Chapter 68
Chapter 68
Max felt the same force assault him the moment he appeared in the arena that had the first time he met this void god.
“You came,” Zogooruth said, his voice booming across the sand dunes they both stood on. “What place is this? A desert?”
Laughter followed as Max shrugged, pointing at the arena he had picked out.
If what I asked for happens, we’ll have roughly ten miles of desert to use. And the ceiling of this place should only be about a quarter mile.
Either what you plan on works or it doesn’t. Know that whatever happens, I will spend every ounce of power I have stored within me to keep us going.
I know. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.
Max focused on the swirling purple and black vortex within a giant shadow that absorbed the light near it. Zogooruth’s presence still felt every bit intimidating, with thunder ringing out occasionally, the sand turning purple and black as it drew toward the god.
“You’re the one who chose to challenge me,” Max replied. “Though I must say I’m really more curious about who told you to challenge me for a second time.”
The shadow grew, and more peals of thunder rang out as a finger—black and purple material, pulsing nonstop—extended on a hand that emerged from the shadow, pointing at Max. “What makes you think you are worthy of someone—” “Who?” Max shouted over the other god. “Who pulls your strings? Who told you who I was?”
The finger pointed at him shook slightly.
“Does it matter if I was given a name?” Zogooruth replied. “You should have just forfeited, giving me a second world to devour.”
“No,” Max said, shaking his head. “All that would do is buy me another hundred years before you rechallenged me. I want to know who told you to challenge me, or I will make sure you never challenge another god again.”
Zogooruth’s laughter boomed louder than before. Slowly, the finger lowered, and the cacophony of noise diminished. “You think you can defeat me? I am not like the others you have faced. There are none who can—”
Max summoned the fake black-hole bomb, its appearance cutting off Zogooruth immediately.
“You see,” Max said, waving the black and purple metal orb around, small waves of energy and light traveling with it, “I like to do research and pull strings. It turns out there are four items I know of that can kill a god like yourself. It’s a shame I don’t have a quadrillion DP to purchase one of them, but I did have a favor a god owed me and thus…” Max summoned the activator in his other hand.
“Impossible! You cannot have one of those!” Zogooruth shouted.
“Says the god who, a second ago, didn’t fear me but now knows how this will work. You cannot—”
Red lights began to flash overhead, and a screen appeared in the air. A red gelatinous figure appeared on it, bouncing wildly.
“You cannot use that here! Our arena is not designed for that kind of power!”
“And yet I will,” Max said, turning his eyes from the screen back to Zogooruth. “A challenge was made. I accepted.”
“You will die to that bomb as well!” the void god shouted. “Surely you aren’t—”
Max moved his finger to the edge of the purple button and smiled. “Zogooruth, you don’t have a clue about what I can do, and all I have to do is survive longer than you. Once I do, I’ll turn this off and walk away, while you’ll be gone forever.”
“The protocols! You must not—” the arena owner called out.
Max held the metal orb in the air and glared at the screen. “Tell me once more what I cannot do, and I won’t wait. Let’s see if your power can break the rules of the system. Someone must die or surrender, and it won’t be me,” Max growled. “And remember, once we’re both here, unless we agree upon allowing the other to surrender, it’s not an option.”
Peals of thunder erupted, and the sand around Zogooruth began to swirl like a cyclone. “I will never surrender!”
Max nodded. “That’s fine. Then you’ll die because I won’t surrender either. But the only way I’ll accept your surrender even when you beg for it as your life is about to end is if you tell me the name of who sent you.”
The crashing of thunder stopped for a moment, and the silence of an arena stretched on longer than Max had expected.
Thoughts?
You’ll have to activate it. He’ll have to believe it’s real.
Max looked up at the screen. “Start the countdown, and whatever you can do to reinforce this place, you’d better activate,” Max said.
“I’ll crush you before you can do that,” Zogooruth shouted.
Max laughed and shook his head. “You forget. I’m the one the other gods can’t catch.”
A series of beeps began, and the screen vanished.
I’m ready.
I know. And thank you.
When the call for the fight to began came, Max moved with everything he had.
