Chapter 173: 163. Ultimately Gonna Die

The fear would never leave Dennis. To be fair, it had always been there. It had been there since his first football practice when his dad forced him to join because he was tall and broad-shouldered as a young kid. It had been there since the first time Team FAAHI fought monsters in the Toyreveler Dungeon and had no idea what they were doing.

Dennis tried not to think about it. The fear. The yoyoing reminder of how unfit he felt around the other Champions. Or how he had once played a role called Superjock, partially because of YoAnna manipulating their high school, and partially because Dennis was too scared to tell his dad he didn’t want to do it anymore.

Dennis enjoyed lifting weights. He enjoyed doing physical things. He also enjoyed helping people. A part of him had once thought of being a cop instead of going pro football once upon a time.

But when he joined up with the Champions, that magical moment awakened a dream he had gained from his little brother. Back when Dennis would listen to Daniel talk about his favorite tropes in pulp fiction– magic swords, elven babes, big European castles, and fights with bandits and monsters to keep the good people and spirits of the land safe.

It sounded wonderful to Dennis. And after Daniel died from a heart attack while trying to push himself too hard to get in shape like their dad had always wanted, Dennis figured he could make his little brother’s dream come true through him. And then shove it at their dad’s face.

Well, their dad and mom were dead, too. And now Dennis got to live up to the trope he’d just started noticing was a thing. The hero without a family having no choice but to find a new one. But there was a problem with that.

Dennis wasn’t so sure if he truly fit in with his new family. He knew he was the weakest of them. And he wasn’t as brave as the others. And he wasn’t sure if he could truly go off the deep end and put his all into it like the other Champions.

He once thought he would find the spark– the willpower to accept his destiny and affinity– by getting away from everybody and doing random monster hunts and good deeds around the Southeast of the United States. He had also thought he would find his bravery and never feel fear again.

Yeah, he was the last of his kin. But he could bounce back. He could pull himself up by his bootstraps and get back on the scoreboard. He’d done it all the time when the world was simpler and his team needed him to secure them a victory in football. Back before he refused to play, sat during the game, and then got booed off the field to respond to the Yoroachian Battles.

But that was part of building his character, right? Like all the crazy stuff Jay had said about narratives, tropes, and Chance. The stuff Dennis couldn’t see or hope to understand as deeply as the Pantheon Commander. YoAnna had been kind enough to listen to Dennis vent and waffle on whether he should stay as a Champion, but he kept choosing to stay. And she kept smiling and being kind to him, which cemented his decisions to stay.

So things should work out just fine somehow. And maybe after this battle, and after he acquired his affinity at last, he could accept things as they were and move on. Heck, at this point, he might not even have to level up to get his affinity. It was right there. Inside of him. Waiting. So it should all work out while thousands of miles away from a home he didn’t recognize and might get blown up by the United States, right?

Right?

“I should’ve drunk before I came out here.” Dennis watched three of the four Divine half-sisters transform into monsters.

They had once been the meanest untouchable beauties Dennis had ever met. They were still mean sometimes. Still beautiful, too. But they were less untouchable, and sometimes nice. They were also representations of what happened when you leaped across the line and fell into the gravity of Jay Luckrun and YoAnna Sainte-Luckrun.

Casey sprouted two triangular ears and a fuzzy tail from behind the small of her back, the fur color similar to that of an orange tabby cat. The ends of her toes and fingers grew out razor-sharp claws that could rip through tank armor like it was wet tissue paper. She could make giant boulders explode with one karate chop. Dennis had seen her kick monsters the size of a moving van into the sky.

Her transformation paled compared to Emily and Hailey who embodied both their monster animal forms and the spirit of their boons consumed by their affinities. The changes for them were both physical and something that bordered the bizarre, making Dennis concerned for his soul. 

Both girls squawked and squealed and made bestial sounds as batlike or feathery wings sprouted from behind their shoulders. Emily’s mouth grew fangs like a vampire, and her eyes had a sheen to it that reminded Dennis of a pond reflecting a red moon– but two of them. Hailey’s hands darkened, her nails extended into wicked talons, and a plume of downy feathers sprouted around her neck, looking like a soft collar.

Their affinities extended as auras shaped similar to their former animal boons. A black and red ghostly bat extended its wings from around Emily while she was inside of its giant chest. A black and blue crow spirit flapped and cawed with Hailey inside of its giant chest just the same. Then the spirits shrank down while remaining as wavering auras similar to ghostly flames. Occasionally, the spirits would reform themselves, as if to peek over the shoulders of their containers.

