“You did good, Eric. Where to now?”
Eric grinned as their loping stride turned into a ground eating sprint, Eric shifting inertia, mass, and gravity as suited him best, finding perfect traction along a path only he could see as he ascended invisible steps only his feet could take until he and his familiar were just a dozen yards below the low brownstone buildings that made up most of the stable structures in this corner of the city.
“Thanks, Bunz. I know a single family seems very small in the grand scene of things, but I just couldn’t let one more desperate family be washed to oblivion while uncaring titans fought and killed around them and destroyed their world, as if their hopes and dreams and the bonds of love they shared meant absolutely nothing in the face of power-mad tyrants.”
Lilly sighed. “After getting savaged and mutilated by orcs that then butchered my family… yeah. I get it, Eric.” She rubbed a furry cheek covered with tears against his own stunned features. “You gave them hope, Eric. You were the hero so many of us never had. Thank you.”
Eric winced, not having expected the words to hit so close to home. “Lilly…”
“Come on, Fearless Leader!” She said with forced cheer. “Let’s go kick some high-powered ass. We got a city to save!”
Eric and his familiar wasted no time after extending themselves to rescue a family in peril. The air was increasingly filled with the stench of burning wood and plastic, melted asphalt, scorched steel and powdered concrete as they made their way deeper into the heart of the city, as the strange silence that had descended over what was normally a busy quarter was replaced by distant screams and blood-curdling roars.
Eric’s features clenched in a worried scowl. “I’m seeing half a dozen reds nearby, and this is nowhere near the city center where all those reds are gathering… fuck!”
“Oh no!” Bunbun softly whispered as they raced through an increasingly well preserved area, slate tiled roofs over storybook cottages blessed with lush gardens filled with bountiful produce and livestock radiating perfect health beside tree lined boulevards and quaint shops within the brownstone townhouses on the other side of the road.
Eric then spotted the impressive warded silver gates as he raced above, the overarching ward bypassed so effortlessly with his passage overhead that it had felt like the faintest tingle against his skin. In that moment, he finally understood.
“We’re in one of the few truly sheltered areas of the city. Where the elite live.”
“Elites that are being slaughtered, Eric… fuck! Look who’s below!”
Eric’s eyes widened, surprise turning to horrified shock as he saw that which he had thought surely waited for him outside Song’s power base, in the center of Manhattan's former financial district.
But no.
There Mord was, the masive werewolf right below him, radiating the shocking killing aura of a Silver suppressing nothing as he froze his panicked, screaming opponents to deadly stillness, a ten foot giant tearing through adventurers desperately defending several score children sheltering behind them.
The once beautiful flower gardens beside that school had been shredded, crumpled bodies of armored warriors and the children they had been protecting. All of them slaughtered and tossed aside as if they were less than nothing.
The desperate defenders, skilled as they might have been compared to most fledgling Terran adventurers, having ascended as well as they could in the recently tamed regions adjoining them clearly didn’t have a chance in hell against the pack of Bronze-Tier killers gleefully tearing through shields, armor, and countless desperately wielded perks with claws and teeth infused with the very essence of Sharpness.
And before them all, laughing like the monster he was, was Mord, effortlessly plucking a wild-eyed girl who couldn’t have been older than ten from the arms of a women screaming in furious despair.
For an awful eyeblink, Eric caught the girl’s panicked gaze. Her lips opening wide in a desperate cry for hope.
Before a single squeeze of Mord’s massive clawed hand abruptly squeezed, shattering something infinitely precious.
Tearing away all hope of happiness, joy, and life from a precious vessel that Eric would never be able to save, tossing aside her broken remains in the same awful pile as all the others.
Bodies his wolf brethen happily devoured.
“Feast, my brothers! Feast upon the pathetic excuse for elites in this world! Drink down their powers, their potency, their very hearts and grow strong! If Song won’t come to us and fight us on our terms, then it his city that will pay the price! As we devour all his elites, all his sacred charges, and leave this city a broken barren husk of what it was!”
The wolves below yipped and howled like jackals, tearing apart the glassy eyed bodies of what had once been people filled with hope, passion, and excitement for the sweet future of adventure and wonder that they had thought would be theirs.
