Talia raked her claws across the demon’s abdomen, slicing through the blackened flesh with ease. Even as she disemboweled the creature, it retaliated with a roaring overhand strike with a jagged-bladed sword made of dull, pitted metal. The weapon descended with the force of a falling meteor, whistling as it cleaved the air. Under the effects of Zeke’s [Avatar of the Beast] as well as her own [Alacrity of Undeath], Talia slipped to the side, her other hand...
2022-10-18 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
Abby looked down on Zeke’s shattered body, trying her best to keep the horror dancing in her mind from infecting her expression. She had always known that Zeke was powerful. Though she didn’t admit it, even to herself, that was one of the reasons she was with him in the first place. There was just something undeniably attractive about a powerful man; even in a world where she was much stronger than most, there was a part of her that just wanted to feel safe. Zeke gave her that. And she ho...
2022-10-17 13:00:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
I’ve always thought of myself as a hard man. I was never entirely pitiless, but I could kill without much remorse. However, the moment I saw the myriad ways people had been taken advantage of, my heart wept. I’ve been fighting it ever since.
Jeremiah Braddock
For a second, I couldn’t pull my eyes from the floor, which was made of some sort of dull grey metal, though instead of a slick surface, it was subtly textured. Shaking my head, I blinked a few times a...
2022-10-16 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
View Post
I've been working toward that last chapter for a while, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I had a great time writing it, and I hope everyone's enjoyed reading it as well.
As I announced earlier in the week, I removed the first 53 chapters of Death: Genesis - a necessity in preparation for the Kindle and Audible release. But don't worry. The edited version is coming out in a little more than a month (on Nov. 29), and I hope everyone will throw their su...
2022-10-15 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Zeke swung his mace two-handed, the attack shattering a demon’s horn before continuing on to crush its skull to red-and-black paste. Keeping his momentum going in a spin, he ducked beneath a reaching claw, sweeping his weapon around to take out the legs of another demonic creature. As he did, the red mist invaded the demon’s body, snatching pieces of its life energy only to return it to Zeke. It was barely a drop in an enormous bucket, but every little bit added up. More importantly, a so...
2022-10-14 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Careful, now,” cautioned Tucker, cradling the bundle of grenades as gently as he could manage. “One wrong move…”
“I know,” Carlos said, extending a shadow spear. As soon as he made contact with the glass globes, he activated [Umbral Step] and teleported into the center of the demon horde, dragging the grenades through the shadows behind him. He never stepped out of the shadows, which, because night had fallen, were deep and ubiquitous. Instead, he deposit...
2022-10-13 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
Please be aware that, in preparation for the Kindle and Audible release (on Nov. 29), I've removed the first 53 chapters of Death: Genesis.
When I first obtained my Nexus Implant, I thought I had become a superhero, like in the comics I read growing up. But strength is relative. When I realized that the rest of the universe had power on a level I couldn’t even conceive, it put everything into perspective. That’s when I realized that the war – if it ever...
2022-10-12 13:00:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
ANNOUNCEMENT: Just in case anyone's missed it, I wanted to make sure that everyone's aware that the first 53 chapters are going to be coming down on the 13th. I'm doing this in preparation for the first book's release on Nov. 29 (for both Audible and Kindle).
“So, just bash them with your club, huh?” asked Abby, smirking at Zeke. Everyone was sitting around the table, which had become their de facto conference room. “Why am I not surprised?”
He shrug...
2022-10-11 13:01:00 +0000 UTC
View Post
ANNOUNCEMENT: Just in case anyone's missed it, I wanted to make sure that everyone's aware that the first 53 chapters are going to be coming down on the 13th. I'm doing this in preparation for the first book's release on Nov. 29 (for both Audible and Kindle).
“I hate this,” Abby complained, clutching her softly glowing green gem like her life depended on it. It did, so Talia could forgive her friend for the constant complaints. “It feels li...
2022-10-10 13:00:13 +0000 UTC
View Post
Losing Helena nearly broke me. When it didn’t, my grief was replaced by fury. After spending years in the military, I thought I had seen the depths to which a man could sink. I hadn’t. Not until my rampage was through.
Jeremiah Braddock III
I stared at the Nexus Implant, transfixed by the shimmering colors inside. Each of sides bore the same seven symbols, tiny but imminently clear. I had no idea what they meant, but in that moment,...