They weren’t supposed to have these things– these affinity spirits, apparently. Just doing so had offended the Multiverse representation of heaven and had the pantheon marked as the enemy of such. All because of Brit rebelling against the Holy Affinity while holding it hostage. She wanted to keep the affinity and prevent herself from harming her eldritch husband, who was naturally the predator of the divine– which was YoAnna’s wheelhouse, even though she was totally fine with Jay being eldritch.

Great for them.

“You could get a transformation, too, Dennis,” Casey purred, her fangs glinting through the shadows and lights formed by Jay showing off how ridiculous he could be.

The air above cracked like a giant machine-gun thumping out rounds. It was a good simile for Jay catching, spinning, and slinging out magic cannonballs faster than the speed of sound.

“No thank you,” Dennis said. He looked up from Casey to see the night sky light up and roar as a stream of projectiles passed over their heads for an incredible and flashy few seconds. Then Jay had to wait on the gunners to reload the ships’ cannons and unload them for their Commander.

At the same time, the magic cannonballs struck tens of miles away. The impacts were so loud, Dennis almost wanted to think the strikes were landing around the bend at the end of the valley where he and the monster girls stood as Champion bait.

“By the way, Jay shouldn’t run out of Mana,” Hailey said, her voice sounding like a cawing and chirping bird. “He could absorb the extra Mana we stored up in the ship’s batteries just for this reason. It’ll burn him up doing that, of course. He might have to sleep off this battle for a week once we’re done. But we won’t let him run out of juice here.”

“Oh, good,” Dennis said. “Maybe he’d kill most of the monsters before they get funneled to us.”

“Unlikely.” Hailey hopped into the air and snapped her fingers. From the spatial pockets of her Halloween outfit, three brooms lunged out. She landed feet first on one. The others circled around her like automated drones. One crackled with dark lightning. The other had brimstone red fire coating the edge– Hellfire. “Mike and Tim tested how fast the gunners could go. They’re actually reloading casually.”

“Was that part of the briefing?” Dennis asked. He had a decent Intellect. He couldn’t recall hearing about the gunners going at a moderate pace. Then again, Dennis hadn’t thought to ask. He could think deeper these days, but Jay kept going to great lengths to remain unpredictable. “Why are they going at a casual pace?”

“This is the best we’ve gotten in a while, so why would you want to blow your load early?” Casey asked with a toothy smile.

“Ha!” Hailey flapped her wings but remained on her broom like it was a surfboard. She flew around her cat-shifted sister while an excited squabble of avian noises blared out from her throat. Her affinity spirit joined in, making ghostly squawks to laugh with Hailey.

When Dennis turned away from the merry monster sisters, he nearly jumped back from Emily having taken a spot next to him. Just like Brit, Emily could do stuff with her affinity that distorted senses. Dennis didn’t get away in time, so Emily caught him by the weapon arm and held on. Her pale skin, shiny mirror-like red eyes, and vampire-like fangs reminded Dennis of a bride of Dracula. He hoped that wasn’t a sign they would meet the Siberian version.

“Lean into it, Dennis,” she said, her voice echoing like she was speaking from the beyond. Her bat spirit stared at him. It was probably visualizing his soul with its bat-spirit senses. “Become what you are meant to be. If it means the end of you, do not fret. I can win this one. I can divert death. You will be all the stronger for it.”

Dennis grimaced. The Corpse Kiddie Parade and Cutie came to mind. He gently removed Emily’s pale hands and elongated nails from the arm carrying his colossal sword-axe. He shifted his helmet and stepped ahead of the others.

“Do I have a Death Flag?” Dennis asked.

“Wait, what?” Casey asked in surprise.

Emily and Hailey fell silent.

Dennis sighed in relief. For some reason, that helped remove the fear. If this battle would be the end of him, then he didn’t have to think about the aftermath. He didn’t have to think about the meaning behind his survival while the rest of his family was dead. He didn’t have to figure out what he truly wanted out of life or how to conform to being a Champion.

“Thank you,” Dennis said. “That’s the greatest news I’ve heard in a while. So do me a favor and don’t remake me as one of yours or whatever. Let me die.”

He didn’t want to end up like Cutie. She was adjusting better to her new unlife. But Dennis couldn’t stop from feeling uncomfortable around her.

He supposed he wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. The heaviness of the silence filled by another salvo of gravity cannon-fire felt like a confirmation. Emily wouldn’t make him into a monster.

Jay didn’t even speak up. He was always aware when you were in his range, unless he chose not to be, and this wasn’t a place or time where he would grant privacy.

Dennis felt more relaxed than ever before. To the Hell Circles, he felt a little thrill even. A smile crossed his face. And laughter boomed up from his chest and out of his mouth. Wow! When was the last time he laughed so heartily? It felt great, honestly. He couldn’t wait until the monsters–

“Seven miles,” Jay said through an invisible wormhole amid his Champions. “Two and a half minutes. They’ve sped up to ramming speed. Let them have it, Graven Divinity.”

