The Ultimation (Play to Live: Book #7)

by D. Rus

  Uri forced himself to look up from the giant crystal and shrugged with a sad expression, “I... I don’t know... The hierarchs will be the ones to decide. Their ways are inscrutable.”

  I sighed, knowing that I'd done everything I could just as duty dictated. Handing the archangel the Soul Stone, I said, “Here you go. Release the souls, do what you must.”

  Uri stared at me in disbelief, then gave me a deep bow. This must have been the first time in known history that an archangel bowed to a human.

  “Thank you, my pure-minded friend,” said Uri. “I will remember this! Regardless of what the Hierarchs decide, I’ll join you, with or without by brethren! Just summon me. If you succeed in destroying Asmodeus and assemble most of the earthlings under your leadership, then the will of the Hierarchs won’t matter so much anymore. You are children of the Creator, and are capable of breaking through the barriers between worlds and summoning us by the power of faith alone.”

  The general, who was still as a statue, suddenly spoke in a husky voice, “Our security cameras are recording this meeting. I guarantee that if this footage airs, millions of earth dwellers will pray for Seventh Heaven’s help.”

  The archangel rose to his full impressive height and nodded with content, his eyes flashing in triumph, “This will give us enormous power! We will come when you summon us. Till we meet again, humans. Thank you, Max!”

  There was a thunderous clap, and the archangel vanished, taking 666 thousand souls straight to heaven.

  The general plopped down into his armchair and wiped his sweaty brow. “Was all of this real? No hypnosis, no circus magic?”

  I reached into my inventory, took out a bottle of 100-year-old cognac, and poured us both a shot. “You can watch the surveillance footage later to ascertain yourself of its authenticity. Pick up your glass, let’s toast to our future victory!”

  The general took a sip and gave me a dumbfounded look. No wonder; the cognac gave him 700 constitution points. This would last only for 12 hours, but good things don’t come easy.

  Closing the bottle with care, I placed the precious liquor back in my inventory. The general looked into his glass again, making sure it was empty, then sorrowfully set it aside. “Max, how will you find Asmodeus? The Top Demons are hiding in different layers of reality; it’s hard as hell to fish them out. We’ve heard rumors that Americans once managed to take out one of the Diablo gods with a tactical nuclear weapon. Since then, we rarely ever catch a glimpse of those top demons, only via satellite, and only for a few minutes.”

  “Asmodeus will come to me himself!” I declared. “My Alliance is currently wiping out his dominion, decreasing his inflow of warriors and imperiling his sources of power and respawn points. My troops are closing in on a castle that’s very important to Asmodeus. Things are already in motion. He simply has to show up.”

  “But what if he doesn’t?” the general inquired, stealing a glance at the cameras again.

  “I have a backup plan for such a scenario. The Summoning Ring. Although it’s not a guarantee; last time, Asmodeus had sent a substitute...”

  “So how do you kill him? With what?”

  I leaned forward. The bets were all placed. I had already revealed some of my trump cards and demonstrated my willingness to give this war everything I had. Your move, dear earthling! I thought as I answered, “That’s the part where you come in. During the initial stages, you will help me by supplying technology and manpower in order to make it look like we are in a difficult situation. This will make Asmodeus personally intervene in the battle. After that, you will provide me with a special weapon, a hundred kilotons in power and of a reasonable weight, one that can be detonated with a single click of a button. I’ll place it at the Archdemon’s feet, then there’ll be a big boom. The demon army will be left without a leader. The rest is a technical matter; we summon angels, mop up any demons that will be left on Earth, then go to war over who gets to colonize the empty continents. That last part may be unnecessary...”

  The general smiled sadly. He knew that defeating demons was just the beginning. The world had changed and would never be the same again.

  “Are you sure the special weapon will work?” he asked. “A nuke is not just a chunk of plutonium compressed to critical size during an explosion. It’s also filled with the most delicate mechanisms. On Earth, a nuke can degrade in 10-20 years. And in AlterWorld? A rugged army camera that one of my officers brought on an Inferno raid came back melted into a brick.”

