by Aaron Oster
Even as he tried to pull himself free, a massive concussive force hit him, tearing at his skin and opening thousands of tiny cuts across his entire body. Morgan gasped, getting his core working, and tried to clear his head, but felt someone’s fingers curl in his hair and drag him from the crater he’d left in the wall.
His swimming vision landed on Sing’s face, right before she slammed a fist into his nose. Morgan felt blood coating the inside of his throat as his nose was flattened against his face, and he gasped for air, lashing out wildly in an attempt to break the woman’s iron grip.
“You’re not getting away that easy!” Sing snarled, slamming her knee into one of his kidneys and causing him to buckle, dropping to his hands and knees.
“My brother said to make sure you didn’t leave this arena alive, and he wanted to make sure that when you died, it would be in as much agony as possible!”
Morgan coughed, sending a spray of blood to the ground below as he wheeze for air. His breathing wasn’t deep enough to get his core working, and he was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the pain. He felt something hard slam into the back of his skull, driving his bloodied face into the sand.
Colored lights flashed before his eyes once more and he groaned, barely conscious as Sing yanked his head up painfully once more. A shadow passed over him then as someone else loomed over him. He saw Sing turn to the man, and pulled his head painfully to one side.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Arnold said with a grin. “I didn’t get to kill you back at the academy, and was forced to save your sorry ass for that damned Princess. But one one’s here to protect you now!”
Arnold’s fist slammed into the violet sword Morgan had forged, and thrown up in a hasty defense, but before he could launch an attack, a vicious kick to his ribs sent him sprawling once more. Morgan wheezed, trying to get a breath in. His vision was obscured by blood and tears, an involuntary reaction from having his nose broken.
He was sure he had a concussion, and a pretty severe one at that, as well as several broken bones. He could surrender. In fact, he should surrender…
Morgan opened his mouth to call out to the referees, who were standing by and waiting any verbal surrender, but before he could get it out, something struck him hard in the throat, cutting off any attempt at speaking. Morgan tried to take in a breath, but his ruined throat just wouldn’t allow it.
He could distantly hear the booing of the crowd, but he knew that no one would interfere. It was against the rules, after all. Someone tugged at his hair once again, and Morgan’s eyes focused on Sing and Arnold. They both looked extremely pleased with themselves, even as Arnold drew his fist back to deliver the finishing blow.
“And so ends the mighty supermage!” Arnold yelled, then the air between them exploded as Morgan formed his Goldfire barrage between them, blowing up all six balls of violet fire.
He couldn’t even cry out as the fire burned his skin as he was thrown back, due to his ruined throat. Landing hard on his back, Morgan stared up at the sun above, feeling his consciousness fading fast. His skin was blistered and burned from the attack, and he didn’t know if it had accomplished anything, but at least he’d rob Arnold and Sing of the pleasure of delivering the finishing blow themselves.
Well, Morgan thought as his vision darkened. He’d had a good run, and survived way longer than anyone else could have imagined.
He coughed one more time, his entire body wracked with pain. Then, he abruptly found himself on his feet again, and, to his complete and utter surprise, felt no pain at all.
Looking around in confusion, he saw both Arnold and Sing, each of them frozen halfway as they rose from the ground. Their clothes were burned, Sing was missing a good chunk of her hair, and Arnold’s left arm was blackened and charred. Neither of them looked too happy.
Then he turned and had the shock of his life, as he saw himself lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. He’d never seen himself look so bad. His face arms and chest were all red and blistered. His nose was just a lumpy, bloody mess, and he could see numerous cuts all over his body. There was a noticeable indent in his neck, and he figured that that was what had caused his airway to be blocked.
He was still extremely confused however, until he heard a voice from his right.
“It looks like you’ve seen better days. Are you prepared to take my deal now?”
45
Morgan turned on the spot to see Samuel, standing there with his both his arms held behind his back. If he was in any pain from the punishment Gold had mentioned, it didn’t show. He looked as healthy as ever and his silver eyes drilled into his.
“What deal?”
“The one I’m offering you now,” Samuel responded. “You will do as I say from now on, without questioning me. If I say jump, you will reach for the skies. If I say fight, you will slaughter nations. If I say bark…”
“No,” Morgan replied simply.
“What do mean, no?” Samuel asked, folding his arms. “It doesn’t seem like you have much of a choice. You either accept my deal or you die.”
Morgan shrugged.
“A life stuck serving as your slave isn’t one worth living, especially since I could end up living forever. So, if it’s all the same to you, I’ll take death.”
Samuel’s face darkened at that, and his tone became decidedly less friendly.
“Don’t think that you’ll get out of this alive. I’m not bluffing. If you turn me down, you will die. No one will save you, and no one will care.”
Morgan grinned at the man, taking one last look around. This would probably be his last conscious moment, so he would take it all in. The only regret he had was that Sarah would have to watch him die. He just hoped she’d be able to get away without him.
“I’m sure you have other things to do,” he finally said, turning back to the god. “So you’d best be on your way.”