“You’re not dying.” Casey punched Dennis on the shoulder. “Seriously. You’re not.”

“Sure, sure,” Dennis said, adjusting his grip casually on his sword. He looked over his shoulder to see Emily and Hailey working quickly.

The timing had to be spot on, like playing chicken with a locomotive. Only while on the climactic edge could they squeeze out every bit of narrative advantage they could get. Dennis figured it was overkill, but the results would speak for themselves as Emily chanted out a death incantation and Hailey wrote a ribbon of runes with magic stencil around Emily. Right before Emily finished, Hailey’s spellcraft for Rapid Mana Sink lit up upon its cast. Emily finished up with a cold and ghoulish miracle that smacked broadly against Casey and Dennis– Aura of the Life-stealing Knights.

For every physical kill, Casey and Dennis would get some Health back. Their bodies bore rituals for Mana recovery, Jay’s gravity tricks, and a few elemental additions. Their satchels and pockets were loaded with recovery potions– Stamina was priority number one. A [Fighter] could push their Stamina– and their physical energy– harder and faster than any other Class to fight above their weight. That stuff could disappear fast. And as a last ditch emergency, the [Great Status Overflow] Talent would come in handy if push came to shove.

Dennis nodded at the life-stealing aura coating his weapon and armor. He would have to use his own aura Skill carefully not to snuff out Emily’s incantation, something they’d practiced for long hours the past half year. The more powerful they got, the bigger their magic could get, and the more of a hassle it would become to gear and magic yourself up to the zenith.

It took more fine-tune control and more awareness. More care. This stuff was still new to them, and even YoAnna remarked she was using second hand knowledge from her personal cache of reading materials at this stage. But there were some things the Champions did that were innovative. Her Champions were dancing on the bleeding edge for her.

The rumbling in the ground had been there the past few minutes. It grew louder and harder like an incoming earthquake.

A discordant uproar of maddened beasts traveled from around the bend and down the darkened valley. The cloud cover thrust overhead like the tip of a black spear.

Dennis spotted the edge of the rolling fog turning the corner. He looked back to see if Emily and Hailey finished their preparations.

Five spellcraft cards pre-made with 4th or 5th Circle magic circled in the air around Hailey. She wrote a spell-connector script around her with a glowing black and blue flourish, combining multiple spells into an array.

Emily prayed while on her knees, rocking back and forth fervently as if calling for the greatest death miracle she would produce yet. She still had Hailey’s Rapid Mana Sink around her, so she was going to go big with this incantation.

From above, Jay’s voice resounded smoothly while deepened with an eldritch touch. It sounded primal and hungry and villainous. It gave Dennis the shivers as all forms of dark and evil sounding magic– Emily’s death-powers, Hailey’s witchery, Jay’s monstrous nature– popped off around the weakest Champion.

“[Wraiths of Guarding Death]!”

“The Fall of Evil.”

“Superior Blood Bursting Spreading Disease. Hyper Contagion Acceleration. Deeply Embedded Against Removal. Smartly Recognize Friendly Fellowship.”

Lo and behold the terrible and unfathomable powers of the most wicked Protectorates anyone could ever face. Emily bent backwards. Her spine made a cracking sound. Her mouth stretched open as she vomited a thick and voluminous red and black mist filled with spooky specters. All of her servant Skills had combined into one big Skill along with the former Mist of Death power, creating some of the strongest and most numerous summons Dennis had ever seen.

The shadowy and death-like wraiths poured out of Emily’s mouth as thin and tiny things before expanding until their torsos were larger than Dennis. They flew without legs, had Emily’s death aura trailing in their passing, and gained mini spirit bats flapping around them. They all had a black bastard sword and heater shield while their skeletal jaws hung open with a pulsating red glow lodged in their dried husks for throats.

Emily’s incantation and excess Mana gained from Rapid Mana Sink meant she could keep blasting out a bunch of these ghoulish things into the air. Her wraiths flew straight up at the spearing cloud where monstrous Rank 4s flew with beating wings that sounded like hundreds of thunderstorms.

At the same time, Hailey and Jay’s powers came out a little more subtly. All around Dennis was a slight purple tinge on the ground. He felt nothing from it. Everything seemed fine to him. The Fall of Evil was made for the monsters, anyway. Additionally, Dennis felt a creepy, sticky, humid, super icky energy swept past him, leaving no effect. It faded from his notice as the fog finally rolled against his front and past him.

