Apocalyptic Life (Era Series Book 2)

by Patrik Mielonen

  Ion gathers a bunch of Arcane Arrows, ready to launch them at any given moment. “Ohan! Back!”

  Without glancing, she retreats from the offensive, and Ion sends forth all the spell arrows at the thing. However, the God creature doesn’t fall so easily. It dodges the projectiles with ease, dashing at Ion to knock him out. Reflexively, Ion casts a small Arcane Explosion to stop it, creating an Arcane Shield around him right after it.

  The Labyrinthine God holds its arms protectively, efficiently blocking the explosion with a few scratches only. It starts pummeling Ion’s spell shield furiously, threatening to break it with physical force alone.

  “Oh no, you don’t!” Louir sends out a Void orb to taunt it before Ion is beaten to a pulp.

  To her surprise, the small orb does scratch it a little, which is enough to steal its attention. She regrets it, however. Before she even knows it, the thing is punching her, having closed the gap in no time. Her skull cracks as the blow lands. Louir is thus knocked unconscious.

  Ti is angered. She is lunging at the muscular monster. She aims to lacerate the monster swiftly, but since she is blinded by rage, she can be read like an open book. The brute dodges as if it were a daily thing to do.

  Tereahn is pissed off. He stomps the floor so that the stone is crushed beneath his feet. He lifts huge chunks of rock, throwing them at the God. As it breaks them midair by punching them directly while dodging Ti’s claws, Ohan uses the opportunity to slash its torso open. The moment her claw touches the skin and a drop of black blood is spilled, the brute’s foot lands on her face.

  With that, Ion uses Ender to blow its head off. He fires the spell that has a higher velocity than light. However, the brute has somehow managed to predict it and has lifted its arm to protect itself. Even Ender fails to damage its arms.

  Tereahn keeps crushing the floor, throwing rocks ferociously. The master of the labyrinth is forced to use all of its arms to protect itself. Tereahn uses the opportunity to surprise it by charging at it, moving faster than the rocks he’s thrown at it, landing a clean uppercut. Ohan follows up. She kicks the muscle monster while it’s midair, sending it flying with such force it collides against the wall of the chamber.

  The brute calls forth raw power from its master upon recovering, crushing the stone around it with the aura alone. It charges at Ti, but Ohan blocks its path before it can harm the Wolf. She takes the clean blow, colliding with Ti.

  Tereahn attacks from the side, only to be brushed off like an insect. Ion casts Arcane Arrows again. The brute is forced to repel them, and that’s what Ion aims for. With its line of sight blocked by the incoming projectiles, Ion Teleports behind it, catching it off guard with an Arcane Explosion.

  The brute is sent flying by the explosion, and the incoming Arcane Arrows that are still flying at it hit its torso, but they won’t skewer it. Nevertheless, the brute isn’t defeated with that. The master of the place retreats towards the center of the chamber. Once far enough, it speaks up for the first time.

  “Is that all you have got, intruders? You will need far more than that if you wish to defeat me.”

  “It speaks!?” Ion is perplexed.

  “Fuck off! We’ll feed you to your pets!” Tereahn yells.

  “Oh? Really? Best of luck, mortals.”

  “Tch, I’m a Dragoni, not a mortal,” Ohan utters.

  “Good thing the past me wasn’t caught in this bullshit.” Somehow, Louir manages to stand up and talk with her cracked skull. But then again, she is an astral being, not a human.

  “Oh? You can still stand after that? I am impressed.”

  “Aye! It takes more than that to keep me down. For the sake of Lou—the past me—I’ll take you down!”

  “Then let’s see if you can take head-on even more powerful blows.”

  The supposed Labyrinthine God asks for even more power from its master. The intensity of its aura increases once more.

  However, similarly, Louir gathers Void energy around her. Ion can tell it’s no use. She cannot draw anything from the Void—or so they all think. Louir’s violet aura grows to the point she can challenge the brute.

  “Come at me!”

  Although the Void told her she can create a Void of her own, she hasn’t done that. Yet still, she’s managed to draw power from the Void. There is a logical explanation for that.

