Chapter 140: 140: The Beast From Beyond

Dark, arcane, purple electricity crackled within the gaseous cloud that made up the entity before me, and once again I couldn't help but note the similarity to the Urstnir of Napdid. 

The bolt lashed out, arcing across the gap between us so quickly that I knew I'd never be able to get my sword up in time to meet it. Instead, my only option was to dart to the side with a mix of [Propulsion] and my [Anti-Gravity Fields]. 

[Emergency Quest Generated! 

Quest 'D for Detective!' has altered, quest name is now 'The Beast From Beyond I'!

The Beast from Beyond I

Defeat the Maw Remnant at any cost 

Rewards: 60,000XP, ???, ???

Failure: Death & Soul Consumption]

I skidded off to the side as the pop up announcing the changed parameters of the quest threw themselves up into my vision. I blinked them away just in time to see the bolt of purple lightning careen into the fountain. The stone it was made of and the water within it were all wiped away, disintegrating at the atomic level. 

That also revealed my companions hiding space, and if I knew anything about the cold hearted creatures that lived in the Chasm then I knew that there was no way that this creature wouldn't abuse the fact that they were now out in the open. 

"Ah," It all but purred, "You've brought friends along for me to snack on… how thoughtful of you." 

Purple electricity built up in the creature's gaseous body once again, and this time I knew it would be aimed at the people I had brought with me, the people I had now placed into danger. 

I didn't know Klatissi very well, but Fal had become a friend due to the things that we had experienced together, and I wasn't willing to let either of them die. 

"Get out of there!" I yelled and dove through the air with a massive shunt of [Propulsion], my sword outstretched and glowing faintly gold due to the maximum impact of my [Item Enhance] skill. 

The arcane bolt of lightning launched through the air, and for a moment I thought I wasn't going to make it in time. But, just as the bolt was going to make it past me, I threw the sword forward, connecting with the arc of lightning just in time. 

I rolled as I hit the ground, using the momentum to push me back up to my feet where I slid to a stop. 

The arcane lightning was still pouring into my sword, which was hanging in the air above the ground, trembling as it drank in all of the manna that was being offered to it. 

"I mean it," I yelled over to Klatissi and Fal, "You need to get out of here, this isn't a fight that you can be a part of. Get reinforcements, set up a perimeter, keep any of the refugees far away from it." 

They look hesitant to leave, but my orders spurred them into action, and then it was just me and the gaseous entity that had crawled back through time specifically to try and end my life. 

"You think you can hide behind your little sword forever," The creature cackled, "All things have a limit, and this material is of my design. Watch your prized Null Space sword crumble under my power!" 

The arcing electricity gained more strength, burning so brightly that the purple hue was all but lost in a great bright blaze of energy, and all of it was running straight into my weapon. 

Part of me wanted to reach out and grab the sword, tug it free from the power that was pouring straight into it, but I also knew that would be a terrible idea. The sword's orange glow and flickered away, and cracks were starting to appear on the handle and the blade. If I were to grab onto it now, I had a feeling that all that power would go rushing straight into me instead… and there was no way I could take that kind of damage. 

But that didn't mean I was going to just let the sword be destroyed. 

I charged up two [Manna Bolts] in the palms of my hands, their yellow energy glowing just as brightly as the lightning, and let them loose toward the Remnant. 

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But the creature didn't even seem to care. The manna bolts ploughed into the Remnant to seemingly no effect at all, passing into the creature's body and fading away as if they had never been fired in the first place. 

And then it happened. 

With a sickening cracking sound, and a high pitched whine like an electrical motor that was being over stressed, my sword came apart at the seams. 

A massive flash of light all but blinded me as the sword was purged from existence. The one thing that gave me a major edge over everything else in this universe, a sword that could cancel out manna just by touching it. It was the only reason that I had come as far as I had, and now it was gone, and I was left feeling helpless. 

"And there it is, the true face of the great Jacob Lyre revealed at last," the gaseous remnant sneered, "Without your oh so special sword you have no way to defeat me, and if you can't defeat me now then you won't defeat me in the future. A brand new timeline will be forged, a divergent multiverse, where the Maw is never defeated!" 

A felt sick to my stomach. Was there really nothing that I could do? My manna bolts had been absorbed by the creature completely. My sword was so much dust in the wind. I didn't have any little tricks up my sleeve. 

"If you kill me what will you do to the people on this planet?" I almost whispered the question, my mouth moving on auto pilot. 

"They will be spared, of course," The creature hissed, "For they will become one with the Maw eventually." 

It was like cold water had been splashed over my head. 

I couldn't surrender now. Because if I did then the Maw would still be alive, and if the Maw was still alive it would still devour the souls of all who died, which meant it still won and the rest of the universe lost. An infinity of souls, damned because I didn't have the guts to stand up and complete the destiny that this remnant had already confirmed that I was capable of in the future. 

[Limiter flux detected]

Was that really what I was going to let happen? Was I going to let myself die? Become part of the beast at the bottom of creation?

[LiMiTeR fLuX StRenGtHeNiNG]

No

[LImItEr UnABLE tO FuNcti-]

Power rushed into me, and it just didn't stop. It was like someone had turned on a tap, then ripped the handle off so they couldn't turn it off again. I was overflowing with raw energy, and it felt absolutely incredible. I felt like I could take a star in my hands and wipe it from existence with the snap of my fingers. 

My eyes blazed with burning white power, and I had begun to hover a few feet off the air, the energy radiating off me in waves. I wasn't sure where it had come from, but a golden and silver armour had materialized around my body, helping to channel the energy that was exuding from my body. 

"When I'm through with you, no one will become part of the Maw ever again," I said, my voice warbling as though the power was enhancing even that. "I will defeat you now, I will defeat you in the future, and I will never stop defeating you." 

I darted forward through the air, the flight that I was experiencing was nothing like Propulsion. It was controlled and fast. One moment I was floating in the air, the next I was right beneath the writhing cloud of dark energy. 

It tried to get away from me, I could see it moving, but the movements seemed so… slow… in comparison to how fast it had been moving before. I saw the beginnings of an electrical blast building up in its core, but it was so… simple. 

I focused in, my eyesight vastly improved from what it was before, and with a slight mental tug I pulled apart the atoms that were making the blast generate. Then I pulled some more, and the entire entity began to separate, atom by atom. 

I could hear it screaming in my mind, but this was what the creature deserved. It came here, it threatened me and the people I cared apart. It deserved to be ripped apart piece by piece. 

In moments the deed was done, and the Maw Remnant was no more, its constituent atoms spread far and wide across the galaxy with nothing more than the power of my thoughts. 

As quickly as it came the energy bled away, and I fell to the floor completely unconscious.

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