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That hadn’t seemed like much. And it hadn’t been, especially for Naomi, Bianca, and Gilbert. So to maximize their growth, those three had to find stuff to do day-in and day-out, almost nonstop and with little rest other than the bare minimum.

These simple and well-known words, ‘Welcome to the grind,’ summed up that part of their lives after the Darkrun Apocalypse.

Naomi had focused on her stats and pushing herself beyond her limits. She’d kept developing her physicality and her Aura Ignition with the help of her psychic abilities.

Bianca had focused on dealing with her trauma after being brainwashed by traditional good. She’d gone on adventures to fight and meditate on how free good +5 worked, which was different from traditional good.

Gilbert had leaned more toward being a major support for their young guild members and for foreign adventurers. He’d often saved lives at the expense of being a drunken human meat shield and taking more and more punishment.

Unlike the other three who’d often gone out into the wilderness for multiple days to weeks at a time, Hannah stayed in Ride-or-Die Village. Hannah’s way of grinding and growing had come from completing many side quests that were related with the village or crafting or enchanting or all three.

The System truly seemed to favor Hannah and went as far as providing enhanced levels with higher than normal vitality when she’d accomplished her quests. Granted, she alone had uplifted the sole human bastion standing against the wolf dragons, wolf kobolds, and the savage creatures of the northern frontier.

Everyone’s growth had come far slower compared to earlier adventures. But the time and effort they’d spent on their individual paths allowed them to delve deeper into who they were within their roles and what they did best as they leveled up and progressed.

With each new gain, everyone had kept their fellow Floridians mostly updated, so there wasn’t much they couldn’t account for with each other except for maybe the most recent changes. Zarian had mostly known what he was working with even after four months of not teaming up with his favorite people.

But knowledge wasn’t always the biggest factor even if it was foundational for Zarian’s Fractured Mind. One of the Floridians’ biggest weapons was their ability to communicate and stay linked up via the mind spiders inside of their heads.

Thanks to Spectral Spider Network +2, the speed at which information relayed between them was much faster and smoother than before. It was both instantaneous and simultaneous without getting confusing, like a really clear chat call where everyone was locked in and there was no lag.

Zarian felt Naomi’s rising anger suppressed by a chilling calm as the aura in the air snapped, crackled, popped, and moved with a frenzy with her new ignition technique. He felt Bianca’s cheerless focus as she devoted her all to support with equal measures of goodness and sadness in her heart.

Zarian felt Hannah’s crisp calculations, which were assisted by Magi’s sharp predictions, as the legendary Runic Engineer sat on her architect throne at the top of the tower and laid down suppressive fire from miles away, all with a flex of her runic will. And, finally, Zarian felt the alcoholic burn from the rare beer Gilbert drained all in one go while riding hard on Slip the Sleipnir’s back, like a medieval cowboy racing to get to the action.

And while Zarian was filtering through all the sensations that his friends were sensing, they could do the same with each other and him especially.

They could feel the impending doom encroaching upon them all, like a ticking time bomb of inevitability. All because Zarian had to play the overpowered wizard role against a relentless enemy and keep Overwhelming Darkness from breaking its seals fully.

It was both painful and exhilarating, like holding back the tide of ultimate destruction, the end of all life in the universe and beyond, just to use a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of its true power.

Gilbert summed it up best while still riding hard from miles away. “God Almighty, if this is their way of trying to save the universe from Zarian, I think they shouldn’t have sent an elf retard to masquerade as an elf prince!”

While also miles away on her architect throne, Hannah replied: “Gilbert, you’re not supposed to say that.”

“I can’t say what now? God Almighty?” Gilbert was flabbergasted.

“Retard.” Hannah sent down another volley of magic artillery that kept Ruven from moving around too easily.

“The universe is on the verge of getting eaten again, Hannah, and this is what we care about?!” Gilbert shouted. “Fuck it! What do I know? I’m here, and it really looks like I’m late to the shindig!”

