World Keeper

Chapter 1016: Apocalypse Now

For the next two weeks, I focused heavily on my training, making sure that I would be able to unleash my full combat power within the void. Although I would not be immediately fighting the enemy in order to get an estimation of their power, I had to be prepared to do so at a moment’s notice when we were ready to attack.

To my pleasant surprise, I found that the summons that I had created had fully mastered their own styles after years of arduous training. According to Dana, they would be able to fight evenly with her if only three or four of them attacked together, as long as she didn’t tap into her own army. While this meant that Dana was still stronger than any of them individually, that was no surprise. She was, after all, Dana… one of the most terrifying existences I’ve ever seen in a fight.

Finally, when it was one day before the invasion was set to take place, I had Tubrock teleport Olympus to the fifty-ninth floor of Fyor. We appeared high in the sky, the planet that Olympus rested on floating above a series of fifty giant flying islands. Each island was wide enough to support the population of an entire planet, at least in the short term.

At the same time, the Greater Pantheon issued the ‘Void Incursion’ alarm. Throughout the various worlds, those who were willing to evacuate would move to teleportation points that would send them to these islands. I could feel the energy erupting below as streams of light sent people en masse to their destination.

For those that chose to remain behind, I could only watch the countdown and hope that our defenses were enough to protect them. Like that, I waited out the last twenty-four hours in solemnity, gathering my weapons and finally closing off all connections between Fyor and the other worlds. Many void monsters spread their influence via information, so we would have to rely on Fallen Gods to scout the way first.

When the notice of the invasion came in, I looked at the number of invaders. This was a targeted invasion, so there were only two possibilities. Either an all-out attack of millions of troops, or a small group of the most elite forces. Personally, I would have preferred the former, as it meant that they were more interested in killing the enemy Keeper than they were in destroying the worlds. And large numbers are easier to track.

Unfortunately… the entire force amounted to no more than fifty. If the numbers were that small, they must all be powerful void beasts. There may even be those that are capable of destroying worlds.

Giles stood atop a great tree in the middle of the ocean, a golden Sylvan standing at his side. As the Fallen God of Unity, he had elected to remain with Spriggan’s grove through this incursion. He believed that his presence would be able to protect the grove, at least to some extent.

“They’re here.” He muttered suddenly, causing Spriggan to look up at the sky, though she couldn’t see anything different.

“Can you tell how strong they are?” She asked in concern, her voice like a soft melody.

However, Giles shook his head. “No. There’s too much interference for me to get an idea without entering the void.”

Spriggan was just about to speak up, when suddenly a voice entered both of their minds. “Heheheheh, welcome, one and all! It’s time for the Extinction Games! The rules of the game are quite simple, quite simple indeed! All you need to do is kill, or be killed! You have five minutes to take a life! If you do not, your own life will be forfeit!”

The eerie voice caused their spines to straight, feeling as if thunder had erupted in their hearts. It didn’t take a genius to understand the meaning of these words. “We don’t have to kill a person… just kill?”

Spriggan nodded her head at Giles’s words. “That’s… probably because this voice isn’t just targeting the intelligent species.”

Giles nodded his head, focusing. “I can’t cut this power off in under five minutes. Have everyone in the grove find a fish or insect to kill.” Due to the Void Incursion alarm, all forms of business had been halted for the time being, so Giles wasn’t worried that there would be people trapped at work, unable to find something to kill. As long as they didn’t panic, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Spriggan nodded her head, issuing the message throughout the grove. At the same time, she noticed that the larger fish seemed to have turned more ferocious, as if they had been triggered by the voice as well.

Merkin and Sylvans alike flew out from the grove, most of them managing to complete a simple kill within five minutes. When that time was up, the eerie voice spoke up again. “And that’s the end of round one! Those of you who completed your challenge, congratulations! To the others… game over.”

Spriggan bit her lips, scanning the area. Several fish, and even a few residents of the grove that had not been able to find something to kill in time, all trembled. Their health bars appeared above their heads, falling to a little less than half.

Spriggan let out a faint sigh of relief at that. “It looks like the effect is weakened, at least.” She said, though Giles’s expression wasn’t so good.

“That’s because of all of the layers of defense. If it was a planet outside of even one of these layers, such as the hyperlane network… the population might be decimated.”

“Oh?” A voice spoke up, though it was not Spriggan, but rather the eerie announcer of the Extinction Games. “It seems some of you managed to avoid punishment. That won’t do… we’ll have to begin the second round, then! This time, you must take another life! However, the life you took must be stronger than the first round.”

