Ace of Capes [Superhero LitRPG] [Isekai] [Card Crafting]

It took an unknowable amount of time for the V'Sala to traverse the length of the cave. He returned with news of what he'd found, the writings on the walls.

"I have put the lines in the order I assume they're meant to be read in," the V'Sala said.

Upon Lexie's nod, it opened its mouth to recite in a throaty voice:

"A forbidden truth, lost in the abyss

It begins with silence and ends in mist.

It knows all, sees all, walks all the worlds

All at once, then none at all

No door was built, yet one appears,

Drawn by the words of ancient seers.

It does not open, it does not close,

It merely waits and always knows.

Wealth and wisdom are not all it bestows

For untold treasure brings untold woe

Take what you need and go no further

For madness lurks just beyond the other

A watcher waits beyond the veil

No flesh, no blood, just endless tales

The gate must remain without a key.

So none unlock what none should see."

After he was done, Lexie mused on it. The poem mentioned the Other. Did that mean that part of the poem was the key to the Other? Or was the Other on the other side of the heart?

And what was this about the gate not having a key? And a door that didn't open or close? Did that mean she was trapped?

She sighed. She did not like riddles. There was a mild curiosity in her that wanted to figure it all out and learn the true purpose of the dungeon, but right now, her hunger for violence impeded her thinking.

"What does it mean?" Lexie asked the creature.

"I do not know. But that is everything I found in this cave. No other inscription exists." He curled into himself. "I am useful." It sounded more like a question than a statement.

Lexie thought about it. "Give me your hand."

The creature tentatively extended it, and Lexie took it. She activated a tiny flame that burned his palm. The creature screamed and jerked back, cradling its palm in its other hand.

Hm. That didn't soothe the itchiness. It gave her little to no light, no pleasure, which meant that her theory was right. Attacking the V'Sala did not do much for her. It was not a powerful enough creature, and it was not attacking her, so there was no satisfaction to be had.

How disappointing.

"I suppose you may live for now," she told it.

"Thank you. You are ever magnanimous, princess," the V'Sala bowed, and Lexie sighed.

She had to unlock the riddle to advance. It was holding her back. She did not like riddles. But she did enjoy the act of perseverance.

Perhaps she just had to reframe her thinking. This was not a setback. This was a search. A new way of finding satisfaction. Perhaps the search for the truth would help ease the itch. The discovery would be a light. It was not as good as torture and killing, but it would do for now.

Hmm.

A door that did not open or close. But waits, and always knows.

Did that mean that the doorway was a sentient thing? It did not open or close because the entrance simply existed. Waiting. For what?

The words of the seers? But how was she supposed to know what those words were?

"Are you sure you found no other words in here?" Lexie asked.

"Nothing I could translate," The V'Sala said.

Hmm. In that case, were the words the missing key mentioned in the last part of the poem? Did she have to find it to proceed?

"I just realized," Lexie murmured. "There is an easier way to do this."

"There is?"

"Yes." She touched the wall, shoving herself into the minds and memories of the dungeon. Though sluggish, the images trickled into her mind, and she discarded all the ones she wasn't looking for until she found the one that she was. Three men chanting Eldritch-sounding words. She played the videos, listening to the words and forming them in her mouth, until she was sure she could say it properly.

Then she stood.

"Do you have a brother, V'Sala?" she asked. "Or a friend?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because I think we need one more person to complete the ritual, and everyone else is…" She glanced around at the bodies on the floor. "Indisposed."

"Ah." He thought about it. "There are more like me, but I do not think you can call another of me through this card."

"I think you might be right. But perhaps I can make a clone of you."

"You can?"

"Yes. At least for a short time." She called up <Fairest of them All> and <Shut Up and Dance>, reformed a few of the pathways, and pointed at the V'Sala. It ducked and threw one hand over its head as though she were going to burn it again, but all that happened was that the shimmering, prettier mirage of the V'Sala appeared next to it.

"Alright," Lexie said, standing, holding out her hand. "Now we hold hands."

The V'Sala still looked at her with doubt as it tentatively reached out. So did the hologram, but that hand passed right through Lexie's. She pretended to hold it anyway.

