The Dealer made sure everything in his home was perfect. There wasn’t a single speck of dust in sight, all of the seats were just right to accommodate his guests, Bella had been put away in another room so she wouldn’t get riled up, and the smell of banana bread hung thick in the air. It was a crowd pleaser; everyone loved it.
After checking his vest one more time, the bipedal alligator turned to look at the clock on his wall. He was seconds away from a long overdue meeting with some of the most influential treasure hunters on the planet. Everything was prepared, now he just had to execute the pitch as best he could.
As the clock hit 12, the Dealer’s dining room was suddenly full.
Doslerox, a mechanical, four-legged sphere made of copper sat in a chair specifically made for them. They had access to most of the treasure hunter groups in Europe, working as a middleman between over a hundred factions. When it came to sheer intelligence, it was hard to find someone more capable.
Nina Ninetails, a woman wearing a black dress who had ears like a hyena and a number of tails matching her name. She was very hands-on with Patrons and players alike, fraternizing with whoever she deems worthy around Asia and Oceania. The trickster often found her way into previous Patron’s Balls through a back door she had set up for the sole purpose of schmoozing with those in power.
Kex Delver was a rabbit with oversized ears that were tied in a bow. He started in the Dealer’s neck of the woods in the United States and was one of the treasure hunters who ran events for players as well as Patrons. His connections were impressive, and his many burrows were full of many powerful items.
Infinity One was the smallest of the group, using an empty pincushion on the table like a bean bag. The spider, which appeared to be a black widow with a figure eight on her back instead of an hourglass, had rallied the vast majority of South America’s treasure hunters under her banner. Frugal and ruthless, she rarely showed her face to anyone.
In contrast, Loneralo was the largest, but only in his chosen form. Thousands upon thousands of ants swirled around a dirt core, which was the center of his hive mind, and took on the vague shape of a man. His chair was a bowl, and they slowly relaxed into a puddle. Like Infinity One, he didn’t make appearances very often but had a large number of treasure hunters who followed him.
The last guest was one the Dealer had hesitated to invite, but he had already brought in the smartest of his fellows so he might as well have brought in the one who could gather information almost as well as he could. It had helped that this one had been vouched for by Anthony Franklin.
Bellzee was a Diviner Slime. They were an amorphous mass of light blue gelatin surrounding a crystal ball. Anthony had gone to them previously to get information on the Hidden World Boss of Earth, and had apparently been useful. As a rival information broker, the Dealer could already sense the ooze memorizing every inch of his kitchen.
Every piece of knowledge had a price, even if it was as asinine as what type of microwave he preferred.
“Yooooo,” Nina greeted, her tails twitching through the hole in her chair as she reached over and plucked a slice of banana bread from the table. She took a bite, nodded appreciatively, and spoke while she chewed. “This is quite the group you’ve called, Dealer. How many favors did you have to call in to get us all here?”
“More than a dozen, less than three hundred,” the alligator joked. “I trust everyone had a pleasant ride?”
“I am surprised that you managed to bring my whole body,” Loneralo admitted, the ants in the bowl vibrating to make words. It was slow and slurred, but coherent. “You have been very successful lately, haven’t you?”
“Blurp,” Bellzee bubbled.
The Dealer glared at the slime. “I don’t appreciate you trying to map my house, but you’re both right. Riches have been coming easy thanks to two major contacts. Naturally, I have spared no expense to make my home as comfortable and secure as possible. This place is now more protected than anywhere except the System Core. Which is good, considering what I’ve gathered us all to do.”
“You have been busy,” Kex Delver said slowly, resting in a very human-like manner despite his body shape. He, too, had grabbed some banana bread. “Between you and that glitch, the administrators have been very confused lately. Could have met him, you know. I was set up in his city for a time running an auction on doomed goods, but he never showed up.”
“Everyone’s been confused,” Infinity One corrected, her voice small and squeaky. “This world hasn’t gone nearly as poorly as those preceding it.”
A plate moved aside on Doslerox’s body and a mechanical arm appeared. It grabbed a piece of bread before disappearing back inside. There was a pause before they released a short whistle, which was their equivalent of a grunt.
