Chapter 357
Justin’s scoff echoed through the tal wrapping his body. “I think you’re all hype! There’s no way a pussy spell slinging mage type like you can take the top title! But we’ll see whether or not you actually cut it to be called number one!”
Riven stared, then shrugged. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Shall we begin?”
Justin snarled and lunged forward in a riptide of speed that sent the wind whistling at his approach. “Bring it on bitch-”
Riven’s ice-clad hand whipped forward and he simultaneously ripped open space to strike Justin across the back of the head - smacking him into the ground from behind before retracing his hand and ridding himself of the rift. In the next split second, Riven remained in place and kicked hard through another rift that opened up right underneath the man’s gut.
Justin smashed into the ceiling, only for yet another rift to open up above where he’d been pancaked overhead when a blast of black lightning smashed him into the ground.
It was like playing ping pong with a tal human-shaped ball. From ceiling to floor, wall to wall, and even different points in the air with abrupt smashbacks - Justin was absolutely powerless to do a damn thing.
Riven had to consciously stop himself from frowning as he kicked, punched and blasted the ever living shit out of this Justin guy through a series of rapidly generated rifts while otherwise standing in one spot. The man was definitely dangerous when compared to people on Panu as could be seen through his brief spar with Athela half-assing it, but he honestly couldn’t get ward up with this fight beyond a middle-tier effort after having entered the Abyssal Descent. Being surrounded by so of the very best of the multiverse for so long, it made Riven realize that the cultists here were kind of sub par - with Justin just being one of the best of that sub par group. Tao was eccentric and weird, but he wasn’t supposed to be a pushover either.
Still, Riven hadn’t wanted people to die so needlessly and thus if Justin kept his word by making his lessers step down from the fight: Riven would keep his word too by hiring the man into subservience with significant rewards for doing so. Not only that, but having two of the cultists working under him would also take away two more cockroaches Riven would have to worry about later.
Now Riven just had to dominate Justin in this fight so thoroughly that he’d not think twice about fighting Riven again. Even if Riven’s mana was capped in this altar in terms of peak outflow, he could still shove a continual never-ending stream of mana through his temporarily limited channels at a fast rate. It’s not like he needed to vaporize a city or anything anyways.
Tao, who was usually giving snarky stupid remarks, slowly started to beco slack jawed as Riven backhanded Justin from across the room into a another rift that teleported the man into a spike that then skewered him before exploding and shooting the man backwards into an ice wall that promptly smashed him downwards into the floor. Kinetic blasts, barriers of tal and magma cannons were set off in a vain attempt to get control of the situation while the man’s body was repeatedly broken, smashed and skewered.
“I haven’t seen you fight like this before.” Fay said, casually observing the smack down with a tilt of her head.
Athela had retaken her arshakai form and replied for him. “No, Riven’s done this kind of thing before - just not in such a ruthlessly rude way. Rember when he redirected all those holy shrapnel pieces when the Blood Moon Requiem’s thrall exploded and nearly assassinated him, Allie, and Kathrine? He created a bunch of portals all at once then and redirected them to different places.”
“Yeah but he didn’t reach through space to punch soone in the face either. That’s just insulting. This cultist guy can’t do a damn thing!”
Athela glanced back at the tal man being violently smacked around the room through rifts and giggled loudly. “True enough. True enough.”
Tao adjusted his glasses and whistled, nasally, if ever such a thing could even be done. “Justin needs to turn in his man card after this one. And I’d always thought he was tough!”
Riven reached through another rift and dragged Justin through it, smashing Justin’s face into the ground that sent pieces of Justin’s exterior armor flying into the air before curb-stomping the disoriented opponent twice. Before Justin could retaliate from his dazed and broken state, Riven picked him up with strings of wretched snare to bind him, suppressed Justin’s mana and soul entirely with his own pressing down on the cultist like a ton of bricks, and bitch-slapped him across the face with a tendril from the maw on ssenger’s front.
“You asked for this, and I want to show you want it would feel like to go against if you should choose not to accept my offer. Rember this day.” Riven said to the gurgling man who had to have nurous broken bones and ruptured organs underneath the battered cracked shell of tal by now. Riven was even more certain of it because he could feel the blood in the man’s body flowing into places it shouldn’t be flowing, and the tal heart in Justin’s chest was abnormally clenched from what it’d been doing even two minutes ago.
Riven lifted his hand, opened his palm, and grasped at the air in front of Justin’s chest.
