38

The Blademaster

Floating, bodiless, overlooking the distant battle, Rian’s perspective descended into Gorgheit from the sky. At the center of the city was a monolithic building rising taller than any other, seated at the top of a wide, long staircase of cut stone. As Rian landed at the base of the stairs and entered the shadow of the tower, his body snapped into awareness. Beside him were Kat, Decha, Corvis, and Visha.

Wait, he thought, where’s the XP from clearing 1-2? It had happened before when they’d cleared 1-1. Something wasn’t right.

Sunlight dispersed the shade, as they’d landed inside the city at just the moment when the sunlight breached the top of the central tower. Shielding his eyes with a hand, Rian opened his inventory and took out his Aviator Shades, and equipped them.

Much better, he thought, no longer wincing against the sunlight. Perfect opportunity.

At the top of the enormous flight of stairs, seated in front of the structure and atop a throne of bronze was another Pyceian soldier. It was shaped—or modeled, Rian supposed was the word—like the Runeknight but slimmer. Its armor was sharper, folded, with interlocking layers visible at the joints, shoulders, and neck. It was faceless like any other soldier, but its jaw…

The jaw was human. The rest was machinery and armor, Rian was fairly sure. The jaw loosened as if about to speak. And speak it did—without moving its mouth, in an extremely loud robotic monotone that made Rian flinch.

“WELCOME.”

It was electronic, grating and edged with distortion, echoing throughout the city.

“MY SENSORS INDICATE THAT YOU ARE AN ONSOLIAN.”

It turned its head to face them. They were quite far away given the length of the stairs, but Rian could tell the Pyceian was looking at Decha.

It faced Rian and Kat.

“AND THAT YOU TWO. ARE HERE FROM THE FUTURE. HA. HA. THIS IS MOST HUMOROUS. FOR YOU SEE.

“CALCULATING. PLEASE WAIT.”

They stood in silence as the Pyceian merely sat with its mouth still open. Rian glanced at Kat, and she had this look as if something wasn’t quite right, but it didn’t seem she was focused on this Pyceian’s absurd speech. It looked like she was slowly panning her vision for something else.

“RETURN OPEN-BRACKET CLOSE-BRACKET SEMICOLON. DISPLAY OPEN-BRACKET ANSWER CLOSE-BRACKET SEMICOLON.

“OUR PLANS HAVE COME TO FRUITION. BY THE VERY FACT. THAT YOU ARE HERE IN AN ATTEMPT TO TERMINATE THEM. ASSASSINS FROM THE FUTURE. IT IS TOO LATE. YOU ARE PROOF. THAT ULM HAS COME TO THIS REALM. TO BRING CESSATION TO THIS CONFLICT.

“YOU HAVE BEGUN. A CYCLE WITHOUT END. A LOOP WITHOUT RETURN CONDITIONS. HA. HA. A POOR DECISION. A WASTE OF RESOURCES. IT MAKES MY TRANSISTORS OSCILLATE WITH LAUGHTER.”

“Uh…not…so fast, Galthera!” Decha shouted. “The war ends today!”

The Pyceian rose from its throne. From the text appearing above its head, it was level 28. Its armor plating shifted and fluidly rearranged itself with each movement. At its waist was a pistol on one side and a saber on the other.

“I AM GALTHERA. THE COMMANDER OF GORGHEIT. BY THE VOICE AND WILL OF ZENIYON. DO NOT FEAR.”

Rian sighed. Could this get any cornier? It was like something out of bad sci-fi.

Galthera held out its hand, palm up, and the armor around it shifted to form glimmering claws.

“YOU WILL ALL DIE.”

A line of light like a thread of silver manifested upon the air, sliding across Galthera’s neck. Wind surged across the stairs, kicking up a wall of dust. The sound of metal, snapping shut.

Drenched in heavy black clothes whose edges fanned out upon the ground, in front of Galthera was a man kneeling toward the party. His wide-brimmed hat tumbled off his head in the gust of wind, revealing his slicked-back auburn hair tied into a short ponytail, his expression calm and his eyes closed. At his hip, he grasped a glossy black scabbard into which he had returned a thin, curved blade that he’d drawn only a few inches from its sheath.

The sound of metal, resonating. Ringing.

With its body motionless, Galthera’s head fell off and rolled down the stairs.

Kat gasped so hard that Rian almost thought someone had stabbed her. “Are you shitting me right now? Cob—you didn’t notice anyone following you earlier, did you?”

Rian felt like he couldn’t move. What is going on? Is that—

“And now,” Corvis said grimly, “the test begins.”

Rian looked closer at the man that had apparently just killed Galthera in one hit. That sword he was holding—it was a katana.

Who’s this edgelord? Rian thought.

For the first time since entering the Rift, a stat page came up for someone else.

Altrexis

Level 35 Blademaster (NPC)

Alignment: Yindra

Difficulty: A (Legendary)

HP: 2128/2128

Level 35? What the hell?

Did this instance just get invaded, somehow? Wait, that’s an NPC, not a player—

An NPC aligned with Yindra.

