by Aleron Kong
Sadly, power did not care about morality. The battle was not done. Richter had proven stronger than the demon had thought, but Xuetrix still had nearly five times as much power as his opponent. If only he hadn’t been stupid enough to trust Nexus, but he had. This time, the Auditor would cost him everything. There was nowhere to hide in this contest, and his only gambit had failed. The two stared at each other, buried beneath the earth and locked together in enmity.
Richter glared at the demon with a furious gaze, but in his heart, he knew it was all for naught. Xuetrix’s attacks were too strong. The difference in their power was too great. The reality was, he just didn’t have much power left. Once it was gone, even if he was willing to endure more agony than he already felt, it would be over. His only hope would be that Xuetrix’s power wouldn’t be enough to completely enslave him.
Squaring his shoulders, he prepared to give it his all. If this was going to be his end, he would make it count. All he could do was go all out and hope for the best. But as he prepared to attack, he realized that wasn’t exactly true. There was one other thing he could do.
A lifetime of gaming had taught him an impressive repertoire of insults and curse words. As he stared at Xuetrix, he unleashed them all on Nexus in a truly inspired barrage. He had no idea if the Auditor could hear his venomous tirade but, just in case, he decided to vent his frustration. His winged enemy stared at him like he was crazy, but Richter didn’t care. If this was the end, then that dickhead was going to know!
Every vile and horrible thing he could conceive of spilled from his lips and echoed off the walls of the tunnel. He really dug deep, wanting the duplicitous giant to feel his ire. He thought up dreadful things until his time ran out, then added one more for good measure.
“And that’s why you’re just a load that your uncle should have swallowed! Okay, now go fu-”
Before he could finish the thought, he finally heard Nexus respond inside his head, “What’s with the potty mouth? I thought we were starting to get along?” The Auditor’s voice was mocking inside of his head.
Where the hell have you been? Richter thought back. Despite himself, a quick look of relief crossed his face. As short lived as it was, Xuetrix still caught it. It was something the demon didn’t understand, which meant it was something he absolutely didn’t trust. What could possibly have brought hope to this man who was about to lose his very soul?
In a split-second decision, which showed the experience of the demon, he decided to do something drastic. The battle of wills normally required each combatant to take turns attacking. Knowing how little power Richter had left, the demon was content to fight off the man’s last attack then finish the battle during the next round. Resilience or no, he was sure that he’d sweep aside Richter’s remaining defenses. He would then use his remaining power to bind his enemy’s soul.
What not even Hisako had known, however, was that it was possible to make two attacks in a row. The downside was that it would require Xuetrix to use a precious Token he’d gained from a previous battle of wills. It was a resource the demon would not use lightly, as it would burn through a great deal of the power he had left. Nevertheless, after seeing that flash of hope on Richter’s face, his instincts were screaming at him to finish the battle, and finish it now.
Richter saw the demon’s resolve firming and did the only thing he could think of to buy time. He got into “Crane Kick” position, also known as the “Arms up Captain Morgan” and made the karate sound “waaaaaah!” In true Cobra Kai style, Xuetrix pulled back, utterly confused, buying Richter a few precious seconds.
“Where the hell have you been?” he mentally shouted again. There was still fury in his tone, but his precarious situation banked the flames substantially.
“Just abiding by the terms of our deal,” the Auditor thought to him smugly. Then, in Richter’s own voice, he repeated what Richter had asked of him verbatim. “Trigger my ascendance when I call, okay?” Then in his voice again, Nexus finished, “You didn’t call ‘okay’ until just a moment ago. Never forget, in The Land, your words have power.”
Richter felt like his brain was melting out of his ears. He was standing in Danny Laruso attack pose, about to lose his soul, and this bastard was playing games? He’d literally never hated anyone as much as he hated Nexus in that moment. It was like… Gary-Kevin-level hate. He dug deep and unleashed an even worse stream of obscenities at the giant. The entire time, he was holding the crane-kick position and Xuetrix was definitely realizing it was just a stupid delaying tactic. Just as the demon was about to attack again, Nexus interrupted the stream of mental diarrhea Richter was firing at him.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You suck your daddy off with that mouth? Just ascend and be happy.” A stream of energy flowed into Richter’s mind, body and soul, finishing the process that had been nearly completed in Nexus’s personal realm. As the profound changes washed over him, the Auditor sent a final message, “Good luck. I hate you.”
In the moment before Xuetrix was about to use his Token, everything changed. Millions of former Earthlings were sent a notification that filled them with anger, terror, jealousy and hope.
In this Age of Chaos, the First Chaos Lord has been born! Rejoice and Lament oh creatures of the infinite!
If Richter had known that message had gone out to every single chaos seed in The Land, he would have vomited out another masterpiece of profanity, but he barely spared the prompt a moment’s notice. Even Nexus’s underhanded adherence to Richter’s exact words was pushed to the back of his mind to be dealt with at a later date. His attention was solely focused upon the notifications that both he and Xuetrix were sharing. To his delight and the demon’s chagrin, they showed new modifiers and the consequences of his ascension.