[You have landed a critical hit by causing a heart attack. Max Damage x4.]
[Voodoo Doll (Blood)(Tier 2): Scan your target to map out their vessels and infuse your mana into their bloodstream. You then gain the ability to replicate their bloodstream regardless of whether or not they have extensive wounds - enabling you to keep them alive as long as their brain remains intact. You may also use this ability on hostiles to form painful blood clots. Heart attacks caused by this ability do critical strike damage. Dependent on both Intelligence(90%) and Willpower (10%) stats. dium cooldown. This is a channeling ability and will not work if interrupted by using other spells.]
The tal heart went from clenching, to spasming frantically in a way it really shouldn’t. Justin began to scream, though that scream was more of a gasp than anything else and sounded rather odd coming out of him. He tried to move his limbs and clutch at his chest but he was simply too weak and broken to combat the effects of Riven’s snares that’d already been cast holding him in place, and not long after that he began to sag.
Riven knelt down next to the dying man and patted him on the cheek. People like this that so desperately strove for power, enough that even the end of the world wouldn’t contain their desire to ascend, it was people like this that Riven didn’t pull his punches for. They only knew one language, and that was violence. He wanted to make sure Justin rembered just how thoroughly he’d been roughed up so that he’d not think twice about betraying Riven’s good grace.
“Co find here after you resurrect. I’ll check in now and then, but I expect you within a week.” Riven said with an evil smile and a glint in his red eyes. “Then, you and Tao can tell all about where the Altar of Despair is and all the little secrets your tiny club has been keeping from . I think we all know that it’s ga over for your cultist buddies once that happens, don’t you?”
Riven began to clench his hand harder as the channeling spell strangled the other man’s desperately thrashing heart. “Oh and one more thing. Any other Chalgathi cultists that let up and give up now will be given sanctuary. You can tell them I said that.”
With a burst of mana through Voodoo Doll, Riven ruptured the other man’s heart.
[You have gained 18 Event Points. Please proceed to the throne room and remain there for the designated ti in order to claim this Chalgathi Altar as your own.]
Narg cackled in the background as he made his appearance, having stopped the barrage at Riven’s command.
Standing up and slowly walking past what remained of the the rigid-still draconic golems that’d been ordered to stand down by Justin, Riven swiped the black, ruby-studded tiara that Athela was wearing underneath her cloak and placed it on his head before sitting down in the bloody throne. Crossing his legs, placing the tiara on his own head, and taking a cigar out of his spacial sack; he had Narg light the end with a small burst of hellfire and began to puff on it while lazily leaning back.
“I think this is a rather good look on .” Riven mused with obvious amusent in his voice given Athela’s hot glare at having had her favorite accessory taken from her. “I don’t know what do you guys think?”
“Yes boss. You look bad ass.” Biggie-G comnted, getting an astounded gasp from Tao as the cultist whirled on his minotaur.
“I am the boss, not him! You can’t call him boss!” Tao protested with a pudgy raised fist. “Take that back right now!”
Biggie-G, if that was even the minotaur’s na, gave Riven a helpless look and sighed, before grudgingly shaking his head and saying: “Yes, Tao boss. I take it back.”
“Good!” Tao exclaid, stepping over to where Justin’s fresh corpse was still limp on the floor. “Now help loot his stuff! He took a trinket of mine a while back and never paid up, so this is my ti for so revenge!”
Riven began to laugh, but was cut short when he saw the flickering image of a very familiar young woman, a blonde elf, glaring hatefully from under a dark stairway. She was bloodied and torn, and looked like she’d been hit with a shrapnel bomb from all the tiny wounds covering her body, and she pointed in Riven’s direction in a silent scream before she rapidly vanished from thin air.
The image of Ethel was then gone. But the feeling it left in Riven’s gut was anything but absent.
[The Daughter’s Vengeance has woken up. The cursed mory of Ethel grows stronger.]
***
Allie sat in a dark throne room of her own, brooding over the ti she had remaining. She was down to 9 days now before Crendir would be able to absorb the fallen elder god’s blood, and no word had been received from either Tre’Zix and his clan or Alia Deathfeather and her angels for the past week. They were radio silent so to speak, and Allie frankly didn’t know what to do about it.
