“Bunbun, report!”
For endless, agonizing moments, Eric heard nothing, even as he raced for the heavens once more, the air going bitter cold and thin before he turned back around and dove with a hawk’s fury, the air screaming with the charge of his revenants racing beside him. Working with increasing practice and cohesion, they kept an extremely tight formation to minimize air resistance as their speed increased to near fighter jet speeds.
Eric shot ahead to strike at a Mach II that somehow reverberated on arcane cross-currents powerful enough for his suddenly spread out army, like an umbrella popping open just in time to meet the rain, to blast into seven thousand fresh bugs with the power of half-ton supersonic bullets.
The air rang with the shockwave of absolute destruction. Eric winced and snarled at the fresh jolt of pain rocking his whole body as the air had transformed to crimson paste that actually flashed with sudden fire, so hot and violent the collision had been.
Super Sonic Strike OBLITERATES 7000 Locusts!
1000 Revenants FAIL to survive strike or pull up in time!
1000 Revenants + shattered remains strikes Locust Ocean!
1357 Additional Locusts Slaughtered!
Eric flashed a fierce smile. Eager to embrace his latest enhancement once more.
“Surge Centuria! Rise and shine, motherfuckers! Time to FIGHT!”
You have successfully raised 6400 Sarissophoroi! 6200 successfully pull themselves free of Locust Swarm to fight by your side!
Eric howled with fierce vindication and the sheer exhilaration of a Necromancer in his ultimate element, laughing away the pain and terror and despair he felt, realizing it was EXHILARATION! The RUSH of a challenging workout, the ULTIMATE workout as his bones throbbed with a pain transcending agony as his shell infused with a shocking degree of potency now infusing him from within, even as retributive curses slammed into his shockingly resilient body from unseen foes.
He could taste each of his most recently used skills about to crest another level even as his bestest class kissed ascension yet again. Yet all his focus was on the massive swarm of now 16,000 troops racing up to the clouds by his side, the clouds and beyond, as the air grew thin, air resistance for his troops even less than it had been before, and Eric glared down at the neverending swarm below.
REFUSING to flinch as his bones throbbed.
SHOUTING his defiance as he raced down the steep hill he declared before him, his roaring troops in charge formation once more.
And Eric didn’t cry out even once when he felt a hairline crack across his tibia as he slammed into his target with greater force than he ever had before! His revenants opening up the jaws of oblivion in exquisitely perfect formation! Obliterating no less than 12,000 angrily buzzing locusts that had been frenzied by the death of their own queen and Eric took SAVAGE delight in their obliteration as his mind rang with fresh messages and a shockingly bright flash of pain, his nose erupting in a crimson spray that spattered across a half dozen enemy locusts, each and every one of them erupting in frozen fire.
Super Sonic Strike OBLITERATES 12326 additional Enemy Locusts!
500 Revenants FAIL to survive strike or pull up in time!
500 Revenants + shattered remains strikes Locust Ocean!
742 Additional Locusts Slaughtered!
Charge is now Rank 13!
Congratulations! You are the FIRST Terran to lead a charge obliterating 10,000 Bronze-Tier foes in a single strike!
You have earned the Bronze-Tier Title: Charge of the Prismatic Light Brigade!
You and all those who march, sail, ride, or fly under your banner (including all your revenants!) shall enjoy a 30% damage bonus during and for a full minute after any and every charge that you, your familiar, or one of your Underlords or Champions directs. This boon is ultiplicative with ALL other boons and bonuses!)
You additionally enjoy a permanent 5% bonus to all earned attributes as your star continues to ascend!
NOTE You have achieved this Bronze Tier feat while still a White-Tier contender!
Attribute boon has been doubled!
Eric laughed aloud. How SWEET it was to receive such a glorious boon while obliterating his foes. Yet even as his inner gamer reveled, he was damn certain that he was claiming titles normally only claimed by armies and generals fully embracing the final death throws of a world that had ascended poorly. Failed ascensions that should have taken decades, if not centuries, to fully manifest.
NOTE!
Card of Contention has been put into play!
Sworn testimony from your NEMESIS attests that you, Eric Silver, have already ascended to Gold, and per Imperial Edict, must vacate this galactic quadrant immediately or face SUMMARY EXECUTION!
“I dispute the FUCK out of that bullshit! I’m 49th level, and my character sheet CLEARLY states that my 2nd Tier Core saturation is only at 96%!” He screamed as he plummeted down to the ground.