2022-10-09 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
I'm not sure how many of you are writers, but sometimes, you get into that zone where the words just start spilling onto the page, almost on their own. In those moments, it can feel like the story's writing itself. And when it happens for me, that's when I feel like I'm doing my best work. I'm not looking at word counts. I'm not thinking about outlines. I'm just writing a cool scene (or scenes). That's what this arc was for me, and I'm really happy with how...
2022-10-08 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Tucker slowly dripped the demon boar’s gallbladder extract into the vial, his hands steady and his concentration unwavering. With each drop, he used his skill [Infuse Mana], holding the flow of energy mostly at bay. Even with all his experience, propped up as it was by his artisan path, it was incredibly difficult to keep the tide of mana at bay. It wanted to rush out all at once, which would ruin the concoction, so he was forced to clamp it down, letting only a tiny, barel...
2022-10-07 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
The ground shook under the creature’s massive weight, and Zeke took an inadvertent step backward. As he did so, he belatedly remembered to use his inspection skill:
Ramul, Lord of the Oasis of Purity – Level 25 (M)
“Wait!” Zeke screamed, raising his hands in surrender as he scrambled backward. “I’m not a demon! I…I fell through a portal, and when I woke up, I was…I was…here. I just want to get home.”
Ramul, Lord of the Oasis of Purity sto...
2022-10-06 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
We thought we were at war, and we mistakenly believed we had a chance. Little did we know that we’d already lost before the first shot had even been fired. Earth was never meant to win. The best we could do was survive.
Jeremiah Braddock III
My uncle stepped away from the bodies, and I stared at the pool of their mingled blood in horror. Death in Nova City was not an uncommon sight. Even at the tender age of fifteen, I’d seen my fair share of dead bodies – my father...
2022-10-05 13:00:11 +0000 UTC
View Post
Zeke reached the edge of the tower’s aura, but he hesitated to cross the threshold. In addition to the transformation the building had undergone, the aura itself had been affected by the demon realm. It didn’t feel like a passive thing anymore, but rather, it had turned into an aggressive deterrent. He hadn’t seen it in action, but he suspected that if something tried to attack, the tower’s aura wouldn’t limit itself to suppression. Instead, Zeke got the feeling that it would subjec...
2022-10-04 13:00:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
Zeke sat on the bed, shirtless and with his shoulders slumped. For a few seconds, Abby stood in the doorway of their bedroom, just staring at his broad back. It was crisscrossed with scars; some were old and pale, but others were jagged, red, and raw. The past few weeks had not been easy for him. Indeed, he’d scarcely had a moment to rest and recover in the years since he’d been reborn, and the time in the demon realm had been worse than ever. That he was still going was a testament to bo...
2022-10-03 13:01:01 +0000 UTC
View Post
I tried so hard, but we were all alone in the wilderness. Seventeen kids, me, and one other adult. None of them had even a semblance of survival training. Only me. I did everything I could to protect them, but the world had changed overnight. I had to become intimately familiar with failure. With loss. Otherwise, I would have gone insane.
Jeremiah Braddock III
My uncle took the lead as we climbed through the drainage tunnels and back to the surface. Neither of us...
2022-10-02 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
View Post
Alright, so we're on the downslope of the latest Death: Genesis arc, but there are still some cool things in store. I've been waiting to do some of this stuff for 160 chapters, so I'm really excited about how things are starting to progress. I hope you're all enjoying it as well.
As I've been mentioning for the last few weeks, I'll be taking down the first book's material (up to chapter 53) by October 15 (in preparation for the Kindle and audiobook release). So, if you...
2022-10-01 13:00:12 +0000 UTC
View Post
At some point, the tower had added a few things to its aura. Most notably, instead of simply warding off less powerful beasts by draining their power, it also came with an air of vitality that made any allies regenerate mana and life energy much more quickly. When Abby used her [Makeshift Camp] skill in conjunction with the tower, it became a veritable cascade of vitality and mana that could speed recovery times by at least half. At times, it was easy to take it for granted, ...
2022-09-30 13:00:11 +0000 UTC
View Post
Suddenly, Zeke found himself lying facedown on the ground. Even before he opened his eyes, he knew something was different. The ground was neither the comforting dirt that made up Oberon’s floating chunk of earth nor the familiar desert sands. Neither was it the expected volcanic rock of the cavern he’d left behind. He had no idea how long he’d spent being tortured by the demoness, but it felt like an eternity of agony and anguish.
With some difficulty, he rolled over onto his bac...
