by Matthew Peed
“How about using the rocks against her?” I asked.
We emerged from the corridor we were running along into a large open section. Dozens of automata were running around or sitting at various spots around the room. A large screen showed what was happening out in the floor. An automaton that stood in the center of the madness was yelling orders at the others. They were using a weird language that vaguely made me think of the word “fake.”
Ignea came to a stop. “What do you mean?”
“Well. Straight energy obviously isn’t working. Throw some of those massive rocks at her. With the one guy’s power, it would be easy to pull a couple dozen into her path,” I explained.
Ignea flew over to who I assumed was the captain of the vessel. “What do you think, Third?” she asked.
“First and Second believe it is worth a shot. Not really anything to lose at this point,” Third said with a glance at me. He reached down to press a button on the chair he was standing next to. A weird sound rang out and he said, “Nexus, use some black holes to accelerate some asteroids into that bitch. Maybe some good old brute force will hurt her.” I was glad he was using Origin, though it was probably only for my sake.
“Yes,” a voice that honestly sent shivers down my back answered. I had never heard anything quite so eerie.
Most of the rocks . . . asteroids around the sphere were already gone from Nexus using his abilities, so he targeted those on the outer edges. He created black holes faster than I could count. The asteroids started to move toward the sphere of darkness. A massive one that looked like a floating mountain shot toward the sphere and crushed everything in its path.
Tendrils of darkness started to appear as smaller asteroids were sliced or pulverized. There were hundreds of them but even they paled against the mass of the mountain-sized asteroid. The tendrils whipped and slashed against it but only managed to rip a few chunks off. Finally, the asteroid collided with the sphere of darkness and started to ripple around it as its own weight caused it to wrap around the sphere.
“Did we get her?” I asked, hopeful.
“Still confirming, Selected,” Third answered.
I moved next to Ignea and whispered, “Selected?”
“Some of the automata in the dungeon know about the mortals that Father tends to favor. They have created that term for them. I don’t know if Father knows or not,” Ignea whispered back.
Well, I definitely couldn’t deny that Regan liked to give me things. If that counted as his favor, then I was definitely one of these Selected. I wondered if I should bring it up to him next time I saw him.
“Movement from the center of the crash point!” shouted an automaton.
The asteroid started to crack as tendrils of shadow stabbed out from the center. Before long the asteroid crumbled to pieces, which were then blasted away from the center. The black sphere was gone. There was now a dragon of all things in its place. Dark mana swirled around it and was pulled into its nostrils and mouth. A large horn grew from its forehead that reminded me of the spear the woman had possessed.
It sucked in a deep breath, then expelled a great blast of shadow mana aimed at one of the other ships. The breath attack ripped through the hull in a matter of seconds. Explosions boomed out as the ship was ripped in two. The breath attack cut off, and the ship started to fracture around the damage. Even I could tell it was a goner. Small ships started to leave the giant vessel as the crew evacuated.
The screen started to display readings from the black dragon. It was ten meters long and five meters wide, forty if you included the wingspan. The mana readings were unchanged, but they were still higher than any mortal could possibly possess. I wasn’t sure if I was reading it right, but it was over a hundred thousand.
“That honestly makes more sense,” Ignea said from next to me.
“What?” I asked with wide eyes after reading the information.
“That she could take so much and be relatively unharmed. She is a dragon. Dragons aren’t bound to the Celestial laws as much as the other mortals due to Modderm resisting change,” Ignea explained.
“It’s still a fucking dragon! One that is bent on killing Regan!” I shouted.
“Father has his own dragon,” Ignea said coolly.
As if on cue, the perpetual darkness of the night sky that made up the floor cracked. More accurately, one of the walls along the section of the floor that was under the ship I was on cracked. The bridge brought up the spot, and there was a boom as something slammed into the wall, causing more cracks to form.
“What is that?” I asked, worried something else was attacking.
“Nova,” Ignea answered with a smile.
Two massive white and gold claws, crackling with mana, ripped through the wall. The wall broke to pieces, showing a floor with floating islands, which looked even larger than this massive empty floor. The body attached to the claws was also visible now.
The dragon looked as if made from a white metal. I had never seen anything so terrifyingly beautiful. Two massive horns that branched as they lengthened sat on the equally massive head. Four wings moved behind him that looked almost as deadly as his claws. Never piss Regan off, I thought to myself once again.
“Someone trying to destroy my home?” a voice echoed in my head, almost forcing me to my knees. “Powerful” was the word that instantly came to mind. This creature knew no equal and wouldn’t stand to be challenged.
“The black dragon over there,” Ignea said out loud.
“Puny . . . weak . . . annoying,” Nova said as if offended.
Apparently, the black dragon heard him too. A massive jet of dragon’s breath flew toward him in a blink of an eye. Nova snorted, then used his claw to backhand the breath. The breath collided with something and was ripped to shreds. The force soon reached the dragon, causing black blood to leak from its mouth.
A blinding light prompted me to turn to the source, and I found Nova breathing in for his own breath attack. His chest was swelling and glowing from the massive amount of mana he was pulling in. I could almost feel the mana in the air dropping. There was a moment of tension before Nova’s head lurched forward and sent the blast of energy at the black dragon.
