by Ivan Kal
“Is this why you came? To die and be with everybody else?” Ryun asked. “I know what you did in order to achieve this much strength. You betrayed every single thing you lectured me about in order to kill me, and it was still not enough. And for what? A minute more and this world will be gone, and we will have reached the next.”
“You cannot be allowed to reach the next world. You cannot be allowed the chance to grow stronger. We have sacrificed everything to stop you here,” Zach told him.
Ryun shook his head.
Time to the end of the world: 00 hours 00 minutes 31 seconds. Rankers, be ready for transport to the Infinite Realm.
Soon, nothing about this world would matter again.
***
Zach watched as the monster used his Class’s movement ability to reach Gloria. They had studied him for a long time, and by now knew most of his abilities, skills, and techniques. They had many countermeasures and plans for fighting him, but they all knew that in the end, none of it would matter. They had done the unthinkable, had dirtied their own hands, all for this one chance. They knew that they would die. The five standing before him were his closest friends, his brothers and sisters, and Zach’s heart ached for his role in their plan. But they could not allow the monster to go beyond this world, to inflict pain and suffering to innocent chosen from other worlds. The monster was their responsibility.
Then the battle started, and immediately the true size of the gap between the monster and all of them was clear. Even with everything that they had done to close that gap, they were found wanting. Each one of them had passed level 80; they each had several skills, had each started on the path of Cultivation, and yet still they were like babes fighting a tiger. They could do nothing.
The monster cleaved Marcus in half, and Zach closed his eyes. He wanted to run over and help, but he knew that he couldn’t. He was their last chance. He kept his mind on his sword, channeling and preparing his skill. He had not managed to level it much, had not managed to evolve it. It was too late. There was nothing left living in the world; he couldn’t finish his skill quest and evolve the skill. He hoped that it was going to be enough, as he had spent an insane amount of Essence to purchase it from the Dealmaker. It was their last card to play.
Zach knew that they couldn’t kill the monster. Even if a skill that could harm him existed, it would cost more Essence than what the entire Earth contained. But they had to try. He felt the power of his skill rise, but it was not yet at its peak. It had to be channeled before it was unleashed, and against such an opponent as the monster before him it had to be at its full power.
He saw Nkiruka and Anastasia attack the monster, saw Gloria attack from behind. An aura of sadness exploded out of the monster, and Zach felt his breathing hitch as an unimaginable sadness gripped him. His passive skills allowed him to weather the aura somewhat, but still he felt a tear roll down his cheek. Gloria’s attack slowed, but she still reached her target. She struck and drove the monster into the ground, but it was not enough. He saw the moment when the monster stopped playing and unleashed its most powerful technique. {Final End} billowed out of him, the silver Qi destroying everything around him. Zach watched as Gloria was blown to pieces, and saw John’s body shatter as Nkiruka and Anastasia were thrown to the ground. The monster finished the rest quickly, then finally stepped toward Zach.
He didn’t react, but only focused on his skill.
“Is this why you came? To die and be with everybody else?” the monster asked.
Zach gazed into those empty eyes. He remembered them smiling, a long time ago, but now there was now nothing but an ocean of darkness there. There was no humanity in his face, no mercy or goodness. His heart hurt to look at him. It has been a long time since the person in front of him had been anything but a demon. The monster continued speaking. “I know what you did in order to achieve this much strength. You betrayed every single thing you lectured me about in order to kill me, and it was still not enough. And for what? A minute more and this world will be gone, and we will have reached the next.”
Zach’s hands tightened on his sword. He hated this twisted thing before him—hated him for all the things that he had done, and most importantly for what he had forced the rest of them to do. Unbidden, the memory of an old woman holding him as he cried in a small windowless room came. Zach had sworn to her, and to every other person who had visited him in that small room, that he would end the monster and avenge them all.
“You cannot be allowed to reach the next world. You cannot be allowed the chance to grow stronger. We have sacrificed everything to stop you here,” Zach told the monster.
It shook its head, and Zach glanced at the clock.
Time to the end of the world: 00:hours 00:minutes 31:seconds. Rankers, be ready for transport to the Infinite Realm.
There was no time left. It was now or never. Zach felt the skill reach its crescendo. He knew that the monster could feel what Zach was doing, he just didn’t care. And why would he, when he was the most powerful being that had ever walked this Earth? Zach’s ability pinged in his mind and, without a word, he activated it.
|Sealing Slash| sang through the air. His katana slashing toward the monster in an attack far faster than any he had ever executed before. The monster had to have sensed that something was wrong, as he empowered his blade and moved it to block. But it didn’t matter—the monster did not know what this attack was. Zach’s blade passed through that of the monster, and Zach saw his opponent’s eyes widen as the blade cut through its arm and then its body, crossing through its torso to exit on the other side.
For a moment there was only silence as the two looked at each other. The monster lowered its sword and frowned as it looked at its completely untouched body. Zach felt his strength leave him and he fell to his knees, gasping for air. The attack had taken everything from him, his vision danced in front of him and his body shuddered from exhaustion.
