~~~Stanley~~~
Stanley could feel the surrounding souls all too clearly as his body evolved. He could feel them, but it was extremely hard to focus while his head exploded...
All he knew was that it felt like the bats were swarming all around him.
The changes in his body ended before his head stopped pounding, so he managed to sit up using only his muscles.
Caffeine's anger had faded by now. He was fine and quite happy given how enthusiastically he licked Stanley's face, then he curled up and passed out in his lap. Stanley held him close and ducked his head beneath the flocks of bats flying outside through a massive hole in one side of the skyscraper lair.
Something had obliterated his own little enclosed office, where he'd holed up for the evolution. There was no sign of injuries on Caffeine, nor was there any blood among the rubble of his shelter. That alone was enough for Stanley to leave the bats alone as they flew past overhead.
Plus, going by the hole in the building, the skeleton must have attacked. Stanley was all for the bats going after it. That was the primary reason he'd stuck inside this lair in the first place.
The lingering ache of his evolution finally faded as he sat huddled there, and immediately following the cessation of pain, Caffeine started twitching in his lap. Stanley thought it was just an exciting dream at first, but he could feel something surging inside the pug and realized what it was a moment later.
Caffeine was ranking up. Good boy, Caff! Sorry I took so long...
Stanley wanted to test his new strength, but not against the bats. Not just yet. Especially not if, as he suspected, Caffeine had made friends with them. Plus, he'd rather not remind them he was here if they were content to ignore him.
So he tested meditation first, which was supposed to get better after the evolution.
It felt... He couldn't tell a difference. Shit. Did I fuck up and make the wrong choice?
His anger at the potential mistake was muted inside the meditation, but it ramped up something else... His meditation grew with the anger. That was the only way he could think of to describe it. It didn't take away the anger, but it made using the skill feel... easier. Angry meditation? That sounds stupid.
It didn't explain how this was supposed to help him fight, since he still couldn't do anything else while meditating. Maybe it would make recovery faster after a fight? If he could remove any debuffs faster, that would help... Of course, he'd have to survive the fucking fight first!
His rising anger still failed to destabilize the meditation, and Stanley used the extra power to split his attention away from himself and out into the world around him.
That was too much.
The skill failed, and Stanley stewed in his suddenly very present anger. He wanted to lash out at something, but there was a strong feeling of being watched... A quick look at the surrounding souls revealed the culprits, and Stanley looked at the large bats that were not flying in or out of the building. These all sat or hung around. All staring at him.
Stanley stared right back. Try something! See what happens!
Caffeine twitched and whimpered in his lap. The bats blinked, and Stanley realized it wasn't him they were watching. It was Caffeine. Did you make more friends, Caff?
He focused on what their souls were telling him... Wary! Danger! Waiting.
Maybe not exactly friends then. Caffeine must have scared them... Good boy.
There was something else in the surrounding field of souls. Something he'd glossed over earlier in favor of more pressing concerns. Human souls.
They weren't any he recognized—which wasn't saying much—but they also weren't outside the lair. They were upstairs, on what felt like the top floor. The strangest part was that they still hadn't moved, despite everything happening.
It was hard to tell exactly what they were feeling from this far away and in between the thousands of bats, but there was a distinct note of fear coming from somewhere up there.
Stanley finally moved from his ruined hiding spot. He was curious about the humans, and it wouldn't hurt to at least get away from the massive hole in the building. Any extra walls that might slow down the skeleton were better than nothing.
He wasn't about to go anywhere outside until Caffeine finished evolving. Not if he didn't have to.
The bats responded very little to his flight toward and then into the elevator shaft, but they didn't like it when he flew up. Not quite to the point of attacking, but he could feel their wariness shifting into a slowly growing alarm.
Stanley both spread his mental touch and listened to his soul as he drifted upward. He found no obvious sign of the skeleton and used the relative calm to check his status.
Status
Name: Stanley Cascade
Race: [Wrathstorm](E-grade Human)
Titles: [Titan Slayer] [F-grade Source]
Traits: [Adaptable](58%) [Source Nexus] [Wrath] [Eye of the Storm] [Source Burned]
Class: Psionic (Rare) - Level 80 (Advanced)
Class Skills: Mind Over Matter (Legendary) - Level 58 (Advanced) | Premonition (Epic) - Level 41 (Intermediate) | Accelerated Thought (Rare) - Level 40 (Intermediate) | Harmonic Meditation (Rare) - Level 45 (Intermediate)
Attributes:
Strength: 100(+60%)160
Vitality: 100(+152%)252
Dexterity 100(+60%)160
Wisdom 100(+923%)1023
Intelligence 100(+923%)1023
Willpower 100(+1603%)1703
Twin-Soul ???(+75%)???
