Chapter 148 – Supervillian

Jack glanced down at the tiny gnomish hand extended out towards him, and then back to the gnome. Then he lashed out with both his daggers. A block of ice appeared faster than he could make contact, encasing Mortimaxx entirely. Jacks was rewarded with chips of ice as his daggers easily bounced off the block.

Then the block of ice exploded.

He launched himself backwards, trying and failing to avoid the hailstorm of ice that ripped through him. He jumped once off the air, reorienting himself so he could charge back in. The moment before his foot could touch the ground, a disc of ice appeared causing him to lose any ounce of traction. He stumbled forward, trying to catch himself but the gnome kept summoning discs of ice beneath his feet every time he tried to step somewhere.

A bellowing war cry shook the earth from behind and Gaiju charged in, her fury still burning hot as she encased herself in blood red frozen armor. Mortimaxx actually chuckled as he held his hand out towards her and balled his fist like he was grabbing onto something. He pulled his hand back towards himself. Gaiju was left standing there as she stumbled out of her charge, her frozen armor ripped off.

The ice armor that was ripped off her body swirled around in shattered pieces neatly in front of Mortimaxx. “Still ten thousand years too early to even think about using ice magic against me,” the gnome scoffed.

With another flick of his wrist the frozen pieces of armor reshaped into a deadly spear of ice that he sent straight towards Gaiju’s head. Devin met it head on, appearing from behind a pile of bone like a man possessed. He sent three swords shooting out from behind his shoulder straight towards Mortimaxx. Gaiju quickly recovered, although with her own ice mana being so easily neutralized, she was left only with her giant cleaver to charge forward. She did let loose another warcry and Jack felt the hair on the back of his neck stick up, her warcry giving him a sudden jolt of what felt like pure adrenaline. With Mortimaxx focusing on the other two Jack could finally get decent footing. He launched forward off the ground to join the attack.

“Freeze.”

The temperature dropped so sharply that frost began to build up on Jack’s skin. His movement felt rigid as ice began to climb up his feet, rooting him to the ground entirely. The swords Devin launched fell out of the air, the frost overcoming them completely. Both Devin and Gaiju were in similar situations to Jack. They ripped their feet free and continued forward, but it was growing colder and colder with every passing second, the frost more overbearing the closer they moved to Mortimaxx. Jack was shivering so badly that he dropped one of his daggers.

Mortimaxx glared at them for a long moment. “Can I trust we are done with this silliness?” the gnome asked.

No one responded. No one really could respond. The gnome rolled his eyes and then waved his hand. The temperature returned to normal and both Devin and Jack dropped to the ground shivering. Gaiju seemed the only one relatively ok.

“Why did you attack? You’re clearly outnumbered and I’m currently as strong as it gets at the moment. Are you stupid?” The way Mortimaxx asked it felt like a teacher chastising their student.

“L-limit t-t-t-testing,” Jack managed to say through chattering teeth.

It was mostly true. Jack didn’t really have a good idea of how strong he needed to be to kill the mayor. He glanced at Devin and Gaiju, then back over to Mortimaxx, who looked bored with the whole situation. Jack wasn’t prepared to say he lost outright, he had a lot left in the tank and several more cards up his sleeve. Likely the same for Devin and Gaiju. However, he was the only one who was fresh, and the fight started off about as badly as it possibly could have. There was also the twenty unmoving death knights waiting patiently behind Mortimaxx that were going to be a problem.

“Well, as far as tests go, I would give you all a failing grade. Come now, have some tea and warm up.”

One suspiciously large death knight climbed off his decaying horse and pulled out a table and chairs from his void sack. Mortimaxx conjured forth his own tea set, with palm sized skulls for cups. The kettle was ivory, and if Jack had to make a wild guess, it was bone as well. Mortimaxx tilted to the side, pouring steaming hot water into the four cups. He pulled out a small bud and dropped one into each cup. A four petaled flower opened up and turned the water a deep violet color. He gave a small nod to his death knight attendant who picked up two cups and walked them over to Gaiju and Devin.

“Come, join me,” Mortimaxx gestured to the chair set up opposite himself, staring at Jack with a placating smile.

Jack pushed himself slowly off the ground and stared at the tea for a long moment. Admittedly, he could use a hot beverage, but he hated tea.

“It’s not poisoned, I promise,” Mortimaxx said, completely misunderstanding Jacks hesitance.

“I don’t think there’s a drink in existence that could actually kill me,” Jack said as he took a long pull from the cup.

The warm liquid worked its way through his body, and magically, Jack felt like a normal human being again as his body temperature shot back up.

“How is it?” the gnome asked, excitement gleaming in his eyes.

“It tastes exactly how I thought flowery water would taste. Got anything stronger?”

“Just so.” Mortimaxx pulled from his robe a tiny vial, corked with what looked like a tiny human skull.

“Fairy Bone Sweat. Ever had it?” Mortimaxx pulled off the tiny skull cork. A spine was still attached to it, and a shimmering liquid was dripping off of it. Mortimaxx dipped it into his tea and gave it a few stirs. Then did the same to Jack’s cup as well.