For only a split second in time did Eric sense his foe’s malicious laughter as he was summarily pulled RIGHT OUT of a world-defining battle by imperial decree, finding himself gazing upon cold-eyed silk-robed judges of multiple humanoid races in a massive courtroom radiating a shocking amount of wealth in the form of spiritual treasures and Silver-Tier hardwoods with a vaulted ceiling that soared to the clouds, his feet upon crimson marble that screamed with the torment of countless souls sentenced to bitter torment by the imperial court.
In desperation, he did what should be impossible for any man to endure, made easier only because he thought and prayed this was simple metaphor as he opened his chest of his own free will. Blood Mastery keeping his blood and organs exactly where they belonged as he showed the court before him his own beating heart.
A desperate act that revealed far too much of himself, earning a sneer from several of the thirteen cold-eyed judges bearing witness, curious looks from others, and the approving smile of a woman garbed in shockingly potent splendor that he recognized all too well.
“Second Core Saturation is indeed at 96%. An anomalous accomplishment in and of itself,” a purple-haired dusky skinned and very human looking judge decreed.
“And clearly indicative of one who dares to plumb the absolute depths of his potential… even if it is indicative of nothing more than an exceedingly impressive but otherwise insignificant White-Tier class advancement,” said none other than Evelyn Death, with the eyes of a huntress and the ripe, sensual body of a young woman in her prime, wearing a silk kimono that screamed of wealth and power sufficient to control an entire fleet of imperial dreadnoughts.
Eric’s battlefield mentor flashed him an enigmatic smile as she sealed up his own chest with a fingernail black with the countless millions of lives she had claimed.
Eric grit his teeth, choking back his scream in a moment that never was.
The lead judge’s face turned stony. “The court accepts Imperial Decree. Sentence has been commuted.”
You have proven yourself VICTORIOUS in the arena of the courts!
As fast as he had been pulled free of his body, Eric was slammed back into the shell of his soul, shrieking with agony that transcended mere words as he desperately strove to master himself while hurtling down to earth.
You have gained 1 Additional Vitality Point as you push your body against the backlash of impossibly warped skills and the curses of a creature that you REFUSE to consider your father!
“Surge Centuria! Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of WAR!” Eric howled, REVELING in the sheer delicious potency of countless Bronze-Tier kills upon a battlefield so saturated with life-force that he had never felt so vital, so ALIVE as he did in that terrible moment, lost in the storm of blood and battle, no matter how fragile a wisp of reality he might be in the eyes of the true jaded powers of this reality, snarling as he sprayed the air with blood that erupted against any foe it touched.
You have successfully raised 6400 Sarissophoroi! All 6400 successfully pull themselves free of Locust Swarm to fight by your side!
Spirit Mastery is now Rank 38!
Rituals of Summoning and Binding is now Rank 35!
Flesh Sculptor is now Rank 32!
Blood Mastery is now Rank 35 as your blood REFUSES to Exsanguinate and your bones REFUSE to blacken, no matter how bitter your enemy’s curses!
NOTE! Unified Restoration has been successfully CONFOUNDED!
Natural regeneration has been successfully HINDERED!
Good thing you have Level 30+ Necromantic skills and Adept Rank Vampiric Bloodfire strike to reclaim what you have lost!
23,800 Revenants now fight by your side!
And none of that could explain the awful feeling of pressure building up inside his head.
Congratulations! You have achieved Level 45 as a Master Necromancer!
2nd Tier Core Saturation is now 97%
You dare to transcend the Domain of Dragons with your ascension!
Will you blaze like the Phoenix in truth, or will the weakened wax of a broken will doom you to fall into oblivion, consumed by your foes? DARE you strive for a PRISTINE 2nd Tier Core Saturation, Eric REDACTED Silver?
- CONCEPTIO IS EAGER FOR FRESH GOLD-TIER DATA! -
“Now I get it,” Eric said, laughing bitterly as the air lit up with a massive bar of crimson fire, lashing out to cleave through Bronze-Tier carapaces that erupted like pressure-cookers filled with boiling blood, and so thick the air was with potency, so shockingly thick, that Eric didn’t feel the strain at all, even when he snarled and committed a full 600 Strength and Quickness to fuel the cleaving arcs of the massive fucking bar of fire that was twelve times as hot, long, and bright as its baseline awesomeness. He had no problem at all weaving a path of destruction as it blazed and erupted through the swarming cloud of bugs daring to hinder Eric’s renewed race for the heavens, smiling grimly as his now 24 thousand troops carved a second path through their foes on their ascent, even if now they were behaving far more like a Macedonian phalanx filled with inhumanly strong bronze golems than, say, 24,000 supersonic missiles.
