Clarent cut through the side of the ancient as it lashed out with a scythe. I slid under its blade, and rolled to the side as a bladed tail whipped down, hitting the ground and sending spiderweb cracks across the black marble. The scythe slashed out and cut a line across my chest but I’d slid back before it could cut very deep.
Screams of rage filled the air as the Void angels tore into the second ancient. Their blades sliced into it as they dive bombed it from all directions. The ancient retaliated, a staff in its hand spinning and knocking angels from the air. It then descended upon them, shattering a number of them, but there were thousands of them and only one of it. Their swords left no wounds behind, but the ancient staggered, unable to see out of the swarm of attackers. Naked souls rose up from the bodies of the defeated Void angels.
“World Forge,” I said, rolling to the side of another strike.
The lost souls rose up in new bodies, rejoining the frantic mayhem of battle. I stabbed and slashed into the ancient, spinning around it and blocking its tail on my gauntlet sword.
I froze for a moment as I felt another ancient enter my perception; it was moving even faster than the first two had. I had to end this fight as quickly as I could. Another ancient entered my perception and I cursed inwardly. I needed to go nova.
The closest ancient swung at me and I sidestepped just enough to let it graze me. Its tail nicked my leg above my knee as a consolation. Again and again I let it hit me, its attacks fast as lightning to the point where a mortal wouldn’t have even been able to watch the fight. I blocked the attacks as best I could but let some of them through; I needed to take damage if my plan was going to work. All the while I counted the seconds in my head.
One. A clawed hand raked across my chest scoring seven long cuts down my abdomen. Its tail ripped out a chunk of flesh along my leg where my boots would have once protected me.
Two. Its scythe cut a deep gash into my neck, spraying blood everywhere. Its clawed hands stabbed into my chest, piercing through and puncturing one of my lungs before I moved back.
Three. It's spiked tail ripped out the hamstring from my right leg then drove into my back and out the front before ripping a massive hole in my stomach.
Four. Its scythe cut through my abdomen and my guts started to pour out. Its clawed hand tried to yank off my helmet, but it pulled back and settled for taking a piece of my throat with it.
Five. Its blade cut into the flesh of my real arm, just at the shoulder and down to the bone. It went limp as my regeneration worked to repair it.
Six. The ancient sprayed out a fog of acid and I let it burn into my skin, my vision going red as capillaries in my eyes started to bleed.
Seven. The scythe clipped my helmet with the speed of a train and my body spun through the air, striking the mountainside and cracking stone and bone.
Eight. The ancient was upon me a second later as I jumped back to my feet, still somewhat dazed from that attack; its claws ripped at my still open stomach, spilling organs across the black marble.
Nine. Its scythe cut through my right leg, severing it from the knee down. tIs tail whipping out and struck along my spine; I could feel vertebrae crack from the force of it.
Ten. Its scythe cut through my ribs, through both of my hearts and lungs and its spiked tail shot through my eye socket into my brain. I was pretty sure if I hadn’t just hit Exarch rank in Mind I’d be dead now, but I could still think, and that was all that mattered.
I activated Void Shield, reversing all the damage I’d just taken. The ancient was surprised for only a second, but that was all I needed.
I activated the Eruption effect of Magma Hearts, doubling my damage for the next twenty seconds. Brutal Spite caused me to do six times the damage to a creature that had damaged me within the last thirty-four seconds. It had hit me so many times in the past few seconds that Mark of Vengeance would have reduced any damage reduction it had to zero. I’d also stored up ten percent of the damage from each of its attacks to add to a single attack, only nine percent of that accumulated damage had dropped off since I’d started preparing for this attack.
“Bloody Riposte, Piercing Charge,” I said.
Piercing Charge was still at rank one and only offered a point-two multiplier to damage, but every bit helped. I unleashed the stored damage from Brutal Spite as I struck the ancient with Clarent full force in the chest.
A vibration passed through the air, and everything went still for a moment. The ancient didn’t look down at its wound, it didn’t scream in agony, it just stopped existing, leaving behind a swirling vortex of energy behind.
Another ancient entered my perception and I grimaced.
“You need to upgrade another ability before Void Asura,” Voidra said. “You won’t be able to defeat those three other ancients if you aren’t more than you are now.”
“I handled that one fine,” I said.
“That one was kind of stupid and it wasn’t fighting you with help,” Ares said. “the Void angels are almost all gone.”