Hailey lit up the valley with magic lights that pierced through the fog. The rumbling in the ground was so loud and shaky it could knock over dozens of shacks. Snow fell in mini avalanches down the sides of the slopes that flanked the valley.

The snow rattled on the ground as Dennis spotted his first big monster running up at him. It was forty feet tall, had the shape of a gangly man covered in wooly fur, and had huge tusks extending out from its mouth like a monster elephant. Dennis readjusted his grip on his sword again, remaining relaxed.

Jay made it rain rapid volleys of elemental cannonball fire in front of his Champions. The bombardment knocked down the first monster and the others right on its tail.

Dennis remembered this part of the plan. Emily’s [Wraiths of Guarding Death] would hack through the underbelly of the flying monsters hidden in the cloud cover. They would guard the ships while Jay pointed all attacks downward into the valley and pounded at the leading monsters he’d funneled into a trap.

Hailey disappeared from sight to go cause mischief, sow chaos, and find the monsters with the most magic to prey on. Since Jay could track them all with his 4D meta gravity stuff, he would divert his aim from his Champions no matter where they went.

It was the definition of ‘Jay Take The Wheel’ while his kids went murderhobo crazy on the monsters. Since Dennis wasn’t as fast and slippery as Hailey, he had to wait after the first few volleys of magic cannon-fire rained down with wanton abandonment before he could go hog wild.

Jay was really blowing his load harder and faster now. But the [Freak] had more to go for the long haul.

Wait.

Ugh.

Now Dennis couldn’t shake off the innuendo. It was best he got down to business. He turned to Casey. She turned to him.

Rock. Paper. Scissors.

Shoot.

To Dennis’s surprise, his rock beat Casey’s scissors. He’d never beaten Casey before. He took full advantage of it.

“I’m going forward. You guard Emily.” Dennis stuck his thumb at the Death [Medium] still vomiting up wraiths. 

Who knew how long it would take for her to finish up with that. She had Hailey’s Rapid Mana Sink going on.

From what Dennis knew with his limited spellcraft studies, Mana regenerated like osmosis, absorbing ambient magic energy in the air and whatnot. It wasn’t his wheelhouse, but he imagined a combination of Emily’s Conviction and Perception linking up with Hailey’s Rapid Mana Sink could keep Emily going for a good bit before Emily tired out.

Company Graven Divinity could use the extra ghost hands against these monsters.

“Have fun,” Casey growled. “And don’t die.”

“Oh, I’ll have fun alright,” Dennis said as he lowered his sword from his shoulder and marched forward.

Things became simpler after the first few steps. Lots of death. Lots of chaos. Fog. Smoke. Elemental magic sparkling, fizzling, screeching, and burning. The snow and earth jolted and bounced under Dennis’s feet with every cannonball impact or the fall of a large beast.

Jay would strike so close he’d make it rain dirt and spread hissing vapors of melted snow. He had a good track record of which cannonballs he could slip in that wouldn’t be a detriment to his Champions. Dennis was happy to see there weren’t any poisoned mists in his way.

Just a bunch of hurt and dying monsters.

Hailey’s curse was taking hold and leaping from beast to beast. Dennis watched a Mammoth Man pitch over and hurl gallons of blood from between its giant tusks.

A Siberian Saber-Toothed that was ten feet tall at the shoulders staggered to the side, its face and fur burned to the point of blindness. It fell into a cannon-made crater filled with shards of magic glass that ripped its legs apart. It didn’t die right away– poor bastard– since it had Rank 4 monster toughness. Hailey’s curse took hold and formed sores that rapidly burst and poured blood and pus out of its body.

Dennis walked a good while through the chaos without swinging his weapon. But that could only last so long. Jay was slowing down. Dennis’s first Mammoth Man limped at him with a busted leg. In its big hairy fist was a stone hammer that was part Superior Quality wood, and part giant block of stone of the same quality.

It slammed down. 

Dennis spread his leg base, dug in his footing, and swung with all his might. No magic. No aura. All brute-force and actual skill. The flat of Dennis’s weapon clashed with the stone hammer with a strident clang that pierced through the pandemonium.

The Mammoth Man stumbled back two steps, its weapon arm bouncing off from the clash. Dennis stayed planted, riding out a few shakes that traveled down his arm on the first meeting. He recovered quicker than the Mammoth Man, shooting forward with an explosion of Strength that kicked back lots of snow and rock. He hewed through the monster’s bad leg with one strong cut– the edge alignment on point– and lopped off the leg of the forty-foot monster from below its knee.

It was only Level 65. Nothing crazy strong. But letting one of these suckers get past him could mess up Emily while she was busy. She was tough, though. She and Hailey had over 100 Resilience. But Dennis had more. And Dennis could leverage a small portion of his Strength to make him tougher. So he focused on dropping the big monsters down to his level and not letting them get past him easily.

