Dark Matter Ascension

Jace plummeted down into the mists and detonated his Dark Energy Mine as he saw the tree top canopy approaching. His fall was arrested, and he used his built in Sliver Arc to propel himself towards the trees before letting the anti-gravity effect fade. Landing on the topmost bough, he descended into the lower trees and began traveling. Void Stalker (Rank 1) was active, and his travel was completely unimpeded as he tore through the forest.

Ollie merged with him once more via Verge Protocol, as they did not know if these cultivators could do anything to System constructs given their weird powers.

Blue-outlined creatures were all around, mostly small or insignificant creatures. He coursed past them and got out of the forested region after an hour of traversal. The trees thinned out and he saw a large plains open before him. Not unlike the grasslands he had fought the snake-like Corcelati in. But these grasses were shorter, and he saw the glimmering light of liquid surfaces reflecting the night skies above. And the gently tumbling rocks that floated above the landscape told him all he needed to know. This was the next set of hunting grounds.

"Ollie, area scan," Jace ordered as he drew Nethaldrim. There was a brief pulse of force that pushed against the surrounding grass, and Jace's HUD lit up with the glow of several creatures in the brush. Almost all blue. "I thought this was supposed to be a lake region. These look like puddles."

Keep going, Ollie said. Go further. This is just the start of it.

Being on relatively flat ground compared to the forest, Jace was able to make full use of the integrated Sliver Arc as he tore across the landscape – somewhere between a sprint and a glide. He was moving faster than he ever had before, and the journey was faster than his journey across the trees had been.

The vast lakes spread out before him, and the tumbling rocks had grown in size to the point they were easily the equivalent of an apartment complex; fifty-feet tall at the smallest, and half as wide. Their lazy dance across the skies was juxtaposed by the turbulent waters of the lake below.

Thrashing, orange-outlined shapes churned the waters below. Creatures locked in a seeming endless combat, with flashes of colors permeating the waves. "They're all cultivators, aren't they?" Jace asked.

Leviathans, Ollie replied. They come in different sizes, but they are all akin to Hualong; save they have tough hide, and not scales. Small gripping appendages as well.

Jace nodded, "And I can use Void Skills against them, as long as I leave behind most of the body for the Stardust."

I'd advise it if you want to go in there.

Jace was about to respond when he saw two of the creatures breach the surface, their bodies entwined as they snapped at each other with crackling jaws. The creatures were massive – easily the size of the huge mech Jace had fought on Poltor Six. As big as Hualong was back at the portal to The Cosmic Corridor. They were crackling with green and red energy as arcing blasts cascaded from their opened mouths, teeth directing streams of the potent force onto each other.

Jace regained his wits and began firing off his Skills. "Void Shield (Rank 6), Void Removal (Rank 10), Void Blade (Rank 5) [Rending]." His white-grey barrier popped into place surrounding his form, and the sword blazed with the same light along with a dash of crimson nebula clouds that dripped like viscous, oozing blood. With Void Removal, he hoped to negate any cultivation-based magic Skill.

He dove into the water and was greeted with a chaotic sight. The depths extended down to blackness that his eyes were able to pierce, greeting him with sights of even bigger leviathans engaged in a tumultuous struggle below. The waters looked to be split into different areas depending on the size of the creatures…almost as if they had a hierarchy of organization to the chaos. As he observed further, and the two who had popped out of the water crashed back into it, he saw that it was almost like a tournament style format.

The leviathans were fighting one on one, and when one of them won, they grew a little bit and sought out another foe.

This is a good time to use that Primalist's Command you never use, Ollie stated. Primal Hide's granted Skill, remember?

"I forgot I had it," Jace replied as his words burbled thanks to his gills and the adaptation Jonsar had given him with the Fleshcrafting. "Forces all creatures within range of my Tier or lower to obey a single command for up to an hour…so what, I just activated it and say some words to order them around?"

That seems to be the way to go about it.

