The strength of the shields I put around each of the Pachydresti in view was far more than anything I had ever been capable of before. I was almost taken aback at just how much mana I had infused each of these shields with. My pool had gone from nearly full to less than a tenth left nearly instantly. I really hoped this worked, because if it didn’t, I was going to be useless for the rest of the fight.

  In front of me, the Pachydresti seemed briefly confused by my shields, and then turned to look at me as I held my hands up and started to compress them. Now here was the problem. I couldn’t actually hurt them in this way, but I needed them to think I could, so I made sure it went nice and slow. I hoped this wasn’t something known to be impossible, but considering everything I had seen so far, I highly doubted it. The scramble that followed my hand gestures seemed to suggest they also thought it was entirely within my capabilities.

  Immediately, they all turned on each other, attempting to hit the shields with everything they had. Just as I had wanted them to, they thought that if they could destroy the shields fast enough, it might save them from my actions. They had no idea just how incredibly wrong they were. Every attack sent mana back to me. Even better, they couldn’t use their weapons that were able to bypass the shields, as that would just hurt their allies. No, they thought they were stuck needing to use the entirety of their mana reserves to stop what I was doing.

  I poured the mana right back out, keeping the shields reinforced, draining them even more while at the same time healing Connie and Elody as quickly as possible. Elody, seeming to realize just what was going on, turned to her own defenses as well, several new layers of gleaming a shield appeared, coating her body in a substance similar to her swords. An alert from Beta told me the missing three had just appeared from the dust cloud.

  That was exactly what I had been waiting for. I collapsed the shields on the six that I had them around. Several of the Pachydresti managed to hit each other accidentally the moment I dropped it, but they all looked exhausted from the mana drain. It was now for the second part of my insanely dangerous plan.

  As Corey kept the healing up on everyone on our side, and putting new, stronger shields around each of them as well. I quickly opened my mana orb menu and invested twenty-five ranks into Overwhelming Strength. I had finally thought of a use for it. “Elody, Connie, hold onto the tools!” I screamed, telling Beta and Gamma the same thing in a quick chat.

  At the exact same time that I enabled Overwhelming Strength in myself and the tools, I also channeled both my fire and aether orbs together, focusing as hard as I could on a goal. Two things happened in my mind at the same time. One of them was the intended result, the other a total surprise that I had entirely forgotten about. “Atmosphere begone!” the words yelled in my head as the first part of the spell triggered.

  The entire dust cloud vanished, along with all the air that had been there. And since nature abhors a vacuum, the area around us was wracked by an implosion pulling all of the other squad into the center of where the dust cloud had been moments ago. They crashed hard into each other with the force of the pull. My own use of Overwhelming Strength was working to keep me rooted to the ground as I braced against the force. Gamma and Beta, who were under the same effect, managed to hold Elody and Connie.

  Keeping everyone away from the heart of the implosion was important as the second part of my spell triggered. “Ignite the atmosphere into a firestorm!” The words again rang out in my skull, empowered by both my overclocked core and my synergy effect, the area the Pachydresti had been pulled to ignited into a fiery inferno. Immediately, I canceled Overwhelming Strength and Overclock, trying to reserve what little mana I had left in case we needed it. The roar of the firestorm made it impossible to hear anything anyone was saying, not even Connie’s orchestra could be heard over it.

  I let myself risk a moment to read the other notification that had popped into my menu. It was something I rarely got anymore. I had completed a quest.

  It wasn’t that I had no idea what that meant. The description was obvious enough. I had just gained some sort System to alter my own sockets, but it was entirely unexpected. And it also wasn’t something I had time to contemplate at the moment. The fire was finally dying down, and one of them was still standing.

  In the center of the burned and torn-apart ground, the last one looked at us, took several steps forward, stumbled, roared, and then vanished. Apparently, the three of us still being here was enough to make their mind up on whether they wanted to risk death or not. Somehow, against all odds, we had just won. The room faded to black as the experience notification popped into view.

  In what I expected was going to be a constant theme, the further I pushed, that was once again more experience than I had ever gained before. I suspected that was enough to push everyone, or at least the three of us, up to our max levels for our current core grades. I wasn’t sure if those outside the fight would get any or not. Based on the modifier for squad standing, I suspected the answer was no.

  I looked over to Elody and Connie, both of who looked as shocked as I felt. At least they didn’t have to be emperor. Then I started laughing uncontrollably. By the time the door opened, both of them had joined me. As we reentered the waiting room to a round of applause, and odd looks as none of our laughter hadn’t remotely abated.

  It was over. The Empire of Dave was now real. And somehow I had to rule it.

  There were a lot of things that plagued Alex’s mind these days. Not the least of which was her unborn child. Sure, she had always wanted kids someday, but she certainly hadn’t expected it to have happened with a bad breakup followed by a near-world-ending event. And even stranger, the father she remembered best from when she was a kid had come out of nowhere to save her.

  Whatever he had morphed into when they were older was entirely gone. He was the man who had read to her every night. The same man who she had taken her first microwave apart with at the age of five. It felt wrong to be this content considering what was happening in the world, but she liked this new life she was in.

  Sure, she wished her mom could be a little more concerned for her and John, but she could forgive her this time. She had a job to do and a world that needed her, even if Alex didn’t entirely trust her. One day, though, they would have a long talk about a lot of things. She had zero intention of letting her mother put the same kind of pressure on her own future child that she had put on her and her brother.

  Everyone around her was worried, but she wasn’t. Somehow, she just knew her dad would leave that door successful. Not even Rabyn’s appearance shook her faith in the man. He had promised to be there for the birth of his grandchild, and she knew he would be. That thought led her to another strange set of thoughts.

  Why was the moose so interested in her pregnancy? The strangest part of it was that she could swear her kid was more active when he was around, too. It was almost like they were communicating. Maybe it was just a good blessing for a future prince of the empire. She almost giggled at how ludicrous that thought was.

  The door to the Arena opened, interrupting her thoughts. Her dad, Elody and Connie walked out laughing. Had they somehow know her own thoughts a moment ago? Mel started rapidly clapping, quickly joined by everyone else, herself included. She assumed this meant they had won. She hadn’t doubted it for a second.

  Now that this was over, she could work on the real hard part. How did she convince her dad and Elody to go on a date? Actually, she should probably figure out how dating even worked for Elody’s people first.

  It was one of the hardest trips I had ever made in my life, but I was desperate to save her before the poachers found her. I couldn’t believe she was even still alive, let alone that she had found a way to contact me. I would not let Plorf the primal mana beast of the Glass Moon die alone, fleeing for her life from scum. The fact that I managed to find her before the poachers did amazes me to this day. I’ve now secured her in a secret hideaway where no one will hunt her again. The fact that her bones can be used for a special type of weapon is no reason to take her life.

  Mana Beasts, an Endangered Friend by Roril Thorl, Paladin of Conservation Grand Warden of the Order

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  ? The Myth Seekers [A litrpg fantasy adventure] ?

  by Luminous Zephyr

  Sever the strings of gods and kings.

  But no favors come free, and the more he fights for freedom, the tighter the tangle of fate becomes.

  Finally, after forming a team to take on Janek’s Tower, the adventurers set off with high hopes.

  But before even reaching their destination, the team finds they are no longer chasing adventure.

  They are living it.