And Eric, weaving and darting past the furious pincers and forelimbs of his foes even with what was now a temporary 660 Quickness, was leading the charge with his bar of crimson fire.
Bloodfire Strike successfully Decapitates your foe!
Bloodfire Strike successfully cleaves 10 additional foes in twain!
Congratulations! Bloodfire Strike is now Rank 23!
You are the third person to directly slay ten targets with a single melee strike upon the face of Terra!
Note! Reaver I title and benefits already claimed!
Congratulations! You are the FIRST Terran to slay ten BRONZE TIER foes in a single strike!
You have earned the Bronze-Tier Title: Greater REAVER!
All class feats OR Cultivation abilities channeled by MELEE Attacks (Even mile-long force-blades of Dreadnaught-Destroying Ice Fire!) Shall enjoy a PERMANENT 30% Damage Bonus multiplicative with ALL other boons!)
You additionally enjoy a permanent 5% bonus to all earned attributes as your star continues to ascend!
NOTE You have achieved this Bronze Tier feat while still a White-Tier contender!
Attribute boon has been doubled!
Eric’s eyes bulged with awe and wonder and just a bit of confusion. Hadn’t he once lashed out with a Fire Fist so shockingly potent that… no, wait, Wormy had been one singular Titan, and the terror birds he had smashed in a group… had it been ten at once? Did it matter if the punch had been infused with essence at the time? And those foes hadn’t been Fully Bronze... had they? Because these locusts had already transcended past Half-step, since the moment they had broken into New Arcadia, evolving through the foul corruption of another. But who the fuck cared!
Eric laughed with exultation as he tore through the air. All that mattered was that he was now stronger, deadlier, and more capable than he had ever been before! To receive such unexpected boons back to back, two Bronze-tier titles he hadn’t even known were a thing or to strive for… a glorious spoil-of-war in the midst of world-ending peril, was a gift and a rush like no—
NOTE!
MULTIPLE Bronze Tier cards of disruption have been put into play!
Your boon is being CONTESTED!
And just like that, he could sense twisted strands of Malice trying to wrest his wondrous boon free… the cardholder somehow trying to claim Eric’s gifts… and a portion of his soul, for its corrupted self.
“The child is but the property of the sire!” Screamed a decrepit voice in a shattered, dying moon.
Eric’s eyes flared with superluminal wrath. First, the bastard had tried to get him exiled and killed, now he was trying to rob him blind!
His roar of outrage was the cry of the phoenix, countless locusts erupting in obliterating flame before falling from the sky.
Contest of POWERS in Effect.
ASCENDING PHOENIX BESTS BRONZE TIER CARDS OF FOLLY!
CONGRATULATIONS upon claiming a sliver of the Eternal Phoenix’s obliterating power as your own, Contender!
Now save your world... or die trying.
Eric howled as he ascended to the heavens once more, every cut healed, every aching bone soothed as he spread his blazing wings—directed his eternal legion—and crashed down from the heavens with a fearsome cry that shook the world below.
Only now… his speed had transcended Mach II. Perhaps because he was no longer holding back an iota of his power. Perhaps because he no longer felt like he was sprinting at impossible speeds. In that moment, it felt like he was soaring from the heavens upon wings of transcendent flame.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
And when he struck… the world exploded in fire.
***
“What the fuck!” Yuki cursed when she found herself slammed into her fellow students, inhuman stats alone allowing her to cushion her fall such that her poor battered peers weren’t further injured by her.
Her desperate eyes then turned to the glaring headmaster and the weakly grimacing Elonia.
“My queen!”
“It’s alright, Yuki. My brother… I mean, Ernest is just doing what needs to be done.”
Yuki flushed in shared embarrassment, bowing her head as the headmaster cursed about headstrong fools, knowing better than to say another word. Praying that no one else would notice Elonia’s utterly human and understandable and perilous slip of the tongue.
The darkened globe of force filled with startled shrieks and cries.
