C's random novel excerpts

[King V]

Novel 1 - Prologue


I glided across the static darkness, casting area scans at regular intervals. An occasional arc of lighting caught my eye, the sound of thunder absorbed by the shroud of the abyss. The battle had yet to reach this dimension, but it was only a matter of time.
I halted my movement, flashing my perception quickly across the darkness. Nothing worth noting caught my eye; no rift walkers had intruded. And yet, there was something strange about the place...
Suddenly, white fire burst into existence, spiraling upward in a pillar of destruction. I teleported out of the way.
Another torrent of white fire streamed down from above. I raised my perception towards the flame, and its trajectory peeled apart just inches before me, scattering across the dimension like pieces of loose confetti. A quick glance upward provided me with the whereabouts of the attacker.
"Shouldn't you be guarding the gate?" I asked.
"The others are more than capable of defending our citadel," the attacker replied.
"That conceited thought process will get you killed," I said.
"Your arrogance will do the same," the attacker retorted.
"I'm not the one fighting on the defensive."
"A minor setback; one that will be swiftly corrected with your extirpation."
I had several counterpoints in mind, but refrained from stating them. It would do no good arguing with my attacker. Despite my previous statements, I was the one pressed for time in this battle. If I didn't break through the gate in less than ten minutes, my allies would undoubtedly be decimated.
Azure, report.
The telepathic message made me stumble slightly. I caught myself and quickly recovered. "Nothing on my end. An obstacle has also appeared. I estimate another thirty seconds before I can phase back."
Thirty seconds? Is it a gatekeeper?
"Most likely," I said, glancing up at the attacker. "Although she looks a little... unrefined."
"Excuse me?!" the attacker exclaimed, floating down to eye level. "I look unrefined? You're the ones attacking us like mindless savages!"
"Unrefined... and privy to emotional provocation," I added.
I see your point. We will reallocate our forces for now. Hurry and find that gate.
The telepathic link severed. I turned back to the attacker.
She looked young, and had taken the form of the fifth evolutionary stage of the species which called themselves humans; although I had no idea why she would do so. Having to repair one's body every six seconds due to dimensional entropy seemed like such a cumbersome task.
"I assume, from your reaction, that you are a gatekeeper," I said.
"Yes, I am," the attacker said.
"Tell me where the flux generator is located."
"Why should I give my enemy information?"
"Valid point. Then, if you don't mind, I'll make the first move."
Suddenly, a pulse of kinetic energy blew the attacker off her feet. She flailed wildly, firing bursts of white flame from her limbs to stabilize her motion. Then a kinetic wave slammed into her from above, right into the kinetic platform I constructed a few meters below. I decelerated time to about an eighth, building more pressure on the kinetic wave above, and released the wave with a burst of time acceleration, effectively quadrupling the force on the attacker's body. Needless the say, the attack was effective.
The attacker's body lay in pieces on the kinetic platform, oozing some liquid component that was necessary for organic life forms to function. My pain perception instantly flared, but was down before it could take over. I checked my body's structural integrity and winced. At this rate, a meltdown was imminent. I would have to finish this quickly.
I glided over to the attacker as she slowly regenerated.
"You are hopelessly outmatched," I stated. "Give me the information and I won't have to resort to extremes."
The attacker said something that didn't translate through the thought-filter. I performed my species' equivalent of a sigh.
"Fine then," I said, and delved into the attacker's mind.
A chaotic agglomeration of thoughts, memories, and ideas flooded my perception. As a gatekeeper, this rift walker was surprisingly inexperienced. The notion of getting anything done with such a disorganized mess of a mental space eluded me.
I waded through the ocean of thought, searching for one I required. A few interesting ideas struck me along the way. The gatekeeper's name: Vinnia, her position as first gatekeeper, her ability to create white fire developing further into Spirit Fire... I filed each one neatly into my own mental space for future reference.
Finally, after expending four seconds to search, I found the particular piece of information I had been looking for: the flux generator's coordinates. I quickly stored them in my memory and pulled out of the gatekeeper's mind.
Back in the darkness, I briefly addressed the pile of writhing flesh, still in the process of regenerating. The thought of killing her crossed my mind, but I quickly discarded it. Killing her would probably induce enough pain for a meltdown, which I couldn't afford to have happen in the midst of battle. I needn't waste any more time here.
With a second of concentration, I phased out.
When I phased back, reality exploded.
Energy maelstroms whipped around me, tearing slightly at my clothing. Rift walkers randomly phased in and out, blasting at each other with energy pulses powerful enough to rip the very fabric of reality. The flow of twenty-six different dimensions were caught in the fray, the battle causing momentary overlaps to fluxuate between them.
The pain nearly caused a meltdown. I immediately pressed a hand to my head, although it never helped any. The empathy link was as strong as ever.
An enemy rift walker phased in nearby attempting to strike me with a death cloud. I waved him into an energy maelstrom; frozen time drowning out the screams that would resound. Another enemy rift walker phased in and slashed at me with a sword of æther. The sword melted under the pressure of my conversion field as did the rift walker who wielded it. An ally rift walker passed close by, giving a quick nod in my direction before firing at another enemy rift walker, quickly phasing out as the enemy rift walker retaliated.
The battle raged on.
I flew forward, seeking the coordinates at which I had found in the gatekeeper's mind. Four enemy rift walkers barred my way. I dispatched them with relative ease.
An ally rift walker phased in ahead, one personally trained by me, of the name Zero.
“How goes it, Azure?” asked Zero.
“We are entering phase three,” I said. “The gatekeepers should be mobilizing soon. Hold off the enemy until then.”
“Will do,” Zero said. He glanced at a battle raging nearby. “Excuse me.”
Zero flew into the fray, ending it abruptly in an array of flashing light. I continued forward.
Finally, after six more brief skirmishes, I found myself at the designated location.
I am here, I sent.
We are ready, came the reply.
Now.
I imposed my will upon reality, expanding my perception to locate the small seam in the fabric of reality which I knew would be present. I found it within a second. As I directed my energy into the quasi-rift, a small orb floated out, promptly shattering as I caught it.
The flux barrier is down, I sent. Give all units the order to advance.
Almost immediately, the chaos halted. I sensed the arrival of my allies, along with the swift retreat of the enemy. I allowed myself a smile. The gate had fallen. Everything could finally end with this.
The rift gate hummed into existence before me, and I readied myself, collecting energy as, all around me, my ally rift walkers gathered. And when the rift gate opened, all around me, my ally rift walkers died.