  Louir hurls massive, violet orbs of destruction at the muscle monster with a smirk on her face. The target dodges them one after another. Louir then steps through the Void, an act that shouldn’t be possible in there. She appears behind the brute, launching a violet spear at the vulnerable opponent.

  The aura around it is enough to repel most of the Living Weapon of the Void. The spear explodes on impact as a result. The only damage the brute suffers is a scratch.

  Before Louir can react, her adversary pays it back tenfold. It closes the gap between them, delivering a powerful, empowered punch of its fist. Her guts are damaged by the hit to the point they’ve turned into juice. Her heart and lungs are still intact, however.

  Ion, Tereahn, and Ohan avenge her by executing a coordinated attack from its rear. Ohan claws its back enough to make it bleed, but she is brushed off by the monster almost instantly. Tereahn follows up, aiming for its throat. He manages to land a punch, crushing its larynx.

  “Guh!” The brute appears to suffer.

  Tereahn is struck by a very powerful kick. He is knocked out for the time being.

  Ion finishes their coordinated attack. He casts Ender with Limiter Release active. He fires the Arcane Weapon six times within a second, all of the shots hitting vital spots, penetrating its flesh and bone. He fires more as the brute tries to generate a barrier of raw power to protect itself. The magical projectiles are deflected, the spell that should be capable of piercing anything.

  As their opponent charges at him with all four fists held ready to pummel him to death, Ion creates thirty layers of Arcane Shield around him. Without Limiter Release, three layers would be the best he can do.

  The master of the labyrinth smashes its way through the spell shields without slowing down. Once there are only four layers left, Ion Teleports behind the brute. Of course, it won’t fall for the same tactic twice. However, Ion Teleports again, and he keeps Teleporting around it constantly to confuse it. After forty-one Teleports, Ion casts an Arcane Arrow. By the time it repels the spell, another one is coming from a different angle, and suddenly, the brute finds itself from a storm of spell arrows, each of them coming from a different angle. There’s only a .05 second delay between each projectile. Such is the power of Limiter Release.

  The supposed Labyrinthine God manages to repel only a fraction of the spells. Rest of them hit their mark. It keeps taking damage without being able to counter-attack. After hundreds of Arcane Arrows hitting it, the brute disappears into thin air. Ion Teleports away reflexively, fearing there might be a surprise attack.

  He isn’t totally wrong. Their adversary appears in the middle of the chamber, drawing more power from the labyrinth. Its figure is literally in flames now, all because of the energy it harnesses. The Old One is granting its minion even more power.

  Suddenly, projectiles of raw power, which look like swords, are shot by the brute at random directions. To Ion, it isn’t a big deal to dodge the storm of blades with Limiter Release active, but Tereahn, Ohan, Louir, and especially Ti are having problems with avoiding the blades.

  Louir can barely move with all the wounds she has. Nevertheless, she warps from place to place with the help of the Void, efficiently avoiding the projectiles. Ti gets hit by one of them. Her side is torn by it.

  Seeing it happen, Louir is angered. She draws more power from the Void of their homeworld. The violet aura around her starts burning the very stone beneath her feet.

  “Time to get serious, you bastard!” Louir hurls an extra large Void orb at the muscle monster.

  “Oh?” It stops the orb midair with the palm of its hand. “With this pitiful power you possess, y
ou can barely bring down my favorite pet.”

  Louir can hear the Void speaking. What are you doing!? My Void is getting sucked into your bodies! Stop it! You will destroy the whole Void at this rate!

  Shut up! If Ion doesn’t get out alive, the world will be obliterated.

  But this is...!

  Ignoring the warning, Louir draws even more power. She is using her body in the Void as a conduit. After all, she is always partly in the Void, and thus she can pull power into her astral body, which she uses as a conduit to divert Void energy into her physical body.

  Louir lunges at the brute, delivering an empowered fist. The blow gets blocked, but Louir follows up with a Void ray from point-blank range. The wave of destruction hits its mark.

