1. Congratulations, Good Luck

A/N: Welcome back to volume two! Here we go!

From the top of the stadium, Zeke looked out across the expanse at the dark dome opposite them. He took a deep breath. “There’s multiple Apocalypse Incubators.”

“Yep, gotta say… looks like,” Domi agreed.

“The battle isn’t over. It’s only just begin,” Zeke murmured, half to himself. A sense of dread crept over him, the hairs on the back of his neck lifting. Other victors. Apocalypses with Domains, with strength beyond our own, with the levels that come from massacring an entire city. Powerful opponents with Concepts that we haven’t even seen yet.

Domi snorted. “You and every sequel trailer ever.”

Mia jolted. She grabbed Zeke’s arm. “Our parents… our families!”

“Shit,” Zeke whispered. Do we bring them into the city, where we can protect them? Or tell them to run from the hills, far away from the threat of any Apocalypse or Domain, and hope that no one’s Domain reaches that far?

In the distance, the dome split. The city beneath glistened even under the midday light, cloaked in neon and electric signs. Strange vehicles flitted around its upper levels, gleaming from the sun.

“Oh, damn. What is that, the Cyberpunk Apocalypse? Looks cool as hell.” Domi whistled, impressed.

Ryan stepped forward. He looked at Zeke. “We need to scout it out. I’ll go.” Before Zeke could say a word, he vanished, reappearing at the street level.

“Before that, we need to fortify our city,” Mia argued to his back. She shook her head. “What are we going to do if another apocalypse waltzes in here and expands their Domain? It’s not like we have the city covered in a Domain.”

A gentle cough sounded from behind them. “That… shouldn’t be a problem.”

Domi, Mia, and Zeke whirled. Isaac stood behind them, his hands clasped behind his back, white hair flowing over his shoulders, two cat ears perched atop his head both pointed toward them. He put his hands out. “Sorry. Did I sneak up on you? I am part cat.”

“Yeah, we know, Cat Man.” Domi rolled her eyes.

Ignoring Domi’s snark, Mia stepped forward. “What do you mean, that shouldn’t be a problem?”

Isaac glanced at Zeke, then nodded at the city. “You can’t move your Domain. You’re anchored wherever you put it down. Unless someone burns it down…” His gaze turned hard, eyes boring into Zeke.

“You’re stuck in one place?” Zeke guessed, ignoring Isaac’s pointed glare.

Isaac nodded, then waved his hand, waffling. “You can leave it. But you lose a lot of strength, and it feels…” He shivered, as if ants crawled all over his body. “Not good. Spend too long away, and the System starts warning you.”

“What’s it say?” Zeke asked, curious.

Tilting his head, Isaac stared into the sky and quoted, “‘If you want to remain at this location, expand your domain! Stat penalty applied in twenty-four hours’… something like that.”

“So other Apocalypses can leave their Domain, but they can’t exactly drive over here and expand it tomorrow,” Domi guessed.

Isaac shook his head. “No. If you want to expand your Domain, you have to be in your Domain.”

“Reasonable. What does it cost?” Zeke asked.

“Time. Stat points. Both,” Isaac said.

“So you just sit in your Domain and it gets bigger?” Domi frowned skeptically.

Isaac shrugged. “I’m not the System. I don’t make the rules. It’s really slow, though. Unless you’re…” He glanced at Zeke and fell silent.

Based on the Cartoon Apocalypse’s rapid expansion, I think I can guess this one. Zeke nodded. “Unless you’re actively absorbing or killing new victims?”

Nodding, Isaac continued. “If you want to add new things to your Domain, that costs stat points, and skills, too, if those things are going to do something. You need to buy the skills so you can create or support the items, then invest enough points that they’re high enough level to work at the level and speed you want. You can also outright buy items for your Domain using stat points, but the System encourages buying skills to create the items yourself. It really encourages coming up with your own skills, too.”

“There’s a Skill Shop?” Zeke asked.

Again, Isaac waggled his hand. “Yes and no? There is a shop, and it’s stocked with standard skills available at your level and within your Concept, but you can also negotiate new items and skills with the System. As long as it’s within your Concept, you have a chance of creating a new skill.”

“So Nine Lives is a skill you negotiated, then? Since Fluffums didn’t have it,” Zeke guessed.

Isaac lowered his head. One of his cat ears swept back. “That one… took some doing. The System didn’t understand at first. I had to explain human cat myths before it allowed it.”

Domi looked at Zeke. “You could’ve asked me this.”

Zeke spread his hands. “Well… I kinda knew the shop part. Guessed it, at least. It was mostly the Domain mechanics I was interested in.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, big talk from a little guy,” Domi muttered.

Zeke frowned at her. “I’m not little.”

