by Wolfe Locke
Notification: Soul Consumption – Tatiana
Details: You have successfully consumed the soul of one of the chief lieutenants of the guild Chaos. By consuming her soul while still alive, you have gained a sizable percentage of her stat points. In the process of her soul being consumed, the person known as Tatiana has been completely destroyed. The resurrection of this individual is entirely impossible.
This power is quantified as X1 points to Strength, X8 points to Agility, X4 points to Intelligence, X2 points to Luck, X1points to Endurance, X4 points to Wisdom and X2 points to Perception.
No experience is gained.
You have gained $4831 Sol
Notification: Item Gained – Spark Sword
Details: You have gained the bound item, Spark Sword. This item as a soul bound item has been transferred to you and may never be lost, taken, or stolen. This item charges with kinetic energy and ambient energy to store electrical charges to release on impact.
Name: Luca Fernandez
Race: Nephilim
Aliases: None
Class: Angel of Death
Passives Abilities
Soul Persistence
Additional Stats on Player Kill
Abilities
Summon Nightmare 1-1000
Level:6 of 999
Unassigned Stat Points: 0
Current Experience: 39 -85
STR: 23>24 INT: 16>20 AGI: 22>30
WIS: 14>18 LCK: 12 >14 PHY: 2
END: 22>23 PER:15>17
SOL: $12260*>17096
Chapter 25: What Remains
Tatiana’s body turned to ash and blew away on the wind, as soon as Luca put her down. 2Face’s body was nowhere to be seen, likely already absorbed by the dungeon. I didn’t want to kill her, but I don’t need another enemy running around right now. The boost to my speed her death gave me, and the sword, could be the difference between life and death, if not today, then eventually. As he turned and walked towards the ability shop, his steps making the same ones she had just taken, Luca couldn’t help but shake his head in disappointment.
He knew that Tatiana and 2Face wouldn’t be the only people he would kill, only the first and that many more would follow. Luca made a vow to himself there and then that so long as he had a choice if it logically made sense, he wouldn’t kill. He had no qualms about it, and was otherwise unaffected.
Strangely enough, the forest felt welcoming rather than forbidding as he walked through it alone. Though the canopy above his head still rustled with the sounds of monsters milling about, they knew well enough to leave the strange human with the dark aura alone. It felt… right to Luca to be rightfully feared and left alone. Power itself was a good deterrent, and he would gather enough of it to himself that nothing again would ever threaten him.
Passing through a nearby clearing, Luca saw signs of the Orc Horde Tatiana had spoken of, but judging by the look of the rampaging footprints in the dirt, they had cleared out quickly in a panic. Probably when my Nightmare was set loose. Maybe when I’m done here, I’ll chase them down, he admitted, smiling to himself, hoping that next time he could see it in action, rather than watch the memory of it through the Obsidian Orb.
The ability shop was less than a half-mile away, and with his boosted speed and high endurance, Luca was easily able to cut into his travel time and arrived within minutes at the base of a large white oak tree. The tree itself wasn’t tall by any means, maybe 20 feet at a max, but what separated it from the other trees of the forest was that it was almost as wide as it was tall.
Though the white tree wasn’t dead, it was apparent to Luca it was at the end of its lifespan as only a few leaves could be seen sprouting from withered branches. As Luca approached, he saw a black electrical cord plugged into the base of the tree, leading to what appeared to be a vending machine. The closer Luca got, the easier it became to read the letters on the machine, letters that read "Ability Kiosk." He had arrived at the shop, though it was not quite what he expected.
Notification: "Welcome to the Ability Shop" – Current Location – The Phoenix Refuge, The White Oak’s Haunt
Current Spending Balance – Sol: 17131
Please Note - Each ability after it has been purchased doubles in price. This effect is cumulative and does not reset.
Current Ability List
* V – Lesser Fireball (8000 Sol)
* IV – Ice Bolt (6000 Sol)
* III – Corpse Golem (24000)
* VI – Healing Light (8600)
* X – Defend (10000)
* III - Burning Fist (10200)
* II – Lesser Purge (2000)
* XII – Summon Skeletons (30000)
* III – Redundant Organs (10000)
* VII – Lightning Curtain (28000)
After he scanned the list, Luca was disappointed to see that what was offered was, for the most part, outside the range of what he could purchase. I guess being one of the first people to hit up an ability shop can make all the difference, though I’m surprised that more abilities haven’t been bought. It makes sense, though, hard to get those kinds of points if most things can kill you so easily.
Luca had made a decision to prioritize his own survival, and judging by the fact that only two other people had bought the ability, it seemed the decision was not a popular one, but he didn’t care, it was his life, and he had no intention of squandering it. Luca quickly selected Redundant Organs from the list and double-clicked the screen with his finger.
Instantly, Luca felt a pain in his chest as veins split and redirected as alternate hearts and other internal organs grew, spreading themselves out across his body, making it that much more difficult for anyone to land a critical hit on him. The last thing Luca wanted was for a lucky shot to his heart to end his journey to power.
