Chapter 56 Simply Divine

Outside, I found War still attacking the sphere, looking confused, and slightly worried. Natom, to my peculiar relief, was back inside the shield, battered but safe. Of Darkness, there was no sign and despite my urge to go and kill War, Destruction’s desperate pleading for my help took priority.

But for one rapid detour. Letting Sania and Danivra know my plan, I used the totem to travel to the Admin Hub.

Appearing a second later, I shouted out to Aly as I slapped my hands down on the console near me. “I need these points converted yesterday!”

Processing…

How many EN do you wish to convert?

“All of it, goddamn it! 178,890.”

I would advise only converting what you need as you will have no use for Mortal Neuma after this other than to boost others. I imagine the remainder will be better served in your coming battles.

“Shit, yeah. Okay then, do…”

137,030 EN will provide 68,515 MN

Which will carry you all the way to Level 1000.

Do you wish to proceed?”

Yes/No

“Yes! For the love of god, yes.”

The MN began to flow back in. I felt my core expanding steadily. I felt the moment it hit saturation.

< Congratulations >

You have leveled.

You have now reached Level 1000.

You have 710 Stat Points to Assign.

I maxed Constitution and placed the rest into Perception, bringing it to 804, at which point I unexpectedly burst into a giant ball of light. My form disappeared as a new transition took place.

As I wondered what the hell I was going to look like next, an overwhelming sense of the universe washed over me. More acutely, the beating heart of the Nexus at its center.

I felt everything that Aly had told me about that it was true. From its natural lifespan to its current stunted nature. I could feel the pressure it was already under as the concentration of Neuma in the area steadily rose.

I didn’t know what to expect from this level of existence for me, and that was just as well as it was both far more and far less than I could have imagined. I suddenly felt smaller than I ever had as the vastness of time and the universe truly blossomed in my mind.

Not the meat pilot in my skull, but something greater. Something connected to the universe itself. And beyond. Suddenly, I knew of the multitude of universes that were layered on top of each other.

And despite this vast awareness and oneness with the universe, I clung on to the sense of myself desperately as it was almost lost in the fathomless enormity.

And in that moment, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I really didn’t give a fuck about any of it other than the drive to save my friends and drop the Great Barrier so that everything didn’t go kaboom.

I re-solidified, back in my Alo-im form looking physically unchanged. Then I reverted back to my standard Clive form. That was who I was.

Notifications played across my vision. I dismissed it all. I could feel what was different. I could feel what was the same. I was far more powerful as all of my Mortal powers had converted to Ethereal powers, and I understood just how far Hakan would have to go before he became a real threat to me.

Which meant I had to kill him now.

I used the totem to leave the Admin Hub back to my temple where I immediately teleported to Destruction. It was the fastest way until I took charge of the Admin Hubs. Right now, I had a friend to save and an ancient asshole to kill.

We were a long way away from Destruction’s home, which suggested she’d taken my advice and ran. She’d bought herself enough time for me to arrive, catching an all too familiar sight: Hakan, in a Darkness costume, holding one of my friends up by the throat.

Destruction hung there, almost entirely drained, and completely helpless. As Hakan laid eyes on me, he tried to thrust her into his void storage. And he failed as I dismissed the construct with a thought.

He hadn’t realized immediately, and where he thought she would tumble inside, she instead fell towards the ground.

He tried again to trap her, but I dismissed it and shot a Spicy Ball from each of the fingers of my left hand at high-speed, distracting him long enough to open my void storage for her to fall in.

He dismissed mine, and Destruction was cut almost in half. Her legs tumbled to the ground, but she was now safe, if uncomfortable.

All humor was gone from him now. “You did it then,” he snarled, and then exploded at me in a cloud made entirely of power sucking tendrils.

I threw a shield around myself as the tendrils struck all around me. Then I inverted it to trap him inside. He was too fast and disappeared, only to reappear a mile or so away.

As he rematerialized, I was there lashing multiple tendrils of power of my own out. These where to drain power. Not yet, though. They were meant only to hold.

As his body reformed, he realized the danger and teleported away again. But it was too late. One of the thirty tendrils I’d thrown out had snagged something of his core. I transported again, following it.

He reappeared not on Onnekus, but in the frigid silent black of space. As he partially reformed, his eyes opened in horror as he realized I was still there.

He slashed at the tendril I had holding him, severing it, but I’d already hooked another five into him, and a meaty fist which I expanded as it connected with his chin.

A literal shockwave shot out from the blow, but I kept hold of him so that I could follow up.

Despite his obvious fear, he definitely wasn’t powerless, and I found a black spear buried in my guts. I noticed it didn’t go all the way through this time. Nor did it cause any particular amount of pain.

With my new found insights from the Alo-im beginner training program, coupled with my understanding of the Alo-im nature, I reformed my insides around the offending item, reforming a metal clamp around it. From there, I began pulling his power through it.

Realizing quickly what I’d done, he dismissed the spear. “How are you learning this fast,” he snarled while hitting me with numerous tendrils.

“What’s there to learn?” I replied with a nonchalant smile before changing my body as quickly as I ever had, expanding it into a Clive blanket to envelop him entirely. Then I pulled the Neuma from him with every part of my body and every ounce of my being.

“Clever boy,” he choked out as he resisted my pull, slowing my efforts in a way that Light hadn’t come close to matching. “Never thought you had this in you, Clive. Color me impressed. If I did decide to stay and drop the barrier, we could probably do some great things together.”

“Fuck off, Hakan,” I growled and doubled my efforts.

“We could probably prolong the lifespan of the universe. I did a lot of research into it. I was just lonely, but if you’re possible, who knows what else is possible. There… may be… more to the lesser races… than I thought,” he wheezed out pathetically.

“Nice try, asshole. You’re done.”

“Please, Clive... Don’t… do… this.”

I pushed on. I didn’t have to worry about killing him now. The peace deal was off. “I let you go, you’ll stab me in the back as soon as you get the chance.”

“See… clever boy,” he said again. Then he began to cackle. “Until… next… time… Clive.”

The light faded from his eyes, and the last of his power disappeared, but not into me.

I hovered there gawking at the lifeless body of Darkness.

“MOTHERFUCKER!” I screamed into the great expanse.

It was a Darkness puppet. Hakan had used Darknesses body as an avatar and I was an idiot.

A goddamn idiot.

“One with the universe, my hairy ARSE!”

< Congratulations >

You have Leveled. You have now reached Level 5 of your Creation’s Bane Skill.

+ 5 to Suffer no Fools

The End of Book FIve. 

I really hope you enjoyed this installment of Creation's Bane and  I'd love to hear your thoughts. T Book -Six, coming on the 27th, is going to be the grand Finale. I approach it with equal parts Dread and excitement. I hope you can join me again as I write it!
Thank you for reading, and have a great holiday period!