philtucker

Chapter 157

“Jelly?”

The Anima Sola hovered before them, his golden-Gloria infused frame dripping starlight, bobbing up and down slowly as he gazed at the trio with his blank eyes.

“James! Why am I not surprised! And holy shit, you killed a Seraph?”

James took a step forward. “Jelly, how - what are you doing here?”

“Hmm?” The Anima floated over the dead spider, examining it. “This is most unexpected. This should have been way, way, way above your pay gra...

Chapter 156

James fought for calm. The sudden silence, the horrific stillness, only made it seem as if the world were spinning out from under him all the more.

He wanted movement. Noise. Life.

This stillness..

Serenity dropped to her knees beside Kimmie and touched the side of her neck only to snatch her hand back.

Dazed, James blinked and tried to get his shit together.

He couldn’t even remember what had happened, exactly. He’d burning through his Aeviternum in what fel...

Chapter 155

James hadn’t known what to expect. The very term ‘facility’ had evoked vague notions of a factory, perhaps a metal futuristic building with gleaming windows, an alien building with security doors and featureless parking lots around it. An installation they’d have to charge and break into, overcoming defenses so as to get to a central storage room.

The reality was completely different.

The nine of them appeared within a huge white geodome, its faceted interior large enough ...

Chapter 154

Everyone settled down to wait.

The whole situation was so surreal - the empty and endless expanse of the demiplane, the fact that they were accelerating into a black hole, and that they’d been sent on this missions by bona fide aliens - that James found it hard to feel immersed in the moment.

The crew stood around for a bit, then folks sat in small groups and spoke quietly amongst each other. Kimmie remained standing, alert, a vertical line between her brows. Olaf stood protecti...

Chapter 153

James paced as the Zorathian guided his crew through their paces. Their voices were a background murmur as he watched the entrance tunnel. The remaining six aliens in their alcoves worked diligently, appearing unworried, but then again what the fuck did he know about Zorathian nerves? Their crimson turtle skulls betrayed as much emotion as a hand-axe throwing target.

Over and over again he toggled his Death Attack ability up and then dismissed it. Over the past few months he’d grown u...

Chapter 152

“Before we begin,” said Mavthua, “I must caveat: all our redesign choices/strategies made for our clutch leaders/heroes hitherto for had demons/the Pit in mind. I believe that the same principles will hold true for our raid of the ever-collapse, but remain alert for discrepancies.”

Everybody nodded soberly.

“Our clutches operate in groups of six, but the System rewards groups of nine, so we conformed/adapted to that matrix.”

Mavthua’s taller buddy stiffened. Th...

Chapter 151

James reclined in the armchair and settled in. He summoned his statistics. His familiar overlay appeared in the air before him, listing his every ability, power, and summons. In the beginning this had all been so exciting, so infused with hope. Magical talents that allowed him to fight the demons on even footing. His lips quirked into a bitter smile as he recalled his eminent delight over his first Heavenly Assault, the euphoria of channeling so much destructive power, the notion that through...

Chapter 150

Everybody stilled.

“Wait,” said Denzel, pushing to the fore. “What do you mean, ‘hack’? As in, hack hack?”

Yadriel rolled his eyes. “We got ourselves a genius here.”

Mavthua shivered again. The dude was incredibly excitable, James thought. Maybe because his lineage had fragmented? Then again, this shit was crazy.

“Hack/compromise the System through unauthorized access to the root processes/bones. We have discovered/developed a means to bypass...

Chapter 149

James followed their guide out of the audience chamber. The Zorathians in the stands had stood and begun to file out in their customary silence. Crimson Hydra was silent as well. Gvathua’s words still rung loud in James’s mind, and, no doubt, that of his friends.

James barely tracked where they were led. If these aliens who’d absorbed three cubes couldn’t defeat the Eluthaarii, then what hope had humanity? If hundreds of demigods had given up on the 25th floor, what hop...

Chapter 148

There were no doors or windows in the Iron Wave fortress. The six Zorathians simply strode toward one of the massive panes of opaque glass that met with the ground and passed through it as if it were as insubstantial as mist.

James led Crimson Hydra up to the structure but couldn’t resist slowing down as he reached the huge wall of glass. The pane was straight edged but irregular, large enough for a truck to drive through but edged in black iron that was overgrown with black barnacle-...