[King V]

Novel 3 - Arcesso vs MC


The next room looked exactly like the rest of them, except about twice as big, and with actual people inside of it.
“Oh look, another one,” one of the black cloaked people said. “That makes seven now.”
Susan quickly glanced over the room. Exactly six people stood in front of her. A message was engraved on the ceiling.
3rd Division Platoon A – Squadron Leaders
“So I’m a Squad Leader,” Susan said to herself as she walked forward to join the rest of the people in the center of the room. “I guess that’s not too bad.”
“Speak for yourself,” one of the other people, a blond-haired boy in his teens, said. “I should have gotten at least to platoon leader! I mean, I trained so hard for the last week! Then they just throw a curveball and expect you to know what ‘dimensional viscosity’ means. What the heck, man?!”
A brown-haired girl nearby rolled her eyes. “That’s why people say ‘knowledge is power’.”
“Screw knowledge,” the boy said. “My powers are already strong enough to beat everyone else here.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to use them,” the girl said.
“So did you get past the dimensional viscosity one?” Susan asked.
“Me? No, the dimensional viscosity level was too high,” the girl said. “It’s hard for me to get anything above 20%. What about you?”
“I had no idea what dimensional viscosity meant,” Susan admitted.
“See, that’s the problem,” the boy from before cut in. “Your powers are strong enough, but they make you have to actually learn scientific terms to get to a higher rank! It’s ridiculous!”
“Don’t mind him,” the girl said, pointing a thumb at the blond-haired boy, now talking to two other Asian guys, probably about how unfair the test was. “He’s been like that ever since he got his powers.”
“Yeah, I can imagine that,” Susan said.
“I’m Amanda, by the way,” the girl said. “The crybaby over there is Carl.”
“I’m Susan,” Susan said. “So, what exactly is dimensional viscosity?”
“It’s how much your rift energy is phased through a sub-dimension,” Amanda explained. “Apparently, if you phase your displacement through a sub-dimension, your overall technique becomes stronger due to dimensional mechanics and all that. Sub-dimension wins against no dimension.”
“That’s pretty interesting,” Susan said. “How can you tell what your dimensional viscosity is?”
“It has something to do with-” Amanda started, but was cut off as another door suddenly opened off to the side of the room. A short, black-haired girl walked out, looking slightly annoyed.
“And another one,” the person from before said. “That makes eight.”
The girl looked up at the ceiling, and nodded. “Okay, Squadron Leaders. I’m good with that.”
“Are you crazy?!” Carl suddenly ran at the girl. “This test is bull, I tell you, bull!”
“Carl, stop screaming at everyone,” Amanda said. The boy muttered something unintelligible, but stepped away all the same. Amanda walked up to the girl, standing about a head and a half taller than she was. “I’m Amanda. The lunatic is Carl, and that’s Susan over there.”
Amanda pointed in Susan’s direction. The girl nodded.
“I’m Lily,” the girl said.
"Alright guys," the person who had been calling out people's numbers stepped forward. He looked older than everyone else, having a slight beard and a more chiseled face. He gestured for everyone to gather. A few doubtful glances were cast around the room, but everyone huddled up regardless.
"The name's Arcesso Xervaus," the man said. He looked over everyone briefly and nodded. "Now since we're all on the same platoon, I think it's a good idea to discuss some strategy."
"For what?" one of the asian guys asked.
"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" Arcesso said. He was met with blank stares. Then he sighed. "You guys haven't thought about it? That this test might have multiple stages?"
"What?" Susan said. "Wait, so... the test isn't over yet?"
"Hmm... makes sense," Amanda nodded thoughtfully. "The first part was also split into stages, so there might be another test we have to pass."
"Exactly," Arcesso said. He clamped his hands on the two black cloaked people nearest to him, one of the asian guys and the girl who had been standing in the corner. "Which is why I think we should cooperate for the next part. Work together. With all of our combined efforts, another test would be no problem for us."
"Hmm... that's a good idea actually," Susan said.
"As allies, teamwork is a given," Lily said.
"All right," Arcesso grinned. He extended his hand. "To teamwork!"
"Yeah!" Susan said.
She pulled out her own hand, but just as she was reaching for the man's hand, she caught Amanda's eyes shift and her expression suddenly turned fearful.
"Susan, no!" Amanda said, grabbing Susan's wrist. She jumped back, dragging the girl a good five meters back.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Susan exclaimed. Amanda simply pointed.
The asian man and the girl Arcesso had patted earlier had collapsed in a heap on the ground. The other asian guy instantly jumped back, as did Lily and Carl.
"Ah darn," Arcesso said, withdrawing his hand. "I was sure I'd get another one before you noticed."
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Carl shouted at the man. "What happened to teamwork?!"
"Teamwork?" Arcesso said, choking back a laugh. "Didn't you hear? They're still deciding on people for Platoon Leaders in this sector. If I knock the rest of you out before the proctor comes, I'll be a shoo-in to advance to a higher rank. No hard feelings right?"
"You're insane," Lily said matter-of-factly. "We're all allies, yet you seek to actively sabotage our collective progress."
Arcesso shrugged. "It's not like I'm going to kill you. I'll just show the higher-ups I'm better and I'll get a higher rank. You guys'll still be chilling at Squad Leader, so it's all good."
"Like we're just going to let that happen," Amanda said, gritting her teeth. She looked over to the others. "Guys, let's beat the crap out of this lunatic."
"Yes, let's," the asian man said.
"Agreed," Lily said.
"The only one getting up to a higher rank around here is me!" Carl practically screamed at the man.
Arcesso looked around the room, black cloaked people now moving to surround him. Then he grinned. "Bring it on."
The man whipped two black rods from his belt and threw them to the ground on either side of him. A symbol glowed dark blue where each of the rods landed.


