Chapter 98: Error

With every step, Sean was pushing off the ground so hard he felt the cobblestones sinking into the ground beneath them. Eike, on the other hand, was pulverizing them, his whole body glowing with some kind of enhancement that seemed to turn him into a destructive force. The street was one of the village’s main thoroughfares, so there were more than a couple of steps to cover before they got to each other, but within just a second or so they were almost at each other’s throats.

But only almost. As they reached striking range, Sean felt all his momentum suddenly disappear. It wasn’t anything as violent as getting jerked back by a seatbelt after a quick application of the brakes. Instead, all the forward momentum he had just vanished, like it had been written out of the math of the universe. At the same time, his legs stopped obeying his commands, pausing in place and refusing to take another step towards his nemesis.

At first, he was worried it was a skill. If Eike had a debuffer nearby that was capable of doing this, he was toast. It wasn’t until the Apocalypse System threw up a notification that his head cleared enough for him to realize what was going on.

Aggressive Activity Halted

Two or more competitors have been detected trying to cause active harm for each other, in violation of village rules. All aggressive activities have been halted, and each competitor involved is advised to cease attempts to harm the other or else face the consequences.

“This is ridiculous!” Eike yelled, waving his arm back at the burning building and apparently railing against the system itself. “Look at what you allowed him to do! I demand fair play!”

Sean let his muscles go slack, trying his hardest not to push the limits of the system’s patience anymore than he already had. Eike’s eyes suddenly dropped to an unseen system screen, his face twisting into an enraged grimace as he read it.

“How?” he asked, turning his attentions to Sean again. “The system rules were absolute. We tested them. How?”

Sean kept his mouth shut, calmly observing Eike.

“HOW?” Eike roared. “Tell me, you trash.”

“Eike, I don’t think you get how this works,” Sean said. “I tried to tell you before. What threats do you actually think you have for me? You’ve killed my friends. You are going to try to kill me. We’re way past the point where we can make nice again. What do you think you have left to add to the pot for that information? Really, tell me. I’m curious.”

Sean watched Eike’s mouth open to say something, then stop, a mixture of rage and confusion on his face.

I really think this is a first for him, Sean thought. He tried to imagine what kind of life would have produced a man who really, truly had never heard the word “no” in a way that he really couldn’t do anything about before and drew a blank. But it was clear Eike just didn’t have any concept of not getting what he wanted, in some way or another. It was terrifying to think about.

“I will kill you, human. I’m still stronger than you. You have to know that.” Eike pulled his sword, twirling it around himself in what Sean hated to admit was a truly impressive exercise of skill. “Even if our stats were the same, you couldn’t match me. You have to know that.”

“Actually, Eike, I believe you,” Sean said. “I bet you really could kill me. But you better hope it’s soon. Because I’m going to take down every one of your people I see. You are supposed to have every advantage, right? All the best training? All the best support? I’m going to make the story of Eike as someone who had all that and still messed it up. I’m going to make sure there’s a lot of people on the outside asking questions about how you screwed everything up.”

Eike’s face fell before managing a snarl. “Not if I catch you first.”

“Sure. Catch me if you can.” Sean waved his hand generally at the burning remains of Eike’s hotel. “But I’m guessing that this is a pretty good start, either way.”

And then, before Sean could mock Eike any more, the world lurched to a stop. Not he himself, or any of the other people in it. The world stopped, somehow. Where the fire had been crackling and the building had been making alarming sounds of collapse, it now held still like a photograph. And all at once, every visible person in the town’s eyes dropped to a System notification, one of the mandatory-read kinds that left you no choice but to consider it.

Error

Participant count too low for planned events. Appealing to the greater system…

Appeal resolved. As insufficient participants remain to continue on with the village-setting portion of the Apocalypse challenge, events will be expedited to the final stage. Stand by.

“What have you done?” Eike shrieked. “Do you know how much more profit there was to gain from the apocalypse, you idiot?”

Sean grinned. “No. Was it a lot?”

Eike’s hands went to his head as he considered the monumental loss of potential that had occurred. Then something seemed to occur to him, and his mouth twisted into a sick grin at the thought of it.

“Actually, I’ve just realized. What’s left at the end of the end of the competition is given to the victor,” Eike said. As he did, the village began dismantling itself, dissolving brick by brick into nothing around them. Eike laughed, apparently delighted at the thought of gaining even more power. “Really, you’ve done me a favor here.”

And everything went black.

—

Sean woke up in a dark place. Or, if not dark, just a place where light didn’t matter that much. At least he could see himself and the notifications.

Final Phase Eminent!

Against all odds, you’ve survived to the final phase of this competition. Now it’s time to run and fight, like you’ve never run and fought before.