Chapter 147

James emerged into a discordant and overwhelming world. His mouth and sinuses immediately began to burn, and he squinted against the sulfurous light that suffused the air. At first he didn’t know what to look at, what to take in, but burying his face in the crook of his elbow he blinked against his tears and took in the hellish landscape.

They stood on black, whorled rock that sloped down to a smoking ocean. Sharp peaks rose about them, the largest of which was in the process of erupt...

Chapter 146

Serenity took hold of James’s arm and pulled him aside, leaving Olaf and Star Boy to catch up Kimmie on all she had missed.

“So, what are you doing up here?” She elbowed him in the side. “I thought I gave you a mission. Did you flub it?”

“Hmm? Oh. Jessica. Yeah.” James sighed. “Didn’t… yeah.”

“She said no? What was your approach? Good god, James, the apocalypse is like the ultimate reason to hook up.”

“She… it’s complicated.” James cro...

Chapter 145

James left Jessica to the Bifrost and made his way upstairs. The Marriott was wrecked. Too many attacks, too many deaths, no power, shattered glass underfoot, overturned potted plants, the air freezing, dried blood stains on the carpeting.

The place felt empty. James walked past empty rooms, remembering a time when they’d been filled with military advisors, with Blue Light Operators, when the place had hummed with a sense of purpose and - if not hope - then determination.

The ma...

Chapter 144

James stepped out before the dead elevator banks that let out into the underground parking structure. They now merely opened to a railing-enclosed balcony that looked out over the tech wonderland that Jessica had created; the air before him thrummed with flying droids and was suffused with various metallic smells and the tang of burned ozone. The walls were paneled in steel shot through with glowing blue circuitry, and the central production spire was in full operation.

James stepped up...

Chapter 143

James rose cautiously to his feet, gaze darting about the large cavern in search of potential danger.

Other than Crimson Hydra, however, all was still.

The cavern was a series of subtly compartmentalized segments, each distinguished from the rest by columns or curtains of stone that intruded just enough to give a sense of separation. Thick fur rugs were thrown over the polished stone floor, and vividly painted landscapes and portraits hung in heavy gilt frames from the walls. The ...

Chapter 142

The demon youth’s body had swelled up to five times his normal size, so that he looked like a seal that had swallowed a half dozen deck chairs. When his skin ruptured Infernum energy blasted out everywhere, souring the air, and six new demon youths appeared in his place, naked and slicked with milky white blood, their hair plastered to their heads, their grins deranged.

“Oh shit!” shouted Denzel, wresting his Wing to one side.

“Watch out!” Kerim flung up his Shield befor...

Chapter 141

They emerged into the bailey.

Jelly immediately flew down, sword-arms whirling. And? We got a plan? What’s next?

You’re going to like it, Jelly,said James, but refused to elaborate.

They all mounted up. Jessica re-inserted her Omni into her Somnia, whose gaunt, elegant frame shuddered to life and raised its head.

“Listen, everyone.” It was Yadriel who spoke, seated on his Wing. “So I’m the number one guy here with the most experience doing...

Chapter 140

James didn’t hesitate. He braided ten Heavenly Assaults together and dropped them on the child-like demon.

But in the flicker-flash second before the hugely twined lightning bolt fell, he saw the demon grin, its face suddenly becoming horribly animated, and it disappeared.

The Heavenly Assaults exploded down immediately thereafter, thick as a block to strike at the distant ground and send a shockwave of holy energy blasting forth in every direction. Obsidian elementals collapsed...

Chapter 139

James was rivetted.

Even Yadriel had ceased to crack puns.

Only Olaf still let out the occasional cry of excitement or groan of dismay, pointed out smart tactical moves or where the enemy was going to break through.

Two hours had passed.

A certain rhythm had made itself obvious.

The angels had grown in numbers to the point where the centipede centaurs had difficulty crushing them, and this had activated the third tier of demons. These had the appearance of degene...

Chapter 138

They sped out over the desert, Jason flying alongside and easily keeping pace with his ongoing Flight. Jelly and the Castrum had remained behind to guard the castle in case of a rear attack; if so, Jelly would fly close enough to communicate telepathically with James who’d teleport everyone back.

Out they flew, forming a V with James at the tip of the spear. He hunched over the gleaming handlebars, shoulders tense, jaw set, staring through the whipping winds at the dusty horizon.

