[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 139: Hell Hath No Fury

Raiko held aloft an age-worn lantern. Blue mist rolled out and gathered along the floor, obscuring the fallen bodies.

The spirits of the Professors, and many more of the faculty, gathered around the lantern in full force. It bathed the area in ghostly light.

Given power and agency to affect the material world, the spirits surged like a tide towards the Dungeon Core.

Raiko rode amongst them like a Valkyrie leading her einherjar, her blade shining with the mana the spirits imparted.

Sam swayed on his feet but managed to stay upright through sheer force of will. He was aware that his body was failing him. He could hardly move now that he had stopped.

At least there’s no pain, he thought, trying to find the silver lining. And [Endure] hasn’t triggered yet, so I’m not actually that close to death.

Raiko dropped to the ground before him. The tide of spirits parted around them.

There was really nothing quite like it. Sam watched, wondering if his brain was making up hallucinations.

Over 30 professors, students, miscellaneous faculty members, and researchers who all called Aker Academy home soared through the air toward the summoned monsters.

They screamed their defiance, their hatred, their sorrow for the end of their lives cut short, and within that singular rising tide of noise, Sam could hear the undercurrent that promised revenge.

The spirits flooded over the monsters, beating them with books and crafting tools they once carried in life.

Raiko looked up to him, stricken. She could’ve gone to finish off the Dungeon Core, but she didn’t appear to care for that.

Just for him.

He gave her a wan smile as Kai, Matt, and even Lenal joined the battle now that they were released from their possessions.

Sam laughed, but it had a worrying, wet sound to it. “I think… I finally found my limit. And do you know what the funniest thing is?”

“Sam,” Raiko choked back a sob, and reached out for his hand. Her hand glowed with that mystical liquid mana. But what would any Glyph do for him?

He was probably long past even a Cleric’s healing.

“I didn’t even get any Experience for it.” Sam chuckled again and collapsed. Consciousness pulled out from under him like a rug.

***

Lenal raised her ledger and screamed a rallying cry for all of those that came before her. The people she idolized and looked up to, those brave souls that delved into the deepest layers of understanding and reality.

They surged around her, coming to her aid. With tools of spirit and rage, they battered the army of gathering monsters. Even without anybody else’s help, the spirits belonging to the former masters of the Academy would have done their home proud.

With the help of the living, however, it was a slaughter.

The monsters, just spawning in, were disoriented at the sight of so many ghosts. They tried to huddle behind the safety of the Dungeon Core’s barrier, but with each passing second the Mana Engine’s own barrier, shining a deep emerald-green, beat back the Core’s.

In just a few minutes, the Dungeon Core’s shielding was gone, and it was exposed, vulnerable.

“No mercy!” Lenal called, using one of her new Academic powers, [Berate], to disorient a large gargoyle that the ghosts had overlooked.

As if drawn to the use of her magic, the ghosts swarmed the creature, pelting it with hammers, saws, delicately blown glass, and other implements that were their stock in trade.

The tide of vengeance swarmed over the monsters, smothering them and ending their reign of terror. But the Dungeon Core was left intact.

As soon as the way was cleared, the ghosts of her home knelt on either side of her, forming a path ahead.

Professor Nihl waited with his back to the Core. The faceted thing shivered as if it was trying to get away, but two ghosts held it in place with fingers firmly digging into its diamond surface.

As Lenal approached, eyes wide with awe and terror in equal measure, her former professor dropped to one knee and held up his most prized possession.

His [Forgehammer].

Though it was only a spiritual representation of it, Lenal reached out and took hold of it reverently. It had a glassy feel to it, both light and heavy, weak and strong. She was afraid to drop it, for fear it would shatter, and yet she knew it would not.

Raising Nihl’s [Forgehammer] so high it caught the golden bars of sunlight filtering through the windows, Lenal cast down the Dungeon Core and smote it with the power of a God.

For one moment, Lenal Vesuvi, proud adopted daughter of Nihl Vesuvi, was no mere student, no simple researcher. She was an instrument of divine vengeance.

The Dungeon Core shattered, its high-pitched scream echoing across the Skyshard. Light pulsed and twisted out of the Dungeon Core, becoming thin and distorted until it collapsed and rippled outward like a shockwave.

All creatures tied to the Dungeon Core, both above and below, even those that had fled to Sil’mara in the hopes of finding new prey, were destroyed completely.

***

“I refuse to let you die.” Raiko lowered Sam to the ground in her arms. “Just the same as these spirits, they need their chance at another life. And so do you.”

There was so much more she could say, but she knew he couldn’t hear her. This was one sacrifice she couldn’t make, not in this lifetime nor the next.

Not after her sister’s death, not after so much loss.

Sam, just as she always told him, deserved better. He hardly had any time at all in his new life, the one where he could unlock all the powers he should’ve always had the opportunity to seize.

Raiko snarled at the Reaper coming to take his soul and lashed out at the angel. “You can’t have him!”

For a wonder, the raven-haired Reaper reeled back, shocked that a creature like Raiko could wound her, let alone even perceive her.

“Come any closer, I’ll have your throat,” Raiko threatened with full intent behind it.

Eyes wide, the Reaper wisely stepped further back and faded away.

Raiko had the dreadful sensation that not only was the Reaper still there, but many more Reapers were drawn to Sam’s impending death like moths to the flame.