Non-Class Skills 2/6: Soul Awareness (Epic) - Level 25 (Intermediate) | Psionic Barrier (Rare) - Level 15 (Basic)
Buff:
Debuff:
His stats were... fine. His physical attributes were better than they had been, but he wouldn't know if his choices paid off until it was time to fight. Or until the bats stopped watching and attacked him, which seemed not far off from their reactions to his ascent.
Stanley wasn't worried about the bats. He tried grabbing a few further away from his position and found them easy enough to handle. He even stopped one in mid-flight. That test alone made it very clear that his power had grown by magnitudes.
Just like when he'd reached F-grade, the changes weren't all reflected in his status. Unless you counted where it said E-grade, because that was what mattered. His one hundred willpower—never mind the effective—was now worth more than it had been.
He held the bat immobilized without strain as he flew higher and higher. It was effortless. Almost. Near enough that it was practically the same thing. The bats had missed their chance to kill him. Now they had no chance. Even if the entire lair came after him, Stanley was confident in slaughtering them.
Which was good because they got tired of him approaching their queen when he was a few floors from the top.
Stanley felt the shift coming a mile away thanks to their souls, and he simply shoved all the bats further down the shaft as he flew higher.
They all did that glowing mouth thing as they went by, but it had no effect that Stanley could tell. Probably since he didn't have mana for them to drain. Luckily, it looked like the whole exploding shtick wasn't something they did on demand. Or at least that's what he assumed, given the lack of explosions and how desperate they were to stop him.
On the top floor, he blocked off the shaft with a psionic wall and finally realized how much of a racket all those bats were making when silence descended. It was nice. Peaceful. If a bit dark.
He also found the humans... in a cage. The sight was enough to bring him to a halt as he tried to figure out what the hell he was looking at.
It was a crude thing, made of scrap metal and rebar, all twisted into a makeshift enclosure with half a dozen people inside the bars. One of whom was waving frantically at Stanley and whispering, "Help... shit, watch out! It's come..."
Stanley didn't need the warning. He'd already spread his mind over the top floor, and he felt the monsters coming well before they attacked.
Stop
Two bats, both much bigger than any he'd seen before, stopped in midair as they pounced.
Stanley eyed the surroundings while he waited for what he guessed was the... king? Its soul felt much more complex than any other, rivaled only by the obvious queen deeper in. As for his surroundings, whatever changes the lair had wrought in this building, it looked like they'd started up here.
Nothing of the original structure could be seen, and now it looked like a literal cave. The walls looked like rough stone. All the windows were gone, and the only light was from glowing blue rocks that scattered across the floor.
The giant bat shot around a corner, rebounded off the wall, and shot directly at him, its mouth glowing bright as it breathed out blue flames...
Stanley turned the head away from himself, closed it tight, then used it as a fulcrum to flip the entire thing over and slam the bat against the floor hard enough to rattle the stone. Hard enough that it finally got the queen moving.
That, or the queen finally finished birthing a fresh batch of little baby bats...
It was weird to feel those brand new souls as they floundered at their first glimpse of the world... but they recovered quickly. Their instincts took over, and they were right behind the queen as she scrambled toward him.
She came on even faster than her mate, but stopped before reaching him. Stanley felt her chest expanding as she breathed in, and he literally saw the mana flowing into her glowing maw. It flowed from the air, from the little blue rocks all over the floor, and from the humans in the cage.
Most of it was blue, but the humans gave off a bunch of different colors when she sucked out their mana... It was actually rather cool to see their mana like that.
He shut the queen's mouth before it could breathe any more of that blue fire, then squeezed her entire body even tighter until she stopped moving.
Her soul shifted rapidly through a variety of emotions as she stood unmoving and stared at him with giant black eyes.
"Hi," Stanley said with a small wave. He ignored the little bats as they crashed into him, only shielding Caffeine so they didn't step on him. They were so small—barely the size of his hand—and they didn't even try to bite him. Each one merely perched where it landed and stuck their glowing mouths against his flesh. They were honestly kind of cute...
Obviously, nothing happened, and they got no mana.
Stanley felt the queen's soul change when she realized what was happening. He felt her anger warring with despair as she struggled against his power. She was clearly smart. Taking humans prisoner for their mana regeneration was proof enough, but her soul was the real give away.
Then Caffeine whimpered with an extra strong kick, and the queen's gaze leapt to the pug right as he howled softly in his sleep.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
You have heard the Howl of the Beast Lord.