Samuel’s face twisted in anger.
“I hope the void serves you well, you ungrateful piece of shit!”
Then, he vanished. A moment later, the sound of the crowd returned, along with the agonizing pain. Morgan scrabbled around in the dirt, even as his consciousness began fading all over again. He tried desperately to get a single breath. If he managed that, his core would begin numbing the pain.
Sing and Arnold were hurt enough that it would take them at least a few seconds to act, which would give him time to surrender. He might not win the tournament, but at least he’d still be alive. The problem was, that he couldn’t get so much as a breath past his ruined throat. His one good arm moved up his body. It was a desperate measure, but if he could cut open the obstruction, he’d be able to breathe again.
It would be extremely risky, as he could bleed out before the healers reached him, but it was likely his best chance at survival. His hand brushed over something hard and round sitting in his right pocket. Despite his frantic need to stay alive, something in him recognized the shape, and he drew out the glowing core.
He wasn’t sure how it had gotten there, or what it contained, but it blazed with power to his Aura sense. He could tell that this was an extremely powerful core, and one that likely contained a lot of energy. Not having the time to check however, Morgan simply willed the energy to flow into him. If he could force an evolution now, his body would likely heal itself, saving him the risk of cutting his own throat.
As the energy flooded into him, Morgan assigned it all towards advancing his ability. He wasn’t sure how much energy the core contained, but just hoped it would be enough. A massive pain wracked his body as the core crumbled to dust in his hand. Then his core exploded.
***
Sarah watched with growing horror as Morgan was continuously beaten into the ground. Clenching her fists at her sides, she felt her fear increasing with every blow he took. She’d known they would be aiming for him from the start. What she hadn’t realized, was how badly outmatched Morgan would be with all his most powerful skills lock
ed away.
By this point however, he was too far gone to even think straight. If he could, he would have flown away, and accepted the disqualification. It was obvious to her, as well as everyone else what was going on. Both Sing and Arnold were going to kill him, and weren’t going to give him the option of surrendering.
She felt tears of helpless rage building at the corners of her eyes, as she tried to break through the crystal barrier keeping her from reaching them. Sing and Arnold were taking turns beating him now, and Marsha was just… standing there! Once she got out of here, she would kill them all!
Sarah threw one attack after the next at the crystal wall displaying Morgan’s broken and bloodied body, but none of them so much as caused a single scratch. Finally, she collapsed to the ground, hands pressed against the pane as she watched the fight unfold. There was a momentary spike of hope when the air between the three of them exploded in a configuration of golden fire, but her hopes were soon dashed as both Arnold and Sing rose from the ground. And although she could see that they’d both sustained injuries, neither of them was down.
It was all her fault, Sarah realized as she watched the two of them approaching Morgan’s prone form. If she hadn’t insisted he compete in this stupid tournament, he would be fine! So what if he never learned to love her? At least he would be alive!
Not for the first time, Sarah wondered why the universe seemed to enjoy screwing her at every turn. Everyone she’d ever cared about was gone. Morgan had been the only one, and now, she was about to lose him as well. She’d thought she’d lost him before and that had been devastating, but now she had no doubts that he wouldn’t be coming back. This wasn’t some self-inflicted injury caused by a combination of energies. This was real damage, inflicted by two sadistic psychopaths, bent on destroying him completely.
She could see Morgan’s one good arm moving around, as though he was trying to find some way out of his predicament. The referees were waiting by, but they needed a verbal admission of defeat in order to intervene, and Sing had made sure Morgan couldn’t do even that. She’d crushed his throat, thereby ensuring that he couldn’t surrender. She saw his hand finally stop moving, and knew this was the end. Sing and Arnold were only feet away from him now, and would finish him off as soon as the reached him.
Then, something began happening to Morgan. Sarah sat up straighter as his entire body began jerking and spasming. At first she thought that he was having some sort of seizure, but when his body started glowing, she knew it was something else. Her eyes widened, and she quickly moved back from the crystal wall so she could get a closer look on the screen.
Sure enough, a purple-black light had surrounded his body, and was beginning to swirl around him, kicking up the sand around him. Sing charged at him, trying to get to him before anything happened, but a dome of purple energy flared out around him, covering Morgan’s body completely.
Sarah watched as Sing slammed into it and was violently rebuffed, being sent stumbling back. Arnold tried next, swinging his massive sword down, but it was similarly blocked, sent back by the dome of purple energy. The crowd seemed confused, and the announcer was trying to guess what was going on, but Sarah knew what was happening.
She didn’t know how, but Morgan had somehow gotten ahold of a core with enough energy to advance his ability. Even now, his body was likely being restructured and hopefully, healed. She held back a laugh as both Sing and Arnold began pounding on the dome, each unleashing some pretty powerful attacks, but all to no avail. The barrier was just too strong.
Then, as Arnold’s sword descended once more, a hand shot out from inside the energy wall, catching the sword. Sarah stared in shock as Arnold tried to tug it back, but was unable to. Then, her eyes widened even more as the fingers flexed, and the sword shattered.
