Dark Matter Ascension

Jace was stunned for a moment. "You want me to do what?"

"Kill Star Father," Xera replied over the comms.

"He…okay, fill me in."

Xera did so, delaying Jace's warping while they spoke and she got him caught up on everything, concluding with, "We cannot let him leave our universe with what he knows. It is too dangerous. I am already looking through the Star Council's member records, since he was the driving force behind this assassination plot. He dies, someone will need to take over."

"Why not this Mizarion guy? He seems like he actually wants to do the right thing. They locked him up for it."

"Yes. I agree. You will rescue him after Star Father falls. Then we can see if he has the faction-wide political capital to take the reins. He is Tier 5, which is a problem. But, there is nothing we can do about that."

"What about a merger? Get him and Tyul talking to each other. Merge both the Star Council and Nebula Alliance?"

Xera was quiet for a few minutes, "Possible. Tyul did mention that he wanted to turn the Nebula Alliance away from rampant capitalism and try to do some good as well as make money. If not a merger, then perhaps an alliance could be reached. I will facilitate their conversation. In the meantime…"

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[Gift Received: Artifact (Tier Up – Repeating) Boon]

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"What's that do?" Jace asked. "And I thought that only Equipment could be Artifact level rarity?"

"Nope!" Ollie replied. "Well, it used to be that way, but Xera has been cooking this up specially for us!

"Just use it," Xera said.

"Okay…do it, Ollie," Jace ordered.

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[Using Boon: Tier Up - Repeating]

[Attention: All Equipment is raised to your Tier, and when you gain a Tier, it will Tier Up with you.]

[Additionally, any and all new Equipment you bind to your Wayfinder will Tier Up to your current Tier.]

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"Now you do not have to worry about having your Equipment languish behind your Tier," Ollie stated. "It will be highly beneficial. The downside is that you cannot, say, take Equipment of a lower Tier, equip it and bind it through me, and then give it to someone else. It only functions at your Tier while you have it."

"So, I can't take Shhiv's ring, equip it, then give it back to her stronger than before?"

"You got it," Xera replied. "Now – Skill up. You're going to be going right for Star Father. Get to the Cosmic Corridor heading to Solentus – the Star Council headquarters off-Khrox premises…and Star Father's home world. His species is called the Sunborn; one of the first species that began to gain sentience when The Architects were preparing for their journey. Expect him to put up a fight."

"What about his Signers and other people?" Jace asked. "If we are just going for this one guy, I don't want a ton of collateral damage."

"It's a high magitech world – Tier 8. Most of the populace are his same species – they are highly resistant to flames, radiation, solar winds, and other forms of heat and even certain wavelengths along the spectrum of light. But, he does care about his "children" as he calls anyone he views as lesser than him. I would imagine that he is preparing to-" Xera let out a scream of frustration, "Damnit! Fuck! Jace, you are not going to like this, and I hate to try this."

"What?" Jace asked as fear crept down his spine. He'd never heard Xera explode like that.

"He's already using a Skill – traveling at the speed of light to the center of the universe. I am going to do something that I feel like I'm going to regret, but we have no choice. Warping now."

Jace saw the world shift around him, and he was inside of a massive chamber. It was a huge square, with nothing inside. It was completely bare. "Where am I?" he asked.

Ollie tapped his head, "TPS. She is going to-"

"I shrank you down to quark-size. This type of technology has been locked off in our universe, so that no one can bypass The Cosmic Corridor. You're going to exist in two places at once – in this room, and in front of Star Father. You'll be fighting him in space."

"Wait, like I'm in a giant simulation?"

"Sort of," Xera replied. "But any injury your duplicate, for lack of a better term, suffers – you suffer. You will be able to fight him in this way. Ready up your Skills."

Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting], Void Blade (Rank 5) [Rending]. "Ollie, Verge Protocol and get ready to make me angry."

"Roger!" Ollie flew into Jace's head, and the familiar 'slightly full' stuffy head sensation faded after a few seconds. Verge Protocol engaged! Waiting to activate biochemical overrides.