The monsters’ System supported their size and Strength. But Dennis’s training from the past half year bore fruit as he hacked the giants down one by one. He didn’t finish them off. No need. Hailey’s curse would worsen their injury and lead to their deaths. Dennis kept pushing forward instead, taking legs like he was chopping down trees one swing at a time.

A Level 70 Red Mammoth Man dashed forward, bashing aside its weaker brethren. It moved faster and with more aggression. And it held two giant stone clubs instead of one. It let loose a roar before leaping into the air and crashing down. Dennis did the smart thing and jumped back, letting the Red Mammoth Man hit the ground.

The ground hit back.

Dennis could hear fractures in the monster’s legs from hitting the ground too hard while Jay’s The Fall of Evil was active. That only made the Red Mammoth Man angrier as it roared and pumped itself up with berserk like power.

The blood seeping out from the sores ripping open on its body floated into the air. They moved like a swift cloud of beads condensing around the giant clubs in its fists. Blood-ice formed with a metallic sheen that would strike with more deadliness. It rushed forward, pumped up on rage and anger and pain.

“Piercing Light,” Dennis cast, shooting a bright and dazzling beam of light from the ritual inscribed on his sword. It struck the monster’s eyes, fouled its berserk attack, and gave Dennis an easy window to step aside. The [Fighter] pivoted, activated his aura Skill gently to juggle both [Aura of Brawn and Honor] and Aura of the Life-stealing Knight, and swung his sword. He hacked behind the Red Mammoth Man’s leg with a deeper and more energy-driven slash.

The edge alignment was on point once again. Another leg fell to the floor, and the Red Mammoth Man fell to the ground. But this monster didn’t stay down with a whimper. It rolled over ferociously while still blinded, smashing all around it with its blood-ice clubs.

Every impact struck with such destructiveness it could raze a mundane neighborhood easily. Shards of blood ice flew with each impact, pinging off Dennis’s armor as he jumped and swung down the axe-point of his sword. He lodged it into the monster’s face. It had a thick skull. Dennis dislodged the weapon and chopped again and again until it died.

He had no time to enjoy his first real kill. Another Red Mammoth Man ran in from the side quickly. A thunder cannonball struck it on the shoulder, breaking it. But it didn’t slow as the monster swung hard for the fences with its other arm and smashed Dennis off its dead brethren.

The [Fighter] flew fast and struck the side of the valley with a ground cratering thud. He groaned slightly, wishing he had Rick’s toughness. At the very least, he’d blocked the strike with the flat of his sword. He couldn’t rest for long as a Level 71 Red Saber-Tooth ran straight at him.

A wooly monster bird fell between Dennis and the big red cat, diverting its course. The big bird landed with a bone-shattering crunch that silenced its squealing, a joint-magic kill between Emily’s wraiths and Jay’s The Fall of Evil. But with its death, something that seemed sinister rose out of the corpse. It formed as a black and red mist. Then it shaped itself into a new wraith. This one looked smaller and weaker compared to the originals. Dennis didn’t care as the wraith threw itself at the Red Saber-Tooth.

The wraith did little other than apply some ghostly damage and reduction to Health, Perception, and Conviction. It was better at providing a distraction as Dennis came down from behind the big bad cat and hacked straight into its spine. That flattened out the cat without killing it, so two more hacks later completely halved the monster.

A new weaker wraith appeared from the body of the slain feline. They flanked Dennis as he walked down the slope, glad to feel a bit more healthy thanks to the life-steal.

Dennis surveyed his targets as it rained dying monsters from the sky, each one landing with a hideously sounding crunch that ended their lives or left them so broken, they could only writhe in pain until Hailey’s curse dealt with them. More wraiths appeared from the bodies of the deceased fliers. They gathered up with Dennis. They seemed to like him.

He showed his appreciation to the squad of wraiths with a single thumb up. Then he hurled himself as a [Flying Asteroid] into the face of a Red Mammoth Man. Dennis was a rocket of black, red, gold, blue, and orange as he chopped down with a vertical cut and split the monster’s skull. The strike led to an explosion of blood, brain bits, and skull fragments scattered by his landing. The wraiths flowed after him and harassed the nearest monsters.

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“Bring it!” Dennis shouted. “Today’s the day I die! So give me everything you got!”

“Shut up and keep fighting.” Casey leaped into the scene with a flying kick that smashed in the nose of a Red Saber-Tooth.

