Varhas looked at me, charging at him, and scoffed. The bastard scoffed. He was a dead man. I held my hand out and activated [Apostate’s Blade]. His eyebrow twitched as my hand transformed.
“Well, won’t you look at that? You were telling the truth this whole time.” He said in an even tone that made me want to rip his throat out. I raised my arm to cut the son of a bitch into a million pieces.
I was almost within striking distance when Hob screamed, “To your right!” I turned just in time to see the sole of a boot crunch against my face. The impact sent me flying to the side. I bounced off the hard ground and rolled, a final impact against a table driving out the air from my lungs and leaving me gasping for air. I heard something made of glass break in my pockets. A [Full-Restore Injector]. Fuck.
I got onto my hands and knees and looked up at Varhas, who was examining me like I was an interesting cockroach, and then at the person who kicked me.
“What? Kornok’s secretary?” I gasped out.
She had traded her blazer and skirt for a nano-mesh bodysuit and a metal quarterstaff and was sneering down at me.
I shook my head, the pain and confusion working in concert with my HP to bring me back to my senses. It was two against one. I wouldn’t be able to kill the bastard before I died if I just charged them.
“Of course I was,” Janice told Varhas, sounding annoyed. “I wouldn’t come to your colleague with bad info. The whole point is keeping my head attached to my shoulders. Now let's get this over with.”
I looked around and jumped behind the nearest couch for cover. I glanced at my HP and my MP. My HP was only at 24/98, but my MP was topped out. I looked through my inventory.
I only had my backup [Full-Health Injector] left. The two I carried in my armor had been destroyed, one by Sothog’s final outburst and the other having shattered from my hard landing. I couldn’t waste my last healing item this early on. I had to play for time and let my HP regeneration kick in.
It was time to play the fool for as long as possible.
“I remember you,” I shouted, “Miss Janice, Kornok’s secretary.”
“Congratulations on your functioning memory and observational skills,” she said in that infuriating patient tone.
“What’s up with your face?” I shouted, realizing how infantile that sounded.
“What? What are you talking about? What’s wrong with my face?” she responded, her voice getting a touch louder. She was getting closer.
Since I had mana to spare, I activated my [Uncanny Dodge], feeling a part of my strength ebb away, but my body instantly felt more responsive and my mind more perceptive.
“Your smile,” I said, looking around and finding a spot to move to without entering their line of sight and starting to crawl towards it. “I thought your face was paralyzed to the smile you had when you talked to me.”
“What?” Janice replied, sounding genuinely caught off guard. “Are you soft in the head? I smiled at you because it was part of my job, you imbecile.”
“No, but the priest who fried your face…” I started, realizing how stupid I sounded. “You know what, never mind.” I reached my new hiding spot and turned [Uncanny Dodge] off.
“Enough,” Varhas cut in angrily before softening his voice. “Razel. We haven’t seen each other in three years, and this is how you greet me? Not a single word? Janice, stand down.”
“But-” she tried to protest.
“Are you disobeying me?” he asked in a kindly tone.
“No, sir. Sorry, sir,” Janice replied meekly.
Hearing his voice and words made such rage roil within me that the bubble of absurd civility I was using to keep my fury under control shuddered. I punched myself in the chest hard enough to shave off a single point of HP. Focus up, Razel. You can’t afford to be sloppy until he’s dead.
“No wonder I was assigned this mission,” Varhas chuckled. “I hunt down a runaway gem, and what do I find but my long-lost, precious son-in-law? Father, be praised.”
“I have nothing to say to you, murderer,” I shouted back.
I looked around, trying to come up with any ideas, when I spotted Big Jim to my right, lying on the ground, covered in blood. He was surrounded by two women and one man, all in the outfit of Toriklas’ guard, all very much dead.
He had fought. When it came down to it, he fought to help us. Seeing the form of the unmoving giant who tried to warn me was the last push I needed to kick my mind into overdrive.
“Your brother was a fucking filthborn. Just like that unholy abomination that pretends to be my daughter.” Varhas exploded in a sudden urge of rage so thick I could taste it. Then, it was instantly snuffed out, and civility returned. “We have no quarrel, you and I, Razel. We are human. We are fighting on the same side.”
“The fuck we are,” I replied and looked at my [Rail-Revolver]. If I was quick, I could maybe take Janice out before Varhas got me, but what would be the point of that? I was okay with dying, but Varhas had to die too. Could I be sure to hit him from this far? Maybe with the help of [Lucky Shot], but did I want to risk it all on luck?
“Come now, Razel,” Varhas continued with his disgustingly affable facade. “You have failed me several times but can still be saved. Repent. I know you took the gem. Give it back, and all is forgiven.”