(random symbol here)


From the symbols, large grey wolves materialized trailing black smoke. They raised their heads at the nearest people, eyes glowing red with bloodlust, barring their almost too-sharp teeth.
Suddenly, Arcesso ducked, dropping to the floor just as a blue disk sailed over his head. He jumped to his feet and sidestepped as the disk made a return trip over to where the asian man was standing. As the disk slowed to a hover, the man scowled.
"Tsk, tsk," Arcesso wagged a finger. "Don't you know it's courtesy not to attack a rift walker while they're preparing?"
"Courtesy would be all but wasted on you," Lily stated before dashing at Arcesso herself. She drew a short bladed weapon, something like a dagger, and slashed down at Arcesso. However, the man simply snapped his fingers and one of the wolves instantly materialized in front of him. Lily staggered backwards, clenching her teeth. The wolf turned and Lily braced her arms just as a torrent of gray smoke burst from the wolf's mouth.
Arcesso cast a brief glance at the battle before drawing a sword, quickly parrying Carl's upward slash. The boy drew a second sword and charged, screaming at the top of his lungs. Arcesso made a gesture and the second wolf intercepted Carl mid-stride, the two tumbling to the ground in a heap of black and gray.
A tug on her sleeve pulled Susan back to reality. Amanda had drawn a sword, her face set in stone.
"Back me up," Amanda said before running at Arcesso.
Susan's mind froze for a split second, processing everything that had just happened. Then she drew her own obelisk-shaped sword and followed swiftly behind the girl.
Meanwhile the asian man had engaged Arcesso again, firing columns of blue with quick thrusts of his hand. Arcesso retreated slowly, deflecting the blue bursts with the flat side of his sword. The asian man pressed further, spinning his sword in wide arcs, firing off curves of blue at his opponent. Arcesso made a gesture and gray smoke gathered around him. Then suddenly, a gray wolf materialized, vaporizing just as quickly as the blue arcs struck it. Arcesso grabbed the air in front of him and the smoke abruptly streamed into his cloak. He grinned and lowered his sword. The asian man's eyes narrowed. He fired several more blue columns, but as they reached Arcesso, the man promptly dissipated into gray smoke.
Suddenly, Arcesso materialized behind the asian man, and, before he could react, placed his hand on the man's neck. The man crumpled just as the two before him had.
"Whew... that's one more down," Arcesso said to himself. He quickly surveyed the battlefield, taking note of the large cloud of gray smoke that covered one corner of the room, Carl, now free of the wolf, struggling to his feet, and the quickly growing forms of Susan and Amanda approaching him.
"Well... guess it's time for the next one," the man said. He backed up a few steps and place his hand on the wall. A symbol slowly expanded until it covered the entire surface.


(random symbol here)



