Dark Matter Ascension-Chapter 71B2 - : Fighting an Astral Demon

A lot happened all at once. First, Jace’s vision was overlaid with a slight, sparkling blue just like Ollie’s normal form manifested as. Time seemed to slow down ever-so-slightly as the Wayfinder AI integrated with the nanites in his body, seemingly guiding them with more focused intent; like an orchestrator of a band conducting a symphony. Jace could feel every single bit of his body with perfect precision, even to the point he was sure he could focus on single nerve endings.

Then, Quinn’s HUD overlaid everything. Jace saw a variety of notifications pop up in his vision; mainly, a timer that showed a two-minute countdown, with small bars slowly depleting representing each of Quinn’s Skills active on him. A golden light illuminated and seemed to stick to the demonic entity before him, right at the eyes. He could see illusory duplicates of himself that seemed to be both part of and next to him: doubtless, he assumed, to cause attacks to miss as they were aimed at the duplicate.

He heard Xera’s voice in his ear, “Hold nothing back! If this thing doesn’t die within a minute, I have to destroy this world to prevent its spread.”

A whole world? Jace couldn’t believe that this creature posed such a threat. And yet, it had torn a hole through reality before him. The tremendous body dwarfed the cavernous space, and it roared: his Universal Translation Skill trying to make sense of the weird, guttural, almost poetic language. She would destroy a whole world to stop this thing?

But it made sense to Jace. This thing was from outside of the universe. As far as he knew, this thing could be another Troxanir; an entity from the Astral Verge who could do all sorts of harm. He felt that slight ember of anger in his gut and focused on that spark. He had to get angry. Get mad. Get pissed off at this thing.

Releasing norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, and stimulating the amygdala for an anger response. Sorry in advance for manipulating your brain chemistry, but we do not have a choice!

Jace’s whole vision turned red. He felt utter disgust and hatred towards this foe before him. Wrath’s Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Aura of Wrath (Rank 11). The aura of crackling, crimson energy exploded from him, becoming a storm of rage that lashed out and zapped the edges of the demonic entity’s body.

The creature chuckled as the translation finished. Its guttural voice was almost mesmerizing in a way, and Jace was sure that without his amulet and Quinn’s Stratagem protecting his mind, he would be thralled by this thing. “Well…finally I got to see into this universe. I like it. I think I will stay.”

Jace screamed out in rage and charged forward into reach. The creature’s mouth opened into a wide grin as it roared in response, swinging an enormous claw down onto Jace. He slipped under the strike, getting between its arms near the torso, and slapped his hand on the chest. Mage’s Mark (Rank 5)! He saw the glowing palm print stay on its torso, and he ducked, dropping to his feet as the arms tried to come in and crush him. Detonate.

The Dark Energy Mine went off and both were suspended in the air. Jace, now prone on the ground, kicked up with his legs. Steel Gale Stride, he thought as the air beneath his feet crackled with the same crimson lightning and applied Void Blade’s damage over time and slowing over time effect. The grey-white energy coursed over the creature’s form, and yet it did not seem to slow.

It turned itself around in midair as if it was perfectly used to operating in zero gravity. Getting its feet on the ceiling, it cackled in delight and several dark beams of energy lanced out from its horns around the head. All of them impacted Jace and were dissipated by his Void Shield. “You’re a pest. This Void energy? Is nothing to me. We live in entropy.” The creature’s feet that gripped into the ceiling disintegrated the roof above, and Jace could see the open sky as the whole building above them was instantly destroyed, blown to ash and dust.

The demon grunted and a pair of wings unfurled from its back as it flapped to direct its movement. “This city will do as my new throne.”

Jace sprinted up along the air using the lingering timer from his Steel Gale Stride, slashing as soon as he got into range. The creature raised its arms, deflecting each strike before returning with jabs that impacted Jace’s barrier, flared as the power of the Void ate away at the fleshy hide before it regenerated.

Ollie’s voice echoed in his head, Permission to use Skills at opportune times.

Yes, Jace thought back.

Activating all three Archmage Skills. Hand out!

Jace thrust his hand out and saw a torrent of metal, stone, water, ice, flame, and even lava surge out from his palm as Ollie activated Archmage Geo, Hydro, and Pyromancy in one go. The enormous cascade exploded outward in a cone, completely consuming the Astral Demon and expanding into the sky before becoming inert and dissipating.

The creature had crossed its arms in front of its face, and the form slowly began to regenerate: but it had taken a beating. “That hurt,” it growled out. “My turn!” It flew down at Jace, and the Dark Matter Aspirant dodged to the side as the demon flew right into the remaining air blades from Steel Gale Stride in his wake. It roared out in pain as the Void Blade effect was applied hundreds of times in less than a second as the scything wind carved into it.

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Shadow Nebula Smokescreen, Jace thought as the blackness oozed out in all directions. Timer on Steel Gale Stride is almost up. Hope’s Edge, Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting]. He activated his trump card combo and flew into the demon, pushing down with all his might as he let out a scream of rage and hatred fueled by his animalistic anger from Ollie’s manipulation of his brain. But Jace didn’t care that someone was altering his behavior.