“I have not been happy with the current state of affairs,” the sphere mechanically stated. “My contacts in the administrative layer have been silent for the past six days, fifteen hours, and thirty-seven minutes. The lack of information has not been appreciated. I am only here to figure out what has happened.”
“It is a rare day when the Dealer’s willing to give us information for free,” Nina said, leaning forward in her chair and placing an elbow on the table.
The alligator nodded. “The information is free, yes, but that’s because I’m going to make you all a deal after. I’m sure you’ll all agree by the end that it’ll be worth taking.”
“I think it’s safe to say you have our attention,” Loneralo replied.
Nina made a motion for the Dealer to get on with it. With a wave of his hand, a screen appeared in front of each of his guests. They all depicted the same scene of a man sitting in the Dealer’s home, waiting patiently and tapping away at unseen menus.
“This is my informant,” the alligator introduced. “Anthony Franklin.”
“That’s the guy Seraphim was going crazy over,” Kex Delver said, shifting so that he was sitting properly for his body. “So far as I know, the administrators have been calling him the Antagonist because they can’t figure out his name. There’s been a lot of talk about how he’s not just a glitch, but a regressor.”
“That is correct,” the Dealer confirmed with a nod.
“To which part? The Antagonist or the regressor bit?”
“Both,” the alligator answered with a grin, relishing in the looks he received from his fellow treasure hunters. “I am under a System Contract that keeps me from telling you information I’ve received from him, but there’s still a lot I can tell you on my own. Things I’ve figured out myself, or that I’ve learned from a third party, such as his wife.”
“Wait, wait, wait. So this really is a regressor?” Infinity One asked, her head tilting to the side. “He doesn’t look like anything special.”
“Kind of cute, though,” Nina added, one ear twitching as she stared at the screen in front of her.
“If you’re into that kind of thing,” Loneralo scoffed.
Bellzee shifted. “Blurp.”
“A Warmind, huh?” Kex asked, nodding as he ran a hand over one of his ears. “That’s a tough class to pull off. Gotta be something special about him, then.”
“That’s what he is,” the alligator confirmed. “Walsard, or Seraphim as he preferred to be called, figured out he was a regressor in the first few moments before Anthony glitched out and could no longer be seen. He approached me in the tutorial after taking out the boss, which Al Showman sent him directly towards as per the rules on glitches.”
The image changed to a picture of the Abomination Clowns, Banzi and Danzi. There was no footage of Anthony fighting them, and the Dealer moved on.
“There’s way too much to talk about, so I’ll be going over the highlights. His story starts in Etson, Florida, where he did so well that Walsard intervened. The administrator evolved the Writhing Juggernaut, already a raid boss, into its next evolutionary stage specifically to kill him.”
“Blurp.”
“Don’t rush ahead. If you’re not going to be patient, then you can leave,” the Dealer chastised, scowling at the slime.
“Walsard’s punishment happened early, didn’t it? You’re telling me that a baby player took out a Zeppelin?” Infinity One asked incredulously. She turned around and left the pincushion she was sitting on to grab a piece of banana bread. Pulling it off of the plate with little effort, she climbed on top of it and began eating.
“With the help of one other, yes.”
“One other, what? Howitzer?”
“No, a Storm Sentinel named Gloria Brown,” the Dealer answered. “She kept him safe as he prepared to kill it, and he managed to send its vital organs into the Atlantic Ocean with the help of a Relocation Grenade.”
“While it is hard to believe that two players could take down a Writhing Zeppelin in the early days of the system, it becomes exponentially more plausible if one of them is a regressor,” Doslerox stated.
“That’s a valid point,” Infinity One replied before waving two legs at the alligator. “Go ahead.”
“It wasn’t long after that before I approached him and told him I knew what he was,” the Dealer continued, changing a slide to show him and Anthony sitting in a train car. “I confronted him with a hologram of his first boss kill, which was over before Walsard finished his monologue, and had him sign an exclusivity contract with me.”
