BlueShear

Chapter 103

Minutes Earlier:

It was time to commence with Jun’s absolutely foil proof, never going to fail, sure to satisfy or your money back guaranteed, eight step, two part plan to put an end to the sadistic cephalopod scream Queen’s uninterrupted reign of tyranny. This time? For once and for all.

Step 1: Don’t die.

A bit of a tall order, I’ll grant you, but trust me when I say it’s integral to every single step of the plan that follows.

The ...

Chapter 102

Nialla released a river of writhing tentacles at the boy, ignoring as she did so the fire of energy rifles that periodically scorched her skin. She’d fallen into a steady rhythm by this point. Almost a form of meditation, in a way. In fact, in that moment her minds were so at peace that, were this place not as resonance dry as an uninitiated world, she might have expected some decent gains in her law comprehension.

Even without external resonance sources, she felt her in...

Chapter 101

Jun stared down at his own face reflected in the opaque pond. In this place, a product of his dissociating mind, he’d figured it could be whatever he wanted it to be. And so he’d turned the vast nothingness surrounding him on all sides, into a vast nothingness with a tranquil pond for him to tread upon, like a black pane of glass—every footstep sending ripples across its mirror-like surface.

Time passed. He ambled on. He didn’t know for how long. The passage of time meaningless ...

Chapter 100

It was quite possibly the worst day of his life. Made all the worse for the fact that it didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. A careening carousel of casual cruelty that wouldn’t let him off for the life or death of him—the latter seeming preferable at that very moment, so long as it was a permanent reprieve. A montage of murders, a symphony of suffering, with him, lucky him, smack dab in the middle of it. A lone spotlight paints the world a rusty crimson; a boot to the backside has h...

Chapter 99

An excerpt from: “A Mad Man’s Repository: A Conceptual Compendium on the Unreasonableness of the Universe.”

I thought I should include a few short pages on the world trials—their quirks, how they operate, etc—if only to help keep the inane rules and guidelines straight in my own head. Right! So, first things first, it’s important to note that the actual rules of each trial differ wildly depending on its star designation, though one thing in particul...

Chapter 98

The instant they opened fire, the world as she knew it slowed down to a crawl. It was no technique of hers. In fact it wasn’t even a particularly difficult thing to do. With her high mind, the greatest of all her attributes, a thought was all it took to overclock her mental cognition—highlighting everything around her in crisp detail. 

Each flash of light a blooming aurora. 

Every sound a base thrumming, frequencies more felt than heard. 

The languid rise ...

Chapter 97

“So, let me just see if I’m understanding this correctly. If she runs away instead of choosing to fight, and if she then applies one of your malicious mantras before reading the fine print, and if, on top of all of that, the very first thing she decides to do upon waking is forgo indulging in a nice, hearty breakfast-”

“Then plan c is a go. I really don’t see what you’re getting hung up on here.”

“If we survive that lon...

Chapter 96

Primer looked out over the burning settlement from his sky-high vantage, the light of torched homes reflecting in his eyes. The chorus of screams reached him like livestock dragged kicking and squealing to the slaughter. 

It was such a shame they’d forced his hand, he thought—his slender silhouette outlined against an overcast sky, awash with a reflected red and orange hue. He wasn’t averse to killing, but neither was he a major proponent of it. He didn’t enjoy it like so m...

Chapter 95

Nialla exited into a spirit dry hole in the ground overgrown with rampant weeds and algae. 

She wasted no time in pouring her spirit into its new bodies, anxious to confirm the extent of the damage. There was a disorienting moment in which she occupied two bodies simultaneously, before, through the use of their soul bond, she merged their bodies much like she had their spirits. 

Sitting up from where she lay, she first gave herself a quick once over—not great, but not ...

Chapter 94

While she was pondering her options, four more burning lines of pain left bright red streaks across her skin. And while none of them were in any way lethal—in fact all they really managed to do was to kindle her ire—they were, unfortunately, not trivial enough for her to simply ignore outright. She glared at the insect. 

If only she had access to her spirit-! 

But no, still too risky. 

Should she run? 

Not a particularly auspicious way to kick o...

