Savage Awakening 439. The Second Shard

Zane tossed the Shard of Destruction around in his hand, feeling its weight.

What little of that light made it out was destroying the ground around him. Not melting, not vaporizing, not evaporating—destroying. Simply erasing from existence. The most pure, most terrible form of Destruction.

The moment he crushed that stone, it’d blast through him. Like a tribulation. He’d just have to take it.

It’d be pretty tough on his soul—but well worth it.

It was just a matter of finding the right time.

He could crush it right now… but the hordes were coming fast. Reina thought it shouldn’t take longer than a week to absorb the full thing. It was a good thing that her scryers had found a lull right before the 2nd Challenge—not long now.

He’d take it on then.

That light called to him, somehow—called to his soul. He found he kept looking at it.

Right now, he only had a sliver of Destruction.

That already gave his attacks a great edge. But he was sure he’d seen almost nothing of what Destruction was truly capable of.

He just had to take care of business first.

Before then, he and Reina had one more leveling session.

Level up!

Essence Level 523 -> 524

She decided she’d start her breakthrough around the same time he did—though hers would take maybe a week longer. She just had to secure the World Tree first. It was much faster than normal—more like an ‘Awakening’ than a breakthrough. She just had to take in that shard of Creation.

She felt she had to do it now. From what she’d read, the Second Event onward was where things really ramped up. Fate grew murky there.

She raised her chin. “When that Final Wave comes, I’ll be right there with you, Zane Walker,” she informed him. She was dead set on it.

“I know.” He gave her a kiss. “You’ve got this.”

He wasn’t sure what went into Creation. But if it was anything like Destruction, most of it was force of will. Just determination.

He could tell by the look in her eyes. Reina would be just fine.

Wave after wave passed. He racked up more Credits—and yet again, as the next Challenge drew near, the Monsters started trickling down.

Still, he racked up more Credits, more Levels—

Level up!

Level up!

Level up!

Essence Level 524 -> 527

Credits earned!

+1 Credit

+1 Credit

Total Credits: 4.2

Then the opportunity came, just two weeks out.

He stood on a secluded icy peak deep in the Frontier. There were only beast packs living here—Minor God direwolves and ice giants—but they knew better than to mess with him. Now that he’d gotten the Second Form of his Titan’s Body, just a glance was enough for most to realize what they were dealing with.

He found an empty cavern deep in a shelf of ice and sat.

There he took out that shard.

For a moment, he just considered, playing it between his fingers.

Destruction to him had always felt like taking a whetstone and sharpening the edge of a blade. A blade that had grown hefty and giant since that first shard—whose weight would be all the more deadly when sharpened.

This would be the first of three he’d collect—in quick succession, he expected. Once that was through, he’d need to be able to stand up to the strongest beasts this wave had to offer.

Taken together, it’d need to be quite the boost.

That Chimera Monster in Dungeon X was still in the back of his mind—the one that had dared take a Titan Rhino horn. It still angered him, just thinking about it.

He knew, deep in his gut, that it wasn’t done.

It was growing stronger just as he was. And there was nothing in this Frontier that could take it down—that, he was certain of.

It would have to be him.

It was waiting for him at the end of all of this. Reina was pretty sure it was the Final Boss of Dungeon X.

The bulk of those Tier 7 Monsters came from the depths of that one Dungeon. More and more, it was unlocking. And more and more dangers spilled out.

If he fell at any point, Earth was done. His friends with it.

He considered all this in his mind. He felt the weight of it—a good weight.

It stoked a fire in his chest.

He had to grow faster.

He’d need all the destructive power he could get.

He felt he was only beginning to understand what it meant to destroy, in that total, utter sense. In his time, he’d dealt all kinds of destruction. Crush. Strangle. Shatter. He enjoyed each one in its own way. But there was a single, heavier, deeper truth that sat at the heart of them all. The purest form of violence.

That was what he sought now. That was what was trapped in the shard in his fist—a shard unmaking the ice around him, whittling away his Health even as he sat….

He raised his fist. Closed his eyes, took a deep breath.

He crushed that shard with conviction.

The Empire was in ruins.

Black-silver spires were toppled on their sides; fountains shattered, mighty statues of once-great men toppled, faces crushed beyond recognition…

Melting gold dripped from the roofs of its many, many towers and mingled with the blood staining the streets.

There was a massive church near the heart of the city, three proud domes—but it was as though two sword strokes had laced it with one vicious X, cutting smooth, smoldering-black planes where the force went through, leaving it lolling.

Fire licked the night. Tier 7 Law—a kind of Fire drawn from the lowest circles of the Seventh Hell. That was—the lowest circles of Superdungeon, Floor 666.

The last of the human cries were fading. Monsters ran over the wreckage.

A single Monster strode through the heart of it all.

Fane the Ravager, First Prince of the Dark Elves [Monster King]

Essence Level 750

He held two swords, one in each hand—thin, but terrifyingly deadly; twin shards of moonlight—and with each lazy slash, he annihilated entire swathes of True Gods.

