Dark Matter Ascension

Jace woke up as something slapped him in the face. Well, more like gentle taps – but still a minor nuisance. He opened his eyes to see Ollie, with a panicked look on his face, pointing out through the top of the tent. "Those ships are close by!" he said.

Instantly, Jace went into survival mode – just like when he was back on Earth and having to immediately pack up his gear and his go-bag to flee from corpo-security, scavengers, or the roving gang members. Void Stalker (Rank 1), he thought as he activated the Skill, tapped the bedroll and tent with his forearm, and instantly stored them in the TPSB.

Curling his legs under him, he jumped out of the small pit and landed on the still-grassy plains. In the skies above – hundreds of vessels. They were the size of the apartment buildings back in Khrox. Bulky, rectangular vessels with stubby wings on the sides, thrusters all over for multi-directional movement, and they were covered in turrets just like the ones that had first tried to pursue him.

Ollie flew into his head and activated Verge Protocol, speaking in his mind. This Vanguard Empire really wants your Void power.

"I'm surprised," Jace muttered as a message appeared in the corner of his vision. He ignored it for a few moments as he ran over to a copse of trees. "I would have figured that there would be a lot of people who could fight Astral Demons."

But not kill them permanently. Void can do that. Psykinetics can do that. Technology, magitech, and magic cannot do that. If an Astral Demon is slain by any of those, then they lose a large amount of their Essence, but their consciousness travels to…somewhere…and somehow rebuilds a new body.

Quinn's voice came in over the comms, sounding fascinated but also concerned. "And we know thanks to Highlord Tibalt that Psykinetics cannot be put into anything that is not handheld. I did some research while you were at that citadel and just finished going over the data with some Wayfinders. We've confirmed it. Ship weapons won't work. Anything bigger than a shoulder-mounted missile launcher will not work with Psykinetics. The object is too big for emotions to properly imbue."

Jace cracked a smile, "Their ships can't do anything against Void, can it?"

Correct, Ollie replied in his mind.

Jace felt confidence brim up in him. Void Stalker would make him practically impossible to track or spot. He knew that Astral Demons could sense the presence of Souls – but thanks to his Voidsoul Skill, his registered as 0% soul energy coefficient. He was practically invisible until he interacted with them.

Or so he thought as several ships that were moving above began to converge on his position. "Ollie? How are they doing that?" Jace asked as that confidence began to fade away, and he drew Nethaldrim.

No clue.

Jace checked the message that was pending, the small gold-on-black icon flashing in the bottom of his screen. A mission dossier filled his vision; a map appearing that pointed him to the north. Well, what his compass pointed to as north – he had no clue how cardinal directions worked in a layer of reality beneath his home. But it seemed like this layer of reality had something akin to a magnetic pole.

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[Mission: Investigate the downed Architect vessel.]

[Reward: Uncommon (Gear) Infusion.]

[Sender: Dark Between Stars (Universe 348).]

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Jace looked at the map and began running in the direction that was indicated, speeding across the landscape and leaving no trace. Yet somehow, the ships continued to pursue him. Void Shield (Rank 6), he thought – knowing that he could keep that Skill up for a long, long time if he did nothing else. The vehicles gained on him, and he saw enormous warframes dangling from drop bays on the bottom.

"Someone is trying to contact your comms," Quinn stated. "Want me to patch them through?"

"Fine," Jace replied feeling dismay and feeling an almost-churning in his stomach. I don't want to kill people, he thought, who are just trying to keep their universe safe. But they need to learn that no means no.

The voice of Highlord Tibalt came over the comms once more, and the man's voice expressed a fury and wrath that Jace had never heard before. "You piece of shit! You dare defy the glorious Vanguard Empire?! You will comply, or my mechanized regiments will take you in and rip you apart to find out how you destroyed those demons!"

Ollie, Jace thought to his Wayfinder, any way that Xera can give them the schematics for using Void?

Too risky, Ollie replied. If anyone else figures out Void, then they have half of the key to entering our universe. Both Dark Matter and Void are required to bypass net blocking our funnel leading to Oblivion.

Jace swallowed down the knot in his throat. Then I do a show of force. Show them that I'm not someone you want to fuck around with. Void Beam (Rank 3) [Piercing]. The white-grey light blasted out and no trace of gold followed, his Emotion Source seemingly not resonating with the action and therefore not empowering it with Valiant Crusader's Might. The beam blasted through the rear thrusters of one vessel, causing it to tilt. "Back off," Jace stated into the comms, making his voice as hard and unfeeling as he could muster. "You will lose lives if you insist on trying to capture me."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The comms went silent, and Jace was only answered by the ships continuing to close in – minus the one that was listing, which dove for the ground before coming to a low, hovering stop before a group of heavily-armored and equipped soldiers were released from some type of drop bay under it. Jace sighed and faced the approaching troops. "Ollie, I really don't want to do this."

They are not giving you much of a choice. They can somehow track you – still working on that – and they seem to not want to give up.

Jace resigned himself to what he would need to do. Void Blade (Rank 17) [Rending], Aura of Wrath (Rank 11) [Voidflame Vestment], Crusader's Bastion. The golden shield that appeared on his arm was not very lustrous and did not glow brightly. Instead it was a dull hue. Even my Emotion Source isn't into this, he thought.