[ Haste ]
[ Cooldown Refreshed ]
[ Haste ]
There had been a time when Max thought he understood the concept of speed. Bob had shown him how wrong that idea was. The other day, while hanging out with Fipple, his skill revealed how much they could push the limits. The world below had moved so fast that it had taken Max a moment to adjust to everything. Playing around with it gave him an understanding of how all this would work.
He pressed the button, and Bob played the second part of the show.
A thunderous roar came from Zogooruth as pockets of void appeared on the sand. Chunks of weird black and purple substances that arced with magical energy rose from them, sent toward Max, yet he was past the attacks before they had a chance.
Bob used Wind Master and Elemental Mastery, combining Sand Mastery and Darkness magic into a vortex of swirling energy. His skill drew the sand around them into chunks, shoving the particles that came close into dimensional storage.
The battlefield was chaos as void magic tried to find him, but Max evaded it all, focused on letting Bob do his trick. Furrows of sand began to vanish as Bob expanded the spell, leaving a giant pattern on the desert as Max raced across it.
“I need a name, Zogooruth! Ten seconds, and I’ll drop this at your feet!”
The whole arena shook as portals appeared almost every thirty yards, and giant chunks of the material that Max knew would hurt came at him. It was like someone had taken a section of land and torn it apart.
[ Evasion ]
[ Blink ]
[ All Cooldowns Refreshed ]
[ Blink ]
Max’s body twisted and turned, sometimes only mere inches between him and the objects that wanted to suck his body toward them as he raced by. His Blink spell kept him ahead but only by a thread.
“Five seconds!”
Another roar came, and Max wasn’t sure what was going to come next. He had no idea of what kind of spells Zogooruth could use or even his attacks.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
We’re running out of storage space.
It’s okay, we’re running out of time.
Bob increased the show, adding lighting bursts from the ball of sand that continually came toward them.
Most of the desert and its brown sand were gone, either stolen by Bob or corrupted by Zogooruth.
“Three!”
Max turned his direction toward the shadow that hadn’t moved, its aura radiating like a sun.
“No! DO not—” the void god called out.
“A name!” Max roared, zipping past the void god so close, his skin dissolving from its essence.
[ Regeneration ]
“I cannot!” Zogooruth protested
“Then die!”
Max made a few laps, preparing to use the moment when he dropped the fake bomb at Zogooruth’s feet as an opening for an attack with his artifact.
When Max turned for the moment, he would learn if he could win this fight; he sensed it. The desert was almost all gone. Bob was right, there wasn’t any more space to store the mountains of sand they had collected.
But Zogooruth’s shadow had decreased, and so had the portals he had been summoning.
“I’ll give it! I surrender!” the void god called out.
“Accepted!” Max shouted, veering off as Bob ended the show, and Max pressed the button that turned off the fake black-hole bomb.
Max slowed down, staying a few hundred yards away. He stared at the void god and realized just how much the aura had shrunk.
“Turn off the show!” Max shouted. “This part is for me and no one else.”
Two seconds ticked by, and the voice of the announcer, whom Max realized hadn’t said a word, rang out. “Done.”
Nodding, Max stored the fake bomb and crossed both of his arms. “Who sent you after me both times?”
“My… father,” Zogooruth almost whispered. “I cannot say his name, but you know who he is.”
Another one of the Nine? How could he have known back on Igarra’s world?
Focus. We’ll talk later.
“Then you are free to go,” Max said. “Just know, I wouldn’t challenge me again.”
No words came from the void god as two white discs appeared beneath them.
Max felt the charge of Jazzjak coming the moment he entered their starting room.
“You did it!” the vorpal rabbit said, jumping up and down as he hugged Max. “You actually won!”
“I did, but wait,” Max said. “Wait till we’re home. Then we can talk.”
Clearing his throat, Jazzjak took a step back and adjusted his black suit. “Ah, yes, forgive me. I was a little overwhelmed.”
“You’re fine. Fowl usually cries at moments like that,” Max replied.
The stone door formed, and through the opening came the red shape, Max had expected.
“It is I, Hoekamona,” it said. “I believe we would both find it easier that way if I just tell you from the start who I am.”
“Thank you for that, Hoekamona,” Max said. “Sorry if I was a little… aggressive before the match started.”
