By the time the battle became somewhat even, every bone in Jonathan’s body had been broken many times over. Every organ had been crushed, perforated or obliterated entirely. Every inch of his body had regrown so many times that Jonathan wasn’t even sure if he counted as the same person again. Still, hope was beginning to blossom within him. Eventide grew weaker and weaker, his punches no longer devastating everything they touched. The waves of force, which had previously torn up hundreds of miles of land, were now comparable to Jonathan’s own elementalism. Eventide was still far stronger than him, of course, and only Limit Breaker kept him in the fight. Now, though, he could deal some damage of his own.

  Kharon melted out of its scythe form, and into its gauntlet version, coating Jonathan’s fists. He hadn’t used the weapon earlier in the battle, afraid that it would break before he did.

  With the Third Eye of Exal’drin now able to keep up with Eventide’s movements, Jonathan started to lay the groundwork for his comeback. Luckily for him, Eventide had almost no martial skill. As he had been asleep for most of his life, all he had to draw upon was his natural ability to gather strength from slumber.

  As Eventide’s fist came hurtling in towards Jonathan’s jaw, he saw the first opening. Jonathan bent backwards at the waste, flipping around in the air to gather momentum. His fist hammered into Eventide’s chin with all of the force he could muster, as well as a healthy dose of elemental energy.

  Eventide’s jaw cracked, a spike of Void energy lancing up into his brain. Jonathan ripped his hand backwards, but the inside of Eventide’s skull was so durable that the Void spike never made it out. Blood sprayed out from Eventide’s mouth, a strange, shimmering silvery color. The Circle Lord froze, staring at Jonathan in shock. Then another fist hammered into his jaw, breaking it entirely.

  Jonathan grinned. With their strength essentially equalized, it was now a question of martial mastery. In that regard, Jonathan was far superior.

  Eventide punched, but Jonathan was already in position to intercept it. He grabbed the Circle Lord’s wrist and judo flipped him, before jetting down beneath Eventide. His fist exploded upwards and into the small of Eventide’s back. Vertebrae shattered and dislocated from the force of the blow, Eventide letting out a scream of pain.

  “Not so fun when you’re on the receiving end, is it?” Jonathan taunted.

  Eventide growled, his regeneration already repairing the damage. “How are you this powerful? Nobody has ever lasted more than a few seconds against me before. I never thought I would see the day that I met an equal.”

  “An equal?” Jonathan asked. “You’re not my equal. You’re going to keep weakening, while I remain just as powerful as ever before. How does it feel knowing that your death is inevitable?"

  Rather than respond, Eventide burst into a flurry of desperate motion. His element spread out through his body, enhancing his movements. A punch slammed into Jonathan’s gut with enough force to punch a hole in it. Jonathan merely smiled, reaching down to grab Eventide’s wrist. With a savage yank, he snapped the Circle Lord’s arm, using it to reel Eventide in.

  Jonathan’s left fist hammered into the side of Eventide’s jaw, blasting his teeth out of his mouth in a spray of bone fragments. Eventide tried to fight back, but Jonathan easily evaded the follow up strike, countering with a sharp palm blast to the center of Eventide’s chest. The Circle Lord went flying backwards, smashing into the ground below.

  Jonathan descended, using the Void to propel him downwards so quickly that he felt like he had teleported. The sheer power afforded to him by Limit Breaker was breathtaking, and given that it had drawn from Eventide at the peak of his power, this was easily the strongest Jonathan had ever been.

  He piledrived Eventide deep into the ground, landing feet first. With the rumbling of a volcanic eruption, a vast crater nearly a mile wide opened up as Eventide plunged into the earth. Jonathan pushed off the Circle Lord and drew both fists back at the same time.

  Eventide came flying out of the crater, only to take both of Jonathan’s punches simultaneously. His body deformed, the secondary shockwave of elemental energy nearly blasting chunks off his flesh. Jonathan tried not to, but he took some pleasure in meting out the same punishment that Eventide had subjected him to at the beginning of the battle. It wasn’t like anyone would disagree with him.

  Jonathan was almost becoming bored with the battle. He and Eventide had essentially swapped roles, with him now the overwhelmingly more powerful fighter. It wasn’t like many of the other Circle Lord fights. They had been skilled warriors and mages, worthy adversaries for Jonathan. Eventide just relied upon a gimmick ability that once bypassed, made him pale in comparison to all of the other Circle Lords. Sure, Jonathan had almost died from a single punch, but that phase of the battle was over now.

