[Ability Unlocked: Greater Structural Sense Boost]
[Ability Unlocked: Greater Strength Boost]
[Ability Unlocked: Count Regenerator]
[Ability Unlocked: Flame Bullet]
[Ability Unlocked: Combination Forge]
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.
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Victor and Amadeus quietly wound their way down a street. They hadn’t heard from anyone for days at this point, but it didn’t matter. As long as they had food and water with them, they’d keep on pushing forward.
There was a marsh surrounding the road that they wound down. If there were monsters down there, they didn’t pose much of a threat to Victor anymore. But still, he kept his hand on his trusty Glock.
In his hands that weapon was deadlier than a tank cannon at this point. He’d stacked so many enhancements onto it that it had to be. Yet still so compact in his hands. And with every moment that he’d spent on his weapons, his Weaponsmith Heart became more a part of him.
He couldn’t imagine life without it. Though he wasn’t as attached to his other Seeds. They’d been a use to him and Amadeus, but never felt like integral parts of him like the Weaponsmith Heart did.
Amadeus had picked up a Seed that could provide them water, while Victor always seemed to miss out on it. He didn’t mind, however. He’d gotten this far with his current powers, and reached heights he couldn’t even imagine.
[
NAME: Victor Amadi
AGE: 36
SEEDS: [[ ]]
[[Weaponsmith Heart]]
[[Pyreborne Ember]]
[[Holy Fires]]
[[Pyreborne Ember]]
STATS:
STRENGTH: 170
SPEED: 50
SENSES: 37
RECOVERY: 55
STRUCTURAL SENSE: 215
THERMAL SENSE: 55
DEMONIC INTUITION: 45
FLAME VAULT: 275/275
AMMO:
9mm Cartridge x 1260
5.56 Cartridge x 660
ABILITIES:
(Weaponsmith Heart): [Unlock Structural Sense] [Basic Strengthening] [Ammo Counter] [Recovery Boost x 7] [Structural Sense Boost x 15] [Strength Boost x 9] [Infuse Attack] [Trap Ward] [Speed Boost x 6] [Senses Boost x 3] [Greater Structural Sense Boost x 5] [Greater Strength Boost x 4] [Count Regenerator] [Combination Forge]
(Pyreborne Ember): [Flame Vault] [Basic Fire Manipulation] [Flame Bullet] [Unlock Thermal Sense] [Thermal Sense Boost x 5] [Strength Boost] [Speed Boost]
(Pyreborne Ember): [Flame Vault] [Basic Fire Manipulation] [Unlock Thermal Sense] [Thermal Sense Boost x 3]
(Holy Fires): [Firemaker] [Unlock Demonic Intuition] [Demonic Intuition Boost x 6]
]
It had been ten long years for him. And he had the regrets to show for it. A million scars dotted Victor’s frame. Some came from the Vintarics he so despised. Others from the Imperials and their knights, and even some from an Angelo that seared his back. He was thankful that he’d survived that one especially, and taken the Angelo down in the end.
That was what had netted him his Holy Fires. It was a useful Seed, but Victor had made the mistake of getting too many centred on flame abilities. He’d thought they’d net him new Synergies, but he’d been quickly proven wrong.
The signs of battle were clear on Victor. And not just on him, but the world around him as well. Victor wasn’t a fool, he knew the Gates were multiplying. Every day it seemed he found a new kind of monster to fight. There were points that Victor thought of giving up, and he and Amadeus stayed for a few months or years near other survivors. But they weren’t living then.
He could scarcely remember their names. Every day would become a lull before it finally became too much to bear. Then, inevitably, he’d leave, and Amadeus would follow. Back onto the road, towards Washington and Charleston.
The body of a dead Titan rested beside the road that Victor and Amadeus crossed. It was a testament to the power of a combined force of Wielders. But for every single one they took down, ten more would take its place. It was worsening too, and Victor knew he couldn’t stop it any longer.
“Take a right here,” Victor told Amadeus. The man obeyed silently.
