I couldn't help but write this chapter. It wasn't the one I had planned, which explains the delay. The next one is coming soon!
PS: Priam Character Sheet by the Discord guys! or https://anovelstatus.github.io/ by @fmorel / Fred on discord. Patreon key: FC9LXDxYC2uDsmQaL7w1dXCOCTTYY4PSS: the Discord. Come say hello!
*
At the center of the Hope galaxy lay a quasar named Hope. A prodigious emitter of light, the supermassive black hole saw most of the radiation from its accretion disk captured by a Dyson swarm—a megastructure of trillions of mirrors and stellar panels. The harvested energy was sufficient to sustain the System’s operations throughout the whole Sector.
At the edge of Hope’s gravitational and temporal influence drifted F/L.uck, Thaal’s personal vessel. Though his Administrator privileges allowed him to teleport anywhere within his Sector, relying on slower transportation gave him a convenient excuse to arrive late to the most tedious meetings.
At the prow of the spaceship, the Primordial gazed into the cosmos through a bay window of alchemically treated diamond.
“Are you quite certain you don’t want me to lower the window? Cosmic wind is excellent for skincare.”
A sigh answered him. “Your Eminence forgets, once again, that I am but a frail Tier 0 human. Even a stellar wind would give me ten cancers in a matter of minutes—so that of a black hole…”
“A frail human who would comfortably stand on humanity’s podium,” Thaal laughed before sipping a drink made of carbonated water, sugar, phosphoric acid, artificial flavors, and coca leaf. “Without his knights, I suspect even Prometheus would fall to you. And Priam would have to try a bit hard.”
“Surely, Your Eminence is jesting,” the assistant replied, tucking a blond strand behind his ear. “How could a nouveau riche like me be compared to such heroes? They fight for every inch of their Path while I simply pay to advance.”
“Rich, powerful, and aware of his weaknesses. Ah, Luc, you truly are my second favorite human!”
“Because I do your job for you?” asked the young man, eyes scanning petitions addressed to the Sector’s Administrator.
“That too. But mostly because you smell nice.”
Luc looked up from a particularly absurd request—a corporation seeking to move twelve stars to spell their brand across a constellation—and sniffed himself. “Orange blossom. Lasha likes the taste—” He flushed. “I mean the scent.”
Thaal smiled. This time, he manifested teeth. Humans tended to mind when he forgot that detail. “I was referring to your luck.”
“Luck has a scent?”
“For me, it does. As my species fed on the luck of others, we developed a synesthesia between Concepts and smell.” Some associated music with colors; for Thaal, senses intertwined with fortune. “Yours is so delicious I struggle not to pounce upon you.”
“So that’s our relationship? I make you feel like a vampire eyeing a virgin?”
“More like a hairy foot fetishist and a hobbit.”
“You’ve read your classics.”
“I’ve read everything humanity has ever written.”
“... Dark romance too?”
“Yeah. I regret it often.”
“Hum.” Luc wisely changed the subject. “So, I presume Priam is your favorite human? Is he luckier than I am?”
“Not inherently, but he provokes his luck,” revealed the Tier 8. The System engineered catastrophic situations to torment its Champions, and the best exploited chaos to reap great rewards. “In my view, the most essential quality a Champion can possess.”
“Not talent?”
Thaal snorted. “What talent? On Earth, Priam did not rank within the top hundred million fighters of humanity, and I could name a million schoolchildren capable of solving a multiplication faster than he. He is intelligent, don’t get me wrong, and in a holistic way—which is pretty rare—but not the smartest or strongest human.”
“And yet he placed first in the Impossible Tutorial,” the mercenary pointed out, a touch sharply. He did not enjoy hearing his idol disparaged.
“Thanks to a cocktail of skills and a mindset perfectly suited to the challenge,” Thaal clarified. “The Seven sought a survivor, and Priam fit the mold, meeting every criterion. He was the best at the game of life. The most suited to pursue the Zenith, whatever the obstacles.”
