Overpowered Wizard B2 Ch60: Controlled Darkness 3

Once Zarian finished with Sinfeast, there wasn’t much left of the avatar body and only a few scraps of divinity remained inside. Zarian left those there to send a message to the whole of Sinfeast that existed in God Land.

He let the Star System drag the torn apart, close-to-dead body from the void and back into reality. The body landed on the middle of the bridge, which remained standing despite all the damages the sunken citadel had suffered.

Zarian stood on top of the beaten avatar with his arms folded behind the small of his back, his head held straight. The deepest and blackest layers of void darkness draped his body.

Even Para had unfathomable darkness all over her body, an eternal drip of darkness made from the void. The cloak flapped from behind Zarian’s back in an ominous silence.

“I’m hungry,” Zarian said. “I am very, very hungry.”

Zarian looked up. “And the stars. They look tasty. Very, very tasty. I’m practically going to drool.”

“Will Para survive?” Naomi said, making a slow and casual approach. “I guess if she survives, things will be alright.”

Zarian looked down and frowned. He didn’t answer. Para didn’t answer. She continued fluttering with a silent and darkened presence.

Naomi smiled cheekily up at him, showing no fear. “Hm, funny, no response. Hey, how about this? Why don’t you turn that hunger toward something useful and eat me? Eh? Eh?”

Ezda made a squawking sound while still prostrating herself. She looked up, gaped at Naomi, then put her face back down and continued to worship and grovel.

“You don’t know what you’re saying, Naomi,” Zarian muttered. “I’m on the verge of giving in. You should take this more seriously.”

“Maybe I will when I beat some sense in you.”

The surrounding darkness rippled. The darkness deepened. The darkness drew closer and closer, like the jaws of a great and unfathomable monster.

From all sides, the darkness trapped Naomi and left her with nowhere to go.

“Know your place, little mortal,” Zarian said.

“Where’s my place exactly, huh? The kitchen? Ha, good luck with that. You shouldn’t trust me with access to knives.”

Zarian sighed heavily. “Humility, Naomi. Know your place by finding humility.”

“Never heard of her, Zarian. She sounds boring. Not worth your time. Me, however? I’m a Florida Woman. A Marine. A cocky bitch who doesn’t give a fuck. So forget humility, because all you’ll find is me, and I am what I am!”

Naomi triggered the First Stage of Aura Ignition, becoming a giant bonfire of blue-green aura.

She hammered down with all of her might on the last remaining heads of the world boss. She finished the scraps of the Greater Boon Avatar off with a splat and destroyed the bridge from under them with a massive explosion.

With the world boss defeated, and the debris of the demolished bridge hurling everywhere, Naomi lunged forward with all her power and threw a punch at Zarian’s chest.

The darkness closed in on her like a trap wall. The edges turned out dull. But the pressure was immense.

Zarian gently but surely pinned her with a force that would’ve crushed a lesser mortal into blood and giblets. Naomi, however, was just tough enough to survive while being pinned and held in front of him.

Zarian shook his head at her and turned away slightly.

He looked up again.

The hunger was too much. It was taking over him. Para was practically a slave to the darkness now, all personality wiped out.

He wanted to give in. He wanted to give in. He wanted to give in.

He wanted to give in.

He wanted to give in.

Give in.

Give in.

Give in. Give in. Give in.

Give in.

Give in. Give in.

Give.

In.

Zarian lowered his head, his body shaking a little. He felt like a crack fiend that needed his next fix, even if it would be his final one.

He could hear a few dark whispers that nobody else could. They were familiar and alluring, dark and magnetic, inviting him to give in all the way and let himself fall, finding beauty in the tragedy.

The only thing stopping him was the cuffs on his arms.

But those shouldn’t be too hard to remove.

Zarian focused on the cuffs. He couldn’t take it anymore. He was going to give in.

But the unexpected happened.

A mighty and explosive force erupted from near him. He shielded himself with his dark aura and turned to face Naomi. She was pushing apart the dark clamps that were holding her in place.

He was almost certain she figured out the second stage. But that wasn’t the case.

She was still using the first stage. It was wild. Out of control. She couldn’t use her natural psychic abilities competently while the First Stage of Aura Ignition was activated. So she was pushing back Zarian’s dark clamps with her own gusto and an even more fired up version that was greater than prior first stages.

That shouldn’t be possible. Her first stage was way too strong compared to all that Zarian and Naomi had gathered about the powerful aura ability. But somehow, Naomi was making it re-ignite again and again while maintaining the first stage and making it even stronger.

Zarian applied more pressure through the dark clamps.

Naomi’s arms buckled a little. She should be at her limit. Zarian was sure of it. But then she re-ignited again! She surged with renewed might! She pushed the clamps back some more, inch by inch, and was gradually freeing herself.

Incredible.

Zarian had to actually work against her.

Was she actually challenging him?

He felt a pressure like no other.

Goosebumps covered his skin.

His heart was hammering in his chest. It felt warm in there when it should’ve been as cold as the void. That warmth felt scolding hot in comparison.

Zarian applied more pressure, putting more and more effort. Naomi buckled again and again before re-igniting and digging deeper into the depths of her first stage.