“What did you do?” the monster asked, a hint of anger entering the tone of his voice.
For that alone Zach managed to turn his head up and look at the monster with a smile on his face. And then he saw his opponent’s face pale and the monster doubled over, grunting in pain. He jerked as if struck and released a gasp of agony. He turned to look at Zach, glaring. “What did you do?” the monster asked again, now with panic in its eyes.
Zach struggled to get to his feet, leaning on his sword. He moved forward toward the disabled monster, and with shaking hands raised his sword. Zach knew that he had to end it, that this was his only opportunity. Even though he did not know if his weakened strike would be enough to get through the monster’s skin, he had to try. The monster shuddered on the ground, and Zach began his swing.
A loud chime inside of his head distracted him and a screen flashed in front of his eyes.
Congratulations! You are on the Ranker list, and are eligible for a place in the new reality. Prepare for transport to Infinite Realm.
“No!” Zach screamed as bright yellow light enveloped both him and the monster.
Then he knew only darkness.
* * *
Overseer Zha Miya was annoyed as she walked through the halls of the Framework control. They were in the finishing moments of the Seventh transfer; more than half of the worlds chosen for the test were in the process of being destroyed and their Rankers transported to the new reality. It was a stressful time, as the Overseer, along with its Controllers, made sure that the Framework did its work without issues.
Which was why she was annoyed—one of her Controllers had called her and asked for her to come down to the control room, as apparently there was a problem. That was not a good thing to hear, not now at the most important of moments, and especially not since there had been no problems with the Framework before now. She did not need this! Heavens forbid that the Dealmaker or the Three found out that they had screwed something up. The Overseer shuddered. She didn’t truly know which would be worse, but somehow she felt like attracting the wrath
of the Dealmaker would be.
She reached the control room and entered, seeing several Controllers huddled around one station. The Controller at the station was the one who had called her, and all six of his limbs were flying over the control interface. She cleared her throat and the other Controllers turned around, noticing her. Quickly, they dispersed, allowing her to approach the station.
“What seems to be the problem?” she asked the Controller.
The man turned around and looked at her. “Overseer, ma’am. There are some irregularities with Earth Iteration 7,” he said hesitantly.
She frowned. It did not sound like there was something truly broken. Irregularities were not exactly problems; such things happened from time to time. She had feared that something had gone wrong with the Framework. “What is it?” she asked.
“Well, first there is the fact that the entire Iteration has only seven Rankers,” the Controller said.
Zha Miya blinked at that. “That is unusual,” she responded. Every world that was taking part in the test had a limit of ten thousand Rankers, and only that number would be transported to the new reality. The rest of the unfortunate souls would be destroyed along with their world when the Three broke it down for Essence. For most worlds so far, every spot on the list had been filled. True, there was a minimum power required for them to be considered a Ranker, but still, such a level of power should be achievable for that number of people. Of course it was also possible that the world did not produce enough Rankers, but that hadn’t happened yet. Only seven Rankers out of a massive population was certainly strange.
“How large of a population did this Iteration have before the Confluence?” Zha Miya asked.
“Around seven billion,” the Controller answered.
Zha Miya nodded. That was about average for Earth Iterations. The other Earth Iterations that had already been processed hadn’t had any problems in filling their Ranker lists. “And what is the world population now?”
“That is one of the irregularities, ma’am. The population is seven.”
Zha Miya looked at the Controller for a long moment, his words not quite registering. “Seven people?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Show me,” Zha Miya said.
The Controller pulled a screen up and allowed her to take a look at it.
“This can’t be right,” Zha Miya whispered. Not only were there only seven humans living on the world, the population of wildlife was extremely low. Every monster invasion point had been closed, too, a thing that she had never before seen done. Nearly all of the evolved wildlife had been culled, and not only that, but the ambient Essence of the world had fallen to a negligible level. Of course, none of the worlds in that reality had much Essence to begin with, but with the Confluence and the arrival of Framework for the test, the Dealmaker had infused an amount sufficient to allow for growth. This, however, was something that she had never seen before.
She raised her hands to the screens and started moving them around, bringing up the Ranker list screen. She looked at the screen in shock.
Ranker Name
Level
Cultivation Realm
Skills
1. Ryun Nacht
65
Mid Lord
3 (2-tier 2; 1-tier 3)
2. Zacharia Gardner
85
Mid Mortal
5 (3-tier 1; 2-tier 2)
3. Gloria Hightower
83
Mid Mortal
4 (2-tier 1; 2-tier 2)
4. Nkiruka Bezi
82
Early Mortal
4 (3-tier 1; 1-tier 2)
5. John Grisom
82
Early Mortal
4 (3-tier 1; 1-tier 2)
6. Anastasia Sokolova
81
Early Mortal
3 (2-tier 1; 1-tier 2)
7. Marcus Grisom
80
Early Mortal
3 (1-tier 1; 2-tier 2)
Zha Miya looked at the screen in disbelief. The things she was reading just didn’t make any sense. They were impossible—no one could’ve reached such levels of power in the base worlds. There was just not enough Essence to go around for them to reach such levels of power in all three areas. She had been reading reports on the Rankers from the other worlds and their Iterations; the top 10,000 Rankers of a world were all powerful, but none had been as powerful as these seven were. The usual path was for people to choose one, or at most two areas and focus all of their Essence into those two areas. It was the only way for them to keep up with the dangerous monsters that were sent to test them.