“... A juggernaut.”
Thaal raised his glass. “To the smiling Juggernaut.”
*
The Juggernaut was not smiling.
“You should see your face,” Jasmine grinned. “I suppose this is our first date.”
Priam grimaced. “What kind of date involves the woman drawing daggers?”
“The best kind.”
Feet crunching over the Colosseum’s hot sand, Priam advanced toward the boss of wave ninety-three. Not Hailcyon. The new one.
[Heroic Identification][Phantom of Jasmine Kaldwin - Tier 0 - Duke - Shadow Menace] - Arkanian by birth, Homo Elysian by choice, the Shadow has renounced her civilization to serve her Lord.As beautiful as she is deadly, this panther will steal your heart. Literally.Attributes: Physical (1500), Mental (1000), META (500)Weaknesses:
You
Absolute darkness
“You didn’t tell me…” Priam sighed. “Well, she didn’t tell me.”
“It seemed obvious. I defeated Hailcyon, so I took their place after my Tier up. That’s the rule.”
“Slipped my mind,” the young man muttered. “Are we really going to fight?”
Jasmine shrugged. “If you order it, I’ll slit my own throat. But I’d rather you choke me,” she added with a wink.
The alluring posture, the sultry tone, the playful gleam—Priam swallowed hard, eyeing the confident woman.
Damn it. I won’t be a coward.
Promesse appeared in his right hand, flame blooming in his left. “Alright. Shall we dance?”
Jasmine lit up. “Gladly. But are you going to take this seriously?”
“Make me.”
Priam settled into a fighting stance. One second passed. Then ten. He blinked.
Something slammed hard into his chest. “Argh—”
Then, his body reacted. [Aura Resistance] dissipated most of the death halo. [Poison Physique] absorbed the toxins flooding his bloodstream. [Curse Anathema] disintegrated the hex before feeding it to Hecate’s New Moon. Finally, [Shear Resistance] and his high constitution stopped the blade two centimeters into his flesh.
“Tough guy,” Jasmine sighed.
Flexing his pectoral, Priam wrenched the dagger free and caught it in his flame-wreathed hand. Within seconds, Pyro reduced it to molten slag.
“Considering a full set of four blades costs three million Sun points, you just burned—” Jasmine tried to count on her fingers before frowning. “Well, a lot of money.”
Priam ignored her. Glancing down at his wound, he prepared to seal it, then reconsidered. Blood Mist.
“My turn,” he smiled.
[Kinetic Sovereignty] absorbed the ambient heat within his Domain, then injected it into his veins. Power flooded his muscles, overclocking his physique beyond even Micro.
He pushed off the ground, carving a crater beneath him as he shattered the sound barrier. An instant later, the Juggernaut unleashed an uppercut upon contact.
His fist passed within a hair’s breadth of decapitating Jasmine. The rogue slipped beneath his arm, driving her blades beneath his armpits. Courtesy of his addon, a runic shield flashed into existence, blocking the lightning strike.
Pursing her lips, the Shadow evaded a left hook, then sprang onto his knee to dodge a low kick. Using his body as leverage, she drove her heel into her Lord’s mouth.
Priam’s cervical vertebrae cracked alarmingly, then his body went limp. Quadriplegic? Fuck.
A pair of daggers were plunging toward his eyes. The Juggernaut chose to detonate his kinetic reserves.
A shockwave obliterated the arena. As though a bomb had exploded, sand blasted outward, the ground trembled, and the air compressed until it turned to plasma.
When the dust settled, Jasmine was found grimacing, clutching her ankle. Fragments of a pricy dagger lay beside her.
“You sprain something?” Priam grinned.
The Shadow growled as her opponent rose.
“Even you can’t regen your spine that fast. If you tell me you burned lifespan for a mock duel, I’m going to get mad.”
Priam waved it off. “I’m not that stupid. The second agility milestone replaces my nervous system’s electricity with aether. The nerve is still cut, but I bridged the severed sections of my spinal cord with [Aether Manipulation].”