Ignoring him, Domi waved her hand. “Hey, what about those other apocalypses? The other one, I guess. We killed the wasps, and good riddance.”

“What were they, again? The Apartment Apocalypse? That… if they’re really willing to cooperate, they might be a good defender. Since we… probably still have to defend our city.” Zeke put a hand on his chin thoughtfully, considering.

“We have to. If we’re trying to save people, they have to go somewhere, right? We must construct a safe haven if we’re going to do this right,” Mia said firmly.

Zeke nodded. “We should bring our families here, then. Not only to keep them safe, but to prove our trust in our solution.”

“Our solution… that doesn’t exist yet,” Domi pointed out.

“Once it does exist,” Zeke amended. “So first, the Apartment Apocalypse.”

Domi nodded. “Let me text them.”

“Text… Oh, right. They called you.” Zeke paused. “How did they call you?”

“Skills,” Domi said flatly, shrugging. She tapped away at her phone, only half paying attention to him.

Footsteps slapped up the concrete behind them. The three of them turned, Domi raising her hands, Zeke casually spreading his fingers, Mia’s fist curling into a hollow fist.

A paramedic crested the stairs. He rushed over to the three of them. “Are you injured? Do you need assistance?”

They exchanged a look. Zeke shook his head. “I think we’re good.”

The paramedic nodded. They rushed back down the stairs out of sight.

“Should we, uh, should we fill them in?” Domi asked.

“What are we going to say? Hey guys, world is ending, you’re lucky to be alive, don’t leave the city because the other apocalypses aren’t so nice, and by the way, we’re apocalypses too?” Zeke gave her a skeptical look.

“I mean… yeah, I don’t know. Seems like we should say something,” Domi said.

“Let’s give it a try,” Mia said. She jogged after the paramedic and grabbed his arm.

“What?” the paramedic asked.

Mia took a deep breath.

Zeke cringed. This is going to be bad.

“The black dome… it’s the first sign of the apocalypse. The world is ending. We all have supernatural powers, and a lot of bad people do too. You—”

The paramedic nodded. He smiled and nodded. “Yes? Why don’t we go this way, to the ambulance? You can tell me all about it, have a nice drink, sit down…”

“It’s true, though,” Domi interjected.

“Is it?” the paramedic asked gently, with a delicate smile.

Domi snapped her fingers. A tiny firework keened and flew into the sky, exploding in a shower of gold sparks. “Yeah.”

Beside her, Mia flicked her wrist and summoned the gold-outline version of her sword.

The paramedic’s eyes widened. He staggered back, almost falling off the concrete step he stood on. He rubbed his forehead.

“Whoa, careful.” Zeke reached for the paramedic.

The paramedic put his hand up. Serious, he turned to all of them. “Come with me. There must be hallucinogenic smoke in the area.”

Zeke looked around. When he found no mysterious smoke clouds, he clicked his tongue. Hallucinogenic smoke, why didn’t I think of that? Create Drug and Manipulate Aerosols should let me do that one. I’ll try it out next fight. As for this… this guy’s just making excuses. Putting his thoughts away, he offered the pandemic a stabilizing arm. “Why don’t we go back to the ambulance, sit down, have a nice drink…”

The paramedic gripped Zeke’s arm. For the first time, Zeke felt the man’s hand shake. Looking closer, the paramedic’s eyes were slightly too wide, and his chest expanded a little too fast.

“The others said everyone’s dead. Is that true?” the paramedic whispered.

“Ah… yeah,” Zeke confirmed, nodding.

“What killed them? What happened? They all… it was incoherent.” The paramedic swallowed. His knuckles whitened where he gripped Zeke.

Zeke glanced at his arm. I barely feel anything. I’ll have to be mindful about leveling Resilient Regeneration too far, lest it numb sensation entirely. Turning to the paramedic, he offered a weak smile. “Whatever they said… it’s probably true. Mia wasn’t lying. The apocalypse is here… the apocalypses are here. All of them… or at least, the ones that won.”

“Won?” The paramedic stared up at Zeke, his eyes growing even wider. “Won what?”

Zeke licked his lips. Yeah, about that… He tried another smile. “Er, if you want to survive, either stick close to us or run as fast as you can.”

The paramedic nodded shakily. A second later, he shook his head. “What does that mean?”

A phone buzzed, loudly. The paramedic jumped.

Domi started, then reached into her back pocket. She pulled her phone out and fiddled with it, then nodded. “Zeke! Apartment Apocalypse says it’s willing to meet.”

The paramedic gaped. Weakly, he asked, “The… the what?”

Zeke patted him on the back. “You’ve got this. Alright? Go, uh, go help other people who actually need help.” Leaving the paramedic, he jogged to Domi’s side. “Are they close?”

Domi showed him the map on her phone, then grinned. “Just a motorcycle ride away.”