In this phase of the competition, you will be presented with a kind of linear wilderness, one which is mostly just your own. You will race through it, facing down dangers of various kinds, and striving to reach your goal. At the end of this race is a portion of this planet’s power, one that will give you a permanent edge nearly unrivalled in the greater universe.

Occasionally, and especially in the last stretch, your path will intersect with other competitors. Whether you cooperate or fight to the death is up to you. No protections will be given.

Failure comes in three forms. The first is, as you’ve probably guessed, death. If you take more than you can chew, you’ll find the final end that faces all sentient beings one day.

The second is giving up. At any point when you face no immediate dangers, you can choose to quit. You will escape with all your current advantages, placed in a mostly safe locale to live the rest of your life as you see fit. You get no further advantages this way, but at least you don’t die. Note that holding still for long enough will be seen by the Apocalypse System as equivalent to selecting this option. You are either sincerely in the race or you aren’t. Choose now.

The third is simply not winning. Competitors who fail to win the race but otherwise rank highly will see benefits befitting their rank, ranging from stat buffs, to skills, to other advantages not typically awarded in the outside universe. You might not win, but these prizes are meant to ensure that it’s at least worth trying.

Good luck. The race will commence shortly. Prepare yourself.

Partisan Resistance (Achievement)

You have destroyed a massive amount of the offworlder forces on Earth using guerilla tactics and, frankly, a xenophobic outlook that would shock and dismay the system if it was capable of it.

This is one of those situations where if you got the full benefit of all the sentient being potential you literally burned, it would wreck the balance of this entire competition. Still, the rewards you get for it aren’t small. This was a big, high-stakes risk, and it earned you a permanent reward.

Rewards: Two levels worth of free points without leveling and a five-minute head start on the race portion of the challenge.

Sean immediately split the points between SAV and MAG. Being two levels ahead while not actually having to deal with the increase in EXP necessary to push himself to the next level after that was a big, permanent deal. He’d always be stronger than he should be at his level after this, something he hoped he could use to surprise foes in the future.

Earth’s Hope (Achievement)

Many Earthlings have tried to make it to this competition, and only a few succeeded. Of all of them, you are the only competitor who has shown the will, risk-taking behavior, and general determination to continue on in the face of danger to make it this far.

As a result, the hope of all of Earth travels with you as an ace in the hole to be used at your own discretion.

Rewards: A single use of a skill you have observed another Earthling using.

And then the world around him was back. He found himself in a stone-lined room, like a hallway in a castle without windows. He hit the ground running, barely stopping to take stock of his environment. The stones lining the hallway rushed past him.

So long as there wasn’t any direct threat in front of him, he planned to run, run, and then run some more. Unless this race was longer than he suspected it was, he wouldn’t even bother with sleeping. He’d put every single ounce of energy he had into running forward as fast as possible.

At first, that seemed to be the right choice. The hallway itself didn’t change much, and no enemies made themselves known. No traps sprung. He eventually hit a sort of runner’s high, zoning out to the rhythm of his own footfalls as he bolted down the hallway.

He was so into it he almost bashed directly into the actual threat this place seemed to hold. The only thing that snapped him out of his stupor in time was the abrupt change in light as the stone hallway gave way to a long, stone bridge, one that had a fully armored opponent squared up directly in the center of it.

One-Armed Bridge Knight

Clad in armor as dark as midnight, holding a sword that has seen the blood of countless foes, and badly lopsided, this guy is everything you expect from Arthurian lore villains. He’s tanky. He’s skilled. He’s completely unfriendly, completely dedicated to his cause, and is 100% committed to not letting you get past this bridge in a reasonable amount of time.

“Any chance you’re capable of communication?” Sean yelled. “I’d like to get past this bridge faster, if I could.”

There was no response. It looked like he’d have to get past it the old-fashioned way. Sean was not entirely as vulnerable to big, tanky enemies as he’d been in the past, especially since his loadout had expanded to include so many options. Still, he’d much rather rush past this guy if he could.

As Sean approached the knight, he saw its legs set as it sprung towards him, bringing its sword to bear on Sean’s neck. It wasn’t the fastest swipe Sean had ever seen, and he flared Hard Time as he flipped over the oncoming weapon, landing on the thick stone railing that lined the bridge and continuing onwards.

I’m past him. And he’s not that fast. Just keep going.

As Sean sprinted onward, he saw a blur out of the corner of his eye as the knight used some sort of movement technique to catch up, fully overshoot him, and then swing its sword directly at Sean’s center mass. This strike was much, much faster than the one that had come before it, so much so that Sean only managed to dodge it by dropping flat on his face. And then he rolled back onto the bridge as an equally fast follow-up swipe missed him by a hair and slammed into the railing.

Sean was face down on a bridge with a knight’s sword swooshing through the air at his head, with almost nowhere to go.

And then, just like that, the knight was slow again.