Abaddon the Destroyer dealt you damage (Death Grip): 198,864.
Ghastly Howl didn’t work, nor did Lethargy, and the massive damage grew with every second. Without my high-level Resilience and other defensive perks and rewards, I would have died right away, but with them, my torture only dragged out. It was so painful that I screamed, seeing nothing, not hearing the demon’s growl as he continued his monologue. The pain forced out all thoughts, made me want only one thing — for it all to end. In those seconds, I celebrated only that Diamond Skin of Justice hadn’t activated. I wouldn’t have gotten out anyway.
Death brought relief. My eyes had already burst by then, pressed out of my crushed skull. The world plunged into darkness even before then, but now I was at ease. It’s finally all over, I thought, not feeling the hellish pain any longer.
You are dead.
Remaining time to respawn 9… 8…
Inside me was an ember of hope that I might survive, but it was dying. There was no way Second Life could trump the mechanics of a final boss who delivered only ultimate death when he killed.
Remaining time to respawn 5… 4…
All the same, the timer gave me hope. Surely only those still in the game would see it! Everyone killed by Abaddon had said that they just got thrown straight back to real life!
Remaining time to respawn 2… 1…
Second Life! You managed to dodge death!
Would you like to revive where you died or go to your linked respawn point at Cursed Chasm Churchyard?
“Stubborn soul!” I heard as I came alive. “It does not want to leave its body!”
The demon raged. The flesh covering the walls, floor and ceiling swelled and shook.
“What?!” he screamed in surprise.
“Here’s what!”
Snarling, I went into Clarity and launched a full-fledged Combo! Like a machine gun, I fired off Hammerfists and Kicks, strengthened with Rindzin’s Ghostly Talon, the flesh shaking beneath my strikes, slowly trying to crawl away from me. The hands with their crooked fingers shooting toward me seemed as if frozen in flight, too slow, unable to stop me.
The air vibrated, buzzed, but in Clarity I couldn’t hear the demon’s howls of agony. I kept striking at the slimy demonic flesh beneath my feet until the boss had less than 0.1% health left — around half a million.
Without slowing down, I shot to the gate and made my allies resurrect.
Hellfish was the first to speak:
“Holy shit, Scyth!”
“The boss is all around us!” I shouted. “Less than one percent! Get that bastard!”
The people around me started making noise, talking in surprise — not everyone figured out what was happening.
“Get the boss!” Quetzal shouted, getting his bearings. “Scyth, here!”
A raid invite popped up in my interface. I joined the group and the boss’s health rose proportionally to seven million — a piece of cake!
“What are you waiting for?!” I shouted. “Abaddon isn’t going to kill himself!”
The fighters didn’t waste any time, but the crafters just looked around wide-eyed. Hellfish roared out commands and physically pushed them to action. The crafters started to get the picture, attacked the demonic flesh. Bloomer and his sabers tore toward a growing arm of Abaddon and broke into a battle dance, not forgetting to recite his morale-boosting poems.
“Where’s the boss?” Meister squeaked.
“Everywhere!” Quetzal barked.
Grinning, the jeweler sat down and started hacking away at the demonic flesh beneath his feet. It sprayed out fountains of smoking red-brown blood. Nobu the chef fired his boomerang into the wall, caught it on the return and threw it again. The ranged attackers fired wildly in all directions, dealing noticeable damage to the boss. The meleers worked their blades, sending scraps of slimy flesh flying. Kara’s ice magic crackled in the air. My ears rang to the explosions of Joker’s bombs. With a piercing cry, Anna threw her spears at the living wall. Even the healers Michelle and Alison abandoned their normal responsibilities and did all they could to add to the damage.
I waited a second for everyone to hit at least once, then fired off a full Combo, but the boss survived with three hundred thousand health and even managed to grab Niceguy the ogre in two hands and take away a quarter of his life. Another hand strangled Destiny. Then I swung my arm back and launched a Talon-strengthened Hammerfist with all my might into the swelling, burning flesh. The Tenderhearted Demon Fighter buff canceled out the damage, I struck again and…
Hundreds of demonic mouths emitted a wailing scream, deafening at first, then steadily fading. In the dead silence left behind, the only sound was Meister’s daggers clanking against the floor. Then the boss’s lair erupted with triumphant cries of joy!
Abaddon the Destroyer, level 666 Gate Guardian, is dead.
Victory! You are the champion of Demonic Games XIX!
Contestant Herald Scyth! You and your allied contestants — silver ranger Destiny, destroyer Quetzal, sniper Hellfish, sculptor Anna, singer Michelle, jeweler Meister, poet Bloomer, templar Alison, mage Kara, archer Yen, hunter Koba, alchemist Niceguy, chef Nobu and engineer Joker — have protected Disgardium from a demonic invasion by winning the Demonic Games!
The boss’s flesh collapsed from the walls into ash, liberated souls and spirits shot into the ceiling in multicolored lances of light, and a warming, calming music of the heavens rained down on us. Sinful souls flowed downwards in black veins, seeping into the floor, which then cleared up, transforming into colorful patterned tile.