The red body shook, its eye stalks moving in the liquid as it appeared to turn, coming completely into the room, and the door behind it sealed, closing them all in.
That’s new.
“Ahh… yes… Your action was a bit unexpected, but the way you have seemed to grasp the contract bindings of the system did cause some problems on our end,” Hoekamona said. “I must admit, your deception was well played.”
“Deception?” Max asked, keeping his face straight.
Hoekamona bounced up and down, and a gurgling sound came.
“While it would appear that Zogooruth believed you possessed what you claimed to have, we can monitor things like potential collapsing of our arenas, and none of what should have come from the bomb you started did. In fact, I believe you are in possession of a large amount of the sand we created for this battle.”
That’s a bit disconcerting.
“So this… theory… you have on what I did,” Max said slowly. “Would anyone else outside of your group be able to tell?”
“No,” Hoekamona replied, his body going still when he spoke. “There might be a few out there who know what one of those bombs looks like, but most would not know. They are very rare, and the risk of fighting a god who has one is great.”
“So… do you want your sand back?” Max asked, smiling.
“No… Keep it. Consider it a well-earned reward,” Hoekamona stated. “We are in the process of transferring the DP you gained right now, but it might take a moment longer than usual. A hiccup , I believe, is the term your kind uses that was found in the planet put up for collateral.”
“What kind of hiccup?” Jazzjak asked.
“Ahh… a most unfortunate thing. It seems that the world that was offered as collateral was technically still within the guidelines of what can be used at the issuing of the challenge,” Hoekamona said. “But at the time this fight started, the world is now… useless to one like yourself.”
“Zogooruth gave me a devoured world?” Max asked. “Is that what you are saying?”
“Not devoured but severely damaged. It would take a large amount of DP invested into the current world and probably half a million years before you might consider it worth counting as a world you would want.”
“That is unacceptable!” Jazzjak exclaimed, hopping up and down. “You owe us a world that is—”
“Silence, assistant,” Hoekamona said, his tone carried an edge. “Do not tell me what we owe. I am well aware of the rules and the bindings of the systems. Instead, I have an offer to present. Neither of us will like it as both of us will suffer for it, but in the end, we believe it will be a better deal for Max.”
“And what is that?” Max asked.
“You accept the world you won , as it is, and ignore it. Perhaps you can find a use for it. Maybe you’ll turn it into a training facility that hardens those who serve you. We will not allow the information that we possess about your deception to be traded on our end.”
“You’re blackmailing us?!” Jazzjak shouted. “You can’t—”
“I accept,” Max said. “The offer is fine.”
“What? How is it fine?” his helper protested. “You’re losing out on income you need. The goal you say you have requires every drop of DP you can get.”
“And the best way for me right now to not lose any more worlds or risk facing Zogooruth is to make sure he doesn’t learn about my trickery. Soon, it won’t matter once I reach the fourth tier. I’m not certain the void god will be increasing his rank anytime soon.”
A gurgling sound came, and Hoekamona started to bounce. “A shrewd one you are, Max Hoste. Then our offer has been made and accepted. None shall learn of your trick from us. Expect the deposit of your DP soon along with your winnings to arrive shortly. Now, if you will excuse me, I must answer those waiting on the outcome of this meeting.”
The door formed and slid away.
As Hoekamona started to exit the room, Max raised his hand and called out. “One last question. Had that been a real black-hole bomb, could the arena have withstood it?”
The gelatinous being stopped, his voice quieter than usual. “That is a good question, Max Hoste. While I would like to answer it, there are some secrets we like to keep. For the right price, I would be willing to tell you the answer.”
“I’m fine,” Max replied. “I guess I’ll have to see if I can’t get my hands on a real one someday. Then we can find out.”
A gurgling sound came as Hoekamona vanished through the doorway and the stone returned, sealing Jazzjak and Max inside.
“You okay?” Max asked. “You seemed a little worked up.”
“A little?!” his helper exclaimed, voice cracking once. “We were stolen from… they should have… argh!”
Max waited as the vorpal rabbit took a few deep breaths to settle down.
“You’re right, Max. The deal was a good one,” Jazzjak finally said. “Let’s return, I have no doubt the others are waiting to see you.”