She balanced her auras from [Aura of Devotion and Perfection] with Emily’s life-steal one pretty damn well, as if it was easy for her. But Dennis imagined a girl with a convoluted and wushu-sounding Skill like Casey’s could balance all the energies just fine. It felt like a struggle to Dennis, but he stayed disciplined as he fought beside Casey like it was a choreographic fight scene of horrific but gnarly proportions.

It felt proper fighting beside another [Fighter]. The two of them carved through way more monsters with better efficiency together.

Jay was taking slower potshots around them now. Pinpoint accurate stuff that covered an angle. Or it blew up a geyser of dirt and steam at the legs of a monster in front of his [Fighters]. He was assisting more now and using different elemental types for different occasions. Shadow cannonballs blinded monsters. The thunder and lightning versions shocked them– which was ironic coming from Jay. Nothing needed to be said about fire or lava or burning light. The scorched marks Dennis found on the beasts spoke well of those. 

Even the weirder elemental stuff– glass, time, space, plant, mirror, sand, and more– had their occasion where Jay slipped them in perfectly. Dennis knew enough that Team Magic R&D had a laundry list of power types they examined from the Skills or affinities of their Protectorates. This battle was big for them for grinding and research. 

Good for them.

Dennis didn’t think he would get to see any further results or changes. Things were going quite fine with Casey at his side which meant things would go bad, eventually.

“That’s it?” Dennis asked as they reached the end of the valley, the end of the slaughter. Blood and fleshy bits covered his entire armored body. He rested his sword on his shoulder and sipped from a Stamina Potion. “Where’s the magical ones?”

Casey stared at the blood on her claws, tempted to lick it off. Dennis figured Hailey’s curse wouldn’t affect her. But the monsters dying to grotesque blood loss and an outpouring of pus could leave an impression. Casey looked up and shrugged, her cat ears turning this way and that questioningly.

“It’s confirmed now,” Hailey’s voice said from nearby. “This horde was formed by two Rank 4 lairs. The first wave were the grunts of one lair. I don’t think we took out their leader yet. That one and the elites are hanging back with the monsters of the second lair.”

“What’s wrong?” Casey asked. “I can hear you hesitating, Hailey?”

“Strong magic ahead,” Hailey explained. “Cloaking and all. Smells devilish. Close to unseelie, even. Could be witchery. We’re up against some tricky types.”

Dennis nodded. That sounded pretty bad for him. He could tank a few magic attacks. He had the Poise for it. And he had a perk in [Aura of Brawn and Honor] that would remove debuffs and antagonistic effects. But he was going to have to be accurate with his [Witch Slaying Crescent] if he wanted to score some kills against the more magical monsters.

Ah. Perhaps this would be the death of him.

“We will get through this just fine,” Emily said from right behind Dennis.

This time he jumped.

“Damn it, Emily!” Dennis turned to give her an earful. He stopped and stared.

The corners of Emily’s fanged mouth curled up. She swayed side to side perkily while standing in front of her army of the damned. Wraiths. Little wraiths. Lots and lots of those. And Emily had gone ahead and possessed dozens of Red Mammoth Men and Red Saber-Tooths along the way. She had even taken over the ones Dennis had hacked the legs from. The zombified monsters grafted their own legs back with death energy. And they each had a little bat flapping around their heads.

“Company Graven Divinity, advance,” Jay ordered.

Dennis relaxed as Jay’s magic struck home and urged him onward. It had taken Dennis a lot of practice and hours to get used to it these days. Leaning into Jay’s control gave benefits, raising Conviction a bunch, and Dennis could always use more of that.

Hailey was probably off to the races, daring to go further than any [Mage] ought to. But that was her specialty. Casey bounced and skipped with a perky step, a fierce and eager look alighted on her face. Dennis had no idea why she couldn’t acquire her affinity. Maybe she was trying to get the wrong one.

Emily stalked behind the [Fighters] with their undead army following. She had four wraith assistants hauling satchels filled with ball shots and extra hand cannons. She walked with a sultry gait like she was out on a nightly stroll for fun, enhancing her bride of Dracula motif, while holding two huge hand cannons like a vampire gunslinger.

Her Grand Scythe of Reaping circled around her with ghostly bat wings extended from its haft, flapping to keep the weapon aloft while also appearing ready to swing and swipe at Emily’s behest. Upon the crescent blade of the scythe, Dennis could sometimes see the shifty, distorted, and screaming faces of all the souls Emily had acquired the past half year– people she could use as fodder for a different and more heinous healing spell than the usual.

Thankfully, all it did was strip away some spiritual energy from captured souls before releasing them to the beyond– though that might foul up their journey or whatever, a grave punishment for crossing Emily as a human. It couldn’t capture the souls of monsters, so all wicked humans should truly beware. Scary, scary stuff.