  Eventide recovered from the damage, but even his regeneration was beginning to flag. Blood covered his body and wounds from earlier in the battle were still visible, healing over slower than before. His face was twisted into a mask of fear.

  “Who are you?” Eventide asked, his voice trembling. “Did I do something to displease Angranor? Did he send you to kill me?”

  “No. I serve no master except myself. My quest is to free the Infinite Hells, and you are simply an obstacle in my way.”

  Jonathan blitzed Eventide, and obliterated his upper body with a rapid barrage of Void enhanced punches. Eventide fell from the sky, gasping for air that never came. With a cold smile on his face, Jonathan spoke four words. “Maw of the Void.”

  The silence that followed spoke louder than any words ever could.

  Limit Breaker ran out soon after, and Jonathan doubled over,a wave of searing pain coursing through his body. All of the places that had been repaired by his temporarily boosted regeneration now returned to the states they had been in during the battle. Wounds reopened and organs imploded. Jonathan fell from the sky, unable to concentrate on maintaining his flight.

  He crashed into the ground and lay there, groaning in pain. It seemed like Limit Breaker had also increased his pain tolerance somewhat, as all of the damage felt far worse than before, even though it was nowhere near as severe. Limit Breaker was perhaps the most valuable skill in Jonathan’s arsenal, but it was also one of the most dangerous. Still, he had won the battle, which was all that mattered.

  The others returned a few minutes later, Arkanon arriving first, leaping down from a floating platform of obsidian. He leaned down and gave Jonathan a concerned look. “Are you alright? What did Eventide do to you?”

  Jonathan shrugged, before wincing as a sharp flash of pain erupted from his neck. That alone was a testament to how severe the damage was, given the relative invulnerability of his neck. “Eventide really worked me over in the beginning of the fight. He was far stronger and faster than me. Probably five or six Tiers stronger, if not more. I only survived by using a new skill.”

  “How did a single skill manage to close that sort of gap?”

  “It didn’t, at least in the beginning. All it did was allow me to survive. Eventide nearly killed me at the very beginning. He drove his fist through my heart. I was going to die, but the skill saved me.”

  “And what is this skill that allows you to overcome impossible odds like they’re just a roll of the dice?” Arkanon asked. “Is this another one of your ridiculous advantages?”

  Jonathan smiled. “You could say that. It’s called Limit Breaker. It’s from my new class. Primal Rarity.”

  “Primal?” Arkanon asked. “I’ve never even heard of that rarity before.”

  “It’s two stages above Mythical,” Jonathan explained. “It’s my only Primal skill. Even with how far I’ve come, I guess that shows just how rare it is.”

  A few minutes passed before Jonathan was able to get to his feet and walk around. His regeneration felt far slower than usual, most likely a drawback of using Limit Breaker. A lot of the skill’s limits weren’t expressly stated, meaning that Jonathan had to figure them out by himself.

  In any case, it hardly mattered. He had defeated Eventide. It was time to collect his rewards.

  You have completed a subquest!

  Rewards: Shroud of the Dreamer (Tier 9 Armor Upgrade), Hands of Midnight (Tier 9 Weapon Upgrade), Sands of the Nightmare (Tier 9 Item), a Unique Title upgrade, rule over Mire and access to the next realm.

  You have upgraded a title!

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  Seventh Circle Breaker: Unique

  You are the only being to ever have completed even the smallest part of the Hellbreaker quest. Such a feat deserves a requisite reward. Every subsequent Circle Lord defeated will grant additional multipliers.

  Bonuses: +40% to all stats.

  Hellbreaker: Impossible

  You have been imprisoned in the Infinite Hells, a world that certainly lives up to its name. However, there is a way out, if not one that anyone has ever reached before. You must descend through the circles of hell, and kill each one’s guardian to progress. Finally, you must reach the very center and kill the Devil himself. This, however, is a long road, one that will take an eon. That is, of course, if you do not die along the way. Against all odds, you actually succeeded in the first part of your quest, killing Granath, Overseer of the Ash Heaps. Continuing in your burgeoning legend, Slothari, Ooze Queen of Mire has also fallen to you. So to have the Stillborn Hegemon, Ashokan, Stone King of the Labyrinth, the Great Farmer, Avarana and Eventide. However there are still 92 more circle lords to go.

