Chapter 98: The Virtue of Justice

The Nem3 queen was huge. It must have been lying down when James arrived, because now it reared to its true height, towering over James in monstrous fashion. Easily over twenty feet tall, it was a mass of rippling muscle under taut skin; it was so ripped that it looked like a xenomorph anatomy lesson, every vein and even the muscle striations painfully visible.

Its bone-face was massive, still bulbous and blank, but now a great unicorn horn spiraled forth from its brow, easily two yards in length and ending in a wickedly sharp point. Six huge bone harpoons emerged from holes across its bulging back, and these looked to be four yards long each. Plates of black bone armor covered its back and the upper parts of its arms and legs, and a tail as long as it was tall whipped around behind it, terminating in a spiked club the size of a basketball.

And James couldn’t bring down any Heavenly Assaults.

“Hello, motherfucker,” James boomed through the Hound’s grill. He raised both arms and unleashed the Vault Gun and Empyreal Cannon at the same time.

The Nem3 queen shrieked, the sound reverberating and causing the flesh walls to shake, and hurled itself to the side, sidestepping the majority of James’s attacks. James pivoted, trying to keep the queen in view, strafing both weapons after it, but the queen was as fast as she was huge. Blurring with speed, she loosed all six harpoons even as she went wide.

James cursed and leaped, but his reactions were a hair too slow. Three of the harpoons slammed into the Hound’s abdomen and legs, punching right through the Angelus steel and Divine Diamond.

James, armor integrity down to 57%, cried Jelly in alarm.

James’s leap carried him five yards to the left, but the damage to his knee caused the Hound to land awkwardly. He took a staggering step as the wounded leg gave way. For a moment the world lurched, then the Hound dropped to one knee, roughly propped up at an angle.

James rotated, half-turning to stare up at the sky, and aimed his Empyreal Gun at the queen as she came blasting toward him. The superheated Aeviternum washed over the Nem3, and for a second James thought he’d aced it, but then black flames roared over the queen’s body, nullifying most of the damage.

Motherfucker, James hissed as the Nem3 barreled in, its armor plating sizzling and bubbling from the burns, its undefended undersides scorched and seared. He loosed a Sacred Strike but its tail came whipping around from out of nowhere. The huge club cracked the Hound across the head, and the whole machine spun and crashed down onto its back.

41% integrity!

The knowledge as to how the Hound could rise came to James intuitively; he flexed its legs and arms, arching its back and then inverting the posture violently, and hurled himself back up - only to be slammed into by the queen as it hit him from the side with the power of a collapsing high rise.

James was knocked sideways and carried across the sanctum by the charging behemoth. He didn’t slide off, realized too late that the horn had punched clear through this chassis, and from this position couldn’t bring his Gun to bear. His Bronze aura flared, began to scorch and sear the demon, but the creature’s black fire aura was so intense it mitigated the damage. Furious, panicked, James raised his Cannon and fired it at maximal speed, unloading hundreds of rounds in seconds into the queen’s chest.

Who slammed on the brakes and shook its head violently, causing James to fly off the horn and tumble through the air before crashing down heavily on the far side of the sanctum. Cursing, James levered himself back up, Jelly yelling at him about the damage.

James thrust himself back up, landed on his good leg and felt gyros compensate for the precarious balance. He raised both arms and deliberated.

The Nem3 queen had taken a beating as well: its chest was a mass of holes that wept black blood, and its carapace and flesh were badly burned. But from the way it was moving it was still very much in the game; it prowled to one side, hunched over, and James realized in a second why it was waiting: six more harpoons were emerging from its shoulder mounts.

Fuck this, whispered James. Dikastís, I summon you!

A sense of immense distance suffused James, of connecting to a vast and ineffable entity whose interest in him was passing.

But that slight interest was enough.

Through that channel, that wormhole to whatever dimension the Virtue of Justice resided in, came a flood of glorious might. It felt like an archangel descending upon him, investing him with its power.

The Nem3 queen shrieked and loosed all six harpoons.

The harpoons burst forth, slowed, stopped.

The flames rushing up the inside of the dome also ceased to flow. The Nem2’s turned into statues.

It was as if time itself had come to a stop.

