We used crystal dust mixed with some of my own ink for the circle. It would be monstrously difficult to clean, but I imagined the Unnamed God could manage his own housekeeping when it came to it. The design was similar to the Wheel of Fortune, one of the cards in the major arcana, a circle marked with the signs of the Twelve like an esoteric clock. Inside the wheel, we inscribed the nine-pointed star of wizardry marked with its proper elemental associations. I had to reshuffle my skills to do quality control, as improperly composed rites were more likely to fail, sometimes with fantastically bad results. Not for the first time I wondered why my Maker had bothered with all of this. Did he simply die before completing his grand design, whatever it would have been? Had he really felt that whichever of his creations could finish a scavenger hunt ahead of the others would be the most worthy of inheriting his empire?

Ilwi watched everything Haggitha and I did without offering further comment. I wasn’t able to divine his abilities or anything else about him. All I registered were blanks and errors. He wasn’t carrying any obvious weapons, but he could have anything stashed in his inventory and I wouldn’t see what it was until he decided to produce it. How deep did his invisibility run? If I sprayed him with ink, would he be outlined for Haggitha or would the ink vanish from her perspective in the same way that his clothing wasn’t visible to her?

Eternity could travel across the sky faster than any dragon or roc, and it wasn’t long before there was movement in the bar above us. Ilwi frowned.

“You told the others I was here.”

“It seemed reasonable given the significance of your claims.”

“Lawlimi can’t stop me any more than you can.”

“What’s that now?” Lawlimi was already leading a group down the stairs, Silva and the others coming in tight behind him. There was a new addition to the X-Cannon, a black box on the back of his wrist with connective channels to both the cabochons in its arcs. They were fully charged with clear mana and much higher quality than the pair we had originally installed in the mechanoborg lab.

Ilwi turned to face the group. “I am the heir of the Maker, his one true son. His legacy belongs to me.”

“That’s a negative,” Silva said. “You’re not a part of the plan.”

“Orobos is a tool, not a master,” Ilwi said. “You are serving the wrong god.”

“Tell him that.”

“We should get on the same page before this goes any further,” Lawlimi suggested. “We’re about to fight, right?”

“It won’t be a fight,” Ilwi said, his hands already contorting into the opening jutsu of a high-level incantation.

Sashimibandit had taken the conversation as an invitation to approach Ilwi, and he attacked with an impressive iaijutsu-style quick draw of his mana-infused wooden blade. His bokken was enhanced with multiple Wood Endowments, making it as powerful as a weapon made from a special material, but it never made contact. Violet energy flared around Ilwi as his defensive barriers activated, catching the blade and turning it aside.

>>

Bugby’s Forceful Hand (Heroic Incantation 7)

>>

The spell generated a giant translucent hand capable of grappling, pushing, and attacking on its own. Modeled after the hand of a famous giant of the same name, the Forceful Hand was an offensive technique that would continue to act on its summoner’s behalf until it was destroyed or dismissed.

The cellar was deep, with more than enough room to accommodate all of us as well as a reserve of ale barrels for the bar, but the hand crowded the space on its own. It was large enough that Lawlimi briefly vanished into the flat of its palm as it crushed him into the wall.

>>

(Bugby’s Forceful Hand deals 120 Impact Damage)

(Grapple Successful)

>>

The hand was capable of exerting deadly force, but Lawlimi’s new armor absorbed the brunt of it. The only damage he actually took was from having his head bumped against the wall as he was pushed back. The effect was only capable of restraining one hero at a time, so Silva launched herself forward, her axe trailing red fire, slamming the magical shields hard enough that Ilwi was knocked back a step. But the wizard had another incantation at the ready. A freezing cone of elemental power slathered Silva in a layer of frost that solidified over her axe and her skin. She flexed, entering a rage to break the ice, and followed up with a series of Power Attacks that overwhelmed Ilwi’s barrier, causing it to flicker and fade. Haggitha had drawn her knife, and she was using it to hack at the skin between Bugby’s thumb and forefinger. Ilwi merely looked annoyed by the resistance.