As the symbol completed its growth, an enormous mechanical hand suddenly burst out from the wall. Susan and Amanda halted, just two meters' distance from Arecesso. Amanda gritted her teeth.
"Crap, he got another summon out," Amanda muttered.
"Wait... but that's a different mark..." Susan said slowly.
The two were given no more time to exchange words as Arcesso promptly swept his hand forward and the giant mechanical hand behind him mimicked his movements. Susan barely had time to ignite her fiery wings before being crushed to death. Amanda leapt off to the side and Susan lost sight of her.
From her birds-eye view, Susan saw Lily emerge and the smoke cloud fade, the body of a wolf slowly dissipating into the air. Lily scanned the room, expression darkening. Carl had engaged Arcesso in combat, but was clearly outmatched. The man was barely breaking a sweat, repelling Carl's dual-wielded attack with one arm.
This was really becoming a mess. Three people were already unconscious, and it looked like Arcesso was more powerful than everyone still in the battle, possibly even combined. And even if he wasn't, even if by some miracle the four of them could somehow combine their efforts and bring him down, he could just call for help with the wave of a hand. How were they supposed to beat him?
Just as Susan was about to begin racking her brain, she heard a shout.
"Susan, watch out!" Amanda waved from behind the giant mechanical hand.
Susan cast her gaze downward. Her eyes widened.
Across the mechanical hand, cannons had extended themselves upward, each gathering red plasma in their shafts.
"How the hell did I miss that," Susan muttered to herself as she instantly dropped to the ground. The cannons followed her movement, plasma reaching critical density.
"Sh**," Susan said, raising a flame shield as the plasma cannons fired.
An explosion tore at Susan's shields, then her cloak, then eventually even burning her skin. Susan clenched her teeth, watching helplessly as all the readings on her visor turned red and smoke began filling her vision. When the plasma finally subsided, Susan fell to the ground in a heap, panting heavily.
Arcesso walked up to her, unconscious bodies of Carl and Amanda in tow. He tossed them down next to Susan and gestured, the giant metal hand dissipating into gray smoke. Then he let out a breath.
"Man that took longer than I expected," Arcesso said, rubbing his neck. "You guys really put up a fight."
Susan just stared at the unconscious bodies of her friends for a moment. Then she looked back to Arcesso, pure hatred burning in her eyes.
"Why... why did you do this?!" Susan demanded, pushing herself up. "Was getting to a higher rank really that important to you?! Was it so important that you'd sacrifice all of your allies to get it?!"
Arcesso just looked blankly at the girl for a moment. Then he shrugged. "No, not really."
Susan blinked. "What."
"The higher rank thing was just an excuse I made up," Arcesso said. "I just wanted to knock all of you out for fun. I mean, just imagine. Right after the test is done, some random guy knocks you out, then the next thing you know you wake up in front of the proctor with no idea what's going on with the guy who knocked you out standing there just like nothing had happened."
Arcesso laughed. "It'd be hilarious."
Now it was Susan's turn to stare blankly. "You're crazy... you did this all for fun?! FUN?! You beat your own allies half to death just for some motherf***ing FUN?!"
"Yeah, pretty much," Arcesso said.
"You're completely insane," Susan said, face furrowing into a scowl. "No, you're beyond just insane. You're evil."
The man yawned. "Yeah sure, call me whatever you want. I'm just gonna knock you out now."
Arcesso pulled a black rod from his belt and it instantly expanded into a large hammer. He raised the weapon, a grin strewn across his face. Then suddenly his head exploded into smoke.
Susan blinked, shifting her eyes wildly around the room. As the man's head reformed, his expression flipped into a frown.
"Was there still someone left...?" Arcesso said, looking up. Susan followed the man's gaze, up to the petite form of Lily clinging to the ceiling. Both her feet were planted firmly onto the marble surface with one hand grabbing at the stone as if it were made from rubber, and the other clutching an array of knives. She made a face.
"You should have died right there," Lily said.
"You should be out cold," Arcesso said. He put on a confused face. "Huh... guess I didn't hit you hard enough."
The man squatted down, then promptly leapt several meters into the air. Lily kicked off from the ceiling, tapping the hilts of her knives with her thumb. The blades instantly grew several feet as she slashed down at Arcesso. The man simply raised his hammer as the blade ran through him trailing gray smoke. He ignored several successive slashes, each one passing through his body as if it were nothing more than an illusion. Then he smashed down with his hammer.
Susan barely had time to brace herself as Lily hit the ground right next to her, the force of the impact nearly knocking her off her feet. The girl stood slowly, tossing her broken swords aside. She appeared to be uninjured.
"Whew..." Arcesso said, gliding back down. "That's the first time I've met someone who could survive all of that without a scratch."
"And I suppose you would be unwilling to divulge how you are able to remain unharmed after being cut in half so many times," Lily said.
Arcesso grinned. "That's a trade secret."
The man raised a hand and a torrent of gray smoke instantly flooded half the room. Lily leaped back, grabbing Susan by the arm. Susan gave a start, but quickly recovered, following the girl away from the smoke. She cast one last glance into the grinning face of Arcesso before his form disappeared amidst the smoke.