Jace activated Primalist's Command and shouted out, "I order you all to deactivate every Skill or cultivation-based magic you are using!" He saw a shockwave travel through the water, rippling out, and the creatures higher up – the smaller ones that were the size of cars – obeyed his command. Their Skills faded, and their conflict became naught but one of raw might.

The larger ones, deeper down, looked up at him and seemed to acknowledge his presence briefly with slight nods before they returned to their carnage. Well, Jace thought as he began using the Sliver Arc integration to propel himself through the water to the non-Skill empowered combatants, I guess I'll take the easy kills.

The orange outline surrounding the ones near the surface with the Skills deactivated shifted to blue. "What gives?" Jace asked as he stopped.

Killing the bigger ones to give room for these smaller ones to grow will be better for the ecosystem.

Jace groaned and looked down at the enormous creatures engaged in combat below him. "Well, they're fighting one on one for some reason."

They may be sentient but not sapient. They could have a hierarchy like some primates, and traditions like what is observed in colonies of certain species of whale.

Jace descended to that deeper level, where the leviathans were the size of semi-trucks, and waited, floating in the water for a challenger. He was not waiting long, as one of the sleek, slender monstrosities swam towards him, opening its mouth as crackling energy arced all along the jawline. It surged forward and snapped its maw over Jace's body – and did nothing against his Void Shield.

Jace stabbed up and into the brain, twisting the blade before he swam backward and out of the mouth. The creature went limp in the water…and then cheated death. Jace let out a sigh as the thing surged with violet energy, growing slightly in size as it shrieked. The leather skin became sharp and serrated, arcing with vibrant purple energy.

And it did not matter in the slightest. Jace stayed perfectly still as the thing unleashed a cascading, blinding arc of bright-purple energy that washed over him and did nothing to his Void Shield. He put the pommel of Nethaldrim onto his palm and shoved forward – sending the weapon flying into that open mouth and ripping into the body before summoning it back. I can't throw it, Jace thought, thanks to the water making arcs not really viable – but I can absolutely push it like a railgun. Too bad my Void Removal isn't working how I envisioned. I wonder why cultivation magic cannot be disabled with it?

Maybe because it is coming from the Soul of the creature? Also, I am not sure why you would not just simply remove all the water from around you with it, like you did when you almost desiccated your partner.

I didn't think of that, Jace thought back. I'll consider it if I actually have any problems down here. For now, no need to burn the energy.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The leviathan surged forward, seeing that its attempt at ranged combat was stymied. Just simply waited, and as it got closer, he stabbed forward. It turned and coiled around him – squeezing down tightly as it dodged the main thrust. But Jace just kicked his legs out – the blades on those active and glowing with the same effect as his sword – and carved into the leviathan's hide.

It finally stilled, the deteriorating effect of Void, the bleeding of [Rending], and the damage inflicted causing it to perish. Jace tapped its corpse with his symbol-marked hand.

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[Stardust Acquired: 3,467]

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"Weird number," Jace muttered.

It is because you cut away the matter itself with the power of Void. The System likes round numbers, but you are making that impossible.

Jace felt a tug on him from below, and glancing down, he saw one of the building-sized leviathans peering up at him. "I guess I qualified for the lower level," he said with a smug grin as he inverted his body and swam down into the depths to meet the monstrous foe. It waited until he was in the same depths as it, and Jace could feel the oppressive pressure that his skin rapidly adjusted to.

The leviathan, just like the one above, opened with a blast of energy that did nothing against Jace's all-negating barrier. The thing almost sneered, with the mouth at the edges of the jaws drawing up ever so slightly. The creature glowed a shimmering green which floated all around it and formed into fractal shapes. A type of shield or barrier.

Jace dashed forward through the waves and stabbed; his [Astral Annihilator] Skill Evolution on his Swordmage Stance causing his blow to pierce the shield and shatter it as he scored a stab onto the thing's eye. It let out a roar that vibrated the waves, and it tried to buck Jace off – but he held firm. His foot-knives dug into the flesh, and he repeatedly thrust his sword into it. A monotonous, tedious job.