Notification: Upgrade Purchased "Redundant Organs"
Details: With this upgrade purchased, all of the player's organs have doubled and been hidden randomly throughout the body. These organs are stored in a pocket dimension separate from the body, but in the event of a catastrophic injury will replace the harmed primary organ. This may only be used once. To replace redundant organs, the player must again purchase the upgrade.
The upgrade cost is frozen for the player at the price of their opt-in.
Luca frowned, reading the prompt, but overall it was still the right decision for what he would have purchased. With his ability to consume souls, abilities would come sooner or later. All he needed to do was stay alive in the meantime.
He quickly selected the second ability he would purchase for himself, Lesser Purge, and with that the majority of his Sol was spent, and with what remained, he would save for another time. Even thinking of all the money he had just spent made him inwardly cringe, but there was nothing he could do about it. Saving resources for later when they needed to be used now didn’t help anymore, and it certainly wouldn’t help him if he wound up dead on top of a pile of Sol for someone else to plunder.
Notification: Ability Purchased – Lesser Purge
Details: This ability is an endurance stat check. The check is equal to 50% of the caster's endurance stat. If the target of the ability has an endurance of less than 50% of the user, they are killed instantly.
With his preparations done. Luca did the unthinkable. He sat down and rested, waiting for whoever was coming to kill him. Be it Sorlasan, Dominic, the Gemini Twins, Garen. It didn’t matter. Luca would kill them all.
Chapter 26: The Emergent
The wait didn’t take long as soon Luca could hear the sound of Mother’s voice echoing from deep within the treeline. Luca stood up and tried to see who he was talking to, but with the trees in the way, he had no way of knowing. It was interesting to know though that Mother hadn’t listened to Tatiana’s orders, or rather had another set of orders superseding hers because Luca had fully expected to run into the man and kill him at the ability shop.
As the sounds of Mother’s voice drew closer, Luca thought he could make out
the sounds of the Gemini Twins and Kevin. Though when they turned the corner and started heading down the dirt path straight towards him, Luca had a moment of shock as he saw Dominic traveling alongside them, and he had a moment of indecision and doubt in the path he had taken. Luca had truly respected and admired Dominic, seeing the devil-man as both a father and brother figure.
With nothing to do, but to do it, and no way out but through, Luca decided brazen was the way to go. Looking directly ahead, he stared at Mother, identifying him as the target of his new ability. With an endurance stat of 23, Luca had doubts the man would be able to beat the stat check and escape death. It was basically a cheat, but at this point, Luca had no intention in fighting fair.
"Lesser Purge," Luca muttered to himself, keeping his eyes fixated on Mother the whole time, watching with grim satisfaction as the man clutched his chest and collapsed dead on the ground.
Notification: Player Killed – Mother
Details: You have killed the player known as Mother. A healer serving the dual leadership of the Chaos and Legends Guild. By killing this player with a status check, you gain a very minuscule portion of his current stats and no sol.
This player cannot be resurrected.
The stat gain is as follows, X0 points to Strength, X0 points to Agility, X2 points to Intelligence, X0 points to Luck, X0 points to Endurance, X3 points to Wisdom and X1 points to Perception.
You have gained the ability "Jailer."
No experience is gained.
No sol is awarded.
Luca was not so ignorant to the satisfaction he felt watching the four remaining members of the group disperse, looking for what they thought was a hidden ambush. Luca called out to them, waving them over, "Hey guys, it’s good to see you. Sorry about all the bother with Mother, just testing out one of my new abilities." He had a good laugh seeing the four of them get enraged as they came out him.
"You don’t know what you’re doing!" screamed Dominic as he rapidly shifted into his demonic form. The waves of power Luca had once felt radiating off the man felt far more subdued and less impressive. The real power here was him.
"Tell me, Dominic," laughed Luca as he brandished his new Spark Sword, watching as the Gemini Twins’ eyes narrowed in hate, recognizing the blade. "True or false, all of you work for Sorlasan and have been using the power of your guilds to farm food for that leech."
Dominic’s eyes dropped shamefully for a second, and though Luca believed the shame he saw, it was not enough to get him to drop his guard as Keira lunged in at him with her knives. With his superior movement speed however, Luca had no trouble dodging the blows, that is until Layla started to fire arrows in his direction, and though the first narrowly missed, Luca knew they would not continue to do so.
Before Luca could respond, Kevin pressed the attack against him in a bullrush hoping to overwhelm Luca and let the other members of the party kill him once they were able to impede his movements. A green circle appeared under Luca as Layla tried to summon roots to bind him in place, but his strength had increased far too much for something like that to stop him.
Wanting to trim down the battlefield, Luca looked at Kevin and activated "Lesser Purge" with a low mutter. When nothing happened, Luca wasn’t surprised. He had fully expected the dwarf to have a high endurance, but as for the elves, Luca was not as sure. He turned first to Layla, annoyed at her continued spells that were trying to trip up his feet and repeated the words, "Lesser Purge". He was happily surprised when he saw her fall over dead. He repeated the spell one last time and was just as shocked when Keira remained untouched by the attack. He had actually assumed both of the twins would have similar stat outlooks.