Gilbert launched off of Slip’s armored back. The legendary Knighted Healer landed hard and skidded to a stop close to the edge of a deep ravine Zarian had created while using one percent freestyle.

There were multiple ravines – some short, some deep – that lacerated the snowy land and slashed apart the nearby stony forests and fortress hillocks. Artillery fire struck down and shook the earth constantly, filling the battlefield with the roar of violent thunder and bright magical effects that ranged from furious red to frozen blue.

When heavier cloud cover blocked out the stars and moons of the night sky, a new type of magic artillery soared across the air at a slower velocity. The new magic ordnance erupted into long-lasting yellow flares that shone on the battlefield like miniature suns.

Bianca and her squad of clones plucked the artificial lights from the sky and sent lasers flying at Ruven’s dashing form. They forced the stubborn elf to zig-zag around them or deflect the lasers with rapid swings of his arcane staff.

Naomi moved with she-hulkish speed and power to chase after the elf. A green-blue aura crackled from close around her dynamic phenom of a body, the aura trailing behind her like the long tail of a human-shaped comet.

She was moving nearly as fast as the elf at speeds so dizzying it was hard to track. And she was using Aura Ignition in a way that was far different from the usual.

This newer version of Aura Ignition felt too weak to be the true Second Stage. However, it was less of a burden to her body while granting more control, enabling her to use her skills.

Naomi’s stack of abilities combined with this smaller form of Aura Ignition was powerful for her, letting her keep up and use her psychic powers.

The blurring forms of Naomi and Ruven hopped over ravines, swerved around piles of rubble, and skipped past craters as dark and elemental powers struck at the ground around the two. The dark powers landed the hardest, of course, since that was Zarian’s forte.

The apocalyptic son of ultra gods stood on a thirty-foot tall boulder Naomi had thrown earlier. He couldn’t move as easily while he focused on controlling a fraction of his cosmic-dooming power.

With every release from one percent freestyle, Zarian felt himself about to tear apart, constantly fighting to stay human. Constantly fighting to stay focused and unyielding to his own weakness, the loss of control.

He refused to let his darkness break free once again. He refused to bring about another Darkrun Apocalypse, which could be the last for all they knew.

Determined, Zarian slashed and hacked up the land with giant lances and cleavers of darkness with all the control he could muster. Each of his attacks were so large, so awe-inspiring, they could’ve executed titans and lay waste to kingdoms. The lands north of the village suffered greatly.

But even with all of this power, it was obviously too big, too unwieldy, and too inaccurate against an extremely nimble target like Ruven, a Master Ranker.

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The Level 112 Slayer Scout Master stayed one or two steps ahead of outright destruction. He outran Naomi’s psychic melee attacks. He vaulted away from thumping magic artillery sent by Hannah. And he dodged around laser beams and hard-light sword attacks from Bianca and her clones.

Nothing could slow the stubborn elf down.

Then Gilbert swaggered into the scene and unleashed an invisible but palpable force that unfolded from around his armored body. That was the game changer they all needed coming out to save the day, Tranquilizer Shot +2.

The skill to slow enemies or make them fall asleep had always seemed like an afterthought of an ability. It was always easier to apply as much damage as fast and hard as possible unless the Floridians wanted to capture someone.

On this night, the least favored crowd control skill and its +2 advancement became king.

The big, blue-eyed, and drunken man moved into Ruven’s path. Explosive artillery fell in a line to the right, cutting off that direction. Zarian’s one percent freestyle carved the land to the left, keeping Ruven stuck in a single lane.

Bianca dashed over the air on steps of captured light while unleashing more suppressive light beams at Ruven’s head, threatening him from above. Then there was Naomi dogging Ruven from behind.

Ruven had done nothing but run away from her as she chased him. There was no going back.

So when Ruven inevitably ran into the Knighted Healer, who was standing at the end of the big magical trap, the elf prince couldn’t outright dodge the expanding tranquilizer force. Things only worsened for the ‘intellectually challenged’ elf from there.

