Entering the chamber, even with giving my eyes time to adjust, I was forced to squint. The light was blinding, and all the surfaces were reflective. Hanging in the air in the center of the large spherical chamber was a glowing white sphere. Focusing and squinting some more, showed that wasn’t correct. The shards had just reformed and gotten close to each other, but there were still cracks.

“Hello?” I called out. I would try diplomacy first. My voice echoed in the chamber. I noted that the surfaces were angled. That was not good. If there was a beam attack similar to the golems, it would probably reflect at an angle. The question was the number of reflections. Or would a single shot create massive death.

“A THOUSAND THOUSAND ACROSS THE FIRMAMENT.” Hearing the words echo out startled me slightly as the words were conveyed via energy. This thing was intelligent and could speak a full sentence unlike level 7 monsters. The annoying part about its sentence, was that I couldn’t tell if it was referring to itself, me, the System, or something else.

I focused amount to do the same trick. “Hello?” I asked with a touch of hope. If we could open up a peaceful dialogue that would be amazing. This was an actual alien that seemed sane enough to communicate. Communication was the first step in understanding. And while I was willing to start throwing attacks, I was hopeful to have a peaceful resolution with something this powerful.

“YOUR EXISTANCE SHALL FUEL MINE.” And now that hope just died a fiery death. Where were the magical ponies that gave hugs and kindness? Instead I got stuck with a giant glowing sphere, inside a larger reflective sphere chamber. The light was hard on my eyes.

“What are you?” I asked, hoping for some kind of answer to better understand how to deal with the monster.

“THE END AND THE BEGINNING.” You couldn’t get more ominous than that kind of statement. I suddenly felt a massive spike of danger sense. And we had just been talking and getting some information. Of course, it would just keep talking and use it as a free action.

I kicked off the ground as a beam of light shot out from the sphere to where I had been standing. It impacted the non-reflective surface of the tunnel. Radiant Beam. Void Beam. A solid glowing white square appeared in the path of my beam attacks. It rippled slightly, but there was no explosion.

“FUTILE ATTACK FROM A BEING WITH A WEAK MASTER.” That sentence implied quite a bit. The fact that it easily no sold an annihilation attack so easily was bad news. While I didn’t have any master, it was probably talking about the Almighty System. This thing was stronger than the System? That didn’t make much sense. Why even let me get this far? The System had zone destroying attacks. This sphere seemed smaller, less potent than what I would expect. It hadn’t instantly defeated me, was making me wonder how strong it really was.

The sphere counter attacked. I couldn’t count the number of beam attacks from the sphere. My eyes were darting about in the blinding light try to make them all out and their trajectories. Air Burst. I twisted out of the way of one. Air Burst. Dodged two more. Several of them struck the golem torso I was using as a shield. They all bounced only three times. I noted their strength decreases over time as well.

“You call that an attack. And I am my own master,” I taunted back. Hoping to draw it into more of a conversation, even if that was a lie, since I was completely outmatched. The environment wasn’t in my favor either. Time to go all out. It had shielding, but it appeared to be two dimensional, time to rapidly attack. Acid Shot x10. Force Shot x5.

The first attack was a feint as a white shield appeared to block. I closed the distance in the air and circled around while pulling out one of my annihilation bombs, twisting until it clicked and throwing it an a slow underhanded arc. Air Burst. Air Burst. Radiant Beam. Void Beam. A second shield appeared to block this attack.

Air Burst. Air Burst. Acid Shot x10. Force Shot x5. A third shield appeared to block this attack. Another bomb went arcing towards the sphere. “No time to talk back now?” I taunted my superior foe. While I wasn’t able to physically hurt it, I could deliver some cutting remarks.

Air Burst. Air Burst. Radiant Beam. Void Beam. I maneuvered one last time and attacked again as the first bomb reached the sphere.

“PULSE.” A massive wave of white energy exploded from the sphere in all directions. The bombs exploded. Acid Shot x10. Force Shot x10. Air Burst x2. I darted back towards the tunnel as I used my attack skills to screen me with their annihilation effects. Thankfully that created a gap, I could dodge the omnidirectional attack and defense that just died out right before the edge of the chamber. I landed at the tunnel entrance, assessing the cracked sphere in front of me.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Want to talk now?” I asked, hoping it would be willing to open a dialogue. If I could just get it talking then there was a chance things could be worked out.

