Dark Matter Ascension

Dee was confident, but nervous. She trusted that Deckard's greed would overshadow any common sense he had. Even knowing that she was subjected to a lot of her allies' Skills did not bring her comfort. She felt an odd calmness in the core of her being. A sense of…finality.

I'm not going to die here, she thought. This is my chance for revenge. I get in, blow him up, and then take all his stuff. And I blow up anyone else who gets in the way.

She was getting looks as she walked. The native species to this world, the Teris, were looking at her with curiosity. They were all marked as Civilians, but as she kept walking, she spotted other species with Cosmic and Ascended Power symbols. She was walking into what felt like a trap. But she was not accosted until she was about a mile out from the building.

A group of Signers for the Nebula Alliance approached her. They were heavily armed, wearing all types of powered, heavy armor and wielding all manner of weapons both melee and ranged. "You're wanted. Dead or alive."

Dee nodded, "I know. I have something Deckard Stonewall wants."

"And what's stopping us from killing you and taking-" the one speaking was cut off – literally – as his head was lopped from his shoulders before both it and the body were turned into glittering Stardust. A split-second passed, and before Dee had really processed what happened, the whole group had been slain and the corpses instantly dusted.

"I've got you," Jace's voice said over the comms. "And myself a good three-hundred Stardust. Just keep going – we'll flank you."

"Thanks," Dee replied. She kept walking, and thankfully none approached her. Getting to the tower, she made sure to stand in front of the main entrance, right under the camera, and held the Godheart up. A few robotic guards were standing in the front of the building, but did not take any action. "I've got something you want, Deckard!" she shouted out.

Standing there, holding the Godheart, she felt her goop quivering in anticipation at her revenge. And a message popped into her vision – well, a message request from Deckard.

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[Ah, the Plorp returns.]

[Deasyl, if I recall correctly – which I always do.]

[What do you have there?]

[A Godheart? I have dozens of those.]

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She kept speaking aloud, knowing that he could hear her through the camera's integrated audio. "It is from Poltor Six – a rogue planet. This was the last deity of that world."

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[Interesting.]

[What do you want for it?]

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"A meeting! You and me, face to face."

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[Ha!]

[No.]

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Dee felt terror seize her as the robotic sentries turned on her faster than she could ever react, and she instinctively went to cover her body – but the barrage of lasers, plasma, and radiation that washed over her did nothing. She did hear Greg grunt a little bit over the Comms, and then heard him mutter, "Bulwark's Defenses (Rank 20)," before hearing a sigh of relief.

Dee grinned and went to hold up her hand and blast the robots – but an enormous wave of magnetism pulled all the robotic sentries into a single place and crushed them into a giant ball. "I got you!" Priam said.

"Thanks, you guys," Dee said. "I'm going in."

"We can't follow you in and remain undetected. You want one of us to come?" Jace asked.

Dee nodded, "Can…Priam, you want to come? Keep me safe?"

Priam appeared and nodded, "I'm with you."

Greg appeared a second later. "I'll hold off any reinforcements that come here." He was holding an assault rifle that he must have pulled from his Venture Pack while invisible.

Jace's voice came over the comms, "I'm going to the roof to make sure there's no escape by flight, and I'm going to work my way down to cut off any routes of escape. Go get him."

Dee handed the Godheart back to Priam, "Thanks, but the ploy didn't work."

Priam shrugged as he put it in his pack, "All good. Let's go and get rid of the big bad guy!"

Greg glanced up at where the still-invisible Jace was ascending the tower. Yeah, leave me in the front entrance, he thought. Right when all the reinforcements are going to start swarming over. He took stock of his ammunition as an alarm was raised and the entire ten-mile square of the park went on high alert. The statues that they had been walking by, and Greg had thought nothing of, came to life – unfolding from their depictions of predatory creatures to become the equivalent of thirty-foot tall, mechanized armor suits. Just like the ones on Earth that Greg had dealt with before, but these were a lot bigger.

Well, let's try EMP first. Greg pulled out an EMP grenade and threw it. The device was shot out of the air by a blast of a laser glowing bright red. Damnit, he thought. Anything thrown gets intercepted. What about something traveling faster? Fishing around in his Venture Pack as he let the Enduralife Guardian AR dangle by the strap around his shoulders, he pulled out the Bunker-Buster Mk. 3, took aim, and let loose.

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The anti-missile system the things had onboard did its job, and Greg frowned as he saw the rocket disappear in a superheated blast of plasma.

Then, the weapons got into range and began firing on him.

Priam's shield held for a few seconds while Greg pulled out his Sandstalker Bowblade. The superheated plasma did nothing against the Gigastar-powered barrier, and the same went for the arcing electricity thanks to its Pulsar characteristics. He was able to get the bow into position and whispered, "Power Strike (Rank 10), Series of Strikes (Rank 10)." As he pulled back where the string would be, a spike of pure entropy, formed from his access to the Supermassive Ascended Power, coalesced in his grip. Letting loose, the arrow of pure entropy split into ten in mid-air, impacting all of the joints of the leading mech that continued to pelt him with laser fire. The few scattered anti-missile defenses did nothing against the decaying power of the entropic shafts.

He saw Priam's barrier crack at the same time the mech he had shot collapsed – everywhere the arrows had touched turned to dust. Pain started to build in his chest. It was a mild, very mild pain.

Darrin's voice spoke in his mind, you are being subjected to harm from the radiation damage. But now that Priam's barrier has broken, you will suffer wounds from the lasers and plasma.