  Ion casts Arcane Cutter once the beam is gone, Teleporting behind the brute to cut its leg. Black blood spills from the dismembered leg, and Ion disappears with another Teleport. All of it happens in less than .3 seconds. He Cloaks himself to avoid being targeted afterward.

  “Pathetic creatures...!” Their adversary is losing its patience.

  It gathers the power it has summoned into one massive ball of dark light. Ion tries interrupting it with the Ender, but for some reason, his spell isn’t affecting it. Once the dark energy sphere is complete, the brute hurls the destructive force at Ti, who’s been trembling in terror all the while.

  “Die!”

  Ion Teleports. He is attempting to stop the spell midair with Arcane Shields. He creates a hundred layers to stop it. However, in front of otherworldly force, the shields are as good as glass panels put up to stop a rock hurled by a catapult.

  Louir appears beside Ion to protect Ti. She builds up a Void orb, and once the final layer of the Arcane Shield is breached, she tears apart the hostile spell with the Void energy to save Ion and Ti from certain death.

  However, once the ball of dark light is gone, their line of sight is blocked by the brute’s muscular body. Louir is hit by a shockwave from point-blank range. Her torso is torn open by the impact, and a trail of gore follows her trajectory as she crashes into the wall of the chamber.

  Ti dashes away to avoid getting killed. Ion tries to stun the brute briefly by Teleporting above it and casting an Arcane Explosion. Its head suffers a mild wound, but otherwise, the thing isn’t affected by it. In fact, it charges at Louir, who just got hit, wanting to pummel her to death—if she isn’t dead already.

  The brute brings down its fists to beat her to a pulp, but Louir’s violet figure explodes with such force the master of the labyrinth is thrown off balance before it can do any more harm.

  V as in violet.

  Louir looks different, covered in violet flames that hide her body thoroughly. An overwhelming aura is surrounding her body.

  V as in violence.

  The intensity of the violet aura erases the ground. Therefore, she is hovering in the air.

  V as in Void.

  Louir has forced an Archon form, but not with the Void this time.

  Ion is awed. How can she do it? Archon requires the Elementi lord and the caster to fuse together, but she is cut off from the Void. Wait, could it be...?

  “Die, bastard!” Louir’s voice is her own, not mixed.

  Rather than fusing with the Void, she’s merged with herself. Her body in the Void and the embodiment in the labyrinth are one now, which means she is literally fusing with herself.

  Stop! The whole Void is crumbling!!! The Void is genuinely scared.

  The Archon shoots a ray of violet destruction to eradicate the Labyrinthine God for good. Likewise, the adversary is further empowered by its master, causing the labyrinth in its entirety to crumble.

  However, the brute is forced to hold out. The power of the Void ray is more than enough to pierce a planet.

  Stooooop!!! The Void is being ignored.

  Somehow, the Archon manages to increase the potency of its power twofold. The diameter of the ray grows by yards. The master of the labyrinth is losing in terms of power.

  Rocks fall from the ceiling. Ti is doing her best to dodge them. Ohan and Tereahn just crush them with fists. Ion in Limiter Release state cannot die because of a falling rock, no matter what.

  “DIE BY THE VOID!!!!!!!!”

  The Labyrinthine God is pushed back. There’s nothing it can do anymore. It has unleashed its full power already. On the contrary, the Archon is growing in power by the moment.

  The master of the labyrinth shrieks.

  And then, the Void ray tears through. The brute is caught in the violet wave of utter destruction. It disintegrates in a matter of nanoseconds. It doesn’t end there; the ray drills through the stone wall on the other side, erasing the bedrock for hundreds of leagues, until it grazes a certain entity afar.

  The Archon dispels the ray, falling to its knees. Louir cannot come out of the Archon form just yet, lest she’ll die. They have to get out before she runs out of time, as there’s a limit to how long she can be an Archon.

  “Did she kill it?”

  “If that didn’t kill it, then there’s nothing that can.”

  “Whoa, Louir! You’re awesome!”

  Breathing deep, Louir tries to talk. “Yeah, it’s dead. I can’t feel the powerful aura anymore.”