Pushing her mana into the [Linked Royal Signet Rings] both Sam and Raiko wore, Raiko tapped into the Heartsblood Sense enhancement.

Becoming possessed by that Professor granted Raiko insight into the nature of artifacts and relics. And these rings were exactly that. Items of latent power that could grow to incredible heights.

Heartsblood Sense transmuted into Heartsblood Bond upon the mirrored rings. An enchantment that opened up the innate ability to transfer lifeforce between two ring bearing monarchs.

Without hesitation, Raiko traded her life for Sam’s. As much as of it as he needed.

His HP was far greater than hers, so he might just need all of it.

***

Sam was more than a little surprised to find himself waking up. The pain that saturated every fiber sure did wonders to dispel the notion that he might be dead.

Huh, I guess [Endure] isn’t a 100% proc rate. Good to know.

That didn’t change much, but it was valuable to know he couldn’t count on it. He was bandaged pretty much from head to toe and could hardly move. His armor had been stripped.

Not that he needed it. There seemed to be nothing going on around him except softly spoken voices. He could smell smoke and fire somewhere nearby, but it was the sweet smell of a campfire, not the acrid stink of ruin and destruction.

Turning his neck was hard, but Sam managed to look around the room. They were in the laboratory still. The bodies were gone, and so was the Dungeon Core.

The Mana Engine purred nearby, washing the air in a thin film of verdant green. He could feel the mana from it pouring into him, refreshing his MP much faster than even Raiko’s Glyphs could.

Komachi, of course, was curled up and tucked into his side as far as she could go without touching any of his countless wounds. On his other side was Chompers, both faithful creatures watching over him and keeping him company while he convalesced.

He tried to lift his left arm but found it ignored his commands. He could still feel the many wounds across the arm, but for once, he was too weak to move it. Whatever they had bound his wounds with was surprisingly strong.

Or you’re just very weak. Sam frowned, trying to recall the patchwork of memories he had. Did Raiko fight the Grim Reaper to keep him away from me?

And he vaguely recalled a bunch of the professors rushing to fight the monsters, armed with nothing more than books, slide rules, beakers, and other implements of learning and science rather than combat.

Turning his head the other way, Sam found Raiko in the same position as him. She was significantly less bandaged than he was, but they were both lying on their backs beside one another. Somebody had been looking over them until recently judging by the ragged blankets.

Lenal peeked her head into the room from the broken doorway leading down into the lower floors of the Tower of Art. It seemed like something she had done many times before, because she swept her gaze right over Sam and Raiko, and nearly turned away before she did a double take.

Sam looked at her. “Hello, Lenal. You’re looking chipper.”

The Academic squeaked and shouted down the stairs before running into the room and sliding to a halt between him and Raiko. “You’re awake!” She looked at the other Incarnate. “Has she said anything to you?”

“I just woke up,” Sam told her, trying to get to his elbows and failing.

“Just stay put,” Lenal said. She rummaged around in her Inventory and pulled out a bedroll and slid it under his head. “Here.”

Matt limped into view a moment later. “Oh, looks like I’m not the alpha in the group anymore, aw shucks.”

“Good to see you too,” Sam said.

Uncharacteristically solemn, Matt knelt beside Sam. “How are you doing?”

“As well as I could be.”

Kai dragged himself into the room, dark circles beneath his eyes. “This better not be another false—Oh.” He picked up the pace to Sam and Raiko’s side, placing a hand on each of their foreheads.

Matt looked up. “How are they doing?”

“She’s still recovering.” Kai looked at Sam. “But you, my friend, are still very much wounded. I do not think you will be of much use to anyone until you have made a full recovery. Raiko should wake up soon, she has only lost a significant amount of Health. Whereas you pushed yourself to the razor’s edge.”

“I would say he more than pushed himself there.” Matt shook his head. “More like he went there, danced around, and threw rude gestures at Death himself.”

Lenal clicked her tongue at him. “That is not very funny. Sam did all he could to protect us. It is because of him that the rest of us were able to finish the Mana Engine. Without him, or the professors, we would not have survived.”

“Look at her,” Matt said, hiking a thumb at Lenal. “She leads an army of enraged nerds and destroys one little Dungeon Core, and suddenly she’s all confidence and badassery.”

Lenal looked down and went beet red all the way up her pointed ears. “I simply understand my role better, and the path by which I can walk.”

“I see you two have a thing for each other now,” Sam said.

“Oh yeah, we have a thing for each other.” Matt barked a short laugh. He looked over at Raiko. “How much you want to bet she wakes up and goes ‘who is this beside me’?”

Kai sighed at Matt and cast [Cure II] on Sam, surprising him with the power behind the spell. “That is all I can do for now. It is a far stronger spell, able to knit injuries that would otherwise be impossible for [Cure], but it takes a great deal of mana and I have been using every last drop of mana to keep the both of you stable.”

“Thanks Kai,” Sam said, “I mean it.”

“I know you do.”

It was hard to imagine that not too long ago, he would have been sure that if Kai found him half-dead, he would have rolled Sam’s body into a ditch instead of lifting a finger to help him.

Seeing as he had nothing better to do except lie there and recover, Sam was going to open up his notifications when something caught his eye.

From his vantage point on the floor, one of the windows showed a scene that even with all his experience in this new world, he could hardly believe was real.

What the fuck is that!?

[End of Voidknight Ascension, Book 2]