He was right, the Void angels had been halved in number already while fighting just one ancient. I stepped forward and began to draw in the vortex of energy. Black Rage was one of my most powerful abilities and all about scaling my power in a fight; I’d upgrade it next. I started pushing other abilities towards it. Now that I’d done it once, I felt I could keep it more stable without needing so many abilities, but I’d have to see.
I tried adding Piercing Charge but it didn’t work. One by one I tried my Skills, but it only accepted two abilities: Magma Heart(s) and Brutal Spite. I closed my eyes as I felt more Void angels be destroyed as they kept the other ancient distracted. The energy roiled and struggled to break out, but I pushed it down and forced it to calm. With a sudden collapse like a star dying, it all went still and pulled itself into one singular glowing star within me.
My eyes snapped open as I looked at the fruits of my latest harvest.
Shadow of Judgement: Rank 50, (Max Rank); Your rage is the force that determines who will live and who will die. To strike you is to condemn your attacker, and any who do so will pay the price for their transgressions.
Shadow of Death: Every wound you inflict or kill you make increases your Speed and Might by 5 for the next ten minutes. The world is pulled in around you as all light is condensed, casting you into darkness and making you harder to see and hit. While this is active, all fear effects are three times as likely to take effect and you are immune to any effect that would affect or alter your emotions. You can spend 1/16 of your max ethereal to deal double damage with all attacks for the next thirty seconds.
Cruel Vengeance: You deal x10 damage against a creature who dealt a Minor wound to you within the last minute (effect stacks). Anytime a creature hits you, they take a third of the damage they dealt to you as retributive damage and they gain a stack of Mark of Judgement*. You can store up to 20% of the damage you take from each strike and add that damage to an attack in the future (the stored damage drops off by 1% per second).
Wages of Sin: For every wound you are currently suffering from, your regeneration for all resources increases by x10. Every kill you make restores 25 stamina and 25 mana. The lower your resources are, the faster your regen rate becomes. For every missing 1% of a resource, its regen rate increases by the same amount.
*Mark of Judgement: Targets damage reduction and damage dealt are reduced by 1 stage for ten seconds.
*Petrify: Target is paralyzed for 3 seconds.
Final Rank Bonus: Your eyes burn with the fury of your wrath and can be seen even through the black mist surrounding you. Creatures that meet your gaze are inflicted with Petrify* on a failed Endurance test.
Cast Time:
Instantaneous/Passive
Cost:
5 ethereal per second
Each rank gives +1 Might, +2 Endurance, and +1 Power to your attributes.
I screamed. Pain, ecstasy and rage filled my howl which then morphed into a roar. My blood boiled, my muscles spasmed like separate organisms, and my hearts began to pound as if I’d just snorted every drug in existence as my Power, Might, and Endurance attributes all passed one-twenty-five and entered Exarch tier.
“World Forge,” I said, reforming bodies for all the broken Void angels.
My feet cracked the ground as I ran forwards, the Void angels taking to the air, exposing the ancient to me as we faced each other.
“You killed my mate, you shall suffer as….”
I didn’t let it finish, the time for words between me and its kind was over. I let it crack me with its staff, feeling bones fracture under the force of it, but that was all I needed to activate Shadow of Judgement. My attacks came in with ten times the force of normal. While my previous attacks had shown basically no effect on them, now the flesh of its body rippled and twisted as I cut and slashed my way across it.
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The ancient was still fast but I was able to keep up with it. Ares and Voidra blocked its attacks and Karnen, the Shadow, and I ripped into it. I still took a few hits, but I dished out more than I got. The staff cracked across my helmet, spinning my head around, tearing muscles and cracking my neck. My muscles in my neck began pulling themselves back together as my regeneration took full effect, snapping my head back around.
The ancient lunged forwards and I caught it by the throat and headbutted it, the spikes on my helmet ripping into it. It scrabbled, dropping its staff and wrapping its hands around my neck. I pushed forwards, not with my body but my soul, reaching outside of myself. My soul bit into the ancient as I began to draw the energy out of it into myself.
The energy siphoned into me as first a trickle, then a flood. The ancient thrashed in my hands, clawed hands, barbed tail, fangs from…I don’t know where, bit into me but I held tight, not letting it break free. The energy pooled as I funneled it into Void Asura. The bits of Dominion still floating around my soul got snapped up and pulled into the Vortex. I roared as the vortex imploded and the ability ranked up.
