The bde stig out of Jason’s chest was wide and thick, more suited to bludgeoning than cutting or stabbing. It had been shoved through his body with raw force, the dark metal jutting from his torso. He tried to shove it back out of his body, but his arms wouldn’t move. His entire body aralysed.

  He felt the bde draining his energy, but this was no mana drain. It was tapping into the fual energy of his being, and that roblem. His core power flowed from the universe that was his true body, and that power was infinite. His body was uo tain infinite power, however, and he doubted the sword drinking it in could either. One or both reached the limits of their capacity, that magic was going to erupt.

  “What the…?”

  The words of resumably was his attacker were timed with a tugging on the sword, but it was lodged in his body. His body wasn’t moviher, anchored in pce as the power from his universe was leached out, blending into Pallimustus.

  Jason was frozen in pce, but the surge of power was charging his aura like a toaster running off a fusioor. It was going to burn out real soon, but it was going to cook the crap out of some toast. He fired off some quick messages as he expanded his senses over the city. If he couldn’t get away from it, he would get everyone else away from him.

  ***

  Li Mei was a bundle of frayed nerves. For fifteen years she’d been afraid of meeting Jason Asano again. Would he kill her? Ignore her? pletely fet who she was? When they finally met, the prim, collected persona she built up over the years fell apart. It felt oddly like when her father had seo the USA to study, as if nothing she had learned had prepared her for it.

  Maybe that’s why she fell bato her old patterns from that time. Loose, fused, uain. Trying to paint over a rising panic with forced casualness. In the end, none of her fears came to pass. She didn’t bear the brunt of old grudges, and she wasn’t some fotten irrelevance. Of all the potential outes, she hadn’t expected to be offered a job. Her instinct was to leap at the ce, but she khat two worlds worth of plications would e from that. It was not a decision to be made quickly htly.

  “And I o look into what you’ve been up to before I make that offer,” he said as they sat on the lip of the fountain. “See what kind of person I…”

  He trailed off, looking around as if he’d heard something suspicious.

  “Something’s here,” he said as he stood up. “Something that’s very good at—”

  She didn’t see it ing. One moment there was nothing, and the , a man in bd red armour was standing behind Asano. A massive sword, if you could even call it that, had been run through Asano’s body. The bde was more a sb of bck metal, streaked with red, than a pusible on. It looked like something from an anime. Asano wasn’t moving, hanging from the bde like a corpse.

  The attacker yanked on the bde, but it refused to budge. He said something in a nguage she didn’t know, sounding surprised. That was when a system windoeared in front of her.

  System Alert: Boko

  A magical i is taking p the city of Boko. Octs will be evacuated immediately. Any successful attempt to resist evacuation will be taken as a cim of personal responsibility for your safety and may result in your death. Please resist the urge to panic. Sorry for the invenience.Clergy in Boko temples: Please excise all octs from holy ground so they be evacuated if your deity will not be shielding them.“What?” Li Mei said, as did many of the people arouhen aura flooded out of Jason like the dest of a god. Her mi bnk as a whimper escaped her. When she came to her senses, she was floating over the city along with what looked like the entire popution, flying over rooftops like a swarm of is.

  There were cries of arm as others came to and realised what was happening. That aura was still present, battering against her mind like a hurrie ripping at shuttered windows. Below, more people were rising into the air, through windows and out of doors that smmed open. She saw a roof rip itself off a building a down on a nearby one, a rge group rising from the now-open room beh.

  She twisted as much as she could in the air, feeling like she was clutched in some kind of invisible cushion. As best she could tell, the popution of Boko were being lifted into the air and being moved directly away from Jason and his attacker.

  ***

  Ba Greenstone, Clive was in a bakery. With him was the childlike humanoid version of Onslow, his shell parked oreet like a carriage. Stash was sitting on top of the shell in the form of a young man, drooling over the baked goods dispyed in the window.

  The staff were gathered around Clive’s adorable familiar, handing him free samples as their manager looked on unhappily. Clive gave him an awkward smile and apologetic shrug.

  System Alert: Boko and Greenstion

  A magical i is taking p the city of Boko. Octs are being evacuated. Do not approach or attempt to ehe city.Adventurers of silver rank or below in the area, do not approach. Adventurers of gold rank and above (if there’s a diamond ranker skulking around, please help!), do not approach the city until after the bst.“We’re going,” Clive said, pushing past the bakery staff to pislow up like a child. He marched outside as Onslow’s shell grew eveo aodate them. Clive, Stash and mini-Onslow stepped inside, and the shell lifted into the air.

  Jason Asano has initiated group text chat.Jason: Got attacked. Going to blow up and take some or all of Boko with me. Getting people out, need wide-area tai ritual. Will hold on as long as I . Please move fast.Hump: Are you going to be alright?Jason: No, Humphrey. I’m about to explode and die.Hump: Please list my full name oext chat.Jason Asano has ended group text chat.As Onslow sped through the air, Clive opened a portal in front of them and they passed through it. They arrived in Boko, in the square set aside for teleport arrivals at the Adventure Society campus. It was a se of chaos as people streamed out of buildings, dangling in the air as if held by invisible hands. There was yelling and powers being fired off. Clive saw an adveeleport and arrive right o Onslow’s shell, looking at it in surprise before yelping as she was yanked into the air again.

