Path of the Slayer B3 30. Arden’s Return & Parade Crashers

I had another scrumptious meal with juicy and seared meat chunks skewered on sticks. They were called wyrm kebabs, and every flavorful bite filled my soul with pleasure.

Again, I couldn’t help but think I would one day take up cooking.

Once satisfied, I performed soul journey meditation for half a day, cutting my time window ever shorter. Yet, when I woke up out of meditation, I sensed I would arrive just in time anyway.

“Make sure to summon me for some real action or an actual back massage,” V grumbled.

“Will do.” I dismissed him.

Sabretooth rolled up next and bumped my hip with her overly large front tire. With a chuckle, I rubbed along her frame before dismissing her as well.

With Doomie remaining inside of me, that left Slaughter, Hellion, and Dominator out and about. The latter was the name of the silent spirit living in my bonded armor.

As I stood on the precipice of the shattered ramparts, I closed my eyes and took stock of the immense power coursing inside and outside of me.

It was almost too much to understand. The only comparison would be a Veteran in the low Level 100s. In fact, I was probably much stronger than those Veterans.

Perhaps I could even challenge an Epic Veteran in the Level 120s if I caught them off guard.

There was a chance, however small, that I could defeat Veteran Zez as I was now. As for Veteran Sharia, she was far outside of my reach still, but I would obviously pose enough of a threat that she would think twice.

Obviously, I had no plans to attack them. But they were the closest comparisons. 

These musings didn’t describe how intense all of this energy was to manage. If I moved too fast or too hard, I could throw myself like a bolt out of a railcannon by accident and plow through multiple obstacles nonstop.

This was probably the one time I was wary of having too much power.

“Don’t hold yourself back! Go all out!” Hellion urged, being the bad devil on my right.

Slaughter laughed and rattled while hovering over my left. Her presence enhanced pretty much everything cursed, bloody, and destructive around me.

Dominator enjoyed the boost while pulsating with the desire for blood and mayhem. All these personalities were also a lot to handle.

Shaking my head, I let out a sigh. “Huh. I’ve really gone deep on the evil route for power here. Hopefully, there won’t be too many misunderstandings.”

Crouching slightly, I activated a few powers, Path Magnetism and Path Lightning being chief among them. My armor responded with small aerodynamic panels lifting, shifting, and closing around my back, shoulders, greaves, and even gauntlets.

Then with a loud hum, I charged up my electromagnetism. The armor breathed through the vents, vacuuming air.

“Here it goes.”

I launched up and nearly plowed headfirst into the cavern ceiling.

For longer than I was embarrassed to admit aloud, I struggled with the power and controls of sustainable flight.

Slaughter and Hellion laughed and whooped, enjoying themselves, while I went through a crash course on how to be a supersonic missile without wrecking myself. I was somewhat successful.

***

An hour later, I found it fun that nothing could hit me as I flew far above the mountainous walls at Mach 3 speeds.

Automated cannon constructs on top of the massive castle mountain walls pointed up and tried to shoot me down. They were Rank 5 and deadly, but each cannon shot whooped through the air miles behind me the moment they fired.

Slaughter and Hellion kept hooping and hollering, especially the former. The demented avatar hovered close to my left shoulder no matter how fast I went. She kept juicing my power armor up, making it easier for me to fly with electromagnetic plasma propulsion.

Behind me, through the misty, cloudy, moon-heavy night, I traced a bright line of myriad magnetic colors. Countless many would see the colorful trail above the challenge floor, and I could only imagine what sort of impression I was leaving on everyone.

Nonetheless, my trip to the Central Diamond Castle ended up being a quick one. It helped that I learned to point myself in one direction and keep going with no change in flight maneuvers.

I wasn’t really a bird. I was a self-propelled bolt.

At least I had an easy target. The Central Diamond Castle stood impressively above the entire challenge floor.

Its walls were pristine and radiant with an actual diamond coating. The structures looked large enough to house titans, but as I drew closer, I noticed how everything was carved for actual folks to live in.

