Savage Awakening 572. One More Thing (III)

The lowest floor of the Superdungeon was a floor of nothingness, save for one thing: a cage at its very center. A cage made to hold the Superdungeon’s most dangerous prisoner.

The first thing one would notice, just looking at it, was the giant river of sheer destruction. Nearly a slab’s worth condensed in liquid form, flowing a mile across, making a circle that marked the limits of the cage. It served to isolate the cell so that the prisoner’s immense Corruption would not leak through to the outside world. Its aim was to limit the influence the prisoner’s vast soul could exercise.

That was only the first measure. Then there were the pure-white chains, equally massive, binding the prisoner tight.

And to top it all off, the spears. Miles-long spears, each thick as a pillar, slashing straight through the prisoner—stabbed through by the hand of an ancient Archon from far beyond Dragonspire, an Archon sent near the dawn of the Chaos Cycle just to cage this prisoner. Each spear was laden with a Supreme Skill curse that poured into the soul itself, shutting it down, so that only a fraction of its soul could be awake at a single time.

But a closer inspection would reveal that river of Destruction flickering, like a flame on the verge of burning out. The chains were badly cracked, the spears too, Corruption spread deep through their inner workings…

All of these measures could scarcely hold the prisoner anymore. And he knew it.

Deep in the Superdungeon, Malzareth seethed, and plotted, and waited. His soul quested far beyond that Destruction moat—a moat that hadn’t been able to confine it for a very long time now, raising hordes of Monsters, empowering the bones in its Primes, making new, experimental bones for his own use, pushing the limits of Corruption and his own Supreme Skills… At this stage, he considered his preparations already complete. Enough to crush Dragonspire as it was.

His work now simply felt like a victory lap.

It was not a matter of victory or not. It was a matter of just how dominant he could make it. Just how fast he could wipe out all mankind.

A victory that would make him the youngest of Father’s children to claim a true Galaxy. A backwater one, filled with dull waste-creatures. But a Galaxy nonetheless.

His plans were far-reaching indeed, a plan made of millions of moving parts. These moving parts were all carefully held in Malzareth’s subtle grasp, manipulated with precision as though puppets on strings. Without even the knowledge that they were mere subjects in the story of a force far greater than themselves... 

Plans that would begin with the destruction of mankind’s greatest hope.

His soul filled the whole of the Superdungeon, and then some; broke into the outside world, even, if barely. Such was the limit of his strength right now, a strength that was growing by the hour.

There Malzareth awaited good news. 

Zane Walker… 

They were such weak, insignificant creatures. Yet he and that woman had proven infuriatingly difficult to crush.

At each stage in his development, Zane Walker had exceeded Malzareth’s expectations. His talent was… fine enough, for a backwater human. Malzareth prided himself on his self-awareness. He would not underestimate his foes. He would see them clearly, give them credit where it was due. This much talent was enough to put Zane on his map.

The most notable thing about Zane, moreso than his talent, was his soul. 

Not just the size of it—immense for a man… It was the quality. 

Somehow Zane had even attracted a Universe-class title like the Savage Sage. A title whose holders’ names rang through all of the history of the Universe; a title even Malzareth was forced to respect. 

Zane was still nothing now. But Malzareth could see glimmers of the man he was becoming, see them all over his Skills, his body… Lord Malzareth would not allow him to become the Savage Sage he had the potential to be. 

Even if Zane fulfilled his potential he could not stop what was coming. 

There was simply no reason to allow such a risk. 

That was all about to come to a sudden, brutal end.

Six eyes peered eagerly into the inner workings of reality. There was very little in this Galaxy that could hide from the eyes of Malzareth. Malzareth could not yet monitor the whole Galaxy at once, not yet. But if he exerted himself and sought out his target, his vision could stretch across spacetime itself.

With it, he witnessed Hreinn’s final attack.

Saw the Pure Yang lands ripping apart before the might of his spells…

Malzareth hissed. 

Such a shame that he would not procure Zane Walker and make him writhe on his bone spikes, as he’d once planned. But this… this punishment would suffice.

Once that chunk of reality was severed from the rest, it would start to deteriorate. Its inhabitants would perish with it. But this would take time. Perhaps after the War was concluded, if Malzareth were so inclined, he’d still find a way to enter these cut-off lands. Then seize the broken Zane Walker and treat him to an even greater horror, a horror at the hands of Malzareth himself.

Perhaps he could even break Zane so utterly he would take a Corrupted Bone and serve, subordinate himself to Malzareth, give up his humanity, just as Hreinn had.

Each scenario gave Malzareth immense pleasure.

Then Hreinn’s face abruptly changed.

Malzareth’s eyes narrowed.

What…?

The man Kain began to speak. And speak, and speak—

A silence.