“You won’t end up in my scythe, Dennis,” Emily said. “Don’t worry.”

“She’s doing that on purpose, isn’t she? The whole creepy happy death girl vibe?” Dennis asked Casey.

“I think it’s a cute attitude for her,” Casey said.

“Thanks, sis!”

“Love you, Em.”

“Love you, too.”

“Hailey says she loves you guys more,” Jay informed through an invisible wormhole.

“Tell her we love her back,” Emily said.

“With the most excellent of love,” Casey added.

“Can we get back to the blood and guts and horrors?” Dennis asked, feeling queasy and weird and sad. “Please?”

Graven Divinity hushed up. They crossed a few miles of Siberian wilderness. Once they emerged from a frozen pine forest, they rounded the bend of a mountain that had been in the ships’ way, and found a dark and shimmering veil hanging in the air. Hailey, or a projection of Hailey, was standing in front of the veil. It looked like someone or something had set a domain down and wanted Graven Divinity to cross into it.

“They’re getting tricky, that’s for sure,” Dennis said, looking up at the passable barrier between realities. “If I’m understanding this correctly, what I’m seeing in front of me is a lair monster creating a domain outside of its lair, right?”

“Yup,” Hailey answered.

Sweet. Dennis’s Intellect was useful enough.

“You think it could be a Rank 5?” Dennis asked.

“If that’s the case, this stops being for us, and this becomes Commander Luckrun’s hunting grounds,” Hailey said. “I’m hoping it isn’t, honestly. The earnings in this battle are good.”

“Maybe. Just maybe.” Casey licked her lips. “I can take on the Rank 5 if I get a good enough head start.”

Hailey– or her projection– shared a look with Emily. The darker Allens kept their mouths shut. Casey didn’t seem to care if they doubted her.

Again, why couldn’t Casey get her affinity? She seemed like she was everything Dennis wasn’t.

“I don’t like it,” Jay said through a wormhole. “And no bombing. We’ve all learned what could happen when attacks pass from one reality to another improperly.”

Dennis grimaced.

The Devil Flakes happened. And Jay took the blame for it when it was his Champions’ fault. Just thinking about it made Dennis feel like a jerk when he got stuck in his own head and stopped considering everyone else’s problems, especially their commander.

Dennis wasn’t the only one who had it rough.

Ugh.

“I’ll lead the way,” Dennis said. “Unlikely to kill me. Not like this.”

“Can’t we send our undead army first?” Casey offered.

“They would expect that,” Hailey said. “Sending Dennis first isn’t expected. Death Flag or not, it wouldn’t be a narratively right way for him to go.”

“Traditional hero vibe needs a traditional hero exit,” Emily said. “The Death Flag should be realized closer to the climactic finish.”

“Exactly,” Dennis said, stepping forward. No word from Jay meant Dennis had the commander’s blessing.

He crossed the veil between realities and got a System notification that explained to him what he couldn’t [Analyze] earlier. It was the Siberian Monster Horde Lair, Rank 4.

The monsters had created a joint-lair, and what Dennis saw on the other side gave him a moment of pause. It gave him the vibe of an icy and frozen Hell, like the most hellbent tundra anyone could ever imagine while hyped up on magic.

In the distance, monolithic mountains scraped at the sky like the bottom teeth of a behemoth. Black steel trees with razor sharp branches thrust up from the black snow. A weird and unsettling moonish light infused the air with a blue glow. And an army of monsters waited only hundreds of feet away.

Plenty more Red Mammoth Men and Saber-Tooths. They also had the golden versions that stood at Level 75. They also had Siberian Unicorns of the brown, red, and golden variations that they had held back from the first wave. And amid the savage, prehistoric looking monsters was their leader, the Siberian Titan King, a Level 90 monster that stood 100 feet tall. He looked like King Kong had a baby with a wooly mammoth.

Not a Rank 5.

But he felt way more powerful than the other Rank 4s.

That was concerning. But Dennis felt more troubled by the strange cabin off to the side with smoke stacking up from its chimney and an elderly woman sitting in a rocking chair on the porch. Every time Dennis tried to [Analyze] the elderly woman, his head got fuzzy.

All he got back was Level 61 something.

“We will kill you and eat you,” said the Titan King. “Then we will kill your leader and eat him. We will take this land and become greater. It is our destiny to feast upon you and be merry all across this world.”

Dennis clenched his fists on his sword-axe’s handle until the colossal weapon was trembling in his grip. His anger spiked white-hot.

Dennis had long forgiven the kiddies. They were changed from their ways. But he remembered how they’d playfully terrorized and ate Junkers during the Yoroachian Battles.