There were diamond-constructed communes with farms, marketplaces, noble districts, and everything one could expect in a mega city. The atmosphere surrounding the location was brighter and more jovial, as if none of the chaos outside brewed by cultists, undead, and death traps could affect the heart of the challenge floor.

Then I entered its direct airspace and made my presence more felt.

With a slight nudge, I had my doom avatar phase partially out of my back. Then Doomie extended her wings and enlarged them, making them grow far bigger than any pair of wings a six-foot man like me should have.

Still, I urged Doomie to flap them when needed, and she followed my instructions as I turned my feet toward the ground and reversed my thrust.

Every flap of Doomie’s wings was like ominous thunderclaps, almost like that of an immense dragon, sending waves of fear miles across the city.

Together, we cast a shadow on the main thoroughfare where I spotted a great celebration with confetti, streamers, banners, and thousands of attendees, mainly Pathwalkers with some Rankers among them.

The entire parade came to a stop as I slowed from Mach 3 to a graceful hover, which surprised even me.

I stopped midair for a moment with Doomie’s wings extended, holding for dramatic effect, before having Doomie submerged fully back into me. The wings slipped away, and I came down with a heavy slam on the sparkly thoroughfare in front of the parade.

Immediately, two dozen Veterans in the low Level 100s surrounded me. They wore glimmering armor, and their Domains were pressing down upon me, almost like Suppression.

Great Skill activated: Strength Main Confidence!

I shrugged off all of their Domains with ease.

The Veterans obviously felt that, half of them stumbling back in surprise. The half-giant in the front stuttered and tripped over his words while pointing a Rank 5 poleaxe at my face.

As Slaughter and Hellion laughed, driving the Veterans even madder, I reached forward and gently pushed aside the poleaxe with my left hand.

“I’m just here to check on a friend,” I said.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” the half-giant Veteran finally blurted.

By this point, the crowd was deathly silent and curious.

I gave them what they wanted. “I am Arden the Nomad, an adventuring Pathwalker sent on a Royal Quest by Dragon Princess Melody Eclipse. Now, where is Merlin?”

The way they stumbled into a retreat with extra perkiness meant they were well aware of who I was. I didn’t even have to use the crest.

Only one of them bothered to point back at the halted parade, which told me everything I needed to know. Merlin had won the tournament after all.

That gave me a warm and proud feeling, but it also made what would happen next more precarious. Oh, well. Might as well get to it, then.

With a quick lunge, I moved so fast I cracked the sound barrier with ease, alarming anyone who was listening too closely.

A blast of magnetic lightning and plasma halted me before I slammed into anything. All of that embarrassing crash-course learning I’d done an hour ago proved worth it.

I landed with a solid thunk on the middle float that had serpentine dragons – red, yellow, black – in the style of the Dragon Supremacy. It was furnished fancily enough for the tournament winner and his entourage to lounge about and accept all the praise they were due.

The warmth I felt increased as I came across my entire squad at the center of the celebration. They didn’t look so warmly back at me – except for Grimmy, who was the quickest to say something.

“SIR ARDEN THE NOMAD IS BACK!” she shrieked excitedly. “And you look even more badass!”

She darted forward before anyone could stop her and jumped onto me. With the expert control afforded to me by Master Warlock Sufficiency and other powers, Grimmy’s embrace left her completely unharmed.

Unfortunately, that invited the half-gob girl to scramble all over me until she ended up attached to my back. I imagined her examining Slaughter, with the wraith hovering close, rattling and laughing. Grimmy shimmied around on my back and laughed in return.

Everyone else relaxed after seeing that except for two specific Pathwalkers. Before the others could speak, I held up a hand, and they halted obediently. My focus turned toward Merlin and Syleth as they stood close to each other, hands clasped.

After examining them for half a minute, I came to a reasonable conclusion. “It’s too soon. You should wait until after the Embassy of Defilement.”

Syleth shrank into herself and nodded quickly.

