Eternium ~ 51!

Only one chapter to go! :'D / D':

Two swirls of power lifted into the air, and the bodies that had once been renowned and terrifying S-rankers or higher… withered into nothing. All that remained of the two were their souls, minds, and the barest modicum of their power. 

The two streams vanished upward, and after a moment Dale felt the portal into his soul space widen to the absolute limit and permit these two access. He collapsed to the floor and wrapped his frame around the Core in his hand. “Gotta get outta here.”

Dale’s mind was filtering into the Core much faster, and the world started to go dark right around the halfway mark. By then, half of his mind and soul was in the new Core and the process was fighting him less. To his chagrin, this also meant that he no longer had control over his body and his Mana. The rampaging power started to dissolve his organs, and though he was no longer in control, he was still aware enough to feel all the pain. Luckily he was vacating the body for a much better one, but until then he was trapped in agony. 

The last quarter of his mind and soul was sucked into the Core as his body was fully destroyed, turning to ash around him and leaving behind a suit of clothes and two Cores. One was perfect in every detail, and one was falling apart by the second. <There we go.>

It was interesting to be integrated into my Core again, in perfect sync with my mental faculties. I was also way more powerful, I could feel it. As all the sympathetic links to my Ley Lines transfered to me once more, the power was far more easily captured and maintained. <And now all I need is a way to get back into my staging area and through my escape tunnel.>

I reconnected to the dungeon, surprised that we were somehow still in the air. The Bobs had been having me add in integrated backup systems, it seemed that they were far more effective than I had expected. I checked in on Dani, it seemed that she was in my Soul Space and doing just fine. Whew! 

Dani hadn’t been able to get out of the portal, it seemed, and she was steaming mad about the lack of communication. I’ll handle that later. Heh. I’ll never tell her that that was my first thought on the subject.  I’d have to do some research on making that portal omnidirectional. For now, it was getting real bright out there, and I didn't think I was seeing sunlight. I had my influence extend rapidly, easily done through my creation, and swallowed the gate whole. 

As the full design was implanted in my mind, the wound in my soul began to close. This meant that people started panicking of course, but their view had been showing giant chunks of flaming moon approaching, so I hoped they’d get over it soon. There was an odd phenomenon that occured as the portal closed, something that I really hadn’t expected. As the portal vanished, every single person at the Mage ranks that wasn't bound to me staggered at the same time. Strange. To the escape hatch!

I lifted the ground and had it roll me along to the hole. I tipped over, and mentally smiled as I dropped to the portal. 

So long world!

“Not so fast, you silly goose!” Fingers clamped around me once more before I could make my escape, and I was pulled into the air to see Xenocide’s mad smile. “Leaving without saying goodbye?”

<Oh, come on!> I shouted as loudly as possible. He couldn't hear… oh right, he could hear me somehow!

“Where would I go?” Xenocide queried happily. “No escape for such as me! I’m actually surprised that you got a good chunk of those A-rankers! Whoever came up with the idea of sealing them in glorified shipping crates was brilliant! Of course, they are trapped in stasis for who knows how long, but smart!”

<Right, thanks, big guy.> I tried to think of anything that I could say to have him release me. <Um. Goodbye? Good luck out there?>

“Now you’re catching on!” Xenocide cackled madly. “I just wanted to say thank you for helping me get an empty triple-S-ranked dungeon Core!”

Now that I was thinking about it, I could see that the man in front of me was bleeding. It wasn’t actually blood, but some kind of Soul Energy that flowed from his body instead of the liquid of life. <I’m happy that you got what you wanted, but I really need to get going…>

“Oh, well, of course.” Xenocide nodded and started to put me down, only to yank me back at the last second. “Hey! Hey, now! I almost did it! Ha! You… oh, you’re a sneaky one! Now, see, what I need is a power source that can fuel my transition into this Core, and as it turns out… you are a treasure trove of Madness! Thank you in advance, now hold still…”

Xenocide let a spark of something appear on his finger, and the energy turned into a golden chain that wrapped around me. As soon as the chain landed on me, I was trapped in one small spot. There was no more influence for me to see out of; there was no more reach to my grasp. I could only feel what was coming to me, I could no longer grasp it. <What did you do to me?>

There was no sign that the man had heard me, and he continued doing… whatever it was until he glanced at a small paper he had with him. “Got the Core, got the sacrifices, reached the pinnacle of SSS, wrapped the power source in chains of chaos… I guess we just start!”

He lifted me up, positioning the much larger Core on his chest, and began to chant. I didn't feel anything, but I was at least faintly concerned. I was wrapped in chains of chaos? Where had I seen that before…? Rose. She had used that to hold a monster in place. The effect… was… the target couldn't effect anything around them, move, but was still aware. The spell would last for… a chaos determined amount of time. It could be one second, it could be forever.

The chanting was reaching a crescendo, and Xenocide started to shift the muscles in his hand. Suddenly, I was falling. I bounced off the floor and rolled back and forth until I came to a stop. Just in time to see a strange scene playing out. “This chase has gone on long enough.”

Xenocide was standing still, his hand cut off and a sword through his chest. Kere, The Slayer of Shades, stood behind his father. Xenocide smiled, looked down at the sword, and leaned back. “Oh, I have missed this father-son bonding time! Want to go play catch? There’s a giant ball coming at us right now!”

Kere lifted his sword, attempting to take the blade up the body and through Xenocide’s skull… and Xenocide didn't bother resisting. As the sword cleaved through his skull, the man simply reformed the damaged areas and calmly turned around. “You know what really hurts me about you stabbing me like this?”

“I cannot imagine.” Kere replied, holding his sword aloft.

“Being  stabbed, you little brat!” Xenocide was suddenly behind Kere, and knocked him to the floor with a slap. “You just stay there and watch me ascend, twerp!”

“How do you plan to ascend?” Kere groaned in reply, trying to stand and failing thanks to his now-warped spine.

“I’m going to fuel my transition to an energy being by transferring my soul through a Core!” Xenocide obligingly informed him.

“Huh.” Kere winced. “Seems like you’re gonna need a lot of power for that.”

“I already destabilized the continent below.” Xenocide managed to speak around his wide grin. “All of the power of a SSS rank dungeon is going to detonate upward, and the destruction of the falling moon will generate Essence on a scale unimagined in this world!”

“So… thanks to you the world is both ending and being saved.” Kere shook his head. “So glad you didn't need this then. My quest is complete, I shall happily die to take you with me.”

With a flick of Kere’s fingers, my Core was tossed down the hole and through my little escape portal. I heard a scream of rage, then agony, just before the portal winked out of existence and left me floating in a huge sphere of liquid Essence. My… my safe sphere on the main continent! Thousands of miles away from Xenocide! My mind was buzzing, and as I tried to process everything that had happened… the world seemed to shudder. Huge streams of Essence raced along the Ley Lines as Xenocide’s plans came to fruition, and all I could hope was that I was the only beneficiary.

Trapped by the chains of chaos, I could do nothing to effect the world around me, and so I turned my thoughts inward. This couldn’t last forever, right? Or… could it? Could something last forever? An eternity? Was that where dungeon Eternium got his name from?

Wait, in that case, did this make me Dungeon Eternium?