Victor tried several times to talk to the man, but Amadeus didn’t respond. He was too distraught to. That’s when they finally saw the outline of Washington DC. A breath left Amadeus’ mouth. There wasn’t much of a city left for him.
But despite that he still put his foot to the gas. Or electricity, Victor supposed, since they’d long abandoned the Beetle. At a certain point Amadeus had grown enough to just start supplying the power himself. Nowadays they barely stretched their feet until needed. And well for it too, since the monsters were the least of their worries.
Gangs had sprouted up not long after the Fall. They found it easier to rob their fellow man than help in the fight against the invaders. Victor scoffed when he thought of them. Just a bunch of dead men dragging others down.
He felt no sympathy when he came across their ruined camps, no matter how many crocodile tears they shed for him.
When their BMW reached the outskirts, Amadeus cut the power entirely. Victor didn’t question it. His enhanced senses gave it away even before he saw the Angelo come out of the back of a building. The giant monster looked menacing in its shining armour and glittering wings. But it was nothing more than a scavenger, looking for easy pickings among the corpses. Perhaps even trying to collect a Seed or two for its own crew considering how weak it itself looked.
That didn’t stop Victor from taking aim at it.
“Wait…” Amadeus warned. “They could still be inside! And fighting with you always leads to collateral.”
“I could take it out in one shot. Just use the Combination Forge,” Victor replied.
“And tell the whole city where we are too,” Amadeus countered.
“Do you think we could collapse a few buildings on it?” Victor asked.
“Luring it down’s going to be hard,” Amadeus told him.
“Call down lightning. Its wings will lock up.”
“Down to where you’re going to Trap Ward it?” Amadeus asked.
“Exactly.”
Amadeus thought for a moment. Victor looked out over the city and found the most broken buildings. His Structural Sense had improved the most out of anything else. In a way it had become a problem, as he didn’t even know how to turn it off now. But it did help identify weak points in structures.
It had especially come in handy in destroying a bridge the monsters had been building from the coast to the mainland. He’d been one of the most important players in stopping it. But now, it simply gave him an idea of where to look.
“There, between those two. I’m going to scout it out. When I give the signal from the balcony, bring the Angelo over,” Victor told him.
Amadeus nodded and Victor slipped out of the car. He ran across the street with a blur. Another thing he’d earned from his Weaponsmith Heart.
Victor skidded to a stop only when he reached the inside of the buildings. Just as he’d seen from the outside, it was barely holding together. Victor walked around the musty and dark ruins, running his hand along walls and pillars.
Chittering came from behind and Victor threw his dagger infused with an attack. The monster expired instantly with the dagger coming out the other end. A Vintaric adolescent though was a surprising sight. Usually, he only faced the adults now.
He walked some more until he finally managed the map the entire floor. Victor identified the key structural components of the building and stood in front of them. Half an hour later they were marked, and he left to finish the process on the other building.
Once both were done, Victor jumped from floor to floor until he could see the outside. Wasn’t pretty at all, but at least he only had the single Angelo to contend with. Victor flicked the switch on his walkie-talkie when he spotted Amadeus.
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“Ready on my end, Am.”
“Shouldn’t you be saying over, over?” Amadeus asked.
“Stop being a smart ass and do your job,” Victor replied before switching it off. Now all he had to do was wait. But why make it boring?
Victor dropped down from the tenth floor to the ground. His rifle jerked behind him, but that was the only reaction he had. He sat there in the back and loaded it before pointing it upwards.
Blue flame encompassed the rifle, and then the red of the Flame Bullet overlayed it. And then he waited. But not for long.
The second he heard the crack of lightning, he put his finger to the trigger and took aim. A second later he saw Amadeus come running in between the alley. He crossed it and made it to the other side, where Victor stood.
“It cannot save you, humans. No matter how much you try,” the Angelo tried to console them as it entered between the alley. Despite what it said, Victor could see it flying closer to the ground.
He tuned the monster out and took aim at its giant forehead. The bullet reached but a sword came in between him and his target.
“Accept your death graciously.”