Merlin flared up while dressed in expensive and fancy robes. He stepped ahead without noticing how Syleth withdrew back, their hands parting.

That proved my point even further, but I waited to hear what Merlin had to say. I also paid close attention to the surrounding onlookers – I imagined Thumper was doing the same while his Void Nodachi rested on his shoulder.

“Okay, I get it! You’re the big bad whatever!” Merlin shouted, green eyes shaking as he looked up at me. “But man! Come on! I’m living my best life here, and you’re literally crashing my parade!”

“All I’m suggesting is that you wait,” I replied calmly. “Why are you in a rush?”

“Because who knows what will happen when we reach the Embassy of Defilement? And aren’t you in a rush all the time?! We’ve been rushing ever since we met! And for the first time in my life, I feel like I’m on top of the world, and who knows when it’ll end!”

I considered my angles. There was the obvious choice of pushing him into a fight and winning overtly. But something about Merlin’s desperation held me.

This wasn’t a spur of the moment stupid decision we could fight over and have beers later to discuss. This was a deeply rooted problem showing up inside of Merlin.

His insecurities were inflating along with his status.

Obviously, this was not a situation where I could be delicate. But sometimes the shock treatment didn’t have to come from a fist.

Thus, my shaded gaze panned over to Syleth. The moment Merlin saw that, his Path Energy crackled with magic and spellcraft. No doubt his bonded armor was being summoned.

I did the only thing that would make him listen. I told the truth. “I want you to be my brother one day.”

Merlin stopped.

Thumper jerked out of his cool stance.

I kept going. “The same goes for Thumper. Calling you my friends doesn’t do justice to what you’ve done for me. But I can’t yet call you my brothers because we have to conduct a ceremony. But I want you to be. That’s why I’m interrupting. Not because I want to put you down. Not because I want to make you look weak or take away from your moment. It’s because I want to help you be the best man you can be, Merlin.”

“Syleth’s not a bad person. She hasn’t used her magic on me,” he said in a small voice.

“Syleth isn’t. But I don’t think Syleth knows what she wants exactly. She’s our junior, and she’s along for the ride. Am I wrong?” I looked toward the half-naga Charmer.

“No, you’re not,” she said with a sigh, coiling into herself. Other than Grimmy, the girls were already backing her, but Syleth didn’t retreat all the way. “I’m sorry Elder Merlin, but I’m not really serious about any of this. If I die, I die, but I’m just a girl having fun, y’know?”

Merlin looked from Syleth to me and then down at the platform under us. “Oh … it’s the academy all over again.”

“It’s not the academy all over again.” I waved at the nearest shining vista of a normal-sized castle on a hill made of radiant crystals. “You’re the winner of the Central Diamond Castle Tournament. You’re a genius wizard. And you’re debt free.”

“And you would’ve kicked my ass if we’d fought, wouldn’t you?” Merlin mumbled.

“Yeah, that was a given. But it would’ve been because I cared.”

The wizard snorted and shook his head. A sardonic smile appeared on his face along with something smart on his tongue. I didn’t quite hear it as an urgent notification arrived in my System Logs.

[Oh no! You have been designated as the primary target of a Nemesis! All allies that help you will only make the Nemesis stronger!]

Meanwhile, a thousand members of the crowd shifted out of their disguises. They became black-cloth men and women that I recognized right away – Assassins.

The one nearest to our float caught my attention with a wave.

“I tried to convince them, Sir Arden,” Dead-On said, “but the masters and mistresses over me won’t listen. Still, we’re just here for backup. It’s the Nemesis that’s leading this show.”

As my squad prepared themselves, I turned away and moved casually in the direction where the Nemesis Link originated. At the center of a white and shimmering square, Edwago stood shirtless, huffing and puffing madly, with drool oozing down his chin.

The surrounding folks noticed my attention and realized they were in the danger zone. They cleared out quickly as numerous guards tried to square up against the army of Assassins in one of the tensest situations the Central Diamond Castle probably ever seen.