“Try it,” he grinned.

Jack took another slow slip of his tea, the same warmth crawling through his body. For a short moment he felt nothing. He held up his hand a second later, squinting at it.

“Are my bones…”

“Vibrating?” Mortimaxx finished for him with an excited clap. “Yes. Yes, they are.”

Jack leaned back in his chair, letting the feeling sink in. It felt like he was getting a full body massage from the inside out. He ran his tongue over his teeth, the vibrations numbing the tip of his tongue as he did so.

“Holy shit this feels good.”

“Enjoy it. A rare delicacy. You have no idea how difficult it is to get bones to sweat.” Mortimaxx said, returning the cork to its vial and sliding it back into his robe.

Jack sat for a long moment, sipping on the tea and enjoying the feeling of his bones vibrating.

“Tell me, how are you finding your stay in Broken Moon City? I was very excited to see you taking an active role in my city council.” The gnome finally asked.

“Was going great until yesterday and your arbiters went fucking crazy and killed my entire faction.”

Mortimaxx sucked in air through his teeth, as though stuck in a faux pas “Yes, I do apologize about that, at danger level six they become death knights, become blood lusted, and I lose control over them. To be fair though, your faction was… How should I say this… Hunting them for sport? It’s no wonder they turned feral against you.”

Jack glanced at the death knights lined up behind the mayor.

“Don’t worry about these guys,” Mortimaxx gestured behind him. “My personal vanguard, created by me. They won’t be disappearing once the danger level drops.”

“Good to know…” Jack narrowed his eyes at Mortimaxx. Back on earth, more than one mob boss had attempted to butter him and Hannah up. It often went exactly like this. A show of power, followed by an offer he couldn’t refuse. Naturally, Jack refused those kinds of forced offers, and all hell would break loose. This was starting to feel like one of those times. The only difference being the mayor’s display of power had been rather impressive. Refusal wasn’t going to be an option this time.

Jack let out a long sigh. “What do you want?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Ah, onto business, yes.” Mortimaxx clapped. “I would be correct in assuming you work for the Black Centipede, no?”

“What makes you say that?”

“You’re gallivanting around in a centipede cloak. Please, don’t insult my intelligence.”

“Towers a big place. I’m sure lots of people have centipede cloaks,” Jack shrugged.

“The Tower isn’t that big I’m afraid. Only one organization is allowed the mark of the centipede.” Mortimaxx leveled a gaze at Jack. For a brief moment the immortal lich bore down on his soul, his gentlemanly façade dropping in a flash. Jack suppressed a shiver under the intensity of his gaze.

“I’ll level with you,” Jack finally said, “my relationship with the Black Centipede is… complicated. But if you need me to kill someone, I’m sure I could help ya out.”

“Wonderful,” the gnome clapped, all signs of the lich disappearing in a flash. “Follow up question because I would hate for you to get in trouble—would you have issues working directly against your coworkers?”

Coworkers… Jack thought, confused. “Wait. Do you mean Cumberlin? Just ask him. I’m sure he would be more than willing to work with you.”

“Unfortunately, Cumberlin and the majority of the Black Centipedes services have already been procured by the Twilight Lord for an upcoming event. I was hoping that since you seem to be at odds with them, I could work with you instead.”

So, he knows I’m on the outs with the Black Centipede, knows I’ve fought with Cumberlin, yet he still wants to hire me for a job, Jack thought, chewing on his tongue. Things were getting complicated fast.

“You’re well informed,” Jack said.

“There is nothing I don’t know in my city,” he smiled. “I trust there won’t be any problems if you accept the job?”

“Hell if I know,” Jack shrugged. “What’s the job?”

“I would like you to assassinate the Twilight Lord,” the gnome said matter of fact.

Jack thought about that for a moment. He didn’t know much about the Twilight Lord. People weren’t willing to share information about him.

“Why don’t you just kill him yourself?” he asked. “Seem plenty powerful.”

“Where do you think I’ve been for the last day? That coward has himself hidden away in a fortress specifically designed to keep me out. The little rat refuses to face me past danger level three.”

“You saying you only need it to be danger level four to kill him?” Jack raised an eyebrow.

“I could kill him at danger level one if I wanted, but my heart just isn’t in it for that type of fight anymore. Danger level four is more than enough for the fight to be easy though, which is why he avoids me. The Twilight lord is strong, but he lacks talent. Those who pay their way to power are trivial to defeat at best.”

“Why do you want him gone?” Jack asked.

“What’s this? An assassin who cares? How charming,” Mortimaxx gave him an amused smile. “He’s overstayed his welcome in Broken Moon. The city has turned into a joke because of him. No one stays here, they just beeline it to his sector where he’s turned the floor into nothing but a trivial joke. Did you know he rents out adventurers to help you level up and complete the floor quest? It’s absurd and I want him gone.”

“I’m still not sure why you need me for this. You’ve been around a while. Surely you’ve got better contacts then the guy who is at odds with the guild of assassins.” Jack scratched his chin. He was missing something; he just didn’t know what.