“I don’t think I will,” Victor said, before shooting a fireball right into the building. His flame vault emptied a bit but that was of no concern to him. The fireball triggered the trap wards, exploding outwards from both sides of the building.
The Angelo— who had just a moment before been flying towards them— got pelted from both sides by the debris. Amadeus called down more bolts of lightning at the monster. Victor wasn’t idle either, shooting more and more infused blasts into its body until it finally collapsed to the ground. The final of the trap wards must have gone off too, as they buried the Angelo under a small hill’s worth of concrete.
The commotion caused a dust cloud to surround the block. Victor and Amadeus didn’t mind it as they walked forward and towards the Angelo’s face. They saw it crushed between the rocks, wings broken and armour chipped.
It pleased Victor to see it in such a state. It’s what their kind deserved after what they had done to him and his.
“Do you… do you think this will not cause more pain in the future? Why do you struggle so when you know the end is coming?”
“Because it’s better than laying down and dying,” Victor told the monster.
He hadn’t needed his Combination Forge after all. The monster willingly let Victor take a bullet through its skull. And then the Angelic creature died, leaving behind two Seeds.
Victor stowed his rifle and picked the both of them up. He knew these ones. Bleeding Stone and Constructor’s Glove. One for healing the wounded and another for building structures. Neither of which were of any use to him.
“Keep it, Am. We can sell it for supplies later,” Victor told him. though by this point almost everyone ought to have a Seed or two, it didn’t mean that they couldn’t use the options.
Amadeus tucked the two glowing Seeds away in his pouch and rose from the giant corpse of the Angelo before them.
“Are you ready to see them?” Victor asked, dusting himself off.
“As I’ll ever be.”
They both dropped to the streets and began walking. Walking and walking, until it felt like to Victor that Amadeus was slowing down on purpose.
“Am, are we close?” he asked.
“Y…yeah…” he said, though his eyes were looking front.
The building wasn’t even standing any more. There was a discarded sign for an orphanage beside the building. The name on the building was scuffed, but Victor could make it out as “Levine Family Group Home.”
“They might’ve left. You stay here while I look for clues,” Victor asked of the man. Amadeus didn’t reply, so Victor took the initiative to run inside and start searching.
The place was relatively small for a house, by his estimate. He looked around in the rooms and found the beds, which were cramped together all at once. Pictures plastered the walls of children of various tones and sizes.
At the back of the room was a giant cork board where a single picture stood out amongst the rest. It showed the children of the group home, and Amadeus among them. he looked so happy there with a gap-toothed smile that it hurt to see him now.
The rest of the place was dark so Victor pulled out his Flame Vault and lit a ball of flame above his hand. It had taken him a long time to get used to some abilities, while others came much more easily to him.
The fire provided illumination, but revealed nothing to the eye. He walked over to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards but they were empty. So was the fridge and none of the closets had clothes inside of them.
They must’ve run away. Victor and Amadeus would just need the help of some Wielders but they were bound to be able to track them down, right?
“AHH!”
Victor turned towards the sound. That had sounded like Amadeus! He rushed over with flame in one hand and a pistol in the other.
“Am, what’s wrong!” he shouted into the room, only to find his friend laid out on the floor.
He didn’t need to explain the site. Amadeus’ family were all still here.
****
Victor felt that same numbing feeling that had become so common over the years. The one that stopped him from thinking straight. Only, if he were suffering it, Amadeus had it ten times worse.
The man was basically catatonic at this point. Victor had to drag him out of the building and back into the car after what he’d seen.
“Ten years… all for that…” he kept repeating to Victor. Between the both of them they hadn’t the motivation to go much further. It was at times like these that got Victor thinking he should’ve stayed behind with Audrey all those years ago. He didn’t know how it would go but it would’ve been better than this, wouldn’t it?
Even if it was a false life, where they didn’t know the outcome of his family. He shuddered to think what that meant for him and his family.
No… No, he couldn’t talk like that. If he started considering it, he’d never stop. And then he didn’t know what he’d do.