Void Asura, (Rank: 45): You have created a symbiotic relationship instead of a parasitic one with the spirits inhabiting you. Through the use of an ability token, you have changed this ability to make it somewhat compatible with the System. Through manipulation of your mana and stamina, they have created a third type of energy and can use it to manifest through your body and interact with the world.
Void Armor: You gain immunity to Void & Soul damage. The spectral arms created by the spirits residing in your soul when manifested appear armored, the armor has hardness 45 with an additional 1 hardness per twenty points of Spirit you have. Current hardness 57.
Void Edge: Your attacks while this ability is active deal Moderate Void damage and bypass 38 levels of hardness.
Void Soul: Like the beings of the Void, you feed on the souls of others to grow in power. Your Ethereal regeneration is increased by .07 and your max Ethereal is increased by 7 for every creature with a soul that you kill, permanently.
Void Arsenal: You are able to bind 7 weapons to your soul, letting you store them and summon and dismiss them at will. If you lose your weapons, they are transported back into your soul vault to be resummoned later.
Void Matter: You are linked to the Void, body and soul, and are able to make the Void manifest physically. For the cost of 10 ethereal, you can create 5 pounds of Void matter. The matter will degrade overtime while outside of the Void.
Void Shield: Time, space, and reality are not constant laws in the Void When you take damage, you can expend 100 ethereal to change the outcome of time and reality to negate all the damage taken in the past 11 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
Void Soul: Your soul exists both in and out of your body, time, and reality and also not. While a soul exists, an entity is never truly dead.
Void Sight: You can see the weak points in reality where the Void presses into the Material realms.
Void Door: You can open 1 temporary opening into and out of the Void that lasts for 10 seconds. You can create 1 permanent entrance into and out of the Void; the doorway will remain until removed by you.
Cost:
19 Ethereal per second
Cast Time:
Instantaneous
This ability should not exist. It will take 10x the normal amount of rank points for each rank up of this ability. Ranking up this ability does not advance any of your attributes.
I grinned as I read the description of the new effect.
“Void Asura,” I said.
A shimmering portal opened up. I stepped towards it and a wall of red energy appeared between me and it. I laid a palm on it and gritted my teeth as an electric shocking sensation ran through my soul.
Entrance to the world of Talba has been denied by its local gods. Any attempts to enter will result in immediate annihilation if you continue to try and gain entry.
I was still blocked but I breathed out a sigh of relief. We couldn’t leave but I could feel reality flowing in, stabilizing everything around me and the mountain. The portal snapped shut and I flew up the mountain landing beside Guinevere.
“How are you doing?” I asked, kneeling beside her.
“I’m ok,” Guinevere said, squeezing my hand. “Is it over?”
I kissed her forehead. “Not yet sweetie, but I’ve got a way to help you.”
I stretched out my hand, creating a permanent portal at the base of the temple. Reality flooded in and Guinevere sucked in a breath, her body releasing some of its tension.
“Are you going to be here?” Guinevere asked me, squeezing my hand again.
“There are more ancients on the way,” I said.
I felt some bitterness at not being able to be there for the birth of my daughter. I kissed her gently and rose to my feet, walking away. I looked over my shoulder as Guinevere lay on the pile of blankets and furs, her body heaving with contractions as they came faster and faster.
A roar reverberated through the Void, and I hung suspended in the air, looking across the plain outside the mountain. Three massive creatures sped towards the ziggurat, two more a ways behind them. The angels formed up behind me, their chorus rising in pitch and fervor. I shot forwards at the head of the angelic host as we descended upon the lead ancient.
My sword and spear pierced through black Void flesh. The ancient lashed out, striking me, but I blocked it from impacting my body directly. The impact still sent me flying, but I reversed my direction midair and went right back into the fight. A spear of thought appeared in the ancient’s hand as it took form. It stood on two legs but its neck was as long as a dragons and it had six sets of arms, each holding a spear. It stood forty feet tall at the shoulder with its long slender legs.
The spears lunged and stabbed for me. I rolled, ducked, and spun under the spears as I got in close. The other ancients were closing in and I had a minute tops to handle this one before I was getting gang banged five on one. A spear cut me through the stomach, spilling my guts yet I didn’t even react as I cut into the legs and flanks of the ancient.
“You are a deadly little pest,” the ancient said. “The glory will be great to the one who eats you.”
“Your kind loves to talk,” I grunted. “I’d appreciate it if you’d just shut up and die already.”