“Well, he’s bought himself some insurance. No one is willing to kill him.”

Jack raised an eyebrow at that. “If no one is willing to kill him, what makes you think I will? What’s his insurance?”

“As I’m sure you’ve heard, he’s summoned the Millenium Auction house,” Mortimaxx said with a disheartened sigh.

Jack stared blankly at the gnome. “You do realize I’ve been fighting for my life the last twenty or so hours, right?”

“Of course, of course, what I’m am thinking, you've been distracted," he nodded. "The Millenium Auction house is a once in a lifetime event with exceptionally rare items.”

“How rare are we talking?”

“The first time the auction house was summoned, an Ancient tier item was sold. The Sunkiller Staff,” Mortimaxx smiled as though recalling a fond memory. “It was a simple weapon as far as Ancient items are concerned. It came with three spells, unlimited casting. Solar Flare, Solar Cannon, and Solar Bomb. It was a staff worthy of the mightiest of battlemages.”

“What happened to it?”

“The same thing that happens to anyone with too much money and not enough sense. He died in a dumb duel and the weapon disappeared from the Tower. However, the second Ancient item from the Millenium auction house does still exist—Embrace of the Doppelganger.”

Jack just stared at the gnome expectantly.

“The Embrace of the Doppelganger,” he smiled, “is a magic mirror that creates a perfect clone of its user. Strengths, skills, abilities, magic items. Everything outside of the mirror is duplicated. The user of the mirror can then sacrifice their clone to double their strength for a limited amount of time.”

“Fuck,” Jack said, thinking about the possibilities if he had a clone as deadly as he was. Hell, he could give it to a healer and have two healers, or two Devins, or two Hannahs!

“Fuck indeed,” Mortimax nodded. “I believe its original user still holds the item. If you ever come across someone referred to as the Suicide Twin, I suggest you run.”

“How is this considered insurance for the Twilight Lord?” Jack asked.

“Well, once you kill him, everything inside the sector he’s built disappears, including the Millenium Auction house which is currently under construction.”

Mortimaxx stared at Jack with the sort of smile of a man who knew what question was going to come next.

“So we wait until the auction is finished… and then I kill him?” Jack tried.

“Nonono. He needs to die before the auction house can be completed.”

“Why the fuck would I do that? You just told me about the two craziest items I’ve ever heard of, and you want me to put a stop to that? Fuck no. I want overpowered magic items.”

Mortimaxx didn’t say anything. Instead, he pulled out something from his robe. It was a glass container wrapped with silver bands. The bands had ancient glyphs carved into them. Glyphs which refused to be translated. Glyphs which Jack recognized. He narrowed his eyes at the contents of the container. A small circular orb of pale blue was sparking violently inside.

Lightning Core Module

Type: Core Module

Tier: Rare

A lightning module designed for use with an Omni-Core.

*****

Product of Andurian

“I can help you with your core situation.” Mortimaxx stared Jack down, wearing the smile of a devil.

Jack’s hand flashed forward with a life of their own, grabbing the core. He frowned when no prompt came to use the item. He tried to remove the top of the lid before Mortimaxx stopped him.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” he started, pulling out another container much the same as Jack was holding. Jack inspected the new container.

Water Core Module

Type: Core Module

Tier: Rare

A water module designed for use with an Omni-Core.

*****

Product of Andurian

He watched as the gnome cracked the container open. The water core inside disappeared before the glass could even fully crack. Jack frowned, staring down at the buzzing lightning core in his hands.

“It’s not really a core, but a module, designed to be used with something greater,” the gnome teased.

“You know where this Omni-Core thing is?” Jack asked, reading the description over and over again.

“I might,” Mortimaxx smiled, then leaned forward, the smile disappearing and the lich returning. “I want you to hold on to that as a down payment. Kill the Twilight Lord, stop the auction, and I shall see too it your core is restored.”

Jack’s eyes flashed from the core he held in his hand, back to Mortimaxx, then back to the core. He was getting close.

“Why?” a voice came from behind Jack. He glanced back at Devin who seemed to be listening intently. Jack had honestly forgotten the man was there. He decided right then and there that if Devin got in the way of restoring his core, he was going to kill the man. Devin glanced at Jack and gave him a reassuring nod that he had no intention of intervening.

“Why you ask?” Mortimaxx smiled. He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, handing it to Jack.

Event Notice

The Millenium Auction Returns

Location: Second Floor

Artifacts of unimaginable power, relics whispered about in forgotten tomes, legendary armaments that could reshape the fabric of the Tower itself. This is your chance to purchase your destiny.

Jack inspected the notice, then handed it to Devin.

“It’s posted on every quest board, on every single floor of the Tower,” Mortimaxx continued. “As for why I want to put a stop to it… Well, let’s just say I’m tired of people not taking the second floor seriously. Powerhouses from all over the Tower will be coming to the second floor for a chance at an Ancient tier item. I’m going to kill their dreams, and remind everyone who I am.”

Jack nodded slowly. A supervillain. A supervillain was who Mortimaxx was.