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Chapter 54: Farm Upkeep

Bee stepped into sunlight for the first time in almost a week. Just like last time she stood there for a moment, feeling the sun on her face and the wind in her hair. She closed her eyes. It was amazing how much she missed the outside after being in the deep catacombs for so long. Sighing contentedly, she made sure to check her surroundings before setting out. There were no humans that would bother her this time. She hoped, for the most part, that the demons were contained within the castle. ...

Chapter 53: A Splash of Truth

This was not going very well. After the second demon came along, not only were there twice as many ways for me to get hit, but I also had to split my attention. This led to a drop in overall efficiency. I wasn't just dividing my damage across two different sources. It was less efficient than that, at least from the sanitation lamp.

The nice thing about suction is it works from all directions. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite be as effective for each demon. Still, I was able to do signif...

V2 Chapter 8: Bombardment II

This was the one thing they had drilled for the most. They knew exactly what they needed to do, and with very little instruction from Sevs, they fell out to go do it. All combat personnel was supposed to form a corridor from the respawn rooms to the escape pods. Then as everyone else got off the ship, the ones at the end of the tail would go down the corridor, and as they passed the next, so on and so forth, and eventually, everyone would make the escape pods and be out.

The drills had...

V2 Chapter 7: Bombardment I

When the squad gathered for their morning routine. They showed up in the training room. Instead of Doomslayer waiting for them, it was the lieutenant.

"What is going on?" Soshal asked as she was the first to step into the room. Dan looked around to make sure everyone was there before making a response. "Sargent Doomslayer is meeting with the Captain and other leadership. I will fill in for the training today."

"What happened? Is he coming back?" Bexy asked.

I can't talk a...

Chapter 52: Securing Supplies

After finishing off the earth demon, I happily trundled toward the library. I tried to collect as much loose dirt and debris as I could along the way, but I couldn't get everything. This whole area would need a real deep clean. I turned the door handle and pushed but felt more resistance than expected. Huh. That was strange. It didn't seem to be locked, so I pushed harder. Finally, the door groaned inward in protest. I saw Beatrice standing across the room, staring in my direction. When she s...

Chapter 51: Of Voids and Vacuums

As Beatrice rounded the corner towards the library, the demon made to follow. But I met it as soon as it started up the stairs. This time I didn't hold back. There was no concern for preserving the carpet. I just had to ensure that it was stalled long enough for Beatrice to get away. The demon seemed to have figured out the futility of attacking me. It also couldn't just sit at the base of the stairs. It didn't seem capable of going through any side doors and hadn't even tried to leave the ca...

Chapter 50: Soil Sucking

Bee watched as Void danced around the earth demon's blows. The demon seemed utterly lost as it spun around, trying to follow the small black blur nipping at its heels. In fact, she might have said that its blows looked clumsy, but that was only in comparison to Void's darting form. Still, that didn't mean that the monster was harmless. Every time a fist or foot hit the ground, she could feel the vibrations even from a dozen yards away. It wasn't quite enough to crack the granite, but if those...

V2 Chapter 6: Strike IV

"We are out of position, and the sergeant just went down," Sevs reported.

The Lieutenant paused for a second. "What's your position, Private?"

Fiddling with some of his comms Sevs sent his position over. Looking at it, they were very out of position. They had gone way past the Target location, and we were pretty much on the opposite side of the station compared to everyone else. Sevs wasn't sure what Doomsayer was doing. Was he trying to get them all killed? He did seem rather c...

Chapter 49: Dust Devils

Bee followed her master up the last ramp out of the catacombs. She was exhausted from all the exertion and trials of the last couple of days. She was looking forward to a nice nap. Perhaps she would move a mattress into the library so she wouldn't have to sleep on the floor again.

It was a long walk, but it seemed to fly by as she became lost in thought, considering everything she had seen. It felt like she learned so much yet knew even less than she had previously. A lot of the evidenc...

Chapter 48: Dressing Down

Turns out Beatrice wasn't in as much trouble as I first thought. Truly I envied the versatility of human bodies. After waving hello to me, she carefully dropped something down onto her pack below. Then she grasped the ledge, swung her feet, and carefully lowered herself. Finally, she dropped the remaining distance and landed in a crouch. I cheered her graceful show of acrobatics.

"Hello, master." There was a cheery grin on her face. She seemed to be in a good mood. I had to say I was t...