I reached my empty left hand out out and clenched my fist. Telekinesis gripped the ancient and held it in place. The spears in its hands quivered and shook as it fought to break free. I was certain this ancient had something it could do if I gave it the time. Voidra’s mother had messed with time itself so it was best I didn’t give this thing an opportunity to react to anything I did.
The ancient screamed as my soul bit into it. My soul shook its head like a dog with a rat as I started to scarf down the bits of energy. The ancient lashed out with its own soul, biting into mine in return, but it recoiled, screaming even more. I tore into the energy that made up the ancient Void entity and fed it into me. Void Asura wasn’t at max rank but I needed to strengthen my soul more before I could risk upgrading that again.
I picked one of my original abilities, Heightened Speed to upgrade. Speed had always served me well, and hopefully being augmented and empowered by the Void would amplify that even further. At the very least, it would upgrade my Toughness attribute to the point where I could break into the Exarch tier. The ability took in the energy and began to swell and mutate like a cancerous growth.
Both Jericoh’s Fall and Piercing Charge didn’t combine with it so I had to look for other abilities outside of my Speed attribute abilities. I started one after the other as I continued to drain the ancient dry, its struggles growing weaker and weaker as the other ancients came closer and closer. Troll Hide was sucked in, bonding with the vortex of energy and changing it further. I kept trying others and then Jotun Slayer bonded, and the energy stabilized. The last of the ancient’s energy drained into the ability and the Void entity was gone, its body and spears disappearing with it.
Heir of the Titans: (Rank 50, Max Rank); The slayer of giants becomes the giant. The giant slays the gods, a titan is born; your speed unmatched, your flesh perfected, your strength unyielding.
Spawn of the Hydra: Your skin’s hardness is increased by 10. Whenever you are cut, your flesh regenerates rapidly, reducing all afflictions and Debuff effects and durations by 99%. Your regeneration speed equals Minor Damage x your Toughness attribute x your Endurance attribute. You can go for 24 hours without your internal organs and 1 minute without your head or brain. Your limbs will quickly regenerate and restore after being cut off, or holding a severed limb to the stump will reattach it in a few seconds.
Blood of Kronos: You can increase the size of your body and equipment at will up to 25’ in height, and your weight by 5,000lbs, increasing your physical attributes by 50% while active. You deal double damage to creatures your own size or above and receive half damage from creatures half your size or below. You have immunity to all fear and mind control effects, a titan is above all creatures at all times.
Thief on the Wind: Your body can spring into motion as you move faster than any of your peers. Your body can move at 20x the speed your Speed attribute would allow. Your body vibrates at such speed and frequency, with a running start, you are able to pass through solid matter of Hardness 15 or under, leaving it completely unaffected by your passing. Your weapons also gain the ability to vibrate and bypass 15 hardness at a higher ethereal cost per second. The wind moves with you, pushing back opponents and flinging arrows to the side while disrupting attacks.
Final Rank Bonus: Your body is made of more pure energy than flesh and bone. Even if your body is destroyed utterly, if you have enough unspent energy within your soul, you can reform yourself from energy alone.
Cast Time:
Passive ability
Cost:
15 ethereal per second
Each rank of this ability grants 1 Might, 3 Speed, 2 Toughness, and 1 Endurance.
My body twisted and morphed as my muscles expanded then collapsed and expanded again. My hearts exploded then reformed, my bones twisted and strengthened.
Congratulations! You have raised one of your Attributes beyond 125, the Exarch limit. Your body will now physiologically change to adjust to this increase to keep your Attribute from killing you.
Your hearts have changed to better facilitate the Void energy surging through your body. Your hearts no longer produce blood, but rather pure liquid ethereal instead.
I’d missed the notifications for my other attributes passing into Exarch rank, but this was the last one I’d needed.
You have raised all your Attributes beyond one-hundred-and-twenty-five, the Hero limit, and you have reached Exarch rank. All damage done to you by creatures of a lower ranking than you is reduced by one damage stage for every stage you are above them. Damage dealt to a creature of a lower ranking than you is increased by one damage stage for every stage you are above them. You will only get a quarter of the normal rank points from creatures of a lower ranking than you.
The four ancients charged towards me and I looked up, a bright vicious smile flashing through the black mist surrounding me for a moment before my body began to grow in height and weight as I strode forward to meet them. My gaze swept across the ancients and they froze for a fraction of a second. These were the gods of the Void, but when I was through, there would be only one ruler remaining.