“Begin!”
The first chamber lit up—a beacon of System-blue light, showing a nest of pale blocks. The rest of the planet went dark.
Zane kicked off toward it and landed.
Beyond—high up in the bleachers—the audience grew quiet, breathless; they faded away in his mind.
He took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
It was time.
***
“There are no gimmes on Ragnos Penultimate. Even this first Chamber’s a tough ask,” said Jake. “But all but Zane’s harshest critics think he'll make it through this one. He’s earned that much respect—even from you, eh, partner?”
“The kid’s good. I’ll give you that,” said Mox. “He’s not better than the Nameless King back when he was the #1 Rising Dragon. He’s not better than young Noughtfire. But you weren’t around to see them—before your time. So you think he’s the best ever.”
“There’s a fine case for it, I’d say.”
“He should pass this Chamber, anyway. It’s just how much he’ll struggle.”
Zane stood in a nest the size of a stadium, a nest made up of heaps on heaps of bone. A barren valley. It cracked under his feet as he walked.
Then—leaned up against those sloping walls—mounds of bone began to shudder. Streams of black light streaked out.
The bone-hills exploded. And the Monsters crawled free.
“Here they come,” said Jake. “Mean-looking beasts, aren’t they?”
Damnation Lizard (Monster Prince)
Essence Level 593
Damnation Lizard (Monster Prince)
Essence Level 597
Each was a tank of a Monster, armored in glossy black scales. Their veins were spiked a nauseating green; sacks filled to bursting studded their necks and backs—sacks filled with that lurid toxin. Ten peak Minor Gods.
Those toxins dripped out of their maws in hissing gobs, melting great holes through their own nest.
They only had eyes for Zane.
Two half-step True Gods manned the front, and they came at him head-on.
Their Pseudo Distortion Fields seeped out of them—a searing color that seemed to melt the air, making the air a sea of toxic waste. And those Minor God domains stacked thicker and thicker, crowding in on Zane.
They looked seconds from snuffing him out.
“You can do it!” cried Evan, somewhere far above. He sat in Reina’s lap, who put up a confident face—but she bit her lip when they closed in on him.
She knew what her man could do. But it was still stressful watching.
“It’s a massive step up from his last run,” said Jake. “Which is the last time we saw him. This horde would’ve crushed the Zane of six years ago, no question. We’re about to see what he’s done since.”
They got within a hundred yards of him, and still Zane hadn’t moved.
But the runes on his skin were churning, started to stain the air blood-red…
His eyes snapped open.
Then he unleashed his domain.
Radiation rippled through the nest—and instantly shivered that great bulk; there was a rippling of cracks as bones shattered down the nest, as the very structure of the chamber broke down.
Then the world was seared gold.
Heat raged into the chamber—crashing out, blasting against the acid. A blinding blaze.
And all it touched flared that shining gold too.
“Good grief!” roared Jake.
It crushed domain after domain—torched them clean out of being. Then it met the Distortion Fields, head-on—
And crushed right over.
Overpowering.
It was over in less than a heartbeat.
The battlefield was dominated by gold—and there, in the depths of their nest, the half-step Lizards let out defiant howls.
But though a second wave of acid seeped out, they couldn’t break that hold.
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“Just effortless! Me, oh my!” Jake shook his head. “Folks—if you were still a Zane doubter, after all he’s done, that was a wake-up call. Tier 5 Great-Circle Law, going up against Tier 6 Great-Circle—and that’s straight domination!”
“Solid work,” said Mox. “It’s not over just yet, though.”
The Lizards’ gullets swelled. Their eyes went radioactive-green, charged with murderous intent…
“It’s not,” said Jake. “That’s the Heartmelt Tsunami—that stuff melts Heaven-grade Spirit Steel like wax!”
Then they opened their mouths and unleashed.
A hissing, steaming, searing tsunami blasted Zane from all sides, a tsunami of pure Tier-6 acid. It reared to the heights of skyscrapers.
Its shadow swallowed him up.
But just as it was on the verge of crashing, twin hammers dropped mid-air.
And Zane attacked.
Boom-BOOM!
The hammers burst out, blasting off so fast they seared after-images mid-air;before most could process just what went down, he’d carved out two streaks of furious gold.
The tsunamis went the color of the sun.
BANG!
Flare ripped through the world.
Then three things happened in rapid succession.
Radiation crashed through the Monsters and hollowed out their bones with contemptuous ease.
Solar Winds scoured the air—and tore their scales off their skin, their skin off their bones…
That was when the shock hit. Two Damnation Lizards were up on the big screen, and for a split second, billions saw the golden light reflected in their glossy eyes—saw the pure shock.
Then the hammers struck clean and hard.
And all went up in Flare.
The surface of Ragnos rocked with the force of the detonation. Meteors of gold streaked to deep space, fading, leaving only smoldering paths behind; and then only Zane was left standing in the crater.
Before him lay the two half-step Damnation Lizards—wobbling on two legs, broken creatures charred to near husks.
The rest were all gone.
Ten peak Minor Gods, wiped out in one blow—and two half-step True Gods left on the verge of death. Just like that.
