Chapter 103: Man vs Midnight

“So, my dear,” Aleksandra asked Vasi the moment she and Basil returned home. “Did you enjoy meeting your father?”

Basil and his girlfriend exchanged a long, knowing glance as the portal closed behind them. “There is a margin for improvement,” the witch said with an embarrassed smile, “but we’re still on speaking terms.”

“Oh, it went better than I expected then!” Aleksandra chuckled. “Between us, I worried that he might be the kind to hurt my poor son for dating you. I know people who got shot for less.”

Basil resisted the urge to touch his now-healed rapier wound. “I’m good, mom.”

It appeared the rest of his group hadn’t been idle in their absence. Bugsy had used a combination of his lava-secretion and digging abilities to expand Aleksandra’s home. He had raised walls of magma, let them cool off, and then topped them with steel panels to make a roof. His good work had doubled the house’s size. Rosemarine, meanwhile, had planted some of her fruits in the garden in the hope of raising new trees in the future.

It was Shellgirl who had been the busiest of them though. She had piled up entire crates of battle items—on which Plato neatly rested, that lazy kitten—and classified them in a notebook. Basil noticed many Elemental Boosters, alongside strange, X-shaped shuriken of crystal. He grabbed one and examined its abilities.

X-Dispel

Category: Consumable.

Quality: C

Effect 1: Strips a single target of all stat buffs.

Effect 2: Strips a single target of beneficial status conditions, such as [Regen] or [Haste].

The poor man’s buff breaker. Overuse can cause performance issues.

“I knew you would love them, Partner,” Shellgirl said as she scribbled words in her notebook. “They’ll come in handy.”

Basil wished he had carried them during the fight with his ‘father-in-law.’ “Do we need to throw it at the target?” he asked. “It won’t activate if we miss?”

“I’m afraid so, Partner,” Shellgirl replied. “We can always strap them to my ice pearls or other projectiles. Our foes can’t possibly dodge everything.”

Basil winced as he remembered Braniño’s insane agility. “I’ll need ten, no, twenty of these. Can we afford so many?”

“I could only purchase five of them max, for now, Partner.” Shellgirl sighed. “These items are super-expensive. Buying the boosters already dug a big hole in our budget.”

Basil could survive with five. They were only likely to use these devices against the likes of Apollyon or Krampus anyway. “Is there anything that can strip debuffs too?”

“Nope.” Shellgirl shook her head. “Your mom can purchase items that give debuffs, however. Nothing too good, as they only focus on a single stat, but it could help us in a pinch.”

“I’m sorry, Basil, this is the best I can get for now,” his mother apologized. “Once I gain more levels in my Merchant class, maybe I can unlock better options.”

“You’re already helping a lot, mom,” Basil reassured her. “But out of curiosity… Can you use your class to buy weapons? I’m looking for a backup spear.”

His mother let out a sigh. “I can buy E to C quality weapons. Nothing like your halberd or Joyeuse, my son.”

“No offense, ma’am, but you aren’t the best supplier of weapons around,” Shellgirl replied. “Walter is.”

“He’s also the most expensive,” Basil pointed out. “Securing his help for the portal cost us a fortune already.”

“True, true, but we’re also now killing foes that pay a fortune in loot.” Ever the optimist, Shellgirl immediately tried to see the good of the matter. “All we need to do is to kill dragons, take their hoard, and invest their hard-won coins in legendary equipment. We’re at the point where we can start to afford Tye’s best stuff if we play our cards right.”

She made killing dragons sound like an easy task. It was true that Basil was tailor-made to deal with them, but they didn’t exactly grow on trees either.

“Or,” Vasi said, “If my father is serious about giving me a stipend, we could spend it on a shopping spree.”

Basil couldn’t help but chuckle. “Vasi, are you thinking like a rich heiress already?”

“My father cannot buy my affection,” Vasi replied with a coy smile. “But it’ll help.”

If Basil had known he would be dating into wealth one day…

“My dear Vasi, did I hear correctly? Is your dad rich?” Shellgirl rubbed her hands, her eyes lighting up with greed and ambition. “Please tell me he is a fellow entrepreneur!”

