Dark Matter Ascension

Deckard's escape pod slammed into a high rise building with a crunch. He was uninjured, but saw the guts and viscera of someone unfortunate enough to be in the way. Thousands of notifications appeared in his vision as just as many people – Civilians, Aspirants, Ascendants – all requested that he share his location.

Yes! Get here and protect me! I have to get to The Cosmic Corridor. To my backup world! He extricated himself from the crashed vessel and ran through the shattered apartment, his multi-tentacled body shedding the dress jacket he would normally wear to be more professional. Now, he was reverted to a more base state of being; fleeing towards the hyperway corridor that connected up to most of the high rise buildings to service the upper class.

He was a green sphere of fleshy tendrils that rolled forward, his head constantly rotating in place, as his mass rolled down the stairs and into the access hallway. The whole time, his extremely potent mind was firing off System access overrides, allowing people to access his location which he normally kept quite close to the chest. He saw thousands of notifications of various people en-route, and when he exited the building and got onto the hyperway corridor access path, he was greeted by dozens of vehicles that awaited his leisure.

But those vehicles suddenly and without warning ceased functioning – hovercars falling out of the skies, ones running on treads and wheels coming to a halt, and all of the area around him being shut down and deactivated. Every light around him went dark, and Deckard felt fear grip him as everything electronic was turned off by an enormous EMP.

The few Aspirants and Ascendants that had been able to get to him exploded in fountains of blood and gore as some unseen blade cut them down within fractions of a second. Deckard was riveted, in sheer shock, as he was left alone, a single individual standing inside a sudden sea of red and carved-apart corpses.

Descending from on high he saw a Plorp. A being that he sought the destruction of. Deasyl. "You!" he shouted as she descended from on high, carried by an angel. No, not an angel – an Oslia who had spectral wings of energy carrying her.

"Deckard," she said, raising her hand. "Time to die."

No! Deckard opened up a line of communication to his faction – but was blocked. What?!

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[The Nebula Alliance has voted for a change of leadership.]

[Thank you for your lessons, and I hope that in the future, you choose your business partners more carefully.]

[Tyul.]

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Time seemed to slow down as Deasyl's hand glowed with a bright, neon-green light. Deckard felt three of his five hearts beating rapidly. His mind, capable of billions of calculations in single moments, knew there was only one choice. He pulled up a System screen. Troxanir. I accept the Pact you offered long ago. Help me, and I'll help you. I don't want to die! "Send."

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[I thought you would never ask…]

[Star-eater's Pact (Rank 10).]

Jace watched, allowing Dee to take her revenge instead of securing the killing blow. He should have taken Deckard from his stealthed state, as what he saw in a split-second defied all expectation and filled him with dread.

He saw Dee's blast take shape and surge forth, saw Deckard in the flesh – a pathetic sack of weird green flesh and tendrils – before he was consumed by a purple and black miasma that warped and utterly changed him. Jace saw the same silhouette he had seen around that woman back on Earth when they took down Pheracorp. The same silhouette that he had seen before Brom had possessed that Storm Force Five member's corpse.

He saw Troxanir. And he made eye contact with the dread being – Troxanir's shadow, in that split second, was communicating with Jace via the System.

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[An unknown operative? Fascinating.]

[You have the marks for-]

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The message vanished entirely. Ollie, in his mind, interrupted. He was trying to do a weird type of data request via communication. I shut it down. Help kill this guy!

Jace began to move – but Dee's blast impacted Deckard first, and the blast was reflected – not at Dee, but at Jace. He did not have Void Shield active, and the high-powered blast of acid slammed into him. He let out a scream of pain as it ate through the front of the armor, into his skin, melted his tongue and would have melted his eyes if they weren't prosthetics.

The NICIF in him went into overdrive as Priam's [Contingent] Exarch's Seraphic Soothe activated, healing him fully. His armor was rebuilt by the NICIF in less than a second, and he felt ravenously hungry. Void Blade (Rank 5) [Rending], Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting], Hope's Edge, Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10), Aura of Wrath (Rank 11) [Voidflame Vestment]. He activated the Skills with thought alone, and the grey energy thrummed around him.