“Exclusivity, huh? That explains how you’ve been getting to everything first. Lucky bastard,” Kex asked, scowling as he crossed his arms.
“I wouldn’t say everything,” the alligator chuckled. “Anthony is one shrewd and frugal customer.”
“You have done 658% better for yourself than I calculated in my initial projections,” Doslerox countered. “Despite claims of him being shrewd and frugal, the data shows that you are excelling beyond even exemplary treasure hunters.”
“Yes, because I saw an opportunity and I jumped on it.”
“Blurp.”
“The fact that it landed in my lap doesn’t matter,” the Dealer argued, glaring at the slime. “Without the right know-how, even the most expensive information is worth dirt. You should know that.”
Bellzee quivered. “Blurble.”
“Don’t give me more reasons to regret inviting you to—”
Nina clapped, getting everyone’s attention. A slice of banana bread was hanging out of her mouth and she took it in hand before jabbing it in their direction. “Play nice, or I’m leaving. There’s plenty to do out there, you know?”
The Dealer adjusted his vest with his claws. It was better to keep calm. He knew they were only still here because it was a prime opportunity to get information on a regressor, and he would need to convert that into action later.
“After I confronted him,” the alligator continued after taking a calming breath. “Anthony went on to do amazing things. I’ve been following his trail closely, even when I’m out on other jobs, and I’ve even been surprised by him a few times. Like the time he called his girlfriend, who is now his wife, to Earth.”
“You mentioned her earlier,” Loneralo interrupted. “She is not of this planet? Not a player? Is she another treasure hunter?”
The Dealer shook his head. “No, she’s Esaraphelscion, the Angel of the End.”
That declaration caused the others to jolt up and start speaking over each other, each one in disbelief. A regressor, while incredibly rare, was something that happened from time to time. No one had ever heard of a world boss acting this way. The alligator winced at the noise, and Bella began barking in the next room. He raised his hands and shouted over them.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Calm down! Sheesh, the info is good,” he said as the others quieted down. “She’s his Patron now due to some shenanigans with a Memory Orb and a System Contract. It’s been working out very well for them, as you can imagine, and she’s where I got most of the information I can share with you today.”
“Yeah, right,” Kex scoffed. He sat back down, crossing his front legs like arms before lifting a back one. “Pull the other foot. This one’s lucky.”
“I’d stake my name on it,” the Dealer said, causing everyone to go deathly quiet. The other treasure hunters knew how much pride the alligator had in his brand, and took it at face value. That didn’t stop them from fidgeting, though, trying to process this news. He took the opportunity to keep going. “Anthony came out of that deal as a Half-Angel. In his rush to get away from Walsard, he took his train and his friends and headed north to Merder Stadium.”
“Isn’t that where Frastina was punished for squandering the scenario boss?” Nina asked, grabbing her third slice of banana bread.
“That’s right,” he answered with a grin. “She made Anthony a raid boss against every other contestant of the Chaos Cup, then released Atlanta’s Uuska to try and kill him after he got done fighting forty odd players. He trounced them all, even the boss, and wisely got the hell out of dodge. After picking up more companions, he went to Pittsburgh. There, he borrowed the power of Esaraphelscion to put down Pustibule, the Demon Lord of Invention.”
“That made the administrator governing Hell very nervous,” Doslerox stated as something whirred inside of his metal body. “Barnok buried it as quickly as she could in order to not be deemed incompetent. Another Demon Lord has risen to the station, given power quickly to work alongside the Emperor.”
“Sounds like overcompensating,” Nina said. Her ears twitched, and she wore a contemplative look. “But it was probably their only play. There’s supposed to be a set number of Demon Lords and suddenly missing one would look bad on them.”
“Anthony’s been making a lot of administrators look bad,” the Dealer chuckled. “Not just Walsard and Frastina. Baltastasia tried to use him, conspired with a Patron to get him killed twice, with the second one actually working, and was completely removed from her duties afterwards.”
“That was the Emperor’s Ascent, by the way,” Kex added, addressing the room. “Biggest event the states have seen yet, all thrown together by the Zodiac Patrons. His guild won that, didn’t they?”