Dropping to one knee and lowering my head, I felt my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest. I wanted to jump and scream: We did it! It worked! We won! — but I was too exhausted.
All the same, I wasn’t allowed to rest. My allies, realizing that I hadn’t betrayed them, threw their arms around me. Quetzal tried to lift me up, but couldn’t, and then everyone just jumped on me and nearly crushed me. I even thought for a moment that they were trying to get rid of me!
“He’s still a son of a bitch!” Bloomer shouted, grinning and mussing my hair.
“Our son of a bitch!” Meister piped up.
Once they all calmed down, we had time to go through the flood of notifications:
Unlocked legendary achievement First Kill: Abaddon the Destroyer!
You are the first in the world to kill the final boss of the Demonic Games! You faced Abaddon the Destroyer, higher demon and general in the army of Belial, Prince of the Inferno. You destroyed the general’s incarnation in the Cursed Chasm, and Abaddon has been cast back to the Inferno.
Reward: to be determined when you leave the Cursed Chasm and return to your real body.
Unlocked legendary achievement True Champion of the Demonic Games!
You defeated Abaddon, level 666 Gate Guardian and final boss of the Demonic Games.
Reward: to be determined when you leave the Cursed Chasm and return to your real body.
Unlocked legendary achievement First Ever: True Champion of the Demonic Games!
You have earned the True Champion of the Demonic Games achievement for the first time in the history of Disgardium!
Reward: to be determined when you leave the Cursed Chasm and return to your real body.
A burning portal opened in the center of the cage. The stately elf king Eynyon stepped out of it, accompanied by his retinue and children. The monarch smiled:
“Lionhearts! Champions! Truly, on this bright day for all Disgardium, you great heroes are worthy of the entire royal family bringing you home! Please…”
He took Destiny by the arms, the elf queen took me and Quetzal, their many children took the rest, and we walked through the portal…
But instead of the elven kingdom in big Dis, we were thrown out to real life.
“What about the reward?” I shouted, thinking I was being taken for a ride.
But when I ran out into the corridor in my birthday suit and a fury, Hellfish explained
that all of us would get the grand prize, Concentrated Life Essence, but back on our real characters.
“When you log into Dis, you’ll have an audience with Eynyon,” Quetzal confirmed. “The main thing is not to be late.”
“Here, Alex,” Kerry said, turning away and handing me a towel. I waved it away.
“What if I am late?”
Hellfish tore himself away from the mouth of an already half-empty champagne bottle.
“Then they send it in the mail.” Holding his celebratory drink out to one side, he took me by the head, touched his forehead to mine and shouted happily in my face: “WE DID IT!”
Chapter 30. What The Sleeper Said
I SLEPT UNTIL LUNCHTIME, broken and in my clothes. The Home Doctor helped clear the hangover, and a contrast shower woke me up. Memories started to drift back, first flashing up vividly, then slipping away.
All I remembered clearly was that we had defeated Abaddon yesterday and then started celebrating practically right away. Everything up to dinnertime came back easily, but beyond that I only had scraps of recollection.
We pushed our way through crowds of the media to get to the elevators, and by then my allies’ tongues were already flapping. Even I couldn’t help but drain a bottle of ludicrously expensive champagne, Meister’s treat.
“Cristal Brut,” he said, and added something else I didn’t understand.
The scent of expensive wine wafted through all the corridors of the hotel. The walls flashed with holographic fireworks, the air crackled with the noise of celebration. People kept coming up to me, the men shaking my hand, the women hugging and kissing me…
All in a babbling crowd, we reached the hall of ceremonies. There was seated Youlang Hao, alone, hiding in a far corner and lamenting her lost victory. Nobody gave a damn about her, really, but I still dragged my retinue that way.
“Good game, Youlang,” I said, stretching out a hand.
Slowly, the spellcaster reached out, shook my hand. She closed her eyes and nodded.
“After you abandoned your search, I was sure I’d win. I must admit, your victory over the final boss was… incredible! Congratulations!” Youlang smiled.
Instead of the usual dinner, there was a cocktail party — with no tables and no stage, but with one Octius, who seemed to be already downwind of a few drinks. He conducted the closing ceremony of the Games with his customary pomp and triumph. I remember well how he started arguing with Bloomer in front of millions of viewers, then started fighting him. Hand to hand.
“I’ll take the winner!” Joker shouted, jumping up and down with excitement.
After a lively commentary of the highlights from the battle with Abaddon, Octius actually asked the question on all the viewers’ minds:
“Alex, why did you not inform the raid of what you planned to do?”
My allies all started shouting over each other drunkenly, offering up their own answers. I smiled, shook my head at them.
“That’s why. We would have argued till nightfall and there’d have been no battle.”
“You do know it was a risk, right?” Guy Barron said, pressing me. “What if you didn’t make it within the hour window of your ability to resurrect the fallen? Or if you had the mechanics wrong and had to start the fight over?”