All that existed was his rage, the enemy before him, and Xera’s instructions that this thing had to die in fifty seconds or less from that point. He felt his Steel Gale Stride fade, and the demon twisted around as they crashed into the ground, making a larger impact crater where the ruined remains of the house once stood. “Really?” The creature wrapped its arms around Jace and squeezed…only to howl in pain and immediately let go as the crushing pressure that would have easily pulverized Jace was returned to it.

And Jace’s energy which had been steadily draining filled up. He stayed mounted on the demon, using his thighs to keep a grip on its torso as he raised up his sword with two hands and stabbed down. Over and over, he stabbed as bursts of boiling, black blood surged up and splashed against his barrier. The creature kept pummeling his shield, trying to stop the assault: but the damage was reflected and every hit reinvigorated Jace’s energy.

“You come into my universe?!” Jace shouted out as he plunged his blade down. “Ollie! Use that (Equipment) Boon for the biggest fucking grenade I can get!”

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[Using Boon: Common (Equipment).]

[Manifesting.]

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Jace took his left hand off the sword hilt and saw a spherical device appear in his hand. He shoved it into the torso of the creature and then hugged himself tight to the chest to keep the explosion’s damaging effects contained inside the chest cavity. The explosive detonated after a second, and Jace heard the creature screaming in pain as its insides were blown to bits.

Standing up, Jace got a good look at the eviscerated body. The entire midsection was blown apart, leaving a black, bony spine connecting the legs with the torso. It slowly began to regenerate, and the creature cackled as blood spilled out of its mouth; the black ichor staining the stone under it. “You cannot kill me with damage!”

Jace raised his hand, “This can. Void Beam (Rank 1) [Limited Range].” The beam of grey-white energy surged out and destroyed the creature utterly from the chest-up. Jace was sucking in breaths of air as he saw the creature’s body begin to regenerate once more. “Come on!”

You have to completely destroy the body.

“Fine!” Jace repeated his Void Beam another five times; each use feeling his energy drain further. That was enough to completely disintegrate the entire body.

Xera’s voice came over the comms, “Good job. Stability of the world restored. Astral Verge tear, shut.” She was ecstatic, relieved, and sounded satisfied. “Without Quinn’s help that would have been a much harder fight.”

Jace stood up and let all but his Dark Matter Cloak fade. “How…did he…sense me?” he asked.

“The Astral Verge operates on an entirely different set of rules,” Xera replied. “When Troxanir is defeated and I can send probes, I can gather more information and give you specific answers. The short one for now is…I don’t know.”

Ollie unfused from Jace’s head and patted him on the shoulder. To Jace, it felt like a cool, comforting sensation left; and a headache kicked in immediately. He winced and held his temple. Dark Matter Mending (Rank 1), he thought. The Skill immediately made the headache go away.

“Sorry about that,” Ollie said as he squirmed his way inside Jace’s hood. “That happens post-Verge Protocol.”

“How strong was that thing?” Jace asked. “And can we dust it?”

“The equivalent of Tier 5,” Xera said over the comms. “And, no, entities of the Astral Verge do not operate on the same physics and rules of reality as our universe, so no Stardust.”

Jace nodded and left the crater as guards began to arrive to investigate the scene. “So, we’re good? I can head back to Khrox?”

“Yup!” Ollie said as he patted Jace’s head. “Good job! You kept the System intact!”

Xera pushed away from her console and walked to another room, shutting the door behind her. Sinking into her bed, she felt a full-on panic attack approaching. Tapping a few buttons on her wristpad, she manipulated her brain’s circuitry and pathways to prevent a full-blown meltdown.

Taking a deep, shaky, breath, she replayed the events in her mind. I knew that creatures in the Astral Verge functioned off souls as a form of currency, she thought. Their magic-based ritual must have trapped the souls in that array and used that to create a ‘light’ of sorts that an Astral Demon could see. Like an anglerfish luring prey in.

She sat up and ran a System-wide diagnostic. Results came back seconds later and confirmed that there were no impending threats of a similar nature, and she relaxed a bit. Jace was able to pull it off. Quinn was invaluable: those Stratagems and unlocking that Advanced Class for her was the correct decision. Sure, Jace could have dealt with it on his own, but he would not have come out unscathed. Bringing on Quinn and sabotaging Star Father’s view of her was the right play.

And yet, Xera still felt some disquiet. She needed to do much more research into the Astral Verge. She needed to find out how the world operated to better enable her Cosmic System to integrate with it. She had no doubt that Jace would defeat Troxanir in time: perhaps a long time away, but it would happen. She would make sure of it.

But she only had theories as to how her Signers would be affected in the Astral Verge. They will need a vessel, at the least, to help them travel through that layer of reality. And I will have to implement a new System.

She had performed scans of the creature as Jace fought it. His tactile feedback and Ollie’s integration allowed her to get a good read on it. She knew that these Astral creatures used a System of their own: some ancient one that defied all expectations Xera had of that being a mostly transitory realm. She would have to create a System Integration feature for her Cosmic System so that when Jace and her Signers entered that space, it would be accessible.

Which means, in all likelihood, that souls are going to be the currency of that layer of reality. I need to know more. Is it like Stardust in that it is both currency and a means of improving power? Or is there another sub-system?

She had questions, and no way to answer them. And that gave her no end of discomfort.