44 miles from Centerpoint Dungeon
The goddess’ voice screamed throughout the kingdom.
Anderson winced at the sensation. Even though he was still dozens of miles away from Centerpoint, where he was sure her voice originated, the sound of her voice passing through his head hurt.
What the hells was going on?
He could just about make out the words from this distance, and they burned with power. Everything the goddess said did, but this felt part...
2023-10-20 07:47:46 +0000 UTC
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2023-10-19 07:57:57 +0000 UTC
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Rose
She wasn’t going to be able to see Lucas for at least another week.
At this point, she wondered if the goddess herself had stepped in to interfere. With how much kept on happening, she hadn’t seen him for weeks now. Rose was no naive teenager—this wasn’t her first relationship, and she could be realistic about what was happening. She wouldn’t literally die without his attention.
But it really sucked that the world kept on ending around them, a...
2023-10-19 04:30:44 +0000 UTC
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Lucas
I read through Rose’s message, then the next. And the next.
This was rather concerning, to put it lightly. I could see where they had drawn their conclusion from—the description of the dungeon they’d encountered was all too vivid. A degloved body torn out and splayed out across a Dungeon Core’s innards? I shuddered, imagining myself in that position.
The goddess had been kind when she let me stay human after merging my existence with the dungeo...
2023-10-19 02:45:21 +0000 UTC
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2023-10-18 08:15:47 +0000 UTC
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Lucas
Once the Pallbearers had updated me on their situation and Nora had given me all the information she had to give, I settled in to start dismantling the dorman Dungeon Cores she’d harvested.
I thought on the state of the world as I did. I’d figured that the Cataclysm had killed a lot of people, since we definitely hadn’t been the only targets, but I had failed to understand the true scale up until now.
The king—or the goddess, but did that disti...
2023-10-18 04:54:05 +0000 UTC
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[Author's note: Italics still appear to be broken on Patreon posts, though they are regularly viewable in the email format. Patreon "recognizes this as an issue." We'll see how long it takes them to figure it out. Hope you enjoy !]
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A kill order can only be issued by a majority vote in the leadership of both the local SRU and Guardian units (min. 5 votes). They must then be approved by the president of the SRU (currently Vincent Hyde) and the core Guardi...
2023-10-17 07:01:22 +0000 UTC
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Lucas
Carly Iru, [Omniscient Librarian], stepped away so silently that I wouldn’t even have noticed she was in the same room if it weren’t for my dungeon senses.
I typed a message to Iris talking about it as I made my way towards the returned adventurers. It took a little longer than I would’ve liked to transport myself across the much expanded dungeon now that it was large enough to be an urban metropolis, but that gave me time to talk.
She was incred...
2023-10-17 04:44:58 +0000 UTC
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Lucas
“You’re going to be able to destroy all the king’s forces with ease,” Carly said. “I [See] your hordes of monsters. With your [Intertwine], you may be the most powerful being on this planet once you gather all the adventurers within your domain.”
“I think so too,” I said. “I don’t like the idea of the king pulling off another bullshit ritual, though. The last time, he brought a ton of otherworlders in, and I have the distinct premonition ...
2023-10-16 17:54:36 +0000 UTC
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2023-10-16 03:00:45 +0000 UTC
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Lucas
Crisis after crisis after crisis came to me, and so the grind never ended. Just under nineteen days left to go, and we were still no closer to saving the otherworlders.
They numbered nearly a hundred thousand, now. 95,191, to be exact. It was only thanks to the isolation of the dungeon rooms that they weren’t all together. If all of them came together at once, I wasn’t sure even I could take them on.
Okay, I probably could, but their power was my p...
2023-10-15 03:07:16 +0000 UTC
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Nora
The king’s security measures triggered immediately.
Whatever spell had been cast to check for unauthorized intruders only activated when they left. That didn’t make all too much sense to Nora until she spent just about forty seconds running from the tower.
The ground roiled in waves like a stormy sea. Terrain became impassable in instants, and it was only thanks to her potion that she was able to kick away the spikes that grew beneath her f...
2023-10-14 22:01:21 +0000 UTC
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2023-10-14 08:02:37 +0000 UTC
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Lucas
The goddess spoke to me for the first time since the Cataclysm while I was trying to coax myself into getting a class.
As it turned out, dealing with the people who were worshipping me was no less awkward in person than it was observingt them from afar. More awkward, if anything. Mostly, I asked them what they were doing, and then they had me say a few words of encouragement.
I did start to get a better idea of what they were doing, at least. They were...
2023-10-13 07:53:27 +0000 UTC
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Ashley
Way back when she’d been a level 1, driven only by her need to put some food on her family’s increasingly barren table, Ashley had earned her class in a trial by fire. Literally.
It had terrified her, and it had scarred her on more than one level. It’d taken her nearly half a year to even consider picking up a sword, then another month before she could be convinced to apply the lightest hints of flame to it.
Lucas had been the one who forced her...
2023-10-13 05:49:58 +0000 UTC
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2023-10-13 03:27:20 +0000 UTC
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Nowhere, somewhere
I find myself in a familiar, empty space. It’s not the same oppressive darkness as the hell we’ve left behind. It is, instead, the absence of being. The nothingness is the same as my class evolution.
Now that I have broken the constraints of my existence, I understand this space in a way that I was never capable of before.
Behind the walls of this space, I know, lies the primordial void. What that void is—I still don’t have that le...
2023-10-12 05:29:38 +0000 UTC
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May 2nd, 2019. Cataclysm 101. Location: Carson City, Nevada. Due to their proximity, the San Francisco Guardians were the first major team to arrive and assist.