“Oh no, Sammy’s down there!” Bunbun whispered, a look of horror upon her stunned features.
Words Eric only registered through his link, for his ears were roaring with the pounding blood of his heart. Stunned to horrified fury. Screaming in the endless caverns of his own mind.
His desperate attempt to save a single family reduced to tragedy as so many panicked, desperately struggling women and children were slaughtered before his eyes.
“No! Emmy! Sammy, we have to save them!” Screamed a wild-eyed, panicked youth that Eric recognized all too well, hurtling Javelins with furious intensity that the giant werewolf radiating Silver Tier death ignored as if they were less than nothing.
And the girl reforged by Eric’s will, who had bonded with a tiny corner of his heart, was there as well.
Because of course she was.
Blessed with a Contenders gift to caress the fate strings of destiny itself… charging hopelessly to her death as the massive lupine’s eye lit up with furious glee.
“A Contender! I smell a fresh Contender among you! How good it will be to feast upon your flesh!”
Massive claws tore through the air faster than even Eric could register.
But it didn’t stop Eric from racing downward with every ounce of panicked fury that he could.
His earlier plans meant meant nothing.
Intricate tactics to entice, trap, and cut down had been reduced to a single desperate need.
His hands gripped a spear now ablaze with the icy blue flame of cold tens of thousands of degrees below kelvin as he shrieked a supersonic howl his foes had no chance of hearing as he dared to take on a beast so much stronger and faster than anything he had ever dared before.
Yet he wasn’t fast enough. Even with an additional 150 points of Quickness he still held onto, even with Battletime slowing his perception to a crawl… it wasn’t enough to stop Sammy’s righteous wrath from turning into a look of shocked surprise when Mord tore free her heart.
“NO!”
For a heartbeat, Eric’s shrieks became the wail of the phoenix as wings beat once, propelling him at a velocity eight times the speed of sound as Eric screamed his rebuttal in the face of uncaring death.
The Silver-tier wolf roared his triumph as Sammy Blackwell died in his arms.
Just a heartbeat before Eric’s spear blasted through Mord’s heart.
You have successfully struck your foe at Mach 8 with Soul-Bound Spear!
Charge of the Prismatic Light Brigade II boon in full effect!
Death’s Disciple boon in full effect!
Greater Reaver II boon in Full effect!
Warning! You are attempting to pierce flesh enhanced by Rank 2 Essence of Resilience!
Rank 4 Dominion holds spear point intact!
Piercing Strike has been successfully chained to Doom Strike!
You have SUCCESSFULLY PIERCED YOUR TARGET’S BACK!
You have gifted your foe with full inertial transference!
You have prevented backlash from tearing apart the White-Tier classers behind you!
You have SUCCESSFULLY PIERCED YOUR TARGET’S HEART!
Combined Rank 8 Dominion & Cold successfully drain your target of 240 Quickness/Vitality/Mana/Qi!
You have achieved your present maximum temporary boost of 219 Quickness & 186 Vitality!
You have claimed an additional 240 Mana!
Before the messages had even finished blinking before his mind’s eye, instantly absorbed and understood in what was effectively no time at all, Eric found himself flying through the air, his body ablaze with unexpected fiery pain as land and sky flipped places twice over before he tore through one cottage then a second that exploded in impact, his interface screaming with fresh messages.
Silver Tier Contender Perk in Play!
Second Chance Boon in Play!
Your foe enacts Contender’s Will!
Your spear FAILED to pierce your target’s heart!
Your target was fully aware of your blow and weaved aside just in time!
Your foe MASTERFULLY swatted you aside with a Vorpal blow that cleaved your head right off—”
6 Combined Ranks of Transcendent Essence and Contender’s Will FAIL to overcome 14 Ranks of Transcendent Essence and the Phoenix’s Fury!
Paw desperately slaps aside Mord’s well-deserved death!
Heart blow reduced to flesh wound!
8 Combined Ranks of Cold & Dominion Trump 6 Ranks of Essence & Contender’s Will!
Doom Strike penalties and boons are in FULL effect!
