In the Faction Headquarters
Sam’s leaving had left the captains in a brief state of disarray, but they soon organized themselves, after realizing that Sam was completely gone. The crowd dissipated over the next few minutes, and Talnor started to whip the new governing body into shape. The man might have quickly become hated in another situation, an alien intruder that had been given the keys to the kingdom by the faction leader, but as it turned out, the man was quite easygoing, and good at what he did.
As a result, the annoyance that many of the human captains felt quickly went away, in a few minutes in some cases. When Sam returned, Talnor would have this place running like a clock, and it would be far more powerful than it had ever been before.
Talnor had brought a huge sum of credits with him from his previous world, and he would use some of those to expand the city. He had been the leader of his faction for decades, and he knew just how important early stage development was to colonize the surface of a planet. Any would-be marauders, inspired by Sam’s absence, would soon find that they had made the wrong decision. Talnor was a shrewd and canny man, and he knew exactly what he was doing.
Talnor paced around the center of the meeting room, surveying the people who were to work underneath him. Even though they were all extremely fresh on a Multiversal time scale, they had all proven to be quite competent indeed. Talnor was especially interested in what seemed to be the central command trio among the captains, Lao, Eduardo, and Jeffrey.
Lao and Eduardo were there because of their strength, but Jeffrey was there because of his friendship with the faction leader, which seemed to have been before any of the other faction members got together. Talnor found it interesting that an alien had survived on this planet for so long, and he resolved to have a conversation with Jeffrey about it after. However, there was work to be done now.
In Kane City
Rodney Kane brooded, as he had been wont to do recently. He was reflecting on his own Dao, and was still trying to align himself with the power of his companion. The elemental was seemingly ecstatic, as much as a monster like it could be, as Rodney gradually forced his Dao to become one with his chosen path. As dark energy began to flare around the man, the elemental smiled, a slit opening on its otherwise nondescript face. This would be perfect for its needs. The man would be the tip of the spear, creating the opportunity for an elemental invasion into this plane of existence.
As Rodney opened his eyes, the elemental noticed that they were now pitch black, with no other colors visible. The creature sidled up to its master, and congratulated him on his accomplishments. Rodney only stared off into the distance, still coming to terms with what he had just done. Citizens of his city looked up in fear as a cloud of dark smoke began to billow out of the top of his abode, signaling a new era within the faction. This would now be a time of bloodshed and conquest, all in the name of Rodney Kane.
On a plain in the Middle East
The Overlord roared as he swung his mighty blade, taking out dozens of aliens with each swing of his weapon. He had been in search of the Spear of Longinus, which was said to be around here. However, it seemed that some of the accursed aliens had also learned of its location, and there was now a pitched battle going on between him, the aliens, and the guardians of the temple that contained the spear. The Overlord would have liked to think that he was single handedly turning the tide, but he knew that it was only because of the presence of the temple defenders that he was able to stand against his foes.
The monsters looked like all manner of biblically inspired creatures, from crude representations of angels made out of wax and parchment, to demons that looked as if they had been ripped straight from some classical depiction of Hell. Their numbers seemed to be endless, and between them and the efforts of the Overlord, they were slowly whittling down the aliens.
However, there were a few powerhouses among their number, and their leader was about as strong as the Overlord himself. She seemed to realize that the Overlord was the main threat to her forces, and she leaped over the heads of her soldiers, and landed in front of him.
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The alien was quite large, and possessed eight arms, each of which held a lethal looking weapon. She tried to say something, but the Overlord barreled forwards, swinging his weapon as he did so. The amalgam of a sickle and a spear cut through the air like butter, and reached its target a fraction of a second later. The alien blocked the strike, but it sent a crescent of dark lightning coursing through her weapons, causing the alien to shudder.
The Overlord powered through her defense, drawing blood with the razor sharp tip of his weapon. The alien screamed in pain, and she withdrew, breathing heavily as she looked at the Overlord. His Dao energy peaked at this reaction, and red light began to surround his form, empowering him beyond his previous limits.
The man grinned, and exploded forwards, striking out multiple times within the span of a single second. The Overlord laughed, empowering himself further, and began to carve away chunks of his opponent. His new weapon almost felt like a part of him now, and he had become quite adept in its usage since gaining it. The weapon was a bit unwieldy, but it was nothing that he could not correct with his superior strength. No, this weapon suited him very well indeed.
The alien leader soon died, turned into chunks of purplish flesh. Afterwards, the other leaders soon followed, leaving only a few thousand aliens to deal with. The Overlord withdrew and let them destroy themselves on the bulwark of their enemies. He would swoop in when this was all over, and claim the rewards that he was due.
Twenty miles beneath the Earth’s Crust
Reaper sat in silence, ruminating on his defeat at the hands of Sam Atlas. He had been rescued by a mysterious figure, who rarely showed themselves. He had been instructed to remain within this cave until he was strong enough to leave.
His Dao and will had been strained by his fight with Sam Atlas, and he no longer was able to fully bring his Dao to bear. However, it was slowly healing as time went on. He had been provided with a veritable mountain of bones to hone his craft on, and a small army was starting to form around him, as he had nothing else to do. In any case, Reaper was a shell of his former self, and it would take time for him to recover to any sort of fighting shape. However, it was better than him having died.
As paradoxical as it sounded, Reaper feared death, feared it more than anything else. However, it was a reverent sort of fear, like the fear of an omnipotent god. He would be of no use to Death dead, as his work could not be achieved then.
Reaper snorted, and kept at his work, barely making a dent in the bones in front of himself. He had been tasked with creating such a large army of the undead that no matter the strength of his opponents, they would never be able to win. He still had no idea who his mysterious benefactor was, but he suspected that they were connected in some way to the watcher that he had felt during the tournament. He was not sure whether this was a good thing or not.
As another skeleton came to life in front of him, joining the long line that was already forming, even after mere days of work, Reaper smiled. When he left this place, he would get his revenge on every one that had wronged him, and it would be glorious.
Somewhere in the South China Sea
Andrew Monro sat at repose within a small vessel, made out of his nanites and Dao. He had begun to connect with his powers and turn them towards his own desires, completely eradicating every last trace of the AI that had been controlling him from his body. He was his own man now, but he was still affected by the legacy of the AI, and his mind was not fully back yet. He was plagued by visions of planet-eating monstrosities of metal and flesh, and the thought of a being so powerful and intelligent that a single particle of its flesh contained enough power to wipe out a galaxy. These were the remnants of the AI’s thoughts, which were all patterned after desires for domination and power. However, Andrew Munro wanted that all for himself, and not for the benefit of some alien force that only wanted to use him.
He sighed, and rocked back and forth within his craft, banishing the thoughts that threatened to intrude upon his peace. He was trying to reconstruct the threads of his shattered psyche from the nothingness that it had been encroaching upon. He was entirely unclothed, but he felt more at home than anywhere else, cocooned within a shell of his own power. His nanites had grown in quantity and quality as he connected more with himself, and upon reaching F Rank, they had grown to the point that he could now swallow up entire trees with the substance, and construct rudimentary vehicles for himself.
He made his nanites spread out into the ocean water around himself, killing fish and monsters around himself. Using this method, he managed to scrounge up essence for himself, while he was in the process of recovering. He stared off into space, his silvery eyes looking at both nothing and everything at the same time. The sun gleamed off his scalp, which he had reinforced with metal after suffering a serious wound at the hands of some oceanic leviathan. He had been drifting around the oceans for the past few weeks, and during that time he had seen things that would make any sane man terrified. Luckily, Andrew Munro was quite far from sane.