Crimson nebula clouds crackled as Ollie pumped out a bit more brain chemicals to fuel his anger and increase his adrenaline response. The crackling energy that lashed out within eleven feet was tinged with a ghostly, spectral grey and wherever it touched, and Void began to slowly eat away as an insidious null-reality flame spread across the varying surfaces.

Deckard's now-Troxanir-shrouded form began to move towards Dee, but Jace intercepted him, de-cloaking to get the attention of the combatant, "Come on you piece of slime shit!"

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Deckard turned to face Jace, and an enormous blast of entropy shot out – hit Jace – and was reflected back onto Troxanir. Deckard's body curled in, and he let out a curse.

Dee shouted, "Demolisher's Devastation (Rank 38)!" Another blast of energy – this time electricity – went arcing into Deckard only to bounce to Jace…and then bounce right back to Deckard thanks to the [Reflecting] on Jace's Void Shield.

Deckard screamed out in rage and Jace felt gravity increase. Dee was forced to her face on the ground, as was a still-exhausted Priam behind Jace. "I'll crush all of you!" Deckard shouted. The platform they were all standing on collapsed, sending the group tumbling down.

Jace reacted instantly, using a Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) and detonating it – removing gravity's influence from all of them. Priam, at the same time, shouted out, "Energy Drain!", and activated his Argent Reservoir as a beam of deep brown light struck Deckard, then turned gold as it returned to Priam.

"You insolent brats! I've lived for millennia!" Deckard let out a scream of anger as he took aim at Priam, and a coruscating beam of black energy pooled in his tendril.

"Arbiter's Anathema!" Jace shouted as Deckard's Skill deactivated. The faction leader whipped around to look at Jace, and the Void Aspirant used his grapple arm to pull Deckard closer and began carving into him. Over and over and over. Two seconds on Hope's Edge.

Deckard's tentacles flailed about, becoming sharpened spikes of sickly, white oozing acid that stabbed down – hitting Jace's Void Shield, and then having the damage reflected. The flickering lines of Aura of Wrath continued to lash out – focusing more heavily on Deckard's form and lighting him up with the [Voidflame Vestment]. That, combined with the damage-over-time of both Void Blade and [Rending] was causing Deckard to rapidly disappear.

"No! I don't want to die!" his voice cracked, and he let out a shriek.

Jace kicked off Deckard – pushing them both in opposite directions. "Now, Dee!"

Dee, who had been holding a Demolisher's Devastation, let loose. The moment before impact, Jace activated Arbiter's Anathema a second time, turning off Deckard's damage reflection.

Dee's blast hit Deckard, and the figure was turned into a floating pile of bubbling goop as Troxanir's shadow floated away, letting out a cackle before vanishing.

Jace used his grapple to pull Dee and Priam to himself, then after they were holding on tightly, he pulled them to a nearby building with a balcony – passing by Deckard's melted corpse. Dee reached out and dusted him.

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[Stardust Acquired: 500]

[Stardust Split: 100]

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Dee let out a slight chuckle, then a giggle, and then a manic laugh as she clutched her sides. "I finally got him! Finally got revenge! Take that! You stupid, weird, slime-ball alien man!"

Jace set them down on the balcony right before Dark Energy Mine deactivated and heaved a sigh of relief. He opened the comms, "Greg? You good up there?"

"I'm flying a spaceship!"

"More like I am flying it," Quinn replied.

"Right, she's piloting," Greg replied sheepishly.

Quinn's voice took over, "We are heading towards The Cosmic Corridor with the vessel. Meet us there – or if you can manage flight, Priam, intercept us midway."

Jace looked up and saw the ship beginning to enter orbit. "Priam? Feel like another flight."

"Yup! Full up from stealing Deckard's energy. Heavenly Smite (Rank 11)." The spectral wings appeared, Jace and Dee held on tight, and Priam lifted off the ground. "I want to get out of here before we have to hurt more Aspirants and Ascendants. No need for extra bloodshed."

