Ah sweet chaos.

  If I’m going to pretend to be the villain, I guess I should think like a villain. Run you crazy people, run! Muahahahahahaha.

  Okay, that feels weird. Though the people beneath me are running around chaotically. The Touched nor the Blessed seem to know how to react, so I suppose our plan is working.

  As I scan the area, I see Avis and Dardania down a side street with two of the Touched kneeling before them. What happened there?

  So, we caused a distraction and chaos, what now? The Touched are on the scaffold with Tate, so it won’t exactly be easy to get them away. I look down at the crowd to look for The Hermit and Prisha and can’t seem to find either of them. They should be standing directly beneath me, but they aren’t there now. There are too many people screaming and rushing about to find them in the crowd. I guess I should try and figure out a way to deal with the Touched.

  “I command The Touched to kneel in my presence!” I scream, my voice booming through the town square. For the most part, they had taken notice of me, but weren’t paying me much mind. I was hoping they would move from their spot to attack me and leave Tate unguarded, but I was very much wrong.

  Though screaming at them seemed to get their attention, so now what? I frantically look around, hoping that I can come up with some idea, but nothing is coming to mind. What am I supposed to do? This was my insane idea, and I’m botching it.

  Again my eyes land on Avis and Dardania, and bingo. That gives me the perfect idea. Dardania’s magic by and large is just natural phenomena, I can replicate that.

  “Gust.” I whisper to myself as I channel my energy into the surrounding area while visualizing a gale force wind picking up in the surrounding area. Before I had a chance to realize what was happening, near hurricane level winds start blowing from behind me towards the scaffold, with it’s focus on the two Touched standing on either side of Tate.

  I had unfortunately opened Pandora’s Box and can’t control the wind, and more than just The Touched were suffering under it’s affect. People were being blown over, tiles ripped off buildings, and vendor carts were being ripped apart. I really didn’t think this through, I haven’t quite gotten the hang of controlling this new magic.

  A wall of water begins to form in front of the scaffold, and quickly turns to ice. Due to the rapid temperature difference, ice shards began to form in the air surrounding the wall, and an freezing fog begins to form in the city square.

  Much to the chagrin of the Touched, the ice wall doesn’t hold against the wind and it shatters, giant shards of ice rush towards the Touched and everything that stands in the path of the wind.

  The Fire Touched's hands begin glowing a bright red as he raises them from his side in a circular motion until they are overhead.

  I could tell he was rapidly heating the air surrounding him based on the fact that the ice flying past him was melting, but the steam he was putting off was extremely intense; I could see the ripples of heat around him.

  “Oh no.” I mutter as I realize what’s about to happen next. I immediately drop myself to the ground and pour every ounce of energy I can muster into the space just before the shattered wall of ice, but I can’t do it fast enough.

  As the entire area surrounding the scaffold is rapidly heated, a massive explosion erupts, ripping through the city square destroying everything in its path.

  My ears ring as the force of the shockwave threatens to knock me over and crush me. I didn’t successfully put up a barrier, but I was able to mitigate some of the damage between the explosion and the area in front of me.

  I slowly raise my head to see the surrounding area littered with bodies, many of whom perished in the blast. The ones in front of and behind me are all still alive, but many suffered injuries from the blow back. As the dust settles and visibility increases, I turn my attention towards the scaffold.

  “Tate!” I try to scream out, my voice doesn’t quite work like it should. I try to stand up but by body is in excruciating pain and I immediately collapse to my knees. I can’t give in though, I have to make sure they are okay. I fight through agony and slowly push myself to my feet.

  As I stumble forward, the scaffold comes into view and both Touched and Tate are unharmed by the blast. Before I can exhale in relief, I am able to see why; The Saint.

  Godrick stands at the front of the scaffold, his gaze fixed fiercely on the Fire Touched who is kneeling before him. The Water Touched is still standing in the same spot as before, completely unmoved.

  Godrick slowly turns around, his gaze passing over me as he observes the destruction before him.

  “Pathetic.” He spits as he kicks the Fire Touched, knocking him over.

  “My Saint.” The Water Touched immediately kneels before Godrick, humbling herself in front of him.

  Tate is alive, but there is still no signs of Prisha or The Hermit. I use this brief respite to scan the area for them.

  I freeze in place the moment I take the time to observe my surroundings. I thought the collateral damage in Enkidu from my shockwave was bad, but it doesn’t even compare to this.

  The cobble stone just in front of the scaffold has been decimated, right where the center of the blast was. The buildings that lined the square all suffered heavy damage, it appears mostly from the stone that was sent flying during the shockwave. Even the church suffered an immense amount of damage, the entire facade looks as though its moments away from crumbling.

  None of that compared to the sheer amount of bodies that litter the square, the smell of blood reeks and radiates through the air. I try not focus on them, but no matter where I look, they are everywhere. The most horrifying part is, many of the bodies have been blown apart, just merely pieces strewn about. Scattered among the masses though, there were those who were still alive, though gravely injured.