Chapter 43.1: The Ballad of Skelly and Skully

That fateful day our tale did end untold

A flower plucked before it bore sweet fruit

When mages called upon the land’s most brave

In search of unknown depths and wealth beneath.

Emil and I, our blades and wits honed sharp

Upon arrival were unruffled still

Our partnership had weathered endless strife

That drove us toward the tomb’s dark mystery.

Within I was astonished, finding whole

Such tales hitherto lost of nat...

Chapter 47: Getting Detailed

Bee had hoped Void would catch up to her soon, but there was still no sign of her master. This left her in an awkward position. She poked her head around the corner into the catacombs level. Even knowing its capabilities, she might have started to worry. Still, there was no sign of any skeletons coming up from behind her. Indeed that was a good sign.

Looking into the massive room, she could make out much more this time. The oppressive darkness from when they had first entered this room...

V2 Chapter 5: Strike III

Sevs and his team burst out of the restraints. It was a flurry of controlled chaos as they undid their harnesses and got into the line, ready to charge through the doors as they opened. Then, with a final screech, the metal pulled away, and the ship sealed a passage. One of the men from The experience squads in the front tossed a few grenades out in the corridor and sprinted low with his people behind him providing covering fire.

Those running in had riot shields that they ducked behin...

V2 Chapter 4: Strike II

The squad fell out. Soshal came up to Sevs as they were heading back to their bunks. "Are we ready?"

"I think we'll be okay."

"I don't know. What about Doomslayer? He didn't even show up for the briefing."

"I don't know how that man is a sergeant. We'll have to act like he's not there and work around him if he is."

Sevs hoped the man would not show up. From the last couple of months of training with Doomslayer, Sevs had not gotten a good impression of the man. More lik...

V2 Chapter 3: Strike I

Sevs trudged next to Jason as they made their way down the corridor. It must have been the 10th time this hour, but they had passed through this area. It felt like 10,000 times they had gone on this very same route. It was hard to maintain discipline when they were so bored. Jason was probably the worst person to get paired up with for this punishment detail. He had a habit of getting distracted, and right when he started to speak, Dan popped around the corner to catch him. And unfortunately,...

Chapter 46: Time to clean

I sat on the floor motionless for quite a while. I could feel my systems knitting themselves back together, very slowly but surely. The problem was that my new Automatic Maintenance mutation did not indicate how long my repairs would take. At least, none that I could understand. When I chose that option, a couple of squiggly lines appeared in the upper left corner of my vision. They were next to small pictures of gears. I was reasonably sure they held some meaning, but the squiggles next to t...

V2 Chapter 2: Induction II

The Lieutenant stopped and considered him for a second. "That's a good question. Sometimes we reverse it when they're taking the fight to us. Sometimes we recover data from those raids and find their spaceships. Unlike us, they are not a nomad culture and have many planets. This gives them a massive population advantage over us. It's unclear whether or not they respawn or they're just endlessly numbered; it's something that we have not been able to determine. We have found a few of their plan...

Chapter 45: A brush with death

I raced away from the demons. But, unfortunately, it seemed like the skeletons had joined in the fun. Everyone wanted to chase the little robot vacuum down the hallway. I didn't think I was having nearly as much fun as they seemed to be. Then, of course, I realized that they weren't actually playing a game and probably intended to rip me apart piece by piece. But thinking of them trying to play chase really helped me stay calm.

Even while fleeing, my sensors could calculate each party'...

V2 Chapter 1: Induction I

The recruits stood in a line. They were doing their best to stand at attention, but that wasn't something that players were very good at. Unless they were hardcore role players, which many of these were not. Still, Zim didn't seem to mind too much; he paced back and forth in front of them.

All nine of them. It started off as 13, but four had decided that this wasn't for them after the attack. Instead, they found a few minutes of cold in a vacuum. Dying repeatedly was preferable to spen...

Chapter 44: The Clean Path

"This is as far as we can go," Beatrice panted. We had gone back and forth through the hidden tunnels of this top level, looking for other exits. However, the only thing we could find was a false wall passing into the long sloping tunnel right before the cubby-filled room. Carefully I rolled out of the "stone" wall to take stock of the situation. I wanted to avoid the main path as much as possible, and it seemed that Beatrice shared my desire. The sounds we heard before were now silent, but i...

