~~~Stanley~~~
Stanley was busy killing off a lair from the outside when he felt an echo of pain stab through him. He knew what it meant an instant before a wall of pressure crashed down on his mind.
Lee was under attack... and losing.
The rage came easily, rising in a torrent as he turned it against whatever fuckface was trying to kill his twin. Fuck you, you son of a bitch! Get the fuck out of our heads!
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Mental Fortress has reached the Level 10 Threshold. No Evolution Available.
Mental Fortress Upgraded to Level 10 (Basic)
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
He liked that, but it was too little, too late, as something dark stabbed into their soul.
Debuff Gained: [Soul Intrusion]
Not again. Never again! He reached for the tendril of intruding darkness, and the little shadow of Caffeine hiding in their soul got there first, chomping it clean off with one bite and sending a scream of pain resounding through whatever was attacking them. Good!
Debuff Removed: [Soul Intrusion]
Unfortunately, it wasn't without consequences.
Stanley wasn't sure if the intruder had pulled it free or if it was because Caffeine's shadow had shifted from where he stood on the crack, but a spark of source drifted from the wound. It sparkled in the gloom of their soul, a tiny drop of limitless power...
A drop that Lee snatched up.
Source is burning your body and mind: -100 All Base Attributes per second.(+80 from Source Nexus)
-100% Health per second from Source
+100% Health per second from Source Regeneration
Stanley couldn't tell what Lee did with it, but the pressure vanished, so he must have done something right.
-1 Twin-Soul
Or not? What the hell was...
The pressure reappeared, but worse this time. A thousand times worse. A million. Billion. Infinitely worse. It felt like a god had appeared. A dark, malevolent, and hungry god that wanted nothing more than to devour everything, Stanley and his brother included. Except it wouldn't even notice when it swallowed them up. They were so far below this thing that they might as well not exist.
Debuff Gained: [Soul Suppression]
Stanley raged against it. Even as he knew his paltry resistance was pointless. Even as he saw Caffeine sprinting his way with desperate abandon, the pug little more than a black streak and leaving an expanding trail of destruction in his wake.
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Reality seemed to stutter step around him as he fought back against the pressure. He was in the air, then on his knees in the dirt, and then Caffeine was standing over him, a towering behemoth howling in defiance against something that would never hear him, let alone care.
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
His world compressed further with each passing moment beneath that crushing presence. Light fled from the dark. Caffeine's howl faded into the distance. Until even the memory of light and hope became long-forgotten things of the past.
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Stanley knew only one thing as he slowly and instantly lost the fight. The only thing he could feel outside of this hopeless and insignificant war he waged against the impossible.
Caffeine.
The pug stood with them. Growling. Defiant. Fighting back against the dark with his own inconceivable power. Except something was very wrong. Caffeine, the unquestionable and unassailable Beast Lord of Earth, was terrified.
He'd been afraid before. He'd been worried. But nothing like this. Never like this. It wasn't possible. It shouldn't be possible. It was wrong.
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Stanley wanted to rage and scream against the wrongness of it all, but it was far too late. He had already lost. He was all hollowed out. Flattened. Then somehow crushed even further. Into oblivion.
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
His last glimpse before the darkness swallowed him up was of Caffeine growling in a heartbreaking mix of terror, defiance, and, strangely, a threat. He was threatening the... no; he wasn't threating. It was a promise.
Caffeine was promising to deliver complete and utter annihilation... to a god. It was a promise he believed in, even as his heart broke at the prospect...
Stanley fell.
...
Then clawed himself back out of the dark with a scream. "NO! Don't..."
His breath caught when nothing looked right, and it took him long moments to realize the sun had moved since he'd last seen it. How long was I down? It couldn't have been very long if nothing was trying to eat...
"Caw!"
His groggy and confused gaze landed on a crow. The crow... had it protected him? Its soul flashed, and it hoped in place next to a small black shape laying unmoving in the dirt... "Caw!"
Stanley's heart turned to ice even as clarity returned to his mind with one terrible thought. "Caffeine... no!"
He learned two things in the instant it took to arrive at Caffeine's side. His domain told him Caffeine was alive and uninjured, and his soul told him the same thing, including that Lee was as well. Though his twin felt... dim. They both felt dim and were both unconscious.
Still, this was good... right? Lee was alive! Caffeine was alive! Stanley repeated that like a mantra as he gently settled the limp pug in his lap while the crow watched him silently.