  “I don’t know... We have different laws of physics, that’s for sure. Let’s just hope that the nuke’s chips can withstand AlterWorld conditions for at least a minute. If not, I have a backup plan for that too. But don’t ask what it is. I trust you, but not whoever your superiors are.” I smiled and waved at the camera, “No offense, dear generals.”

  The Khabarovsk general listened to the orders he received on his implant, and nodded with content, “You’ll get both manpower and a nuke. I just received permission from Moscow. The written order will arrive later, but we have the go-ahead!”

  “Wonderful! Then prepare the nuke. It should be ready in ten minutes. Extract the detonator, wire it to a button. Bring some ancient technology back into service, preferably something from your warehouses that lacks any new parts. Antitank guns, SP gun mounts, mortars, and heavy machine guns. Lots of BKs. Line them all up, and I’ll show you the portal coordinates so that you can roll everything in as fast as possible; the attack lasts only 15 minutes. That’ll be all. I'll return to AlterWorld to keep creating chaos in Inferno. Best of luck, general!”

  The next 24 hours were intense. The Alliance and its partners went round and round in Inferno like nomads on the rich lands of farmers, leaving nothing but smoke and ruins in their wake. We destroyed everything that could increase the demons’ power. It was pure genocide – us, or them.

  We encountered almost no resistance. Inferno had no reserves left as the demons had used all their power to wage war on Earth. Perhaps they hadn’t counted on us interfering? I couldn't say.

  When one group of ours returned from some downtime, I received an alarm signal; “Max, they’re slaughtering slaves and hostages in Asmodeus’ castle. Mana flow density has greatly increased. The pentagram is burning so bright it can be seen from space!”

  I flared my nostrils. So it begins!

  “Clan-wide alert! Code Red Reality Zero troops are to take defensive positions. Those on Inferno raid—return to your assigned perimeters.”

  After giving orders, I rushed to the portal square, where the massive crimson arch of a huge stationary portal stood out darkly against the sky. Here I come!

  The exit point was guarded by 50 third line warriors. Buffers were clustered together nearby.

  After getting my share of improvements and blessings, I teleported to Asmodeus’ Minor Citadel—just in time to witness with my own eyes the rupture of worlds and the entire demon army of three realities coming out of the Gates.

  Bada-bada-boom! That was impressive... Entire legions descended from the skies, climbing down a ladder of fire that streamed through the air like a lava river.

  I wondered if I had overestimated myself. Had I called for winds, but summoned a storm? Should I have invited archangels here instead, leaving Earth for later, or making it fend for itself?

  The citadel couldn’t fit everyone. Demon hordes poured from the wide-open gates, then formed tight square formations. Inferno, Diablo, Heroes of Might and Magic... they were all there.

  “Asmodeus!” came the husky roar of thousands greeting their overlord.

  Oh, it’s on now! flashed across my mind as I gave my wiz the go-ahead and teleported a mile to the side, to the positions we had already assigned to Earth’s armies. That area consisted mostly of trenches, covered mortar areas, and artillery caponiers.

  I pulled another soul stone out of my ammo belt and cast Portal to Alpha Zone with the sublocation set to the Khabarovsk airbase.

  Boom!!! I teleported t
o the airbase with my personal guard and a very gloomy Snowie. I looked appraisingly at the long line of military tech; the MT-12 and 2A75 anti-tank guns being towed, the legendary classic D-30 and the slightly younger Msta-B howitzers, platforms of ammo, and machine gunners and artillerymen sleeping side by side.

  The clap of our portal woke everyone up. The headquarters’ windows were flung open, and we could hear several doors slamming.

  I nodded to the officer on watch, “It’s time.”

  This nearly started a chaos on the airbase blocked with old technology. Hurry, boys, hurry! My warriors are about to get slaughtered!