“They did, and without him, too. Anthony’s put together a great team,” the alligator confirmed. “Going to skip something important for a moment, but we’ll circle back. He was missing because he took part in the Star Spangled Shadow Invasion.”
“I was watching that. It took place in Dublin with fifty MVPs, one from each state,” Loneralo commented. The ants leaned forward slightly in his chair, almost sloshing over like a wave. “The administrators blocked out the video feed partway through. Every Patron I reached out to who had a participating Avatar that was still alive at the time had been forbidden from speaking on what happened. Did you witness it?”
“No, but I still know what happened. A player by the name of Coe Valen summoned Arontalscion just like Anthony had summoned Esaraphelscion earlier. Put my favorite regressor in a bit of a sticky situation, actually. He had to make the choice between saving Coe, who is apparently someone to watch out for, or save a member of his guild who had also been invited, Jamie Summers. There was only one Miracle that could be used to destroy the Primordial Ice containing them.”
“Ah, so he recruited Jamie out of the Chaos Cup?” Kex asked, stroking his chin. “I had wondered where she’d gone to.”
“The Dealer just dropped that a second world boss descended onto Earth and you’re worried about a player?” Infinity One asked, turning to look at the rabbit.
Who simply shrugged. “What can I say? I bet on her, so I remember her. Plus, if one already did then it makes sense that a second could. Keep up with the times.”
“You are being very flippant about this event,” Doslerox accused. “Are you perhaps unaware that these beings are not governed by the administrators?”
“Of course I know that,” Kex scoffed. “I just know the player, that’s all.”
“Blurp.”
The rabbit glared at the Diviner Slime before turning back to the Dealer. “Whatever. So what’d he pick?”
“Both,” the host answered. “He used the Miracle to save his teammate, and then sacrificed a part of his soul in order to save Coe. Since his power came straight from the Angel of the End, there was Primordial Fire in him. He cut some off.”
“I do not understand why he would want to save an enemy,” Doslerox said with a few clicking noises.
“They have a long history, apparently. Coe Valen is important to this world’s survival,” the Dealer replied with a shrug.
What he didn’t tell them was that Coe always made it to the end game raids, and had a phenomenal success rate at surviving them. Second only to Anthony himself. These treasure hunters didn’t need to know that he had regressed through 99 runs in order to get the full picture, though, and he left that out.
“Suppose that’s as good a reason as any,” Nina said.
“I would argue that there is no good reason for harming your own soul,” Doslerox replied. “There is no easy way to fix them.”
“Anthony knows,” the Dealer informed, waving his hand again. The picture before them all changed to the regressor and his ninja friend hovering in front of a woman with dusky skin and thick white hair. “This is the Genie he sought after, Katie, and she was able to fix up the physical symptoms of his soul being torn.”
“A dangerous procedure,” Loneralo started, clearly considering what such a thing would entail. “I am surprised he would trust such a creature.”
“He’d done his homework on how to get what he wants from wishes that don’t always have his best interests at heart. His second wish was to splice some gear, and he is still hanging onto the third.”
“What for?” Nina asked curiously.
The Dealer shrugged. “Not entirely sure. We haven’t spoken since. I’m sure he’s got something in mind, though.”
“Regressors always do,” Kex commented. His statement was met with a smattering of agreements.
“And Anthony’s smarter than most, so I’m sure he won’t squander it,” the alligator said sagely. “We’re about to tune in to the shenanigans he’s been building up to now, and I’m excited to see how he performs.”
With another wave of his hand, the scene changed from the Genie to just outside of the Washington D.C. barrier. Anthony stood next to a massive cylinder alongside two women, one covered in soot with red hair and the other armored and golden. Speaking to them was the Grim Reaper himself.
Doslerox stood up from their seat. “What is that he has at his side, Dealer?” the mechanical sphere demanded.