"Don't breathe it in," Lily said, eyeing the advancing smoke cloud with concern. "It's poison gas, you'll faint the second you inhale."
"Uh, thanks," Susan said. "So, do you have a plan?"
"No," Lily said. "He far outmatches us. Our chances of victory are slim to none."
"Great..." Susan said, backing away from the smoke cloud that now filled three quarters of the room.
Suddenly, a muffled light flashed within the mass of gray. In the next instant, two enormous hands burst out of the smoke and clamped Susan to the wall. Susan yelped in pain, coughing up blood. She gritted her teeth and ignited her arms, but only a small stream of black smoke rose up from underneath the hands. The giant hands were smothering her flames, Susan realized. She looked over at Lily for help, but found that the girl had also been pinned to the wall by another two giant hands.
A low growl snapped Susan's attention back. The smoke cloud had receded somewhat, revealing an enormous humaniod creature almost triple her size with golden wings stretching from its back and four huge, muscular arms extending from its chest. Arcesso stood off to the side, his idiotic grin still glued to his face.
"And that's checkmate," Arcesso said, strolling up to the two girls. "Good game, well played."
"Screw you," Susan spat at the man.
Arcesso just laughed. He spun his hammer around a few times, and placed it over his shoulder. "Well, time to finish the job."
"I think that's enough," a voice sounded.
Susan blinked, looking up into the fading smoke. Slowly, the figure of a girl appeared. She looked a little older than Susan, with dark brown hair tied up in a bun, and wearing the usual black hooded cloak, boots, and gloves.
"Huh?" Arcesso said, frowning as he turned to face the newcomer. He paused. "Wait... you weren't here before."
The girl surveyed the room, looking over the unconscious bodies strewn across the floor. Then she turned back to the group.
"I am Tara Wright, Platoon Leader A of the third division," the girl spoke. "I came to administer the second phase of the test, but I see all of you decided to incapacitate each other while I was arriving."
"It's all his fault!" Susan shouted, pulling her head in the direction of Arcesso. "He just started randomly knocking people out, and then he summoned these wolves and-"
"Enough," the girl said, amber eyes flashing red. She looked at Arcesso, who put up a grimace.
"It was just something to do to pass the time," Arcesso said. "Nobody got hurt so it's fine, right?"
"Third division, Squadron Leader A-1, Arcesso Xervaus," Tara said. "Pass."
Both Arcesso and Susan gave a blank stare.
"Come again?" Arcesso said.
"You have proven your skill by defeating every other member in your platoon," Tara said. "I believe a second test is not necessary to determine the extent of your abilities. You may proceed."
The man's frown quickly turned back into a grin. Then he laughed.
"Just as planned!" Arcesso announced triumphantly. He made a gesture and the giant bird-creature disappeared with a flash. Susan fell to the ground in a heap. As she slowly rose to her feet, she saw Arcesso performing some sort of victory dance as he approached the door that had appeared at the far end of the room. The man flashed a grin back at the group before entering. Susan felt the blood rushing to her face as she let out a low growl. That man had turned on his own teammates and knocked them all unconscious. What had he done to deserve to pass?
"Excuse me, platoon leader," Lily's voice broke through Susan's thoughts. "Since most of the platoon is unconscious, how will the second phase of the test be held?"
"I will wait until the rest of the platoon regains consciousness before initiating the test," Tara said simply.
About ten minutes had passed before the entire platoon regain consciousness at almost the exact same time. Susan had slumped into a sitting position near the wall, replaying the battle in her head. It had started to go wrong when she let Arcesso knock out the other asian guy. If only she had tried to support everyone sooner...
"Ugh... my head..." Amanda groaned as she sat up slowly.
"Ditto..." Carl grimaced, pushing himself up.
"Guys!" Susan exclaimed, jumping up and dashing over. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah... we're fine," Amanda said, rubbing her forehead.
"**** that Arcesso," Carl cursed under his breath. "Thanks to him everyone's going to think I'm a loser now."
"You kind of already were, Carl," Amanda said.
"I see everyone is now conscious," Tara's voice came.
Susan looked back, the two asian guys standing together, and the other girl off to the side along with Lily. Lily gave her a nod and Susan let out a breath. Then she turned back to Tara.
"The second phase of the test will now begin," Tara announced.
"Wait, hold on a second," Carl interrupted. "Where's Arcesso?"
"He has passed," Tara replied.
"What?!" Carl exclaimed. "That guy passed?!"
"That is correct."
"You mean, even though he almost killed all of us, he doesn't get any punishment at all, but passes instead?!"
"That is correct."
"What kind of sick, twisted tests are you giving here?!" Carl screamed at the girl. "You're just going to let someone who decided to try and kill all of us pass the test?! Are you insane?!"
A low murmur of agreement drifted across the room. Even Amanda put on a doubtful face, "It does feel wrong to let him off the hook..."
Carl, sensing the air of agreement, pressed his advantage. "You can't just reward people for trying to kill their allies! What would happen to the army if you did, it'd fall apart! He needs to be punished!"