“I don’t think so,” her best friend replied. “He sounded more like a noble to me.”

“Ugh, a parasite then.” Shellgirl didn’t bother to hide her disappointment. “Those guys can’t understand the value of money, because they never earned it!”

“Basil, was it…” Plato looked up at his best friend with horrified eyes. “Was it true? Do they really eat cats in other worlds?”

Basil sighed. “I’m sorry, Plato,” he apologized to the terrified feline. “I couldn’t save anyone.”

“Honestly, it’s better you never meet my mother oh king of cats.” Vasi leaned towards Plato and pinched his belly. “With all the fat you have gained lately, she won’t be able to resist.”

“Savages!” Plato swiped the witch’s hand away. “Savages, all of you!”

Basil was tempted to agree considering the Dalton family’s mixed reception, though he was thankful for the gifts. Now that they weren’t pressed by time, he took the opportunity to check his new class’ stats.

Chronomancer: A powerful spellcaster capable of manipulating time and space. STR (C); AGI (S); VIT (D); SKI (C); MAG (A); INT (C); CHA (C); LCK (B).

On paper, Chronomancer didn’t fit his build very much. Basil was almost a pure fighter whose magical abilities were limited to buffing himself and his team, with a few crafter levels on the side to improve his equipment. Taking levels in a magical class sounded like an utter waste of time.

However, the battle with Braniño’s had shown him a way how Chronomancer could potentially synergize with his other classes. By stacking effects increasing his speed and evasion, Basil could potentially not only strengthen himself, but also his entire team.

He also hadn’t yet taken a level in Warrior Saint, another elite class with magical abilities. He wondered how those would synergize. He needed to invest further into Runesmith as well; Technomancer and Alchemist were good, but didn’t provide immediate combat abilities.

Basil wondered if he should leave the crafting side of his build behind. He couldn’t optimize his classes to cover all contingencies. There would always be someone out there with the specific abilities to counter his own. However, purchasing battle items could make for a nice substitute. Healing potions had saved his team more than once and there were few problems that could survive a bomb to the face.

Crafting classes had been useful when Basil and his team could only rely on themselves, but now… now they were part of a network that spanned all of Europe. If he needed something in particular, he could always request it from an ally. And Basil doubted he could ever make anything close to Walter Tye’s wares, even if he were to become a full crafter.

I should ask Walter for any information on my current classes on our next visit, Basil thought. If he knows any of them, I could discuss potential synergies with him.

But that would wait for another time. The countdown to midnight was frighteningly close, and knowing Dismaker Labs, their brief moment of respite wouldn’t last a second longer.

Basil looked around to see if everyone was accounted for, and immediately noticed missing people. “Kalki and his teammates haven’t returned yet?”

“Nope,” Shellgirl confirmed. “They’re still visiting the city’s dungeon as far as I know.”

“I’m starting to worry about the poor boy,” Aleksandra said. “He looked so very sad… I hope he won’t make a mistake he will regret.”

“He’s not that kind of man, Mom,” Basil replied. Kalki was above all a selfless person and he knew his death would spell the world’s destruction.

In fact, he suffered because he was so selfless. As the Avatar of Preservation, he blamed himself for all the destruction caused by the Trimurti System. It wasn’t the case—the likes of Maxwell, the Apocalypse Force, and the Unity would have caused chaos on their own—but Basil knew all too well that one’s emotions could blind their perception of the truth. After all, he had let a misunderstanding with his mother poison their relationship for years.

Basil had hoped that giving Kalki some space would let him think things through, but now he worried he might have miscalculated. For all he knew, isolation could have only worsened his friend’s issues.

His mother appeared to have read his thoughts. “You should go pick him up, my son,” she said with a smile. “It’s not good for anyone to celebrate the new year alone.”

“We’ll probably have to fight the moment 2023 begins, Mom,” Basil pointed out.

“My point remains, we should enjoy this year’s end together.” Aleksandra Bohen clutched her hands. “I know 2022 was our worst year yet, but not everything has to be thrown away. It allowed us to reconcile, for a start.”

Basil’s heart pounded in his chest and his blood flushed to his cheeks. His girlfriend chuckled at the sight.

“What?” he asked, embarrassed.