“What the hell happened?” Jack asked, somehow holding a shrieking Senren, soothing her like one would a frightened child, gently holding her and patting her back.
Richard frowned. “My Qi Perception picked up a massive flash of fiery heat. It could have been a supersonic impact like we’ve felt before or… something else.”
The clearly noble youth who had seemed so knowledgeable before flashed a bleak smile. “Something else indeed. The rays of blazing light slipping through our dutiful guardians, all two thousand of them, makes that clear enough.”
Yuki took a shuddering breath, so hating feeling trapped in here, both desperate to fight and hating feeling so dependent on another while at the same time so damned grateful to be here, safe and secure while an apocalyptic battle happened such a short distance away, and finding way too much comfort in the way Richard’s hand slipped into her own as he smiled into her worried gaze.
“You okay?”
Yuki swallowed, softly whispering what her monstrous Perception had allowed her to overhear. “Headmaster Wyrmwood wants us to pull back. He can’t… he can’t take another blast like that, even with the revenants mitigating so much of that last shockwave.”
She took a shuddering breath. “And Elonia...” She caught a fresh glimpse of her queen’s wan features, looking so close to collapse. “I don’t think she can hold the Doomtwisters much longer.”
Richard’s hopeful expression fell. “That… would be bad.”
“No shit.”
Their eyes locked. Yuki blushed when their gasp was mutual and it seemed as if fate itself was filling her vision with this beautiful exotic dreamer of a Contender who was filled with unexpected wisdom and as clueless as a freshman and his lips when they touched her own…
Lit her up like fire.
She gasped when Richard abruptly broke what yes, she would definitely call a kiss and spun around, eyes wide with the look of a man spotting a too perilous cliffhanger, moving far faster than the exhausted bedraggled Paladins with only a fraction of his Quickness, just fast enough to catch Elonia as she slumped over and groaned.
“Elonia! Your Grace! Please! You have to stay strong. We’re counting on you!”
***
Eric came to with a wheeze, surprised to find himself crumpled on the charnel house that the ground had become, realizing that he was surrounded by no less than his entire army in a massive globe of sarissa-wielding death, his revenants impaling and slaughtering every scurrying locust that got too close, like a stubborn rock refusing to budge as the waves crashed against it.
Yet still, even as his bones ached just as badly as they had the one time his mother had wiped out during a high speed chase with parties they were never to speak of ever, in a night that had officially never happened, even if he had been silently allowed two full weeks of swimming and sauna therapy as his only exercise while streaming as much as he liked, he couldn’t help but tilt his head and laugh at the heavens, gazing upon the beautiful star-filled sky.
Because there had been a method to his madness, even if he had unquestionably played the absolute fool.
Because even if Malificent, with his endless convoluted schemes within schemes all but assuring that his victim’s very wrath would be used against them, even if they managed to survive every one of his consecutive spiraling traps… even if Eric HAD played the fool hitting Mach 2.5 WITH his legions crashing into their targets by his side… all 23,800 of them…
Even if that resultant megaton equivalent yield bomb of concussive force SHOULD have killed him, and his present ringing ears, cracked bones, and utter disorientation made it clear that even his Dense Neurons and 320 Physical Resistance STILL had limits. Even boosted by all his skills and perks, that final concussive blast as he and all his soldiers RAMMED THE FUCK out of the heart of that swarming mass of death had resulted in a shockwave that had blown every single last goddamned wing off the whole FUCKING ARMY of swarming locusts.
Even those on the ground. The only weak point to bodies otherwise as sturdy and compact as miniature tanks.
You have saved versus Catastrophic Injury!
NOTE. You are now suffering a GREATER BANE CURSE!
Unified Restoration AND baseline regeneration are presently CRIPPLED!
You are suffering from the BRITTLE BONES CURSE!
Your bones are now as fragile as glass! (Relative to those with an absolutely absurd 963 Vitality and 320 Physical Resistance!) Further Mach II Charges are NOT Recommended!
Eric choked back a furious scream. Sensing the laughter of his enemy even now.
Now, that he could finally see the starry night sky, filled with a glimmer of hope.
Now, that his enemies had been CRIPPLED and could no longer flood the land or slip past his sister’s Doomtwisters with their shattered wings!