Xera spoke up again, "You will have a weird sense of double-vision, and then you'll be in front of him. Be ready to strike. In three…two…one…now!"

Activate it, Ollie! Jace thought.

Amplifying and distributing! His Wayfinder thought back.

Jace felt himself filled with adrenaline, and his vision began to literally turn red as energy crackled around him. Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Raging Cleave (Rank 10) [Echoing Cleave], Aura of Wrath (Rank 11) [Voidflame Vestment].

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He was floating in space, and a beam of light slammed into him. The light bounced back thanks to the [Reflecting] nature of his Void Shield, and Jace felt a little winded. Star Father's physical form came into being, and the two floated in the void. "Who are you?" he asked with genuine curiosity. "And how'd you get here?"

Ignoring the fact that sound shouldn't travel in space, Jace raised his Guatch Grapple arm and 'tagged' Star Father, a handprint appearing on the man's chest. In the blink of an eye, he was pulled forward and activated Void Brand (Rank 1), marking Star Father. He brought the blade around and unleashed a devastating sweep.

But the man simply held up his forearm, the blade dug in slightly, and the phantom, spectral swing continued to cut into him, catching him off guard and somehow, he gasped despite the vacuum of space. "You dare?" The [Echoing Cleave] went off, and another phantom slash appeared where the first one was, cutting into the man as golden ichor floated into the air around him, fizzling in the vacuum before freezing into perfectly cylindrical shaped droplets.

Jace wrenched his sword free of the man's wrist and dropped it – letting it float in space. He wrapped his arms around the man's chest. I want every single element in existence to obliterate him. Archmage's Admixture!

Reality exploded. Jace felt the torrent of energy rush over him, heard the scream of Star Father's pain, and then he was propelled backward through the void of space.

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[We got you, boss!]

[Integrating your Sliver Arc into your armor.]

[It'll let you hover over surfaces, but since you're in space, you can use it to boost yourself into range!]

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Jace looked forward and saw that Star Father was still relatively uninjured. The slight, grey hue of Void was present on his forearm, as was the crimson nebula from the [Rending] Skill Evolution, but the man was unmarred otherwise. How do I use the Sliver Arc to prop-

As if reading his mind, his legs reoriented themselves and he rushed forward as some hidden propulsion in his armored boots blasted out behind him – he surged forward.

Star Father raised his hand, "Starbeam (Rank 50) [Annihilating]!" the man shouted. Faster than Jace could react, as fast as the speed of light, the beam slammed into Jace and consumed the entire area for thousands of miles around in all directions. But all that damage was reflected thanks to Jace's Skill Evolution – turning back on Star Father who shook it off as he was immune.

But Jace felt tired and had to stop his [Reflecting] on the Shield to conserve energy. Pulling on the reserves inside the Primal Hide, he refilled up to near-full, and got into range to pull himself back with the grapple. Summoning his sword to his grip, he stabbed forward – but Star Father turned into a beam of light and flew through his sword and slammed into Jace. But nothing happened; save for the light coalescing around the outside of his Void Shield.

"What is this?" the voice of the entity said from all around Jace. "What shields you?"

Jace kept silent and instead tried to think of a way to deal damage to the man. I can't fight light. What can I do to get him into a form I can hurt?

Arbiter's Anathema could do it, Ollie replied. But that's one of your uses for the day.

It's worth one charge, Jace thought back. He whispered, "Arbiter's Anathema," and the black mixed with gold energy surged out, grabbed onto the light surrounding him, and compressed it all back into a humanoid shape.

Star Father floated there, seething as his face was full of hatred. "X! It has to be! This is you, coming to stop me yourself!"

Jace heard Xera's voice – coming from the external speaker on his armor – somehow able to talk in the depths of space. "Yes. I'm here to stop you from leaving the universe."

Star Father grinned and raised both of his hands above his head, channeling a huge surge of energy that Jace could barely look at. It grew, and grew, and grew, until he was like a speck of dirt and sand in front of a tsunami.

Jace raised his hand, Void Counter (Rank 10), he thought as he activated the Skill. The entire flaming orb vanished in a blink, and Jace took advantage of Star Father's confused look, knowing that he only had ten seconds until that Skill could be used again. He plunged his sword into Star Father's chest.