  Humphrey teleported in with Sophie and Farrah. His mother did the same a moment ter with Neil, as well as Gabriel and Arabelle Remore. They piled into Onslow’s shell and it took off.

  “That message said bst,” Danielle said. “That man was born to agitate people.”

  “You’re the wide area ritual magic specialist,” Clive said to Farrah. “How fast you improvise a rge tai ritual?”

  “Lindy’s help would be good,” she said. “She’s the improvisation expert. We’ll need your abilities to cast something that big, that fast, though.”

  Shade emerged from Farrah’s shadow.

  “Miss Belinda is being flown here as we speak,” he said. “Miss Estel is being evacuated with everyone else.”

  “Shade, what’s happening?” Humphrey asked.

  “Mr Asano has been subject to an attack. The attack is apparently an attempt to kill him using some on that drains his power. Unfortunately, his power in infinite, and the on just keeps draining it.”

  “And it’s going to reach a threshold where either the on or Jason’s avatar ’t tain it and its going to blow up,” Clive realised. “We o get this ritual going fast.”

  “What about the attacker?” Humphrey asked.

  “The attacker is currently unknown, but appears to be a human in armour. He also appears to be stur Asano, which appears to be a surprise to him.”

  “I don’t think my skill set will help us here,” Danielle said. “I’m going to find the city leaders and see if I help bring some order to what is going to be panid chaos. Gabriel, Arabelle, will you join me?”

  “Gabe will,” Arabelle said. She was staring out at the people still flying out of the city, screaming and yelling. “I’m going to start anising healers. Even if everyos out alive, this is going to be a mess. Neil, will you join me?”

  “Of course,” Neil said.

  ***

  Four Voices of the Will stood around a viewing pool. The image iill water was from a vantage point far above Boko, and they watched their assassin appear. His on puhrough Asano’s body, which went limp.

  “It’s done,” one of them said.

  “Our forces are marshalled,” said another.

  “Prepare to activate the gates,” the third anded.

  “It is time,” the fourth said, “for an example to be made. To the denizens of this world, and our own kind, too timid to act.”

  ***

  Onslow wove a path through the air, Clive standing atop his shell. A trail of gold was left behind by Clive’s outstretched hand, sky-writing a massive ritual circle. As he went, the runes on Onslow’s shell lit up and floated into the air, being part of the ritual. Ihe shell, Farrah and Belinda were madly going through books and scribbling notes, yelling up instrus at Clive.

  “How are we doing?” Farrah asked Humphrey.

  “Uh, quite well,” Humphrey said, sounding surprised. He was standing at the edge of the shell, holding out a measuring device Clive had given him. It looked like a gss pte with an image like shifting water projected onto it. A rod ending in an orb jutted from the bottom.

  “It should not be really good,” Belinda said.

  “It says the power levels are decreasing.”

  “Sophie,” Belinda said, eyes still on her work. “Please make sure he’s not holding it upside down.”

  “Is the rod and orb thi to pointing up or down?” Sophie asked.

  “Up.”

  Humphrey sheepishly turhe device around in his hands, then looked at the readings again.

  “Oh,” he said. “It’s going really badly.”

  “It’s okay,” Sophie said, patting him on the shoulder. “You’re still pretty.”

  ***

  Jason’s body was still frozen and his overcharged aura was growing more unstable by the moment. He ighe pain searing through his body as the power ramped up. It was enough that if he let go, he would explode, and he wao do exactly that. The longer he held on, the greater the bst would be, but the tai ritual wasn’t yet in pce.

  He had sent the city residents as far away as he could. He’d dropped them in the desert, as far as he could from the city walls. It would hopefully be enough to save them from the bst, so long as it was taihe city was y, other than his team and anyone who could hide from his aura sehe temples were dark to his perception, and there could always be some powerful people lying low. They would have to take care of themselves.

  Jason Asano has initiated group text chat.Jason: How long?Clive: Almost done. Look up.Jason: ’t. Paralysed. I think my attacker was sent by the messengers.Hump: Why is that?Jason: He’s stuck here and just yelling at me now. I’m a little distracted, but he’s yelling about the messengers and some kind of deal.Danielle: The messengers don’t make deals with a other messengers.Sophie: Yes, they do. They made a deal with the fake god of purity, and they made oh Jason about saving Yaresh.Hump: Jason, is there any way we get you out of this alive?Jason: Not that doesn’t e with uable risk. Don’t worry: ing back from the dead is kind of my thing. Well, my avatar’s thing. I’m immortal, obviously.Neil: Really? I didn’t know that. Have you tried mentioning it every ten minutes? Oh, wait, you have.Clive: Your avatar dying might just be the beginning of whatever this is. I’m getting some kind of interferen the ritual from above the city. Far above. It’s at a high enough altitude that I adjust as I draw out the ritual, but something is going on up there.Hump: Sophie and I will check it out. And fix my name in the chat.Sophie: There are more important things going on than how your name appears in the chat. Also, what are we doing for lunch today?Gabriel: Is this always the way you operate? How did you bee a famous adventuring team like this?Arabelle: Oh, like we were aer. You remember what Emir was like.Neil: Clive was getting lunch from that bakery.Gabriel: Jason is going to die.Farrah: You get used to it. I think if he goes long enough without anyone killing him, he kills himself for practise.Jason: I dldfjce.Farrah: What?Jason: Sorry, I’m running on the edge here. In all seriousness, please, please hurry. I ’t hold this much longer. Clive: Almost there. And we had to leave the bakery before our order came up.Jason: No sandwiches? Okay, now I’m having a bad day.***

