Nightmare Realm Summoner

The smell of ozone filled the air as arcs of hissing red lightning tore out from Raijin, deadly breath starting to spill out from his maw cast in every direction mid-spin.

A streak of brilliant white split through the air above Alex. He brought both of his hands down, gripping onto the chain with all the strength he had in his body, swinging it like an enormous pickaxe toward the massive dragon.

Neither Raijin nor Samuel reacted.

Perhaps it was because they simply didn’t have a chance, or maybe it was because they were spinning so damn fast that they didn’t even realize what he was up to. It didn’t matter at the end of the day. All Alex cared about was that he saw his strike hurtling down toward the two entirely uncontested.

A grin split his lips in the brief instant before the anchor head connected with Raijin’s skull.

Gotcha.

The anchor slammed home. Raijin’s head jerked down under the immense force of the heavy metal. It dragged the dragon down, slamming its mouth shut in the process. Raijin dropped like a rock. Samuel clung to the large monster’s back as it spun, tumbling down toward the ground.

Alex’s grin grew wider. Even as he fell behind them, his anchor dragging him along in their wake.

And then Raijin’s wings snapped out.

Huh?

A second before Raijin and Samuel hit the ground, the dragon pulled them out of the fall, his wings beating once and sending them hurtling back into the sky. Disbelief swirled through Alex. He banished his anchor as quickly as he could, drawing on his magic. Raijin was nearly upon him, and the only lasting damage the dragon had seemingly taken was a cracked scale on the top of its head.

The second he lost to disbelief ruined any chances of re-activating his Soul Manifestation. Instead, Alex jerked as much power as he could, imbuing it with Riftwarped Qi, and thrust his hands forward as he activated Encore.

Darkness pooled in the air before him, falling at his side.

Raijin’s mouth yawned open.

Princess’ hands shot out of the muddy dark, her ceramic-white claws screeching against the larger monster’s scales as she appeared in its path. But even Princess’ considerable bulk was nowhere near enough to stop Raijin’s charge.

Alex braced himself a moment before the two slammed into him with enough force to knock the wind from his lungs. He squelched into Princess’ body, the majority of the speed that the dragon had picked up absorbed by Princess. He issued another hurried command from within her, and an instant later, the Dirematron had grabbed him from within her back and sent him hurtling toward the ground.

Raijin’s magic thundered in the air above him no more than an instant later. Static electricity buzzed against his skin. Alex felt Princess’ masks shatter as he hit the ground in a tumbling roll. He skidded across the sand for several feet before thrusting himself back to his feet and spinning back toward the sky, rasing his hands in preparation to summon his domain.

His eyes widened.

Raijin and Samuel were already hurtling toward him. There was no time to activate his domain.

He threw himself to the side, but it wasn’t nearly enough time for him to fully escape their landing. Raijin’s tail caught him in the side. The air exploded from his lungs. He hurtled across the arena and slammed into the wall, wheezing as his back cracked against the stone.

Darkness flashed before his eyes.

Alex dropped to the sand, gasping, only to find a buzzing energy filling the air. Raijin was charging up another attack. He pushed himself up to one knee, but his battered body refused to move as fast as he needed it to.

Shit!

Glint, who had been left on the ground of the arena, darted forward, flinging himself in front of Alex an instant before another blast of electric red magic screamed through the air. The cloak on his back shimmered as Glint brought it to bear, flattening it out in his best attempt at forming a shield.

And then the world turned red.

Pain carved into Alex’s sides as tongues of red electricity screeched past Glint.

The magic faded as quickly as it had come, and it was joined by a torrent of magical energy pouring into Alex. Glint pitched forward, reduced to nothing more than a smoking husk. The monster transformed into a flow of silvery energy before he’d even hit the ground.

Alex fought to catch his breath as he staggered back to his feet. Samuel had dropped down from Raijin’s shoulders and stood under the huge dragon’s wing, a wry smile on his face.

This tale has been pilfered from NovelPhoenix. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Good usage of your monsters,” the other Evoker said. “But it seems you’re out. That last one you’ve got is quite the menace, but it’s incorporeal. You can’t block attacks with it. Still, though. Not bad. You did manage to land a pretty good blow on Raijin.”

“I’m not done. Don’t count me out until I’m dead,” Alex said, gritting his teeth and pressing his palms together once more. He twisted them, hooking his fingers as he pulled his hands against each other. “Partial Soul Manifestation. Edict of the Shattered King.”

The gate in his soul slammed open, and a hazy overlay of the Mirrorlands slammed back into place in a wide area around him.

“That really is quite an annoying Soul Manifestation,” Samuel said, taking a few steps back. He reached up for Raijin’s wing as the dragon lowered it, letting him grab on and swinging him back onto its back. “Instantaneous teleportation is an incredible skill. But the limit is unfortunately equally as strong. It’s very easy to see the range at which you can use it. I’m sure you’ll be able to do more once you get it to a full Soul Manifestation. But until then… I think we’ve seen the extent of it.”

“What did I just say?” Alex asked through bared teeth. At the same time, he sent a mental command to his final monster. “Come at me.”