Seeing that the ‘game’ had immediately started again, both Giles and Spriggan turned pale.

Mora sat atop a tall cliff in the shape of a sword, her mind and body in a constant state of readiness. There were those of her sect that were unable to leave for various reasons, whether because they were at an important juncture in their cultivation, or they were in the process of digesting some special treasure. For this reason, she had remained behind to act as the guardian of her sect.

Due to the time difference between Lorek and the other worlds, it had been a full twenty days since the alarm had been sounded. As time passed, the feeling of impending danger began to increase more and more. 

Suddenly, she felt something change in the space behind her, reaching out and slashing a hand. An arc of energy lashed out, striking a matching attack not far away. She furrowed her brows, standing and turning to face her assailant. Although she was a blind woman, she could identify the nature of her enemy. “I must fight myself?”

“It seems so.” The other one spoke, holding a hand out as starlight formed into a blade. “To think this void beast would summon a clone of myself for me to defeat. This is troubling.”

Mora’s thoughts raced when she heard that. Her clone did not seem to believe that she was a clone, nor did she believe herself to be under the control of an exterior influence. She lifted her own blade of starlight in a defensive stance. “If you believe yourself true, as do I, perhaps the course of action is to not fight. Perhaps both of us are real, and the death of one will lead to both falling.”

The ‘clone’ hesitated, thinking through Mora’s words. “You believe not fighting is the answer? Am I to trust a creation of the void?”

“You have no choice, and neither do I. If you appeared before me, and I you, then surely the same will be true of the others. We will know the outcome after a simple observation.”

The other Mora nodded her head, and the two swept their senses over the mountain that they  had previously clashed over. The expressions of the ursa immortals twisted when they saw the results. Unfortunately, Mora’s estimation had turned out false. Everyone in the sect did indeed have to fight a copy of themselves, but they were not both ‘real’ entities that shared life and death. When one died, they would remain dead, making it impossible to tell whether the survivor was the original or the duplicate.

“It seems that we must fight, after all.” One of the Moras said, though the other shook her head.

“I disagree.” She said simply. “There is no compulsion to fight. Whichever of us is real, we should have both perceived that the attack at the start was launched by the other party, correct?”

“That’s right.” The other one said in affirmation.

“If that is the case… what happens if we do not continue the fight?”

“There are two options. Either the void beast obtains the power from the defeated foe, aiming to replace at least a portion of them with his own people as spies, or…” Both of them turned in unison, striking out as two matching sword beams came from behind them. “Or another round of combat would appear.”

Standing behind each Mora was another duplicate, Mora’s face twisting slightly. “Each copy perfectly matches the original. That means that there is an even chance of victory or defeat. However, that’s only for one round. As more rounds stack up…”

“The odds that the original remains at the end diminishes more and more.” The Mora standing next to her said with a grim nod. “More importantly… these two don’t seem willing to communicate.”

“It’s learning. The answer to overcome this trial should have been teaming up with your copies. Now, that is no longer an option. You’re not getting any sudden violent thoughts, are you?” The two Moras stood together, having formed an alliance as they lashed out at their new copies.

Aznod and Udona stood atop the castle of Ashtanu, their hands behind their backs. Aznod seemed fearless, knowing that he would be with Udona in the Admin Room even if he died. Udona, meanwhile, knew that protecting her people was more important than protecting her body, which even the original owner deemed as disposable if necessary.

Aznod was about to say something when Udona lifted her hand to stop him, watching. There was a loud explosion, a house shattering within the city. Do not say a word. Udona spoke in Aznod’s mind firmly. Another house shattered, and another, dozens seeming to go with every second.

You saw something? Aznod asked, Udona nodding her head.

This void beast amplifies voices to a disastrous degree. One utterance can destroy everything within twenty meters. Including the person that spoke.

Aznod’s brow furrowed. Is it only voices, or does it apply to any sound?

Thankfully, it only seems to be voices. If I’m not mistaken, we were unlucky… the beast attacking this realm should be a world destroyer… originally, any sound should cause massive destruction, but it was reduced to this level after the various layers of defense. I’ve already transmitted my thoughts to everyone on Deckan to warn them. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do for the wildlife…

As soon as she said that, the sound reached them, constant explosions echoing out in the wilderness, every scared animal letting out their own cry that signaled their doom.