  Current Objective: Defeat Aluran the Ouroborous

  Rewards: Cyclical Bulwark(Tier 10 Armor Upgrade), Infinity Gauntlets (Tier 10 Weapon Upgrade), Bone of the Devourer (Tier 10 Item), a Unique Title upgrade, rule over the Loop, and access to the next realm.

  Ultimate Objective: Defeat Angranor, The Lord of Hell

  Rewards: Freedom, ???

  Jonathan couldn’t help but laugh at one of the items on offer. “Infinity Gauntlets? Really?”

  “What?” Eliza asked. “I’ve heard that somewhere before.”

  “Yeah, it was in that movie. It’s weird that something like that is coming up here.” Jonathan shook his head. “I’m getting distracted.”

  You are now Lord of Hollow Dream!

  You now possess sole control over the portal of ascension.

  Your Authority has grown with this acquisition. You may now challenge other rulers, and be challenged in turn, for territory. With more territorial acquisitions, you will gain increased control over those territories. Rise, conqueror, and forge your empire.

  You now possess seven Circles of the Infinite Hells!

  Do you wish to combine, link, or sever them?

  Combine: Fuse them into one realm, with the mana density of the higher one. (Note, all entities living in Hollow Dream that exist at a Tier above that of the mana density will be severely affected.)

  Link: Create a permanent portal between them with entry requirements decided by you.

  Sever: Only you and your closest allies may freely travel between them.

  As he had every time before, Jonathan chose to combine the realms. The world shuddered as Hollow Dream shifted through space, attaching itself to the edge of Jonathan’s realm.

  A subsonic rumble passed through the realm a moment later, an earthquake shaking the ground. That hadn’t been from the combination of the Circles. That was from something else.

  “What the hell was that?” Eliza asked as the earth beneath her feet cracked and buckled.

  Jonathan smiled. “Combining the realms will deal with our little Dream King problem, if the System is to be believed. Right now it’s trying to get acclimated to the new mana density. I don’t think that’s going so well.”

  The rumbling subsided after a few minutes, and a profound change came across the world. As far as the eye could see, the carnivorous moss sank back into the ground. The monstrous trees shriveled up, transforming into gnarled snags of dead wood. The Dream King was dead, or at least so weakened that he would never recover. If the latter was the case, Jonathan would need to kill the monster himself, but that wasn’t a very pressing matter at the moment.

  Now that Eventide was dead, Jonathan had some items to look over. The rewards from his quest had gone unnoticed due to the transformation of the realm, laying ignominiously on the ground next to Jonathan.

  All three items were quite different from the style that Jonathan usually preferred. A wispy cloak made out of what looked like spider silk sat next to a pair of black leather gloves, so dark that they seemed more like holes in reality than items of clothing. Finally there was an hourglass, filled with shifting purple sand. There was an opening at the top, ending in a small nozzle.

  Jonathan picked up the cloak first, scanning it.

  Shroud of the Dreamer

  Tier 9 Armor(Cloak)

  Crafted from the fabric of Eventide’s dreams, this cloak represents billions of years of false reality, ephemeral worlds and wonders that will never be seen again. Now that Eventide is dead, all of that power goes to his killer.

  Current Abilities: Dreamlord

  Dreamlord: You may enter and control dreams at will. No harm can be done to other occupants of that dream, but you can trap them there as long as you also remain. You may travel through dreams once per day, emerging wherever the dreamer rests. Possessing this cloak allows you to sleep on command, despite not needing to do so on account of higher level.

  Bonuses: None

  The cloak wasn’t technically a piece of armor. Rather, it was a utility item that masqueraded as such. The ability was interesting, but hardly life changing. Unlike many of the other Circle Lords’ items, however, it wouldn’t lose its usefulness as Jonathan grew in power.

  Jonathan put on the cloak. He didn’t feel anything different, but presumably he would be able to activate it once he tried to go to sleep.

  He scanned the gloves next.