  The Duke of Boko looked at Gabriel’s increasingly worried expression.

  “Is something bad happening?” he asked.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Danielle said. “That’s about something else.”

  ***

  Fragments of Jason’s body were turning to rainbow smoke and ing off him in streams. He still hung limp, impaled on the sword that was stu pce as if by glue. Jason was long past reising his surroundings and hadn’t seen his attacker cut his own arm off. It hadn’t helped, the severed stump still gripped by the magic.

  Clive: Done and we’re clear.Jason exploded. It erfectly silent, eradig everything in its path in a wave of gold, silver and blue light. It expanded out until it reached the invisible dome of the tai spell, c most of the city. The dome became visible, shedding blue and gold light. It was prised of interlinked hexes, each with a ru into it.

  The dome shuddered, the runes glowing brightly while emitting a high pitch sound. The tone lowered over time, from a screech, all the way down to a thunderous rumble. By which point the dome was shaking like a bouncy castle full of kids hopped up on sugar. The ruarted going dark, first at scattered points and then in rger clusters.

  ***

  Jason’s friends looked back as they flew across the sky inside Onslow. He was fast and they didn’t want to risk a portal with so much magic floating around. The dome wouldn’t st long, and they could all feel the magi above, now.

  “That’s portal magic,” Humphrey said. “I’ve never felt it on that scale. How does that even work in a low-magie like this?”

  “I don’t know,” Clive said.

  They leaned out of the shell to look up. As they had sensed, massive portals started opening up in the sky.

  “We’ve seen this before,” Humphrey said.

  “Yes, we have,” Clive said grimly as messengers geysered from the portals. “I’m not sure what to do about that.”

  Their eyes were drawn back to the dome as explosions started sounding out. Hexes were shattering and force was shooting out through the gaps. The gaps grew rger and rger, letting more force out, but most of it had bee while the dome still held. Ihe dome, the light was gone, as was almost any trace of the city.

  A perfect sphere had been carved out of the ground, as if simply deleted, leaving behind only smooth, round sides. The only remnants of the city were temples now floating in the air, shielded from the bst by divine power. The only other thing in the sphere was a small cloud of darkness, within which sparks of ethereal light danced like the ghosts of fireflies.

  The stillness ihe space was sharply trasted by violeside of it. The explosive force from the detonating dome tore through the parts of the city left outside the tai area. Buildings were levelled and gardens stripped down to the dirt. Trees and ks of building were flung through the air, adding to the damage. Onslow sealed the sides of his shell to protect his octs, mini-Onslow ging to Clive’s leg as the shell rocked like a boat in a storm.

  “We roup with the others,” Humphrey said. “I didn’t see how many messehat was, or how strong they were, but we’re about to have a fight on our hands. They khis was ing, and we didn’t, so expect them to have every advantage.”

  “Isn’t this normally the part where Jason es back to life and does something ridiculous?” Belinda asked.

  They all looked at each other, then waited awkwardly.

  “Okay,” Humphrey said. “It would have been nice. But it looks like—”

  System Alert: Sacred Phoenix

  [System Administrator] assassihe Hegemon has arisen. Beware his wrath.

  Annou

  TL;DR:

  No chapters st week of August and first week of September

  Dragon appearance schedule below

  I'll be taking some time off to attend Dragon at the end of August into the start of September. That's a lot of travel time, to and from Australia, especially my part of it, which is an isnd south of the mainnd. I'll be taking two weeks, which will include a little time to recharge the batteries.

  For those who will be attending Dragon and want to see what I'm up to, here is my event schedule (subject to ge by anisers):

  Wednesday (Pre- event): In versation with Matt Dinniman, author of Dungeon Crawler Carl. There will be signings at the ends, but this is more Matt's event than mine, and will require purchasing one of his new re-releases to attend. https://eagleeyebooks./event/2024-08-28/matt-dinniman-talks-dungeon-crawler-carl-w-shirtaloon

  Friday 2pm: Book signing session at the Aethon booth (booth 3502).

  Saturday 10am and 2:30pm: Panels, both at the Embassy CD Hyatt Sunday 7pm: litRPG event at the Iional North-South Hyatt

  Sunday 7pm: litRPG event, Iional North-South Hyatt

  Monday 1pm: Panel, Embassy CD Hyatt