“Nothing, my bear knight,” she replied with a coy smirk. “You’re just cute.”

“He’s a momma’s boy,” Plato joked.

Many men would have protested, but Basil was a confident person. So confident that he pretended not to have heard anything. “Sure, Mom, we’ll bring Kalki and co home with us,” he promised. “However, promise me to wait for us inside the Steamobile. You’ll be safer there than in your house.”

Basil had no idea what the Unity planned to do once the New Year’s countdown ended, so better safe than sorry.

“As you wish, my son.” Aleksandra smiled. “I will bake a cake in the meantime.”

Basil looked forward to it.

One last taste of sweetness before bitter tomorrows.

By the time they crossed half the city of Shumen, the team realized they would never make it back home by midnight. Basil doubted they would even reach the dungeon before the countdown’s end.

The Bohens, with the exception of Steve, had made their way through the streets on foot and found them bustling with activity. Innumerable markets and restaurants jockeyed for prominence alongside one another, and the locals had come out in droves to celebrate their only respite of the year. Over half of the brick-faced buildings reeked of the sweet, tantalizing smell of Bulgarian cuisine; they were so cramped together that the neighborhood felt terribly crowded. Wading through the people present had turned out to be a chore.

Vasi had put on a glamor to go incognito, while Bugsy and Rosemarine’s shrinking potions helped them look like tiny familiars rather than the colossal monsters they truly were. Quite a few of Shumen’s citizens walked around with dogs, cats, and even monster pets from unicorns to exotic chimera Basil didn’t recognize. Old men dueled younger ones over chess and B&C boards. Boys chatted up women at open bars, while drunkards joyfully sang to the new year. Even the few military soldiers and policemen keeping the peace in the street appeared not too eager to work tonight.

Basil wasn’t sure how to take these celebrations. On one hand, he understood everyone’s desire to blow off steam and relax after the last few hellish months; on the other hand, the city was threatened with a siege by the Unity. The Bulgarian people’s happiness stood in proud defiance of the grim reality outside Shumen’s walls.

He just couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that things were about to take a turn for the worst.

“A princess…” Bugsy muttered with steamy tears in his eyes. “A true princess… so beautiful…”

“Welcome to the royal club, Vasi,” Plato mused. “We shall henceforth join forces to dump on the bourgeoisie.”

“When I evolve, I will eat the rich and feed the middle-class to the poor,” Rosemarine commented joyfully. “That way, everyone will be equally wealthy.”

“Darling, I forbid you from becoming a communist,” Basil chided her. He checked the timer for the New Year Eve’s event, which now showed twenty minutes before midnight. And Kalki showed no hint of answering his Logs messages…

What was going on here?

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“Can I become a goddess then, Mister?” Rosemarine asked, wagging her tail in anticipation. “Like the red dragon?”

“Sure, Darling,” Basil replied while petting her on the head. “Better saint than red.”

“I still can’t believe your people worship a flying lizard,” Plato told Vasi. “Are you sure there is no lion in your pantheon? Not even a panther?”

“We have a deer god,” Vasi replied mirthfully. “And a worm.”

Plato squinted. “It’s a miracle that you turned out alright.”

“This Vainqueur looks like the richest in the realm,” Shellgirl pointed out. “That’s what matters the most, no?”

“What matters is that he seems nice enough,” Basil replied. Deeds mattered more than race. “If oafish.”

“I’m so glad for you, Vasi,” Shellgirl said as she elbowed her best friend. “I could tell you were special, but to think you were related to a god, emperors, and so many high-level people!”

“Yeah… right…” Vasi rubbed her arm in embarrassment. “I don’t know how to take it.”

“Can we ask your cousins to save the world for us while we take a break?” Plato asked. “If we keep doing it all the time, everyone on this planet will take us for granted.”

“I’m not sure it would be a good idea to involve them all,” Vasi replied. “They’re a… special lot.”

Basil couldn’t agree more. Most of her family had shown a casual disregard for human life. It didn’t bode well for Earth if they were to intervene all at once; managing Braniño alone would already represent a lot of work.

Sensing her best friend’s unease, Shellgirl wisely changed the subject. “So Vasi, what metamorphosis path will you take? Devil princess or a pure fairy?”

