“Wow.” Ben whispered,
Devin jerked, hurriedly depositing the cards into the black void that was his vault. “What are you still doing here? Beat it if you know what’s good for you.”
It looked like Ken wanted to say something, but Ben nodded, dragging his brother in the town’s direction. Devin watched them leave until a series of booming crashes suddenly became a lot closer.
It didn’t take long to see what was causing it.
A suit of armor three times taller than Devin bounced across the flaming junkyard before colliding into the smoldering remains of his house. A hoarse yell echoed through the yard.
It was Bella. She needed his help.
Devin found himself running—-limping, really—towards the danger. His life drained from his deckbox as his ankle began to visibly heal. He probably should’ve rested to recover faster, but he couldn’t. The time between clashes shortened as the fight between literal superhumans seemed to draw to a close.
There was no telling what the situation was like without laying eyes on it first. Devin told himself as he ran through the sharp spikes of pain. Trusting his meta-awarness, Devin navigated through the blazing wilderness, coming across the main site of the battle between Bateman and his sister.
Pure devastation. Everything, from trees to trash to metal were burnt to slag and ashes. A red-scaled giant wielded a golden spear while three magic circles behind him spammed non-stop fireballs at Bella like a pitching machine. His sister, who wore two intersected rings over her head like a halo, barely kept up with the monster.
It was like a battle between an angel and a demon.
That has to be Bateman; he’s literally using the same spear. Once Devin noticed, it was hard not to see similarities between the monster and Bateman. He had the same creepy eyes and unsettling smile. I don’t know where they got the ability to transform like that, but it's definitely horrifying.
Unable to find somewhere to help He held back, observing their fight with equal parts fascination and fear.
Whereas Lenny caused minor shockwaves with his blows, these monsters blew away the geography with just their movements. Afterimages and explosions appeared left and right, too fast for Devin to see.
Ignoring his sight to [focus] on his meta-awareness, Devin was able to catch glimpses of the fight.
Bateman stabbed his spear so fast it resembled a flower of blades, but Bella deflected them all with her nasty-looking dagger, melting into-and-out the shadows. She pulled herself across the battlefield with an invisible string he barely caught onto with his sixth sense.
She expertly positioned herself to reappear behind the pyromancer, only for the demonic arcanist to smash the handle of his spear into Bella’s face.
Devin moved to help his sister, but Bateman paralyzed him with a glare and a flare of his dreadful aura. His legs shook as the sensation of impending doom slammed onto the back of his neck. He started to hyperventilate, frozen in panic as the red-scaled arcanist raised his golden spear to pierce into his skull just like he did to Big Bertha.
A dagger popped out of the shadow beneath Bateman, scoring a gruesome slash across his neck, chin, and face. The meta-physical weight sealing his movements suddenly disappeared as the monster roared in pain.
“Are you okay?” Devin coughed out to Bella.
“Shut up and focus!” Bella hissed. “That bastard is corrupted. I can’t kill him if I have to worry about you.”
Devin wanted to ask what he could do to help, but his train of thought stopped in its tracks as heard an all too familiar snap. Five fireballs erupted into the air, each condensing into a revolving bullet.
“Scatter!” Bella yelled.
Space bended as Devin instinctually activated {Gap Slip} to dodge the waves of flame bullets. And the waves didn’t stop coming. Bombardments were ceaselessly launched, so much so that the environment changed before his eyes.
If that was me, I would’ve been sucked dry five times over. And if Bateman rebounded, there was no telling how powerful the explosion might be.
Devin used all his skills, cards, abilities; wringing every teleportation, strength, and speed he had to dodge the relentless fire bullets, but he couldn’t last long—he already knew it. The late night was already wearing on him, his injuries were piling up, and he was already low on resources before he joined the fight. It was only a matter of time before he slipped up.
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He just didn’t expect it to be a solid punch to the chest.
One second he was running, the next he was flying through the air before sliding through the dirt. His chest felt cold, but that was until feeling returned in the form of molten, excruciating pain.
Unable to take the pain wracking his body anymore, he activated his magic circle ability. His crimson ring burned into existence around him before it began to shed green light onto his body. Devin sighed in relief as the pain began to drain away.
For a crucial moment, Devin was stuck motionless.
Bateman knocked Bella away before hurling his spear with all his might. Bella screamed at him to get away. With his magic circle occupied and covered in debilitating injuries, Devin was forced to watch the spear approach his eye faster than he could react.
A blue magic circle flashed around Devin, activating the hat on top of his head—all to get him to safety.
The tip of the spear was about to pierce his eye when space bended once more to deposit him in the relative safety of the burning tree canopy on a branch that could barely hold his weight.
Bateman roared in frustration again, and Bella used the chance to wrap the monster in her arcanium-made string. He quickly tore it off as quick as Bella could lay it on, but the moment’s distraction was all she needed.
A shadow flew across the burning clearing. The monster’s eyes locked onto it, launching a claw covered in fire at the figure’s head. Except—
—The shadow was another illusion.
Bella shot down from the tiny shadow of a tree branch, plunging her green tinted dagger into the monster’s eye. He screamed in pain, trying to reach for the knife in his eye, but Bateman only got tied up in more magical string. Only a concentrated burst of orange flames was able to burn through it, but even that was followed by more strands wrapping around his body.