2022-09-29 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
We fought so hard to survive the Initialization, so when we finally reached equilibrium with our new and far more dangerous world, we thought we’d won a great victory. In reality, the fight had yet to even begin.
- Jeremiah Braddock III
“Don’t try to run off,” my uncle said, reading my intentions like a book. When your guardian is a man who borders on the omniscient, it makes it difficult to get away anything. “You won’t make it.”
“I wasn’...
2022-09-28 13:00:10 +0000 UTC
View Post
Zeke’s eyes fluttered open, but all he saw was blackness. However, unlike the comforting embrace of nothingness that he’d experienced before being reborn, he got the feeling that the pervasive darkness hid something far more sinister in nature. More, it was a three-dimensional space, with a distinct floor – which was covered in some sort of liquid – and a jagged ceiling that reminded him of the obsidian caves that had housed the demons.
As awareness overwhelmed the aftermath of ...
2022-09-27 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
Abraham Micayne sat at his desk, his long, thin fingers steepled as he stared ahead into nothingness. Nothing had gone right since he’d made that deal with Constance. On the surface, it had seemed like nothing short of divine providence. Constance had always been a friend as well as a powerful ally, but when she’d lost Jeremiah, her whole demeanor had changed. Suddenly, all the things that had once mattered to her had ceased to exist in her mind. Whether it was family or the fate of Beaco...
2022-09-26 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
View Post
So - this is the new story. I went back and forth on what to work on in my spare time, and after seeing that there really weren't a lot of science fiction LitRPG stories available, I chose a cyberpunk theme. Remember - this is truly a first draft, so there are bound to be errors. So, be gentle! Now, on with the show...
I will never forget the day the world changed. A bright flash of light, a sudden feeling of impending doom, and then all hell...
2022-09-25 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Okay, so the cliffhanger really wasn't intentional here. I hate to leave you all hanging over the weekend, but I kind of have a strict posting schedule from which I really don't want to deviate. So, as much as I want to throw a new chapter up right now, I'm resisting the urge. Please forgive me. In any case, I hope you're all enjoying this arc. I know I had a blast writing it.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, here's where to put them...
2022-09-24 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
View Post
Everything happened all at once.
One second, the warlock, whose name was Julian Asino, was giving a villain’s monologue, and the next, everyone attacked. Abby’s initial salvo hadn’t done much good, but that didn’t stop her from shooting more arrows. At the same time, Tucker tossed a small grenade, and Carlos continued to spear the slim man with shadow spikes. Even as that small, glass globe crashed into him, Zeke rushed forward with Pudge at his heels.
An explosion of whit...
2022-09-23 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Zeke!” Abby yelled from behind him.
Zeke couldn’t spare a moment to turn, so without deviating from his task, he shouted, “What? Kind of busy here!”
As if to punctuate his statement, he caved in a demon’s torso with a backhanded strike before following it up with a shield bash. He finished the creature off with a risky maneuver where he dismissed his shield into his spatial storage, gripped his mace with both hands, and brought it down in a thunderous overhand that de...
2022-09-22 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
Like a tidal wave of dull, red flesh, the horde crashed into Zeke, nearly overwhelming him with the sheer weight of so many hulking bodies. Only the most powerful of the demons had survived the fall of the ceiling, and they were, one and all, packed with bulging muscles, sharp claws, and gnashing teeth. Luckily, Zeke and his party had chosen to position themselves at the top of a steep rise and between a series of stalagmites that served to limit the demons to a narrow path that restricted th...
2022-09-20 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
View Post
“Are you sure about this?” asked Tucker, casting a furtive glance in Zeke’s direction. The big warrior held a stone in his hand, but even though Tucker had no talent for runecraft, even he could feel the power emanating from the grey rock. Further, he knew that Zeke had dozens more just like it in his storage space – a side project he’d steadily worked on and subsequently improved over the course of the past few months. None of them had an overage of extra time, and considering his ...
2022-09-19 13:01:02 +0000 UTC
View Post
This mini-arc is really heating up, isn't it? I really enjoyed writing this one, so I'm eager to see how everyone reacts to it. So, if you have any questions or comments, let me know.
As an aside, I want to let everyone know that we're about a month away from me removing the first book from here and Royal Road (it goes up to chapter 53). So, if you're planning a re-read and don't want to wait until Nov. 29 (the Kindle and Audible release date), you should at least get ...
2022-09-17 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
View Post