“This situation sounds more like a choice between daddy and mommy issues to me,” Plato said. “As if we didn’t have enough of them on this team.”

Vasi gathered her breath. “I’m still thinking over it, but I’m leaning towards the Glaistig option.”

“What?” Bugsy choked in outrage. “But… but why?”

“Why not?” Vasi asked in confusion.

“You’ll be a princess and the Boss will be a knight? Don’t you see the potential?” Bugsy’s body heated up so much that steam started to rise from his back. The increase in temperature caused a few locals to step away from the Bohens, for which Basil was grateful. “The potential!”

“I’ve never wanted to become a princess, Bugsy,” Vasi replied calmly. “I am a witch through and through. I’m willing to tolerate my father, or at least give him a chance to make up with me, but I don’t want to become like him either.”

She put her arm around her boyfriend’s. “Not after what he has done to my dear Basil.”

“Thanks, Vasi,” Basil thanked his girlfriend. Honestly, he was quite relieved. He would have loved no matter her choice, but he would rather date a fairy than a full devil. “You’ll always be my princess, no matter the official name.”

“You are not too good at compliments.” Vasi chuckled as she leaned her head against his shoulders. “But it’s part of your charm.”

Basil smiled in response… for a few seconds, until a Logs message flashed over his face.

The sender? Benjamin Leroy.

The title? Urgent!

Basil stopped in the middle of the road, much to his team’s confusion, and immediately opened the message.

PLUTO: URGENT! I detect a massive spike of energy coming from the moon!

Basil’s stomach lurched in anxiety. As he raised his eyes to look at the sky, he realized that what 2022 did to him, 2023 would exceed it.

The moon was full tonight, and its eye was slowly opening.

There was no other way to describe the sight. Dungeon auroras had covered the moon’s surface since the Unity established a base there. However, they had never taken a specific shape before.

On this night of December 31st, the torrents of energy covering the surface had gathered into a whirlpool of power. Red, blue, green, and all the other colors of the rainbow now merged into a spiral shape. A white pit of blinding light formed at its center, like the pupil of a giant, baleful eye.

Vasi’s grip tightened on Basil’s arm as she and the team watched the terrible, awe-inspiring spectacle. “What is that?”

“Is that an eye?” Bugsy asked, worried. Confused, horrified mutters rose from the crowd around them. “Is the moon a monster now?”

Screams and shouts echoed all around them. Basil glanced around as distant figures appeared all around the city; the shrouded, giant projections of a black dragon with sinister crimson eyes. The sound of artillery cannons resonated across the land. Projectiles phased through the shrouded figures like illusions.

“Citizens of Shumen,” the holograms spoke as one with a deep, terrible voice. “This message is sent to you by holographic projectors outside your city. My name is Blackcinders, Queen-ranked general and commander-in-chief of the Unity. I have been tasked by our Grandmaster to pacify this planetary sector. My forces have you surrounded.”

Basil checked the New Year counter and cursed. Five minutes left.

The Unity would attack the moment it hit zero.

“We need to get to Kalki,” he said immediately upon realizing the danger. “Let’s go now–”

“There is among you a man called Basil Bohen.” Basil tensed up upon hearing Blackcinders mention his name. “He has killed my spawn, Steamslime. If you are listening to this message, human, I want you to remember this.”

For a brief second, Basil met one of the holograms’s fiery eyes. An invisible pressure grew on his shoulder, as if a malevolent will could identify him personally from the thousands of people inhabiting Shumen.

“All the blood spilled tonight,” she said, “will be in your name.”

Shit.

“We dragons are already the apex of creation,” Blackcinders explained. “We are born with power and wisdom that you primates can only dream of. The classes you take pride in can only mimic a fraction of our greatness, and that is what they are: a gift from our godlike ancestors to the lesser races of the cosmos. To you, achieving godhood is a dream; for us, it is a right.”

There was no mockery in her voice, not even a relent of propaganda. This female wyrm believed each and every word she spoke.

“I have no interest in this godhood contest,” Blackcinders continued. “Only our Grandmaster, our wise and all-powerful leader, is worthy of the honor. She alone, as the supreme example of the universal master race, can wield this power responsibly. My duty is to help her rise to the throne; as is yours.”

