Dark Matter Ascension

Jace moved wholly undetected across the destroyed Outpost. Through the ranks of the Astral Demons that were bickering, fighting each other in small squabbles and brief brawls. With each step the golden glow built and built, limning his body and blade whilst the shield became more radiant.

He got up to one of the pits and saw the inside. A horrifying monstrosity of congealed flesh, limbs, carapace, bone, and viscera that was intermingled into a huge, bulging pod with small apertures. He saw the gruesome process of a demon's birth into the Astral Verge, as he saw the horned creature rip out of the fleshy confines before letting out a screech that caused him to wince.

Jumping over the pit with ease, he kept on his course for the Potency 3 demon; the female figure. She turned to face him, and their eyes met.

Ollie practically shouted in his head, Crap! Looks like the Void Stalker part only works on things your Potency or lower – just like Arbiter's Anathema or Void Counter.

Jace brought his shield to bear as the huge female figure raised her hands, claws, and grew tendrils – all directed to point at him. The one-hundred foot gap between them was filled with a blaze of bright orange; a beam that slammed into the shield and kept Jace from advancing as his heels dug into the ground. The pressure against his forearm was intense, and he had to pull his sword hand into his chest to push against the back of the barrier.

"Ah, you have stealth magic," her sinuous, sinister voice snaked out towards him. "I can see you, hero," she said with disgust filling her voice.

Jace knew well enough that Void Stalker made him impossible to detect until he interacted with the environment or other creatures. And as he glanced around him at the Astral Demons, he saw them all turn towards him. "Shit," he stated as he felt a pit in his stomach.

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[Foe that is vastly superior detected.]

[Shattered Limits enabled.]

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Jace activated the Skill, amplifying all of his traits by one-hundred times their already-improved baseline. The world appeared to slow, and he could see the beam that was surging towards him was coming in small bursts. Timing his escape perfectly, he ducked out of the beam and ran alongside it – keeping just ahead of her tracking spin. Throwing his sword, he scored a hit along her shoulder, and recalling it, he repeated the process.

Slice after slice as he rapidly closed the hundred-foot gap. As he reached the ten-foot-away mark, she sped her movement to match his, bringing her claws and spiked, lashing, bladed tendrils to bear. "What are you?" she asked with not just hatred but fear filling her voice.

Jace felt that swelling in his chest, and the golden glow surged out from him. Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3). Detonate. Gravity ceased to affect the duo and surrounding Astral Demons. Jace shot his grapple line directly under the female demon. Activating it, he slid under her and kicked up – his powerful prosthetic legs along with his strength launching her into the skies. Gripping the ground to flip himself upright, he jumped – propelling himself up to pursue her into the skies.

From her back four enormous, spiked and fleshy wings sprouted – but her flapping was fruitless as she was affected by zero gravity and seemingly had no experience dealing with flying in such a phenomenon. Perfect, Jace thought as he flew past her and delivered a wicked, vertical slash along her torso.

She screamed out and Jace was blown up and away as a shockwave of deep blue energy surged out from her. He felt his skin sear and experienced a dull, aching pain as the Psykinetic assault blasted across him. "How dare you!" she shouted as she figured out how to maneuver in zero gravity with her wings, turning to face him. "Die, hero!" once more, she raised her tendrils, the coruscating beam of energy forming before lancing out.

Deactivate, Jace thought as he canceled the Dark Energy Mine on himself, dropping out of range of the attack instantly. The beam blasted over his head. Void Step (Rank 17) [Burst], he thought as he teleported right behind her – releasing a blast of Void that began to eat away at her body. He slashed through the wings and deactivated the mine on her – and she plummeted.

Jace followed her down thanks to gravity, angling his body to catch up with her, and he traded blows between his sword and her clawed, devastating fingers. Each strike of hers he was able to parry – the sparking blue energy seeming to stave off his Void Blade and [Rending] effects, though the golden clashes caused her to grunt in pain. Each strike he took on his shield was completely foiled.

She glanced down briefly before impacting the ground, whilst Jace used another Dark Energy Mine at (Rank 1) to remove momentum and gravity from himself before impact, then released the Skill to land lightly on his feet.

The Astral Demon was partly gone as Void consumed her, and she turned, fleeing through the ranks of still-slow-moving-to-Jace demons. He chased her down.

Roxcla had no choice. This hero, the Valiant-powered Psykinetics user, was somehow injuring her far beyond what the Emotion-empowered strikes should have been capable of. She panicked, and heard him coming behind her. He was fast – only her Equal Opportunist Talent gave her enough speed to keep up with him, and only once he had first entered the ten-foot radius.

She dove into the brood pit and began devouring, consuming. A risk, but one that she had to take. She had been warned about this exact action by her father, Riscarn. "You, spawn, are able to consume any lower Potency demon for temporary power. But, after that short empowerment duration, you will be unable to shed Essence to survive. This is temporary power, and removes your means to escape death."

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She consumed the entire sack, all the formed consciousnesses within, and the flesh as she replaced her body parts. Even demons within the ruined walls were not safe, and as she grew to a colossal, towering height, she saw that Valiant figure standing just over thirty feet away – sword and shield raised.

"Now you die!" she screamed, her voice bellowing across the Astral Verge as she tapped into her deepest reserves of power. But despite healing from the consumption of other demons, something tore at her. Some unknown form of injury burrowed into her.

Instinctually, she knew that this figure had to die for her to stop the slow degradation she felt crawling through her. The rot within. She raised a single, colossal fist and the flesh shifted, warping as bone cracked through and became a wicked blade that buzzed with the blue light of her Pyskinetic power.