It tried to form the shadow sphere again, but nothing moves faster than light. The beam sliced into the side of the dragon. It would have been full on, but the black dragon managed to shift enough to avoid the direct beam. I followed the path of the beam and saw a hole that led up to what looked like a city. I hoped no one was injured.
The black dragon’s right side was nearly completely missing. Only the natural durability of being a dragon kept her alive. Her right arm and wing were gone. Her scales and even part of her tail were gone as well. Even with her being a dragon, I was amazed that she was still alive.
“Surrender, little one,” Nova said. He flew within a few hundred meters from her. The black dragon glared the whole time. “Little one” was accurate, as Nova was even larger than the black dragon.
“Ne . . . ver,” the black dragon said with a surprisingly girlish voice.
“You will die,” Nova said, his massive wings like the cloak of the reaper.
“So . . . be . . . it . . .” she gasped, obviously in pain.
“What have you so committed yourself to?” Nova asked, sounding intrigued.
“A . . . new . . . home,” she whispered, shadow leaking from various places around her body.
Chapter 21
Regan
“Alara, my dear. I’m here,” I said through the mech’s comms.
I stood in the middle of the floor, Alara’s creation only two hundred meters in front of me. I was surprised when Alara herself had gone inside the creation, but it was probably for the same reason I needed to pilot mine, to power it. My avatar fused with the mech, so it was more like I was larger. It was disorienting to say the least.
Alara’s creation almost looked like a mech itself now with its armor. It reminded me of an anime I’d watched on Earth that wa
s made a hundred years before I was born. If I remembered correctly, the mech’s name started with an E. They were basically giant humans with armor.
“Re . . . gan . . .” a voice answered from the giant. Red sparks flashed from the chest. She screamed as she reached up to grab her head. Obviously, the control was still very much in place, even fused with that thing.
“I hear you. We just need to fight to the death once,” I said and took a stance.
A strong magic current cascaded down my arm, and a magical rune formed in my hand. There was a loud boom as something from the ceiling started slamming against the walls of the tunnel, then the mithril rod that formed the core of Starfall quickly made its way down to me. It embedded into the ground with a thunderous crash right in front of me.
I reached forward and grabbed it. The mithril started to morph, taking the shape of a twenty-meter-long sword. It would take too much mana to try to do anything else with it, but as a weapon it would be plenty. I looked toward Alara and motioned towards her the classic ‘come at me’ motion with my free hand.
Alara fell forward and slammed both of her hands into the ground. There was a surge of nature mana, and a gnarled black tree grew in front of her. When it was about forty meters tall, she grabbed it, breaking it off at the bottom. Another ripple of mana flowed through it as it sharpened into a spear.
With a roar that echoed throughout the entire floor, she kicked off the ground and charged me. The ground cratered under her, creating a circle of destruction that was at least fifty meters in diameter. Just that alone told me that she’d packed enough mana in the legs to leave a city devastated. This would be difficult.
I channeled mana into my left arm, forming a mana shield, then kicked off as well and returned her advance. I had a bit more finesse than her and only caused a twenty-or-so-meter crater to form. I had my forces nearby that I didn’t want to damage, after all.
With us being a hundred meters tall, it took only a few strides to close the distance. Alara went with a lunge as I shifted my shield into her path. We collided with a BOOM! I brought Starfall around to cut across her right side. Before the blade met, the tree spear grew an offshoot that slammed into the sword, throwing off my aim. I lifted my foot and kicked. With her dealing with my shield and sword, my foot connected with her stomach. With a surge of mana, I sent her flying back.
The ground was torn apart as she slid. Not giving her a chance to recover, I activated some shoulder mounts. Two beams of energy sliced through the ground. When they met Alara, a barrier formed around her that caused the beams to bend off into the distance. When they hit the ground, two explosions rocked the floor. I ground my teeth, but I already knew that dealing with a dungeon host would be a headache.
Alara pushed off against the ground, cracking it as she did so. She swung her arm around at me, winging all the boulders she had created as she moved her massive form toward me. I braced myself behind my shield, each boulder pulling more mana from me than I expected. The barrage finally ended, and I charged her.
The ground broke every time I stepped, making the footing dangerous at times. I brought Starfall around and aimed for her waist. She pulled her spear around to meet the blade. I narrowed my shield to a pinpoint and slashed down on her. The now energy blade stabbed through her leg. With agility that belied her size, she twisted her body and slammed her foot against my lower leg.
With a grunt of pain—as the mech was literally me right now—I was forced to rip the energy blade free of her leg. Using the momentum, I brought around the energy blade, aiming for her spear. She twisted her body, bringing her spear up to guard against the attack. I mentally grinned and amplified the mana in the blade.
The blade sliced clean through the spear, as generally happens when you use vibration to literally rend the atoms of the object you’re attacking. A bit of earth science to help me in this fight of titans.
