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DMA - B2 - Chapter 26 – The Conclave’s haunting power
🕑 Added 2024-11-23 16:59:39 +0000 UTCBrom had been kneeling before Troxanir for an incalculable amount of time. Death at the hands of Jace Seren had left him furious, but being a member of the Black Hole Conclave, he was pulled to the singularity at the center of reality. And his whole being was permeated with incalculable pleasure beyond reckoning.
He had ceased to become an individual, instead joining into a sea of others who came before him. A choir of souls in mutual ecstasy, trapped in bliss. His ultimate reward, and what he sought to subject every person in the universe to. To become one with oblivion, he thought.
He was himself once more, now. Troxanir’s power had pulled his singular consciousness back and given him a chance. He was not forced, no. He wanted to return and try to get revenge. If he died? He would just return once more to that endless bliss.
A chance to return for revenge was too good to pass up. And there was literally no risk for him, save for some injury and pain if he fell. And, if he survived, he would have a second lease on life. To work for the Conclave once more in a new form.
Troxanir turned to him and tapped him on the shoulder, “I have procured a vessel. You will now be transported. Kill Jace Seren and survive so that you may help me bring oblivion to all.”
Brom smiled, his canid maw distending into a ghoulish grin. “Oblivion’s will be done.”
He felt reality shift and distort, and his vision narrowed to a pinprick before he felt a physical body once more. Pushing himself to his knees, he reached his left hand out to a metal cylinder – almost reflexively – and thumbed the switch. A blade of piercing, yellow light surged upward. That’s not quite my style, he thought as the Cosmic Power symbol of Black Hole with the Supermassive Ascended Power symbol appeared on the back of his hand. The blade surged with energy and turned pure black.
“Better,” he growled out. The new body felt different – as expected. His senses were not as sharp as before, but all his Skills transferred over. He was still an Ascendant; the only change was his physical form. Looking up, he spotted the horror on a lightly armored rabbit-man’s face, the hulking, stone-covered form of a full-plate covered man, and finally…the person who he hated.
“Mongrel!”
>>>---<<<
Jace turned and saw the corpse flare with black light before it stood up. The helmet receded and he could see a black specter, just like Troxanir’s shadow around that woman at Pheracorp, settling around the person’s form. But it was wolfish, not tentacle-monster-y.
Ollie whispered into his ear, “The Conclave can recall the soul or consciousness of their Signers and members and put them into a willing host body. Looks like corpses count. Adding that to the list of ‘stuff we did not know about Troxanir’.”
“You face Brom Farkonen!” The armored figure shouted as he stood up and brandished the laser sword that turned a deep black. The Cosmic Power symbol of the Black Hole appeared on his left hand, and the deeper, blacker dot at the center signified his Ascended Power.
Jace waved his allies back, “Run!” He ran forward to engage with the returned-Ascendant to try and take their attention away from his allies. It worked, and the figure closed with Jace and swung their sword down. Jace deflected the weapon with his own, watching with concern as Nethaldrim began to distort slightly from the sustained contact. Jace pushed off and raised his hand under his elbow, pointed at his opponent, “Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding]!”
The purple-black darts surged into the figure – all nine of them. They drilled deep into the armor, and then exploded in a five-foot radius. Jace saw the body distort, warp, and then shift as it returned to a whole state. “That all you got?” Brom snarled out as he stabbed forward.
Jace tried to deflect, and the laser blade went right through the center of his sword and into his Dark Matter Shield (Rank 3). Jace felt extremely tired, and his eyelids fluttered shut as the damage was prevented. Downgrade to Dark Matter Shield (Rank 2), he thought. The shield formed around his arm as he jumped back.
Brom held up his hand and then snarled in pain as bullets impacted his torso and ripped holes into the armor as little spurts of blood surged out. Jace glanced back and saw Greg crouched behind a waist-high barrier, firing off rounds. Priam was even further back, and he raised his hand – a moment later, the golden honeycomb flared into place around both Jace and Greg.
“Fine! You all die!” Brom’s hand flared with a black, umbral glow.
Jace turned around and saw the tiny dot in space at the center of the room above Greg. Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant]. Detonate. Jace placed the mine right between Priam and Greg, and the duo were affected by the null gravity. It kept them from being sucked up into the singular point in space – unlike the rest of the environment.
The building cracked and began to surge in towards the point in space. The whole world seemed to buckle under Jace’s feet, and he dug his leg-blades into the floor, feeling them bite down into the concrete. He was not able to focus on his footing for long, as Brom renewed his assault and launched into a flurry of blows against Jace. “Eyes on me, whelp!” The building continued to creak and groan all around them.
Jace faced the assault and saw his blade begin to sizzle once more. “Ollie! Equipment Augmentation! I need something to let my sword stand a chance!”
“Converting 3 Uncommon (Variable) into a Rare (Augmentation) and using it!”
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Equipment Augmentation
[Using Boon: Rare (Augmentation).]
[Target Equipment: (Returning) Nethaldrim.]
[Augmenting.]
[Result: (Returning / Adaptable) Nethaldrim.]
[Description: The Adaptable (Augmentation) shifts the blade’s properties to be suitable to a combat environment or obstacle.]
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The weapon in Jace’s grip repaired itself instantly, the holes receding as the melted edges instantly reshaped to their peak condition. He could see the silvery dust covering the blade glow slightly as it intercepted the incoming laser sword. Where the blades locked together and the two began to push against each other for the advantage, he could see the spiraling, silvery dust condensing into that point and protecting the edge.
Brom growled and let out a vicious kick that Jace let impact the barrier from Priam.