A being appeared before him, as tall as the Nem3 queen yet ethereal where the demon was massive. It was an abstraction of a humanoid figure, gaunt and sketched out in glowing silver and white, crowned with a circle of gold and with a face that James’s mind could comprehend no matter how much he stared. As if Dikastís’s visage were a divine beauty, stark and severe, beyond his ability to grasp. It caused James’s mind to ache the longer he tried to capture that unworldly beauty, so it was with reluctance that he lowered his gaze to the being’s chest.

You are the first to summon me to this conflict, Dikastíssaid, and his words were composed of a myriad sounds: surf crashing upon the beach, immense crowds roaring in approval, the singing of wind chimes, the howl of wind plunging through canyons. I mark you with my favor, James Kelly, and invest you with my exactitude. You shall be my avatar for the duration of this battle, and I shall mark a tenth of your Arete as belonging to me. Know that when I have claimed the entirety of your power, you shall lose yourself to transcendental glory and be mine forever, folding your essence into my greater self. At that moment you will leave this plane of existence and cease to exist as you understand yourself.

The being stared into the very depths of his soul. Such a fate shall become more attractive to you the more you become me. But now, battle in my name.

Dikastís shone brilliantly, so brightly that James had to close his eyes, and when he opened them again a new status window hung in the place of the Virtue:

You have Summoned Dikastís, the Virtue of Justice

13 of your Arete have been Claimed in His Name

You have received the Mark of Justice:

+10 to all personal Stats

+1 Aeviternum

You Are Invested with the Avatar of Dikastís:

+60 to all Stats (Includes Holy Zeal Bonus)

Benedictions Activated:

Holy Zeal | Dispel Illusion | Remove Fear

The +60 to all stats layered atop the Hound’s own specs. James felt the war machine thrum with divine energy, and Jelly pulled up its numbers even as his own updates disappeared.

Strength: 215

Stamina: 235

Speed: 100

Agility: 85

Power: 150

Not only that, but James immediately felt Holy Zeal’s low-level Indomitable Resilience begin to work on healing the Hound’s many wounds; Angelus steel and Divine Diamond plating began to reforge itself into pristine armor.

Time began to speed up, and as James rested weight upon his recovering leg, he saw a ghostly golden outline take shape around him, as if the ghost of Dikastís had manifested over the Hound, and felt Holy Zeal’s obsessive fervor take hold as well: he would kill this Nemesis 3 queen or die trying.

There was absolutely no middle ground.

With a roar he leaped aside, the Hound’s reactions now so fine-tuned that he was able to avoid the bone harpoons with ease, and then with his 100 Speed he charged across the sanctum, his Power of 150 launching him forward with each step.

Now it was he who had the upper hand, and the Nem3 queen sought to evade him in vain; James raced around and behind the demon as it recoiled, sought to spin to face him, and all the while he opened up with both weapons, pouring Aeviternum plasma and maximum-rate Gloria-enhanced bullets into its head.

The Nem3 shrieked in fury as it whipped its tail around, but James tracked the attack and concentrated his Vault Gun on the tail even as he continued to pour the Empyreal Canon’s blast on the demon’s head. The huge bullets were perfectly aimed and severed the tail, so that six yards’ worth flew wide, the great club bouncing off the wall.

The Nem3 shrieked again, the sound liquid now and full of pain and terror. James felt nothing more than savage hate arise within him. He wanted to kill it. To tear it apart. To bring justice to this place of sin, to erase the world of this monstrosity.

The queen sought to retreat, then surged back to attack James, then threw itself aside, but James danced with it, too fast by far and too agile by half to be knocked away or evaded. The Aeviternum plasma continued to pour over the demon’s head, which finally cracked and erupted, Infernum and ichor gouting forth, and the Nem3 collapsed to the ground.

James pivoted and poured Aeviternum over the Nem2’s, who’d continued their obsessive work on the column. They immediately charred, all thirty turning to husks, and then the column itself cracked and broke and the black egg toppled to the floor.

The column of black flame guttered and died. Fire ceased to flow up to the demon symbol, and a moment later the entire dome tapered off and disappeared into a hundred tongues of black energy that dissipated in the wind.

James came to a standstill. He felt as if he should be heaving for breath, but there was no exhaustion, nothing. The War Hound was ready as ever for battle.

Holy shit, said Jelly. Holy shit.

James felt the Holy Zeal leave him, followed a moment later by the Avatar of Dikastís. The golden glow faded away, and the Hound’s stats dropped precipitously back to their normal levels. Bizarre, how what had once felt god-like now felt barely adequate.