Zarian applied so much pressure he was almost afraid of her safety. But he couldn’t stop now. He was too invested. He needed to see! How far could this unreasonably determined and wild woman take it?!

Once more, Naomi found some new level of might and pushed the clamps off of her while screaming at the top of her lungs. She pushed and screamed, pushed and screamed, finding another multiple new personal records.

The bonfire of wild aura became an inferno that twisted upward and reached so far into the sky it exited from the top of the sunken citadel. The light of that raging green, blue aura shone so brightly the darkness receded. Zarian looked up in awe at the courageous and determined human spirit of a mortal woman without talent, without a special bloodline, with little of anything but pure grit.

“It’s beautiful,” Zarian said. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Finally, her Aura Ignition seemed on the verge of evolving and breaking into the second stage. He could tell by how the intense and giant gout was contracting inward and refining itself.

Come on, Naomi! Come on, and hit the second stage, Zarian urged, forgetting about his hunger and his dark temptations.

He wanted to see her succeed. He wanted to see the mortal spirit overcome what should be impossible. He wanted to see her grow, and then go see the rest of his friends and watch them grow, too.

Just as he realized that, Naomi’s Aura Ignition sputtered out.

She failed to reach the second stage, and Zarian’s heart nearly broke out of his chest. He stopped the dark clamps from crushing Naomi at the last split second.

With a slow and shaky breath, Zarian released Naomi’s slumped and battered body from between the dark clamps. She caught her with his dark aura gently and pulled her close in front of him.

Zarian felt annoyed suddenly. Maybe even irritated. He looked crossly down at Naomi’s lay out body.

“You foolish, idiotic, suicidal, crazy woman. What the hell was that? I could’ve crushed you? You could’ve killed yourself, in fact. Your heart could’ve exploded. That was so stupid. You’re stupid. Like, really, really stupid.”

Zarian huffed, feeling a little better after that rant. Naomi’s reactions, of course, left much to be desired.

Naomi coughed and sputtered. Then she grinned at him. “But look what happened? I’m still alive. And I bet I’m even way stronger than before. So that’s a win in my book.”

Zarian snorted. He shook his head. He got a hold of himself and did what he truly wanted.

He resisted his dark temptations and sealed up Overwhelming Darkness. Then everything returned to normal.

Naomi dropped, and Zarian flung himself forward and caught her, pulling her into his chest. He ended up off balance with his body worn out and his aura mostly running on empty. Zarian dropped out of the air with Naomi in his arms.

Ezda stopped prostrating and ran in quickly over the destroyed remains of the bridge. She caught both of them and held them easily because of her ten-foot height.

“My alpha! My sigma! You’re hurt and tired again! But don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe and warm!” Ezda unleashed all of her affection, giving them gnoll licks and nuzzles, unable to hold herself back after all the wild things that had happened.

Zarian and Naomi were both too weak to resist. Hence, they got their faces slobbered over while Ezda’s fur smeared the mess around.

Zarian gave in and tried not to fight it. Naomi didn’t seem to care whatsoever. And Para was back to normal, joining in with the cloak wrapping them all up adoringly.

Using their mind spiders, Naomi messaged Zarian directly to his head: Did you wait to see all the gains compiled? If you did, I think the Star System rewarded us hard core.

Zarian smiled at that, ignoring Ezda’s slobbering and nuzzles. There was a growing theory that was becoming more and more prevalent at these later levels.

It was better to wait on checking notifications until an entire encounter, crawl, or maybe even a campaign, finished. Because the Star System was withholding those rewards until they reached a critical point in their growth or they finished a major event or series of events.

There was a theory that waiting granted more rewards.

In the early levels, it was more important to check notifications as frequently as possible. The new power gains and stats could serve an adventurer right away.

But now, it was more important to grow overall, and if it was possible to grow faster by letting the Star System withhold notifications and not seeking it in the middle of some heavy action, then that was the better course.

The further along you go in the Infinita Star System, the more layers peel back. The more the Star System reveals its tricks and mechanisms. How much more is there?

Zarian snorted weakly. He figured now was the best time to check for himself. The moment he thought that, he mentally heard a deluge of soft ‘dings’ in the back of his head. He nearly had a stroke from the sheer shock of everything and the implications of some of his most important gains.

Oh shit, I need to go find a few more skill copies. There were some treasure chests waiting under all the castle rubble in the demolished citadel, too.

Zarian directed Ezda to go after the treasure chests. Naomi and Ezda convinced him to have all the rewards and decide what to do with them later. Then Ezda escorted them around the fallen lair to find whatever monsters that might’ve remained.

Zarian collected the skills he could get on that he found useful without bloating up his beta section needlessly. Then they split away from Ezda, promising to see her back at the central home of the Blood Prairie Savages. Reiki was still there, after all, and Zarian needed to go through some blood rites for the official alpha status. Naomi had already done her own to be the official sigma.

With that planned, Zarian and Naomi returned to the lake and finally got to relax. Zarian fell asleep right away, knowing he would review everything when he was well-rested and more clear headed.

Then he would make some major decisions for his profile and for the others.