Within six hours, every last hero on the team was dead. The ensuing three months, often referred to as San Francisco’s “open season,” saw the greatest amount of superhuman conflict the region has ever seen. Criminals, super and normal alike, openly roamed the streets, searching for marks. Independent heroes, v...
2023-10-11 22:42:39 +0000 UTC
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The Sixth Circle
Skoton’s presence leaves without further incident, leaving us alone in a darkness that isn’t quite as harsh as it was a few moments ago.
There are demons in this hell, I sense, but they are clustered, few, and far between. Whether that’s because there just naturally are fewer demons in the Hell of the Neverending Night or the ongoing reality collapse has something to do with it is anybody’s guess.
“I still need to recharge,” I sa...
2023-10-11 07:54:34 +0000 UTC
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Angelic Tower — Root
As it turns out, Adrian doesn’t even need Kirin to take him through the floors.
After his abnormal Category ascension, he’s flush with power. Against monsters that are Category 1 at best, he is practically a god.
Adrian is flush with power now, and the world bends to his will.
Up until this point, he’s never come close to understanding what a Category 3’s power entails. For a long time, he was weak enough that even a Cate...
2023-10-09 21:22:42 +0000 UTC
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The First Circle, moments earlier
“You’re sure about this?” Sapphire asks, raising an eyebrow.
A chill runs up Marie’s spine. The Overseer’s eyes seem to bore into hers, baring the truth of her soul. She refuses to let herself be cowed, though, and she stares back defiantly. “Of course. This is an ideal opportunity to witness the formation of a Titan and the collapse of reality alike.”
“Reality collapsing may not have the effects you wish it ...
2023-10-08 21:56:09 +0000 UTC
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Name: Evelyn Carnelian
Age: 19
Race: ???
Class: Divine Demon/Titan
Level: 200/Irrelevant
Location: The Seventh Circle
I rise, and Sierra rises with me.
Never before have I been so powerful. It feels as if I have been experiencing this world with both eyes closed and both ears shut until this point, and I have finally taken the next step and allowed my...
2023-10-07 01:36:44 +0000 UTC
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For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
- Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion
#
“I’ll call you back later, Dad,” she said.
“Alright, swee—” Vivian hung up before he could finish, then let the phone clatter to the floor.
Growing up, Vivian had consumed all sorts of science fiction and fantasy. She’d had a particular fondness for those that posed moral quandaries.
Does it ever get easier? Killing people, I me...
2023-10-05 21:19:56 +0000 UTC
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You have advanced to level 200. Category 2 achieved.
The pace of the system’s notification is different this time, though the voice is unchanging. It’s as if the intelligence that pervades the system isn’t entirely sure what to make of me.
By reaching Category 2, you have gained the following inherent bonuses:
Access to a Domain(s). Domains are the pinnacle of your power. Domains allow free-flow usage ...
2023-10-04 02:14:20 +0000 UTC
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My heightened Mind (Speed) attribute has always been beneficial in slowing down my perception of time, granting me the subjective processing period for me to determine what I can do.
Right now, Mind (Speed) sits at a ridiculous 219; the world around me may as well be frozen.
Except the angel’s explosion. That, even in this fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second, scorches the threads of reality, reaching out for us. I’m certain that e...
2023-09-30 21:30:03 +0000 UTC
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Somewhere, nowhere
Our Defiance doesn’t take us straight to the Eighth Circle. Of course not. That would be too simple.
Instead, Sierra and I hurtle through an in-between, a place that isn’t quite the void but isn’t exactly real, either. I want to call it an anomaly, but even that feels wrong. Glimpses of infinity flicker past us as we fall and rise and stop all at once. Information flows into my brain, feeding me sights, sounds, smells, sen...
2023-09-27 06:15:14 +0000 UTC
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The second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
- The 27th Amendment of the US Constitution; ratified in October 1972, less than a year after the formation of the Guardians
#
Before everything had started going to shit in their lives, Vivian’s family had spent a fair amount of time traveling. Even for a while after both her brother and mother had kil—passed, she reminded herself—she and her dad had done a f...
2023-09-26 07:50:14 +0000 UTC
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The 25th Floor
Adrian finds himself in utter darkness. He should have Nightvision from his still-unevolved Warrior class, but the system refuses to function for him.
On top of that, the Ascend objective should have triggered. That’s part of the system, too, he supposes.
“Kirin!” he shouts. “Kirin?”
No response.
Adrian instantly regrets calling out for help. This is a trial, isn’t it? Kirin knows much more about the to...
2023-09-23 23:29:21 +0000 UTC
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Divinity
Through the chaos, you have achieved a feat beyond the scope of the system. Though you may not yet be a true god, you have taken the first step towards becoming one. The system cannot grant dominion over that which is beyond its purview, but it can loosen restrictions. System-enforced authority blindness has been removed.
Defiance
Tier: ???
To escape this ...
2023-09-21 20:46:25 +0000 UTC
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Mantis Shrimp. Kinetic (D)/Marksman (C). Overall D-rank*. Unaffiliated hero. Based in West Lafayette, IN.
Powerset: telekinesis in a limited range. During the first engagements of the now-infamous Killjoy Incident, she demonstrated an ability to cause extreme pain at close ranges. Speculated double-vial.
* In contention.
- “Mantis Shrimp” landing page, Superhuman Response Unit wiki, archived November 1, 2024
2023-09-19 21:36:38 +0000 UTC
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