Nightmare Realm Summoner

The world around Alex warped. His Partial Soul Manifestation exploded outward in a large sphere around him, filling the air with hazy Riftwarped Qi. The power enveloped a fair portion of the Corrupted Scuttler. And that was all he needed.

Everyone else raced toward the Scuttler, drawing on all the magic they had to unleash the strongest attack the group could muster. Petals filled the air as Claire’s Partial Soul Manifestation swept out to buffet the Corrupted Scuttler in a sea of pink flowers.

Her whip cracked as the petals passed, striking one of the bundles on the massive monster’s legs with a loud explosion. Flames tore out from the crystal as cracks cut through a small area on its carapace. Derek and Orchid were still racing toward the monster alongside Glint.

But none of them could do anything yet. Not before Alex properly opened the way.

His eyes narrowed. He reached deep within himself, drawing on his power. The crystal crabs all around the arena were already rumbling back to life. The crab and its many, many gemstone children had returned to the fight.

He was going to have to kick them back out of it.

Alex teleported.

The world shifted. He appeared in the air about twenty feet above the spot that Claire’s whip had just struck. Smoke and flame still coiled away from it, partially obscuring his target. But he could see more than enough — and this wasn’t going to be a precision strike.

A white manacle slammed down around Alex’s wrist. The links of the chain raced up into the sky above him, coming to a halt in a massive anchor far above him. He hung there, suspended, for a moment. His magic went silent. All that remained was the rush of wind starting to whip by his hair and the huge, impossibly heavy chunk of white metal at his back.

Then the Singularity Core turned over.

With a roar, Alex brought the anchor hurtling down. Chain rattled as it accelerated. It streaked past him in a blur, smashing into the crystal-covered carapace with a deafening crash. Loud crunches echoed through the air. The anchor embedded itself deep into the crab. But, to Alex’s surprise, that was where it stopped.

Instead of tearing through the monster’s leg and continuing down, every scrap of its momentum spent itself before it could make it more than a few feet into its target. The monster was tougher than he’d expected. A lot tougher.

Alex’s senses screamed a warning.

He was isolated, still falling through the air, with no way to call on his power so long as the manacle was still around his wrist.

And there was a claw hurtling toward him. Not the crab’s larger claw, fortunately, but the smaller one. And it was streaking toward him at a terrifying speed.

Alex gritted his teeth.

The Singularity Core turned over.

He tore the anchor free from where it had landed in the crab, sending it racing up in a wide arc. It smashed into the crab’s arm with a crash. Fragments of crystal spun past Alex as the monster’s claw passed inches away from his face. The force of the wind behind it sent him spinning — but the wasn’t done.

The Singularity Core turned over once again.

Alex twisted midair, grabbing onto the chain connected to his wrist with both hands. He swung, completing a full circle before sending it crashing down into the crab’s leg for the second time.

There was a loud crunch. The chain went taut, and he found himself swinging forward at a terrifying speed. It was like someone had taken a monkey using vines to swing through the jungle and strapped a jet engine to their back. The wind roared in his ears as he accelerated toward the ground in a blur.

Alex pulled hard on the chain. He dragged his own body upward, fighting the inertia, and pulled his legs up. The ground raced beneath him, whipping by in a blur of colors, and his arc started to bring him back up through the air, this time sending him hurtling right up into the crab’s underside.

He let out a roar, reaching on the Singularity Core with all his might.

It turned over.

He tore the anchor free from where it was embedded in the crab. Then he braced himself, twisting upside down so his legs would meet the bottom of the crab first. He slammed into it with a crunch. Tremors raced down — or more accurately, up — his body. He felt his bones shudder from the impact.

Then the anchor raced past him.

It slammed into the bottom of the crab just a few feet away from where he stood, embedding itself deep in the carapace with a loud bang. The crab staggered and Alex dropped as gravity remembered its purpose, pulling him back toward the ground.

The chain connecting him to the embedded anchor jerked taut. There was a sharp tug on his shoulder and his fall came to a sharp halt, leaving him swinging in the air beneath the huge crab. Alex twisted to look back toward the others.

They hadn’t been waiting around while he’d been fighting. Claire’s whip had bound around two of the monster’s legs, slowing what little movement it could still manage to a halt. Smoke and flame coiled from several other bundles of flowers that she’d struck.

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Derek stood on the ground at the base of the crab, his hand thrust forward. There was no sign of Orchid. A flicker of confusion passed through Alex. Then his eyes widened as he spotted something streaking through the air, trailing a string of yelled curses.

Orchid slammed into the crab’s damaged leg staff-first. The force of the impact alone was enough to drive her staff an inch into the monster’s exposed body. She staggered, nearly losing her grip on the weapon and plummeting back to the ground, but managed to catch herself at the last moment.

The crab’s massive claw shuddered as it started to lift from the ground.

A loud, screeching shriek cut through the air. Purple sparks shimmered and danced at the claw’s base as Glint appeared from within a rend in reality. The axe-blade at the end of his cloak tore free from the crystal encasing the crab’s claw, leaving it heavily damaged.

The blow wasn’t nearly enough to completely stop the crab, and it did little than leave several thin gouges running through the monster, but it was more than enough to distract it for a moment. Its other hand blurred toward Glint. But, before the blow could connect, he stepped back into the same rend in reality he’d arrived from and vanished.

