SIS B4: Chapter 112: Defences and Crusher's Evolution

Daz could barely move through the thousands up thousands of gallons of water hammering down onto his body.

He could move, yes, but only slightly. He made a note that this was a weakness of his he should work on in the future, but for now, he focused on steadying himself as he moved Hamson to cover his front.

"Mofolo!" he called.

He then expanded Hamson's blade until it was practically a full-on heater shield that covered most of his body.

Its edge then glowed with a soft and domineering blue hue. The king of Atlantis knew exactly what he wanted to do which was relieving to see.

'Not enough,' Daz thought as he felt his death inching ever closer.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he reached into his Industrial Item Box and pulled out a massive chunk of raw diamonds.

He placed that in front of Hamson with so much precision that it had surprised him. Never before had Daz been able to do something like that so quickly and easily. He didn't have the time to marvel over it though.

He quickly used his Death Energy Manifestation to turn over half of his Death Energy Into layers upon layers of extra limbs to shield himself with.

Crusher's fist was approaching though it felt like a crawl while Daz worked his hardest to preserve his own life.

He centred his thoughts around his Ember of Endurance, wrapping his body in a very thin layer of additional protection. Daz couldn't do much with that Ember quite yet but it would have to do.

His next move was to use his Crystallisation. He attempted to turn his entire body into a statue of diamonds. Thankfully, it worked on his first try and not one part of him remained fleshy.

It was then that the eclipsing fist that pushed its way through the raging waters of the pacific came. Daz couldn't even see where her fingers began and her knuckles ended, so large was her power-shrouded hand.

Daz damn near felt his heart stop the moment it came into contact with his defences.

It was like his entire being had been punched. His diamond body immediately cracked while his Ember of Endurance, the controlled chunk of diamond, and all of his Death Energy defences crumbled instantly.

Hamson empowered by Mofolo held strong though. The sheer force of the punch threatened to destroy the godly tool but it maintained its form even it bent and threatened to buckle. The blade even snapped clean off from the shaft but it didn't fully cave, protecting Daz's life.

Daz's armour splintered and cracked and parts of his body simply turned to dust. His Halo of Absolute Justice was working overtime to fill his rapidly depleting Lifeforce but fill it, it did.

Daz almost lost consciousness then and there. It was only the sudden nagging of the system with skill level up and similar messages that kept his eyes open.

[Crystallisation has reached Level 7.]

[Shovel Arts has reached Level 3.]

[Lifeforce Dependency has reached Level 8.]

[Kairn's Physique has reached Level 3.]
[Kairn's Physique has reached Level 4.]

[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 22%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 23%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 24%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 25%.]
[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 26%.]

The list of notification for that Ember just kept going on and on and on. Finally though, after mentally dismissing the bulk of the messages, Daz saw the final one.

[Ember of Endurance [Entry-level] initial mastery increased to 97%.]

It would that almost dying to a purely physical attack had led to a lot of understanding in how to endure. An unexpected benefit but not one Daz wouldn't appreciate.

Seconds passed as the force of the mightily punch slowly calmed down around him. His armour was in tatters but it had served him better than Altros's Travelling Gear likely would have done.

It was already starting to repair itself, even, just as Hamson was. The armour would likely finish before the godly shovel though. 'I need to find its shaft. That'll make it quicker.'

He slowly turned his healing head and stared in wonder at the split sea. The reef at the bottom of the ocean was visible as the sun shone down onto a place that had only ever known darkness before.

Slowly, the water moved to fill the sudden and newly formed scar in the pacific ocean.

'If layered with a few other skills, that attack could become strong enough to punch a hole through the planet. I'm lucky in a way that came at horizontally, not vertically,' Daz thought.

Regardless of his lingering thought though, he was more ready than ever to continue their fight. If he recalled correctly, Crusher could only use her god-rank skill, Fist of the Gods, once per day.

Now that he had endured that attack on his own and wasn't knocked out or crippled from the experience, he could win this fight with ease by simply filling Crusher's body with Reika and Mofolo's rift attacks.

Hamson was badly damaged but it could persevere for a bit longer as just a shovelhead.

"Damn. I expected you to teleport or some shit," Crusher said from Daz's back.

He spun around quickly, making some of his crystalline skin flake off. Behind him in the air floated the normal-sized Crusher as she stood atop her hammer's head.