Taking advantage of her damaged weapon, I brought Starfall around. The blade sank into her armor, then deep into her shoulder. Red blood sprayed from the wound before quickly stopping. Alara reached over and pulled the blade free while kicking back to gain distance.
“Going to make this difficult,” I groaned.
Alara threw the remainder of her spear away. It crashed to the ground and dug a massive furrow. It had to weigh several tons. An aura formed over her fists as she channeled mana into them. I readjusted my shield and braced myself. With a roar, she jumped at me and brought her fist down on my shield, forcing me back several dozen meters. She pounded on the shield, each hit causing a shock wave to boom out.
I hunkered down, receiving her blows for several seconds. My mana wouldn’t hold out if I just took it, however, so I opened some pods along the legs of the mech. Beams of energy sliced through the ground under Alara. It glowed red for a moment before it exploded into the air. She stumbled due to the attack.
Just as she fell back on the ground, thorns of rock shot out at me. I countered the best I could but there were hundreds of the thorns. The mech’s armor was able to withstand most of the attack, but a few managed to hit the leg joints.
I frowned as I sensed her start to build mana in her body. Not wanting to take the chance, I threw Starfall like a spear. The blade impaled her through the stomach, nailing her to the ground. The throw contained enough energy to break the sound barrier. The ground spiderwebbed as half the dungeon floor cratered.
I glanced behind me but shouldn’t have worried. Anubis, Queen, Vetur, and most of the other named automata were channeling mana into a barrier to protect my other forces. I would have to reward them even more after this was all over.
Channeling my mana, I forced Starfall to change into a chain that wrapped around the giant. Alara immediately started to struggle, showing her strength as even the mithril alloy was straining to hold her. I rushed forward, channeling mana into my hands. Morphing them into claws, I shoved them through the armor of the giant and around where Alara had fused.
Creating a dense multidimensional barrier field that cut off all outside influence, I isolated the area of cut-off flesh. The giant instantly stopped moving. I was impressed that it was still showing life even with its heart basically cut out. Lifting the barrier up to eye level, I concentrated and removed all the flesh surrounding Alara with quick laser bursts.
Finally, Alara was visible, though thoroughly covered in blood. Green lines pulsed inside her skin from the collar around her neck. She was balled in the center of the dimensional pocket. Red tears ran down her cheeks. This fight was much more painful for her than me, after all.
“There you are,” I said softly.
I made my way back to the defense line, which had suffered a bit of damage caused by the shock waves and earthquakes from our battle. Everyone looked mostly unharmed though. Kneeling, I placed the dimensional pocket gently on the ground, then linked it to the force’s mana grid. With that done I turned back around, facing the core.
“Any readings from the castle?” I asked, double-checking the mech.
“There were spikes of mana during the battle, but we can’t be sure if it was caused by the host or the necromancers,” Jarvis reported quickly.
“I would prefer to take the core without shattering it. Jarvis, I want you to maintain the dimensional pocket. As long as she is in there, they can’t control her,” I ordered. “Queen, ready the forces to move forward. Anubis and Vetur, you two lead the forces and follow me.”
“As you command!” they yelled, then went to work.
I started heading toward Alara’s core a few minutes later with a large detachment following me. Anubis and Vetur rode the mech’s shoulders. When we were about halfway there, I sensed something surge from the necromancer castle. It was an energy level that rivaled Nova back home. Surely there wasn’t that much mana left in Alara’s core.
“Something is about to happen,” I said, holding my hand up to stop the advance.
A rumble started to build from the center of the floor. Soon it spread through
the entire floor, and even the upper floor forces reported quakes. I ordered everyone to fall back to the defense line. Arcs of energy started to fill the air around Alara’s core.
I rushed back to the defense line and created as big a barrier as I could. I was almost a moment too late—a wave of energy rippled out from the core, decimating everything in its path. The wave collided with the barrier, instantly forming cracks. I boosted the mana output of the reactor to full. It would only last about thirty seconds before it exploded.
A massive pillar of mana formed at Alara’s core and lanced straight up. Ten seconds later the wave passed. My mech was melted in the center and along parts of the arms, rendered basically inoperable now. I quickly left it and made my way over to check on Alara. Thankfully, her dimensional pocket was still intact. I breathed a sigh of relief until I saw she was screaming in pain.
Turning back toward Alara’s core, I found the center of the dungeon gone. A crater was all that remained of the castle. After a quick check I found that everyone was alright with only some slight mana burns caused by the passing energy wave. We needed to hurry in case Alara’s avatar could no longer support itself.
We made our way over to see if anything remained. I held out hope, as Alara’s avatar was still in my dimensional pocket. Generally, hosts couldn’t exist without their core. When we reached the edge of the crater, I had to whistle when I saw the crater went nearly a kilometer into the ground. We couldn’t find any remains of anything living or undead in the area.
I sent a burst of pure mana into the crater. At a point toward the bottom, the mana was absorbed by something wedged in a crack. I shot off toward the spot and slammed my hand into the crack, grabbing the source of the mana absorption. It was a sliver barely larger than the tip of a finger. Ignea once told me that a dungeon could come back from an even smaller sliver.