"You do not understand the concept of the test," Lily cut in. Everyone instantly shifted their gaze to her. "That man has already proven that he is several times more powerful than every one of us. Having him take the test along with us would be a waste of time, since he would easily pass and most likely cause disruptions for the rest of us."
"But that doesn't mean he should just get away with it!" Carl shouted. "He has to be punished!"
"This is a total war against the gatekeepers," Tara said. "Any and all resources must be utilized to their full extent. Excommunicating Arcesso from the army would be detrimental to our goal and wastefully decrease our number of allies. If he continues to cause disruptions among this group, he will be reallocated to another sector and given a different assignment. There is no reason to complain about this decision."
The group fell silent. Carl glanced around the room, clenching his teeth, his support gone.
"This is unfair!" Carl complained. "Why does he get to pass so easily! It's discrimination! Discrimi-"
Suddenly Carl's eyes widened and he clutched at his chest. He fell to his knees, gurgling like a dying fish. Then he abruptly collapsed, panting heavily.
Tara shifted her gaze away, eyes dulling from red to amber. "I trust there are no further complaints."
The group was silent. Susan just stared blankly between Carl and Tara. What had just happened...? Amanda bit her lip, looking anxiously at the boy, now rising to his feet again.
"Uh, Amanda," Susan started, but was cut off as Tara spoke.
"The second phase of the test will now begin," the girl announced. She took a step back.
Then the floor of the room disintegrated.
Susan had fallen about one meter before she suddenly slammed into an invisible barrier. She stood slowly, clutching her head. The other squad leaders seemed to be doing the same. A glance down revealed an endless black pit looming where the floor had existed. Susan immediately turned her gaze upward to avoid vomiting.
One of the asian men had his hands raised at shoulder level, giving Tara a questioning look.
"Third division, Squadron Leader A-4 Xing Liang," Tara said. "Pass."
Then suddenly, Xing vanished, as did the feeling of ground below Susan's feet.
This time, Susan waited a good ten seconds, making sure she wouldn't hit any more invisible barriers, before spreading fiery white wings from her back. She floated to a halt in midair, quickly glancing around.
The room had long fallen out of view, a tiny pinprick of light far above her. The other Squadron Leaders were also nowhere to be seen. Had they fallen even further than she had, or had they all gone back up? Maybe everyone except her had passed already...
Susan flapped her wings, rocketing upwards. She reached the room again in about five seconds. Tara still floated in the same place as always, shifting her eyes at Susan as she entered.
"What kind of test is this?" Susan asked.
"I am not permitted to answer that question," Tara said.
Susan scowled. "Well can you at least tell me if I passed or not?"
"Third division, Squadron Leader A-7, Susan Night," Tara said. "Testing in progress."
Susan made a gesture, and her fiery wings shrunk down to half their size, enough to let her float in midair and conserve energy at the same time. She folded her arms, and thought for a moment. If she followed the Asian guy's example, she would have to stop everyone else from falling to pass the test... right? Well, she had already saved herself from falling, and she hadn't passed yet, so that must be it. However, if those were the conditions to pass the test, then what about the last person? Would they automatically pass? Or was the test designed so that one person would inevitably fail? Or maybe the test was something completely different.
The girl clutched her head, frowning deeply. If Richard were here, he would've figured it out in an instant.
Think. What had the others done to pass?
They just used their powers to save everyone from falling. Yeah, that was it. So did that mean that she had to save everyone too?
"Hey, Tara, where did everyone else go?" Susan asked.
"Third division, Squadron Leaders A-3, A-4, and A-8, Amanda Thuin, Xing Liang, and Lily Parker have passed," Tara said. "Testing is still in progress for the other Squadron Leaders."
"What?" Susan said.
"I will assume that statement is to express your surprise, not a request for me to repeat what I just said," Tara said.
"Yeah, but... when did those three pass?" Susan asked.
"A few seconds ago," Tara replied.
"No, I mean, how did they pass?"
"I am not permitted to answer that question."
"Ugh..." Susan groaned. She clutched her head.
How had the others passed? How?
There was no way they had been able to save everyone from falling; she was still here, and nobody else was in sight. They hadn't saved only themselves from falling either, since she had done that already and hadn't passed. Then were the passing requirements something else?
"Think," Susan muttered to herself. "What would Richard do...?"
First, analyze the situation. So, basically, think about what the others had done to pass the test.
Well, the Asian guy had used some pretty high-level dimensional displacement to prevent everyone from falling; she had seen the massive energy level with her left eye. There hadn't really been much else to it-
Wait.
"Wait, really?" Susan said, looking down at Tara. The brown-haired girl made no move to respond. Susan thought for another minute. Then she pressed her hands together, and released them.
A torrent of white fire burst into existence, scorching everything from the ceiling of the room down to where Tara hovered. Tara glanced up at Susan.
"Third division, Squadron Leader A-7, Susan Night," Tara said. "Pass."