"Done?" Daz asked.

Crusher grinned. "Yup. I mean, we could go on but you look fucked enough as is. I will win, Uriel. That was one of many stunts I could pull. Really though, you tanked that? You're a fuckin' monster all things considered."

"... Says the woman who can become a 250 metre tall Titan," Daz countered as he cancelled his Crystallisation.

While he too hadn't fought with everything he had since he didn't want to kill the woman, she at least wholly believed herself when she said she would be victorious.

Besides, he didn't want to fight in the first place even if it had proven to be an exceptional method to train his Ember of Endurance.

"Eh, not really. That wasn't my Titan form. I'm not even a Titan anymore," Crusher said with a short laugh.

As he felt his adrenaline fading, more focus entered Daz's eyes. He noticed Crusher was sweating heavily and she was also grasping at her left shoulder. The entire arm was covered in blood and seemed twisted to hell and back.

'Not quite as perfectly well off as I had first assumed,' Daz thought.

Noticing his gaze, she chuckled. "Don't have control over that form yet. The system says it's unpredictable since it's new."

Daz narrowed his eyes. "Still, that power... It makes no sense- one second."

He turned his head and vomited out a massive amount of blood. He coughed and hacked violently for a few good minutes before he finally settled.

"Sorry. It's better for the healing if I let it out," he explained.

Crusher nodded. "Totally get ya. But yeah, It wouldn't make any sense... if I had evolved once."

"... You used your fruit?" Daz questioned.

The Russian's grin grew. "Sure did. System told me I couldn't go any further with my chosen evolution. Said I'd hit the end of the road. So, like Hotwheels suggested, I ate the fruit."

Daz slowly nodded before he plunged into the ocean. A moment later, he returned with Hamson's shaft in his grasp.

He used his Shovel Arts to keep it attached to the blade end of the shovel before he quickly got atop of it, earning him a quizzical look from Crusher.

"The gems keeping me in the air just disintegrated and were forcefully returned to the Astral Crystal Plane. Let's return to the car and talk more when we've both rested up a bit, shall we? I want to learn all about both of your evolutions. The fruit in particular since I've yet to eat mine," Daz explained.

Crusher threw her hands behind her head and shrugged. "Sure thing, Uriel. Man, that was a satisfying fight though. You have no idea how good it feels to get one over on you for a change."

Daz smiled wryly. "I can only imagine."

***

The location Crusher had chosen to speak to Daz was Castle Crowthorne's kitchen.

Apparently, her hunger exploded after become such a colossal figure. Daz didn't find that hard to believe so he had the head chef along with the rest of the kitchen staff begin preparing meal after meal for the woman.

Dorian had chosen to return home for the day. He seemed confused and worried from what Daz could tell but that was the man and Crusher's problem, not his.

Once she was done with her seventh course, she finally took a small break to say, "So my eight options for my first evolution were pretty simple."

She began raising fingers as she listed them off. "Titan Guardian of Earth. Strong, but would make it impossible for me to leave this planet for long. Sounded kinda boring, to be honest. I fully intend to explore the galaxy when I can."

Daz understood the sentiment. He'd be lying if he said that he didn't have some lingering desires to do the same though his duties as the uniter of Earth came first. As did protecting the planet from the machinations of both the system and its players.

"Earth Mother. Nothin' to do with the planet, just would make me like a... hmm... Like a goddess of stone or somethin'? Like Rimmy, but stronger and not made of crystals."

"Sounds inhumane," Daz noted.

Crusher nodded as she grabbed her prepared beer and chugged it. "Yup. Two more of the evolutions were like that. Beast Mother and Seer of the Sea. One would make me a big fuck-off bear, the other some sort of tentacle monster with prophetic abilities. As much as I'm open to new shit, I kinda like lookin' like a normal person."

"Three metres tall was hardly normal, but I get what you mean. I've given up powerful evolutions to remain like this too," Daz replied.

"Right? Well, the next two options were the same but slightly different. Gravity Matron and Destruction Matron. The first gave dominion over gravity, and, well, you can guess what the latter did," she laughed.

"Heavy on the motherly theme, I see," Daz noted.

"Probably due to my band of misfits. Anyway, the second last choice was an interesting one. It was called Jester of Strength. Got the option thanks to what I did in the auction," she claimed.