“I know,” I answered seriously. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make. After all, if it didn’t work, nobody would have believed that I hadn’t just sold them down the river.”
Suddenly, Chloe Cliffhanger appeared, frowning, her lips set in a thin smile. Stepping forward, she invited us to applaud for Kiran Jackson. Nobody so much as twitched a finger. The director spoke first to us and the viewers, and then to the journalists, celebrating our success so enthusiastically that it was impossible to believe he might be sincere.
I just surrendered to the atmosphere of celebration in the room. Even Kiran’s sour face couldn’t spoil the party. We would get fifteen essences! My allies assured me that they wouldn’t use them, just in case Snowstorm decided to screw me over and take my reward away.
Then, alongside the entire team of organizers including Octius, we headed for club Boom Boom. From that point on, it all got foggy. All I remember is that the girls really let their hair down. When I woke up, my whole face and neck were covered in lipstick and love bites.
The doorbell rang as I was leaving the bathroom. I asked the AI helper to switch on the intercom. Hairo Morales’s voice came through the speakers:
“Hey, Alex! Congratulations on your big win and all that, but come on, time to pack! We’ve been waiting for you all morning! Black Toyota Ramesses on the southwestern side. We’re in the parking lot.”
Thank the Sleepers! I was afraid the security officers might not be allowed in to the category-A citizenship zone, that I might have to take a flyer to the edge of the Snowstorm Lakes district. The one I flew in on went straight back to Hairo on autopilot as soon as I left it.
I didn’t have much with me, so I got packed up fast. They were already taking down the decorations downstairs. Camera operators, stylists, technicians and all the other staff who had made Demonic Games XIX a reality walked around like the dead.
Suddenly remembering about souvenirs, I stopped in at the stall and filled my backpack with all sorts of garbage with the logo of the Games on it — for friends. For myself, I took a holographic poster showing an image of our entire team of champions — depending on the viewing angle, the picture changed from our real bodies to our characters, — then went down to the lobby.
All my allies but Renato were already gathered there. They were sat on their suitcases, continuing the fun — worn out, but happy.
“Here’s Alex!” Vito Painter, aka Hellfish, shouted. “Hey, champ!”
It turned out they were all waiting to say goodbye to me. We hugged, exchanged what was probably our hundredth handshake in twenty-four hours. I couldn’t promise my allies that I’d stay in touch in real life, but in Dis I’d be happy to. That notion seemed to hook Joker. Without letting go of my hand, he jabbered:
“You, uhm… If there’s any fun to be had, give us a call, will ya? In big Dis, I mean…”
“Call us all!” Michelle agreed, and the others nodded.
I couldn’t promise that, but I decided to keep these people in mind. I felt an attachment to them. Even though we hadn’t been allies for long, every day with them was worth a year.
All of them signed my poster as a keepsake, each adding a couple of words to their autograph. Joker wrote “It’s gonna blow!”, Hellfish: “You hit the limit!”, and Meister: “Quod servabit.”
Finally, my face covered in kisses and my shoulders wet with tears — thanks to Anna, Alison, Yen and Michelle, — I walked to the exit. Destiny caught my eye, nodded and headed for the elevators. Now it was her turn to hold up her end of the deal.
Kerry, who had been by my side all this time, gave me a hug at the main door of the hotel:
“Alex…” she blurted out after we’d already said goodbye. “A media service offered to publish a book and make a movie about me… Well, about you, really, but through my eyes. They want to call it something like ‘Ten Days as Assistant to the Top Threat.’ Would you mind..?”
“How much are they offering?”
“Two million phoenixes, plus royalties. What do you think?”
“What’s there to think about? Take it!”
Yet again, I got showered with kisses and lipstick. Black, this time. Kerry Hunter wiped my cheek with her sleeve and smiled.
“Good luck, Alex!”
As soon as I crossed the threshold of the hotel, three security droids joined me.
At the parking lot, I caught up to Renato Loyola, aka Quetzal. His friends were hanging around a little off to the side. The gladiator himself walked over to me, pulled me in and patted me on the back.
“Best of luck, kid! I don’t care if you’re a Threat or not. If you need me, get in touch! Thanks for everything!”
“You too!” I said, the
n pulled the rolled-up holoposter out of my bag. “Will you sign this? Everyone else has except you, Mr. Loyola…”
“To you, I’m just Renato…” he said, laughing and signing the poster with a flourish. “Didn’t know you were the sentimental type, kid! That’s good. Means you’re not too jaded… By the way, I’ll talk to Colonel about allying with the Awoken. The old man said, since it turns out you’re not such an asshole after all, he’s willing to review the question of compensation for the damage you dealt, and…” Renato snapped his mouth shut. “Bottom line, he’s still angry at you. But the fact he brought it up at all means he’s thinking about making friends with you. Vito promised to talk to Horvac about bringing our clan into your alliance too. Hinterleaf’s guys will mention it to him also. But in any case, the decision is yours. See ya, Alex!”
The Demonic Games (Disgardium Book #7): LitRPG Series Page 49