Devin stared from his perch, unsure of what to do. I’m going to have to switch my deck around again since two of my cards are on cooldown. He wanted to go through his vault to move things around, but it would be a death sentence to be caught unguarded in a fight. I want to help Bella, but I don't know how. He sighed
Soon the decision was made for him. The branch supporting his weight broke, sending him tumbling down into the rapidly approaching fight. Bella glanced at him, wide eyed, and Bateman grinned at the chance.
An outburst of orange flames burned all the string that held him down, allowing Bateman to lunge up for Devin.
With his magic circle still healing his wounds, Devin didn’t have anything to use against the monster.
But then how did I invoke Red Cap? His mind ran a mile a minute, time seeming to move in slow motion as he fell into the ground.
Following his gut, Devin explored that connection between him and Dewey, finding exactly what he was searching for on the other side.
Mentally grabbing his summon’s magic circle, Devin invoked his equipment one more time. Instead of slipping through space, Devin slid through the monster’s attention, escaping his sight. He plummeted—knee first—into Bateman’s already bloody nose. Despite his transformation, it still crunched satisfyingly under his weight.
“GET AWAY!” A feminine voice cried out.
A dangerous surge of arcanium fed into Devin’s cap to keep {Attention Slip} going as he kicked off Bateman’s chest. Devin dodged the monster’s wild swings—which was only made possible by his pseudo-invisibility—and vacated as fast as possible.
Once Devin cleared the immediate area, Bella clasped her hands, imbuing a large amount of arcanium into the air as the magic circles over her head burned brighter.
Bateman turned his bloodshot eyes towards his sister, but it was too late. The storm of arcanium surged to a crescendo.
“Dying Regret!”
Pieces of the same armor that crashed into Devin’s house flew back into the battlefield from all around, congregating around Bateman’s giant form. Each piece swirled around Bateman’s giant figure with long, needle-like spikes in the inner armor gleaming in a noxious green light.
“Iron Maiden!” Bella yelled as she smacked her hands together, seemingly in-prayer.
Bateman’s golden spear clattered to the ground as the floating pieces of metal slammed into the devilish arcanist, made worse by the long spikes that grew on the inside of the armor.
Bateman screamed an inhumane shriek as blood leaked out of the coffin in droves. He burned through his seemingly endless arcanium reserves, even dipping into his life to empower the orange fire enveloping him, but the metal went unscathed. The flame couldn’t even heat it, let alone melt it to slag like everything else.
The armor continued to slam onto the man-turned monster, piercing deeply into his flesh and bone. In only a second, Bateman was trapped in an iron casket, unable to even scream as blood leaked through the cracks by the gallon.
Devin sighed in relief until the suit of armor began to whine as Bateman once more struggled against its confines.
“Do something!” Bella grunted. Bateman’s disgusting aura spread over the siblings. It sought to suppress them, to give Bateman the chance to break free and kill them all.
Devin’s hands were slick with sweat; most of his options were either spent, or useless. I only just became super, I only just started learning.
Devin didn’t want to admit it, but he was afraid. Afraid of pain, of dying, but more importantly, he was afraid of losing what was important to him again. Devin opened his soul card, and hurriedly slotted the only card that could possibly help against the corrupted Bateman.
“100% Pure Bleach!” Devin declared, overcharging the card with the rest of his arcanium.
A white curtain made of pure divine light scoured the ashen field the three were in, shining a spotlight on the suit of armor that imprisoned Bateman. His earlier screams were put to shame as soon as the light touched the armor; he shook and wailed as if he was being dipped in a pool of acid. Devin unceasingly poured his energy into the spell card, banishing the devilish source of power from Bateman’s body.
He cut the flow of power to the card once the movements within the armor stopped. A moment passed before Bella was willing to release her spell, her circles and armor dissipating in a shower of light. Once the armor was gone, a small, emancipated body fell to the ground in its place.
The siblings crept closer to see the unmoving body of Bateman. He was drained to the bone, with even the holes in his body cracked dry as if he hadn’t seen a drop of water in days.
“I’m sorry about the house.” Bella said in between breaths.
“...I guess it's a good thing I didn't finish cleaning it.”
“That’s the spirit.” She chuckled, the tiredness leaking into her voice. “At least everything is over now.”
As if it was waiting to prove her wrong, a notification flitted across his vision, one different from the ones Devin has been seeing for the last couple of hours. No, this one reminded him of the screen everyone saw at the start of the end of the world.
World Announcement!
Congrats! You have reached the
end of the Prelude.
The Induction was very
successful, reducing the planet’s
sapient population by 68.92%.
Prove that your survival wasn’t a fluke.
Commencing Chapter One
—Seeding Planets with Dungeons, Raids, and Challenges
—Unlocked Probationary Interstellar travel
—Unlocked Soul Cards for all Mortals
—Generating Leaderboards
—Generating Quests
Quest—Start of Civilization
Defend your home from the
forces that seek to destroy it
Reward: Suitable Card,
??? (based on contribution)
Penalty: Destruction of Bainbridge,
Mark of Failure
A powerful howl unfolded far and wide, reverberating over the entire town. Then the night truly went to hell.