[System quest UPDATE: Save Mara and Kathrine, and secure the Fallen Vampiric God’s Essence -
Congratulations! You have completed half of this quest by saving Mara and Kathrine from death. You will not receive system prizes until the other half is completed as described below:
Crendir No-Na, a traitorous E-grade commander from The Blood Moon Requiem, has anwhile decided to take matters into his own hands concerning ‘World Quest 4, Blood of the Fallen God’. He is attempting to rob you and your planet of the fallen god’s essence and opportunity. He is not a pureblooded vampire, but he has been given a ans of temporarily masking himself as a pureblood - becoming one of only a few on your planet that can benefit from drinking the ancient god’s blood, and will be able to absorb it without issue.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
He has already begun the absorbing process, which will take approximately 9 days from now in total to complete. Crendir No-Na has been given a quest of his own that will reward him with extrely valuable prizes should he succeed - including a portal off Panu to anywhere in the multiverse if he successfully fulfills all of his own requirents; INCLUDING AN ENTIRELY NEW ALTERNATIVE BRANCH OF THE BLOOD SUB-PILLAR THAT WILL BE RESTORED BY ELYSIUM’S WILL SHOULD HE ABSORB THE BLOOD PROPERLY.
Stop him before he obtains this taboo power and leaves the planet, and secure the ancient one’s blood for Riven - or destroy it entirely if this cannot be done. Perhaps your brother, as a pureblooded vampire, will benefit if you manage to secure the ancient Blood Sub-Pillar alternative? Let the race comnce.]
[Religious quest dispensed: Destroy the Fallen God’s Bloodline - You have previously been denounced as an Apostate by The Blood God, and have angered nearly all vampiric factions across the multiverse in doing so. Hated by many and loved by few, The Blood God extends to you a new olive branch in light of recent events: Kill Crendir No-Na and purge the Fallen God’s blood from the face of Panu entirely. Destroy all remnant artifacts of the ancient, alternate Blood Sub-Pillar, and you will be forgiven of your sins. Despite your ascension into Wrath’s Reincarnation, The Blood God will not tolerate allowing the ancient Blood Sub-Pillar alternative to revive itself by way of Elysium’s laws. Destroying the ancient god’s blood entirely will result with a gift of 1 additional planet of your choosing within The Blood God’s domain, all additional slaves residing on that planet to rule over, devotion from any clergy of The Blood God residing on that planet, and all associated resources on said planet. You will also be labeled a Hero of Blood, and be given a low-tier star-gate setup for traversing between planets in adjacent solar systems should you choose to accept. anwhile, a crusade will be declared upon your faction and upon Wrath’s Church should you succeed yet choose to allow this sub-pillar to exist.]
Allie closed the notifications and pushed herself off her extravagant throne of bones, one that’d been gifted to her by the city of Dawn very recently where it’d been set up in the main tower of Brigthsville just underneath the bone garden’s top floor. She walked towards the window overlooking her grand city, and placed her hands behind her back as her wings folded in behind her.
It was beautiful. What once had been a rather rundown bumpkinish city back on Earth had been grown and developed into a true, sprawling tropolis. People were thriving here, with hundreds of thousands of lights glittering across the landscape just in her line of sight. She could see children walking with their parents in the streets next to the ice skating rink, saw musicians and bands playing as the nightlife pulsed and thrumd around them. Restaurants and bars buzzed with activity, an outdoor amphitheater on the western city’s edge held nightly shows there with renditions of Shakespeare or other offworld playwrights, and various mounts or vehicles were present too. She’d even seen a few other drakes outside of her own Tyranus, but they weren’t nearly as big or grandiose as her own drake mount. Tyranus was rather huge for an undead drake and looked absolutely scary up close, and his acts on the battlefield while killing off rpeople or Judith’s crusaders on the edge of the continent Umbra had solidified the drake’s power in levels too.
Allie wouldn’t say it’d been drawn into an outright war just yet, but the political landscape had settled onto a knife’s edge. Battles were frequently happening out in or above the ocean, or sotis even on the coastline as undead refugees fleeing the northern continent sought refuge in Allie’s lands, but Judith’s forces and their r-people allies of happenstance were ruthless about hunting them down. Entire fleets had been sunk and millions of undead had perished, but the attackers had not gotten off easy either.
The Thane Necropolis forces had struck back, and with devastating effects. Allie had gone out to fight herself a few tis, as had Judith, but they’d not ever co to full on or direct fights quite yet. Mostly the scuffles and battles had been between people less powerful than them, but the way Judith was twisting it on the Panu forums made things out like she was so kind of savior - while Allie was the bringer of the end tis.
Sowhat true on the macro but the fine details disagreed.