I failed him? He was going to forgive ME? My grip on my rage started to slip.
No. Keep it together. “Hob, what are our options?”
Hob looked down thoughtfully before his head snapped up. “I have an idea, but I need your consent.”
“My consent? My consent for what?” I asked in a hurry.
“Why do you say I failed you?” I shouted at Varhas, trying to buy us time.
Hob started talking fast, trying to condense the information as much as possible. “Whatever Sothog did, it gave you something. I can feel it coalescing into a skill. A truly powerful one. But, the relatively low compatibility means it will take hours to form. I can finish the process early, but the skill will be half-formed, damaged.”
“Will it be powerful enough to help?” I asked him.
Hob nodded, “I think so, yes.”
“Then do it,” I sent back.
He nodded. “This will take a couple of minutes at minimum. Try to gain some distance.”
Varhas snorted derisively. “Twice you had the opportunity to bring along the thing that calls itself my daughter so I can be rid of it, twice you failed.”
I looked through my inventory and found the only thing that could help. The oldest trick in the book.
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint,” I shouted, throwing an [ECM Smoke bomb] over my shoulder. The smoke bomb exploded into electrically charged smoke, and I jumped to my feet, running through the smoke and throwing a couple more ahead of me, creating a corridor of cover.
I could hear Janice, now hidden from view, splutter and cough. “Get him,” Varhas said calmly.
I broke through the smoke into the dancefloor and ran for the private rooms. Right as I was about to reach the doors, a searing pain shot through my left leg, and it buckled from under me, my full HP dropping down by a third.
I stumbled through the doors, the pain refusing to go away. “Hob, why is my leg not healing?” I asked.
“The wound is cauterized,” He sent back, “It's interfering with the healing process. Unless you do something, it will take minutes for the wound to close.”
I cursed and held out my hand, taking a second to summon my last [Full-Restore Injector] and stabbing myself in the leg with it. Instantly, my leg felt better, and I started climbing stairs, happy at my full health but bitter for the waste. But it couldn’t have been helped. Behind me, I could hear Janice approaching. Terra, was she fast. I barely made it to the VIP lounge before I heard the wooshing of her quarterstaff right behind my head.
I ran and leaped onto one of the inactive drones hovering in the water, trying to get some distance, and summoned my [Apostate’s Blade]. I turned around and fired a shot from my [Rail-Revolver], but Janice dodged effortlessly and followed me onto the drone, swinging at my head with terrifying speed.
I raised my arm and barely blocked the hit, the jarring impact shaving 5 HP off and causing me to stumble to the side. “Why are you doing this?” I gasped, my HP doing nothing for the fatigue I felt. “Why are you helping Varhas?”
She didn’t relent and swung at me again. “Kornok was the only one crazy enough to hire a wanted Blackjack,” she snarled. “With him gone, I’m fucked. If I have to turn Cardinal to survive, I will.”
I jumped over her swing, but before I could counterattack, the butt of her quarterstaff cracked hard against my temple.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Still standing,” she said, sounding amused. “Impressive.”
I winced at the seven points of HP that hit cost me. I tried to swing again, but she deflected the hit easily, her expression turning contemptuous. “Really? You can take hits but can’t dish them out? Is this your first day with whatever the fuck this augment is, or something? You fight like a rookie.”
I gritted my teeth and swung at her again, but it was useless. This woman was good. She deflected my hit and struck at my left wrist, the pain causing me to drop the [Rail-Revolver].
“This is boring,” she sneered. “You’re not as fun as the legends say, Rust Reaver.” Then, she must have activated some subroutine in her quarterstaff because the lines going down the weapon's length started glowing with a faint white and blue light.
She struck out again, and a flash of light blinded me before I felt the pain.
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[DEBUFF GAINED] - [Temporary Blindness]
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[DEBUFF GAINED] - [Restoration Block]
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All I could do was activate my [Uncanny Dodge], grit my teeth, and swing wildly as the woman took her sweet time hitting me repeatedly, each hit shaving a large chunk of HP. When my HP hit 43, the pain stopped, and my vision returned. I dove for my gun. I rolled and stood up, ready to shoot her in the head. I looked around, but the woman was nowhere to be seen.
“What the…” I started saying.
“Above you!” Hob screamed, and I turned and watched Janice drop from the ceiling and swing her staff toward me like a golf club. It hit me right in the chest, sending me flying and skipping twice over the water. However, before the third skip could come, my momentum was suddenly and violently arrested. My back struck the wall with bone-breaking force, and the whiplash caused my head to snap back and hit the wall with a crunch.