Lee was alive. Caffeine was alive. They'd all survived against... whatever that was... and how the hell did his brother find a monster like that!? How the fuck were they still alive!? It was literally impossible! That thing could level Boston with a sneeze. Everyone and everything here, human, monster, and undead. All of them fighting together would make absolutely no difference in the face of that much power.
Which begged the question of how the fuck were they still alive!?
The last thing he remembered was Caffeine growling, and... had he been threatening it? He had. Caffeine had definitely been threatening a god. Which was insane!
It was also exactly what he would expect from the pug. His fearless guardian. His mostly fearless guardian... because he also remembered feeling Caffeine's terror as he ran to save his humans. That part was bad enough, but thinking about the crushing pressure Caffeine must have been feeling on top of that... it left a sick feeling in Stanley's stomach. It made his chest tight. It made him want to scream... and above all, it made him angry. So. Very. Angry.
None of that explained how they were alive, and obviously, it wasn't because of Caffeine. Had it been after the source? What else could it be? If it was after them, then what the hell could they even do about it!? Even if he wielded the source himself, it wouldn't matter against that thing!
Greater challenges, my ass! Stanley wished he could see that smug alien again. He'd punch it in the fucking mouth! Rules... They'd changed the rules, but they couldn't have changed it that much... could they? Maybe that meant the monster couldn't actually touch them? Because it hadn't...
That whole ordeal had been nothing more than its mere presence crushing them. Stanley had the notifications to confirm... Did that mean it was now lurking somewhere out there? Waiting for its chance to come eat them?
If it couldn't touch them yet, then they still had a chance. They could get stronger, though imagining himself strong enough to fight against that thing felt... impossible. Forget all of Boston; that thing was probably strong enough to crush the entire planet into dust...
Stanley eyed the bird that was watching him with what he thought was wariness since it hadn't jumped on his shoulder like it usually did. There were a few headless zombies around, but he wasn't sure if those were his or the crow's kills. Either way, at least it hadn't tried to kill him? Or had it been about to? Is that why it seemed nervous?
"Caw!"
No, it wasn't the bird's nervousness. It was the humans lurking further away. Behind it. Stanley moved.
"You're too late to kill me," he growled down at the huddled cowards, and every head but Blindfold's snapped to his new position with fear in their souls. They were definitely plotting...
"We weren't trying to kill you," Blindfold said. "We were trying to figure out what attacked you and where it went."
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He believed what he was saying, but the others were still nervous. They should be. They didn't know what was out there... and how completely screwed everyone was. Still, they could help him get stronger, and maybe, just maybe, they could help him get out of this dungeon. Well, one of them could. "Harem, you..."
"Stop calling me..."
"I don't care what your fucking name is!" Stanley screamed, getting in his face. Then he took a breath and said as softly as he could, "You are going to use your domination power on me right now, or I am going to kill you. Okay?"
Harem really was a coward, and he only stumbled backward with terror in his soul. "But..."
Not all of them were cowards, however, and Stanley sent his knife to Reflector Bitch's throat and pointed a finger at Bubbles. "I will kill you if you get in my way!"
Both of them froze, but Stanley could still feel Bubbles getting ready to attack. The idiot. He really thought he was fast enough? So be it. Someone else would get his class shard. Sure, they'd have to start all over with leveling, but who cared? The class was practically worthless, anyway.
C...
"What happened to Caffeine?" Blindfold asked.
Bubbles hesitated, and Stanley stiffened as his gaze jumped to the unconscious pug in his lap. "I..." There had been that whole threatening a god thing... but that was probably nothing. The fact that his soul felt so dim meant nothing! He was fine. He'd be fine! "He... he's just tired."
"What attacked you? Was it the undead?" Blindfold was trying to distract him by changing the subject. "We came running when we heard you screaming, but didn't see anything before it stopped." Or was he playing peacemaker? Had he realized Stanley wasn't bluffing? Maybe not using his eyes was making his other senses better. Like his survival sense.
"I wasn't screaming." Was he? He didn't remember having enough breath to scream if he’d wanted to...
"Your soul was screaming."
That was probably... true. "So, what? You snuck over here to fucking watch!?"
"We came to help!" Reflector exclaimed after moving away from his knife, and with her soul mostly agreeing with her words... surprisingly.
"Then where were..."
"We didn't get to you because your damn bird attacked us as soon as we showed up!" Bubbles snapped, also backing up a step as he spoke, but his soul said he was still ready to get himself killed.
"It wasn't attacking us," Blindfold said. "But it clearly didn't want us any closer..."