+1% All Effective Attributes to Friends
-1% All Effective Attributes to Not Friends
She was smart enough to give up a lost cause, and he felt the capitulation from her soul an instant before...
The queen has surrendered. Lair defeated.
Stanley let go of her while the little bats still scrambled over him, trying to get his mana. Then the queen screeched a high-pitched noise, and all hostilities ceased. The little bats flew off into the elevator shaft, and Stanley released the others, who crawled slowly backward to get in front of the queen.
"Holy shit..." a man whispered from the cage.
"Kill them!" another screamed as the queen backed away.
"Shut up!" someone else hissed as the queen departed with a glowing belly and her guards took up station to block the path behind her.
The king stood before them and trembled at Stanley in fear. "Jeez, relax. I'm not going to kill you... but I am taking your humans."
The king bristled at his words, but obviously, it couldn't understand what he said. It finally seemed to get what he was after when he peeled open the cage, but it only glowered and still made no move to attack.
A cloud of smaller bats flew from the elevator shaft while he did that, and Stanley got to see them all vomit up a fresh pile of the glowing rocks... which the king sucked up this time, then retreated past its guards to join the queen in the back room.
"How..." The man who'd tried to warn him was the first to stand after they were free. "Nevermind that. Thank you!"
Even though he was dirty and battered, the guy was clearly good-looking. One of those adonis-looking bastards that won the genetic lottery. He also had brilliant red-gold hair that perfectly matched the bird on his shoulder. Which was why Stanley didn't even notice the little avian until it made a small screeching sound.
It was not a bird species he recognized—not that he knew jackshit about birds. But it didn't look at all natural, and Stanley moved backward a few feet. Just in case... Maybe he should have talked to them first? Their souls were all over the place, and they might be a bunch of psychos...
Wannabe pirate guy pulled another man to his feet with very obvious affection in his soul, and a damn fox stood up beside the second man... What was this, a fucking zoo?
The second man wasn't as color coordinated with the fox... but his dark skin and black hair did technically match the fox's darker patches amidst a bright orange coat. The fox was cute. Adorable even. If not for the hostility he felt from its soul...
None of that stood out more than one absolutely ridiculous absurdity. All of them were wearing suits... Straight-up business suits. Including fucking ties! They looked like total idiots.
Stanley watched them warily but wasn't too concerned. If they lost to the bats, then they couldn't be that dangerous. Could they? Besides, it looked like they'd gotten trapped in here for a while, and none of them were in any shape to fight. Or was that just from getting their mana drained over and over?
He watched them but spent most of his attention listening to their souls. The new skill was way better, and it was giving him so much information... Sure, it didn't tell him how strong any of them were, but he also wouldn't get attacked out of nowhere.
A flare of anger from the black man preceded the growled, "Why didn't you kill them!?"
Stanley didn't realize the question was directed at him for a second, then he frowned. "The bats? Why should I? They are actively hunting the undead."
"You..."
Birdman put a hand on the fox guy's arm, and he shut up. "I'm Adrian. This is Daryl, and that's Donny, and..."
Stanley mostly tuned them out as he drifted back toward the elevator shaft. He'd only come up here because he had time to kill. Also, maybe he felt a little guilty about abandoning his team before... but a bunch of weaklings would be no help against what he faced. It would be better for everyone if they fucked right off.
He'd seen the stairwell door open when the queen surrendered. It was likely the way they were supposed to leave. But the lair hadn't closed off the shaft—probably because the queen still needed the bats to bring their mana rocks up here.
It wasn't that he minded the stairs, but Stanley wasn't sure if he wanted to trap himself in the narrow corridor right at the edge of the building. He preferred to keep as many bats as possible around in case more soul magic came after him. Also, it might be better to fly away through the hole in the building rather than at ground level.
He highly doubted the skeleton had abandoned the chase... and there were no notifications about dead invaders from when he'd been evolving. That thing had very likely come after him while he was unconscious, and it would not quit so easily... Stanley was stronger, sure, but probably not enough to scare that monster away.
Three of the humans he'd rescued didn't have a problem with taking the stairs, and they were running their little hearts out while he stared down the dark shaft of the elevators.
Flickering shapes filled the darkness, some crawling or flying up with glowing blue bellies, while the majority flew down to go join the fight. The queen was really churning them out in there—far faster than any lair Stanley had seen before—and another fresh batch flew past while he sat there.
Maybe there was something to collecting all that extra mana?
He felt the fatigue in the fleeing humans when they stopped less than halfway down. It was pathetic. How did they even end up in here if they were that weak?