“What?”
He clenched his fist, testing his control. “Like you cut an ethernet cable and I switched to Wi-Fi.”
“I don’t get the reference,” Jasmine replied, raising her remaining daggers. “Want to go again?”
Priam sighed, then sprang forward. His fists met empty air as the panther slipped through his grasp like smoke. He threw a few more punches into nothingness, more shadowboxing than anything, and earned two shallow cuts across his chest for his trouble.
“You’re too slow.”
“I know.”
His kinetic proficiency could push him further, but Priam was already at the limits of his perception, dexterity, and vivacity. Moving faster would be counterproductive. Going berserk against her isn’t the way to win. She’ll toy with a blind speedster.
Choosing to shift tactics, the Juggernaut channeled [Kinetic Sovereignty] through his Domain. The atoms slowed. It felt like a winter morning; grains of sand frosting over, his breath turning white in the air.
Still Domain.
Jasmine’s speed halved. A faint, almost regretful smile crossed Priam’s face as he stepped forward, reaching for her throat. His fingers brushed her skin—
And his instincts screamed.
I’m going to lose my hand.
He hesitated for a fraction of a second, then pressed forward. Too late. Shadows coated Jasmine’s body, hugging her figure. His fingers closed on nothing as the agility-based Shadow accelerated beyond his perception. Slipping free, she lashed out with her foot, and Priam felt his jaw dislocate. The recoil sent her skidding back, out of reach once more.
Tasting iron, Priam spat. The blood shot forward like a bullet, only grazing Jasmine.
“Disgusting.”
“That’s the game,” Priam smiled, studying her. “An umbral suit to bypass my Still Domain. Didn’t know that trick.”
“A girl’s gotta have a few secrets.”
“Mm. Too strong to be just your Concept. A Merit? Your Shadow Heart? Your Shadow Panther bloodline?”
“All three synergizing,” Jasmine replied. “And I’m proud of you. I almost couldn’t play with your instincts.” She stretched her lethal body. “Last round?”
“Already satisfied?”
“It’s not about how long it lasts,” she purred. “It’s about hitting the right spots. And so far… I’m not feeling much.”
In matters of trash talk, Priam was outmatched. But this was a duel.
A drop hit the ground. Looking down, Jasmine blinked before wiping the corner of her mouth. When her thumb came back red, she looked at Priam, startled.
“When?”
“From the start. I have turned my blood into mist,” he said, gesturing to the first wound she had inflicted with her throw. “Between [Poison Physique] and [Four-Headed Hydra], my blood’s basically venom. Even with rare poison resistance… you’ve got, what—three minutes?”
Jasmine hissed and night fell. A moonless one.
Within the cocoon of shadow, another would have been blind. [Ideal Dark Vision] dilated Priam’s pupils, allowing him to pierce the black. No one was in sight. Jasmine was gone.
“Toxic boy,” a voice echoed from everywhere.
The elbow that smashed into his temple came very much from the left. Then, a fist crushed his solar plexus, instantly followed by a dagger in his back. A gash split his lip. Another blade severed his Achilles tendon before melting under the heat of his blood.
The enraged assassin was a storm, a force of nature Priam could only endure.
Then a blow swept the inside of his right knee. Without his kinetic skill, the Champion would have fallen. Instead, he closed his eyes and entered [In the Zone].
Knowing Jasmine had elevated [Homo Elysian Predation] into an art, Priam silenced his own instincts. His Domain, his sight, even [Echolocation] were outpaced, lagging behind her speed. She was always one step ahead, too fast for [Breath of the Battle] to compensate.
Fine, I’ll take you seriously.
With a mental sigh, Priam lifted one of his self-imposed limits and called for his Mist. A fog descended, and he rode it.
In the arena, the echoes of battle rang once more, then silence fell. A pale haze lingered in the moonless dark.
Had the Shadow not been poisoned, time might have stretched lazily. However, she was on a countdown.
The air shifted.
