Seventh Realm Part 1: A LitRPG Fantasy series (The Ten Realms Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

  Erik gritted his teeth, trying to maintain the shell for the meager cover it offered. He saw and felt the explosions around him, smacking his barrier and sending him and Gilly back and forth through the sky as her strong wings fought for control.

  Each member was bounced around like a boat upon an ocean of chaos.

  He saw a barrier fail and a team member drop toward the ground.

  Erik grunted under the pressure of holding up the shell. His left hand flared with power, drawing the shell together as a spell formation appeared on his right hand. “Healing dagger!”

  The dagger of green glass weaved between the team members, pouring their mana out in their defenses. Their barriers shuddered against impacts and nearby explosions.

  The healing dagger struck the falling member, Yang Zan.

  Green healing power drove through his body, forcing him to recover. With a yell of pain mixed with determination, Yang Zan reached out, grabbing onto the mana around him and slowing his descent until he landed on a roof, panting.

  “They’re coming!”

  Erik sensed the mana boiling off each attacker. He clapped his hands together; the shell came apart. He pushed his hands forward, and the sections shot into the sky, smacking into the advancing enemy.

  Metal shards wrestled from this control, smashing into the other debris. The pitted iron wall opened, revealing a woman covered in glowing tattoos.

  Railguns fired. Streams of different spell-enhanced rounds struck her and her riders in an extended V, tearing apart the split metal wall and striking the force’s mana barriers.

  Erik scanned the area, looking for a place with terrain to help them.

  The woman wasn’t without her tricks. With a yell, she threw her scarred metal shield. It tore apart into twisted metal birds that rushed forward into Erik and his teams.

  Flames appeared around Erik. The strain on his mana channels was like tensing his entire body under weight as they burst into blue flamed beasts. Using his flame technique, they crashed with the metal birds in a flash of sparks and melted metal.

  “Team One, focus on the woman. Team Four, the man! Watch the guards!” Erik ordered.

  “Lightning!” Storbon yelled.

  The woman’s gathered power and lightning split the heavens, dashing between the metal shards, turning into a drill of white that shot outward.

  She lifted her head, smirking down at them.

  Erik’s eyes widened as the lightning splashed outward between the metal among his people. Sang, Lucinda, Tian Cui, and Deni fell from the sky.

  Erik reached up and called the lightning toward his hand. His skin turned translucent as he grunted with the power he had consumed. Burn marks appeared on his skin as the woman’s eyes widened.

  Erik redirected the lightning upwards.

  The second group, led by the man in his physical domain of mana, pushed forward. Their attacks met the lightning head-on, forced backward as they split the tree-trunk of lightning a dozen meters tall.

  An off spark of the lightning struck the ground, exploding close to Yang Zan and peppering him with stones.

  Yao Meng’s mount was killed as he leapt free of the body, shooting as he fell toward the ground.

  Gilly turned with Erik’s thoughts as he rapid-cast. “Ranged heal! Healing dagger! Yang Zan!”

  The four falling toward the ground were covered in a green haze as the heals took effect. Four green glass daggers ignored their armor, injecting healing power into their bodies.

  “I saw a square to the northeast! Roska, we fight there!”

  “Sir!”

  Gilly breathed life into a water attack, consuming the enemy’s concentration as they grouped together under the rail-gun fire, dodging through the sky, slowing their descent.

  The special teams were withdrawing from the buildings to the northeast.

  “Team one! Pull back on my signal and use your spell scrolls! Ready! Now!”

  Erik pulled the rip tab for all the spell scrolls on his right. Dozens of spell scrolls burned, turning into gossamer formations brimming with power as they unleashed their attacks.

  Deal with that!

  Erik spared a glance in the direction Rugrat had taken. Attacks sparked in the air above the park.

  Erik checked on the wounded. Yang Zan jumped, holding his beast storage crate. Imani grabbed his hand in mid air, pulling him up behind her as they raced to the open square.