She also activated <Music to My Ears>, reciting the words she'd heard in her head. She transmitted the ritual words to the other two and said, "Now let's say it together: Hshlyucy, Yublecth, Fshushhh, Hebtl."

Nothing happened at first. Lexie thought they had said the words wrong, or maybe the dungeon was stricter about hand-holding than she believed, but then something shifted in the dark.

A rectangular plane, like a door, separated itself in the middle of their presence, its particles darker than the darkness that currently surrounded them, with little shimmering dots like stars in the night sky.

"Is that it?" Lexie wondered.

"I believe so," The V'Sala said.

"Good. Hopefully, there are things to torture and kill there," she said as she went towards it, banishing the image of the prettier V'Sala away.

"I hope so, too," the V'Sala said, sounding hungry at the thought. He must not have been fed for some time, either.

Lexie glanced back at the V'Sala and wondered if she should banish it back to its realm now. It gave her a pleading look that was ineffective, although she ultimately decided against it. Having it here didn't cost her that much energy, and its company would help keep the silence and stillness at bay.

She walked through the shimmering door that looked like a galaxy and entered…barren land.

The ground was made of red rock, and there was a mist that covered everything. The sky was somewhere between the color of brick and the color of night.

There was no sun. No moon and no clouds. Which meant that the color was simply the permanent state of being.

Most importantly, Lexie saw no creatures, big or small, surrounding them.

She was immediately angry.

"What is this?" she glared at the V'Sala. "Did you trick me?"

"No," it said with a trembling voice. "I swear. I read exactly as the inscription said. I cannot lie."

"Then why is there nothing here to kill?"

"Perhaps we need to go in deeper. This is only the entrance."

Purgatory. The thought blinked in Lexie's mind. That's right. Someone had told her that each secret level had a purgatory space, that one had to remain in if they wanted to stay safe. Once you leave that space, you would start encountering monsters.

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So she simply needed to delve in deeper.

What a relief. She began walking, her feet crunching the rocks beneath them. They dug into her skin, some of them sharp enough to cut, but she didn't care. Pain was her constant now.

Looking down, she saw that her feet were not quite human anymore. They were mostly human but a little gnarled at the end, toes broken and curved like the talons of a bird.

They were also the same color as her arms, pale with a purplish tint.

She wondered what she looked like. Probably not human anymore.

She wondered what the creatures she would meet would look like.

She kept walking on the hilly ground, covered in mist, encountering more eeriness than anything else. But she thought she was starting to see light at the end of the horizon.

The mist was starting to thin, and the sky was changing color. She was on the right track.

That was where she needed to be, what she needed to do. That was where the creatures were.

She could fly there, but she didn't want to overheat any of her cards yet, in case the creatures she met were stronger than what she'd encountered in that dungeon.

"V'Sala," she called when they'd walked for a while. "I grow bored. Entertain me."

"Of course, princess." He waffled and searched within himself for what he could do. "Would you like a story?"

"What kind of story?"

"It is a story of me and how I came into existence."

"Why would I want a story about that?" she said, but when the V'Sala deflated and the boredom itched at her, she finally said, "Is the story violent?"

"Yes, princess. Very violent."

"Alright. Then you may tell me."

"I was formed from the very violent denaturing of an Anobych, one of the Young Old Ones."

"The Young Old Ones?"

"Yes. They are children of the Old Ones, who are children of the Older Ones, who are children of the Even Older Ones."

"Hm. Are there Even Even Older Ones?"

"Yes, but we do not speak of those."

"I see. What is Anobych?"

"It is a being of powerful malevolence. It haunted the creatures, Fae and non-Fae, and fed off their fear and misery. It was extremely clever and cloaked itself to resemble those it was amongst. It was also able to trick creatures into being the source of their own misery. But it was too powerful, so it was eventually denatured, and I was formed to take its place."

"You were formed? By who?"

He put a yellow fingernail to his chin in thought. "By the ones that form."

That did not clarify much. Lexie assumed that the ones that formed were Eldritch Lords or something of that sort.

"Why would they want you when you are weaker than what they already had?" Lexie wondered.