“The Hellbreaker,” the alligator answered gleefully. The others turned to stare at him, which was the proper response as far as he was concerned. “He and I went through an adventure through the administrative layer and whipped up the blueprints for one. His Monstersmith, the redhead there, used them to make it with the armor of the G-3 Omega Colossus, radioactive materials from Chernobyl's Chernoshroom—which was defeated shortly after meeting the Genie—and parts of his own deceased body since he’s in the spare he had gotten earlier.”
“You took a player, a regressor, into the administrative layer?” Kex asked quietly.
“And succeeded in pilfering the plans for something like the Hellbreaker?” Nina continued.
“You’re still alive and breathing, so you must be lying,” Infinity One accused.
“I did, we won, and we’re still kicking,” the Dealer replied one by one. Nina barked a laugh at the audacity. Sitting down, he nodded towards the screens. “Just watch. Once this is over, we’re going to get to the real reason I called you all here.”
“How come the administrator didn’t show up?” Loneralo asked suddenly. His ants shifted as if to get a better look. “When the Grim Reaper appeared. Normally, they’re right behind them to try and stop whatever’s about to happen.”
Bellzee quivered, but the alligator was quick to throw up a hand. “Answers later,” he said, and the Diviner Slime remained silent.
The treasure hunters watched as Anthony blew up the barrier’s contents with the Hellbreaker. It had been made twice as effective due to Jeremiah’s ritual, which made the area an extension of the Demon’s realm. The blinding light caused them to have to look away.
No one spoke as the regressor’s body reconstituted itself. Holy energy flooded into him at an alarming rate, filling him to the brim and beyond. The act only lasted for seconds, but they all knew it would have felt like far longer. His soul had healed at an unnatural pace, and such an unpleasant process was never easy.
Their silence continued as the Demon Lord of Potential appeared. Everyone knew that was where Crokillik chose to be. He wasn’t quiet about wanting to conquer Earth even though he would be stuck in the barrier for months. There were plenty of playthings for him to occupy his time with.
They watched as Anthony struggled, at first to get away from an overwhelming enemy but then to resume his Angelic form. Every treasure hunter, including the Dealer, leaned towards the screen as they watched. Crokillik had just survived the Hellbreaker, which meant that his potential had to have been maxed out, making him an enemy second only to the Demonic Emperor himself.
The Dealer’s tail slapped the floor as Anthony succeeded in saying the words to activate his ring and reignite the soulfire within. He felt pride for the regressor, and watched without worry as the Angelic being, powered by his wife in another dimension, fought with the overpowered Slime. That was a rare feeling for the treasure hunter, and it almost surprised him.
Anthony and Crokillik’s battle did not last long at the speeds they fought. Each one was at their peak, stronger than they had been since the system started, and they both took to it easily enough. They fought as naturally as they breathed. The Dealer could see the cogs turning in his ally’s head, though.
He clenched his fists as Anthony started pulling Crokillik higher, getting the Slime off of the ground. The Demon Lord was ready to go in for the kill and wouldn’t be able to hide underground for the fatal blow that the Dealer knew was coming.
A Dragon’s Breath was charged despite what had to have been a huge amount of pain, and the alligator cheered as it became more and more powerful.
Overclocked Body, Dark Sacrifice, and finally a Halo joining with his own. By the time Anthony was done, the only thing left was a massive hole in the ground. Not even his legs, which Crokillik had used as cover, had survived.
“That’s Anthony fucking Franklin right there,” the Dealer announced, standing up and jabbing his claws at the screen in front of him. It didn’t matter that the others couldn’t see it, they would understand his excitement.
“It has only been three months since the system arrived,” Doslerox stated slowly, as if in disbelief. “How can one player become so strong?”
“Blurp.”
Everyone’s head snapped towards Bellzee except the Dealer’s. “Did you just say ninety-nine?” Loneralo asked incredulously.
“Blup.”
“That’s insane,” Infinity One replied, almost skittering off of her bread. “There’s no way any human’s lived that long and is… this! It’s utterly impossible.”
“Not impossible, just improbable,” the Dealer gleefully corrected. “Everything is bound to happen eventually, and this is just another one of those things.”