Pantheon Leader Kleo had explained that monsters love having fun terrorizing and eating humans. Making humans suffer added more spice to the Experience gained. It was an ingrained part of them. Some monsters could resist this. Some had the fortune of becoming neutral or friendly, like the non-humans of the Protectorates. But most monsters wanted to use humans as food and entertainment because it was pleasurable for them. It was an instinct and a choice.

“I cannot die,” Dennis said with quiet anger. “Not when there are too many bastards like you threatening my world.”

The Uk-Guk-Gara was still on its way, after all.

Even though Dennis didn’t have any good reasons to be a Champion– not for himself– he had the limping and hurt hope for a world where good people could live good lives. Just like the stuff Dennis had seen on TV when he was super young. The American dream. And just like the stuff his little brother had said about fantasy worlds which Dennis read and escaped into during his downtime the past half year.

Maybe it was too late for Dennis to have the good life– to live the dream– but could he make a difference in the world by using all his Strength and Champion privileges to help others? To stop people from losing their families– especially the good ones with caring dads and moms and siblings who could grow up together? Hell, Dennis would be happy to help the mild families who were still sticking together through thick and thin.

It was too late for Dennis to have that classic familial dream. But couldn’t he try to fight for others to have the dream he always wanted? None of this was about the big badass swords and elven babes, was it?

Dennis truly wanted to be someone people could count. A hero his little brother had looked up to just like the heroes in the fantasy books.

“I CANNOT DIE!” shouted Dennis, tears of anger streaming down his cheeks as he raised his sword and rushed forward.

He could feel it.

A touch of that narrative magic.

He was going to hack through these monsters and put the sword on the Titan King really, really, really hard. He knew it in his heart as if the juice of fate was pumping through his veins to do what heroes with big swords ought to do.

The old woman sitting on the porch stood to her feet. She pointed her gnarled hand at Dennis.

For a flicker of a moment, she revealed her true identity.

Baba Yaga, Rank 5, Level 101.

She hit Dennis with something that passed straight through his chest. Dennis stumbled as he felt his Health plummet sharply. His vision blackened fast. All his juice from fate, his narrative weight, the rise in Chance, and his plain willpower– all of that left him as Dennis stumbled forward while already dead.

That was a cheap shot, and Dennis knew it. He was getting… What was the phrase? They were making him into a jobber. Making the Baba Yaga seem like the… ultimate… threat. That was cheap. That was narratively cheap.

Dennis hated that.

Dennis was falling.

Dennis was dying.

Stupid.

Oh.

So.

Stupid.

“That’s a weak attempt to kill my Champion,” Jay’s voice thundered from everywhere somehow. “The Death Flag is an injustice. Fix this, Emily.”

Dennis wasn’t sure what was going on anymore.

He was lying face down. Wasn’t that an instant death-shot? What was keeping him alive? Emily? Oh no. Please, no. She was going to turn him into another monster.

Someone flipped Dennis’s corpse-like body over. He could barely see through his hazy vision. Everything was fuzzy. He couldn’t really hear too well. All shadows. Lots of blurred lights. Shouting. Roars. More shadows passed by him fast.

Then Emily’s face appeared in his vision, sharp and clear, and haunting. Pale. High cheekbones. Fangs poking out from her perky black-colored lips. Beautiful. But scary. Very scary. Her shiny red eyes ate him up.

Part of Dennis wanted to beg for her not to revive him. Not to take him and make him another monster. But something inside of Dennis’s torso buzzed with potential where the hole in his chest existed. That something wouldn’t want this to end lying down.

He needed to get back up. He needed to get back on the scoreboard. He needed to make a world safe for all the little Daniels out there.

Dennis refused to die.

“There. That’s it,” Emily said with a dreamy and ghostly voice. “Such a weak and improper death. An injustice to you. We must correct this. We must bring you back. For you are the one who will arise and lead the charge, Second Chance Hero.”

Emily’s scythe appeared, bright and clear in Dennis’s vision. It shot a black and red beam made from the spiritual energy of the damned trapped in the blade, freeing them after squeezing out every bit of juice Emily could get from them.

Dennis roared with renewed life.

***

Jay checked his System notification as he strode into some of the fiercest fighting he’d seen since Paris. A smile crossed his face. He released his hand on his sword.

Dennis acquired the Ultimate Affinity!

Dennis lost his [Ox Boon II]!

Dennis acquired an Affinity Spirit (Ox)!

“Ultimate [Fighter] Dennis, huh? Not what I expected, but it sounds sick,” Jay said with a deep eldritch chuckle. “Thank you, System, for being a cheap and trashy narrative bitch. You should stop listening to the System Admins and join the winning team. Me and mine.”