Daz raised an eyebrow. "You got an evolution option that is more powerful than a Titan purely because you presented yourself as a short male clown?"

"And won the strength test, but yeah, more or less. It's a big spectroverse. That's what it's called right? Spectroverse? It's kinda scary how big it is. Lots to explore though," Crusher noted.

Daz agreed. "So I assume you took the final option then?"

She nodded. "That I did, Uriel, that I did. It was called Hammer Lord. It's apparently a derivative of the Titan species and I was the only one in existence. It gave me absolute control over hammers and a bunch of other shit. Like, I still have all of its skills. Some of them are crazy. If I'd used my hammer to attack you instead of my god-ranked skill, you probably would have died."

'I wonder about that... Even if my halo couldn't protect me, I still have that odd curse from the Door of 10,000,' Daz thought before asking, "And the fruit? What did that do?"

"Didn't give me any choices. It made a brand new species just for me that combined all of my strengths and boosted them all. It's also what made me shrink to a normal size," Crusher noted. "Feel free to identify it if ya want. I won't stop ya."

Having received permission, Daz didn't hold back. Surprisingly or perhaps unsurprisingly, her new species was called Crusher.

[Crusher
The one who crushes.

As a being who did nothing but sought out the very peak of existence, of meaning, of everything, she finally found said meaning in crushing everything in her path.

Be they enemies, allies, bonds, ideals, dreams, none can stand in the way of the Crusher for she will crush them all in turn.

The Crusher is a peak existence that cannot be killed by anything less than what she, too, is; the peak.]

There was no flavour text and Daz could see why. For the system to call Crusher a peak existence, and for it to have only taken her a total of three evolutions to get there, the same amount Daz had gone through... Well, it shocked him.

Crusher chuckled upon seeing his awestruck expression. "Can ya see now why I was pretty sure I'd win? I've got good news and bad news, by the way."

Daz narrowed his eyes. "Hmm?"

"Well, good news is that I hit number one on the evolution ranking list. Bad news is that the reward was an early ticket off of Earth," Crusher said as she scratched her neck and smiled awkwardly.

"Explain," Daz demanded. 'If that's true, what happened to previous number ones on that list? Is that the usual reward or is it unique because Crusher is now a 'peak existence'?'

"Yeah, I was gonna. Christ," she sighed with a roll of the eyes, apparently not appreciating his sternness. "Anyway, I've got a month before I get yeeted out of Earth. I'm too strong apparently. Way too strong for a trial planet."

That wasn't bad news, that was horrendous news. If that was true, which Daz knew it to be thanks to his Eyes of Truth, then plans needed to be made and enacted quickly.

"We need to discuss what you'll do when you're out of Earth. I know you don't feel much kinship to this planet but you owe me for going behind my back with Zachary," Daz stated.

Crusher shrugged. "That's fair. I'm practically immortal now as a peak existence so I don't mind doing something crazy like, what, protect Earth for a couple of decades? I'm sure there's plenty of cool shit to discover close to our solar system."

"That would certainly be relieving. Before our trials are over though I'd like to ask you to find out as much as you can about the players who have eyes on Earth. What do they want? Why is Earth getting special treatment from the system? Those kinds of things," Daz said.

Crusher nodded. "I can try. I ain't no Hotwheels though."

"Trying is all I can ask... Fuck... I'm glad I haven't evolved in a while then. If I became a peak existence too it would doom all of Earth," Daz muttered.

"I don't think it would have," Crusher said nonchalantly. "I've read up on that dad of yours. I dunno what your beef is with him but he's a pretty damn good leader supposedly."

"That what scares me about him. Regardless, within a month I need to use you to help me crush both the Truthians and anyone who dares stand in between me and my plans to unite Earth. It's a quicker timescale than I was expecting, but I can't waste this opportunity," Daz stated coldly.

Crusher laughed. "Gonna work me like a horse before I can flee? Sure, I don't mind. Ye've been good to me. Least I can do is stop bein' a selfish bitch just runnin' around punchin' the shit out of monsters and doing whatever strikes my fancy."

Daz smiled faintly. "I'm glad to hear that because I already have a plan that will wipe out most, if not all of the Truthians in one fell swoop. You'll be critical in said plan."

Crusher grinned maniacally. "Well then, let me finish up my food and let's go fuckin' crush some cultist skulls, eh?"