WHAT! 

Then the storm clouds rolled in.

Malzareth, the first bastard son of the Origin of Monsters, was forced to watch, shivering with rage, as the rest of the scene unfolded. His fury grew so immense the whole realm trembled, his mere emotion enough to send little cracks tearing through that reality.

He let out a screech so furious it shattered reality for hundreds of miles, tore through his own floor, ripping several floors beneath—killing a over twenty unfortunate True Gods in the process.

Hreinn, you godsdamned fool!

He felt Hreinn squealing somewhere far beneath. His soul shattered, reduced to little more than slag.

But Hreinn had made great claims before he’d been struck. Claims that he’d be back, that this was nothing to him… claims that all depended on his master finding mercy in his heart and promptly reviving him.

His master was in no such merciful mood.

****

Zane teleported out, collected his time gear, and watched the portal wink shut.

He watched it go fondly.

Then he made his way back out of Astra, following the map Noughtfire had given him. On the way, he thought about how that fight had gone. His first T1 Empryean duel.

That’d been hard as hells.

He’d had Kain to help—lending him T1-level attacks. And even still… he’d gotten nearly thirty seconds to charge up and get off free shots on the thing, the single strongest blow he’d ever mustered. 

That still hadn’t been able to kill it.

He’d gotten the job done in the end, which he was quite satisfied with. But it did speak to the immensity of the power gap he was trying to jump now.

The key to his fighting up so far, he knew, were his shards. Those were Tier 8 Law fragments. Law fragments that superseded even the Laws in Empyrean Universes, which let him fight inside of what should’ve been their absolute territory.

If he had a Law differential, like he had against every Empyrean he’d fought so far, then he had a chance against them. Sometimes more than just a chance; sometimes he could even crush them.

He’d even had a Law differential against the King at the end there. 16 shards of his own against what he guessed were 11 or 12. It was how he’d even damaged the King. 

He still had his other sources of strength. There was his Hide of the Ancients, giving him +125% resistance to Universe suppression—his 10 Million Year Bone still paying dividends. He didn’t think about it that much when he was fighting, but it had to be a massive help. He could imagine what it’d feel like if he didn’t have that backing him... He couldn’t forget his Limit Breaker either, or his Heart of the Titan Rhino. His body being the grade it was, boosted by uniquely strong treasures and Skills, gave him some level of assurance. Even against strong Empyrean threats.

Still, though, it was getting pretty clear he was fighting up a very steep hill. A hill that only grew steeper, by the looks of it. 

He felt it was pretty insane what he had to pull out just to win a fight against a T1. And that was with Kain’s Empyrean help… 

If he fought alone, he was pretty sure even an all-out effort, the kind that would break him just to throw—a fully stacked Overlord Charge with a five- or six-stacked Star-Crushing Slash—would barely hit the King for over half its Health.

As he fought higher and higher, especially getting into the late T1s, even with his new Concept—which had been a massive boost—he still had something of a firepower problem, he was realizing.

It was a bit of a novel issue for Zane.

It wasn’t just that. The fact that that King Astrolith was strong enough to shatter his Soul Weapon… that was a problem.

That, at least, he could address by pounding more steel and strengthening his physique and Soul Weapon. He was pretty sure he’d do that shortly with the Barbarian Sage.

As for his larger firepower issue… he imagined the Concept he’d be learning with the Sage, the one he’d incorporate into his body, would help. But ultimately it was his Laws that’d make the difference. Getting more Destruction, getting Tier 7 Laws, even. Breaking through to True God and gaining all the benefits that’d come with it. Finally being able to make use of the massive stockpile of shards he’d just gotten.

Plus, True God had to be a pretty big milestone. Would he get anything new as part of his Class? A buff, maybe, or even a new weapon?

He was quite curious.

Whatever the case. He’d won the fight, but his reflections still led him to one conclusion.

He just had to break through as soon as he could. He’d known that before that final fight, but after, the truth of it had only grown clearer. He nodded to himself.

There was only so much he could do as a Minor God now that he was Destruction-capped. The simple fact was, he was a peak Minor God trying to fight up one-and-a-half levels. He was pretty sure he’d maxed out nearly all he could now.

One more Concept with the Barbarian Sage, and it’d be time.

***

Before he’d departed Astra for good, he’d done one last check-up on the mailbox he’d installed there. He’d found letters from all his friends—Evan and Avery were waiting for him back at the World Tree, and so was Reina, he was pleased to see. He’d let them know a few months back he was almost done. It was high time for a reunion.

He did get one more letter, though. A letter from Noughtfire promising a debrief, along with a treasure that would be of some use to him.

Which was how he found himself making yet another journey up the staircase to Noughtfire’s study.