“TALKING IS POINTLESS EXCEPT AS A DISTRACTION AND DECLARATION OF SUPERORITY. VERY WELL, I WILL EXERT MYSELF SLIGHTLY. REDIRECT.” Clearly diplomacy wasn’t my strength. Gravity suddenly decided to change and the center of it was the sphere. I was falling towards it.

Air Burst. Acid Shot. Force Shot. I destroyed some of the reflective wall, enough to create a handhold combined with one of the edges from the wall sections that was sticking out, allowing me to brace myself. Changing gravity made the terrain even more unfair.

If it was down, that just made it easier to aim. Acid Shot. Force Shot. A glowing white shield just blocked the attacks with only a small ripple. I let myself fall while quickly grabbing out two of my remaining three bombs, activating them and tossing them in an arc so they would explode near the wall. Time to start changing the terrain to my advantage.

Acid Shot x10. I aimed around me, and not at the sphere. My attacks arced to the side and then were pulled towards the center.

“REDIRECT.” Gravity suddenly reversed sending everything outwards. The bombs exploded on the walls, destroying some of the reflective surfaces. My Acid Shot hit the reflective walls and damaged them. I couldn’t hurt it at a distance.

The only option was to close the distance. I noted that all the shielding had appeared a set distance away. Landing on the wall, I quickly kicked off and shot upwards towards the sphere. It emitted lots of beam attacks once more. I brought the golem corpse in front of me. Acid Shot. Force Shot. I also countered with an annihilation attack in front of me. Air Burst.

The golem torso I was using as a shield slammed into a shield and began to instantly break apart. Acid Shot x4. Force Shot x4. I aimed the attacks past the shield as they formed. The sphere was hit with several annihilation effects. Air Burst. I circled around at close range, tossing the torso off my hand. It was too destroyed to risk using it anymore. It would just provide a false sense of security.

The shield moved to keep me away. I felt a few of the beam attacks from earlier strike my body, cutting through it. One came from behind, piercing through my right chest, the bottom of my jaw, and out my left eye.

The pain was immense, but I didn’t let up. This was it. My chance to end the threat once and for all. Air Burst. Acid Shot x4. Force Shot x4. I kept unleashing annihilation attacks at the sphere as I zipped around it. The beam attacks had run out of power. Air Burst. Acid Shot x4. Force Shot x4. I refused to let up for a moment. I couldn’t see anything and trusted my danger sense and positional sense to keep me oriented as the flashes of annihilation attacks kept strobing.

Air Burst. I came for a landing near the tunnel entrance once more and looked up with my one eye. As blood trickled out of my wounds. My heart clenched as there was no damage done. No that was wrong, there were some more cracks and a small piece had chipped off but was still very close to the sphere.

All of that for just a small bit of damage. That was insane. I considered trying to recover the chip of the sphere. Time to go for broke. I pulled out the sample box from my damaged back and held it up. I angled it and then threw it while I quickly pulled out the small sample tubes Jacob had given me. I leapt up once more.

The shield appeared in front of the sample box and was disintegrated. I was hoping the enchantments would allow it to get through, but that didn’t appear to be the case. I quickly held up several of the test tubes to the shield for a brief moment and then dropped back down. Another round of beam attacks went off, but I ducked back towards the tunnel avoiding them.

I couldn’t afford to take any more damage. Thankfully I had high enough stats, that all the holes that had been pierced through me hadn’t killed me yet. But I was bleeding and getting lower on energy. If I was going to make an escape and leave myself some wiggle room, now was the time to do so.

If I stayed and fought, then it would be to the death. Even landing several annihilation attacks, they didn’t do much. I could maybe get in another round or two of attacks like that in again, but that would only do minor damage. Whatever that sphere was, was highly resistant to damage. Heck, it was near impossible to damage.

That barrage I had unleashed would have killed a level 7 monster very quickly, and probably a level 8 monster. To barely do any damage, was a sign that this foe was level 9 or 10. The fact I could do damage at all was concerning. It threatened the Almighty System but was not a super high level in terms of combat and just no selling what I could do. It was strong, but still within range of being beaten.

What options did I have to win? My strongest attacks were just light pokes. Anything weaker was just ignored. I knew an annihilation attack was far stronger than just Acid Shot on its own. My mind raced as I tried to come up with a solution to the fight. While I could escape, that would just give this thing time to repair and keep building whatever it was building.

It clearly had no love for the Almighty System, and anyone who was associated with it. I didn’t have the strength. I wasn’t regaining energy either. If this fight dragged on, then I might be willing to fight it out. But I was heavily injured, low on energy, and not doing enough damage. It was time to leave and come back another day, more prepared.