  Erik aimed and fired on the group in the sky. Two guards had been killed in the spell and rail gun onslaught.

  Another dropped from a well-placed shot.

  Seventeen more and their leaders to go.

  “Team Four, prepare to fall back!” Erik said as the spells started to dissipate.

  Attacks rained down through the spell scrolls.

  “Use them!” Erik yelled.

  He tore his remaining spell scrolls.

  Four more guards died, and the groups had to fight for their lives.

  “Go!” Erik ordered. He drew upon the power of the elements. Silver, yellow, and red flecks of light circulated in his eyes as he seemed to grow. A faint silver sheen appeared on his skin as his veins glowed like red magma and his skin took on the appearance of stone. His senses expanded as he let out a breath in his helmet and smacked the enhancing spell formation in his chest, activating it.

  He felt as if the world was under his domain. His power surged again, buffed by the city, his conquerors armor, and drawing upon the elements.

  He channeled his power into his railgun and fired on the group between the spells. Gilly pulled on a strap under her harness, activating her own armor.

  Erik cut down a guard lining up an attack. He depressed the trigger, firing at the golden tattooed man with a mana domain stretched around his body.

  The man’s guards used their domain to cover him.

  “You ant!” the golden man yelled, a blade of mana coming from the side.

  Gilly flapped a wing. A building to the side shifted like a wave of water. Stone separated from the building and clashed with the mana blade, stone raining down on the city below as she breathed water.

  “Reloading!” Erik dumped his magazine and grabbed another from his vest, smacking it into place.

  The pillar of water struck the green and silver tattooed woman. She scowled, stabbing her sword forward.

  Green and silver energies combined and struck the water pillar.

  Gilly dodged to the side and the silver and green energies passed under her wing, striking a building and twisting through it, cutting a hole from the roof through several stories and deep into the earth.

  “Think you can take us both?” the man’s voice boomed as his power surged, parting as a mana spear shot out.

  Erik yelled, mana swelling through his body as he flexed his muscles in connection with one another. Red, black, and yellow traced down his arms. The sounds of dragons and tigers filled the air as mana surged through his arm and Erik reached out his finger.

  A point of compressed power shot out from his finger. It tore through the sky, destroying the spear.

  The glowing man dodged to the side as a line of power shot past him. He frowned at Erik below. The spear shattered, but the residual power struck Erik. The woman hurled lightning at him.

  Erik reached out toward the lightning. It crashed into his hand and ran through his body. Erik laughed, his body drinking in the power, speeding up his recovery.

  The man and woman’s eyes widened, taking a half-step backward. Erik drew upon his own power. The sky became thick with static energy as he opened his left hand. The lightning’s power redoubled as it streamed out of his body, throwing the sun into shadow. It wasn’t aimed at the duo, but at the guards flanking around the left side.

  Pure lightning raged through their ranks, tearing up their covering barrier and striking three.

  Two were killed instantly. The third fell from his mount and smashed through a building.

  The golden man let out a “hmmpf.”

/>   The air turned into a weapon. It struck out against Erik, catching him unaware as the blast of force, like a cannonball, struck Erik and Gilly.

  Erik felt his armor break from the impact. He and Gilly were hurled backward, separating from one another. Erik smashed into the ground, skipping and crashing through the stone fountain in the middle of the square. He rolled to a stop.

  A barrier flashed above him.

  “Mana barrier!” Shimmering light grew from his hands. His helmet had come off at some point. He spat out blood, his cut-up face healing as he grunted to his feet. Gilly had landed on the side of a building. Flared to her full size, she dominated the four-story building.

  Her body shook with a roar. The building came apart. Stone shards flew over Yang Zan and the wounded.

  Erik stabbed a stack formation into the ground, protecting and healing the wounded at his back as he and those that could had their rifles out shooting.

  He followed the tracers and tide of stone to the Black Phoenix Clan.

  The Special teams lined out across the square from north to east using barriers of mana, stone, and what had been trader’s stalls as cover.