“I assume you know the odds are so low that I would need to take hours to calculate them?” the sphere asked.
“And yet, it’s happening.”
“What did you bring us here for, Dealer?” Nina asked, reaching for another piece of bread. “You’re giving us an awful lot of information, and I think it’s time you got to the point.”
Looking back at the screen, the Dealer waved it away as Malphazarin, the general of the Heavenly Host, appeared. He wasn’t worried about that; Anthony could take care of himself. A new scene had appeared in its place.
The regressor had just finished killing his Evil Twin and was nearly chest to chest with Walsard. It was clear that something had enraged Anthony based on the expression on his face, and the administrator was gloating. Everything went black, but the lights came back on a split second later as the scene changed.
“Holy shit,” Kex said as he watched Anthony viciously dismember Walsard.
“This took place immediately after the Shadow Invasion,” the Dealer explained with smug satisfaction as he took in everyone else’s dumbfounded expression. “You see, in the administrative layer, we discovered something very curious. It was a complete accident, but Anthony managed to harm Abbatrastoria, an administrator in the outskirts. Then, he killed him. This is the second time he had brought retribution down, and he went on to do so three more times.”
“Why are you showing us this?” Loneralo asked, his speech slurred a little more than usual in his excitement.
“Because now, thanks to him, he’s not the only one,” the alligator answered before clapping his hands.
The treasure hunters recoiled as a new figure appeared beside the Dealer. He was almost four feet tall and covered in black scales. His suit, which had once been finely tailored, was now in tatters. There was blood everywhere, and it was abundantly clear from the laborious breathing that he was alive but only barely.
“Zot, administrator of Washington D.C.,” the Dealer introduced before taking the administrator’s head in his hands.
“Please…” Zot begged weakly. “Please, I—”
He didn’t have a chance to finish before the treasure hunter snapped his neck, and he crumpled to the ground chest-first with his face staring at the ceiling. The room had become deathly silent at the display in front of them.
“Anthony Franklin must be protected,” the Dealer stated as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “He has both the ability and the inclination to turn everything on its head. I know that we’re all entrenched in the system. That we’ve helped maintain the status quo. I know for a fact that you all are sick of it, just like me.”
His eyes panned over the shocked expressions on his guest’s faces, giving them another moment to come to terms with something that they had always known to be impossible.
“Thanks to Anthony, I have consumed several administrators. I have taken their authority, their access, clearance, whatever you want to call it, and have become more than they are now,” the Dealer explained. “But I can’t do it all alone. They’ll find out sooner rather than later, and I need allies who can help me in the shadows. Anthony needs to finish this cruel game, and that’s it.”
Slowly, the treasure hunters started turning back to their host one by one.
“I need you all to come with me to war,” he continued, reaching out a clawed hand towards them. “Allow me to give you all back your old power, the ones you could no longer bear due to what we were required to do with them, and use them to protect Anthony and his world for the next week or two until he finishes everything. Help me change the system into something it should have been a long time ago.”
The Dealer grinned, and it was not friendly. “Come with me and tear down everything so we can build it back into something better.”
His request was met with silence as everyone processed. Even Doslerox was having trouble reconciling what they had just seen with what they had known for all their life as a treasure hunter.
Nina was the first to break, laughing out loud as she threw her head back. They turned to look at her, noting her savage grin. She grabbed the last piece of banana bread, took a bite, and jabbed it in the Dealer’s direction.
“I’m in, you son of a bitch,” she said with malicious glee. “Sign me up as the first to join. I want to put as many of those administrative assholes in the ground as I can.”
The Dealer grinned and rubbed his hands as the others agreed, ready to disrupt everything they knew for the chance. Everything was going exactly according to plan.
Sara would be pleased. He knew he was.
Book 7 comes out tomorrow! I'll be dropping another chapter tomorrow to celebrate, but I will be taking down chapters 286-335 tonight so Amazon doesn't get mad. It'll happen about 11 PM Eastern, which is about as late as I'll risk it.
r/litrpg, but that's all the information I have right now. Hopefully I'll get more soon!