2000 Strength FAILS to shatter Imperial Dreadnought-tier flesh or shatter a starship’s ribs!
Essence of Sharpness infused claws strike off-angle!
Your Cuirass of the Underlord has been shredded!
Your abdomen has been perforated!
Rank 37 Blood Mastery infused with Essence of Dominion MITIGATES Bleed Until Dead curse.
Your blood knows its master!
Power Healing engaged!
A dazed Eric wheezed as his abdomen flared with pain, two overlapping realities furiously struggling to manifest.
In one, he had frozen that bastard Mord’s heart, snarling with fierce glee as he compelled it to explode and claimed his foe’s head.
In the other, Mord, somehow sensing his presence all along, had spun around with shocking speed and managed to twist past Eric’s spear going at fucking Mach 8 before ripping off his head. A tiny part of him even now could feel his skull spinning, his thoughts screaming in panic as he slowly faded before Mord’s mocking laughter before the monster tore out his heart and drained his—NO! BULLSHIT! THAT FUCKER WAS DEAD!
Eric glared at the monstrous beast even now roaring defiantly at the moon high over head as he splayed his claws and charged for Eric… slowing to a stumble when his shoulder abruptly sprouted blood.
“No. Impossible!” Mord snarled. “Your blow missed me completely! I am Silver! I decide my destiny! You, you are nothing! Less than nothing! How dare you infect me with Cold’s bitter Dominion!”
And that moment’s hesitation was all Eric needed, shattered armor that didn’t do shit against Rank 4 Sharpness infused claws instantly flipped back into storage, Eric grimacing against the hot sting of his abdomen even now sealing and healing itself before a snarling Mord’s gaze.
Eyes that filled with recognition even as his half dozen lackeys gazed at their master in surprise, the imperiled adventurers and their families also helplessly captivated, it seemed, by a struggle between titans, neither Mord nor Eric holding back their killing auras any longer.
Mord’s eyes flared with recognition.
“You! I recognize you! Eric Silver of Arcadia!”
The werewolf’s maw curled in a snarl. “No. Your strength is impossible. You have no core. You’re not even Bronze! How dare you defy me! Die, worm!”
Eric had time only for a nod his familiar’s way, Bunbun not hesitating to hop onto Ron’s shoulder of all peopler, and point to the bone disk she had pulled free of her own ES space, conjoined with Eric’s own.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Ron might have been Eric’s enemy a lifetime ago, but he had clearly made the most of his second chance and was no fool. He wasted no time, hands flashing, party interfaces firing, and in very short order, the entirety of the surviving adventurers and their families—all of Silver Griffin corp—was lifting off on a twenty-foot-wide bone disk that made absolutely no sound at all as Eric screamed his fury and outrage and did his best to distract the wolves from even thinking to look back at the prey they had discounted so utterly, Eric putting on a show even as his psyche howled for the loss of a friend.
A friend who had had gifts so like his own.
A friend who’s smile had touched his heart, even if he had known better than to take it even a single step farther.
Sammy had deserved to live.
And this monster had taken that precious gift away from her.
Eric’s eyes flash with furious, killing heat, even as his hands turned white with bitter cold, summoning forth his 25 foot soul-bound spear once more, pointing it right at the alpha before him, even as he shifted his hips and flexed his knees, the sword bound closest to his soul, his being, at his hip, right where it needed to be.
“That’s right, motherfucker! You think you get to take my kind down with impunity? Well guess again! Because Song, with his slow-ass troops, isn’t the one who’s been hunting your pack!”
Eric flashed a cold smirk at the looks of horrified outrage flashing across the remains of Mord’s pack.
“You? Natasha’s pleasure toy? You’re the one who has been hunting my people? No! Impossible!”
Mord glared Eric’s way with absolute killing hate as he howled his fury. It was a cry that seemed to warp the very fabric of existence, his men’s eyes widening with gleefully savored Berserker’s Fury even as the air rang with the screams of countless souls collapsing in helpless despair. It was a spiritual attack so profound that even the cottages collapsed into devastated ruin that consumed the entire town, every last bit of livestock and sheltering mortal collapsing in instant death.
Mental Resistance of 532 successfully RESISTS Deep Bronze Spirit Howl!