  I alone can’t help them all, we need the help of the Minor Arcana but I have no way of contacting them.

  My eyes finally land on two individuals huddled together just behind the scaffold at the base of the steps, it’s Prisha and The Hermit. They’re alive and mostly unscathed.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  “Oh thank god.” I exhale, releasing the breath I had been holding the entire time I searched for them.

  “To me My Touched.” Godrick commands, his voice fierce. So fierce that it rattles my spirit. Every time I have heard this man speak, it was calm and collected. It may have been consistently sinister, but this, this was something else. It was terrifying. The power that is rippling off of him is unlike anything I’ve seen in my entire life. If I had to imagine what evil divine energy felt like, this would be it.

  I hold my breath, feeling like I was one step away from puking. Just being in his presence at the moment was requiring an insane amount of constitution.

  The remaining four Touched slowly emerge from the platform as though the base was a portal. They rise up until they are fully present and they immediately kneel before him.

  It’s clear that all of them have been in battle, but one of them looks extremely disfigured, their face unrecognizable from before. What did Madison to do him?

  “You Bastards.” I hear a hoarse voice ring out from the church as Madison stumbles out of the door and down the steps towards the scaffold. She as well was covered in cuts and bleeding out from more places than I can count. She traveled with a limp and was using her staff as a walking stick, she’s in no state to continue fighting.

  From the other side of the square, a pile of rubble blows to the side as Avis and Dardania emerge from the other side. They were banged up as well, but it was merely just scrapes and bruises, nothing overly severe.

  I turn my attention back towards Godrick and the Touched as the energy in the square was slowly starting to grow dense. What was happening?

  Normally energy exists just as air, it’s simply just there. Like air, it can become more dense in certain areas, I haven’t quite figured out why just yet apart from someone manipulating it. When I use magic, I manipulate the energy in my own body and the area surrounding it, but right now in this moment, something else is happening.

  It feels as though energy was being pulled in from every corner of the world all to converge on this single spot. What normally feels like a warm air slightly hugging me is starting to feel like a scorching heat begging to crush to me to death with it’s pressure. It’s not natural.

  Madison freezes at the base of the steps, her eyes widen, as she begins gasping for air. I would assume probably from sensing the same thing that I am, I just have no idea what it is.

  “What’s happening?” I hear Dardania question as they start rushing closer to the center of the square.

  I shift my attention towards the survivors surrounding me, there wasn’t a ton of them, but at least several dozen.

  “You have to run.” My voice croaks, the words get stuck in my throat as I try to say them. “You all have to run!” I scream at the top of my lungs.

  It’s enough to startle some of them out of their trance and they begin to run away, but most everyone is frozen to the spot either in agony or undiluted terror.

  It’s then that I notice that people have started to gather at the edge of the square, most likely coming to see what the explosion was.

  “Run!” I scream, “You have to run!”

  But no one moves.

  I slowly turn back to The Saint, my heart starting to race. I don’t know what he’s about to do, but I’m terrified.

  Finally, the energy stops moving. For a brief moment, it’s still; quiet. Peaceful almost.

  “Return to me.” Godrick slowly turns to face me and like a vacuum, the energy rips through the area towards Godrick. One by one The Touched slowly melt into the Saint. They stumble and fall into him, their entire existence disintegrates as it melts into Godrick. His attire and appearance changes each time, until finally his appearance returns to that of Godrick, the original Saint.

  In his belt, several of the Arcana were deeply embedded into it, including The Wheel of Fortune and Death. Next to them, was Justice. How ironic.

  Gasps ripple through the square as survivors and onlookers both can’t believe what they are witnessing. I’m not even entirely sure what just happened.

  “I’ll take that.” Godrick is standing face to face with me. When did he even move? He raises his hand, he is now holding the Magician card.

  “No.” I mutter and immediately feel a harrowing pain that rips through ever fiber of my being. I slowly blink, my vision blurs, and I’m on the other side of the city square.

  I try to move but I’m not able to. What happened? I’m not even sure I can feel my the rest of my body. Am I dead?

  I slowly raise my head, fighting through the pain, and manage to move into a sitting position. I am sitting in the middle of a dress shop littered with mannequins and garments, along with several dead bodies.

  He must have hit me, but it happened so fast that I didn’t even experience it. Avis was rushing this way, his mouth moving, but I couldn’t hear anything he was saying. All I could hear was an omnipresent ringing in my ears.

  I slowly turn towards Madison, Godrick is holding her body the throat. He snaps his fingers and the High Priestess card appears in his hand. Like a rag doll he slings her through the walls of the church. I try to scream out for her, but nothing comes out.

  Avis slides into me. I can tell he is screaming at me, but I still can’t hear anything he’s saying. I stare at him, unsure of how to react. My mind was foggy, my body on fire, and I feel like death warmed over. I’m not sure I can move even if I wanted to.