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[DEBUFF GAINED] - [Stunned]
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[DEBUFF GAINED] - [Severe Concussion]
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Everything swam, and I felt like I would throw up as I watched my HP get reduced to three measly points. My body refused to listen. Janice grabbed me by the leg and started dragging me down the blessedly carpeted stairs.
Once we were back on the bottom floor of the club, she tossed me in the middle of the dance floor. I limply flew and landed in a heap, my HP going down to 2. I weakly turned my head to look at Varhas, who still hadn’t moved from where he was when he came in.
Janice walked up to me, searched through my pockets, threw away all my items, and put me on my belly. She pinned me to the ground, knee on my back and my right arm bent in the air, keeping my sword hand away from her and my shoulder ready to dislocate at any moment. I groaned at the pain.
There was a pause as Janice shook her head at Varhas.
“See what happens when you don’t cooperate?” Varhas said to me, like a parent talking to a misbehaving child. “Tell me where the gem is.” he slowly started walking towards me.
“You won’t get anything out of me, you fucking monster,” I growled out.
He let out a dry chuckle and turned to Janice. “You hear that, Janice? I’m the monster.” I used his moment of distraction to return my [Rail-Pistol] to my inventory.
He turned to me, and his eyes, filled with fury and madness, chilled me to my core. “No, Razel. I’m not the monster. I’m what will end the monsters and create a better world.”
“You’re fucking insane,” I said and winced at the pain as Janice’s pin tightened. “How can your better world justify the murder of an innocent child?”
He smirked and raised his eyebrows. “Your brother? He was never the target. He was a fortunate consolation prize.”
“The target?” I growled out, feeling tears form in my eyes.
Varhas scoffed and shook his head. “Did you really think it coincidental that Orelia gave you my bounty? Me, the father of your fiancée?”
“What?” I said dumbly.
He knelt and looked at me with a mad glee, his voice soft and gentle. “Did you honestly think the information package you received was a lucky break from a disgruntled Spiral member? Did you never wonder why I didn’t bother to finish you off?”
I could only gape at him, my pain forgotten.
“I didn’t even know your brother existed, boy. I never cared about either of you. I thought I was killing Orelia. That’s why, in the info packet, I added that you needed a Codebreaker to get the opportunity to kill me. I wanted you to bring her along. Maybe bring Silvina, too. Kill two drones with one bullet and whatnot.” He smiled sadly at me. “And even that, you fucked up.”
Orelia? My old mission broker? What did she have to do with any of this?
Varhas looked at my confusion with genuine pleasure. He grinned down at me, cruelty in his eyes. “Did the bitch never tell you anything? That’s cold, even for me.”
I remember asking her to come with me to the mission. I remember her insisting that I bring Yorathan instead.
He leaned in and whispered gently in my ear. “You’ve never been anything but a pawn in the game of chess Orelia Silas and I have been playing for the last twenty-five years, boy.” He straightened and looked down at me with pity. “It was never about you.”
I released a scream of rage, of despair.
I deactivated [Uncanny Dodge], and the sudden increase in my strength threw Janice off balance just enough for me to free my left arm and summon my [Rail-Pistol], aiming straight at Varhas Corax’s face.
I activated [Magma Bullet] and fired, bottoming my MP out. This close, my aim was perfect. He had no time or space to dodge.
And yet, Varhas kept looking at me dispassionately. Janice cursed and kicked my weapon out of my hand, pinning my hand down with her staff. Why wasn’t he dead? Why-
Then I looked at the white-hot projectile hovering in the air, inches from his face.
“Hob?” I asked, panic rising in my throat. What the fuck? What the FUCK?
“A few more seconds.” He replied, panic reflecting in his own voice.
“What the fuck are you?” I asked Varhas, my voice feeling hoarse. “You can’t be a Magdriver, you… You hate the Fluxborn.”
“Aye, you’re right, boy. I ain’t no Filthborn.” He looked at me evenly. “I’m a Faithful. You see, unlike those monsters, I earned my powers.” The bullet intended for his head slowly moved away from his face and towards me. It slowly buried itself in my pinned thigh. I couldn’t help the scream I let out as my leg started cooking from within.
“Tell me where the gem is, and the pain can stop. You can be forgiven. You can go home.” He said with stomach-turning magnanimity.
“Hob, please,” I begged as I felt my bones burn.
“You…” I gasped between screams, “You think you can make a better world…” He turned the heat up a little more. I could taste blood. “By being the Priest’s puppet?”
“Almost there…” Hob whispered.
“Puppet?” he said, crouching until his face was inches from mine. “Wrong, boy.” His eyes gleamed with a madness that made something primal within me want to cower and run. “I ain’t the priest’s puppet. I’m the evolution.”
