the concrete floors. Lizardmen and humans alike lay lifeless in a thick layer of mud.

The fires were still blazing. An immense explosion had destroyed the square. Buildings had collapsed, crevices formed pools of water, but even so, a structure that was not from this Earth stood unbothered between raging flames.

“W-what do we do?” the only person that spoke was Hilda.

The army was completely wiped out.

“What do we do?!” she yelled louder.

Gunshots still rang out.

“Please,” her voice cracked, “I don’t want to die.” She broke down crying.

A single fire burned brighter than all. And surrounding it, countless lizardmen were staring at them. Guns and debris were thrown on the fire to keep it going. Chemical reactions erupted louder than they should. Bullets shot in the sky, yet the scales of the lizardmen kept them safe.

Their final lifeline was merely used to keep the cold at bay.

A hissing voice rang out. The final high-lizardman waited in front of them. “To think you would make it to this place,” a voice filled with anger said, “Our net has become weak. This planet still hasn’t adapted.”

Even the mud couldn’t diminish the heavy steps of this creature.

Larger than all high-lizardmen they had seen. Scales as blue as the ocean reflected the red fires.

Tails smashed in the mud as countless creatures rang out in praise. Water shot high, even the exploding bullets couldn’t trump this collective celebration.

And the guardian of their dungeon - a lizardman, more human than its subordinates - left its position.

Purple light etched the form of this beast in their vision.

“Time to bring this farce to an end,” the lizardman said, and with its approach, the scars and gashes on its scales were reflected in the light of the fire. The final assault of the army only resulted in this.

“Midgard - Bottomless Swamp”

The creature ran forward. Its steps floated on the surface of the water. For the first time since they entered this colony, a high-lizardman had manifested a different attribute.

“MI-“

“Midgard - Thunderclap!”

Steps rang out with such strength that fragments of glass shattered. Thunder broke the silence. Lightning erupted with a ferocity unseen. Alduin had become the heavens. The heavens had become him. The darkness of this hall was lit up completely as the origin of the lightning faced the essence of the swamp.

Sparks hit his allies.

Mud broke the currents.

If lightning was the counter to water, then mud was the counter to lightning.

But the explosion didn’t dissipate, no, a third voice rang out.

“Midgard - Devouring Shadow!”

Three different attributes intertwined. Lightning reigned, the swamp suppressed, and darkness devoured.

Yet nobody dared move.

An entire colony was birthed from the mud. Glitters of light shone in the darkness. The moon, the fire, the lightning, each source of light found at least a single scale to reflect its light on. And finally, each of them realized.

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The lifeline they had clutched was connected to nothing to begin with.

“RUN!”

A voice erupted through a breaking throat.

Steps pushed forward against the unstoppable approach.

Ise’s daggers were thrown - each one more elusive than the one before - her presence faded and reappeared. Gashes and cuts were aimed at the scars of this creature. The spear moved with a hit-and-run.

Not a single fight they had been in could prepare them for this.

A tail swipe hit Alduin in his chest.

Currents of lightning erupted everywhere as the coat that covered him tried to lessen the impact. Yet the mud of its tail shattered the hard leather chest plate he wore.

There was no mud to soften the impact this time. Only hard concrete floors. Alduin was catapulted backward several meters.

And now that he had reached this place. The footsteps of the creatures that chased them could be heard.

‘There is no place to run,’ Alduin realized.

The unknown feeling - one greater than any he was used to - warned him.

This was the third time in his life that it rang out in this manner. And each time he had reacted betting his life on it.

There was one escape.

A golden current erupted from his eyes. His black hair became static as a burning smell originated from his clothes. Unguarded and uncontrolled. For the first time, Alduin would leave his future to fate.

“ISE!” he roared, Thunder carried his voice like the wrath of a god. “Before!”

All the energy he could release with this manifestation gathered on his spear. A golden spear slowly glowed red. He had no experience throwing weapons, yet it didn’t matter this time, the lightning would guide it.

Rapid steps broke the surface of the concrete floor as Alduin ran closer.

“Maddening!” the hissing voice erupted, “Maddening creatures! Foul Imps! Pathetic Insects!” Curses rang out as the anger of its recent combat was amplified with this one.

But before it could move. Darkness gathered near its leg.

“Got you!” The claw reached out, yet the shadow had long since vanished.

Once again, like the goddess of death, the reaper of lives, the harvester of souls, two elusive fangs hit their target.

A rage, unlike any that came before erupted and Ise was sent flying.

“RUN FORWARD!”

The roar ruptured Alduin’s throat. Just like how blood erupted from a single eye of this high-lizardman, so did blood erupt from Alduin’s throat.