The most powerful Ranker to date had been a Level 56 Classer, with a rare starting Class. He had made a good deal with Dealmaker for it, and had been a genius. By focusing solely on one area, namely the Class system, he had reached an incredible height of power—but he hadn’t reached the level where his Class could evolve at level 60. That should only be possible in the new reality, where the quality and quantity of Essence was far greater. But these seven had all reached the point where their Class had evolved, and not only that, they were not focused into a single area, but stretched over all three. The amount of Essences needed for doing something like that was astronomical.
And then there was the number one Ranker for this Iteration, Ryun Nacht. Not only had he evolved one of his skills to the third tier, a feat that was rarely accomplished even in the new reality, but he had reached the Lord Realm in the Cultivation area. That was insane. At most, those who focused all of their Essence into Cultivation managed to reach Peak Mortal Stage by the time their world came to an end. Only eleven true geniuses had managed to break through into the Early Foundation Realm. But Lord? And Mid Lord Stage, at that? It was impossible; the quality and amount of Essence was just not able to sustain such growth. For all intents and purposes, a Cultivator at Lord Realm was so far beyond the others that it was laughable, and a Lord Cultivator with an evolved Class and a tier-3 skill? He might as well be a god to the others.
Zha Miya still couldn’t understand how such a thing was possible. Then she looked at the top Ranker’s status screens, seeing that his stats were unusually high, even for all of his achievements. She glanced at his titles. There, she found the reason for his power, as well as for the state of that world. She felt her lunch surge up from her stomach, and she struggled to fight it back. She felt sick to her core, and the Controller next to her looked queasy himself. She knew that she should remain neutral, detached from the mortals, but she couldn’t believe that such a monster existed—and soon, that monster would be transported to the Infinite Realm. A part of her wanted to reach out and deny it the transport, to leave it to die on its world, but she knew that the Dealmaker would not be happy, and its wrath would find her.
“Ma’am?” The Controller’s voice broke her from her thoughts.
“What is it?” Zha Miya asked.
“There are now only six Rankers,” the Controller said shakily.
Zha Miya looked at the timer, seeing that there were only a few minutes left before the Framework was done with that world. She quickly changed the screens to surveillance, and she saw the battle. The last seven—now six—Rankers were fighting. Zha Miya wondered what kind of a sick world produced people who killed one another, even now at the end. But there was nothing that she could do but watch. Quickly, the number-one Ranker disposed of most of the others, and Zha Miya lamented for their loss. The Framework and the new reality were created for the strong, and these people who had just lost their lives had been the most powerful Rankers that the basic worlds had produced to date. She had taken the time to look at their statuses as well during the battle. She knew how they had achieved their power, that they were not that much different than the number one, but it was not for her to judge—and for its part, the Framework didn’t care.
In the end there were only the first and the second left. She saw the latter attack and watched the events that followed. She k
new what skill the number two had used, and she knew what had happened as the number one fell to his knees. Then, just as the second was about to finish the first, the Framework’s timer ran out and both were engulfed in a bright light.
Zha Miya reached for the screen and redirected their transport, from the new reality to the headquarters where she was currently located.
“Ma’am? What are you doing? We can’t interfere!” the Controller said in a panic.
“Don’t worry, I’m only delaying them,” Zha Miya said. She was not an Overseer for nothing—her job was to evaluate every transfer, to make sure that the transfer and the start of the Rankers’ lives in the new reality were as smooth as possible. Danger was expected, but the Rankers were supposed to have a chance at survival.
The Framework’s original destination for the transfer of the two Rankers had been a lush forest filled with low-level monsters: a standard landing place for Rankers. But these two were not standard Rankers. The Framework usually sent the Rankers from the same world in groups together, to make it easier for them to survive, but Zha Miya knew that these two were enemies, and they would kill each other should they reach the same place together. Her personal feelings aside, the goal of the Framework was clear. Rankers this strong had to be given a fair chance. She picked a more developed area of the new reality, with stronger monsters, and sent the number two Ranker on his way.
Then she looked at the remaining one. She could see his status screen, and the changes there; the attack from the second had done its job. It would not hold forever, but it would still hinder the first. She needed to be very careful where she placed him. But looking at his stats, she realized that even with his handicap he would still be a force to be reckoned with. With a sigh, she found a suitable area that was a fair distance away from the other one and, with a press of a button, she sent the Ranker on his way.