Samuel chuckled. “I’d imagine you’d like that. I’ve never seen an Evoker seen so eager to get up close. It’s good. Very good. The aggression will serve you well. But I’m not getting anywhere next to you. That wouldn’t serve me well at all. I’ll see you back at the Empty Court.”

Raijin’s wings snapped down, lifting the two of them back into the air — well out of the range of Alex’s Partial Soul Manifestation.

Alex clenched his teeth.

Wait.

Red electricity lit in the dragon’s maw a second time with a crackling roar. There wasn’t going to be dodging any this one. It was another one of the attacks that covered the entire arena floor.

The whine of magic grew louder. Raijin’s maw yawned open.

Wait. Just a bit more.

There was a flash of crimson red.

Now!

The near-invisible threads that Spark had extended to envelop Alex’s body jerked taut. And, with a snap, Spark launched him into the air.

He shot up toward Raijin, leaving the boundary of his Soul Manifestation in moments, letting the torrent of furious red magic cut through the air harmlessly on its way down to the ground. And, his palms still pressed together, he re-activated his Soul Manifestation.

“Edict of the Shattered King,” Alex hissed, the wind swallowing his words.

But it did nothing to stop their meaning. Power exploded out from him as his domain snapped right back into being — and this time, Samuel was within its murky hue.

Alex teleported.

A jagged glass blade exploded out from his arm. He thrust it forward before he’d even reappeared, knowing exactly where he was aiming.

Alex took form right behind Samuel on Raijin’s back, his blow already just inches away from its target. There was nowhere near enough time for Samuel to properly dodge.

The blame bit home.

It drove into the other Evoker’s back, sliding through his heart—

A flash of silver cut through the air.

Alex blinked.

He stared at his palm, pressed against Samuel’s back right where his heart was. A hot line of pain lit across his neck, stinging far more than anything else. Then he felt the world sliding to the side. He fell, his body suddenly entirely unresponsive, and plummeted past Samuel.

He caught a brief glimpse of the other man standing with his dagger clutched in a reverse grip — and his own, headless body swaying alongside his opponent.

Confusion exploded through his thoughts.

But none of it ever had a chance to register. The world spun around him several times as his head plummeted. Darkness swelled at the edges of his vision. He caught a glimpse of a patch of sand that had been turned to hard glass by Raijin’s breath below him.

It spun out of view.

His head landed on the ground with a loud crack.

Then there was nothing at all.

***

Alex drew in a sharp breath. His eyes snapped back open, suddenly finding himself standing at the entrance of the gate for the second time that day. He nearly stumbled over his own feet as his senses snapped back into his body. His heart was still pounding at a thousand miles a minute.

Samuel appeared before him an instant later, a wry smile playing across his lips.

“Fuck!” Alex exclaimed, trying to calm his racing thoughts. “What was that? Bullshit! How’d you survive? I had you!”

“You stabbed me,” Samuel agreed. “Well done, by the way. I probably should have seen that coming. It’s been too long since I fought at this level. It seems I let myself get a bit sloppy with the fundamentals. That won’t happen again.”

“The hell do you mean, fundamentals? Does somehow being immortal count as a fundamental?” Alex asked, raising a hand to wipe sweat away from his brow only to realize that it wasn’t there. His real body hadn’t been exercising.

God, this is trippy.

“Not immortal,” Samuel said. “You just didn’t go for a killing blow. Rookie mistake.”

“How is stabbing you in the heart not a killing blow?”

“Because it isn’t instant,” Samuel replied with a laugh. He clapped Alex on the shoulder. “Your world is new to the System, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Alex admitted, finally getting a handle of his emotions. “But…”

“Then it’s only natural you haven’t figured it out yet. You’ve seen how fast your body can heal, haven’t you?”

“Yeah,” Alex allowed.

“Then you should know that it only gets faster and stronger. That can be even more true depending on what your abilities are,” Samuel said. “A blow to the heart is nowhere near enough to kill every strong foe. It’s far too slow. You need to ensure you incapacitate them so they can’t turn the fight at the last second.”

“Like what you did to me?”

Samuel’s lips curled. “Quite.”

“But if that’s true, couldn’t someone regrow from just a head as well?”

“Probably,” Samuel said. “Severing the neck isn’t a guaranteed kill. But it leaves your body and head parted, which is far more likely to delay your ability to fight back if you survive. It lets me keep my momentum. Even if you could have regrown a body or re-attached your head, that would have put you on the back foot.”

Alex stood still for a few moments as he let himself process what had just happened. Then he blew out a breath.

“Damn. There’s levels to this shit.”

Samuel chuckled. “So there are. But you did quite well. Certainly nothing to complain about. More than enough to be proud of. For a newcomer to the System, you fight with the abandon of someone who’s been in the Empty Court for at least a few months. If you keep that up… you’ll be a real monster in no time at all.”

Alex shook his head, more in wonder than disappointment. He looked up at the gates of the arena looming before him. He could already see what Teddy and Samuel had been talking about when it came to the arena. This place was incredible. He couldn’t think of a better place to train.

Then, slowly, a smile crossed his lips.

His gaze fell back to Samuel.

The other Evoker tilted his head to the side at the odd look. “What is it?”

“You wanna go again?”