Now that he sensed that his targets were increasingly clustered here, between the boundaries of an already devoured Black-Tier region and the most bountiful territory on the face of the planet… here and now, he had FINALLY struck a blow that would cripple his enemy’s progression, if and only if he could seize the Vor and master the initiative and the field of battle.
Only problem was, his enemy had done the same.
An enemy who probably hoped that Eric WAS stupid enough to attempt a Greater Abjuration to dispel the conjoined curses… which risked him dispelling his own army.
Fuck if he would do that.
Eric’s lips curled in a fierce, hungry smile, even as every joint and bone ached, his muscles as well, whatever the curse said. Because at the end of the day, nearly 24,000 Bronze-Tier spearmen were marching at his command! And within a couple minutes, he’d fucking double that number.
You and your forces have fatally struck 22,476 locusts!
You have lost 1234 Revenants to dual impacts!
Supersonic missiles in the form of fallen Revenants have obliterated an additional 2264 flightless locusts!
2nd Tier Core Saturation is NOW AT 98% - LEGENDARY!!
Eric laughed aloud even as his head throbbed like it was caught in a steel vice and he had to endure. Because he would NOT buckle down, he would NOT surrender one iota of what it meant to be WORTHY of the fires he could almost feel blazing in his heart once more.
Because now, now like never before, he’d be putting a certain perk to use. Because the battle might not be over… might not be over for a long, LONG fucking time. But there were enemy soldiers on the ground by the thousands… by the TENS of thousands! And they had fallen by his own hand. Him and his revenants both.
“Time to push a certain Perk to the absolute fucking limit, boys! If it could bring back cannon fodder in the middle of a high-pitched battle, sure as fuck, it will bring back super sonic missile splatter and we won’t STOP until every last fucker is FIGHTING BY OUR SIDE!”
“Form up, Sarissophoroi!” He roared and he shook off agony and lit the night sky with a blazing bar of crimson fire, eager to crash into his endlessly swarming foe… with his crimson orb shrieking about his head and 24,000 spearmen at his back. Five rows deep, nearly 5,000 men long. Macedonian kings might have preferred thrice that number, but his revenants were 140+ level monsters and they wouldn’t be alone for long.
Bloodfire Strike successfully bisects 7 Bronze Locusts!
Bloodfire Strike successfully impales 5 Bronze Locusts!
You have avoided Frenzied Assault!
You have weaved past Crushing Limbs!
“Surge Centuria! Imperator, Imperat, Tibi!” Eric roared, his voice reverberating from massive basalt chasms a universe away. His voice didn’t die with the echoes of an uncertain Aspirant. Rather, they seemed to grow in volume and potency as hundreds of shattered carapaces began to twitch and shudder in the midst of the countless seething hoard.
Twitch and shudder and reforge themselves anew.
Yet the ravenous locusts were hardly still. Creatures that hadn’t eaten in far too long, pinned between a corroding Black Tier and a barrier of wind constantly pushing them back and denying them the sweet luscious fruits of a virgin farming mecca meant that they were starving. Those that weren’t fighting eagerly began devouring hundreds of corpses, even Eric’s revenants before they could fully form, managing to mangle and tear rune-enhanced armor worthy of any half-step Bronze in their frenzy.
Yet for every hundred they consumed… thousands successfully sprung from the soil like a harvest of spears and furious retribution, the deadly wave of sarissa plunging deep into countless Bronze-Tier bugs before being savagely torn free by the front row of revenants that raced to the back of their formation in time for the next row to plunge their 25 foot long killing spears into their foes.
One row after another pierced their targets as the endless waves of locusts swarmed over Eric’s entire army…
Yet his army only grew.
“Surge Centuria! RISE, motherfuckers! Time to fight. Time to kill!”
24,000 Revenants became 36,800 and then 49,600 as Eric ascended another Necromancer level, slammed his perk point into Undead Legion 8 and howled with the sweet rush of SO MANY Bronze-Tier abominations returning to his eternal service as gloriously potent Level 146 Revenants… soon to be Level 147 as Eric shuddered with the sweet rush of skull cracking POWER flooding his core and his soul and leaving him fit to BURST!
Yet he didn’t stop, with his Mana Pool of 7055 and a Mana Recovery that was nothing short of absurd. Within ten minutes… he could refill it completely.
His lips stretched in a feral grin as he gazed upon the sea of locusts, so many tens of thousand had already fallen. And so MANY of those poor corpses had already been picked clean.
The question was, how many could he bring back in full?