The remaining trio hadn't fled yet, and they were behind him whispering furiously... "You saw that notification. It said it was the damn Beast Lord!"
"It's impossible!" Fox Guy said far too loudly. That was Daryl.
Stanley grinned to himself. Believe it or not. He would have enjoyed their disbelief more, except the fox was terrified. That took the fun out of it.
He knew what was coming, or near enough, and so he just grabbed all of them rather than wait for the question. There were a few protests as they floated down the shaft while the bats ignored all of them. They were too weak to resist him. Mostly. Adrian had some weight to him... until he got closer and entered Stanley's domain. It was nothing after that.
Their protests ended, and their fear increased when they reached the floor where Stanley had done his evolution. It might have been because he finally let go of them, or it might have had something to do with the massive hole in the side of the building...
"What did this?" Adrian whispered. He said it with a furtive glance at Stanley and the pug in his lap. A pug Stanley was fairly certain hadn't destroyed the lair; it just didn't seem like his style.
"Have you guys seen any four-armed skeletons?" Stanley asked instead of answering. "Like, say, around ten feet tall?"
"No..." Adrian said. "Are they the invaders?"
"Unfortunately. This latest one is D-grade."
"That's impossible!" Daryl snapped. He really enjoyed saying things were impossible... as if his stupid beliefs mattered.
The stairwell the others had taken just so happened to run down the side of the building with a huge hole in it, and Stanley watched the people jumping down in the gap. They looked sweaty... and pissed. Also scared.
"Thanks for the fucking lift!" one of them said, breathing heavily when they finished slinking through the swarming bats and over to Stanley's group at the elevators.
"You're the one that ran off," Donny said with a laugh.
"Fuck you!"
"Guys, let's not fight in the middle of the damn lair!" one of the two girls in the group said pleadingly.
Stanley watched them and their souls while they bickered. Was it worth dragging them along? Maybe they weren't completely useless? He doubted it... but they could be meat shields if nothing else. Especially if more soul magic was involved. Was it unethical to make them take the soul attacks? Maybe it would unlock their soul attribute...
Donny kept reaching furtively into his jacket pocket, where Stanley knew he had a flask. He'd felt it as soon as his domain touched the man. What he didn't know was what was in the flask. Other than a liquid.
So he took it from the man. "What's in here?"
"No! I..." Donny snatched at it too slowly, then slumped when Daryl's eyes went wide.
"I knew you were holding out! You bastard!"
"That's my backup! I was waiting for a chance for us to escape..."
Stanley opened the flask and didn't even have to get close to smell the overpowering scent of alcohol. That single whiff was enough to know this shit would definitely work, even for E-grades... It was tempting. A shot of liquid courage for the coming fight.
"Please... um, mister," Donny said. "I need that to fight. But if we get out of here, I'll gladly hook you up!"
Stanley closed it back up without drinking. It wasn't worth the risk. He'd never been an angry drunk, and anger was likely going to be exactly what he needed. Now, a drink after the fight—a victory drink. That might be nice, but how come he hadn't heard of anyone getting drunk? Nate definitely wouldn't have allowed it... or would he? "Where the hell did you guys come from?"
Daryl glared at Stanley, and his fox mirrored the emotion almost exactly. Adrian started to reach for the other man, then stopped and said, "We're in a residential tower on the waterfront. If you need a place to relax... or shelter, you're more than welcome. We also wouldn't mind a lift back there, considering you flew us down here..."
"There's a monster waiting out there," Stanley said, deciding to lay it out plainly. "It wants me. You guys should bail and hope it doesn't go after you." He could hopefully use their departure as a distraction.
"Yea, right!" Daryl yelled. "You want us to be bait while you run the other way!"
Stanley chuckled. "I thought it was worth a shot. But I'm not lying about it wanting me. So stay here or fuck off wherever. I don't care."
"We can help," Adrian said, and that set off a bunch of arguing.
Stanley flew away. They wouldn't be able to help him in the fight, but they also couldn't stay here for long. The bats would probably turn hostile, if not now, then maybe when Stanley left the building. Either way, they would have to make a move.
He flew lower in the building, toward the thinning numbers near the ground. The fighting had taken a toll, and the building was far less crowded now. So much less so that the undead had taken the first floor...
I can help with that. Stanley liked the undead getting hunted by the bats, so he went low enough to reach the first floor with his mind and started dragging the zombies upstairs.
The bats didn't take long to notice the flying zombies coming up the elevator shaft. Meanwhile, the humans were continuing down the stairs on the other side of the building.
Stanley killed the zombies and kept the bats away until he got the cores. They definitely wanted the cores, but they still ate the bodies without cores if he let them. Which he did. No reason not to help out a little. Plus, it was fun to see the zombies crumble into dust.