Roiling grey fire flared in the demon’s eyes. That was not hyperbole; actual power flared inside of the imp. Richter just stared back with a shit-eating grin. His power bar lengthened and refilled to reflect his new tier and legendary ascended form. An invisible and intangible wind began to swirl around the chaos lord. His mind and body remained the same, but his soul became more powerful and complex by an order of magnitude. The blood flowing through his body changed, and Richter felt like his veins were pumping battery acid. There was pain, but what was pain compared to pure, unadulterated power?
“Now,” he asked with an insane grin, “where were we?”
CHAPTER 20 – Day 151 – Juren 2, 0 AoC
The two foes read the notifications brought on by Richter’s ascension.
Know This! Richter, Tier 1 Human, has ascended to become a Tier 2 Chaos Lord. As such, the Battle of Wills is suspended for 77 seconds while his base power is tabulated and modifiers are recalculated.
Xuetrix started cursing in his native tongue. To Richter’s great surprise, he could finally understand what the demon was saying. He didn’t have time to more than peripherally listen. His gambit had worked, but he had barely a minute left to absorb the information on his new form and come up with a plan.
The next prompt was only for him.
The following changes will be used to calculate your base Power
Tier 1 Human
??
Tier 2 Chaos Lord
Body
+1
+2.5
Mind
+1
+2.5
Soul
+1
+2.5
Special
+2.5
+5.0
Aura
+0.0
+0.0
Bloodline
+0.0
+4.1
Base Power improved from +5.5 to +16.6
Richter’s grin was only matched by Xuetrix’s grimace. The demon was looking at his own status windows, and didn’t like what he was seeing. The human, however, was celebrating the fact that his base power had more than tripled! He’d also gained a bloodline! The next prompt showed the modifiers.
Modifiers are now adjusted accordingly:
; Most of the factors hadn’t been altered. Richter still had a -25% modifier because he had agreed to do Xuetrix a Favor. Xuetrix still had a boost to his power because of maxing out the ranks of his Tier 2 form and having more levels than Richter. Richter advancing his tier had made a major change though.
Both combatants possessing a Tier 2 form has removed the +25% modifier from Xuetrix.
Not only had Xuetrix lost his tier advantage, but Richter had gained positive modifiers!
Special modifier for Chaos Lord Nature triggers a random modifier heavily affected by the main Primary Attribute of Chaotic creatures. +1-10% for every 10 points of Luck.
Previous Modifier increased from +11% to +36%
Richter was confused for a second, but then he remembered the attribute boon from evolving into a chaos lord. He’d gained +10 to his Luck. According to the prompt, chaos lords could utilize Luck even more than a chaos seed. All together it meant that he now had a +36% extra modifier to the attribute!
All the changes cumulated in the next prompt.
Total Modifier: +36% Richter, +17% Xuetrix
His power adjustment was even stronger than Xuetrix’s! While the demon understandably hated the change, the chaos lord couldn’t wait until the seventy-seven-second timer elapsed. Even with the small amount of energy he had left, he had a chance now. He had a chance. That was when the something happened that made Richter take back every mean thing he’d ever said about the Universe.
He got some of this power back!
Know This! A Determination has been made. While full restoration of power is unacceptable, there must be some allowance made for one of the parties involved in this Battle of Wills not having possession of his ascended status at the beginning.
It has been decided that half of the power removed from his original negative modifier will be replaced: +0.385
It has also been decided that half of the difference between Richter’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 base power will be awarded to him: +5.55
As this was no fault of the other party, the same amount of power will be restored to Xuetrix.
The Battle of Wills shall resume in 58, 57, 56, …
Xuetrix stared at him with pure hatred on his demonic face. Richter didn’t care because his gold bar started refilling at a prodigious rate. It was true that Xuetrix’s power bar refilled as well, but the ratio between them decreased appreciably. Xuetrix’s power bar was still larger, about half again as big as Richter’s, but these were the best odds Richter had had all night. Now that his modifier was a bit bigger, the chaos lord was ready for a fight. After all, it was what he did!
There was still time left before the battle resumed though, so he familiarized himself with his newly ascended form. A host of new prompts had flooded his consciousness along with his ascension. They were accompanied by a sound like a crescendo of horns followed by drums.
Bwaaa-bwa-bwa-bwaaaah-dom-DOM!
Congratulations! You have ascended to the Tier 2 form: Chaos Lord!
Advancing your level now offers improved points!
Tier 1 Human
Tier 2 Chaos Lord
Stat Points
As a Chaos Seed, you gain 6 Stat Points to distribute to characteristics instead of the usual 4
As a Chaos Lord, you gain 15 Stat Points to distribute
Talent Points
As a Chaos Seed, you receive 15 Talent Points instead of the usual 10.