Lvl Up: [Divination Interception] lvl 39META (Affinity) +2META (Perception) +1
The mist bled.
Despite being merged with his Concept, a dagger had found Priam. Worse, the fusion meant he no longer benefited from his body’s constitution or resistances. The strike was critical.
Irrelevant. A powerful hand was closed around the assassin’s slender arm. He squeezed, and she let her last dagger fall, clattering to the ground.
“It’s over,” he said with a gentle voice.
“H—how?” she asked behind her mask of shadow.
“With [Ciphered Record], you could never have found me in the mist. I lowered my defenses and your tracking skill triggered [Divination Interception]. Like a submarine is never stealthier than when it doesn’t use its sonar, in trying to find me, you revealed your position.”
“Well played—”
Jasmine slashed her locked arm with her free hand, ready to go through an amputation to free herself. Shadow claws shattered against Priam’s other palm.
Lvl Up: [Shadow Resistance] lvl 12META (Endurance) +2META (Authority) +1
“It’s over,” Priam repeated.
“Yeah, but I had to try—” A coughing fit cut her off as the phantom collapsed into his arms. “Damn… you were generous with those three minutes.”
“I… Sorry. I don’t know what to do.”
“Me too.” A pause. “I don’t get how you’re not afraid of death.”
“I am,” Priam said quietly. “Just not mine.”
Jasmine touched his cheek, smiling.
“It’s okay. I’m just a phantom. It was written from the start.”
“…”
“Hey… can you hold me tight? I’m cold.”
*
“You look rather battered,” rumbled a deep voice.
Priam opened his eyes. His hands were empty. Crimson.
“Not my blood.”
“Good. Had you struggled too much with the earlier waves, our fight would have been disappointing.”
Steeling his hearts, Priam rose to face his opponent.
At five meters tall, Aarthash towered over him, but only in stature. His aura, once crushing, was now merely severe. A dangerous foe… but a known one.
“Sorry, but today, I’m not here for you. Have a bigger fish to fry.”
“Wha—”
[Kinetic Sovereignty] flooded the Juggernaut’s muscles. His calves nearly tore as he launched himself forward. In the span of a blink, his hand closed around the drake’s throat.
“The first time we fought, you told me you had awakened an anti-Fire Concept to defeat Keltanh’h. In the end, you fell short. Show me where I stand,” commanded Priam as his eyes ignited.
His fiery hair became wild. Two phoenix wings unfurled from his back as his toga disintegrated into a tidal wave of fire. The tsunami swept the Colosseum, vitrifying the sand and scorching the very air. Only the drake was spared, shielded by a mysterious power. A gag attempted to latch onto Pyro, to smother his fire, but Priam resisted. Mobilizing his phoenix bloodline, his will, and his mastery over Pyro, the Juggernaut used them as a battering ram to shatter the enemy Concept.
For a few seconds, an oasis of calm existed between the two adversaries. The phantom struggled, trying to thrash and roar, but Priam’s kinetic proficiency pinned him down. His new crystalline soul—a gift from [Blasphemer]—allowed the legendary skill to deploy its terrifying potential while his maxed meridians absorbed the physical force effortlessly. Then, the Champion’s Concept asserted its tyranny, and the scales tipped. The fireless zone shrank until it vanished entirely.
To the sound of searing draconic flesh, the student reproduced his mentor’s feat: defeating a prodigy raised for the sole purpose of countering a Pyro user.
“You… you won’t kill him with fire…” the drake rasped. “He’s… a noble phoenix… A natural calamity…”
Aarthash Riusling, phantom of Wave 94 for 2 147 years, has fallen by your hand.Undefeated duration prior to termination: 0 year.
A light breeze picked up. Priam straightened amidst a whirlwind of ash.
“A natural calamity is exactly what I need,” he murmured, opening a passage to his inner world. From it, he retrieved a crystal of stellar orange. The core of a sun wyrm.
A trophy worthy of a fourth gate.
“Time to cook.”
*