Your rank is now Acolyte 6

You have 5 unspent points.

Your rank is now Acolyte 7

You have 10 unspent points.

Your rank is now Acolyte 8

You have 15 unspent points.

Holy shit, whispered James. Uh, Jelly, how’s our armor?

We regenerated a good amount, faster even than the regular Indomitable Resilience would have allowed. I guess that was due to the Avatar? Regardless, armor is back up to 74% and all internal damage has been healed.

Wow, OK. James tried to process everything that had taken place. Needing something to contextualize it all with, he summoned his statistics.

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Name: James Kelly

Class: Eradicating Crusader

Rank: Acolyte 8

Title: Vanguard, Bearer of the Mark of Justice

Virtues: Justice

Benedictions: Smite, Sacred Strike, Heavenly Assault, Bless

First Miracle: None

Second Miracle: None

Third Miracle: None

Aura: Bronze

Aura Strength: 7

Aeviternum Points: 6 (1 Justice)

Strength: 15 (Bless +5: 50)

Stamina: 10 (Bless +5: 47)

Speed: 8 (Bless +5: 43)

Agility: 5 (Bless +5: 40)

Power: 10 (Bless +5: 58)

Arete: 130 (13 Claimed by Justice)

Unspent Points: 15

Aura Strength 7.

He had 15 points to spend.

James poured the points into Arete and watched his total jump to 145.

His Aura Strength flickered up rapidly: 8, 9, then 1.

His Aura changed from Bronze to Silver.

James turned his attention to the Hound’s chassis and arms. Unlike Bronze, a permanent silver glow now emanated an inch above his surface, faintly translucent and bewitching.

Wow, said James, and took a few steps forward.

Wow is right. Uh. Try walking backwards for me.

Walking…? All right. Nonplussed, James took a few steps back, and if he’d had eyes, they’d have widened. He left a trail of Silver Aura behind him, as if the aura lagged a yard and then slowly caught up. But the glow itself never left his Hound frame.

What the hell?

What the divine realm of goodiness, I think you mean. It appears that Silver Aura leaves a trail behind you as you move. I would imagine that the more powerful your Aura, the longer the trail. Effectively, in time, you might leave a wall of Aura behind you in battle.

That’s… awesome.

Personally I thought that merited a ‘holy shit’.

Heck yeah. Holy shit indeed.

James stood still, mind spinning. Silver Aura. The Mark of Justice, which had permanently buffed his stats and given him an Aeviternum dot worth 20. The Dikastís avatar. Which had ‘claimed’ 13 of his Arete?

The being’s word returned to him and he shuddered.

Uh, Jelly, what did Dikastís mean when he said I’d be folded into him once he claimed all my Arete?

Yeah, about that. Not good, from a temporal mortal creature’s point of view. Though pretty amazing if you’re into becoming one with a divine being. You’ll leave Earth and become like a drop of water in the ocean that is the Virtue. That which is ‘James Kelly’ will be lost, essentially, as you are overwhelmed by the power of Justice.

Yeah, not good. Is there any way to undo this process?

Not have done it?

Great, thanks. And he said this fate would become more attractive the closer it became..?

Yes. The more divine you become, the more you will wish to become divine. A slippery slope, if you will, as your reluctance to merge with Dikastís disappears.

Great. James wished he had fingers to tap. Just great. Still.He pondered. Without the avatar, he’d be dead now. So, yeah. I’ll just have to use it carefully.

Or use it judiciously. Jelly paused, expectant.

I’m not going to reward that.

Oh come on! It was so good! I’ll tell Serenity later. She’ll appreciate it.

Bet she won’t. Anyway. James looked around. This hive is cleansed, yeah?

Other than the hundreds of demons currently attacking Crimson Hydra who were pulled here before it collapsed, absolutely.

Shit! James considered the black egg, but with no way to collect it he had no choice but to turn and being racing toward the others. The sound of gunfire and demons screaming came to him faintly in the distance.

But even as he ran, James felt a solid sense of satisfaction fill him. He thought of the Nem3 queen collapsing and dying, and though it did nothing to correct the loss, he hoped that Joanna, wherever she was, knew of what had happened.

It was a small thing, and endlessly insufficient, but James dedicated the kill to her memory, and hoped it brought her peace.

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