Holy shit. He can do that?

The roar of dozens of tiny gemstone crabs advancing toward them was growing louder. Derek turned toward it, ripping two new weapons free from his body. Then he let out a roar and charged toward them.

Crabs flew in every direction as he collided with the wave of monsters and spun, weapons flashing in a miniature tornado and tearing through them like toys.

Alex banished his anchor. The links of the chain holding his wrist evaporated and he dropped through the air, landing on the ground with a grunt. He staggered for a moment before dropping into a sprint, eyes already raising to where Orchid stood on the crab’s leg.

Molten red power swirled around the tip of her staff, but it looked like she hadn’t finished gathering her magic yet. She still needed more time.

Alex drew on his magic. Even though he’d used his anchor, he’d called his Partial Soul Manifestation prior to its arrival. The magic was still there. And now that his anchor was gone —

He teleported.

Alex appeared in the air just a few feet above Orchid, already calling his anchor back into being. The white links of the chain materialized around his hand even as the crab’s small claw shot out toward them.

The Singularity Core turned over.

His anchor screamed through the air with a howl.

It slammed into the crab’s arm with a crash. Huge chunks of crystal tore free as the monster’s limb snapped back and was sent off course. This time, the anchor didn’t embed itself. Alex drew on the Singularity Core again, swinging the deadly weapon in a wide arc over his head before redirecting it to slam down into the center of the monster’s body at the bace of the giant crystal spire.

A crunch echoed out, and a faint tremor rolled through the monster’s body.

“Run!” Orchid yelled from behind Alex.

He didn’t wait to hear why. He tore the anchor free of its landing spot with another usage of the Singularity Core, not wasting the time to dismiss it. Instead, he sent it hurtling back toward the ground, dragging himself along through the air behind it.

Alex and the anchor landed on the ground with a thud — and a deafening explosion tore through the air behind him. A wave of heat slammed into his back with enough force to send him stumbling forward. He spun, his eyes going wide, as thick tongues of fire swallowed the sky.

Orchid landed on the ground beside Alex with a grunt. She staggered, then turned to look up at the damage she had wrought.

A shadow passed over them. The crab’s leg pitched back. Its end smoldered where it had once been attached to the crab’s body. It was now nothing more than a ravaged, jagged chunk of armor and chitin. The leg crashed down to the ground. Crystal shattered beneath it, spraying in every direction.

“Holy shit,” Alex breathed. “That was a big boom.”

“We’re going to need more,” Orchid growled. “That was just opening it up. We have to get past that thing’s shell and inside—”

A delighted laugh echoed through the stadium.

The sound of shattering class cut through the rumble of battle. And, before the smoldering site of where the crab’s leg had once been attached, Glint’s claws raked through the air. A dimensional rift carved into being behind them.

Still laughing, the Glasmir launched itself straight at the damaged remnants of the leg. His cloak-axe sliced out, carving through the heavily damaged section easily — and he plunged right into the crab’s body.

Then he was gone.

Alex and Orchid stared up in mute silence for a moment.

Then the crab convulsed.

It raised its massive claw, bringing it smashing down on the area where Glint had been a moment ago. Crystal and carapace crunched as one, bending in on themselves like a piece of cheap metal. Fragments of both rained down to the ground.

The crab raised its hand, then brought it smashing down into its body again. Its legs thrashed as it jerked, swaying drunkenly. Then it threw itself at the side of the arena. Alex braced himself a moment before a huge boom echoed out.

Crystal rained down from the crab’s spire. It slammed itself against the wall again, but it wasn’t doing anything.

“Hells,” Orchid breathed as she looked up at the crab.

“No armor on the inside,” Alex observed, a grin flitting across his lips. He could still feel his heart pounding in his ears. Standing still was making him twitch like a junkie. “That sucks. Good job cracking that thing open.”

The crab slammed into the wall once more. There was a loud, nearly deafening, shearing screech. Cracks exploded through the bottom of the crystal spire on the Corrupted Scuttler’s shell.

Then it split at the base.

The huge, jagged pillar of crystal pitched to the side. It plummeted down toward the stadium wall, striking it and splitting in two with another echoing explosion. Dust exploded up as crystal fragments flew out, peppering the ground like gunshots.

Then the crab swayed. It staggered for a moment, legs jittery as it tried to keep its balance. The Scuttler’s large claw raised, as if to try and bash at itself to get Glint once more. Then the claw dropped. It hit the dirt with a thud, and the monster pitched forward after it.

It landed with a final crunch in the crystal fields. The waves of tiny crystal crabs all shuddered as one. The dropped to the ground, clinking as they hit the ground, legs curling like dead spiders.

Alex burst into a sprint toward the fallen Scuttler..

Orchid raced after him.

“What are you doing?” She yelled. “It’s dead!”

“I know!” Alex called, drawing on his magic one last time as the grin on his lips grew.

A wave of magical energy slammed into him. Freezing ice cut through his veins. The crab was indeed dead — but Alex wasn’t about to let it leave the world without compensating them for all the bullshit it had put them through.

The Singularity Core turned over.

And, as the final remnants of the Corrupted Scuttler’s existence faded from the world, Alex pulled.