  “James!” Avis screams, this time I was finally able to hear it. I turn my attention towards him. “Are you okay?”

  I shake my head. I’m not okay, far from it.

  “He… he has my card.” I mutter, barely above a whisper. I look down at my empty hand, imagining the card there. It’s gone. “It’s gone.”

  “You have to get up.” Avis panics, trying to pull me to my feet. I wince as every touch makes my body feel as though it would break at a moments notice. “We have to move.”

  “It’s gone. How do we stop him without it?” I groan, Avis begins dragging me out of the dress shop. I try to stand on my own two feet, but I can’t barely feel them. They aren’t numb, the sheer amount of pain is simply overwhelming my nervous system.

  “Where is it?” Godrick screams at the top of his lungs, a shockwave rips through city square, knocking over anyone who had managed to make it to their feet.

  A man who once was cool and collected is cool and collected no more. He slowly turns until his eyes land on me, oh fuck.

  Avis folds my hand shut, squeezing it tightly. What is he doing?

  I look down and the Magician card is in my hand, though I have no clue how that got there? I know for a fact that Godrick took it from me.

  “He’s coming for it.” I begin to panic. I don’t have the mental capacity to focus at the moment and if I learned anything from his last attack, he moves faster than I can comprehend.

  “Stop time. Stop time. Stop time. Stop time.” I repeat over and over again, trying to pull any energy I can muster into the surrounding area. I don’t have the wherewithal to do anything more complicated than that.

  “Stop time.” I pray as I try to reach out to the world around me and pull in the surrounding energy. I slam my eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable destruction of my body.

  Nothing happens.

  I open my eyes to see Godrick standing several feet away from us moving extraordinary slow. He appears as though he is moving through an extremely viscous fluid, struggling with each step he takes. I did it. Well, I didn’t stop time, but I managed to slow him down.

  “We have to move. Now.” Avis picks me up, throws me on to his back and immediately begins running in the opposite direction. Godrick’s body may be moving slow, but it’s clear that his mind isn’t. As we move, his eyes follow right behind us.

  The further we get away from the spot, the faster Godrick’s body starts to move.

  “It’s not holding.” I scream as I crane my neck to look back at him.

  “Boom!” Dardania’s voice rips through the city square like an arrow headed straight for Godrick’s neck. Just before he returns to normal speed, her explosion collides with his head, instantly snapping his neck.

  Screams erupt through the city square as people watch their Saint die before their eyes. Chaos immediately erupts among the citizens, many of them rushing towards him.

  “Stay back!” Prisha screams as she begins sprinting towards the people that are trying to get to Godrick’s side.

  It doesn’t matter though, whether they are terrified or not, their religious beliefs and fervor overpower any fear they may have in this moment.

  Avis skids to a halt next to Dardania and we turn to face the Saint.

  “How long do we have?” Dardania asks as we stare him down.

  “Only several seconds.” Avis answers. I tap his shoulder, motioning for him to put me down. He does so, but I continue to lean against him to hold me up.

  A roaring snap rips through the square, every follower of the Saint immediately freezes in place.

  Godrick slowly rises until he is upright. With another snap, he whips he neck back, the burns on his face slowly healing at the same time.

  “The wheel has to be close to crushing him.” Avis mutters.

  “Then we push it over to fucking crush him.” I say through gritted teeth.

  “Let’s kill a Saint, shall we?” Dardania adds.

  LitRPG Progression Isekai

  The World Walker on a Tuesday

  "I threw a rock at a Machine-God and leveled up. Now my bodyguard is a sentient gargoyle who hates boats."

  Kaelen Vance didn't ask for a System. He touched a corrupted server rack in a London basement and the universe glitched.

  Now he’s stuck in a multiverse that runs on logic he doesn’t understand, trying to survive ecosystems that want to eat his soul. He has no fireballs, no cheat codes, and his "System" is a star-chart that tracks trauma instead of XP. Joined by Vrex, a sentient rock-golem tank who speaks like a physics professor, Kaelen must survive the only way he knows how: by exploiting the rules, abusing the economy, and applying physics where it doesn't belong.

  [System Log: Sensory Imprint]

  "The thing in the canopy—I mentally christened it Mr. Peepers—wasn’t looking at me. My new soul-compass, the Astrolabe, had made that clear. The Aetheric Shroud wasn’t a cloak; it was a localized paradox. A glitch. And Mr. Peepers, with its dozen unblinking eyes, was staring at the glitch. It was like seeing a patch of corrupted pixels in your vision; you can't see what's in it, but you sure as hell can't miss the spot where reality forgot to load."

  ? Smart MC: Exploits systems over brute force.

  ? Unique System: No blue screens. Only Trauma and unique system with Astrolabe & Star Charts.

  ? Buddy Duo: Snarky Human + Literal-Minded Rock Golem.

  ? Creative Combat: Kinetic manipulation & social engineering.