I agree, Jace thought.

Dee just kept cackling madly. Only when they had gotten up well into the skies did she calm down, turn to her allies, and sincerely say, "Thank you. His taunting laugh tormented me. I'm so glad he's dead."

Priam angled them to the hole that Greg had bored through the ship, and as the ship slowed entering the deeper atmosphere, Priam expertly maneuvered them inside the ship. "Mission accomplished!"

Jace led the group to the bridge – seeing completely obliterated corridors, doorways, and bulkheads. Greg was sitting at the pilot's seat in a cramped compartment big enough for a pilot alone. "Oh, hey everyone. Dealt with Deckard?"

Dee nodded and clapped her chitinous hands. "Yes! I'm so happy! Thanks for taking out his ship. I kind of wish I could have blown it up."

Greg slapped the board of instruments, earning an angry beep from the dashboard that he looked like he immediately regretted. "Yeah. Anyways. Quinn's taking us in. And then Xera is going to put the starship into TPS and warp us to the apartment the second we hit the portal to the Cosmic Corridor."

Xera's voice came over the comms, "That is correct. Mission accomplished. Well done. We'll be looking at the next tasks soon. For now, rest up, take a bit of time to yourselves, and be ready to answer the call."

Jace clapped his hands onto Priam and Dee's shoulders, "This all turned out relatively well."

Priam nodded, "We didn't have to destroy a whole faction, got the bad guy…oh! Quinn? Are our bounties gone?"

"Yes," Quinn replied with gladness in her voice. "No more bounties. You're in the clear."

The Cosmic Corridor's portal – a relatively small point in space – loomed before them. "I don't think we are going to fit," Greg muttered.

"Just gotta get the tip of the bow into the portal," Quinn replied. A second later, she did just that – the world vanished around Jace and his allies, and they were standing in their apartment building.

Dee clapped and let out a whoop as she jumped into the air. "We did it!"

Troxanir held Deckard's soul in his hands. "Ah, such potential. Your death slows my plans."

Deckard's voice, weak and small, answered back. "You have such power…I felt it. Why not use it now?"

"And risk the wrath of a universe united? Nonsense." Troxanir walked over to the edge of his still-being-built ringworld, looking out into Oblivion. "I am close to my next level in the Astral System. When that happens, I will be able to strike Khrox itself. But even then…why should I? I face no real threats. Flicker is dead – which means that until X finds herself and trains up another Dark Matter Ascendant, I need not fear Dark Energy. And based upon my reports, the next Cosmogenic Merging is a long ways off."

Granted, Troxanir thought, I do not know what it was that was slowly devouring the area and Deckard's form. It was as if the matter ceased to exist entirely – which cannot happen, as it can't be destroyed outright like that.

Deckard sighed, "You could take it all over. But no, mister 'plans that go on to eternity.' Always being a coward, sitting here? You could rule everything if you really exerted yourself."

Troxanir chuckled, "That would open me up to assault from others who seek entry into this feeding ground of a universe. Ah, I shall miss our occasional talks, my old acquaintance and trade partner. But it is time for you to join the rest."

"Wait, what? What's happenin-" Troxanir let Deckard's soul go, and the man who once ran the Nebula Alliance was sucked into Oblivion.

Troxanir chuckled, "Ah. That was fun." He looked to Jericho, who was sitting nearby in his spirit's form. Patiently waiting. "Signer, approach."

Jericho got up and shuffled closer, "Yes, my lord?"

"I have use for you. I have plans underway." Troxanir turned away, pondering.

"My lord?" Jericho asked.

Troxanir looked back to his dead acolyte, "Ah. Never mind. I will be putting you into a corpse. Your second chance at life. But…I will be sending you on a suicide mission."

"If I die…I'll come back here, and then get to join my fellows in paradise?"

"Yes, my dear Signer. You will return to me upon your next death."

Jericho saluted – slamming his palm to his chest, "I die and live to serve!"