"I am weak but useful," it said. "I cause many wars. Much pain. Many suffering. I can make anyone cry, beg, and plead for mercy. But I am also more easily controlled. More easily used."

"I see. Were you used in the Orcan war?"

"No. I was used in the Elven War, the Trollish wars, and the Gnomish war."

"I did not know the Gnomes had a war."

"Neither did they." The V'Sala chortled again, and Lexie smiled at the joke even though she wasn't quite sure why she was smiling.

"Where did you come from, princess?" The V'Sala said. "I know you are Naem's spawn, but you are something else. Are you not human?"

"Hmm," Lexie said. Images flashed in her mind, but she discarded them. They were useless to her, and they made her aggravation worse. "I was human. I don't remember much about that."

"I see. Do you want to remember?"

She thought about it. Whenever she thought about what she was as a human, it aggravated her, but she still liked knowing things. "Maybe. Eventually."

The other side of the hill was proving to be a different landscape. It wasn't just the light. There were more signs of life they began to see. Grass. Sounds. Artifacts that looked like ancient ruins were wrecked around them.

As they reached the top of the hill, the V'Sala's head finally snapped to the side. He sniffed the air and pointed in the direction behind a valley and a constellation of large rocks.

"There," he said. "There is something there."

"Big or small," Lexie asked.

The V'Sala thought about it. "Medium."

She frowned. Big would have been better, but beggars couldn't be choosers, so they started in that direction. She began to hear tendrils of conversation the closer she got. It was not in a language she could recognize, so she kept going until the V'Sala snatched her wrist.

She frowned down at the creature as it leaned in and whispered, "Let us not go there."

"Why?"

"They are Fae," he said. "They speak in a Fae language."

"So?"

"Fae are very powerful. More powerful than us."

"More powerful than you perhaps," Lexie said and shrugged the creature off. Her excitement was now growing as she got closer. Finally.

She'd been a little let down when the V'Sala had told her that the creatures she was about to face weren't large, but now that she knew they were powerful, it would feed her light even more.

As she got to the other end of the rock, she spotted them. They were tall, slender, with long white hair. Yes, certainly Fae.

Two of them were adults, and one tinier one was clearly young. The young one was a female. So was one of the adults.

The adult Fae were arguing with each other, while the tiny one looked on. Lexie wasn't sure, but she felt that the young Fae looked scared. She also looked frail.

She would not be entertaining to kill, unfortunately.

The longer Lexie stared, the more the tiny creature reminded her of someone. She didn't know who.

The knowledge nagged at her brain, then screamed at her to remember. There was someone she knew who was also small and often frightened by nothing.

That person hid her face whenever Lexie approached.

Though she had shyly smiled once or twice. She had hugged Lexie once.

A pang twisted something inside her. The itching intensified, and Lexie suppressed whatever was trying to explode from within.

That did not matter right now.

The itch had gotten unbearable. Time to sate it.

"Hello," she called out, interrupting their conversation. They turned to her and gave her looks that she could not read until she activated <Charades Champion>.

Ah. Contempt.

They said something in the Fae language, and Lexie did not understand, so she cocked her head and said, "I do not know what you're saying, but I have come to kill you."

They frowned. Suddenly, the female said in a language Lexie could finally understand. "Are you human or Eldritch?"

"Yes," Lexie answered.

"Leave," the taller, male one said. "I have no time to entertain you. I must find a way out of this cursed place."

"I have come to kill you."

"Yes, you and every other accursed Eldritch here. You all try and you all fail." His tone was mocking to Lexie's ear. "I am Dark Fae, you miserable little thing. Son of Al-Garoth and Jyn-Fa-Roh. They are both powerful generals. I have no time to toy with you. Leave."

Lexie didn't leave. Instead, she activated VOID FLAME and targeted it at him.

He and his companion vaulted out of the way, but Lexie arched the flame to follow them. It grew by explosive proportions, and she spread it on the earth to catch them in its grasp, but the Fae were faster than she was.

In a blur, the male came at her, grabbed her by the neck, and flung her away. She slammed into the rock, and he was on her again, grabbing her head and bashing it back in over and over again.

"I am so tired of you accursed creatures," he said, sounding perfectly concise despite being fae. "Why will you not just leave us alone?"