"Are you kidding!?" Bubbles shouted, rounding on the other man. "That thing is a menace and a psycho that..."
Stanley finally noticed that Bubbles had some suspicious scratches on his face as the man ranted against crows. Stanley smiled at that, but his smile didn't last. The crow obviously knew something about soul magic, even if it refused to communicate with Cheesesteak or the bats, and it had attacked Bubbles... Did it know something about the man? Had it thought Bubbles might actually try to kill him while he was down?
The idea was not that difficult to believe, and Stanley seriously considered killing the man. Again. Though... maybe not just yet. The crow obviously hadn’t tried to kill him, only warn him off, and he could still contribute something. If he didn't get himself killed first.
Harem was staying out of the discussion while also trying to back away quietly behind his girlfriend. At least until Stanley glared at them and waggled his knife in front of their faces. That got Blindfold's attention as well. Somehow... "What was it, Stanley? Let us help you. Let us fight!"
Stanley eyed the group as they all shared Blindfold's sentiment, though with varying degrees of enthusiasm. "None of you can help me." He pointed at Harem. "Except you."
"Please, don't do this!" The man cowered behind his girlfriend while shooting pleading looks at the others. "You can't do this!"
"Really?" Stanley said, advancing on the man as he backed up. "Why not? Why can't I do this?"
"Nate will..."
"Seriously!? You think Nate will side with you over me? You think Nate trusts you? You think anyone fucking trusts you after what you did!?"
"I didn't do..."
"No one cares! You chose a class that made you a monster!"
"I didn't choose it!" Harem cried, with actual tears running down his face.
"That's so much worse..." Stanley pulled back from the man in disgust and confusion. Disgust because if the man didn't choose the class, then that meant it was his highest affinity... and confusion because the man's soul really didn't match up with something like that.
"It was from a skill," Harem whispered. "My class was Professor's Assistant when this started." He wasn't lying... and judging by the surrounding souls, he hadn't told anyone this before. "It was my roommate..."
Stanley shook his head. "Who fucking cares!? You have it now, and you're going to use it on me!"
"But I'll die!"
"You'll die if you don't!"
"Stanley, please..."
"Don't fucking please me!" Stanley screamed, rounding on Blindfold and the rest of the group. "A god just tried to eat my brother and me! I don't know why it didn't finish the job, and I don't know if it will fucking try again! So don't fucking please me, you worthless, weakling, fucks!"
That finally shut them up and earned Stanley some dirty looks, but he didn't care about their feelings, only their power. "You are supposed to be out here so we can find and kill the undead, but you don't want to do the one thing I need from you! The only actual useful thing any of you can do!"
More baleful glares. As if he cared. What were they going to do? Cry about it like Harem? Stanley flew toward the crybaby. "Do it, or..."
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Mental Fortress has reached the Level 25 Threshold. No Evolution Available.
Mental Fortress Upgraded to Level 25 (Intermediate)
Finally... and he barely even felt it. Though perhaps his anger was helping. That, and the higher skill level. "Again!"
Harem stared wide-eyed at him, still alive and well despite his stupid fear of Caffeine. Somehow, that only made Stanley feel worse. Caffeine hadn't even twitched. Was he hurt that badly? Had something else happened to Caffeine after he passed out? Something worse? Was it his soul? No... he was only tired. Right?
Stanley cursed himself for the idiot he was and dragged everyone into the sky with him as he flew toward Zeke. He should have done that first. Just in case... "Do it again!"
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
"Again!"
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
"Keep going!"
"I'm out of mana!" Harem wailed.
"Seriously!" Stanley seethed, but only focused all of his power on moving faster. He should have left the rest of the freeloaders out there... They were only slowing him down.
Nate was waiting for him, along with Zeke. Had they felt his soul screaming all the way over here? Had the entire dungeon felt it? Had the undead?
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Unfortunately, Caffeine didn't wake up in Zeke's light. He didn't respond at all, for better or worse. Even steaming meat in front of his nose elicited no response... He was just tired. That's all it was!
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Nate said nothing through all of that; he only watched him with his stupid judging eyes. Especially when Stanley had to yell at Harem to keep going.
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
At least, not until Stanley took him aside and told him most of what had happened, including about his plan to go after Sam. "As soon as Caffeine recovers, I'm taking Har..." He wracked his brain and finally came up with what he was looking for. "I'm taking Brett to dominate Sam."
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Nate took it better than expected, much better than Brett and his girlfriend did. "Are you sure? I know you're... angry after what happened. Plus, you thought she couldn't help before, what with her friend's oath and all."