You receive an additional 15 Talent Points from your Profession and Specialty for having a 100% affinity in Enchanting
As a Chaos Lord you receive 30 Talent Points
You receive an additional 15 Talent Points from your Profession and Specialty for having a 100% affinity in Enchanting
Chaos Points
You receive 8 Chaos Points due to your Blessing by the Lords of Chaos
You receive 100 Chaos Points due to your Blessing by the Lords of Chaos
Skill % Points
+25% to the skill of your choice
+75% to the skill of your choice
Richter quickly thought about the increases. On the surface, his tier ascendance was an amazing boon. What counterbalanced it was the increased experience it would take to level. It was practically five times as much.
In contrast, he gained two-and-a-half times as many Attribute Points, three times as many Skill Percentage Points, and only fifty percent more Talent Points. It was easy to see that even though each level would give him more points, his overall progression would slow considerably. To advance another ten levels would require more than fifty times as much XP, but would only provide the equivalent of half as many Attribute Points. It seemed that The Land conspired to limit the raw power of high leveled individuals.
This was especially true for his Profession and Specialty. Both were fueled by Talent Points, and those would drop off considerably. There were quests which also gave TPs, but it looked like he would have to be very deliberate with how he invested those points in the future. Thankfully, his point conversion Talent gave him options that other ascended beings would lack. Unfortunately, it was an extreme option that came with serious downsides. Richter didn’t regret how he’d spent his points so far, but he now knew there was a bottleneck coming. He would have to get more Profession quests in the future.
Even though he didn’t like the effective reduction in points, he considered himself fortunate. It occurred to him that some people must fail to ascend when they reached a Threshold. If he hadn’t gained his new incarnation, then even though the XP barrier had massively grown, the points he would gain upon leveling would have remained the same. After a few levels, anyone that had completed the Rite of Ascension would have a substantial advantage over those who didn’t.
The one area he would see a major increase was in the Chaos Points he would now receive. Having ushered in the Age of Chaos, he already gained twice as many CPs as any other kidnapped earthling. He was now gaining one hundred CPs per level rather than eight. That meant the base number of points had increased from four to fifty. Even though he needed five times as much XP to level, he was being awarded more than twelve times as many Chaos Points. He couldn’t wait to see what the Sea of Chaos now offered, especially since he could choose from the 5th stratum as a Chaos Lord!
There was more information about his newly ascended form.
Congratulations! You are the first Chaos Seed to evolve into the Legendary form of a Chaos Lord! You have earned a Choice! This is your 2nd Choice. As such, you will be awarded one extra option and 7 more seconds to decide. Never forget, Choice is the essence of Chaos.
Richter had been half-expecting this. When he’d touched the Chaos Shard, he’d both ushered in the Age of Chaos and earned himself one of several bonuses. He’d only been given seven seconds to decide which option to take and, in retrospect, he wasn’t sure he’d chosen the best one. Having fourteen seconds this time would be great. He quickly checked how much time was left before the battle began. Forty-eight seconds. More than enough time. He gave the options his full attention.
1) +1 Vassal Slot per 3 Chaos Lord Ranks
2) Double bonuses to chaotic vassals
3) Double benefits to you from chaotic vassals
4) +1 to available levels on Liege Page
You have fourteen seconds to decide, starting now. 14, …
Suddenly the extra time didn’t seem like enough. What did any of this any mean? That old, “I don’t know enough” anger reared its ugly head and expletives fell from his lips. He had no idea what these options meant! All he could do was quickly shuffle through some of the other prompts waiting for him to read.
Time continued to tick away.
13, 12, 11, …
Richter quickly looked and minimized the windows one after another. He could have just absorbed the information from each, but honestly, it wouldn’t have helped. While the act was nearly instantaneous, it still took time for his mind to process and file the info. If he got a massive data dump, the time needed to sort through it al
l would eat the seconds he had left to make his decision. All he could do was open, scan and close the windows as quickly as possible.
A noise triggered when he opened one of the prompt windows.
TRING!
Immediately, he had a pavlovian response to the leveling-up sound, his hindbrain already registering that it was going to get a treat. It wasn’t something he could control, and his sorting paused for a moment before his conscious mind could reassert itself. As pleasant of a surprise as it was, it cost him precious seconds.
8, 7, …
“Shit!”
Richter closed the window. He couldn’t even afford the time needed for self-recrimination as he pulled up the next prompt. His eyes scanned the top line, and he realized with relief that it was what he was looking for. He envisioned “pulling” the window toward him until it grew large enough to fill his entire field of vision. The notification disappeared and the knowledge washed over him. More precious time passed by, never to be reclaimed.
5, 4, …
Very few seconds were left, but Richter had found the knowledge he needed!
As a Chaos Lord, you may now tie other Chaotic beings to your service. Each will consume a Vassal Slot. The exact details of this bond are unique to each lord and vassal, but are immediately dissolved if either takes direct, deadly action against the other.
This bond serves the same function as a Vow or Favor, but is several times more powerful. You may convince other beings to serve you in this capacity, but they cannot be directly forced to do so. Remember, Choice is the essence of Chaos!
There is much that can be gained on both sides of this magical contract. Upgrades can be purchased on your Vassal page.
Richter had no idea what that was, but he kept reading.