Naomi unleashed a short-range Mind Spike +2 for the first time. She’d bided her time until now to catch the elf prince off guard.

Ruven snarled from the direct psychic damage to his head. He lost his footing for a split second, which sent him tumbling fast past Gilbert.

The Knighted Healer stood with a drunken grin on his face. He tipped his wizardly cowboy hat with a single hand, as if in greeting to the elf prince.

Naomi grabbed Gilbert by the collar like she was plucking a tin soldier off the floor. Held from behind the Rumble Psion, Gilbert let loose a long yee-haw, his tranquilizer energy pervading the air and seeping into Ruven’s body still.

Despite the crowd-control and psychic brain damage, the Slayer Scout Master corrected his movements with sharp grace. He dodged aside a big, ignited, psychokinetic punch from Naomi that could’ve broken his head open.

As he slowly but surely became more impaired, Ruven swung his staff at Naomi. She blocked with one hand and returned fire with another powerful punch using the same hand. The elf prince grunted as he deflected her attack with a swing of his staff before returning another hit of his own.

She blocked again and returned fire once more. They traded blows like this, picking at each other, trying to leverage their advantages while poking at each other’s disadvantages.

But in a battle of attrition, Naomi was winning. Ruven was looking slower while running backwards against Naomi and Gilbert.

Bianca joined the party. She dropped clones of herself in the path of Ruven’s retreat. The elf still couldn’t go left or right as Hannah and Zarian demolished the land with magic artillery and apocalyptic darkness just to keep him stuck in the lane.

Ruven chose the most predictable escape option, upward. He jumped and twisted into the sky, dodging many of Bianca’s attacks, but not all. Lasers and clones struck him with glancing blows, leaving some marks and keeping him under pressure.

At that point, Para unleashed what she’d been working on this whole time. With Zarian focused on freestyling with his Overwhelming Darkness, the Parasite Cloak +2 kept a spell prepared for the right time. Black and gray flames fanned out across the air in one enormous wave aimed at Ruven.

With everything working against the elf prince, Ruven finally showed off his special abilities outside of staff mastery and super speed.

Green elven runes appeared in the surrounding air as he pointed his staff at the wave of Black Fire.

The surrounding green runes spiraled into concentric circles. Then they released a bright flash, followed by a large wooden trunk that was as tall and thick as a Californian Red Wood.

Ruven conjured more of those giant logs. They punched through the Black Fire and flew down on Zarian’s position. None of them hit as Slip the Sleipnir launched off the ground and kicked his eight legs off the sides of each flying trunk.

The Sleipnir bounded between multiple trunks in the same volley before landing back down in front of the boulder Zarian and Para stood on. Slip released a mighty neigh, as if sounding proud to stand guard over the spellcasters.

That seemed to be the end of the retaliation from Ruven. He was now using light blue runic magic to run across the air, which didn’t stop Naomi whatsoever. She braced herself, while still holding onto Gilbert by his collar, and launched into the air as well.

She stayed in flight by sheer psychic prowess alone, even if she wasn’t proficient at it. At the very least, she could throw herself around like a rocket.

Bianca joined Naomi and Gilbert, the trio hounding Ruven across the sky. Meanwhile, Hannah lit up the air with shockwave blasts in front of Ruven.

As for Zarian, he had to turn his Overwhelming Darkness on the giant tree trunks. Apparently, there was a phase two after their summoning, leading to the giant tree trunks transforming into wooden constructs with arms and legs, almost like treants.

Slip the Sleipnir neighed in indignation, as if offended that the giant logs would persist as threats.

The eight-legged and armored horse dashed forward for more action. He rammed into one of the treants and stomped hard with his steel hooves to break off huge slabs of bark.

Zarian let Slip battle a towering, trunk-grown monster many times bigger than the Sleipnir. The boy wanted the action, so he could have it.

Meanwhile, Zarian conjured one wide ring of serrated darkness and spread it out with a snap of a finger. He cut down the rest while Slip stomped all over the body of the one he was facing.