You refuse to be dominated! Your heart refuses to stop, your spirit refuses to quail!
All mortals, livestock and classers below Level 20 within 100 yards have been SLAIN by this attack!
Eric’s grin grew hideous and wide as he discharged the prizes in his ES space, over half a dozen butchered lupine corpses manifesting. Some beheaded, others ran through, a few frozen to shattered blocks of ice, frozen still.
“Yes, Mord. Me.”
Even as he said the words, he forced himself to become one with that awful moment as Battletime screamed to a shrieking singularity of intensity, so similar to how he had felt as a phoenix crashing down to Earth at Mach 30.
He was one with the scent of blood and killing intent in the air.
One with the swaying grass, still as glass in that terrible moment.
One with the abomination before him, moving at speeds comparable to Eric’s own.
Even faster, as the blur of savagery raced forward, batting aside Eric’s spear in an eyeblink, a spear Eric was no longer holding, as the massive lupine instantaneously charged under Eric’s guard, claw glittering with such perilous essences that tore into Eric’s gut.
Mord was not slowed an iota by Eric’s Hypersonic shout that caused the bastard’s testicles to explode as claws bit DEEP into Eric’s abdomen and raked upwards.
In perfect time with Eric’s own drawn blade, their arms simultaneously rising.
One with a massive claw filled with Eric’s entrails.
The other holding a blade blazing with frozen flame over a core of heat so shockingly intense that nothing in this reality could stand before it.
Not even a Gold.
“Death’s Disembowelment!” Mord gleefully snarled into Eric’s agonized features.
“DOOM FLURRY! PHOENIX STRIKE, MOTHERFUCKER!”
Eric’s scream was silent, so great was his agony, but the blood shooting from Mord’s ears made it clear that he had gotten the message as Eric’s rising draw cut of frozen flame, in perfect time with the swipe that had doomed him, became a furious flurry of underhanded slashes that tore into Mord’s abdomen and ribs a full dozen times before Mord could even think of lurching back.
Brilliant supernova sparks infused with the transcendent essence of heat. Heat that had been torn free from what was now a massive crystalline statue that had been a ten foot, two ton behemoth of death and violence. Mord’s frozen neurons allowed a few final screaming seconds of awareness as the Silver desperately fought to bring his reality-defying perks into play once more as his pack raced toward him…
And failed.
The air roared with a sudden supersonic shockwave as million degree differentials caused the frozen ice statue that was Mord to erupt into bitter sharp fragments of frozen flesh so infused with bitterness and a doomed Contender’s essences of Sharpness and Resilience that the icy shrapnel ripped through the Bronze Tier pack just as thoroughly as Eric’s cannon battery had once blasted apart panicked orc regiments, leaving behind nothing but a slaughterhouse’s worth shredded limbs, ruptured skulls, and what looked like raw hamburger meat in a churned swamp of mud and blood.
His foe exploded only in the directions a collapsing Eric willed.
For Ice knew its master.
Now, better than ever before.
A mortally wounded Eric wheezed, gazing down with stupefaction at his own shattered ribs and shredded entrails, pretty sure that his heart and lungs had also been nicked, while his interface blared with messages and the sense of one hidden pathway to a neighboring realm. No doubt the emergency exit that Sammy and so many others just hadn’t been able to get to in time.
CONGRATULATIONS, CONTENDER!
You have successfully slain SILVER-TIER (half-step) Contender Mord Wolfbane!
Eve approves of this battle!
You are now a Rank 68 Death’s Disciple!
Charge is now Rank 23!
Psionic Rupture is now Rank 12!
Iado (Fast-Draw) is now Rank 21!
Phoenix Strike is now Rank 20! (Perk Deferred!)
Crimson Contender perk in play!
Eric felt his consciousness slipping away into roaring darkness even as he fought to breathe, to repair himself, to at least stabilize his blood to obey and return to its owner as he embraced the potency of Wind’s oxygenation, Fire’s metabolic resilience, and Wood’s nurturing essence and fuel to boost his healing like never before, sensing the weight of Silver-Tier banes and torments eager to drag Eric’s soul along with Mord’s down to hell.