Chapter 93

From out of the corner of his eye, Jun caught the telltale flash of ruby red. And although he made sure not to draw attention to it, he just couldn’t help, nor seem to get rid of, a lopsided, self satisfied grin.

Took you long enough.

BANG!

Even having the smirk literally wiped off his face couldn’t ruin his mood completely.

Right then! Time to get serious.

Jun took in a deep breath and held it there, cheeks puffed ...

Chapter 92

Nialla looked on in blank stupefaction as explosions rocked the bulk of her wayward offspring. What little of them remained after that initial salvo anyway. Concussive slaps of blooming silver decimating their ranks in very short order—each violent eruption of concussive force touching upon the barest hint of primeval origins. Backhanding them from the sky in rapid succession, even as they rushed to close the gap a series of… less than conventional aerial maneuvers easily maintained throu...

Chapter 91

A persistent breeze tugs at his tattered clothes, pulling free loose strands of hair from his blood matted scalp. The orange sky of late evening a subtle backdrop. The briefest flash of color or wisp of fiery cloud only periodically glimpsed past the oncoming tide of liquid darkness. The hoard set before him so numerous in scope and illusive in their origin as to make it nigh impossible for him to determine just how many he faced. 

Hard not to see it for what it so resembled. ...

Chapter 90

A salty ocean breeze carries with it the rhythmic crashing of waves and the raucous quarreling of seagulls. Transfixed by the constant ebb and flow of an unfamiliar sea, Eleanor finds herself in a state of wistful melancholy. 

Not at the artificial nature of her world. The mock reality of her existence having come as quite the surprise, to put it lightly. Nor at the simple futility of her past actions, for good or for ill. No, she’d had plenty of time to mope and bemoan her wretc...

Chapter 89

Glancing up and to the side, he took in the massively projected screen. There, he watched through his own half lidded eyes as the girl, who might as well have been his minder at this point, hand fed him slivers of some delicious looking fruit. If he could have salivated in that moment, he would have.

Gods above did he miss the taste of food. What passed for fare in the trial worlds tasted flavorless in comparison to even his foggy remembrance of what food used to taste like. Even the fa...

Chapter 88

Body’s Temple | Crushing Erosion!

Jun was quick to summon up his quintessential defense, but, by then, it was already too late.

Etheric Concession: The Curse of Perfection

That weird lightning attack… how come I couldn’t see it? Bit unfair if you ask me.

For the first time in living memory, Jun failed to find the will to maintain his mantra. The chrome tint to his skin quickly faded away. Just about as swiftly a...

Chapter 87

Name: NOT APPLICABLE

Race: Cthulle 

Bloodline: NOT APPLICABLE

Titles: Denizen of the Void, Lofty Pedigree

Body Mutation: Standard Brute—[Toughened Hide, Enhanced Musculature, Reinforced Bones.]

Resonance Pillar: Traveled Copper [0 of 50]

Body: 10 Celestial Dew (10,400 Celestial Essence)

2024-11-13 19:04:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 86

Eleanor’s short sword moved with liquid grace and finely tuned precision. 

Legs sweeping, body rotating, smoothly transitioning from one blade stance to another. Effectively cordoning off a small space for themselves within the greater battlefield as a whole. A temporary oasis in the eye of the storm, her swirling river of ruby red petals. 

The only downside? 

The steady mist of blood—and worse, so so much worse—which saw fit to drench her, bone...

Jun’s POV (21)

Trial Difficulty: 4 Stars

Joint Base Masterson

A Barren Stretch of Desert Many Miles from Civilization

“Wow. Would you look at him go. Almost makes up for the time his unique brand of stupidity nearly had all my plans going up in smoke. Almost.”

Jun watched through the crystal clear viewing window projected by his optical implant, as the… fight? 

The one sided beat down? 

As the battle, which—given t...

Jun’s POV (20)

“Right! So,” Jun announced from where he sat cross legged, hip deep in creeping void mists. “Looks like I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

Jun quickly gave the condensed list of his achievements and boosted parameters the final once over—hastily scribbled notes, a few random charts, and a spinning three dimensional rendering of himself, of all things, helpfully highlighted in bright shades of magenta.

Reliable Allies: 6 of 6

Sworn Enemies: ...