Either way, much of Panu had united behind Judith’s banner in preparation for a literal holy war against the undead - with many religious fanatics wanting an absolute purge of them before their ilk could spread to the rest of the planet.
There were exceptions of course. Cults of necromancers and witches, or those oriented towards the Unholy Pillar were scattered all across the rest of Panu and in hiding - but they were in full support of Allie’s rise. Even the single continent of Umbra having changed the way it did was enough to give dramatic boosts to the powers of those wielding dark arts all across the world. Hidden covens of vampires in other areas along the planet also spoke about Allie and Riven in reverent tones, and many had sent emissaries to the Thane Necropolis to pledge their help should all out war comnce. The remnants of Retesh’s forces still migrating to their unholy land from the northern chaos wastes were also fighting back what armies they could and holding enough ground so that the rest of the pilgrims could flee, and then there were even more pilgrims coming into Panu daily through the bone garden situated one floor above where she stood now - producing a few hundred to a few thousand lesser undead of all sorts that were escaping persecution and had been given an opportunity by Elysium to join a fledgling faction on another planet.
Still, the war was about to begin regardless of what happened with Crendir. Greed operatives were already being weeded out from demons that’d snuck in through the connection in Negrada’s hellscape. The Blood Moon Requiem’s legions and accompanying slave army had picked up the pace on fortifying key defensive positions all across the coast as well as backup positions. Gaia and her warped dryads were planting saplings throughout the entire continent that would heed Gaia’s call, or were taking root themselves to disguise themselves as trees, communication relays and sentries for the war that was sure to crack the outer defenses in at least so places when shit really hit the fan. Negrada’s war with the other dungeons was quickly coming to an end as Gluttony’s forces and Wrath’s forces of banished went in together to comb out the rabble, and there were even pilgrims of demons now flooding through along with Greed’s spies that were truly loyal to Wrath and Gluttony. As long as they were F-grade and passed certain criteria set by the system, Elysium viewed these hundreds demonic pilgrims much like how it also allowed the holy crusaders that Judith was hiring to co fight in the upcoming war for the planet. It was a drop in the bucket compared to what Judith was getting, but it was still sothing. And they were more than happy to help kill the enemies of the beings they looked up to as gods and progenitors.
A sleek looking lion built from sin and death energy quietly moved over from its position next to the chair, its mane looking more like flexible spikes than actual hair - and its claws and muscles exaggerated from what Allie would consider ‘normal’.
“The ti for carnage is almost at hand.” Wrath said, sitting next to Allie in its projection form much like how Gluttony would use those black maws with Riven. It looked up at her with cold glee in its neon teal eyes. “I can feel it. The war is coming for the future of the planet, and it will be more than just Judith that you will have to contend with.”
“Greed.” Allie muttered.
Wrath nodded, but paused. “And more. I believe that this war will involve another. But it is not sothing you cannot overco.”
Another?
Another sin?
Or sothing else?
Allie kept those thoughts to the back of her mind. She would worry about the fight whenever the ti ca. For now she had a billion other things to think about, and ruling a country was certainly a ti sink. Taking one final look at the world quests list, she shut it afterwards and went off to introduce herself to the newest batch of undead pilgrims having co through the bone garden. It was a hobby she really liked to do, it kept her mind off things and most of the ti the undead were incredibly grateful for having the opportunity to escape whatever genocides followed them elsewhere across the multiverse. Hopefully she’d be able to create a safe place for her own kind here so that they’d never have to worry about that kind of treatnt again.
She would write her na in the halls of museums and the pages of history books, be it in ink - or in the blood of her enemies as she ripped them apart.
World Quest 1, The Lich King’s Plague: In the far reaches of the northern Chaos Wastelands, an ancient lich begins to stir. **ADVANCED DETAILS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED** Retesh Vorath the Elder Lich has joined your ranks as a subordinate. He continues to strive to unleash a plague of miasma, to create a land of death that will spread to all those living. He wishes to create a paradise for his kind, and yours, and as your goals now align at least to an extent - your goal for this world quest has changed. Protect Retesh and keep him alive until the end of integration so that he can continue his experint and finish his plague.
