Devastator

by Jason Cordova

  He watched, pleased, as the lasers struck home. One of the Moderators, struck by eight of the dozens of bolts Gargoyle had showered down on them a second before, did a back flip as the force of the bolts hit him. Two others were immediately fried as well, their bodies depixelating quickly as the energy beams did their job. He slowly drifted down to the ground as gravity took hold once more, wondering why the laser code was only a one-shot deal. He made a mental note to rewrite it before he downloaded it again.

  “I’m going to have to remember that one. I can destroy anything with that code,” he whispered.

  He jerked back the moment his feet touched the ground as a fireball the size of his head sizzled past, scorching his hair but otherwise not harming him. An attractive female Mod, wearing fur-lined bikini armor and little else, stood slightly behind a large boulder. He rolled quickly to his left and popped back to his feet the instant he was safe behind a large tree.

  He activated a third code and felt his body become lighter, quicker, and almost invisible. He erupted from the protective cover the massive tree offered and ran toward the girl in the “armor.” She wasn’t looking in his direction, but at his previous location. He moved quickly, and the girl only got out a gasp as his arm wrapped around her neck. She reached up to slap him off her, but he managed to roll his head to one side to avoid the blow. He grabbed her hair with his free hand and twisted violently. The girl’s gasp was cut short as he broke her virtual neck. He dropped her to the ground, where she depixelated as fast as he’d dropped her. The Moderator was eliminated from the game.

  One more, he thought as he knelt behind the tree the female Moderator had been using as cover. The short, muscular man…Where did he disappear to? Gargoyle glanced around but the man was either invisible or very good at hiding. He shook his head and decided he didn’t have time for petty games. He brought up another code and thought for a moment, undecided, before mentally splicing it with another. He looked over the lines in a hurry and nodded as he saw everything check out. This, he thought, is going to be the very definition of interesting.

  He activated the new code and threw it into the air as he ducked. He quickly launched another program and felt the protective shimmer of a blast shield descend upon him as the air around him caught fire. The winds flowing through the trees around him burst into long streams of solid flame as the coding used them for fuel.

  The code he’d initially brought up was a simple fireball code, which he then spliced with a reverse gravity code, once designed to make the user lighter than a feather as they jumped. This prohibited the usual forces of nature from holding a player down to earth, and allowed them to remain in the air longer during a jump. Separately they were very good codes, if a bit outdated by his standards. Gargoyle decided to take it one step further.

  The explosive wave of a fireball code was pretty impressive, if restricted by the air around it. Fire fed off of fuel, but if there wasn’t enough force behind the initial explosion, the flames fizzled out after a bit. Most tended to have limited range this way. It prevented a gamer from harming their teammates, or anything else that might be in the area.

  Combining the fireball with the reverse gravity code, though, made the explosion expand more rapidly than previously thought possible. The wave, a flaming scythe hotter than the sun, cut through the entire forest around him, a few hundred feet in every direction. The whirling maelstrom of heat mowed down everything it touched. Tree, rock, animal, it mattered not. The lack of any force resisting the fireball’s explosion, due to the reverse gravity code imbedded within, allowed the explosion to be many times more powerful than a normal fireball; it was akin to the concussion wave of a nuclear explosion.

  Gargoyle looked around as the protective code dissipated. He whistled appreciatively. The forest was just gone, with nothing but a few broken and burnt branches lying about. If not for the blackened stumps of the once-great firs and pine trees, he’d never have guessed there had been a massive forest here moments before.

  “Where are you,” he muttered as he searched for any sign of the final Moderator. It was possible, but highly unlikely, that the man had managed to evade him, he thought as he walked toward where the lone woman had fallen. He’s wiped out. Just like she was, he decided as he found no trace of the woman’s body.

  “Is that the best you can do?” he screamed to the sky. Was humanity listening? Was anybody listening? “Is that it? This is your best, your brightest? I expected much better from you! Who among you are truly worthy to follow the Path?”

  No immediate answer was forthcoming.

  * * *

  Loki had sworn he’d find them when they needed him for the fight against Gargoyle, so Tori had her team leave the area once they confirmed Odin was dead. Shane in particular had been reluctant to leave the Trickster God behind, especially since he wasn’t known for keeping his promises. After Michael had reminded them it’d been Odin who was called “Oath Breaker” and not Loki, Shane had finally agreed.

  “How do you know so much about Norse mythology, anyway?” Tori asked him as they moved through the rugged foothill of the mountain range. The sound of the Midgard Serpent was still growing louder behind them, but for the moment Tori figured they were safe. She reasoned she and the serpent were on the same side, so perhaps it wasn’t going to come for her.

  “I told you I was more into fantasy than science fiction,” he reminded her. “It’s why I was wondering why you picked me for Ganymede. I can game without my brother, you know.”

  Tori suddenly stopped as she spotted Robert running toward her, the squat little dwarf’s legs carrying him faster than she’d have ever given him credit for. She waved to him, wondering briefly where Samantha’s team had ended up. Robert didn’t usually travel alone, mainly due to his lack of codes. He preferred to keep true to his dwarf personae, which abhorred “magic.” His massive war hammer was nowhere to be seen. That’s odd, Tori thought.