Each dying treant struck down with a groan and rumble. Then all became still around Zarian after Slip killed his treant and neighed in victory.

It was right then that Zarian realized something. He couldn’t use Overwhelming Darkness any longer.

He cut himself off from the spider network and left the rest of the fight to the others. He focused inward, as if he was going to cultivate again, but not quite.

He cycled his breathing and felt the bead of darkness inside of his soul. This was not an accurate showing of how massive and terrifying this entity could end up being, but it was there. And it was raging.

He felt how it wanted to break free and go on a rampage once again. He felt how the darkness wanted to eat everything.

He still remembered the taste of the many worlds, galaxies, and universes he ate across multiple dimensions. He even salivated at the thought. He was growing hungry.

Part of him wanted to feast and feast and feast forever and ever and ever, regardless of morality, regardless of all the lives that would end to satisfy his eternal darkness.

However, he still remembered the countless years of struggle against something that was out of his control. He remembered how he refused to quit, forcing him to suffer in spite of himself and his own darkness. For too long he’d carried the burden of having an undying but futile determination, all while losing constantly.

Zarian refused to suffer that again.

He pressed down on the monstrous sensations. He pushed his entire Willpower and Floridian Mindset against the raging darkness inside. He took a risk and dumped all his remaining free points on Willpower, pushing it from 267 to 404.

He felt a surge of power from Overwhelming Darkness, but he stayed locked in as his willful mind refused to yield. He refused to quit. He refused to lose. He refused, he refused, he refused.

He wanted to have control and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. He wanted to grow powerful under his own terms with his friends.

He refused power at the cost of having a fun life.

Zarian wasn’t sure how long it took, but he found equilibrium. Then he committed to chants and hand-signs for a specific technique, the biggest reason he’d studied the many books about sealing.

“Overwhelming Darkness: Twenty Dark Locks Sealing Style Technique. Lock All Twenty Dark Locks. The Dreaded Dragon Sleeps Away Inside Imprisoned Legend. One Hundred Percent Seal. Full Control.”

The mini cubes in his gauntlets moved up and down before disappearing. The pressure inside faded. The night stopped being his servant to bend and manipulate at whim. The darkness stilled.

Zarian released a sigh of relief.

He opened his eyes and saw the others closing out the fight in the sky.

Naomi was getting juiced up by a combination of Adrenaline Jolt +2 and Sacrificial Blow +2 from Gilbert. The adrenaline skill was more potent than ever, buffing Naomi’s ridiculous physicality to even more ridiculous heights. The sacrifice skill had a new advancement letting it work on others, empowering Naomi’s next melee blow at the cost of Gilbert’s health.

Naomi punched straight through Ruven’s staff and destroyed it. Her punch landed on the elf’s torso where a barrier of runic power covered him. She smashed the barrier into pieces with a strident crack that resonated for miles.

Her punch didn’t stop there. It kept going, glancing off Ruven’s side as he dodged the full blow at the last split second.

That was okay.

Naomi’s glancing punch turned Ruven’s ribs and half of his torso into one colossal mess. He became a limp thing of broken bones, bruises, and bleeding lacerations. He fell hard from the sky and landed with a final, crater-forming thump.

Ruven didn’t get up from that.

He wouldn’t want to, as Bianca stood on a hovering panel of light in the air above. She held aloft a large javelin made of more light and would throw it if the elf budged only a little.

Ruven didn’t budge.

Naomi and Gilbert crashed down together, the both of them looking ragged from the blitzing chase. Naomi’s ignition was gone, leaving her body strained and badly busted.

Apparently, even the weaker version of Aura Ignition could still cause her some damage. Gilbert used his Healing Force +2 to help them both out.

With everything settling down, Zarian nodded at the results.

The landscape north was smashed, totaled, and completely ruined for dozens and dozens of miles. But the Floridians had won their first fight against a true Master Ranker.