Greg pulled the string back again and again, suffering the storm of chaos that slammed into him but ultimately did almost nothing. The Class Reset was just what he needed. Now, with such insane damage reduction, and a more focused build, he felt unstoppable. So unstoppable, that he swapped the bow to its dual-blade configuration and ran towards the mechs, intending on getting up close and personal.

Aspirants and Ascendants began to come in from all sides, joining the fray – and Greg activated Aggravating Presence (Rank 10) to stack another fifty percent damage reduction. Letting out a manic laugh of someone who was all but invincible, he poured his Ascended Power into the Sandstalker Bowblade and began to carve away with pure entropy at the mechs.

"Bring it on! I'll take all of you!"

Jace glanced down after reaching the top of the tower and saw that Greg was having a blast. "Ollie, keep an eye on his status for me."

Quinn's Skills are active on him. Given his stamina, energy, and all the defensive abilities affecting him? He is going to be almost impossible to kill for the next…ten minutes.

Jace walked to the doors and dropped the Dark Matter Cloak from himself. The turret sentries sprang to life and began pelting him – but the plasma and lasers all bounced off Priam's barrier harmlessly. And, since Priam's barrier was active, Jace's Void Shield was not costing him any energy.

It's just not fair, Jace thought as he cut through the doors and began his descent into the tower. Priam's barriers because of his Cosmic and Ascended Power are the perfect counter to high-tech places with a reliance on these types of weapons.

Do not forget that they have radiation as well! We can fix it, but cellular destabilization still hurts.

Jace nodded as he encountered four Aspirants who were dressed up in various types of armor. The two most heavily armed – wielding enormous, almost-impossible-to-see vibrating blades slashed at him. Jace parried both blows with ease and scored killing blows in return. The two towards the back held up ranged weapons and began firing – more lasers that Priam's barrier was unaffected by.

Jace walked up and swiftly decapitated both, and Ollie dusted the four a split second later.

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[Stardust Acquired: 400]

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Jace stalked forward and caught sight of a handful of what appeared to be scared office workers who were making their way towards the roof – stopping when they spotted him. "Ollie, any of these one's Deckard?"

No. I will tag him in your vision when he does show up.

Jace stood to the side, "Go on, get out of here." The Civilians trampled past him, and he descended deeper into the complex.

Dee unleashed yet another Demolisher's Devastation; the caustic spray of acid destroying the Ascendant who had begun to manifest a black hole above the two.

"Incoming!" Priam shouted as he tapped her leg and then pointed down the hallway.

Dee looked where he pointed and saw another group approaching – they were covered with all manner of Skills, and she narrowed her gaze. "Demolisher's Devastation (Rank 38) [Beam]!" The entire hallway was scoured clear in an instant, and as she walked forward both her and Priam's Wayfinders dusted the corpses – well, piles of sludge after her assault.

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[Stardust Acquired: 1000]

[Stardust Split: 200]

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Dee ran forward, "Come on! We're almost there!"

Priam was able to keep up, and the two turned down another corridor only to be met with an enormous bang of a massive gauss rifle. The metallic round tore forward and impacted Priam's barrier – instantly shattering it – and the bunny-boy activated his single use of Quinn's [Skip] Evolution to teleport out of the way.

Dee pointed a finger at the finger at the far end of the hall, "Demolisher's Devastation (Rank 38)!" she launched a single blast of the powerful, acidic energy of a Nebula cluster – and it dissipated before reaching the person. "What?" she asked aloud in disbelief as her Skill faded. She tried to use it again – but it fizzled.

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[Your Skill has been locked for ten seconds by a hostile Skill.]

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Another shot rang out, and Dee did what Priam had done – as the shield popped, she was able to use Quinn's [Skip] to get out of the way of the projectile.

"Exarch's Ward (Rank 14) [Multiple-Target]!" Priam shouted. But nothing happened. "Somehow they shut down my Skill!"

Dee saw the armored figure pull the trigger and time seemed to slow down as the gauss rifle round slammed into Priam's torso, sending him careening into the wall behind him as he made an impact crater with the wall. But he sprang up a second later – uninjured, as Greg took the damage.

The man's voice came over the comms, "Damn, you lot get hit with something? I felt a pinch."

Dee ignored him and focused on her options. I can't use my main Skill, she thought. I don't have any other offensive options! She looked at Priam, "Can you do anything?"

Priam raised his hand, "Oh yeah! Heavenly Smite (Rank 1)!" A pair of golden, see-through wings appeared on his back, and he flew up towards the top of the vaulted hallway, swinging his arms forward in little windmills as bolts of divine energy lanced forward. Those got through whatever Cosmic Power negating effect was going on, and the figure holding the enormous weapon was lanced through with the divine bolts. Even though they were not very strong, they did not have any defensive Skills active – a glass cannon like Dee.

Priam landed and Dee rushed over as he dusted the corpse.

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[Stardust Acquired: 250]

[Stardust Split: 50]

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"He must have had a Skill negating thing," Priam stated as he closed his eyes. A few seconds later, the Pulsar Ward appeared around the duo, but he was visibly experiencing energy loss as he was heaving breaths. "See? Temporary."

Dee nodded, "Deckard's chambers are close." She kept jogging forward and came upon a massive double door that was crusted in gold and gemstones along with materials that she was sure were even more valuable but that she had no clue about. Pushing, she found them closed. "Figures," she muttered. "Demolisher's Devastation (Rank 1)." She projected a tiny stream of acid that melted through the doors and gave them a hole to clamber through.

Squeezing her chitinous shell through the space, she stood in the same room she had been betrayed in a few months prior. Deckard's collection room. "Deckard! Get out here and get melted!"

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[Don't you mean "or" get melted?]

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"No!"