He kept that up until the number of undead dwindled and the bats retook the ground floor. The entire time, there was no sign of the skeleton.
The recently freed humans also lingered down there. Stanley was watching—well, technically touching—them. The staircase turned lair exit actually opened directly into the outside, a small hidden door that had opened when they reached the ground floor and only after the way back upstairs had closed behind them.
Of course, then they waited. He wasn't sure if it was because of what he'd said or if they were just resting. Surprisingly, none of the passing zombies ever wandered inside the open door.
It was good they waited, since Stanley was waiting on Caffeine to finish evolving. Hopefully, they would wait long enough...
There was one nice surprise amidst the shitshow. Obviously, the cores were all giving him shit gains again, but it had changed.
+0.2 Willpower(-0.8 from Source Nexus)
Repeated core absorptions all showed the same thing; he only lost eighty percent instead of ninety. He had added a few points to all his attributes by the time Caffeine big-stretched while laying on his side. Then, with a long, slightly whining yawn, he stood up in Stanley's lap and wagged his tail.
Stanley pulled him close and rested his forehead against Caffeine's. "You're a good boy, Caff. The very best. Thank you for watching over me." Caffeine squirmed around to lick his face, and Stanley smiled. "I love you, good boy."
Then he sat up straight and listened to his soul. There was still no sign of the skeleton, but he knew it was out there waiting for him. He just wasn't lucky enough to escape without a fight. It was already a miracle that the monster left him alone for as long as it had.
Now it was time to do or die. Unless he wanted to wait for the humans downstairs to make their own break for it. His new skill was supposed to make his soul harder to detect, but Stanley doubted it was enough to escape from that monster. Who knew what level its own Soul Sight was?
They were getting ready to leave. He could feel that much. The rising tension and fear. The uncertainty. The excitement. Idiots.
Then they sprinted out the door, and Stanley felt his own heart rate spike at the coming battle. Because there would be a battle. There always was.
~~~Caffeine~~~
Caffeine huffed tiredly and lay down in the nice, dark place. It would only be better if Dearest Human was in here to cuddle with him... That would make it perfect!
The only other bad thing was that all the balls were very bright and made napping harder. Caffeine climbed back to his feet and looked at all the glowing balls. He’d seen balls like this before... and some of them had been sneaky Bad balls that tried to steal Dearest Human.
He growled a very serious warning at all the balls. “If any of you are bad balls, then you should go away or I will anger shout like Dearest Human at you!”
A lot of the balls shivered. They must have known they were bad... so Caffeine howled his best Dearest Human anger shout at them, just like Dearest Human did with the Bad Not Humans, “Go away, Bad Balls!”
Some of the balls ran away.
“Good boy,” Caffeine huffed. But it was still too bright... so he tasted the first one with a very friendly lick.
[Anima Catenae Ruptor]
You have bound your very soul with unbreakable chains. Take up a new mantle and become the one who breaks all chains, whether your own or any others...
Caffeine growled at the ball. It was trying to be even sneakier than the last time! It must have seen when Dearest Human had all those Bad lights hurting him... now it wanted to trick him by pretending to help!
“Bad Ball!” He grabbed it, dug a hole in the very dark, very tough dirt here, and buried the sneaky ball. “I warned you, Bad Ball. Now you won’t get to play anymore. No chewing. No chasing.”
Caffeine felt a little sad for the ball, but it shouldn’t have been so sneaky bad if it didn’t want to get in trouble.
Then he turned to the rest of the balls. “I will hide all of you so no one ever plays with you again. It is very not nice, but you are being very bad by trying to steal Dearest Human again.”
Almost all of them ran away.
Caffeine sniffed carefully at one that didn’t run.
[Omnes Perussi Deus]
You have shared of yourself repeatedly and to your own detriment while never receiving anything back. Take up a new mantle and become the all consuming...
Caffeine sighed very sadly and dug another hole. “I am very sorry, bad ball, but I told you not to be sneaky.”
When he finished burying the bad ball, he looked up, and there was only one more ball left. It didn’t even shiver when he looked at it, so maybe it wasn’t bad like the others?
[Canine(Pug)]
Remain on your path of chained potential. Change nothing as you ascend to the next stage...
“Good boy,” Caffeine told the ball, and because it was so good, he chewed on it with his best chewing bites and even let it roll around a lot to get chased! He chased it until he got tired, then he laid down and held the ball with his paws for another very good, long chewing.
He felt his tail wagging very happily as he finally drifted off to sleep with the ball in his mouth...