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[OMEGA CALIBRATION COMPLETE]
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“Done!” Hob screamed. "Use it now!"
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[NEW ACTIVE SKILL ACQUIRED]
[Sothog’s Lament] - [BROKEN]
Rank: ??? (Unique) | Level: 1/???
Cost: ???
Effect: Emit a highly corrosive, purple lightning at will. Effect and control scales with Wisdom, Synchronization Bonus, and Skill Level. Cost scales with size and power.
“A power meant only to destroy. What will you do with it?”
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I instantly activated my new ability. A wave of almost unbearably powerful energy emanated from the center of my chest, racing down to my limbs. I felt like I was becoming a god. I felt like I was dying. My whole body exploded with dark purple lightning.
Janice screamed, letting me go, and even Varhas leaped back, looking worried for the first time. I grabbed the nearest object, a piece of metal railing that must have been broken off during the battle with the guards. A part of my brain was horrified at its shape resembling a tonfa as I swung at Janice’s head.
As the makeshift weapon swung at her, my [Tight-Grip] passive allowed me to arrest its momentum as it rotated in my grip before connecting with Janice’s face, magnifying the swing's power. A swing that had already been empowered by the lightning crawling over the weapon. I felt a pressure build up at the weapon's tip, and then all of that force exploded when contact was made.
Her jaw shattered, and a chunk of the bone was ripped off. The lightning seared her face as it passed, the flesh loudly sizzling. She let out a gurgling screech and stepped back, madly clawing at the ruins of her head, carving bloody furrows in her already charred and sloughing flesh.
I ignored the dying woman as I stood up, blood dripping from my nose and my ears, and pointed the makeshift tonfa at the astonished Varhas in challenge.
Then, I heard a gurgling scream behind me, and [Flame's Foresight] activated just in time to warn me of Janice’s final attack. She was still on her feet, knees trembling, and blood pouring out of her ruined mouth. She looked more like a smoking corpse than a person. Her baleful glare, clear but full of pure malice, rooted me in place. The top of her quarterstaff, which she was leaning on for support, opened like a flower and fired a plasma bolt that I barely managed to avoid by shifting to the side. The projectile flew over my shoulder and upwards, less than a finger’s width away from my face. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
I turned and watched as the projectile flew and exploded against the ceiling.
The already cracked aquarium let out an ominous groan.
Then, the glass shattered.
Hundreds of thousands of liters of water poured down between Varhas and me, pushing me to the DJ stage and pushing him towards the lounge area, the doors, and the elevators. I got stuck on the stage’s metal framing, and for a moment, for a sweet moment of weakness, I gave up. Hadn't I done enough? Hadn't I earned some rest? My eyelids grew heavy.
Then, just as suddenly as it arrived, the water started receding. I untangled myself from the framing and stumbled forward, watching as the water and most of the bioluminescent fish got sucked into the darkness beyond the destroyed elevator doors.
I heard a grunt and turned to find Varhas getting on his feet, his expression one of mild annoyance. “Fine, then, I’ll kill you and get the kid to talk,” he said and leveled a pistol aimed right at my chest. He let out a happy sigh. “I'll make that blasphemous creature curse your name before I allow him to die.”
A large shadow moved to behind and to the left of Varhas. A giant riddled with bullet wounds. He got to his feet, his eyes wild and expression hard. Big Jim.
“No!” Jim roared and lunged at Varhas, and everything slowed down. Varhas’s face didn’t even twitch as he pulled the trigger, and a moment later, Jim tackled him, picking him up in a bear hug and continuing to run.
I could hear Varhas’ pistol go off again and again, but Jim never slowed down. Never hesitated. He kept running until he reached one of the destroyed elevators and the yawning void beyond. Then, they both disappeared down an elevator shaft.
I watched it all happen in slow motion. I wanted to dodge, but my body was too weak, too sluggish. The molten projectile hit me straight in the center of my chest. My HP was at 0. No more healing. All I knew was agony. Agony and the exit. So close. Even if these were my last steps, I would take them. I had to.
One step after the other.
It hurt so much that I felt like I was going to die.
But I didn’t.
I kept taking one step after the other.
And then, I was out.
I stumbled into the open door of the large, armored vehicle right outside the club, finding Aren lying unconscious in the back seat. Zuri and Farrah smiled momentarily before they took me in, and their expressions turned to confusion and then concern.
They said something. I couldn’t understand.
I looked down at my arm where the last vestiges of the purple lightning died away.
Why was Zuri restraining Farrah? Why was Farrah screaming?
I felt lightheaded. Maybe a nap would be nice. Yeah.
My knees buckled. I was out before my head hit the floor.