Jace wanted to strike, to engage with a killing blow – but Quinn had told him not to do so. "We need to see what is happening," she had said not ten seconds before. And as Jace saw the enormous figure's hand turn into a huge, wicked blade, Quinn's voice returned. "Got the scans! Evaluating."

"Am I good to kill it?" Jace asked.

Do not go at it with Void Beam, Ollie replied. I want some combat data!

Jace resigned himself to a fight, and thanks to his Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric], he was fully healed up and would continued to heal thanks to earlier damage he had inflicted. You want combat data? I'll get you combat data. Jace saw the enormous blade coming down on him, and he stayed still, dropped his sword, and braced his shield with both arms.

Thunk! The blade crashed onto him and he held firm – the ground underneath his feet cracking as he felt the earth shake and indent. But he was more than strong enough to hold the blade, and even the crackling rain of blue energy that sparked around him did not injure him permanently. He felt the slight, charring pain as the Psykinetic energy seemed to be able to pass through his armor without issue.

Interesting, Ollie stated. Looks like Psykinetic energy can bypass non-Astral Verge based Gear. We should look for an armor upgrade. Getting some of the armor and weapons of these demons and taking them back for Xera to examine and recreate.

Jace took mental note of that as he felt the pressure from above increase. He also saw a second blade coming at him horizontally to cut him in half. But it was also dark out, and activating Reaper's Shadowstep from his armor, he teleported through the darkness and got atop the Astral Demon. Fifty feet from the ground, he had teleported right onto the back of her head and he summoned Nethaldrim to his grip. Stabbing down, he jumped off and let his blade rip along the body before he kicked away from a lashing tendril. Backflipping, he skidded across the ground before recovering.

The figure spun and swept both blades at him horizontally, and Jace jumped up, spinning horizontally between the blades in a tight circle, tucking his arms into his body. The attack evaded, he threw his sword right at one of the demon's eyes. The sword went shlick into the eye, and the figure let out a scream of agony.

Jace instinctively raised his shield and huddled his body behind it as he sensed something coming thanks to [Danger-Sense]. Less than a second later the astral demon erupted with blazing, blue flames that scorched the landscape and decimated the entire environment. Walls were melted instantly, and the remnants of anything that could have been recovered was burned to a crisp.

Well, there goes the gear reverse-engineering idea, Ollie quipped.

Jace didn't feel the heat thanks to his (Burnguard) Augmentation on the armor, and summoning his sword back to his hand, he stood up. The golden aura glowed around him, the weapon was fully charged, and he threw the blade once more right at the figure's torso. Fulmination – activate, he thought. The weapon hit, sank deep, and then a purple shockwave exploded outward. He summoned the blade back to his hand as a microsecond after the purple blast wave erupted, a golden flame followed and licked out of the wound.

The astral demon flashed with bright blue energy as she let out a scream and began raining down blows on Jace from claws, tentacles, those long blades, and even shot scattered beams of bright blue. He was hard-pressed, parrying with his blade, blocking beams with his shield, and dodging when he could.

Jace kept an eye on his energy and when it hit half, he thought to Ollie, got enough combat data?

Oh yeah, Ollie replied. Go ahead and end it.

Jace jumped back and raised his hand, "Void Beam (Rank 1) [Horizon-Splitter]." The entirety of existence before him vanished, and as he sank to a knee the golden shockwave followed right after, illuminating the entire ruined outpost in a sparkling glow. He saw the wispy strands of white surge towards him and seep into his skin. "How much," he asked, breathless, as he collapsed to a knee. His Primal Hide kicked in and restored about half his energy.

One-thousand one-hundred Essence, Ollie replied. Places you at one-thousand nine-hundred.

"Another level," Jace said as he stood up, summoned his sword to its sheath, and deactivated all of his Skills save for Void Stalker. "I should get moving. That gold shockwave is sure to have drawn some attention."

Riscarn scowled. His deep, burnished-red armor creaked with the movement of his face – long since grafted to his flesh as a means of ensuring his protection. He had felt it. Roxcla's death. And heard it, as she had been broadcasting the entire fight from her Psy-Speaker. Gripping the edges of his throne's armrests, he felt the stone crack under his clawed fingers.

His servants groveled as he stood up. "A powerful foe has emerged," he stated bluntly to the handful of Potency 1 and 2 Demons around him, who sat on either side of the large, vaulted hall. The screams of captured victims echoed into the room from beyond the walls, and he took in a deep breath before continuing. "I want this Valiant Psykinetics user dead. I shall give whoever does this a Legendary Infusion."

The Demons began murmuring, talking amongst themselves. Striking pacts, bargains, deals – using Talents to reinforce their ties so that they would not backstab each other. Riscarn looked down at a recently captured and still-awaiting-his-torture Gyanv. The insect-person disgusted him, but they could prove useful in this moment. "Care to make a deal? Your freedom in exchange for your service?"

The pathetic cretin nodded, and Riscarn activated his Astral Pact Talent. He began meticulously wording the pact. It would deliver a message on his behalf. A truce – a temporary one – between him, the demons serving him, and the Gyanv species from Universe 880. I cannot afford to keep assaulting them, and divert my generals and highest Potency assets to this new threat. The insignificant speck of an insect signed, and Riscarn ordered one of his minions to safely escort them to one of their Outposts.

That tended to, he turned to see his powerful assets looking at him, waiting for permission to leave. Taking his seat, he gestured to the doors at the farthest end of the chamber, "Go find them. And bring me their flesh!"