Universe's End

“C’mon,” Rory muttered, tightly holding his emotions in check. “C’mon.”

“Can you break through?” Apostolos asked, worried.

“He can,” Zoey instantly answered, rolling her shoulders.

The scene was somewhat of an odd one. The return of the Lord Founder was, of course, a moment that most would have been excited about, much less with another Founder in tow.

Given the severity of the situation, no one was jumping at the prospect of ingratiating themselves with Rory or Zoey, except Apostolos, who stood nearby, and the rest of the onlookers hung back and out of the way.

Which was probably for the best, Rory needed to concentrate, and it took everything he had not fixate on what he’d just learned.

Roxy. Roxy is there.

Eyes closed and hands holding onto the solid portions of the Null Window, Rory probed at the ‘barrier’ in the way.

Sealed shut, but from the opposite direction.

Sealing off an area from the outside world was not something that could have been easy, even for his Bane. Meaning this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment event.

Premediated. The thought sent chills down his spine.

C’mon.

For as firm as the barrier blocking travel was into the Golden Fields, it must have also been incredibly prone to complete collapse if he was able to find a single point to break through. The usual answer was simply brute force, but this was a Null Window he was talking about; Rory didn’t want to accidentally cause some sort of dimensional collapse.

Was that possible? Fuck if he knew at this point, but caution was advisable.

There!

Finally grasping a point of conceptual weakness, Rory pushed hard, drawing a tiny speck of oblivion energy from his ring as he did. Aided by the potent pneuma, the barrier at last collapsed.

“It’s down,” Rory said before glancing at Apostolos. “I need you to remain behind.”

“What, why?” Apostolos asked.

“This isn’t out of the blue. I don’t trust that something might not happen, or that it could be a trap. Either way, with Zoey and me leaving, you will be the next strongest person.”

“Fine,” Apostolos nodded. “But you’re not going in alone.”

As if on cue, three figures rolled up, decked out as if ready for war.

“Violet, Marcie, Edward,” Rory nodded. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like when we go through, but I can’t be protecting you three.”

“Aye aye,” Marcie saluted. While it was said with cheer, Rory could see the woman was forcing it, on edge as anyone else.

“Good, now let’s move people!”

Given Zoey didn’t know the exact ‘coordinates’ of the Golden Fields, Rory grabbed her arm as the two stepped through the Null Window, Rory preparing for the worst.

And dear god, did he get it.

Fuck.

The Golden Fields were a warzone, tens of thousands of monsters surging about, clashing against the measly hundreds of Blue Lightning serpents that remained.

More than that was the fact that as he stepped through, he felt it, three tier eight auras. One had faded to near non-existence, while the third was culled entirely a moment later.

An aura Rory recognized well, it could be none other than the heavenly serpent, the Khan of Blue Lightning.

It wasn’t just aura; Rory saw it happen with his own eyes, stepping through just in time to witness the massive serpent’s head separated from the rest of its body, landing with a titanic crash.

“You!” Rory shouted the moment he saw the culprit, his infamous bane. Its appearance had changed for the first time in years, but there was no mistaking it.

It was him. Or rather, a version of ‘him’ if all his recognizable features had been erased, waxy black chitin in place of skin, and savagely cruel-looking hooked claws in place of hands.

Yet even with those differences, Rory didn’t miss for an instant the intentional appearance of his Bane.

The moment Rory had appeared, the soaring aura of the Bane, bordering tier nine, plummeted, capped to what was allowable for their low-tier-eight confrontation.

And yet the Bane didn’t just seem unbothered; it was positively delighted, cackling and screeching with maniacal fervor.

“What the fuck is wrong with your bane?” Zoey asked, her low tone indicating she’d spoken out loud.

“Obsession,” Rory answered, his blood feeling as if it were coursing with frozen heat.

“You!” His bane screeched back at Rory, vanishing before reappearing in front of Rory, tackling him as the two were knocked through a rift that was suddenly torn open.

“Go!” Rory shouted at Zoey, the message clear.

And then the two vanished.

“That thing is broken,” Zoey muttered to herself as soon as Rory and his bane had vanished.

And she wasn’t referring to its abilities. It was about as psychotic as anything Zoey had encountered to date.

“But not important right now,” Zoey said. While her senses weren’t quite as attuned in the way Rory’s were, she was still no slouch, as she cast her perception outward.

People. Shit.

More than the living, it was the dead that she could feel, the lingering warmth that clung to them that stuck out to Zoey.

It was the dead children that really shocked her.

Right. Not fucking around.

Putting everything into a single skill, Zoey let her aura radiate outward as she blasted her taunt skill.

Every.

Single.

Monster.

Turned their attention in her direction.

Good.

One leap was enough to clear the moat surrounding the temple where she had appeared.

Skin turning metal, Zoey prepared herself for the assault. Given that most were lower-tier than she, Zoey didn’t feel all that concerned.

That was until the giant monstrosity, still barely alive, began to stir, a tier eight infected by… something nasty, judging by the feel of its aura.

Not infected… Reanimated?

Low on energy as it was, it shouldn’t have been that much more of a concern than anything else, but as the tide of monsters reached her, a column split off. As soon as they got within a hundred meters of the stirring monstrosity, the weaker monsters disintegrated, their bodies turning into motes of sickly green and black energy that struck the fallen tier eight, seeping in.

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The horde of monsters that crashed down upon her capped out at tier seven, and in theory, Zoey could have easily dealt with them. Yet, without any large range attacks, they were able to slow her advance enough, even as she attempted to reach the stirring monstrosity.

Even a single second was precious, time that allowed the fallen tier eight to regather strength.

Fuck!

Finally pushing through the horde that had begun to throw their bodies at her in a desperate attempt to slow her, she was too slow, the tier eight rising once more, its almost completely depleted reserves refilled.

The good news was that even before reanimation, the tier eight monster she now faced would have been weaker than the King of the Molten Peaks.

The bad news was that it was just her versus it and a horde of lower-tier monsters.

Or that was until three figures finally appeared atop the temple, instantly locking onto her location and rushing over with haste.

Took them long enough.

Whatever had slowed them had finally been overcome, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Because they were in for a hell of a fight.

Roxy was exhausted.

Hellishly exhausted. She’d done everything she could, dripping blood and monster guts, her folded aura blade shattered, her reserves utterly exhausted.

Too many.

There were simply so many monsters. The serpents of the Golden Fields had done the best they could to resist, but the numbers were too lopsided.

As if to prove the point was the fact that Roxy felt her handle tremble as the monster in front of her stepped closer and closer.