Pointing his shield-arm back behind him, he pointed at the singularity. “Arbiter’s Anathema,” he muttered as the three-times-per-day Skill instantly shut down the singularity. Jace grinned as he renewed his assault, unleashing several devastating blows. “Really? You came back to life to just fail like this?”
Brom was going to respond, but explosions dotted his face and crimson spewed out as Greg’s rounds found their mark. A pulse of golden, divine light surged down from above and Brom howled in pain as Priam’s Smite surged into him. It repeated an additional four times from the (Rank 10) effect of the Skill.
Jace took advantage of the opening to score a blow and watched as the crimson and purple miasma began to spread. “Feel that? Same as last time. You’re going to die,” Jace taunted.
Brom roared out and his voice echoed with the rage of eons as the world seemingly shook around Jace. An enormous portal opened behind the Ascendant, and Jace felt the pull immediately as he was flung forward towards it. He could hear the roar of air being sucked alongside him, and the ring of bright, white light surrounding the black hole filled him with a deep fear of death.
If he crossed the line, he would die. He felt it in his bones. He knew touching it would lead to oblivion.
Hell no! Arbiter’s Anathema! The enormous gateway to the singularity was shut instantly, and Jace rolled to his feet to wheel around on Brom. But the fighter was already running towards Greg. Jace raised his grapnel arm, fired it at Brom’s back, and retracted to pull himself towards the Ascendant.
Brom brought the laser sword down on Greg, and the large man sidestepped the blow. Brom sliced sideways and up at an angle, and the blade carved into Priam’s barrier, which cracked and shattered. Greg stepped in and delivered a brutal rifle-butt to the face before an enormous sphere of rock appeared behind him and surged forward, crunching into the Ascendant’s chest and sending him reeling back. Greg’s stone, armored form was able to take the laser-sword hit, but Jace could see the actual armor under the stone. He can’t take many hits from that!
Jace got next to Brom and sliced down and through his arm holding the laser sword. “That’s for my fucking arm!” Jace shouted. The man screamed out in pain as Jace kicked the now-dormant blade to the side. “You tried to hurt my friends?!” Jace screamed out. “Greg, fuck off and get the server!”
Wrath’s Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused]. He felt an explosion of hatred at this person who tried to hurt his oldest friend. This man that came back from the dead only to try and kill the living. It disgusted Jace and he focused that rage on him with every fiber of his being. Grabbing Brom’s chest, he muttered, “Mage’s Mark (Rank 3).” A glowing, purple brand appeared on his torso and pulsed with Jace’s own racing heartbeat.
Brom’s sliced-off-arm grew a shadowy, tendril-like appendage and lashed out at Jace. He let the tentacle hit him, and the damage reduction from Mage’s Mark kicked in before applying to Priam’s Pulsar Ward. The honeycomb structure barely buckled. Jace growled as he dropped his sword and punched Brom’s face. Repeatedly slamming his invisible tower-shield’s leading edge into the man. He screamed with raw, unadulterated anger as he beat the face to a pulpy mess.
Jace stepped back as he heaved deep breaths. Brom stood up straight and all his wounds immediately healed in a flash of black – but he was breathing heavily. Ollie whispered into Jace’s ear, “He is running out of that Black Hole healing ability. Just keep up the assault.”
“With pleasure,” Jace growled as he recalled the blade to his hand, activated Shadow Nebula Smokescreen, and vanished from sight. Brom began flailing wildly into the darkened smoke, and Jace simply ran circles around him, taking off large slices of flesh and armor as he precisely dismantled the opponent he faced once more. After ten seconds the smokescreen faded, and Jace backed off to survey his work with grim satisfaction.
Brom’s body was carved up. Both arms were missing, Jace had gouged halfway through the thigh of one leg and cut the other leg off right below the knee. The wriggling, helpless mess in front of him was pathetic. Truly, utterly defeated. Brom looked up at Jace, and the Dark Matter Aspirant saw emotion behind the eyes. It was a look of hatred mixed with fear, and regret. Raising his sword, Jace brought it down through the neck, slicing cleanly through the body.
“Dust him,” he ordered.
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[Stardust Acquired: 100]
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[Quest Completed: Kill the Storm Force Five.]
[Time Limit: ASAP.]
[Reward: Epic (Equipment Augmentation) Boon.]
[Sender: Dark Between Stars]
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“He’s dead-dead?” Jace asked as he let his Skills – except for his shield and blade, fade.
“Yup!” Ollie replied. “And if he tries to come back again, then he will not be able to join his little friends wherever they go.”
Jace nodded and toggled his comms, “Quinn, the other two on their way?”
“Yes, they’re downstairs,” she replied over the comms. “You good? You kind of lost it there.”
“I’m fine,” Jace replied as he looked to where the corpse once lay. “That’s the fucker that almost killed me and took my arm. Well, one of them.”
“Oh. Well, you should just secure the stairwell for when they need to get out. They both went down to the server room.”
Jace nodded and followed the map that Quinn had broadcast into his vision.
>>>---<<<
Brom found himself standing in front of Troxanir. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I tried so hard.”
Troxanir nodded, “I know, my servant.” He placed a hand on Brom’s shoulder. “You are welcome to try again, but know that you would not return to oblivion’s embrace if you chose that path. Your soul would be too weak.”
Brom nodded, “I desire oblivion’s embrace. Please forgive my cowardice.”
“There is no cowardice, my servant. Go, return to paradise.”
Brom floated into Oblivion’s Maw and felt the ecstasy infuse his body once more as he lost all sense of himself.
Comments
Seras Streams
Good catch.
Joshua Zollinger
I think Jace is supposed to state the rank at which he wants to use the Mark, right?
Andrew Denton
I'll say this for Jace: he is getting X so much lovely data about the Black Hole abilities. 😁