  The Black Phoenix Clan man and woman rushed toward the ground with their guards. The mana user released a mana bolt the size of a man.

  Erik yelled as he threw out his fist. Stone shifted and shattered around him, the elements running through his arm reflected in the fist and arm that rose from the square.

  Storbon fired at the mana blast, weakening it under enhanced rounds that wreathed it in smoke.

  Erik’s stone fist and the mana bolt clashed, annihilating one another as elemental energies and mana intermixed. They created a distorting light that burnt shadows into the square. The mana blast and fist came apart in an explosion of force, buffeting the forces in the air and tearing apart trader stalls and storefronts, exploding a cross-section of the living quarters above and stores below.

  Stone was carved away and cracked under the force.

  The team’s barriers left the ground around them unmarred.

  “Blank.” Roska’s spell made Erik shake his head, hurting.

  The beasts of the Black Phoenix Clan folded their wings and dropped suddenly.

  Their riders jumped free.

  “Kill the mounts!” Roska growled, mana distorting around her as her eyes shone with power.

  The team members shot the beasts. Roska’s spell kept them unresponsive as they dropped with tombstones above them.

  Lightning crackled from the pale-eyed woman. It split on Roska’s barrier.

  The woman dove and raced toward Erik. The Guards threw up barriers as they dropped toward the ground.

  The Special team’s weapons sparked across the barriers, breaking several.

  Someone was trying to reach Erik through his sound transmission device, but he ignored it.

  “Concentrate on the guards, Team Four!” Storbon yelled.

  Two fell from the sky, crashing into buildings and showing tombstones. The guards broke away, flying over the building.

  “Shoot that glowing fucker, Team Two!” Roska barked. The heat-dissipating blocks on the railguns popped up with each shot. They were shooting close to the limit of the weapons’ capabilities. They tore up the glowing man’s barrier, hitting him several times. He disappeared from view among the buildings.

  “Think we got the bastard!”

  “Incoming!” Storbon yelled.

  The woman crashed into the ground, having jumped from her mount. She sent out a stream of lighting into the teams. Erik was unaffected, but Xi was thrown backward, crashing against a storefront, a tombstone above his head.

  Erik flicked his railgun’s power output. He fired at her. She drew mana into a barrier.

  He aimed and fired controlled shots at her.

  She yelled, throwing lightning and mana back. Flames took the shape of beasts, crashing into the attacks, reducing their effect. The power of her attacks overwhelmed his resistances, cutting bloody lines along his arms.

  He kept on shooting and advancing. Driving her back, he unclipped his rifle and charged the woman. He switched to auto; his rounds ate through the stone she threw up and struck her barrier.

  His weapon clicked empty as he gathered his power. Fire exploded at his back as his speed skyrocketed. His skin darkened, turning a glossy black. Magma traced down his veins, while grey stone appeared along his knuckles. Lightning crackled across his body as the air shimmered with heat.

  Erik’s fist shattered the remaining rock, striking her barrier, blowing it apart. The sheer concussive force of his punch sent her flying backward,, and she struck another building.

  Attacks rained down from above. Erik raised his arm as the ground rose to protect him when the special teams opened fire. Their tracers cut into the guards as Erik punched upwards. The shell of stone turned into projectiles that exploded among the guards.

  The woman hit Erik in the side. Her skin had hardened and turned into a mix of black and grey color.

  “Pillar!” It erupted under his feet.

  Erik jumped backward, sensing a mana spear from the left. The golden man walked out of a street. His robes were in disarray and there was blood on his face, but his attacks were no weaker.

  “Explosion!”

  Erik’s fire spell threw him to the side and singed his clothes as the mana spear struck a building, tearing through it.

  “Pillar.”

  “Lightning strike!”

  The spells hit Erik in the back and threw him forward. The woman drew out a sword of lightning from the air. The air crackled as dust shot up as she charged Erik.

  Erik roared as the world seemed to slow. Using all of his reaction speed, he reached out.