[King V]

Novel 3 - Makoto vs Tovor

A man entered the room, looking around curiously. He looked to be in his early twenties, dark hair just barely brushing his eyes. He wore a black hooded cloak just like everyone else did, and had eight black metal cylinders hanging by his belt. The man glanced around the room and let out a breath.
"So... am I supposed to wait, or what...?" the man asked himself. After a moment of silence, he shook his head. Originally he had meant to join Azure’s army as a favor, but if he had known there would be competition, he probably would’ve stayed at home. Guaranteed safety and free meals? Of course there would be a catch. His abilities weren’t exactly suited for combat either, and there seemed to be quite a bit of that going around…
“Yo newbie,” a voice sounded and a black cloaked figure materialized in the center of the room. The figure looked somewhat unique; he had shimmering turquoise hair and similarly colored eyes. His skin was far paler than one would expect, but it had a sort of gleam over it that would make one think he was a professional athlete. He grinned, the kind of perpetually smug smile that made you want to punch him over and over again.
“Hey…” the man responded halfheartedly. Another guy who looked like he’d smash his face in without the slightest hesitation. Joy…
“You don’t sound too happy to be here,” the figure said, shifting his weight to his left leg.
“Yeah… not really…” the man replied. Was this the guy who conducted the tests?
“That’s no good,” the figure said, wagging a finger. “You should be more enthusiastic about this; it’s a war after all. Not every day you get the chance to fight hundreds of seasoned opponents on an open battlefield.”
“Uh-huh…” the man said. Now he really wished he had stayed at home. He should’ve slammed the door as soon as he had known the person standing there was a rift walker.
“Anyway, the name’s Tovor Zamphex,” the figure went on.
“Mako Solari,” the man said.
“Mako, hmm?” Tovor said, scratching his chin. “Not a bad name. Well, everyone is scheduled for a basic ability test right now, but that’s no fun, right? So I thought, why not have a different kind of test instead?”
Tovor grasped the air and a black scythe materialized. His grin widened. “Last as long as you can against me in combat. That’s your test. Ready? Go!”
Mako barely had time to blink before Tovor leapt in front of him, scythe raised overhead. The man jumped away just as the weapon came down, smashing a watermelon-sized hole in the floor.
“Good, good, you dodged the first one,” Tovor said, wrenching his scythe out from the ground. “You wouldn’t believe how many people were done in by just a single attack.”
“Are you insane?” Mako said, slowly rising to his feet. “You’re a division leader, right? I can’t fight you.”
“That’s why this isn’t a fight,” Tovor said. “Your only goal is to last as long as you can without suffering a fatal wound. And the longer you last, the more points you get for the ranking. Simple, isn’t it?”
Mako sighed. Why was he not surprised? Random attacks by unknown enemies had become commonplace since he had graduated and moved out from the academy. It always turned out to be a waste of time, both for him and his opponent. Due to the nature of his powers, he would just end up running away at the end with his opponents unable to do anything. Then later he would find that his house had been destroyed while he was gone, and he would have to move to a different neighborhood. Sometimes life really sucked…
Well, at least for this test running away would come in handy.
The man extended a thin detection field across the room and bent down, ready to sprint at a moment’s notice. Tovor glanced around the room, eyes fixing on Mako.
“Getting serious now, are we?” Tovor said, his face still twisted in a perpetually smug grin. Mako remained silent. Every second that passed gave him more of an advantage.
Suddenly, Tovor dashed at Mako, slicing upward with his scythe. Mako quickly jumped back, grabbing a cylinder at his belt and morphing it into a sword. He blocked the next three incoming attacks, arms straining under the pressure. How was this guy so strong? He wasn’t even using any dimensional displacement, as far as Mako could tell through the detection field.
“What’s wrong? Tired already?” Tovor asked, his idiotic smug grin widening. The rift walker swung down with his scythe, Mako blocking it with both hands supporting his sword. Then he jumped back several paces, panting heavily.
He could already feel his arms trembling from the last four attacks he had blocked. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer… how long was this guy going to wait before using his powers?
Tovor came at the man again, this time swinging his scythe in from the side. Mako dived forward, evading behind the figure. He somersaulted to his feet and backed up again. Tovor glanced back in his direction.
“Your dodging skills are quite good,” the rift walker said, planting the head of his scythe on the floor. “But you’re being a little too defensive, don’t you think?”
“I just have to survive for as long as I can, right?” Mako said. “Then there’s no problem with being defensive.”
Tovor chuckled. “Well, I happen to believe in the saying, ‘the best defense is a good offense’, but that might just be me.”
Mako wiped the sweat off his brow and took a deep breath. In some ways, Tovor was correct, he couldn’t keep dodging forever. Eventually he would get tired and his defenses would break… but he couldn’t exactly counterattack either. He would probably get destroyed if he tried a direct attack on Tovor… or even worse, the rift walker could just ignore his attack and directly counterattack himself. There was no penalty for Tovor being hit after all.
Why wasn’t the rift walker using his powers? Wouldn’t it be better for him to end things quickly than let the fight drag on like this? Wait… maybe he knew…? No, that was impossible… they had just met a few minutes ago. Then, maybe he had figured it out somehow?
“Thinking up a new strategy?” Tovor stipulated, eyeing Mako curiously.
“Not really…” Mako said.
“You probably should,” Tovor said, casually swinging his scythe around. “Hoping that I’ll manifest my dimensional displacement in this situation is a foolish tactic.”
Mako’s eyes widened. “What…?”
“Your subtype is something that turns another rift walker’s dimensional displacement against them, right?” Tovor said. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out. All of your movements so far have been defensive, but they’re defensive without a purpose. It’s like you don’t even have the choice to counterattack, but are rather waiting for something. Which means that your dimensional displacement only manifests in specific conditions, like me using my power for example. In which case, it’s highly likely that your powers are used to counter another rift walker’s powers. Am I wrong?”
Mako quickly regained his composure. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Just admit it,” Tovor said, grin widening. “I can keep this up all day, but it looks like you’re getting pretty tired. Wouldn’t it be better to explain yourself now to buy a couple more minutes before I finish you off?”
Mako sighed, rubbing his hand against his forehead. The rift walker had figured it out after all. Well, there wasn’t really any point to keeping it a secret now.
“Fine, I’ll talk-” Mako started, but was cut off as Tovor’s scythe suddenly sank into his throat.
“Too slow,” Tovor said, grinning evilly.
Mako blacked out.