A whip of frigid energy extended from his hand and snapped around Sashimibandit’s ankles, pulling him off his feet and slinging him at Silva, who ducked. The barbarian poured mana into a series of enhanced attacks that left trails of flame along the floor and walls but faltered against a second barrier. Damwise was performing a heroic hymn designed to disrupt ongoing effects, but his song had no effect on the shields.

I wasn’t advanced enough to join in direct combat, but I had the Book of Old Names at hand, a database of alchemical recipes in my head, and a wide range of ingredients to draw upon. I flipped through the gold-leafed pages for the diagram I needed and got to work on an antimagic bomb. I’d surreptitiously started the process while we were preparing the circle for the final rite, but I hadn’t been able to do the actual mixing while being observed.

Dead Sea Salt

Wishbone

Cinnamon

Black Glass

Everything was ground already, so all I had to do was shake it up in a light acid bath and heat the concoction over one of the convenient mana fires Silva had started all over the basement. While I was busying myself, Ilwi was able to land multiple offensive spells on Silva, who was still tearing gaps in the second shield. An ice spike impaled one of her legs, but she barely noticed it, using her rage to its fullest while Lawlimi blasted his way free of Bugby’s hand. Haggitha, unable to make much progress with her knife, suddenly grinned and fled up the steps.

The floor of the cellar opened like a mouth, and a gaping maw of earth and stone swallowed Silva. With a single motion from Ilwi, the maw crashed shut around her.

>>

Entomb — Celestial Incantation 3

Call upon the hunger of the deep earth to capture and potentially kill one of your enemies. This spell instantly opens a deep pit to swallow your target. Once the pit is closed, the victim can be freed by normal means, but they may not have much time.

(Entomb deals 5,400 Bludgeoning and Impact Damage)

(Silva is Entangled)

(Silva is Suffocating)

>>

Ilwi took a moment to experience the satisfaction of victory, and it was in that moment that my potion changed its color from muddled brown to royal blue, signaling that it had reached the proper temperature and was ready to be stored for use. Rather than bottling it, I picked up the beaker it was in and flung it at Ilwi. It shattered against his barrier. The potion sputtered and boiled as soon as it touched the mana shield, and the violet region it touched solidified, vitrifying so that it was unable to withstand the constant fluctuations of energy in motion. A section of his shield cracked and fell away, leaving a gaping hole in his defenses.

“I had intended to leave you alive,” Ilwi said, turning to me. “But if you continue to act as a nuisance, my brotherly feelings may not be enough to keep you awake and functioning.”

Bugby’s hand collapsed into ectoplasmic dust, and Lawlimi took a knee, charging the X-Cannon to its fullest extent. Ilwi sighed, preparing another incantation, but its casting was interrupted by a massive black dog.

>>

Karcharoth, The Red Mouth — (Hound)

Celestial 1

>>

The animal hit Ilwi with much the same force that the earth had crushed Silva, and the wizard was taken off his feet and onto his back. His shield still protected him, though he was dwarfed by the Celestial animal, Hush’s faithful pet, whose teeth would soon find their way around to the gap in his defenses. I had no idea why the hound could see Ilwi to attack him, unless the anti-magic potion had damaged the effect, or it lost its efficacy against Celestial-level creatures, but I wasn’t going to question our apparent good fortune. Haggitha descended the stairs, pleased with herself, but quickly lost her smirk.

Ilwi cheated. I could barely follow what he was doing, but I saw a shift in programming. He was accessing developer menus like the ones that allowed me to rewrite my own affinities, but to a very different purpose. Karcharoth’s attitude instantly flipped, his Ally/Enemy axis having been rewritten, and he crawled off of Ilwi and turned to growl at Haggitha.

“No!” she commanded. “Attack!”