“Holy shit!” Sarah yelled as Arnold stumbled back, staring in dumbfounded amazement at his stump of a sword.
Then, the dome contracted, leaving Morgan standing in its place, whole and unharmed. He looked as though he’d grown a couple of inches, but his body looked to be, if anything, a bit slimmer than before. He didn’t look nearly as muscular, but Sarah knew that it was all just a deception. As she watched the recently evolved supermage, she wondered just what kind of power he was about to unleash.
***
Morgan felt his core explode outward, flooding his body with energy. He tried to gasp, but found that he was unable to move. He could vaguely see someone approaching him, then his vision went dark. Morgan wondered for just a second if he’d gone blind, when he saw a flash of color race before his eyes.
Not blind, he realized. He was in some sort of protective dome!
Then he felt the energy burning him from the inside. It felt hot, scorching his bones, muscles and skin as it washed over him. Finally, he screamed, back arching as he felt his muscles and bones contract, becoming denser and tougher. The pain was lost on him, as he was finally able to get some air into his starving lungs.
He didn’t know how long he lay there, writhing on the ground, but as the pain receded, and his consciousness returned, he could feel his core rebuilding itself. Slowly, the energy that had washed through him was collecting at the center of his chest once more, slowly forming a sphere of dense violet reiki.
It grew in size, until it took up roughly the same space as his last core had, but the black coloring left behind when he’d combined his divine energy with his reiki was now gone. His core was a pure violet once more, and even as he watched, it began pulsing rapidly, sending out circular rings of energy that stopped a few inches from its center.
Morgan gasped when his core finally calmed to a steady, rhythmic beat. Looking at his newly reconstructed core, he could see that it had been drastically altered from the previous cores he’d had. The purple sphere sat in the center of his chest and surrounding it, were three circular rings that revolved slowly around it, each a different color. One red, one blue, and the last, gold. Even as he watched, a small bead of light traveled the length of each ring as they turned, slowly revolving around his core.
He then rose to his feet, feeling the power in his newly condensed muscles and bones. From the outside, it would appear that he’d lost some mass, but Morgan could tell that he was probably a good twenty pounds heavier than he’d been before. Now that he was on his feet, the sphere became translucent, and he could see through to the outside. Though he was tempted to attack right away, Morgan knew that he had to check his stats beforehand to see what had changed. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to use his new body effectively.
He could sense, somehow, that this dome would last for another sixty seconds before it buckled, so he had to move quickly. Concentrating inward, Morgan reached for his new core. It responded instantly, a stream of power separating from all three rings, as well as his core and streaming up to his eyes.
Name: Morgan
Intermediate Supermage: Rank - 33
Energy to next rank - 78/550,000
Ability Advancement: 2,821/5,000,000
Total Available AP: 45
Ability - Natural Disaster
RP - 2,730/2,730 (Regen - 27.6 per second)
Strength - 262
Agility - 298
Constitution - 266
Intelligence - 273
Wisdom - 276
Skills - Supersonic flight, Explosive impact III, Stormforger, Goldfire barrage, Nature’s wrath, Restructure
Traits - Dense body, Recovery, Aura sense (inherited), Aura flare (inherited)
Extra - Gravity storm (3rd category), Starbreaker (2nd category), Collapsing star
Morgan noted that every one of his attributes had gotten a massive boost, which would explain his new body, as well as his increased understanding of the energy around him. There was no time to worry about assigning his attribute points, so he quickly checked on the new skill, as well as the trait that had changed with his advancement.
Restructure - You can reshape the earth as you see fit. Control it all or control non
e at all.
Cost - 50 RP per second
Dense body - Your body has undergone an evolution and has become more dense and compact. All physical attacks against you are now 30% less damaging, and all skill-based attacks have a 1% chance of failing to damage you at all.
Morgan quickly closed his status and took a few deep breaths. He could feel the revolution of his core increasing as he did so, and he also could sense the pulsing power flooding throughout his body. It appeared that he’d finally gained a skill that allowed him to shape an element to his will. Restructure seemed to be a skill similar to Sarah’s Condense water, but for earth instead of water.
His eyes flicked upward as Arnold’s sword came down on the barrier once more. His hand snapped out involuntarily, catching the blade between his fingers. Morgan was completely shocked at the action. What shocked him more was the complete lack of any sort of pain. It looked like his Dense body actually did something, unlike his Gravity field.
He felt Arnold trying to pull his sword back, but oddly enough, he held it with ease. Morgan used Nature’s wrath on instinct once again, feeling the power of the steel flooding into him. Then, he flexed his hand and the sword shattered. The dome contracted then, leaving him to face the two people who had just tried to kill him.
He was going to enjoy returning the favor.
46
Morgan crouched for a second, then launched himself at Arnold, his new body propelling him forward with more speed and force than he ever could have managed previously. He felt like a coiled spring, wound up and ready to unleash all his newfound power in one massive burst. He hit Arnold before the man could react, slamming a steel-covered fist into the man’s midsection with a sickening crunch.