He roared with furious laughter as he lashed out with his bleeding blade to TEAR THROUGH his foes even as he strove to answer the question that would make all the difference as the entire army of chaotically swarming locusts shuddered as a massive whole, slowly rising up in a mountain of ravenous death, as if eager to crash down right ON TOP of him!
“Go for it, motherfuckers!” Eric roared, taking to the skies as his men raced in perfect lockstep, going ten, twenty, then a hundred feet off the ground as the flood of locusts broke, crashing over the world, it seemed, but not before Eric belted out the words thrice more.
“Surge Centuria! Imperator Imperat Tibi!”
“Surge Centuria! Imperator Imperat Tibi!”
“Surge Centuria! RISE, YOU LAZY BASTARDS! THIS IS WAR!”
Eric howled with ecstasy that shuddered upon the cusp of agony, feeling spiritual wings begin to lift free of his cracking body before he FORCED his SOUL TO BE STILL!
He spat blood with a wheeze, pissed as fuck that he was being hindered by multiple curses as his drops blazed and sparked before hitting the swarming mass below in explosions of frozen fire, making dozens of blazing locust statues even as his mind screamed with fresh messages while he choked back an agonized scream, his head a heartbeat from bursting, bones cracking under the forced spasms of a body desperate to ascend before its time.
You have personally slaughtered an additional 57 Bronze-Tier locusts with Bloodfire Strike!
Bloodfire Strike is now Rank 24!
Swordmanship is now Rank 37!
You have Successfully RAISED 38,400 additional Revenants to your Eternal Service!
You now control 88,000 148th Level Revenants!
Master Necromancer is now Level 47!
Master Necromancer is now Level 48!
2nd Tier Core Saturation is now 99%
YOU HAVE SAVED VERSUS FORCED SOUL ASCENSION!
You have chosen the Perk: Crimson Orb Tier 3! - Soul Orb potency now reduces the cost of ALL soul-point using feats INCLUDING Transcendent Higher Order attacks to 1/4th Standard cost!
Eric flashed a fierce smile as he laughed like a madman at the futilely crashing wave of hundreds of thousands of wingless fuckers below. He might no longer be doing Mach II Supersonic Missile runs… but NOTHING says he had to fight at their level.
He then shivered, eyes twinkling with excited glee, flashes of his favorite Self-Tuber, Schola-Battalia popping up crystal clear upon his minds eye. His lips curled in a grin, recalling in that moment so many lessons about cavalry, and all the ways a superior mobile force could take advantage of their enemies. Not simply with a push of spears or a direct charge… but by hit and run tactics. A true charge of light cavalry that avoided head on collisions but instead rushed past foes while peppering their enemies with sword slashes or spear thrusts that would be allowed to penetrate sufficient to kill even as the riders then leaned forward and relaxed and rolled their shoulders, such that instead of suffering broken wrists and wrenched limbs, the shock and force would transfer from coordinated rider to the fool spinning on his own horse, organs blended as the blade tore free behind him, the leather strap securing cavalry saber or javelin on the wrist helping to yank free the weapon just as the light cavalry rode off, before readying themselves for a consecutive charge, no lance smashing/shield bashing needed at all.
Eric then glanced at his 88,000 FUCKING EPIC SARISSOPHOROI and the endless fucking ocean of massive near indestructible bugs now marching under him, SWARMING under him… bugs that, thanks to his 3-D playing field, would always be in perfect range for devastating ENDLESS hit and run tactics by his men.
Thanks to Mixed Unit Tactics, his flashes of insight and admittedly untested ideas were understood by his entire army in the blink of an eye.
“You boys ready?” Eric said with the same excited tingle as when he designed a new hybrid build that he just KNEW would clean up in Exile’s Path… even if it never did. It still got him laughs and growing view counts… and none of that mattered for shit, now.
His manic grin turned to an anxious grimace as he glared down at the endless fucking SWARM of locusts that went on for literal miles.
“Fuck...fuck fuck fuck we are so dead, but we are doing this!” He screamed his own defiance, and began racing down to the prey below… one hundred feet became fifty feet and then racing at a good test run of a hundred miles per hour at ten feet over the swarming endless sea of bugs.
Heart pounding, he swallowed, his entire army spread out half a mile, twenty men deep. And nothing but a sea of bugs under them.