***

When Mako woke up, he felt perfectly fine.
More than fine, he actually felt more energetic than when he had entered the testing room. Was it some effect of the dimension he was inside? If it was, he would declare his undying love for whoever had made such an incredible place. If the creator was female, that is. If not, he would probably just shake their hand and give them a nod of approval.
The man sat up, slowly tuning his vision into focus. There were several other black cloaked people in the room with him, talking amongst themselves in small groups. One of the cloaked people looked down at him as Mako sat up.
“Hey, you’re up,” the guy said, extending a hand. Mako ignored it and rose on his own. He counted the number of people, seven; eight including himself. It was too small a group for him to have landed in the Unit Member rank–standard rift walker army units were composed of sixty people–and too big to be the Squad Member rank. Which meant he was either a Platoon Leader or a Squad Leader, and judging by his performance on the last test, it was more likely the latter than the former.
Mako’s thoughts were confirmed by the cloaked man’s next words. “Anyways, welcome to Platoon A of the fourth division. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Mako muttered briefly before scanning the room again. He wasn’t exactly disappointed that he had ended up in the Squad Leaders group. He didn’t have the qualifications for being a Platoon Leader, and he certainly didn’t want the responsibility of a few thousand lives hanging over his head. As long as he didn’t get into anything dangerous, he would be fine.
Anyways, on to more important matters.
There were exactly three girls here, gathered in their own little group. He could just barely make out their conversation–something about how cute cats were–but couldn’t see their faces. Stupid nano-silicon cloaks. Who needs absolute protection from the elements when you can’t even see a girl’s face?
Dismayed, Mako glanced over at the men in the platoon, a few of whom were younger than him, teenagers. He stopped glancing and strode over to the side of the room, leaning back against the wall, observing the group of girls from afar. He had eavesdropped on them for all of two minutes before a series of grunts disrupted him. He scowled, casting his gaze aside, scanning for the perpetrator.
There was another man standing near the corner of the room, doing some strange sort of exercise. He looked tall, six feet at least, and had his light brown hair cut short. He was also heavyset, displaying a large portion of muscle even through his heavy black cloak. Mako just started at him for a moment, as he continued to wave his arms and jump around spastically. Then he walked over.
“What are you doing?” Mako asked as he approached.
“Light aerobics!” the man declared, spinning around to face him. He stood several inches taller than Mako, and looked down at him, grinning cheerfully.
“What…?” Mako said blankly.
“Light aerobics!” the man repeated. He stopped for a moment. “It helps build your stamina and physique!”
“Right…” Mako said slowly. “Look, I’m-”
Then he caught himself. He couldn’t say ‘I’m trying to stalk some girls right now, so could you please keep it down,’ without sounding like some sort of rapist. He also had no idea how the man would react, and given how incredibly muscular and heavily-built this man looked, he would probably suffer some painful injuries if a fight broke out. He would play it safe then.
“I’m trying to think of some… strategy,” Mako corrected himself. “For the war that’s coming. And it’s hard to concentrate with your… light aerobics going on, so could you please keep it down?”
“Ah, strategy,” the man nodded thoughtfully. “Strategy is always important. You can’t win a war if your leaders aren’t thinking. Tell me what you’ve thought of so far.”
“Uh…” Mako said uncertainly, trying to make something up off the top of his head. “I was thinking… since the gatekeepers outnumber us… we should try and flank them…?”
The man stared at Mako for a moment. “Flanking is a maneuver used when we outnumber the enemy. You can’t flank five people with only one person. We’re also fighting defensively against the gatekeepers; we can’t afford to risk the extra resources trying to outflank them.”
“Ah, I see your point,” Mako said. “This is why I need to think of new strategies.”
The man gave a good-natured laugh. “Good to hear. And your name is…?”
“Mako,” Mako said. “Mako Solari.”
“The name’s Zwolf Nacht,” the man said. He extended his hand. Mako took it and he shook it vigorously.
“So, Zwolf,” Mako said after the man had released his death-grip. “What do you think is our best strategy against the gatekeepers?”
“Hmm…” Zwolf said. “Well, we’re facing a group of all-powerful rift walkers who have a near-infinite number of soldiers at their disposal, so I’d say we’re screwed.”
“Ah…” Mako said dumbly.
“Even lasting seven days against them seems almost impossible,” Zwolf continued. “But in order to last as long as we can against them, we need defensive structures, and a lot of them.”
“Defensive structures?” Mako inquired.
“Flux barriers, dampening fields, whatever we can throw at them to slow them down,” Zwolf explained. “Then we need to capitalize on a few key choke points.”
“Choke points?” Mako repeated.
“Right,” Zwolf nodded. “Some places where the battlefield is narrow, so a small group of rift walkers can hold off a much larger group. That would nullify the numbers advantage.”
“So… we slow them down and hold them off in narrow places?” Mako summarized.
“More difficult than it sounds,” Zwolf said. “We’re defending planets, and there are some weapons that can destroy just about anything.”
“I see,” Mako said. “That does sound difficult.”
“It certainly does,” Zwolf agreed. A sudden beeping noise sounded, and the man pressed on his wrist. “Ah, time for the next set. Care to join me, Mako?”
“Uh, no thanks,” Mako said, backing up as the man launched into a new array of strange-looking movements.
“Suit yourself,” Zwolf said, and began counting aloud to some unseen rhythm. Mako walked back to his spot at the wall and closed his eyes, wishing he could hear the girls talking over Zwolf’s exercise noise.
“Attention slackers and imbeciles,” a girl’s voice sounded and Mako jerked to attention.
A new girl was standing in the center of the room, standard black hooded cloak draped over her, short brown hair barely touching her shoulders, and eyes looking at everyone with traces of disgust and condescendence. “I’m Nina Arumio, Platoon Leader A of the fourth division. Tovor’s given me the instructions for the next phase of the test. It’s…”
The girl tapped her visor and looked it over. “Yeah, it’s a thirty-minute deathmatch. I did read that right. Whatever, go fight.”
Nina gave a dismissive wave before turning away.
“Wait, a thirty-minute deathmatch?” asked one of the cloaked people.
“Yes,” Nina stated.
“But… what if we die?”
“All of you died facing Tovor and you’re still here, aren’t you?”
“Wait… dying doesn’t kill us?”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Of course dying kills you, idiot. We’re inside Zero’s dimension, which automatically revives you every time you die. What, did you think you all suddenly became immortal or something?”
A resounding “ohhhhh” flooded the room. Mako made a mental note to give Zero a handshake and nod of approval the next time they met.
“Well, go on then,” Nina made a shooing gesture. “Get killing.”
For a split second, everyone froze. Nobody so much as breathed as they began gauging their position. Mako didn’t move either. No need to rush this battle, the first person who attacked would inevitably lose.
After about five minutes of waiting in silence, finally someone snapped. A black cloaked person promptly dashed to the side and slashed at someone’s throat. Mako counted himself lucky it was on the other side of the room.
The chamber instantly turned to chaos as everyone started attacking everyone else. Blasts of wind, rock, and water flew wildly everywhere as people tried to hit something, anything, to increase their chances of winning. Mako saw at least three people collapse, dissipating into light. Was that how the dimension worked? Interesting…
As the battle raged on, Mako caught a glimpse of someone running at him, sword raised overhead cloaked in darkness. Well, that couldn’t be good. The man quickly jumped up, spun around the black cloaked person, drew his own sword, then while his opponent’s momentum was still carrying him forward, smashed the pommel of his sword into the person’s head. His opponent crumpled instantly, falling victim to a stray boulder smashing into the wall. Mako turned away before the corpse could get to him.
Maybe he should do something? At this rate he would end up facing the sole survivor of the chaos one-on-one, which wasn’t a bad outcome, but he’d have to deal with a lot of random stragglers trying to kill him…
“Alright, screw it,” Mako said. “I’m winning this thing.”
The man stood up, and cupped his hand in the air. Everything instantly froze, then converged to Mako’s outstretched hand. First, a ball of random debris formed above his hand, but as more and more energy flowed into his hand, the ball quickly transformed into a shining sphere of light.
“I’ll be taking all of that,” Mako said to the other rift walkers, now looking up at the giant sphere of light with awe… and fear. Someone tried shooting a tongue of flame at Mako, but just before it could hit him, the fire curved sharply upward and was absorbed into his sphere. The person backed up a step.
“And so it ends,” Mako muttered under his breath.
“Indeed,” a voice sounded behind him.
“What?” Mako turned around to the face of Zwolf, hand extended toward his sphere.
“Sorry about this, Mako,” Zwolf said. “No hard feelings, right?”
Mako opened his mouth to reply, but he suddenly felt the sphere above his head getting hot. Extremely hot. Supernova hot. Wait, what was happening? His power should be combining all the other powers, not-
Before Mako could process another thought, the sphere exploded, a detonation that wiped out his vision along with all of his other senses. All he could think of for a moment was Zwolf’s face. And the triumphant expression that it held.