That white edge staining his blade would’ve seemed like moonlight to the untrained eye. But any true powerhouse would know it as Destruction—and it was enough to strike fear into all who saw it, even the mightiest of the Empire’s knights.

As Fane strode forth, a circle of Law raged around him.

An inner Universe.

A world of howling night, a blind world—all sound and fury, and from it issued a black wind that scythed through all it found—flesh and bone and stone, screaming out…

The last of the human Grand Knights lay on the ground, bleeding golden blood. The Knight Captain, Defender of the Realm. An Empyrean—handsome, with strong features, though his thick sword arm was fully lopped off—and a slash took him through the heart.

Grand Knight Helios

Essence Level 744

His own inner universe fought against that howling black—a world of holy light, a heaven in miniature.

But the light was flickering out.

He struggled up—grabbed at his shield, gritting his teeth—

It didn’t look like Fane moved particularly fast, or with particular force. A careless slash.

But even that little effort took the Empyrean’s head clean off his body—and cleaved a ravine deep beyond.

Cleaved so hard it shattered that holy Inner Universe in a single blow.

Thus falls the greatest defender of the Julian Empire, mused the Monster. And with it, the hopes of all mankind.

He studied the fallen Knight with vague curiosity. I’d expected more of a fight.

“You—!” choked a page, bleeding out not far away.

Fane cast him a lazy glance.

Quiet, sighed the Monster. Then he moved on, as if the boy wasn’t worth lifting a finger.

He advanced on the last building left unbroken.

A tower of marble—each layer meticulously, gorgeously wrought. Billions of letters in billions of tongues were carved out along its marble walls, glowing softly.

And there lies the fabled Library of Julian… The Monster smiled. It is said that every tome ever written by man is stored there—from the trifling diaries of their younglings to the secret Skills of Ancient Sages… all of mankind’s stories, histories. The greatest works of art, of human feeling. How beautiful. How fragile.

Its swords darkened at the edges; the bleak winds ran angry fingers down their lengths. That universe howled ever-louder—

Do you understand what it means when I destroy this? said Fane softly.

A pause.

He gave the page another lazy glance. I asked you a question, child.

The page choked out a sob.

Come now, sighed Fane. Have some dignity. You are the last of your kind. Is this how you’d like them to be remembered? By one last, pathetic sob?

Then he stilled.

A shadow was solidifying through the smoke.

A middle-aged man in scholar’s robes emerged from the Library. Gray-bearded, lean, with three fingers missing on one hand.

For a few seconds, he just gazed out at the destruction. Then around him—at the bodies strewn all over the plaza. He seemed to recognize a few of them—the ones in Librarians’ robes; his eyes widened just a fraction.

A straggler, Fane stepped closer, head cocked. An Empyrean, at that. How… curious. Where were you as your city burned?

“Deep in study,” said the scholar softly. He knelt and closed one of the fallen Librarian’s eyes. “Far removed… I didn’t know.”

Fane made a humming sound as he drew closer—so close they were just a few swords’ lengths away. It would take just a flicker of effort to cut off the scholar’s head, as easily as he’d done the Grand Knight.

The only thing stopping the Dark Prince seemed to be his own amusement.

A shame.

The edges of the swords began thickening with white—and on their edges, there was a telltale glint of Destruction.

It was the power that had made Fane’s name. The power that had torn through the Grand Knight’s heart.

Tell me your name, said Fane softly. I must know.

“They call me Noughtfire.”

Noughtfire? Fane sounded disappointed. I know all man’s Great Heroes… none go by that name.

“No,” said Noughtfire calmly. “I am not a fighter, but a scholar.”

He looked around slowly at the ruins of the beautiful city. He closed his eyes.

“There is no wisdom in Destruction,” he said.

No, agreed the Dark Elf. Only pleasure.

“Revenge,” said Noughtfire, eyes still closed, face a mask of tightly controlled pain. “Hatred—it will not restore what was lost… I must remember that.”

Fane’s purple eyes went to slitted crescents. What would a scholar know of Destruction?

Noughtfire sighed. “Only this.”

He pointed a finger.

Then it was as though an ion cannon beamed a blast straight down from space. A pillar of pure white—and for a moment, there was nothing but that light.

Raw Destruction graced the world.

And annihilated Fane’s Inner Universe in a single blow.

The Monster King barely had time to scream.

The light faded, and Noughtfire watched the ash-petals of his ruined enemy drift slowly, to settle on the ash of his friends.

“There is no wisdom in destruction,” he said again, softly.

Then the sadness in his eyes hardened into something colder. Something like fury.

“And yet,” he snarled.

Then he turned.

Turned to the dozens of True God and Empyrean Monsters—those vast auras still engulfing the wrecked city, worse than the flame. And his eyes blazed with the light of Destruction.

There, the scene faded.

 ***

Zane found himself again, breathing heavy, blinking.

He let that feeling settle into the core of him—finding a home in his Law…

And in that moment, his Red Giant gained a core of the most searing white.

Shard of Destruction integrated!

H. Red Giant [Mythic (P) -> Mythic+ (P)]