Finally, Lexie thought with a smile. A fight.

The pain simmered around her broken skull as he released her, and she slumped on the floor. He would have kept going, but <Can't Touch This> swept her away from him, and kept her at least three feet apart even as he zoomed for her.

It gave her time to recover some strength and draw on VOID FLAME as a second skin. Her body was once more protected by a thin forcefield as the black, fiery armor licked hungrily at the shimmering atmosphere.

The Fae's eyes glinted. He paused.

Lexie smiled, activated <Lightfoot> to go after him.

He rolled his eyes as she came at him and disappeared, appearing behind her. He didn't touch her, seemingly knowing that doing so would sacrifice his hand to the void.

The VOID FLAME had already chewed deep into the earth, forming craters in the ground as it chased the Fae.

The female one carried the younger and asked Lexie, "What are you?"

"I am Lexie," she said and launched herself at the male again.

At her approach, he slammed his fist into the ground, and the earth cracked open, a spike breaking off. He sent it at Lexie's chest.

Lexie dodged. Stone surged from the earth, piling around her, trapping her so she couldn't move forward.

She flared her fire to burst it into pieces.

She tried to target him again, but the very earth defied her. It rumbled and hissed, rocks flinging at her. A boulder from behind sprouted arms and grabbed her around the midsection, about to crush her. She surged the flame again, breaking free of the entrapment.

The air around Lexie rippled with heat. <Windbreaker> turned her fire into a whirlpool, ripping across the valley, splitting in two to chase the Fae.

The earth burned away, but the ground underneath Lexie also cracked in two. Deep inside, an arm made of heated earth's core blitzed up and smacked into Lexie, sending her hurtling through the air and slamming into another rock that flew at her from nowhere..

Even on the ground, she kept fighting. She consolidated her fire into a swirling ball, a miniature black sun, and used wind to call everything into its orbit. Smoke and dust mushroomed in the air. The ground shook as the Fae ripped a boulder from the earth, then another, then another, building until it formed something humanoid.

Rock golem.

It charged at her. She tried to void it too, but pain lanced through her skull, and it hit her, smashing her into the round.

The ground fell away, and she was dropped into a sinkhole with jagged teeth that stabbed at her on the way down.

The golem wasn't done. It grabbed her, void and all, holding her. More rocky arms sprouted out of its body like a spider, trapping her flame-covered hands.

She glanced at it, confused as she stared.

She was covered in VOID. It was supposed to eat at whatever touched her.

The VOID was not working.

Or rather it was, but the rock kept building on itself, expanding faster than the VOID could eat.

"There is a limit to the void magic, you know," the Fae male said, as he trapped her other limbs. He then drifted down on a hanging bed of earth and peered at her. "You are strong, but you are woefully inexperienced, young Eldritch. Especially to take down the son of a General of the Dark Fae."

He was right, Lexie grudgingly admitted. He was certainly stronger than she.

So she had to be smarter.

The good thing was that he was underestimating her. He thought she had her in his trap. She would let him think that, even though she had activated <Handy Helper> in her other hand right before the earth covered her palm.

"So," he said. "Where were we? What are you?"

"I am Lexie," she responded.

"That is a strange name for an Eldritch," he said.

"No, it's not," Lexie said, cocking her head in confusion as she activated a card she'd owned but hadn't used in a while–<A Compelling Argument>.

"Yes, it is. And you might not understand this as young as you are, but it's good that you did not kill me."

"Why not?" Lexie asked.

"Because," he said. "I am a very important being on my planet."

"Are you?" Next, she sharpened one of Handy Helper's hands using an invisible void, thinning it into a blade.

"Yes. If you kill me, you will invoke the wrath of my entire family. You and your entire lineage will never know peace. You will be hunted endlessly by the Dark Fae Army, Dark Fae Royalty, Alliance of Light and Dark, some light Fae friends, and all the powers that–"

He didn't get to finish his sentence.

Lexie's invisible handy helper sliced his neck from behind.

As his companion's jaw dropped and a gasp split the air, Lexie closed her eyes and inhaled the aroma of blood and death. She smiled.

Ah. That feels better.