Yet the Phoenix cried its rebellion, wings blazing as it glared at the hateful countenance of Mord.
“No… you can’t kill me, no mortal can! I am eternal! I am primal! I am Mord, and I will rise a—”
The yapping wolf’s words were cut off with a yelp when the blazing phoenix tore out its tongue, tasting its sinuous grace as soothing words embraced it fiery soul.
Mord howled, though his cry was more a despairing grunt, his agile ability to manipulate Fate with his words now transformed to added grace and sleekness for the fiery bird.
Mord’s spirit could only gaze on in horror, finally sensing in that moment his doom, before he saw nothing at all, the fiery bird next plucking out his eyes, its own eyes now sensing the beating heart of its prey clearer than ever before.
Yet the phoenix was nothing if not thorough, knowing to save the best for last as it greedily tore fast-twitch muscles from the shrieking, dying wolf before gorging on liver and ribs, savoring the increased power and spread of its own wings before at last cocking its head for the ultimate prize.
The beating heart.
It did gaze curiously at flesh that seemed unusually resilient to its pecking, and as intriguing as those secrets were, secrets that enhanced the bird’s own understanding of its Resilience rune, it refused to infect it’s pristine four pillar configuration with any essence that wasn’t perfectly aligned to its own.
Dominion and the lesser sphere of Impermeability were the Phoenix’s bulwarks. Greedily claiming Resilience would earn him an added rank and a second lesser sphere, but would shift his Dominion pillar out of true. Which wouldn’t harm it at all for now… but would hamper its ascent to Gold.
It raised its beak in disdain at the very thought.
Though it studied its prey for long moments, seeking safer revelations, it still refused to surrender to the whispers of a tainted soul eager to pass on its gifts in whatever way it could.
The bird declined.
It had no use for tainted soul energy and a Mana Pool that had been saturated with the wolf’s flesh to grant the creature resilience similar to what the Phoenix’s body had done with Spiritual Energy, though a far more corrupt form of it.
Nope. It was the heart alone that the phoenix would take as its final prize while allowing the surge of life-giving Vitality to supercharge his healing from the brink of death.
That, and the Golden Key that was so vital to Eric’s own, long term plans.
Congratulations! You have successfully claimed 7.5% of Strength (2000), Vitality (2000), Quickness (2000), Finesse (1000) & Perception (1000)!
Boons have been further modified by your own titles and boons!
The phoenix has refused to accept any lesser pool!
The phoenix has refused to accept any tainted gift!
This phoenix, however, isn’t stupid enough to leave choice morsels totaling 600 baseline points lying unclaimed, even if the meat is a bit gamy.
Plaque has increased by 0.6% to 4.12%
3rd Tier Core Saturation is now at 94.51%
You have successfully claimed the key to the surface realm as well as the realm of Enigma!
Congratulations! You are the first Contender to achieve a Quickness beyond 2100 upon the face of Terra!
Eric Silver is has achieved #1 rank on all Terran Leader Boards!
You now enjoy an additional 10% attribute boon to all Quickness points beyond 2100!
How do you wish to shape your Silver-Tier attribute boon?
Eric’s exhausted thoughts raced, in that moment as much an ascending phoenix glorying in his kill as a dying youth wheezing for breath, fighting the fearsome curses of a fallen Silver Contender that were even stronger than the hunter that had thought him such easy prey. Yet the surge of Vitality was such that Eric was just barely pulling ahead, even as his interface flared with a wave of reds now choosing to approach at breakneck speed.
After Eric had managed to take out the Silver-tier werewolf and his pack, and was now mortally injured himself.
Because of course this was how it would play out.
Lord Song was no fool. He was a ruthless opportunistic bastard.
Now was the perfect time to mop up any survivors and cement his surface rule, once and for all.
Eric flashed a bloody grimace, making full use of Battletime to choose his perk. Just a heartbeat from embracing Speed Racer III, not even knowing what that entailed, just EAGER to embrace awesomeness once more… wondering what it would be like to race through liquids as if they were air and enjoy perfect Battletime even if Quickness was many times higher than Finesse+Perception…
But he could sense another path as well.
A path that would fully synergize with the System in a way that normally terrified him. Yet now?