Victor let his foot off of the pedal and watched the car speed up all the way down the hills. They’d taken a winding way towards it, but it was finally time. But when he found the city, it was more alien than any other he’d seen.
It was almost like a second settlement had been built over the first. Supports jutted out of the ground in the middle of roads and in the middle of shops, holding up buildings that fit no style that Victor had seen on earth.
Gold and white painted the buildings, in the form of actual metal or marble. Those buildings had balconies and large platforms for landing things that Victor couldn’t see. But he didn’t see any Gate around that justified the giant settlement.
The only one he could see was the one that had started it all. The main Gate that had started it all. The one most had begun to call the Road to Hell. He hated the fact he could see it so clearly from his own home. There were even bridges extending from the damn thing, leading right towards him.
Though he hated to see the influence of Imperials in his town, Victor had larger matters to attend to.
“Can you believe it? Those bastards converted my city into this,” Victor complained to Amadeus, who still didn’t respond. He sighed, conceding that he couldn’t force him to talk.
Victor drove down the foreign roads until he finally found one that seemed familiar. He knew it well even after all these years and the numerous obstacles in his way. This was the path he took back to his house every day.
Victor drove around the distractions and made it to the front of the house. This was it, where he would find the answers to his questions. A sense of finality filled Victor’s heart, for reasons he couldn’t name at the moment.
He was afraid, he knew that much. But Amadeus came out with him, and that helped a little.
“Thanks, Am.”
They both stepped forward and he clutched the door handle. It opened easy enough, and on instinct Victor shouted out.
“I’m home!”
But no one replied. He stepped forward regardless and looked around his house for the first time in a long while.
It was a bit funny how little things had changed. Everything was where it was supposed to be. The cookie jar was in the overhead cupboards so Charlie and Vivian couldn’t reach it. There was food in the microwave for when they’d want to eat it. And He could see his dad’s glasses on the counter where he usually forgot them.
He was looking at his home, but it looked twisted to him. there were years of dust on his father’s glasses. The food in the microwave had gotten rotten and gave off a disgusting smell. And the jars in the cupboards were filled with mold.
Something was wrong here, and he could feel it in his bones.
Victor rushed out of the kitchen and back into the main hallway.
“Mom! Dad!” he shouted for them. No reply.
“Vivian! Charlie!” he tried again. No reply.
“Come out, it’s me! Please!”
He kept his shouting up until they reached the lounge. There was supposed to be a TV there, but the entire room was blocked off by a boulder. A hole in the roof gave away its origin. And underneath it he could see a single decomposed hand, one who’s sleeves were all too familiar to him as a boy.
One who’s finger had a beautiful ring on it. It was his father’s hand under that boulder, and it wasn’t the only one.
Around it he could see more skeletons. Those that wore the clothing of his mother, his sister and his brother. What… had they been doing?
But he knew the answer all too well. They were cheapskates. Probably had only a single AC on in the place to save on the electricity bill. And it had cost them their lives.
A welp came from Victor’s throat without his knowledge. A tear formed in his eyes afterwards. He tried so hard to keep it in, to not break down, until a hand pressed against his back.
“I’m sorry, Vic…”
“Auug…. Aaaa… AAAAAAA-”
His screams devolved into an inhuman voice that he couldn’t recognize. He slammed his fists against the floor and broke it easily. His nails scratched into it and bled at the friction. And he kept screaming and screaming until his throat ran dry.
Victor didn’t know how long had passed when he looked up. Looked up at the beautiful starry sky that he used to fall asleep to. What the hell was he supposed to do? What was the point of all this power when he couldn’t even save the ones he loved?
What had they done to deserve the invasion of monsters? Had humanity truly deserved this end? Dying out to a species of monsters who could level cities, destroy buildings and crush mountains? And all they had in return were the pesky abilities they harvested from them?
It was an unfair game. And he refused to play it any longer.
He wiped his eyes. A light entered his vision and forced him to squint.
“What is…” he said with a shaky voice.