The rest of the ships got into range and began firing their lasers. Crackling lines of energy that glowed with an incredibly bright hue that Jace simply let hit his Void Shield. He knew thanks to Quinn's analysis that the ship weapons posed no threat to him with his defensive Skill active. But the ground troops were another matter. The ships dropped their payloads and the soldiers in powerful mech armor formed squads. Enormous, power-armored figures just like what Greg wore. The front lines held blazing, multi-colored shields similar to Jace's golden one, and held pikes which bristled with the same colors.

Behind them, a more round-shaped armored figure activated some type of shield unit, and a barrier popped into place around the formation. And next to them, slightly-less-armored but still wearing power armor individuals held enormous rifles in two hands, leveling them at Jace. "How does this not count as a vastly superior foe for Shattered Limits?" Jace asked.

You are a Tier 10 Ascendant. They having nothing save for their Astral System access. You outclass them by far. Just go for it.

Jace didn't like the idea of killing these people who were, in all likelihood, just following orders. I don't have to kill them, he thought as he began to run forward and the firearms began to shoot rays of multi-colored light that he took on his shield, the coruscating hues combining upon the defensive barricade and forming a white, near-blinding corona. Ollie, mind shifting my sight?

Jace's vision filtered out the white so he wasn't blinded, his All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes more than capable of swapping out or suppressing visual phenomena at their Tier 10 version. The lasers carried no weight, and he charged forward until he met the first formation. Spears lanced out towards him, and he simply vaulted over the formation, focusing on the shield-unit in the center. Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant]. Detonate.

All of the power-armor wearers began to float. Jace used his Soul Tether grapple line to pull himself down to the ground and began hacking off legs and arms. His weapon carved through the armor like a hot knife through butter, and within five seconds he had literally disarmed the entire squadron. Their armor had some type of reactive medical foam that filled in the wriggling stumps.

Harsh, Ollie stated.

I assume that they have prosthetics since they seem reliant on technology, Jace thought back as he moved to the next formation. Repeating the process, he dispatched them in the same fashion. In thirty seconds he had dealt with all of the groups. Moving to the closest gunboat, he slashed through the hover thrusters on the bottom, grounding the vehicle.

"You could hijack one," Quinn stated. "Move around a bit faster."

"Smart idea," Jace replied. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"You are not as smart as me," she replied with a smugness to her voice that only those who knew they were one-hundred percent correct could convey.

Jace ran over to another dropship that had begun to lift off. Using his Soul Tether, he pulled himself into the drop bay on the bottom. Making his way to the front, he cut through a bulkhead and found two pilots at consoles. Both turned to him – whilst one froze, the other pulled a pistol. Jace just reached forward and crushed the pistol and the hand holding it. "I'm taking this ship," he stated bluntly. "Now get off." He took a step back and stood aside.

The two pilots ran past him, screaming into their headsets as they jumped, grabbed the rope-pulley system that seemed to have dropped the armored units, and rode them down. Jace got into the cockpit and immediately understood the controls thanks to Edge of Possibility (Rank 3). He began moving the vessel towards The Architect's downed ship.

The console in front of him was beeping, and he punched the audio button. "I'm taking your ship."

"You bastard! How dare you insult the glorious-"

"I'm going to stop you there," Jace replied. "You should be thankful. Your troops are still alive. Go cover them, and leave me alone."

Highlord Tibalt's voice devolved into an apoplectic series of swears, curses, and ravings. Jace just slammed the comms button to turn it off – accidentally breaking that part of the console.

Tibalt finished his screaming and was huffing out deep breaths. Getting onto another channel, he began ordering his remaining dropships to pick up the wounded and bring them back. "What's the range on our tracking beacons?" he asked one of his men in the command center.

"Sir, it can track up to two astronomical units."

Another soldier ran up behind him, "Sir, the council demands a report!"

Tibalt wheeled around, "Tell them we're working on it."

"The…The Emperor himself wants to come inspect the defenses, sir."

Tibalt cursed under his breath and turned to face the now-fading image of the stolen dropship racing into the distance, being tracked by another camera on a neighboring gunboat. "Send sensors to follow. We prepare for The Emperor's arrival." He began moving towards the astral elevator, knowing that a reckoning was coming for him if he could not explain why he did not acquire this new military asset.

Roxcla looked back to the sounds of screaming that echoed across the battlefield towards her ears. The outpost of those disgusting bug-people was falling – as expected – given their blitz attack from nowhere. They never think to reinforce the ground beneath them, she thought with a sadistic chuckle.

The rune on her belt began vibrating and she held it up to her ear, "Yes?" she asked, knowing exactly who would be responding on the other end.

"Why are you not taking that mountain citadel?" her father, Riscarn the render, growled out through the psy-speaker.

"My mate was slain-"

"He will reconstitute," Riscarn replied dismissively.

"No…he will not. They acquired a means to permanently destroy the consciousness. My whole army was lost."

Riscarn was silent, and when his voice returned a few minutes later, his cool, calculating voice cut through the screams and wails of misery surrounding Roxcla. "Any further information?"

"I believe it was a Dreamer," Roxcla replied. "I saw brilliant flashes of gold-"

"Valiance," Riscarn said with a visceral disgust. "I fucking hate Valiant Dreamers."

"I am working on spawning new demons to replace our losses," Roxcla replied, "But we will need a heavier hitter to deal with this high-potency individual."

"I will see what I can do. In the meantime rebuild your forces and go back to that mountain. That elevator going up to their universe is the perfect means for us to feast. Get back to work, favored spawn."

Roxcla smiled, her wickedly sharp teeth craving the sensation of warm blood and flesh flowing over her lips and down her throat. Devouring the flesh as she sucked out the Soul. "Of course, father."