World Quest 2, The Apocalypse Beasts: **ADVANCED DETAILS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED** Ah, this is one of my personal favorites. I present to you the apocalypse beasts! Your world has been cursed with 3 tyrannical creatures of astronomical power that are currently being incubated and grown into their adult forms. Each of these absolute monstrosities is able to turn the world on its head, demolishing countries in their path and tearing the very fabric of reality apart. Know that if these creatures are allowed to awaken you will likely not live much longer than the 5 years’ limit. Each of these monsters have cultist worshipers from your own planets, given knowledge of these creatures before the integration even begun. They will try to awaken the monsters’ adult forms to destroy your world entirely, leading to astronomical amounts of power as a reward for the cultists in their success for when they leave the smoldering wreckage of Panu. Your goal is to stop and kill their cult worshipers, and find out where these creatures are being incubated so that you will have a world to live on when the 5 years of ti runs out. Current Threat Level: Extrely high, death toll within the billions. Catastrophe upon failure of completion when 5 years has passed: Nekra, the Skeletal Devourer will be unleashed onto Panu. Chalgathi, the Plague Dragon will be unleashed onto Panu. Chubin, the Glass Kraken will be unleashed onto Panu. Other details: Upon completing this quest and finding the incubation chambers of any given apocalypse beast, you may either kill them before they’re born for an item of imnse power or claim their eggs for yourself. Killing them will bless you with a unique, currently unspecified item, while claiming their egg for yourself will link them to you as a minion. Claiming them as a minion will not produce them in their adult form, but rather they will begin as an infant version of themselves and must be cultivated to higher grades of power over ti before coming into their true potential. You have already been in contact with Chalgathi’s starter quests, thus you will soon receive an update on his particular questline now that the World Quests have been distributed. Other, Other details: You have given up your position and your Chalgathi artifact in this quest to support your brother Riven Thane in his attempt to complete it. Hope that you made the right choice, for you are now on the sideline and can only hope for a good outco.
World Quest 3, Invaders from Beyond: Galactic civilizations greedily watch your fledgling world, wanting these lands for their own. Invasion tokens have been distributed. **ADVANCED DETAILS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED** Invading forces have 5 years to either conquer Panu entirely, or alternatively survive that long in order to acquire reinforcents from the holand. Any invading force left at the end of 5 years will have free access through system portals until a victor is decided. To rid this planet of an invading force, you must destroy their beacon - which will be highlighted by a marker in the sky above its location with the symbol of their empire.
World Quest 3 Invading Forces:
The Empire of Dying Suns (1.22% of Panu Conquered)
Pagaroth (0.03% of Panu Conquered)
The Kingdom of Shatterstone (Defeated, beacon has been destroyed)
The Black Sky Azag Hive Cluster (4.1% of Panu Conquered)
Rippenvire (Defeated, beacon has been destroyed)
World Quest 4, Blood of the Fallen God: An unnad vampiric elder god has fallen from grace after having sinned against the Elysium Administrator. The elder god has been trapped within a hidden, guarded labyrinth in the deepest levels of the underdark, and you must stop him from awakening. **ADVANCED DETAILS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED** Crendir now holds the blood of the fallen elder god. Find him and kill him and take what is yours so you may repair part of the Blood Subpillar that was lost, or destroy the fallen god’s blood entirely as a favor to the current Blood God, before the decision is taken from you.
World Quest 5, Realm of the Snow Giants: In the southern reaches of the glacial islands in the Nunor Sea, on the opposite end of the world from where the Lich King lays in wait, an ambitious king of the snow giants has united the warring tribes. **ADVANCED DETAILS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED** THIS QUEST HAS CO TO AN END. THE KING OF THE SNOW GIANTS HAS BEEN SUBJUGATED, AND WILL CONTINUE TO SERVE THE ONE WHO DEFEATED HIM WHILE DISREGARDING HIS ORIGINAL AMBITIONS. WORLD QUEST 5 IS NOW CLOSED.
World Quest 6, Drums in the Deep: The r-people and naga of this world have been given a choice… Advanced details are locked until you co into contact with this quest.
World Quest 7, Eradicate the Angel of Wrath, Allie Thane: Your world has birthed an extrely rare variant of undead, an Angel of Death. Then she (you) took it a step further, becoming the Angel of Wrath. Allowing her to reign throughout the integration will no doubt lead to further terraforming of this planet, and she represents a potent danger to all those who are living. This quest goes out to all other world quest antagonists as well. The prize for delivering a killing blow to Allie Thane before the 5 year integration ti limit is up will inherit her fledgling divinity in a form of your choosing, allowing your own ascension and the start of a path into future godhood. Guild rcenary options will reflect an increased ability and lowered cost to acquire off-world holy warriors in the pursuit of this crusade, as long as the guild owner is not undead, and the intended target is perceived as truly being Allie Thane by Elysium’s Administrator.
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