  The woman coughed blood as her momentum stopped in an instant. She stared at Erik in horror. Lightning ran through his body as his hands clamped around her blade like a vice.

  A wave of force ran through the ground behind Erik, causing a building to crack in the distance.

  She stabbed out with her real sword. Green and silver swirled as mana spears appeared above Erik and stabbed down.

  He pushed back on the woman, sending her stumbling backward, but found his feet were stuck. He partially dislodged one foot as he raised his arm.

  Erik screamed as the mana spears stabbed into his arm and exploded, breaking him free of the ground and tossing him backward. He pushed to his feet, raising his armor plates to meet mana blade, his left sleeve flapping in the wind.

  Four mana blades struck Erik’s front, tearing up his armor.

  “Kill his guards!” the golden man said. He fired mana blasts at the teams, the guards pushing forward to clash with the teams head-on.

  Erik saw tombstones as he raised his arm. Lightning tore from his hand, striking the golden man. He was tossed backward, his barrier rippling and distorting, but not breaking.

  Erik ran forward, fire at his back speeding him up as the woman charged him.

  “Water’s might!” Her body became almost translucent. Throwing her hand forward, a spear of water grew in her hand, becoming larger as it cut through the air.

  Gilly let out a screech. Master, down!

  Erik saw what she wanted and threw himself down. A pillar of water passed over him, tearing apart the spear and striking the woman. She was pushed back, but remained largely unharmed.

  Erik smacked his hand on the ground. Throwing himself up, he landed on his feet. He felt the flush of energy welling up within him, ready to be called forth. He could kill them both, here, now. If he just detonated his mana core.

  If I fall, then Alva will.

  The golden man, stained with blood, grinned at him, standing.

  Erik was within his domain. Mana spears shot out of the ground and hit.

  “Shit!” Erik yelled as flames poured out from his body, turning into beasts that crashed into the mana spears, tearing them apart in mutual destruction.

  The golden man yelled in frustration, detonating the spears.


  The force threw Erik backward.

  “Lightning speed!” The woman, covered in lightning, shot around to Erik’s right side. She struck out.

  “Explosion!” Erik used the force to push himself out of her range just as her blow passed his head, close enough he could feel the wind through his hair.

  “Focused Heal!”

  Erik drew on the power of his body that he had been halting. Bone regrew down his arm. Muscle and tendon wrapped around it. Veins and fat snaked down as skin followed. Green veins shot through his elementally enhanced arm as he reached forward, his fingers clad in flesh as his hand covered her face. Green smoke poured from between the spaces in his hand, forcing its way into her mouth and nose.

  “Poison!” the man yelled, firing mana blasts at Erik.

  Erik dodged, driving his foot into the ground that pushed back on him, shooting him forward as he drove his feet into the ground. Flames were at his back as he veered toward the restaurant.

  Erik threw out potions and needles. His mana wrapped them up, stabbing them into his body as his power grew.

  He punched a guard in the side that was fighting Storbon, crushing his ribs and sending him flying away.

  “Spike!” Erik raised his hand. A spike of stone shot up through another guard. “Strike!” Lightning appeared in mid-air and hit another guard.

  The golden man prepared to attack, but he messed up the casting, coughing blood and staggering.

  The woman was coughing green smoke as she threw her head back and drank potions.

  Yao Meng kicked a guard back. Tian Cui’s blades cut through the back of his knee as Yao Meng strung and released an arrow, shooting the guard through his neck.

  Erik jumped. Stone rose to greet him as he bent his legs. Shattering the stone, he took off like a cannonball toward four mages that were attacking the restaurant.

  Erik grabbed one mage by the arm and punched him in the head. He dropped the corpse as two spells hit him.

  The hits made Erik cough blood, halting his momentum. He punched the ground. Two streams of rock rippled to the mages before magma exploded underneath them, burning through them.

  The woman threw out wild, aggressive attacks, hitting Erik with a blast of lightning and slamming him into a building, smashing him through several walls.