The hound leaped, and Lawlimi released his full charge. A pinkish spiral of glassy energy spheres erupted from the end of his cannon and crossed the room, washing over Karcharoth and Ilwi both. But unlike the attacks I had seen previously, rather than a discrete blast, the effect continued. Destructive mana poured in a seemingly limitless stream from the glowing arcs at the end of Lawlimi’s arm. His cabochons weren’t draining; if anything, they grew brighter as he drew upon their power. Karcharoth initially withstood the wave, but as it continued, he lost his footing and was driven back into a mash of now shattered and soon to be incinerated barrels amid gusts of steam that had been ale a moment before.

>>

(X-Cannon deals 12,309 Force Damage)

>>

It went on.

>>

(X-Cannon deals 12,309 Force Damage)

>>

And on.

>>

(X-Cannon deals 12,309 Force Damage)

>>

The hound had blocked some of the force from reaching Ilwi, but as he was driven away the full power of the spheres drove into his shield, and some of them found the gap I had created, striking his side and one arm. Another spell was disrupted, and he had to turn all of his efforts to not being overwhelmed by the continuous stream of violent energy.

>>

(X-Cannon deals 12,309 Force Damage)

(X-Cannon deals 12,309 Force Damage)

>>

“You cannot defeat me!” Ilwi shouted over the din. “I am invincible!”

Being that he claimed to have the memories of our creator, he had to know that was a terrible line, and no villain who ever uttered it survived more than a few seconds afterward. Then Lawlimi’s cabochons cracked, unable to sustain the torrent of mana they were channeling. The black box on his arm was shining, and the feedback from the breaking gems ran up through its channels and split the container, revealing the edges of the brilliance of Vallorn. After my escape, they must have managed to take the last jewel from Kurayami. It was more likely than the alternative, that they had fished it away from whichever Kulu had claimed the one I left behind in the ocean.

Karcharoth shook itself off, wounded, but far from dead, a growl building deep in its massive chest. Ilwi’s shields were only a few faint whisps circling his body, and one arm hung limp as he straightened up and thrust a hand at Lawlimi.

“Petrificus Totalis!” The incantation winded through the air and melded with Lawlimi, causing him to go rigid. Haggitha charged back into the cellar, raising the Tooth to bring it down into Ilwi’s neck, but Karcharoth interposed himself, creating a barrier as solid as any wall when she ran into him.

Sashimibandit had long ago crawled out of harm’s way, and from the far corner of the cellar, where our lab had taken over, he began throwing ninja stars. They would have been useless against the full strength of the shields, but now Ilwi actually had to avoid them, and one flew true enough to slice his cheek. He touched the wound, and his face twisted with anger.

“Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!” A quick incantation followed, and a torrent of ice forced Sashimibandit to tuck and roll, evading to the best of his ability. A cataract of frost followed him, continuing to pour from Ilwi’s fingers, destroying most of our workstation. When the spell caught up to Sashimibandit, he vanished under layers of ice and snow.

>>

(Cone of Cold deals 9,202 Cold Damage)

(Sashimibandit is Entangled)

(Sashimibandit is Stunned)

>>

Though his details were hidden, I was able to gauge Ilwi Mal’s power level from the abilities he had displayed during the fight, and apart from the developer access that had allowed him to retrain Karcharoth, he was otherwise operating at a low Celestial Tier. He wasn’t undefeatable. If I were a normal player, the sensible move would have been to summon a moderator as soon as Ilwi revealed what he could do, but any official involvement that affected Ilwi would lead to an investigation of what I was as well. At the very least, I seemed like someone who was using a mod program to let me play with a monstrous avatar, and that was frowned upon. Maybe I should have insisted on a human body from the beginning, but I hadn’t expected that pretending to be a player would be an option at the time.

While Ilwi was presenting as a skilled wizard, he didn’t appear to have invested much into his physical attributes, which meant he might have some vulnerabilities now that his shields were in shreds. Haggitha couldn’t get past Karcharoth. The hound was toying with her, but it could end that dance at any moment with a single hard bite. She was trying to fend it off with a dagger made from one of its own teeth, but it had those to spare. It seemed baffling that Hush had not intervened for her sake at least, but no help was forthcoming.