A Loyalist.

“Cob!” Kat screamed his name, drawing him out of thought. Already several feet ahead, she was charging up the stairs with Visha following behind, struggling to keep up. “Don’t let him hit Decha!”

Altrexis rose from where he knelt, brought his scabbard up to his face, and whispered something. In the background, the sound of war drums thundered through the air.

Oh, shit, Rian thought. That’s boss music, all right.

“If he beats us,” Kat shouted, “all our XP is gone! Everything reverts if we lose!”

“All of it?” Rian shouted back.

“For the entire Rift! It’s double-or-nothing now!”

Decha was trembling as he grasped his staff. “Who…who is that? How did he just kill Galthera so easily?”

Rian placed his hand against Decha’s shoulder to turn him away. “Come on, let’s back up a little, buddy.”

They started walking away from the stairs, which led onto a flat surface of brick in-laid with bronze, a plateau overlooking most of Gorgheit. The staircase was but one of many, leading down to the city in a staggered fashion.

After a whole two seconds of walking, a shimmering translucent wall appeared in front of them.

“We can’t,” Decha said, stopping. “The timeline destabilizes the further out we go.”

Rian swore. By the look of it, there was barely enough room to fight here on the flat, open area before the final stairs up to the tower. They were meant to duke it out on an incline for this stage.

The sound of rustling clothes, almost silent through the wind—Rian glanced over, and Altrexis was flying down the stairs toward Kat.

He went right past her. Eyes wide, Kat dashed ahead for the shadow of the tower which lay across the stairs. She disappeared and reappeared in Altrexis’s shadow, but her attempt at a backstab missed entirely, the laser-dagger in her grasp activating and swinging through empty air. Altrexis was simply moving too fast.

Visha bristled as she stood in the way. She’d been trotting up the stairs after Kat, leaving a margin of space between them.

Without a trace of exertion, Altrexis drew his katana as he flew by in an elongated dash, traced a curve in the air, and returned the blade to its sheath.

Visha cried out, an enormous line of light flashing across her.

956.

Nine hundred and fifty-six damage, Rian thought will a chill. The number appeared and faded above Visha before she fell and lay motionless on the stairs.

“No!” Kat shouted, though instead of sounding distressed, she sounded merely inconvenienced. “Ugh.”

Rian’s stomach sank. Altrexis was heading right for him, and Rian had no choice but to fight. He had to defend Decha. But if this Loyalist was as strong as he seemed, Rian didn’t stand a chance.

Dying here meant a life permanently lost. But if Decha died, then it was just the end of the Rift, and Kat and Rian would just go back to the Overworld.

It was such an obvious choice. It should’ve been simple. And yet.

There was such calmness in his mind.

Rian planted his feet at the bottom of the stairs. Sacrificing Decha to save himself wasn’t going to happen. It was wrong of him to assume that it was one or the other who would die here. Neither outcome was guaranteed, and he knew it wasn’t Decha that Altrexis was targeting.

That presence he’d sensed during that night in the woods—if it really was this guy, then he’d somehow followed Rian from the Overworld and into this Rift dungeon. Rian was this guy’s target. Why he’d waited until now to strike, Rian couldn’t imagine. But it was obvious that he was going to kill anyone or anything that got in the way.

And if Rian met Altrexis head-on, then maybe at least Decha would live.

You’re about to do something really stupid, aren’t you? Rian thought to himself. No, I’m about to do the right thing.

He glanced down at Decha, who was hopelessly watching Altrexis approach. Even if he’s just an NPC…

It’s more than that.

Rian brought up his left hand and aimed his palm forward. He spread his fingers inside the Runeknight gauntlet. A wave of electricity spread down his arm, and something clicked inside the gauntlet—a beam of light as thin as a wire shot out and began to flicker.

Decha’s voice was almost silent. “Your name is…Cob, is it?”

“Yeah,” Rian said, then realized he’d never told him their names. He must’ve overheard it when Kat yelled for him earlier.

Almost hesitating, Rian raised his palm and aimed the tracking beam up at Altrexis. He was almost here.

“I just wanted to say,” Decha said, his voice faltering, “it seems our time may be running short, but… It was nice to meet you. I feel like I made a real friend, today.”

Your party’s bond with Decha has strengthened!

Companionship Level Up! (Lv. 2→3)

“Decha” is now a Confidant!

All party bonuses: +12% EXP; +6 to all stats; stamina usage -15%.

Decha was tearing up. He must’ve thought this was the end.

Rian smiled. “It’s all right.” He lowered his palm to bring the tracking beam ahead of where Altrexis was traveling, and then gripped his arm to steady his aim. “I won’t let you die.”

Attuned to his mind, Rian could feel the glass orb in the palm pulling energy from his body, waves of heat and electricity traveling down his arm and into the mechanical gauntlet. The orb felt as if it were gathering momentum, spinning in place like a gyroscope.

He didn’t even need to think about it.

Kicking back his arm, a beam of light shot out from his palm. He could feel the moisture in the air evaporate against his skin as the beam surged toward Altrexis.