Ascension Vol2

So it's almost been a week since I finished posting Vol 1. I've been making good progress on the second volume of Ascension. I'm going to do it slightly differently. The posting schedule will overlap more with All the Dust that Falls to make my life slightly easier. I plan on having two chapters on Saturday and Tuesday. I know this is a longer wait than I promised of a week so I will do an extra first chapter on Thursday. 

I found that the shorter chapters stopped letting me includ...

Chapter 43: Clean UP

A/N: Super extra long chapter!

Void was making Bee a little uncomfortable. She had just started getting used to her master and his eccentricities too. She still found it considerate and kind-hearted, of course, but it was hard to remember when it waved a human skull in the air like a trophy. Maybe it was a case of an unknowable being simply not considering or caring about mere mortals' feelings. Still, it didn't exactly encourage her. Even cheering her on as she fought up the pathway t...

Chapter 42: A Pristine Oasis

Bee studied the statue carefully. At first, she thought it resembled the hero on the griffin from the carvings. However, that was not the case. Instead, the figure seemed to be one of the humans leading a legion of humanity. More than that, though, it was… lifelike. Almost too lifelike.

If Bee had to guess, she'd say that this may very well be an actual man. He seemed to be in stasis like a fully depowered demon. Her theory's only problem was the complete lack of script circles surro...

Chapter 41: What Lies Between the Starts Sucks

Void pulled in front of Bee. It forced her to stop so as not to kick her master. She looked around and back over her shoulder. Nothing was chasing them yet. The irrational fear had passed, but the very rational and reasonable worries remained. Still, Void was here. She gathered a hold of herself and took a few deep breaths. Okay, I'm good.

Void let out a soft conciliatory hum. It seemed to understand that she was scared, but it needed her head in the game. So they silently sto...

Chapter 40: A Dust Trap

Bee stood above the remains of the two skeletons while Void absorbed them. She panted raggedly, barely able to catch her breath. This last encounter had been the most challenging fight yet. Sure, she felt like she was improving as they progressed, but her opponents seemed to be improving even faster. She had gotten an initial boost of competence from her skill, but since then, the speed at which she improved had drastically slowed down. She wasn't gaining levels as quickly as when they first ...

Chapter 61: Impact V

The two of them came into the command post. As they walked in, Zim looked at Sevs. "Report."

"One left injured. Carl and Lexi should take them, sir."

Zim relaxed a little. "Good job, soldier."

Zim nodded and turned back to a few of the other soldiers. Then, he reported to his superior. "All but two of my squad reported. There were two breaches, but it seems likely they were contained. We will know shortly if not."

"Very good, sergeant. Get your squad and prepare to...

Chapter 39: Swept Away

Beatrice rattled off her skill options. They sounded pretty exciting, actually. However, they were very different from the ones I had received before. Broom Proficiency, Prayer Leader, and Intimidation.

Intimidation seemed valuable for avoiding conflict. I had even used it once. Not the skill, of course, but I had intimidated those outside humans pretty well. I wasn’t sure I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t deny its utility. Still, I wasn't convinced that Beatrice would need it. Sure, it...

Announcement: Post Writathon Schedule

The Writathon is over today. I blew past my expectations and wrote ~90K words in these five weeks. It has been crazy fun but also just crazy. Some of you have expressed concern about burnout, and I share those concerns (even if I feel like I'm still going strong right now). So to make sure that I can keep this story going until it's done, I'm adjusting the schedule to make sure I can keep posting. Starting today, it will move to a Tu, Th, and Sat schedule. So the next post is tomorrow!

...

Chapter 60: Impact IV

That close, Sevs was trying to use speed, momentum, and raw force to his advantage; however, it wouldn't matter much if you couldn't hit the target. When they engaged, they became too close for the recruits to fire at them. The other space elf might be able to make an impact. However, Bexy and Carl were good enough to keep him off. This was a very precarious balance. The two fights carried on simultaneously. Whichever skirmish tipped first would tip the entire conflict. So Sevs couldn't just ...

Chapter 38: Dust-Off

We reached the wall across from the entrance exactly 2,101 ft later. That made this room much longer than it could have been tall; it was more of a hallway sized for giants. It wasn't until I saw Beatrice looking carefully at the cubbies that I realized something was inside. They were skeletons, quiet, sleeping, and apparently once-living humans. I was thrilled that they weren't trying to attack us. The numbers would have been quite troublesome to deal with, but for some reason, they seemed t...