The creature arced and cascaded with glimmering powers that boiled the water around them, caused the waves to turn into razor-sharp clusters that tried to slice into Jace, and it even tried to ram him into the side of the lake's rocky wall to dislodge him. But Jace's shield was on a timer, and was unbeatable unless it could deactivate the Skill somehow.

All the while, Jace kept stabbing. The creature stopped moving and then flared once more with life as a shockwave emanated from it – blowing Jace back into the water. The creature became thinner, more streamlined, and wiry or nimble to better fight a smaller foe.

How interesting; this cheat death Skill they have allows them to tailor their…limit break to the foe they are facing.

Jace shook his head, "This is too easy. And I'm bored. Time to desiccate." He held up his hand, "Void Removal (Rank 10)," he stated, willing all water around him to be removed all liquid.

The creature before him had its front half wither into a husk and Jace plummeted down to the bottom of the lake – falling on top of another leviathan that was the size of a skyscraper – shriveling and desiccating that as well before he hit the bottom. "Oh, forgot about that," he stated as he looked up.

The leviathan whose body he had crashed into and bored a hole through pulled the rest of its length away from Jace and turned on him – its battle with its brethren fading. In fact, as Jace looked at the huge, building-sized face of the creature, he saw every leviathan cease its fighting as they all focused on him. "Well, that's not good."

From all directions, beams of coruscating light descended onto Jace and were countered by his Void Shield. He let out a laugh at how invincible he was when he could use his full powers. No longer the weak street folk who was scraping to get by. Not the Dark Matter Aspirant back on Velenar Prime that had to struggle to survive, or the same man when he was on Nihilethelea. Stronger than before on Earth, or Poltor Six.

Jace felt invincible. Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting], Hope's Edge. The barrier around him flared with the white-grey energy once more, and Nethaldrim's edge coalesced with gold and silver light.

All of the beams were reflected upon the attackers, and the entire lake was filled with corpses…corpses that flared back to life a second later as they all cheated death and broke through their limits. With a renewed fury, they repeated their assault – but the result was the same.

A second limit break as death was cheated once again, and the leviathans had learned their lesson. They regarded the invincible foe before them, and stayed put. "My turn," Jace stated. "I want every orange marked leviathan to be pulled into a singularity here in front of me. Archmage's Admixture."

The leviathans marked blue at the highest parts of the lake were unaffected, but the rest were pulled down to Jace as a black dot appeared in front of him. A black hole that dragged the creatures in, screaming and roaring as they were annihilated by the incredible power of the sheer gravitic pull and compression of a singularity. Just like with the zombies on Velenar Prime when that Ascendant had tried to kill Jace, this left a ball of compressed matter at Jace's feet. He reached down and dusted it.

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[Stardust Acquired: 120,000]

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Jace let Void Removal fade as the water surged back in to the space around him. He swam up, and ignored the handful of leviathans that attacked him as they bounced off of his Void Shield. Cresting the surface, he used his grapple line to pull himself to one of the floating rocks. "And just like that, I have twelve levels I can gain." He let out a laugh.

Ollie split from his head, and Jace winced as the headache kicked in. Ollie swam around in place, "That was one of the small lakes."

Jace used Dark Matter Mending (Rank 1) and then looked at the Wayfinder, "What? Small lake?!"

"Yup!" he pointed to the west, and Jace saw even larger cascading boulders, serpentine creatures, and crackling, torrential water. "This was like a pool for kids."

All those distant leviathans were ludicrous in size. The four that were facing off above the waves, their sinuous curves disappearing beneath the waves, were at least as long as the Brooklyn Bridge. Jace shook his head, "Even if I used Void Removal at its max radius, those things would barely be affected unless I was inside them – and that sounds risky." He looked down at the smaller, blue hued ones fighting below him. "I think we should check in with Quinn about her sales. Plus, leveling up."

"What are you thinking?" Ollie asked.

Jace pulled his legs up to his chest, "I want to head back to Hualong and see if this cultivation thing could lead to some type of cheat death Skill for myself. Or maybe that limit break thing that they do."