  The army truck with the nuke I had ordered zoomed over to us, escorted by an entire column of smaller armored vehicles. I listened carefully as the technician hurriedly explained the instructions, “Nuclear mine, power – 70 kilotons, weight – 540 pounds. Controls have been duplicated; there's a push button and a five-minute timer. Proceed with safety device removal?”

  I nodded again. The technician quickly entered some codes into the ‘invincible’ laptop attached to the bomb, checking them against what was written on the cards around his neck. “All set!”

  I thanked him, placed my hand on the nuke and hid it in my inventory with an effort. Wheeling around, I raced to the portal into which the technology was already disappearing.

  “Good luck, and forgive me...” the technician whispered.

  All of Inferno was rumbling by that time; cannonades, mortar blasts, long machine gun rounds. All this motivated my soldiers. The front lines had already collided with the demon legions and were making mincemeat of the low-level opponents. Asmodeus had begun the battle by getting rid of cannon fodder in order to exhaust us, to make us use up our abilities, and to see if we had any surprises for him.

  Portals were opening near us, although we couldn’t hear them over the gunfire. Our allies were joining the battle.

  But we were not the only ones getting reinforcements; the whirling fiery ladder was like an infinite source of fresh meat, pushing the demons onward. Legions and legions...

  I summoned a pet, multiplied him. Then I caught sight of Asmodeus’ giant frame. He was still as a statue, clad in an intimidating-looking armor, and was giving brief orders, advancing his army along the battlefield.

  I clenched my teeth and waited. Our SPGs weren't doing so well, pulverizing only some of the demons. Frightened Earth reporters moved in and out of the portal which we used to deliver ammo. They captured what they could of the world’s most lifelike horror movie, then hurried back, hoping to save the footage on memory cards. The flaming ladder was like a magical conveyor belt, bringing more and more creatures from the worlds of demons.

  The demons weren’t even attacking yet; we were merely at the edge of the boundless sea of enemies, and already it overwhelmed us, washing away our troops like sand castles.

  Oh, Fallen One, where are they getting so many?! And why? This was clearly excessive just for protecting the castle and even for a clean-up of the entire Inferno. Perhaps what we have done really touched Asmodeus on a sore spot, and he decided to finish off the impudent AlterWorld warriors first instead of waging a war on both fronts?

  What we did to the Alaskan castle and the ziggurat with portal gates to the reinforcement zones and Inferno respawn points – all that was painful and could not have gone unnoticed. We most certainly could have angered the Archdemon...

  I decided not to wait any longer. The enemy troops could have traveled outside the certain damage radius at any moment. I sent my pets to attack Asmodeus so that they would cut a straight path for me through his hordes. They were strong enough to resist even the Silver Legion for a certain amount of time.

  I gave an order in code via clan chat. As had been planned, my warriors started backing up. Mobile Domes opened behind them.

  I repeated my order aloud, and the Earth soldiers rushed to the portal, leaving the hardware and weapons behind. Not all earthmen left. Some didn’t hear me, and others had too large of a score to settle with the demons; dozens of guns kept firing at the enemy.

  I silently shrugged, Everyone chooses their own path.

  I hugged Snowie, then nodded at the rear: “Retreat!”

  He shook his head. My gloomy ear-choppers stood nearby. Nothing short of a bulldozer could have moved them away from me.

  I quickly looked away so that they wouldn’t notice the content in my eyes; I realized that they wouldn’t be able to keep up with me. I drew on the flame of my Spark, gasped as fire began to rage inside my chest, then abruptly sped myself up. Charge!

  Everything around me grew still. Only projectiles and hot bullet trails slowly crawled through the air. I rushed forward, speeding up more and more, my outline blurring, my body leaving a bloody trail in the air as the wind ripped off pieces of my flesh.

  Snowie bellowed sorrowfully behind me; he also sped up by some miracle. He could barely move, but he could still perceive his surroundings.

  I ran over the corpses of demons whom my pets had torn apart. Then I got ahead of them still looking frozen in space, I jumped on top of the boundless mass of demons, and kept running on their heads, leaving hundreds with broken necks and crushed skulls.