The instability of his target was taken advantage of, three meters, it didn’t matter how accurate it was, everybody could hit a massive target only three meters away.

The explosion shook the air.

Smoke dominated the stench of stagnant water.

And the shriek of a creature woke every living being in the heart of the swamp.

For the first time, Alduin had sent a creature flying.

A long trail was left in the mud. A single path broke the mud in two. From the entrance of the university to the creature meters away. The square had become their battleground. And right in front of a giant twisting gate of energy, the captain of the high-lizardmen lay.

Hissing and shrieking rang out. Signatures of energy erupted from alleys and streets leading up to this place.

Alduin threw up blood. His eyes burned. Light dominated his vision as only the shimmers of people could be made out.

“—— — — —“ he tried to speak, yet no voice was heard.

“Alduin!” Veleda ran close and held him tightly.

“Run!” Ise, whose attribute had faded was in a terrible state herself, yet she - unlike the others that were frozen - knew the path they had to take.

Her legs were the first to move forward.

Bertrand was the second to follow. His energy hadn’t recovered yet he was ready to make a sacrifice. “Get going!”

Hilda was next. Her eyes were red with tears. Fear of dying dominated her existence, but her hands tightly clutched her bow and the five arrows she had remaining.

And Alduin, pushing Leon and Veleda away, had decided.

‘Three times,’ Alduin knew, he felt the presence of his enemy, the approach of their pursuers, and the signatures surrounding them.

Erratic breaths were drawn. Groans and gasps fought the cold air. Lungs clenched in pain as the frost entered it, and only the coughing of a man interrupted this chaos.

“Ugh-“ another gasp was blocked by a mouthful of blood.

He knew. He realized. The warmth that burned his nerves. The currents that tensed his muscles. His circuit had expanded to its limits.

But the unknown feeling kept ringing out. And just like how he instinctively shouted for his parents to leave the highway, or how he ran towards the museum with the advent of an apocalypse, his next course of action betrayed all reason.

His steps sped up. He passed the ones in front. Voices of his group yelled out to him. But he didn’t care. His vision was returning, the warmth became even hotter. His navel, his spine, his brain, his arms. Rage, an unfamiliar hatred, something he had never experienced pushed him to his limits.

His rage turned into lighting. Lighting became thunder. The beating of the man’s heart echoed outside his body. His pale face flushed once again. The blood that was thrown up painted his face red.

“—— - ——“ His voice couldn’t be heard, but his muttering brought lightning into existence.

“Alduin!”

The young man didn’t look back. His steps continued forward. The unknown feeling that grew in his body became more pronounced. From the moment the explosion was heard until now, the warnings of his intuition became ever louder.

‘There’s no choice,’ his thoughts halted. The circuit was activated for the fourth time.

Mud splashed through his surroundings as steam exploded upwards.

The second spear he held didn’t glow white. No, it glowed a fiery red. The voltage was hot enough to cause flames to erupt.

“You-“ The lizardman stood up, he was the strongest of his colony. “For the second time, you - creatures that serve as food - dare to pass me!”

Its rage retaliated. The scars on its body still ached as it remembered what had transpired only hours before. Its exhaustion, its unrivaled strength in all that lived in the mud, each aspect of its existence fought as its voice erupted.

“Midgard - Bottomless Swamp!”

Alduin halted his steps. His feet anchored in the ground. His voice replied for the last time. Together with a mouthful of blood - and the throw of a spear - his final command rang out from his ruptured throat, “RUN!”

A bolt of lightning coated the spear.

The spear broke through the air.

Pockets of heat exploded like thunder.

Bolts and static currents resembled the fractures in the sky.

And the light of Alduin’s attribute was reflected over the entire water-covered square.

“YOU-“

The creature was born in the depths of a swamp. A monster that came into existence crawling over the corpses of others. One whose sole purpose was to protect their lair - would fail for the second time in a single day. But for the first time, pure unbridled strength broke the jaws of the devouring swamp.

The captain of the lizardmen. An awakened creature. One with an attribute superior to its kind, couldn’t hold back the final gambit of a human.

And with the impact of the glowing spear, the creature was launched against the gate.

Yet, the high-lizardman didn’t enter.

And Alduin clearly witnessed it. His enemy - stuck against the swirling mass of energy, the dungeon gate - had a gaping hole in its chest.

The purple light that once outlined the creature now shone through the wound that Alduin created.

His vision saw the creature stumble forward with hatred as their eyes met for the last time. And with this, his consciousness faded.

Only one thing was certain, the next time he opens his eyes he would be inside a Purple Dungeon.