Chapter 137

Time ticked down and no more demonic waves appeared. The Castrum Mortis moved back outside the gatehouse and there continued scanning the horizon. It seemed restless. A few gears within its hips made a worrying grinding sound as it moved, and Jessica ejected her Omni from the Somnia so that she could move to hover around its workings and fix whatever had gone wrong.

The Somnia stood still, head bowed, an alien and magnetically beautiful statue in the center of the bailey.

“So th...

Chapter 136

A klaxon began to sound.

Strident, penetrating, it rang through the entire castle, over and over, jumping James’s adrenaline up to 11.

“You fucking kidding me?” asked Yadriel, rising up into his classic Nem2 demon form. “What the fuck they got a siren for?”

“Someone turn if off,” said Serenity through gritted teeth. “Shit. I forgot my autocannons outside on my Wing. I’ll be right back!”

“Serenity!” James flung out a hand but she was way, way too...

Chapter 135

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Denzel, closing his eyes as he raised his hand. “Hold up. They were doing what?”

James sat heavily on the bar stool and pointed at a whiskey bottle. Yadriel fetched it with neat alacrity and set to pouring him a glass. “They were having drinks, far as I could tell. Like some kind of lounge. Different kind of angels. One in the back looked more like a sun than anything else. There was this view. One of the walls was glass, or not there. Looked out over ...

Chapter 134

With a grunt James slipped through the seam and out into… he couldn’t make sense of what he was looking at.

The golden seam hung behind him, fading away for good now, Jelly’s last cries going with it.

Instead of black rock walls and the dour reality of the Hopeless Tower, James now hung suspended in a great starfield, every direction revealing endless motes of bright light, an infinitude that beggared his mind with its endless scale.

Yet there was a structure here, an ...

Chapter 133

They entered the ninth layer of the Pit by means of a swirling portal hidden beyond the Sinister Blockade.

You have entered Layer 9, The Hopeless Tower

Together they passed through, the eight members of Crimson Hydra and Jessica in the Finem Somnia, the Castrum Mortis bringing up the rear. Wings in close formation they entered the endlessly revolving crimson smoke.

To enter a smoky world of sloping plains dotted with menhir’s. The ground was rough and brok...

Chapter 132

Becca was faster, stronger, could transform into a more powerful demon, and possessed Miracles that allowed her to overwhelm and destroy Olaf, who was a Lord of the Increate.

James tore himself free of the ruined building and flew up into the air, his mind processing this information even as he reeled. Mental Dominion meant he didn’t enter shock as he might once have; instead, he realized that not only had she gained access to a Reservoir Cube, but she had to have processed an even mo...

Chapter 131

They flew the Wing back to the Marriott in silence. The warmth of the whiskey faded quickly; the alcohol simply couldn’t get a grip on James’s enhanced system. The afternoon was darkening. Storm clouds were rolling in, and a fitful wind tugged at them.

The bodies lay as before, strewn across the streets.

Would anybody ever collect them? Bury them? Give them last rites?

The avenue outside the Marriott was alive with activity. The abandoned cars had been cleared away and m...

Chapter 130

James activated the Miracle with a single Aeviternum.

Serenity, the Brooklyn street, all of it fell away as his vision shifted and became blank. No; he could still see - but now he gazed out over an endless white plane of pearlescent material covered by white skies.

A blank slate.

Intuition and knowledge filled him. He could change this space to match whatever place he desired. The scope was limited. He couldn’t recreate Manhattan in here, but a city block? Sure. An apartm...

Chapter 129

They rode the elevator to the penthouse in silence. Jelly hovered in the upper corner. James studied the Anima.

“Hey Jelly.”

Que pasa USA?

James paused. For a second he considered asking where that had come from, but then he discarded the notion. “Wanted to say thank you.”

Serenity glanced at him.

“You’re welcome,” said Jelly.

“Seriously.” The elevator doors dinged open. “That was a fatal shot. You brought me back. Than...

Chapter 128

The XO’s black-burning bullet hit the Aureate Buckler which flickered into existence as soon as the man raised his gun. The buckler flared bright gold but James had no time to appreciate the save; he saw a second officer point a gun at him and fire. Only his insane Agility and Speed stats allowed him to sway aside, Matrix style, so that the bullet missed.

Then a horse kicked him in the temple as a third aide placed the muzzle of her revolver an inch from his brow and pulled the trigge...