  My skin burned as did my heart – my Spark blazed furiously, threatening to incinerate its carrier. I shut my eyes, trying to preserve them till the last second, and used the radar and my intuition to find my way.

  Soon I received a sensory shock; Asmodeus’ glaring figure came into view in all the spectrums I was able to detect.

  I opened my eyes. Oh, Fallen One, how much power that demon had! He had literally become a god. How many billions of victims had he used to get to this point?

  “You just won't stop, will you?” the demonic god roared, reaching for me with his infinitely long paw.

  I was filled with awe, my soul prepared to submit itself to the will of the higher being and leave my body. But the demon burned his paw on my Spark and jerked it back, hissing. The blazing Spark was far from helpless. Its fire burned my body, but guarded my soul.

  My charred flesh creaking, I whipped the nuke out of my inventory. I barely managed to smile and pressed the button.

  Nothing...

  The demon roared with laughter, delighting in the moment. “Fool! A nuclear reaction is impossible in a world of magic, and promising immortality to your technician was all it took to guarantee your failure! Who do you think you’re up against, Creator's maggot? I am always a hundred steps ahead!”

  My mind was clouded. I willed myself to stop feeling pain, but this dulled my perception of the world around me. My Spark no longer simply burned my physical body; it twisted my astral body into a bizarre pattern. It felt... strange...

  With an effort, I clenched my fist and felt for the massive Ring of True Flame which I had gotten after the death of the Sun God.

  Asmodeus looked at me suspiciously. He was clearly in control of the situation, easily reading my mind and foreseeing my actions. It took him one instant to read the ring’s stats. Shocked, he could no longer concentrate. The demon slowed down and for the duration of a single heart beat dropped out into regular space and time.

  This gave me an advantage, although I would have had enough time even without it. How do you like ten cubic miles of the sun’s coronal mass? Eat it, bastard!

  Activation. Flash. Darkness.

  A mile-wide explosion consumed the Citadel, burning everything around it...

  Status alert! You have leveled up.

  Status alert! You have leveled up.

  Status alert! You have leveled up.

  Status alert! You have destroyed yet another god.

  Status alert! You have received a new astral mark. Conversion of quantity into quality.

  Status alert! You have taken another step up the Stairway to Heaven. Transitioning to a new level of being.

  Status alert! New locations available: The Halls of Heaven, Junction of the Virtual Worlds.

  Status alert! New branches of deve
lopment available.

  Status alert! Forced regeneration.

  The world welcomes the new god. Choose a name and remember – you have an eternity ahead of you, and infinite possibilities...

  THE END

  Author’s afterword

  Greetings, dear reader. You have just flipped the last page of this book, clicked on the last page, swiped your finger across the screen, or finished listening to the final chapter. And I have written the word “END” just a minute ago...

  I’m tired and drained, both mentally and physically. Catharsis... I clutch the future book to my breast, celebrating it like the birth of a child, and wishing it a happy life. May it be a lucky one!

  It took me two and a half years to finish this series, and now it has reached its end. Yes, Max’s story has been told. He has completed his journey, gone from a beginner level one Elf to a young god. In these seven books, we have read about his adventures, his development and character formation. I hope we have even learned something. I wouldn’t want to waste trees on paper without good reason.

  Much has been left untold, for I ran out of room. This is just Max’s story, but there’s a whole world around him. I think we will hear more about AlterWorld. I would like to tell you about Snowie and Dan, about Fuckyall and his son, about the Fallen One and the nameless fellow who had been cast deep into the heart of the Frontier during the rupture of the worlds and did his best to survive.

  I missed Taali, but dreamed of resurrecting Olga...

  I have written two sequels: Forty Days Later and Forty Thousand Years Later, but did not include them in this series. Let this tale end with an ellipsis...

  A big thanks to all the fans of Play To Live! Rest assured, we will meet again.

  Yours truly,