Now, it seemed like the true gift that it was. Conceptio not at all seeking to dominate and control him utterly—not yet, anyway—but to cloak brilliant wings of flame in ways that no hyper-dimensional predator would see, even to the point of allowing for a Silver-Tier boon infused with System transcendent power that would deflect the gazes of Gold-tier hyper-dimensional horrors. A shockingly powerful boon that he could use without penalty, despite lacking a Bronze core.
Because in a sense, he wouldn’t be the one using it.
No. The part of him that would dare such had already ascended to Gold.
Perk Chosen! - You have chosen the perk: Phoenix Flight!
Now, whenever you dare the folly of spreading your fiery wings and risking absolute peril and the Emperor’s wrath… at least you won’t signal to half the hypersphere what a ripe, juicy target your planet truly is!
You may now embrace the Phoenix’s Flight (and risk draining your fragile, non-ascended core) without imperiling the galaxy you love!
Additional boon granted by Conceptio. Phoenix Flight costs only half the 3rd Tier condensed core potency that it otherwise would!
_______________________________________________________
Eric Silver Level 99 PRISTINE GOLDEN PHOENIX (Adventurer)
(3rd Tier Core Saturation at 94.51%!)
You and your progeny may now ascend to Light Gold without any planetary sacrifices needed at all!
Rank 68 DEATH’S DISCIPLE (Four Seasons Cultivator)
(You now have 4.12% Plaque upon your once PRISTINE Foundation! Fortunately, evolution ALWAYS finds away! But the wisest predator keeps to clean kills and occlusions BELOW 5% for as long as they can!!!)
Level 74 Master Necromancer
Physical Characteristics
Strength – 1994 (You can shred tungsten-reinforced bank vaults with ease!)
Vitality – 1997 (Your Vitality is worthy of a Silver-tier behemoth!)
Finesse – 1304 (You’re now as deadly as a Bronze-tier sniper. Even without all their perks!)
Quickness – 2267 (You’re over 110 times faster than any Olympic Fencer. ABSURD!)
Appearance – 36 (If this were pre-apocalypse, you would star in all your mother’s movies!)
Mental Characteristics
Scholarship – 35 (You’re still yourself, but your thoughts are clear and your memory is sharp!)
Perception – 1265 (A deadly marksman who always spots his prey. No one’s sneaking up on you!)
Willpower – 146 (You were forged in fire, and it shows!)
Charisma – 20 (No comment. This isn’t your path.)
Potency Pools
Arcane Potential – 1203 (An Archmage would be proud to make you his prodigy!)
(Mana Pool = 14444)
Spiritual Energy – 251 (You have paid an EXTREMELY steep price, maximizing your defenses, but none can deny your incredible resilience!)
(Qi Pool = 3021)
Psionic Potency – 277 (Despite your flaws, you’re worthy of a Psion Knight’s regard.)
(Psion Pool = 3330)
Soul Reserves – 1206 (You could be a Master Necromancer... You ARE a Master Necromancer!)
Stamina – 19,726 Points
Health – 23,365 Points
Resistances & Recovery
Physical Resistance – 787 (Terran-based physical attacks aren’t getting through, PERIOD! Your body is considerably tougher than Imperial-Class Dreadnought armor (600)! NOTHING short of Deep Silver opponents or essence-infused attacks is damaging your flesh. With Battletime further cushioning the blows? You’re ABSURD!)
Physical Regeneration – 199 health per second (After triple-heart shots and an alpha-wolf’s dying curse, it’s clear that you DO need this!)
Elemental Resistance – 460 (691) (Resistances this high means that no elemental master weaker than your own headmaster is stopping you, Hyperion Blazer!)
Qi Resistance – 561 (Shockingly high! Your resistances continue to skyrocket, even as your base potency pool continues to dwindle! BE CAREFUL, Body Cultivator! The wise warrior balances resilience with bountiful reserves!)
Mental Resistance – 542 (Even Silver-tier faerie enchantments, persuasion, or illusions will have a hard time effecting you!)
Psionic Resistance – 331 (Dense Neurons mean squid-brains won’t find you easy prey at all!)
--______________________________________________________________--