In his vision, something happened in the ocean. He and Amadeus climbed the boulder and stood to watch over as another Gate opened. One much larger, much wider than the one before. The pillar of light was so bright it made the city light up like it was daytime.
And from inside it came only a single solitary figure. Something in the shape of a human, but with its features and colours shifting every moment. It looked like a glowing oil reflection that switched between male and female every second. The disorienting sight forced Victor to raise his hand.
The figure moved forward slowly. Behind it, more monsters popped out from the Gate. Imperials, who looked like gold and white knights. Titans, whose legs extended deep below into the ocean as they let out an eldritch scream. Hives of Vintarics that fluttered in the sky followed by Angelos.
A million other kinds of monsters also appeared. Everywhere the shifting figure walked, more Gates seemed to pop open and monsters followed. It was the single largest collection of them that Victor had seen in his life.
Opposite to the Gate came something else. A large tear in the world that opened a city-length wide. It didn’t feel like a Gate to Victor, and those suspicions were confirmed when the first of the humans made their way through it. Some were dressed in armour and wielded guns, others only their powers and fists.
There were blades alight and a thousand different forms of energy glowing in the air at their arrival, but Victor knew it wouldn’t be enough. The all-consuming army of the monsters was just too big.
“We have to help them,” Amadeus said. Amadeus, who had been too broken to even utter a word before.
“I mean, what else are we going to do?” he added. Victor chuckled.
“Guess you’re right.”
Victor jumped down towards their BMW. He popped open the truck and took out the cases. There were several inside and he took each one. Then he spread them out to reveal rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers and more. He’d been collecting every variety he could for as long as they’d been travelling.
The figure of oil approached his location but didn’t notice Victor at all. It was for the best, because what he was about to do required complete concentration.
Victor focused on the Weaponsmith Heart that had guided him all these years. He breathed in and let it envelop the whole of his being.
After leaving Los Angeles, Victor had found something peculiar about his abilities. They were ranked in different layers. It started at Layer One, which he called the Base Layer. There were the abilities that his Seed granted him immediately upon integrating it.
It went through Layers Two to Five, all the way from Initiated to Master. He’d never unlocked a Master ability, but he’d gotten close enough. And that was Layer Four, where the Combination Forge had become available to him.
He didn’t know the specifics, only that it was his trump card from then on. Victor held his pistol in one hand and the rifle in the other. And he activated the Combination Forge.
Immediately, the two guns broke apart into pieces. They reforged themselves a moment later, into something impossible and powerful. Victor then went one by one, touching and reforging until he’d melded all of his weaponry together into a single firearm.
The weapon he’d made had no name. It was the length of a car and thick as a tree trunk. It would’ve been almost impossible to wield had it not been for his strength. Victor hoisted it up to his shoulders and aimed through one of the various scopes on the device, right at the oil figure.
He infused the weapon, causing blue flames to burst open across the seams. He then let the red aura of Flame Bullet consume it. The weapon charged up and Amadeus stepped forward to hold it as well. Both of their strength fed into it as a single beam of condensed power shot out.
Victor put his every being into the attack. It would’ve taken out an Angelo by itself had he done it alone. But he kept pushing more power into it, even as his Weaponsmith Heart cracked into pieces, even as it pained him to do so.
And the beam mauled the figure in an instant. All eyes turned towards the sight of the explosion in the skies. It sent a wave of dust blowing back on the ground. Victor felt his Weaponsmith Heart crack in that instant and break apart, just as the Combination Forge did.
But that was of no concern to him. He waited for the figure to fall from the skies with bated breath, but it never did. Instead, the figure looked at him with curiosity through the explosion. Not annoyed, not angered, simply… intrigued. The monster grew out long twisting hair and waved slowly through the air.
The entire assembled human army fell apart from a barrage of attacks that came out of nowhere. Their magic failed and they died pathetically. Victor repeated his question to the world. Where was the fairness in it all?
The world responded in the form of a glowing blade of light. One that parted the heavens and dropped down into Charleston, ending his life.