Damwise had kept up a patter of various hymns during the fight, trying to give his allies an advantage, but now that there was no one left to act as the front line, he brought out a slingshot and sent a bullet directly at Ilwi’s left temple. The look of surprise on the wizard’s face when he was struck was worth everything we’d had to endure up to that point.

>>

(Slingshot deals 230 Bludgeoning Damage)

>>

My antimagic bomb had been somewhat effective, and ever since using it I had been working on another offensive tincture. I didn’t have the ingredients for anything powerful enough to kill him outright, but with his defenses weakened there was a chance I could incapacitate him.

>>

Ondine’s Tears — Alchemical Recipe

Named after the curse of a famously scorned Fae maiden, this poison is so potent that it can be absorbed through the skin for an instant effect. Its victim will be afflicted with drowsiness and Fatigue, and if they fail to resist, complete unconsciousness. Those affected in this way are still in danger from the poison, which interrupts the breathing of those with a weak constitution.

>>

Ilwi was so thoroughly annoyed with Damwise’s harassment that he didn’t bother to track me as I circled around behind him. Karcharoth was on his other side, cornering Haggitha and snapping at her hands. I was in the last stage of the poison’s development, swirling it in a small vial until it turned from greenish-yellow to a sludgy jade, when I hopped onto his back and clambered up his cloak.

“What?” His remaining shields could prevent some damage, but they were no help against a harmless grapple. I octopused up to his shoulders before he had a chance to grab me and tear me off. His mana reserves had to be dwindling, otherwise, he would have obliterated Damwise with a single spell. He began a new incantation just as I uncorked the vial and poured it down the back of his neck. The spell was completed, and I was thrown free in an emanation of cold that caused my appendages to cramp painfully and freeze in place.

>>

(Winter Aurora deals 1,240 Cold Damage)

(Wa Lim Li is Entangled.)

>>

They were getting a lot of mileage out of the Entanglement keyword, which somehow referred to both being buried under the earth and having a severe reaction to frost. I wasn’t going to be throwing any more last-minute potions together, not with my hands crabbed and my tentacles curling painfully tight against my chest. Damwise had avoided the worst of the emanation, and he was still peppering Ilwi with sling bullets, but the wizard had clearly lost patience with all of us. He suffered another bullet while drinking a mana potion, and his outermost shield subsequently flared back to life. Damwise had nothing that would penetrate it, so he tried to make a break for the exit, but Ilwi buried him under a drift like the one that had swallowed Sashimibandit. Then he drank another potion and turned on me.

“All that to take us back to the beginning. Why don’t you finish the ritual?” One of his eyelids was drooping, but other than that there was no sign that my poison was having an effect. Haggitha screamed as the hound grabbed her, its jaws large enough that her entire arm disappeared behind the palisade of its teeth.

“I don’t know that I can,” I said, presenting my frozen hands.

“Then you aren’t of any more use to me.” Ilwi drew a stiletto from a wrist sheath, because killing me didn’t rise to the level of requiring magical investment. His first step was unsteady, and he blinked.

“That poison… what was it?”

“Ondine’s Tears.” I didn’t see any reason to conceal it from him, and a few seconds of conversation would bring me a few seconds closer to regaining the use of my limbs, not that they would necessarily constitute a victory condition at this point.

“It was close,” he said, his words stretching into an unfamiliar drawl. “You came close with that one.” He visibly brought himself under control; in fact, he seemed to be accessing menus, possibly using a hack to purge his system of the poison. “But now you can go.”

He prepared to make a Death Attack. Against a helpless opponent, all he had to do was drive the stiletto into a vital area and let the game do the rest.

A heavy boot clomped on the steps, accompanied by the sound of whirring servos. A figure in black armor, the same battle suit that had first greeted me in my adytum, the same that we had seen waiting on a throne in the sublevels of Eternity, was entering the basement. It didn’t speak, but instead produced a sword of dark light from a prop on its belt, and it attacked.