Xera's voice came over the comms, "That won't work. The Cosmic System overrides this type of magic being integrated properly. One thing I need to fix when I have exterior access post-Troxanir defeat."

"Let's keep future proofing for a fight against Troxanir. What can an Astral Demon do that Void cannot counter?"

Xera's voice was filled with frustration, "I do not know all their capabilities. Damaging the person by injuring the soul directly is the one we know for sure, but you have Voidsoul to counter that. Honestly? Void Blade. Make it even more potent, so that a single nick will cause the Void to spread further and faster. It is the best route to killing Astral Demons quickly."

Jace nodded, "Okay, twelve Ranks of that, then."

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Name: Jace Seren (Aspirant, Tier 8)

Power [Class Level]: Dark Matter [Swordmage <Wrathblade> 100] / Void [Edge 68]

Skill Name (Rank) [Evolutions]: Universal Translation, Environmental Adaptation, Swordmage Stance (Rank 3) [Astral Annihilator], Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding], Dark Energy Mine (Rank 3) [Distant], Cosmic Infusion (Rank 10) [Innervating], Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric], Energy Cost Reduction (Rank 10) [Siphoning], Void Brand (Rank 1), Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Ruination Razor (Rank 3) [Wrecking], Raging Cleave (Rank 10) [Echoing Cleave], Aura of Wrath (Rank 11) [Voidflame Vestment], Void Blade (Rank 17) [Rending], Void Shield (Rank 6) [Reflecting][Wall][Sphere], Void Beam (Rank 3) [Limited Range][Horizon-Splitter][Piercing], Edge's Intuition (Rank 5) [Danger-Sense], Edge of Possibility (Rank 3), Void Counter (Rank 10) [Storing], Void Step (Rank 10) [Burst], Symbol Shift (Rank 1), Void Removal (Rank 10), Voidsoul (Rank 3), Void Stalker (Rank 1) [Group], The Architect's Gate (Rank 1), Arbiter's Anathema (3/day), Hope's Edge (1/day), Steel Gale Stride (1/day), Primalist's Command (1/day), Reaper's Shadowstep (1/day), Archmage's Admixture (1/day)

Stardust: 3,532

Equipment: (Returning / Adaptable) Nethaldrim, (Medium / Snowguard / Burnguard / Repairing) Reaper Armor, (Thrice Judged) Anathema Arm, (Overclocked / Lightfoot) Steelstalker Sabatons, (Terrifying / Sealing) All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes, Primal Hide, (Flexible) Adamantine Skeleton, (Reactive) NICIF, Guatch Grappler, TPSB, survival meals (x100), enhanced canteen, (Restful) Wildercloth tent, Devilsram wool bedroll, Blood-Infused Holy Water (x3)

Boons: None

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Void Blade (Rank 16) - As Rank 15, but the damage over time increases.

Void Blade (Rank 17) - As Rank 16, but the slowing effect increases.

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Jace stood up, "Where to next?"

"Do you want to dust things or harvest them?" Ollie asked.

Jace shrugged, "Honestly, I could go either way. The goal is to get to Tier 10 so I can use the Astral System backdoor Xera set up. What's going to be the fastest?"

Quinn's voice came over the comms, "I have made some sales. And thanks to my amazing Broker Skills…it's a lot of Stardust. I'm sending you your split."

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[Gift Received: 100,000 Stardust]

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"That much went to everyone," Quinn stated. "Since we need to all be Tier 10 for this new plan to have the other three fight Troxanir's System-side form and keep him from escaping through to the Astral Verge."

"Makes sense," Jace replied. "We should get Priam to meditating with Hualong. Tell the others to meet me over at the temple. We'll swap around – Priam can meditate since he'll get 2,000 Stardust per hour since he's got that higher soul energy coefficient. The rest of us can hunt down Anathema's remaining parts."

"I'll tell them," Quinn replied.

Jace looked back to the far-off flower covered mountain in the distance. Dark Energy Mine (Rank 1). Detonate. Jace launched himself up into the skies.