Stanley was angry. He was angry about still being trapped in here. Angry that his brother was under attack and he couldn't do anything about it. Angry that Caffeine was... tired.
But that wasn't the whole reason. "She's the best lead we have—the only lead—and she has made it perfectly clear who's side she's on. Best case, she stays completely out of it, but I doubt that. If she cares so much, then it's far more likely that she joins up with her friend and attacks us at some point. This way, we get rid of her and potentially draw out her friend. Also, we get most of her power on our side..."
Assuming Harem kept her around. She wouldn't be nearly as powerful once she was in his thrall, and Stanley doubted anyone would appreciate seeing a dominated human walking around... but power was power.
Nate nodded slowly. "That was a bit more well reasoned than I expected from you."
"Wait, you're seriously talking about killing someone because they won't help you!" Reflector bitched. To Nate.
Stanley glared at the woman. Didn't she ever leave Harem's side? It wasn't like Stanley was going to kill him. Not anymore. Then he turned his glare on Nate. "I'm angry, not an idiot!"
"Unfortunately," Nate said. "Those two often go hand in hand. Despite that, I think you might be right. Though I'm not looking forward to dealing with all those people afterward."
Reflector huffed, and Stanley ignored her. "Did the wizards ever figure anything out? Can't they recreate the miasma shield?"
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
Nate shrugged. "They are... reasonably confident. But it's going to be rough for the F-grades if they can't pull it off."
Stanley didn't give a flying fuck about them, but Nate knew that. "Just make sure you're ready here. In case she... slips away."
"We will, and you should go after her at night."
"That... you think her magic is weaker in the dark?"
"Yes," Nate said while eyeing Harem and whatever her name was. "I asked some of our wizard friends to take a look at her if they got a chance. She uses a type of light magic, and while it won't necessarily be weaker in the dark, they did think it might slow down her regeneration."
That made far too much sense when Stanley thought back to his fight with the woman. He'd never met anyone who could fight as long as she had... after he'd taken her out over the ocean... literally the brightest spot he could have found. She'd practically outlasted him. While he was eating... "God damn it!"
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Stanley frowned at the lack of a skill level. Of course, he'd expected diminishing returns to kick in. He'd also hoped it would take longer.
Debuff Resisted: [Mental Domination]
Skill Level Up: Mental Fortress
The next one gave a level, but it only got worse from there.
Nate moved off to deal with people bullshit, and Stanley started attacking Reflector to train his other skills while he waited for Harem to regenerate mana. He kept them all at a safe distance from the actual base, far enough that none of the kids would see him bleeding everywhere...
Not that it really mattered. They would be in the war soon enough. Possibly before they had any chance to defend themselves. What was the sight of a little blood dripping from his clothes?
He kept at it until it got dark, and his assistants started whining. Well, continued whining. Though it was mostly on the girlfriend's end. Brett had finally stepped up and stopped being a coward. Or he was too afraid to protest... Stanley didn't care which it was, but he let them go when he felt Lee wake up on the other side of the continent. Besides, by then, the diminishing returns were abysmal, and it didn't even matter if he was angry or not. His skill alone was enough to resist the man's power.
Which was good because Stanley felt increasingly drained and tired of being angry. It was still comforting, in a way. He didn't need to fear the man, but then he never really had. Harem wasn't a real threat. Not on the scale of what Stanley faced all too often, and not compared to what his brother had run into...
Stanley retreated to his house and worked on their soul wound while listening to Lee's... half of their soul? His twin was scared when he woke up, but it didn't last. Lee's soul calmed down quickly. Then it felt happy. Warm. Comforting.
It echoed with a similar sentiment that he could feel from Nate's base in the distance. A weak sentiment. Ignorant people being happy in their blissful ignorance of what lurked beyond. They didn't know about the hungry gods.
Yet, even Nate was happy... and he knew. Stanley had told him. But did he really understand? Could he? Stanley wouldn't have understood before feeling it himself. They were all ants. Scurrying about while completely unaware of the foot descending to crush them into paste.
Then why was Lee so happy? He knew what was out there. He'd nearly died a few hours ago! Why did he feel... safe?
Stanley thought about flying back to the base. Enough of them would welcome him in. The ones he cared about, at least. He could pretend everything was okay for a little while. He could bask in their delusions...
He could, if not for the limp and unresponsive pug in his lap. It left his reality too dark to pretend otherwise. So instead, he curled up around Caffeine, alone in the dark. Please wake up. Please be okay... I can't do this without you.