Zane looked to his hand, blinking, as though he himself were pleasantly surprised.
Then he turned to face his enemies and dropped the final hammer.
There was a breath.
Then the arena exploded.
“Folks!” roared Jake Land. “He’s back!”
Somewhere far below, the Barbarian Sage cackled.
“Partner,” chuckled Jake. “I’ve got a feeling these next three Chambers are about to be a show!”
“…That's some fierce Law,” said Mox. “Strong scouring too. Stacks well.”
Jake caught something in his partner’s voice.“Don’t tell me you’re not impressed? That’s some firepower right there!”
“I said he’s good, didn’t I?” said Mox. “…Alright, so the kid’s stronger than I thought he’d be. He’s…he’s good.”
A pause. “But I’ll stick to my prediction. I saw the Nameless King make this run at Minor God, and he wiped the First Chamber just as fast. He failed that run. Zane at Ascendant, he’s not better than the Nameless King at Minor God. That’d be absurd.”
“But that’s not all Zane’s got, is it?” said Jake. “He barely broke a sweat in there! That’s him going—what—50%? Could be even less!”
For the first time, the old veteran looked a little unsure. He studied Zane again, bushy brows drawing together.
“It’s a start,” said Mox at last. “We’ll see what else he’s got. Here’s where things get serious.”
***
60 seconds remain. Challenger, position yourself for the next Chamber.
Zane kicked off.
Somewhere in the distance, Avery waved her #1 Foam Finger—the very same #1 Foam Finger she’d waved on Earth, back when Zane was challenging for Luminous Faction control all those years ago.
She’d gotten quite some mileage out of that thing.
“Heck yeah!” said Avery.
***
He landed in a field of golden wheat. Wheat filled up this odd crater to the brim, running into a golden lake thousands of miles across.
The beacon was clear this was where he was meant to be.
Only—he didn't see the enemy.
***
“A good half of challengers get wiped out right here,” said Jake. “Doesn't look like much, does it? What makes it such a challenge? There’s not a True God hiding in that grass somewhere, is there?”
“No,” said Mox. “This Chamber’s got just one half-step True God. One less than the last. But in terms of difficulty, it’s not close. This Chamber’s name is the Flood of the Plague Locust.”
Jake let out a breath. “Tells you all you need to know, doesn’t it?”
The horizon started thickening to a fuzzy black bar. Black clouds rolled in, snuffing out the grey ones…everywhere the eye could see, they closed in.
Each was filled with the buzzing of wings and heaving swollen chitinous bodies.
Locusts the size of buffalo. Eyes like demented chandeliers. Pincers primed to crush at a moment’s notice, and bellies swollen with void-muck.
They numbered well over two hundred.
As they swarmed in, a buzzing began trembling the world; trembling the very fabric of reality.
“That’s no cloud,” said Jake. “Those are domains—hundreds of them, all at once!”
Domain after domain after domain—stacked so heavy you couldn't glimpse the reality beneath. A buzzing, chaotic black-static mess.
At the head of the swarm, there was a single locust several times fatter than the rest. A pseudo-Distortion Field of dark static—like the endless scribbles of some demon-child made out of coal crayon—blew out of it.
The Locust Queen (Monster Prince)
Essence Level 599
They quickly blocked out the skies. Swallowed up the horizon.
“They’re coming to drown him,” said Jake. “Zane’s got a soul on him; we know that—but even he can’t let himself get stuck in the middle there. How do you fight that?!”
“There’s only one way out,” said Mox grimly. “Through. That means cutting down two hundred Minor Gods—at Ascendant.”
“Those are some steep odds, partner.”
If Zane felt any nerves, none of it showed on his face.
Instead, he took out his axes with intention and started loading them heavy with Flare. Loading them until their every little move tore a deep gash in reality.
Then he sent them sweeping out.
And gold stormed the world. Swirling along their arching paths—following those blazing crescent edges.
And a searing wind gripped the chamber.
They saw Zane clench his teeth.
Saw him stand his ground, set his feet, and do a full-body pull.
One revolution.
Two, and the locusts got within a hundred miles, so close you could make each of those ugly giants out. Three, and the earth, the very skies began to shudder; by now, the whole wheat field had been flattened utterly and began to smolder a brighter gold…
“Here it comes!” cried Jake.
Zane turned and stepped hard into a pull. He threw all his weight behind it, a full-body effort.
His roar broke through the howl of the storm.
A fourth revolution was willed into being.
Then Zane unleashed it.
A pillar of gold shredded the skies. Tottering in a drunken spiral—it gained steam as it went, vaporizing all it touched. And all around it, Solar Winds scoured for hundreds of miles, tearing, relentless…
“The essence in that blast…” whispered Jake.
Then there was a great shattering sound—like the skies themselves were breaking open.
And giant-insect meteors tumbled from the sky, burning up before they hit the ground.
In that moment, Zane stained the heavens the color of gold.
And when at last it cleared, there was naught but peaceful sky.
On the ground, there was nothing but burnt-out husks; most were melted to puddles. The only recognizable creature was the Locust Queen—charred to a crisp.
“…Alright,” croaked Mox. “That is something else.”