  “Robert!” Tori called out. “Where’s the rest of your team? You get lost or something?”

  The dwarf stopped a few meters in front of them, panting as he tried to catch his breath. The man looked fearfully over his shoulder before he managed to pull his body up straight to his full four-foot height. His eyes were wide with fright, and his beard was filled with twigs and pine needles. It appeared to Tori he’d run a very long distance in a short amount of time, something that didn’t come naturally to someone with short legs.

  “Gargoyle!” He managed to spit out between gasps with a wave of his hand toward where he’d come from. He looked over Tori’s shoulder, and his eyes widened further. He pointed behind her, a panicky look on his face. “Snake!”

  She swore and turned around quickly. Sure enough, the Midgard Serpent appeared to be following them. She’d hoped the giant beast would go elsewhere and bother the tournament gamers. Her luck appeared to be where it usually stood, somewhere between “sucky” and “horrible.” She made a mental note to complain to the game designers that even Chaos needs a break once in a while.

  The Midgard Serpent would eliminate them all, she knew. She was also aware that Gargoyle would do the same. It was certain doom either way, she rationalized. She had a decision to make, though. She looked at the others on her team.

  “If Loki arrives, point him in whatever direction I head off to,” she told Shane. Her friend stared dumbly at her for a moment before he spoke.

  “I doubt he’s going to show…”

  “Can you hold off the snake?” she asked the rest of her team. The group stared at her for a second before Michael nodded firmly. His brother followed his lead, then Shane and Stacey. “Good. Give me as much time as you guys can. Robert, can you take me back to where Gargoyle is?”

  “Go back?”

  “Of course,” she replied. “What else can we do at this point? Fight until we die or drop.”

  “Savage. Well, it won’t be too hard,” he stated with a weary shrug, his breath still coming in short gasps as he looked back from wh
ence he came. A large cloud of dust and debris was rising into the air in the nearby distance. He waved an arm haphazardly toward the direction of the dust. “Just look for the massive scorched forest, and the crazy son of a bitch standing in the middle of it. He’ll be the one laughing.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 16

  Tori knew she was in a race against time, but she didn’t care. They had one chance to stop Gargoyle before he disappeared again, off to do whatever it was psychotic terrorists did during their downtime. Every step she took as she approached where Robert had pointed seemed to drag, and every breath seemed agonizingly slow and painful. The forest around her seemed to crawl, and she wondered if the NID was hitting some lag in the servers. She’d never seen anything move at such a glacial pace before.

  It was adrenaline, she realized belatedly. Her mind was working overtime as she traversed through Hel, and The Warp itself, struggling to keep up with the visual imagery she was seeing and processing. Her brain, she figured as she continued to sprint through the partially destroyed forest, was pumping endorphins and red blood cells into her system so she could “keep up” with the physical exertion she thought she was putting out.

  While her consciousness focused on her brain activity, the active mind remained in an “alpha” state of spatial awareness to her surroundings. She was in this alpha state—a heightened cognizance her brain remained in as she worked through the problems in her head—which saved her from the surprise attack and elimination.

  She instinctively rolled and found herself sprinting at top speed before she even realized why she’d changed course and position in the first place. Behind her a tree cracked in half with a tremendous boom! as the massive bolt of lightning narrowly missed cleaving her in two. Her eyes flickered around, searching for the threat, before she spotted a familiar man hovering a few feet off the ground near the edge of the clearing. His eyes were calm and deadly, and his clothing was immaculate. Tori slowed down and waited, her body tense as she watched the man.

  Gargoyle was dressed in the traditional Viking manner, which meant catering to every stereotype ever slapped onto the seafaring people. His helm featured two massive horns curling out from either side, and a massive cloak was draped across his shoulders. His armor was leather with brass greaves, and everything was lined with grey fur. It is a pretty awesome look, she decided.

  “You missed,” she called out as she moved slowly to her right, his left. “That lightning bolt was slower than I’m used to.”

  “I wasn’t aiming for you,” he replied with a shrug. He pulled his thick gloves off and blew on his fingers. “I’d like a brief parley before I wipe your character from existence.”

  “What, so now you’re a pirate?” she asked. He looked at her a moment, a flicker of confusion on his face, before he chuckled.

  “No, though it would’ve been fun,” he replied. He slipped his gloves back on and flexed his fingers before he continued. “I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

  “You’re just going to try and eliminate me anyway,” she replied. “Why bother with the twenty questions?”

  “You’re very much in step with the Path,” he stated. “You’re the first I’ve found to be so far along it. How is this possible?”

  “Huh?” she gave him a confused look. “What does that mean?”

  He clucked his tongue and sighed. “Never mind. I had hoped for a better answer from you.”

  “You’re a sad, strange little man,” she said and twirled her staff around. The small gem atop it began to glow. “Any last words?”

  “Actions speak louder than words,” he replied and unexpectedly charged. He slammed the heel of his hand into her sternum. Tori, caught off-guard by the speed of the attack, flew backward twenty feet before she crashed into one of the few trees still standing. Her back cracked against the trunk, and she dropped to a knee, stunned by both the blow and the quickness of the attack. She’d never seen anyone within The Warp move so fast. She doubted that Gavrie could’ve moved as quickly as Gargoyle did. This realization disturbed her.