  Hands of Midnight

  Tier 9 Weapon(Gauntlet)

  Every warrior prides themselves on the power of their muscles and the speed of their sword. Most neglect an equally important aspect of power. The mind. Eventide did not. He spent the vast majority of his life within dreamscapes, learning how to interact with the inhabitants of worlds so bizarre that no outsider could ever understand. These gauntlets allow the wielder to directly strike at an enemy’s mind, dealing damage to their mana pool.

  Current Abilities: Mindbreaker

  Mindbreaker: You may split any damage dealt between an enemy’s health and mana pool. The effects of Resilience are halved when calculating damage to the mana pool.

  Bonuses: +1000 to Intelligence and Wisdom

  Jonathan smiled. Now that was a useful item. He had never heard of being able to target an opponent’s mana pool before, and that meant that most battles with mages ended with his foes in nearly the same fighting shape as at the beginning. Now he had a way to take them out.

  “What are you grinning at?” Eliza asked. “Are those gloves that good?”

  “Yeah,” Jonathan said. “They let you damage enemies’ mana pools directly.”

  Edgar turned suddenly, staring at Jonathan. “What?”

  “They-”

  “No, I heard that. It’s just that I’ve only ever heard of one person using such an ability before. Zyra. The Goddess of Peace. She ended an entire war by draining every fighter of their mana and health, showing them that if they kept fighting, their lives were forfeit."

  Jonathan scoffed. “Knowing the gods, she had some sort of ulterior motive. Am I right?”

  Edgar nodded. “Of course. That war was being fought over territory that included one of her main temples. She just didn’t want to lose a lot of her core worshippers. Whenever the gods’ sovereignty over mortals is threatened, they respond with extreme force.”

  “I see. But why is it so incredible that these gloves can drain mana? Is it really that difficult to do?”

  “Oh, you can drain mana,” Edgar said. “But you can’t just erase it. If you drain mana from somebody, it naturally wants to return to its owner and will do so as soon as it is used. Mana is a form of energy. It cannot simply be destroyed.”

  “Well, tell that to the System,” Jonathan replied. “It just gave me a way to do that.”

  “Are you sure you’re reading the description right? Maybe it just drains mana aggressively?”

  “It definitely says that it damages the mana pool directly. Maybe we should test it out?”

  “I’ll be the test subject,” Arkanon said. “I do not rely heavily on mana, so any potential damage won’t be as bad.”

  Jonathan walked over to Arkanon and slid on one of the gloves. He extended his hand and flicked the Uthraki on the forehead, hard enough to shake his head a bit. A flash of blue light erupted from the tip of his finger, sinking into Arkanon. A wave of power left Arkanon’s body, shining blue like the original flash of light. It hung in the air before bursting into flame. The fire burned all the way through the mist, erasing it from existence.

  Arkanon took a few steps back, shaking his head. “That was a profoundly odd experience. It felt like an invisible hand reached into my mind and scooped something out.”

  “So it does destroy mana directly…” Edgar mused. “That breaks one of the fundamental laws of physics. The System must have directly intervened to make that possible. Only a true god would be able to do something like that otherwise.”

  “Well, it looks like it works. That’s good enough for me. I still have one more item to scan, then we can keep going. Hushar and the others will probably want to meet up with us. I also want to check on Kaloss.”

  Jonathan lifted the hourglass, analyzing it.

  Sands of the Nightmare

  Tier 9 Item

  In many cultures, a supernatural entity is thought to come to deliver sleep. He goes by many names. The Sandman. Morpheus. The Dreamer. However, he has a brother whose arrival is dreaded by all. The boogeyman. The deliverer of nightmares and fear made flesh. Now with this item, you can become that creature.

  Current Abilities: Living Nightmare

  Living Nightmare: You may contest a foe’s mana by using your own to balance it out. Whoever’s mana runs out first will be engulfed in an endless nightmare from which there is no escape but death.

  Bonuses: None

  As with the previous item, this one also worked based off of mana. It seemed like mana was seen as the stand in for mental energy, as opposed to health for the body. It was very situational, and not something Jonathan could use without carefully studying the situation first. He was a bit better suited to using it than other warriors, as he could rely on his endless elemental energy instead of mana, but the drawbacks of the item were quite steep.

  Jonathan put it away in his storage device. Now was not the time for testing. He had more important things to do in preparation for the assault on the next Circle. Tier 10 was approaching, and if Sarnakthros was to be believed, everything was going to change.