“Big talk for a snail’s mother,” Plato replied, though his body was tense as a bowstring.

“Boss…” Bugsy wasn’t one to show fear, but his voice now trembled like a terrified child. “Boss, I sense tremors.”

“From which direction?” Basil asked as he immediately summoned his halberd.

“From above, Boss!” Bugsy looked up at the moon in abject terror. “I feel them all the way from here!”

“What I want you to understand,” Blackcinders continued her vile speech, “is that I have no interest in slaughtering you for levels. What I want is for you to learn your place. For once you do, once you accept our guidance, then you will know true happiness. We will provide you with economic security. We will eradicate hunger and disease. We will put an end to all of your pointless wars. All we require from you to reach this utopia… is your obedience. For only we dragons can use the Systems of the worlds responsibly.”

At this point, the speech became little more than background noise. Basil’s thought process had come to a screeching halt when he gained a clearer view of the moon. The current of energy had dried up, revealing a coiling alien infrastructure. The spiral’s core was burning brightly at the bottom of a metal ring larger than any lunar crater.

“The center… the center doesn’t look like an eye to me,” Shellgirl whispered. Her eyes were wide open in shock. “It looks like–”

The barrel of a gun, Basil thought, his blood freezing in his veins.

“If you had submitted when we first graced this planet with our presence, what I am about to do could have been averted. Alas, your foolish quest for strength is at your own detriment.” Blackcinders let out a scornful grunt. “You kill each other and invite Incursions. Worst of all, you have slain dragons; martyrs who perished trying to bring you the light of interplanar civilization. You have done so using the very System that was created for us, misusing the gift granted to you. This is no penitence for such arrogance.”.

“Everyone buff up!” Basil ordered. “Death’s Banner!”

“Hasten!” Vasi cast immediately, the team swiftly following her lead. People pushed them aside as panic seized them. The locals who weren’t too drunk summoned weapons from their inventories and began incantations of their own; those too smashed to realize the danger were trampled upon by those who did.

“For this world to be preserved, for you primates to thrive, you need to be tamed,” Blackcinders declared. “Your population must be reduced so as not to weaken the Level Barrier any further, and your submission is warranted. However, it is my understanding that you feebleminded creatures only learn through two methods: through experience… and by example. The land called Bulgaria, which shelters the criminal Bohen, will be this example.”

At this moment, the New Year’s counter hit zero.

2022 ended like the apocalypse began: with a scornful message.

Happy New Year, Players of Earth! We hope you’ve enjoyed your one day of peace as 2022 comes to a close! While 2022 has been a time of great changes, we would like to make 2023 the very last Earth has ever known! Although two billion of you have survived to this date, in the end, there can only be one victor. We, at Dismaker Labs, do not believe in coddling our Players.

As such, for the next twenty-four hours until January 1st midnight, all direct damage (excluding ailments and passive damage) will be doubled.

That’s right, doubled!

You wanna stab your neighbor? They’ll scream twice louder! Want to stack up multipliers to reach that sweet five-digit damage range? Here’s your chance! Remember, all we want from you in return for our kind gifts… are your tears!

Fear was like a black hole. Once you passed through the event horizon, you realized how utterly screwed you were and achieved a certain kind of peace: you reached the point of acceptance.

“Mother.” The word slipped out of Basil’s mouth on its own. “We need to get to mom!”

“We need to get to Kalki!” Vasi protested. “If he dies today–”

The world would perish with him.

“I will not be called the Bulgarslayer; because when I am finished, no one will remember the existence of Bulgarians in the first place.” As Blackcinders reached the end of her speech, the moon above brightened further and turned the sky bright as day. “All of your people will be wiped out from the face of this planet. Your buildings will be torn down. Your land will become a radioactive grave. As far as the universe is concerned, the Bulgarian nation will never have existed. For you have become a problem, and problems are not fought.”

Dismaker Labs wishes you a Happy New Year!

“Problems are shot,” Blackcinders concluded, her eyes burning with malice. “Fire at will!”

The moon cried a tear of light and set the Earth ablaze.

End of Arc VI

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