The man tried to grab him, but pulled his arms back with a hiss. "Some barrier? Arbiter's Anathema."

Jace was quite confused; but then it dawned on him. One of Star Father's eyes looked very similar to his Anathema Arm. And then realization fully came into his mind. He's got a prosthetic from that Harkonen Secundus place. Jace activated Void Blade (Rank 5) [Rending] on his legs, willing the blades to pop out of the prosthetics, and also activated Steel Gale Stride. The arcing lines of blistering wind manifested for brief moments, cutting into Star Father over and over as Jace pulled his legs up and kicked into the man.

The man let out a groan and headbutted Jace. Jace's helmet began to crack, and he saw the void of space, the incredible chill spreading through him as all of the atmosphere vented. The headbutts kept coming, and Jace tried to reactivate Void Shield, but the Skill didn't respond. Ollie! I need help here!

Quinn's voice came over the comms, "I just got access to your duplicate. Hang tight! Celestial Observer (Rank 1), Coordinator's Critical Gaze (Rank 6), Coordinator's Warning System (Rank 5), Stratagem (Rank 37) [Mobility][Obliteration][Bulwark][Grounded][Resolved][Chaos Strike][Shattered Views][Slip Away][Skip][Time Lock]."

Jace activated Time Lock, seeing his energy bar hold still in place. Star Father kept headbutting him, but nothing happened. How long do I have like this? He asked Ollie in his mind.

Ollie must have sent the message along to Quinn, because she replied over the comms. "Up to fourteen minutes. But you will run out of oxygen before then, and the NICIF can only do so much. Even if they repair the armor, then you can't get new oxygen. Just go all out. Everything you have. Then, Xera can pull you back to a single state of being instead of being in two places at once."

Jace would have nodded if he could, but he was locked in place as Star Father kept headbutting him, trying to break past the time lock. Thanks Qui-

Stratagem vanished from Jace's cracked and shattered HUD as Star Father used another charge of his own Arbiter's Anathema to deactivate the Skill. As he pulled his head back once more to headbutt and shatter Jace's armor further, Jace activated Reaper's Shadowstep, teleporting right behind the celestial foe thanks to the fact that space had a ton of shadows. He wrapped his left arm around Star Father's neck in a chokehold, summoned his sword to his grip, and began stabbing down into the spot between the shoulder and neck – down into the torso, over and over again.

Star Father reached back, grabbed him by the head, and threw him. Jace went tumbling end over end into the void of space, and was able to re-right himself as the world stopped spinning. Star Father had something else prepared, as he pulled back his fist, cocking it for a punch. A shining beacon of white in the darkness of space.

Void Counter (Rank 10), Jace thought. The Skill dissipated, and Star Father let out a scream of rage.

"I'm going to kill you, X!"

Jace felt winded once more, and glancing at his energy bar saw that he was running low. Ollie's voice spoke in his mind, why have you not used Void Beam yet?

Jace began moving back towards Star Father, his newly integrated Sliver Arc enabling him to boost forward in the null gravity. I need to make him suffer. For Greg and all the people he lost.

That is dumb! Just end him! Do not risk yourself for your friend! You are more valuable than his emotions!

Jace couldn't fault that logic, and raised his hand, Void Beam (Rank 3) [Limited Range]. The beam of nothingness cascaded forth and consumed Star Father entirely. And that's that-

There was an explosion of light where Star Father had been floating. And he floated in space once more. "Really? You think you can kill a star that easily?" He raised his arms once more, and the enormous sphere of the artificial sun filled Jace's vision. His armor began to sizzle and pop from the heat.

Void Counter (Rank 10), he thought as the sun extinguished once more. Then, he focused on Star Father, Void Counter (Rank 10), intending to target whatever revival Skill he had used. But nothing happened. Ollie? What's going on? Jace asked.

A one-time use Skill he acquired from a Tier 10 world. Beam him again.

Void Beam (Rank 3) [Limited Range], Jace thought, and the grey-white light flared out once more – but then vanished. What the heck!