"It’s just going to be the three of us now, I hope you don’t mind," Luca yelled as he laughed, dodging the onslaught of Keira’s knives and the swinging war-hammer of the dwarf. In the distance, Luca saw Dominic channeling a spell of iron daggers that appeared in the air like a hail of rain, all ready and primed to descend on him.
"Hail of Blades," Dominic shouted as the blades came for Luca, but Luca was not one to let a good crisis go to waste and lunged forward to Kevin, grabbing ahold of the retreating dwarf. His strength eclipsed that of the dwarf, and as the blades descended, Luca felt a faint sensation of pain and unpleasantness as most of the iron weapons bounced harmlessly off of his skin, but as for Kevin, though the dwarf activated his own ability, it was too late.
If there was one thing Luca had learned from watching the dwarf when they went through the streets it was that the ability Kevin had was not without shortcomings, one of which was that the skin underneath could still be damaged. Luca took advantage of that fact to slam the base of his pommel into the side of the dwarf’s head in a savage bash attack, stunning the dwarf long enough for Luca to follow up with a forward thrust as the blade cleaved clean through the dwarf's open mouth, slicing his skull into two parts.
Howling with rage, Keira came at him, her daggers a whirlwind, but for Luca and the monster he had become, he was too far beyond her to worry and was able to effortlessly continue to evade her daggers while half-heartedly counter-attacking with the Spark Sword.
"Why did you come here, Dominic," Luca asked the devil-man, right before he blocked one of Keira’s daggers with the Spark Sword, unleashing the stored charges in the Spark Sword as a torrent of electrical energy poured into the woman, causing her to collapse on the ground in a convulsing heap. Luca advanced, ready to finish her off, but Dominic sprang into action, seeking to intervene.
"Not today, Dominic, you’re not fast enough," Luca commented as he looked at the devil-man before casting the spell he had gained from Mother, unnecessary at this point, but it was as good a time as any to test it out. "Jailer."
All around Dominic rocks jutted up through the air, and though he howled in rage and began attacking at the rocks, he would not make it in time, and Luca, knowing his time was short, ran to Keira’s side and with an ungraceful moment of malevolent force, brought his boot down on her skull, killing her instantly.
"I’ll ask again, Dominic," said Luca as he waved the rock formation aside, dismissing the ability. "Why are you here? I had thought better of you than that. A servant of Sorlasan, how could you betray everyone like that?"
The devil-man growled in feral response as he jumped forward, tearing at Luca’s body, and unlike the blows of the other guild leaders, the devil-man’s claws hurt, leaving bloody grooves of twisted metal where they had torn into Luca’s flesh.
"I came for your life, kid," the devil-man growled as he attacked in frenzied swipes one after another. “I knew you were a marlin as soon as I heard about you, as soon as the kids brought me a report about you. Another shadow blessed, I knew it would be my chance at gaining another dark ability that would set me up as a god in this place. All you had to do was your part and die at my hands."
Luca laughed at the man’s anger. "Sorry to disappoint, it seems I’ve gotten quite a bit stronger since the last time you and I talked. How does Sorlasan feel about you trying to poach from him?” Luca mocked, hoping to further enrage the man and get him off balance.
Dominic started to laugh. "Don’t pretend to even think you know anything about Sorlasan. That monster took from me far more than you’d ever know. The Prime Guild Halls, and my original Guild brothers. The real heroes, the ones who cared. He killed them all. You’ve yet to see the farms. Call yourself lucky in that. Vast trenches were he keeps the humans he’s captured, slowly feeding them kills from monsters and when they reach level 10. He harvests them.
“Why?” Luca asked, glaring at the man, ready to kill him in a moment. “Why would he do that? Why does the dungeon allow it?”
Dominic signed. “You still don’t get it. The only way the elves can get stronger is by killing people. They have a level cap on them and experience for the rest of us goes up exponentially after level 10. Why the dungeon allows it? I’m not sure. But something is coming, something big. The elves are just refugees. The dungeon isn’t some
game to be conquered. It’s preparation for something else.”
Luca heard him and the words sounded true, but no amount of answers would forgive Dominic’s betrayal. “Do you regret any of it?” Dominic looked away and didn’t’ answer.
With a sigh, Luca knew that Dominic was trying to use the moment to craft a means of escape or attack. I can’t have that. Luca rushed forward, carrying in his hand one of Keira’s daggers and used it to cut open like a spear through Dominic’s chest wall before following up with a punch that pulverized the devil-man’s heart.
But Luca was not stupid either, and he had never thought Dominic was as well, and not wanting to be caught by surprise, Luca followed up the devastating attack with multiple thrusts of the Spark Sword until finally, it gained a charge he could release, and when he did, Luca watched as Dominic’s body seemed to boil and explode from the internal pressure. It might have been overkill, but Luca had no intention of waiting around to find out if Dominic also had Redundant Organs.
With the entire group dead, Luca sat down exhausted as he waited for the barrage of notifications to hit. Whatever was to come next could wait until after he caught his bearings and could rest.
Epilogue