  She glanced up and dove nimbly to her right, as another lightning bolt crackled past her. It struck the tree, which exploded in a shower of pine needles, tree sap, and bark. Tori threw up a force field around herself and hunkered down. The code was an ancient one, thus limited, but was good enough for her immediate purposes. While she couldn’t move, she was fairly impervious to most forms of attacks. However, it also kept her from counterattacking. Another lightning bolt ricocheted off of her shield and into the sky, disappearing into the gray clouds. She sighed in relief. The shield had held, and well.

  Gargoyle stared at her, slightly confused for a moment before he grinned in understanding. He lowered his guard slightly and approached. He rolled his neck to loosen the muscles as he drew closer.

  “Nice code,” he complimented her. She grunted, curious as to what the man was up to. He has to know I can’t be hurt by anything as long as this shield is up, Tori thought as she watched him closely. Doesn’t he?

  “It’s an old one,” Tori said as she stood upright. The shield shimmered slightly but held, which she’d expected. “You’re not getting through, so you might as well answer a question for me.”

  “Am I the reason the Nexus has remained open?” He asked and laughed at her surprised expression. “Of course I am. How did I do it? Well, that’s something you’re going to have to figure out for yourself.”

  “But–” she started to say.

  “Talk is booooooo-ring!” he sang out and charged her. Tori watched him, dumbfounded. Surely, he doesn’t think he can get through the shield, Tori wondered. She waited expectantly for the man to bounce off.

  He broke through it with ease, catching her by complete surprise. It dawned on her that he knew what code she’d thrown up, and knew the only way to get inside her defenses was to turn off all codes. This way the field wouldn’t block him from getting in close. I’m such an idiot! she realized.

  She managed to block the first palm strike with her staff, deflecting the strength of the blow upward just past her head as she slipped a quick blow in to his stomach. He slowed slightly under the impact of the staff and she pressed her attack, lashing out with vicious kicks and swings with her weapon at his unprotected knees. He danced backward away from her strikes and regained his balance, then he jumped into the air and kicked at Tori’s head.

  His hobnailed boot connected solidly with her chin. This threw the teen backward, lifting her off the ground. She felt her chin split open and knew she’d been seriously hurt. His speed was more than equal to her own, and his strength and size overmatched her. It wasn’t going to be a fair fight, she realized. Her blood started pumping as she realized just how overmatched she was. Anger and rage coursed through her veins. She quickly wiped away the bloody smear on her chin and shook off the lingering effects of the kick.

  “If you’re ever in a fair fight, you screwed up somewhere,” she recalled Lieutenant Massa telling her one time during her morning run. She could feel the blood trickling down her chin and onto her exposed throat. She wiped it away and grinned.

  Gargoyle’s follow-up punch missed Tori by centimeters as she dodged. She countered with a swift strike to his inner elbow with her staff. He scowled and brought a hard, downward strike with his elbow against her extended arm. She blocked it and twisted the staff around, capturing his arm in the process. She forced it further and she heard a strange snapping sound. He howled in fury as his elbow bent at an unnatural angle. The joint swelled up immediately. Tori jumped back and wiped again at her chin. The bleeding hadn’t yet stopped and appeared to be getting worse.

  He looked at her angrily, as he clutched his arm to his chest, gritting his teeth as he tried to force the elbow back into place. She shook her head and winced as he let out a screech of pain when his elbow popped back with a sickening sound. He flexed his hand, testing the strength of it, before he shifted his gaze back at her. The look on his face was one of pure, na
ked malice.

  “That hurt,” he said through ground teeth. She opened her mouth to apologize, but then shut it quickly. She had no reason to apologize for defending herself. He eyed her carefully as he shook his arm, testing the flexibility of the elbow. “I cannot fail. You will not stop this.”

  “Oh, you’ll fail,” she corrected him. “I will stop you.” She powered up every code in her inventory in preparation for his next attack, as the force field protecting her dropped.

  “Let’s agree to disagree,” he said, and thrust his hands out in front of him. Tori, familiar with most gamer’s codes as well as being prepared, waved her hands in a figure-eight pattern with her staff as two scythe-shaped charges, glowing blue, flew from each of his hands. She activated her own wall code, and the scythe-shaped charge exploded harmlessly against the invisible barrier before her. The energy of his attack was then absorbed into the wall and funneled into her own power supply. Good enough, she thought as she watched her power levels rise.

  She whirled and lifted her foot into the air, ready to drop an overhead axe kick onto the wall. She activated the second part of the expansive code and dropped the heel of her foot down. The wall shattered and the absorbed power of his code, doubled in strength now thanks to the absorption, flew back out and directly at Gargoyle in two distinct blasts.

  The terrorist yelped in surprise and managed to block one of the energy charges, but the other slipped through his defense and caught his upper right arm. The kinetic energy behind the charge threw him through the air, depositing him ungracefully next to a hollowed out, blackened tree stump. He tried to pick himself up off the ground quickly but saw, to his dismay, that his power levels were extremely low.