“Okay men! Prepare to brace and lower your spears on three… two…
Congratulations! Your Sarissophoroi have successfully IMPALED 63,000 Locusts!
47,000 Locusts have perished!
Your entire army has CRASHED INTO YOUR FOES!
Locusts are OVERWHELMING your Sarissophoroi!
“Pull out your short swords! Cut yourselves free! Disengage! Disengage!” Eric roared but certainly didn’t scream as he raced for altitude, over half of his revenants pulling free…
Even as 40,000 were swarmed by their foes.
Fighting damn hard, but swarmed nonetheless, their formation broken, their enemies giving them no time to reform.
Eric’s eyes blazed with heat, ears still ringing, knowing he was suffering some serious damage, still hearing the mockery of his FUCKING ASSHOLE SHITHEAD MONKEY of a foe who he refused to think of as anything but his nemesis that he would see ROT IN HELL!
As he ordered his phalanx in a porcupine formation exactly five men deep, slamming down in a giant sphere around the heart of the conflict where his disorganized men battled for supremacy and survival, Eric screaming out the words even as he risked his entire force being overwhelmed.
“Surge Centuria! Rise, Assholes! Rise and FIGHT til the final days!”
“Surge Centuria! Headaches are Bullshit! You RISE and you FIGHT and you do it NOW!”
“Surge Centuria!” Eric wheezed and hacked blood, relying on Infravision alone as his eyes ruptured right out of his head. “Imperator, Imperat, Tibi!”
He screamed the last, clenching his arms tight to his cracking ribs as wings of fire and blood sought to break free one final time as a fresh contingent of 38,400 Revenants rose from the crimson battlefields and raced fifteen feet straight up, before jabbing their sarissa with furious abandon down at the revenants daring to strike at their eternal brethren.
Then Eric saw nothing but pristine blinding white light, even with his Infravision, his mind screaming with notifications that almost spelled his end.
You have achieved Level 49 as a Master Necromancer!
You have achieved Level 50 as a Master Necromancer!
You have SUCCESSFULLY saved versus FORCED ASCENSION!
You have achieve 100% 2nd Tier Core Saturation!
You have achieved the Class Evolution: PRISTINE PHOENIX! (no pod needed for you!)
PRISTINE PHOENIX allows for ascension to Gold WITHOUT sacrificing the world of your Birth!
NOTE! Gold Advancement will be LIMITED to LESSER GOLD STATUS (Rank 20 or below)
This Limit can potentially be raised via fortuitous encounters or FURTHER Core Saturation at future benchmarks!
(NOTE! There is an increasing likelihood of Self-Immolation (Forced Ascension) as you push yourself beyond 90% with all future evolutions!)
NOTE! Should you ultimately choose to CONSUME your home world after ascending the ranks of Basic, Bronze, and Silver as per standard (and not a single midsummer night’s dream of Gold Ascension by your mother’s side!!) You have the capacity to achieve HALF-STEP PLATINUM!
Your Silver-Tier Boon for this incredible feat has ALREADY been selected!
The eternal echo of your struggle AND transcendence has been FULLY recorded by your GOOD friend Conceptio! ALL your future progeny and (unknown) generations of descendants that follow will be eligible for the same evolutions and enhancements that you yourself have earned!
Eric shuddered with the sheer rush of awe and wonder he felt, feeling his very soul elevate itself in ways that would have had him singing praise to the heavens and laughing for sheer joy… had the night been anything other than an apocalyptic world ending event.
As it was, he only managed a pair of shuddering breaths as the awful tight binding pressure abruptly lifted with his entire body tingling with a grace and freedom and sheer wondrous POWER that he hadn’t even realize had been spiritually constrained until that very moment.
Yet before he could even gaze down at the slaughter below… before he could even register his sister’s distant scream… his mind flashed with one final boon… and he was beyond grateful that he was receiving it now, not minutes ago, when the sudden pressure surge might have proven his end.
CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE THE FIRST CONTENDER TO RAISE OVER 100,000 BRONZE-TIER REVENANTS TO FIGHT IN YOUR ETERNAL ARMY!
You have earned the BRONZE Title: LORD OF THE DEAD III!
You may now raise QUADRUPLE the number of Underlords and Revenants that you otherwise would be able to!
You have earned this Title as a White-Tier Contender! You additionally enjoy a permanent 10% bonus to all earned attributes!
NO foe dares to contest your boon!