I didn’t care much as I landed on the ground floor and strolled toward Edwago. When my friends asked if I needed help, I waved them back.

“Can I stay?” Grimmy asked, still clinging to my back.

“You can stay.” My powers swaddled her decently enough, especially Strength Main Confidence.

“What did I tell you, Arden the Nomad?” Edwago huffed. “What did I tell you back at the Auction House, boy?!”

His volume and words affected me not, but I answered him still.

“That the ones above us are bigger and meaner than me. That I will be stepped on. Yes, I remember. But I have a new response to that.” I rolled my shoulders and jerked my neck a little to crack it. “Let them try. I’ll take their entire leg and more.”

“WOOOOOOOO!” Edwago bellowed as he empowered himself with two Paths.

He didn’t have to say it for me to figure it out. I hadn’t known that before now, but it seemed obvious once he revealed himself fully as an enemy.

The Path I’d first faced already enhanced him with bullish power. Then he fed on my power like a parasite, his Path of the Nemesis giving him the umpteenth advantage.

He became a disgustingly lumpy monstrosity that was nearly twenty feet tall and so muscular his range of motion was reduced to whatever was directly in front of him.

The obvious response would be to circle around and fight on the flanks.

I did no such thing as I walked him down. I allowed him to rush me at supersonic speed, his body cracking the sound barrier with pure strength.

A massive fist barreled in my direction, and despite all of my growth, I knew if I took that punch it would cost me heavily. Grimmy would certainly die, and I couldn’t allow that.

She was my favorite junior.

So, I did the only thing that would work. With my Slayer Intent and some other powers, I dropped from 1152% to 652% and severed the Nemesis Link.

Most of the expense came from literally fighting a System Parameter that enabled Path of the Nemesis to be a parasite. Once that was cut, my Path Energy dwindled further as I kept the System from re-linking the parameter.

By the time I hit 467% Path Energy, I punched straight through Edwago’s fist and blasted apart his arm. When I hit 301% Path Energy, I entered the air with a jump.

I brought up a knee while dropping an elbow, smashing Edwago’s head in between, bursting it like a melon. His horns flew aside like darts, one of them embedding into the side of a normal-sized castle.

[Congratulations! You’ve slain Pathwalker Edwago, “One day, I’ll Be The Big Stepper,” Legendary Level 91 Path of the Bull and Level 100 Path of the Nemesis!]

My Path Energy ended up at 211% the moment Edwago died. Without him, the System had no reason to reinforce the Nemesis Link, freeing me fully.

I landed back down solidly, completely ignoring how much Path Energy I lost and how vulnerable that made me. Who cared? I just fought the System and a Nemesis on my own and won.

As I basked in my glory, thunderous claps and flashes of lightning came from above. The winds picked up, and a suddenly forming storm appeared over the parade with me under the eye of the weather phenomenon.

A fork of lightning blasted down behind me as I turned to look through a gap between the floats, catching Dead-On’s wide and fearful eyes. Seeing him and his Assassins reminded me of how quickly I could refill myself once I activated Hellion.

“What’s this? The meat has returned to feed the tiger further?! Well come on in and let us enjoy you!” Hellion roared gleefully.

Slaughter laughed and rattled and laughed some more. Dominator hummed with violent joy as he brought down a curtain of thunderous lightning and howling winds around me. The mutterings of cursed spirits became noticeable, too, as suddenly carved hell runes appeared in the surrounding floor.

“You might want to run,” I said to Dead-On, giving him and his Assassins a chance.

They took my offer right away, abandoning their duty and fleeing once more.

“Hey, Sir Arden the Nomad?” Grimmy called from over my shoulder, still on my back without a hair misplaced. I was doing a damn good job protecting her.

“You can just call me Elder Arden,” I told her.

“Oh, okay. Well. Didn’t Elder Thumper want to fight the Assassins?”

I nearly tripped over my own feet. “Crap. I forgot.”