  “Now, let’s look for the way out. Too bad the woman died during the battle. Can’t ask her anymore.”

  Hoy, Void, we’ve killed the master thingy of this place, any suggestions?

  A minute later. Stop using the Void for a while and get out.

  Yeah, that’s very helpful. If I exit the Archon now, I’ll die. I need to get back before I run out of time.

  Before she hears more from the Void, a portal appears in the middle of the vast chamber. Rocks keep falling, and the whole labyrinth is quaking.

  “Hurry, to the portal!”

  The group runs for it. They don’t know why or how the portal has appeared, or where it’ll take them, but they have to take the risk and jump in. Even if they won’t get back home, it’s better than staying in the collapsing labyrinth.

  Apocalyptic Life

  Just where have we sent them?

  She is looking at the entrance of the castle, which is back to normal now. The utter darkness that was there when the group entered is gone. It’s been only a short while since the party went in.

  Dracon, the Supreme God of the First World, has surmised it’s a different world. That isn’t the biggest issue, however. The most troubling part is that it isn’t any of the Eight Worlds they know.

  Have they been lied to? Is the truth about the Eight Worlds different from what they’ve been led to believe? Or is he playing a trick on them?

  “Phew,” such can be heard behind her.

  The devil girl jerks her head faster than ever. A familiar group shows up through a portal. A violet Archon, a Wolf, a Mage, and two Priests. The Archon dissipates as soon as it lands on the safe side of the portal, the Void attuner collapsing on the spot. She won’t wake up in a while, as she needs to regenerate.

  “I REFUSE to do any of that again!” Ion declares, losing his consciousness immediately after due to Limiter Release turning off.

  “Hungry...” Ti complains.

  “I want a moment of peace and quiet,” Ohan says.

  “Me too,” Tereahn adds.

  She sighs deeply, relieved to see all of them alive. It seems the current iteration is the perfect one she has been aiming for ever since the first, original timeline. It took her over 16,000 years to conclude the campaign in the Third World. The Seed is gone, he is gone, and the humans threatening to cause the obliteration of the dimension are soon to be purged. Everything has gone according to her plan. However, if she’d known the ‘trap’ was so dangerous, she would’ve chosen a different place to confront the Titan.

  She is the benevolent one, is she not?

  He is the malevolent one, is he not?

  Right?

  ***

  Louir wakes up at one point before the evening of that day. Once she op
ens her eyes, her face heats up in a matter of seconds. She is sleeping beside Ion, or more like, she’s latched onto him while she was sleeping.

  The blockhead himself is sleeping like a log.

  “I can’t believe it,” Louir hears a feminine voice nearby. “To think that I’d sleep like that.”

  “Huh?” Louir turns to the speaker, who is standing next to her. “Why am I here? Why are you here!?”

  Lou, the dual attuner, or in other terms, Louir’s counterpart, explains, “She dragged you here. We’re in the house we found near Hantor.”

  Louir is flustered, even confused. “You know who I am?”

  “You’re me, or well, me from the future, I guess.”

  “Uh,” Louir struggles say anything.

  “The Titan is getting near. You should get ready. We can leave Ion here. Ion will look after him. Damn, that sounds stupid...”

  “Is the other Ion here?” Louir asks.

  “Yes. He is outside. He is studying a massive Wolf of Poer Haem. She claims to be the girl that came to rest at our hideout.”

  “She is her. But that aside, are you a Void attuner?”

  “No. I have yet to anger the Elementi lords. Why?”

  “It’s just, uh, I might need help with the Titan.”

  “You don’t. She told me you’re the most powerful one of all the previous versions of us. I also know the whole truth. Like, I was supposed to become a Void attuner too and all that.”

  “In that case, look after my Ion for a while. I’ll go with the Dragoni to challenge the Titan. Once I return, we need to invade the other dimension, lest we all cease existing.”

  “Leave it to me.”

  As soon as Louir stands up from the mattress she had brought for them even in the previous timeline, her stiff body protests. She was brutalized in the labyrinth, and now that she’s regenerated, her body has yet to warm up. She exits the house.