Dark Matter Ascension

Jace keyed in the code on the console that Ollie instructed him to tap, and the shimmering blue doorway opened. He stepped through the opaque entrance and found himself on a slightly raised plateau overlooking the blasted fields he had carved grooves into with his Void Beam [Horizon-Splitter]. The same place that Greg, Dee, and Priam had entered the world from.

The trio were huffing in deep, shaky breaths and glanced at him as the portal snapped shut behind him. "You three look tired," he stated. "Void Stalker (Rank 1) [Group]."

Greg chuckled, "Big…big bugs…hard to kill."

Priam nodded and his little ears flopped around. "I am tired. Those things hit hard. Greg was actually being hurt."

"If he wasn't taking the hits for us, we'd be dead," Dee stated as her chitinous shell sat on the ground next to her goop form that was just a puddle on the ground.

Jace looked at the horizon and saw a swarm of the insectoid creatures approaching. "You each need what, 120,000 Stardust each?"

Greg needs 220,000, Ollie said in his thoughts. And with Quinn lumped into the group, that means we need a grand total of 580,000 Stardust.

Priam nodded to Jace's earlier comment. "Did you take your Ascension Trial thing?"

"I did," Jace replied. "I'm an Ascendant now…and I got access to the Astral System."

Greg groaned and stood up, "Well tell us later. We've got incoming."

Jace drew his sword, "I'll deal with it. You lot rest up a bit." Void Shield (Rank 6). The white-grey aura surrounded him, and he began running towards the approaching horde. "Ollie, does this many opponents count as vastly superior foe for Shattered Limits?"

It does.

Jace grinned, "Shattered Limits (Rank 19)."

Priam was looking at Jace sprinting – going really fast towards the horizon. When he suddenly vanished. "Where'd he go?" Priam asked as he stood up and began scanning for Jace.

Greg pulled out his rifle and looked down the scope, "Holy…that's just not fair. I'll share the scope feed to you both."

Priam saw a blur. He could barely make out the flash of silver and gold as the insect army that had been charging towards the group were eviscerated as – who Priam assumed was Jace – cut through the swarm. He couldn't track anything except for the insects dying en-masse.

"That's just not fair," Greg stated. "Whatever it is he got."

Bloopa, who was merged with Priam via Verge Protocol, spoke aloud. He achieved a Limit Break back on Harkon Secundus. It manifested as a Boon, and was only possible because he was on a cultivation style, soul-magic world where such actions could be taken.

"We need to go back there and do that," Dee stated. "Imagine my big blast being able to do something like that!"

Xera has already planned for that. Once you achieve Tier 10, you will be able to do your once-in-a-lifetime Limit Break. The reason Jace got the workaround is because of the situation he was in at the time; but now that it has been analyzed, anyone who achieves Tier 10 can get a Limit Break.

"Oooh! We need to do that fast," Dee said as she moved into her chitinous body and stood up.

Priam sighed and stood up, still watching the insect army being demolished thanks to Greg's scope-view being shared via the System. "Come on, Greg. Let's go help out."

"He's almost done," Greg replied.

There was a tremendous roar behind and above the trio, and looking back Priam felt his heart sink a bit as a huge flying octopus creature descended towards them – the center where the tentacles all met up a gaping, lamprey-mouth of serrated rows of teeth.

"Oh no."

Jace finished cutting apart the insect horde as he heard the terrifying, shattering roar behind him. Looking back, his All-Seeing Dragon's Eyes zeroed in on the trio who were using Skills. Priam's barriers popped into place around everyone, Dee began charging some enormous blast, and Greg began firing off shots from his enormous rifle into the flying octopus-thing up in the clouds above.

That's not good, Jace thought.

Dust these things and then head over – they can take on a single entity, I'm sure.

Jace's Shattered Limits Skill had faded as he eliminated all but the last few of the creatures, and he rapidly ran around gathering up Stardust.

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[Stardust Acquired: 500,000]

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"We'll split it up later," Quinn stated. "For now you should head over in case they need help. I have Strategems and Tactician's Orders active. Your order – kill the octopus."

Jace saw a marker show up in the corner of his vision – a single objective with an arrow pointing the direction. He began running back towards his allies as the dragon began to descend from on high.

Greg was floored by the size of the creature racing towards them through the heavens. A single sucker on the enormous, tentacle legs was easily the size of an entire city block. Raising his rifle to his shoulder, he zeroed in on the center of its mouth. Power Strike (Rank 11), Series of Strikes (Rank 10). He tapped the button to cycle out the ammunition for high-explosive rounds, and poured energy into the weapon.

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It blazed with the deep blues and greens of his Planet power, and the black of the Supermassive power. The energies traveled down the length of the barrel, and he pulled the trigger as he eyed Quinn's "critical focus" target deep in the mouth of the monstrosity.

The rifle bucked against his shoulder and if not for his huge armor and innate strength, the recoil of shooting while standing up would have dislocated his arm. The shot lanced into the sky, followed by ten phantasmal duplicates. A series of miniature meteors that pierced the heavens and burrowed into the octopus-monster before the high-explosive rounds impacted the flesh interior.

There were small explosions of fiery red, gravitic black, and coruscating green. The entity's form shuddered and continued its descent unabated.

Dee cackled with delight, "It's ready! Demolisher's Devastation (Rank 93) [Blast][Cone]." The sphere of crackling, green energy in her hands exploded upward, covering the whole of the sky above in a neon-green glow as explosions traveled up the length of the conical eruption.

Greg saw his weapon begin to glow the same hue, and know from their prior combat that Dee's [Empowering Exclusion] was charging up his weapon with the acidic Flux energy. He fired off further shots, aiming at the tiny glimmer of gold signaling a weak spot.

When the acid cloud cleared he saw the creature above had several holes bored through its flesh, and it was covered in chemical burns. Greg glanced sideways as Jace sprinted over, "Big things like that you have to get the vital part!" he shouted as he slowed to a stop.

"I know," Greg replied as he returned his sight to the scope and the now-very-close monstrosity. "This thing is going to pancake us."

"I'll keep that from happening," Jace said. "When it gets close enough, I'll bore a hole. Just stick close together. Keep blasting, let's see if you can kill it before I have to get rid of its matter and affect the Stardust gained." He raised his palm and Greg could have sworn he saw the outline of something race across his view. Tiny explosions blossomed against the octopus still descended toward them.

Series of Strikes (Rank 10), Greg thought as he pulled the trigger, activated his Skill, and pulled the trigger again. Over and over until he was out of high explosive rounds and had to swap to flechette rounds. The entity above them got closer, and closer, and Greg wasn't sure they would be able to kill it before it hit the ground and pancaked them all.

Priam's voice was heard, loud and clearly. "Rapturous Release!" A stored Skill – some type of Exarch's Seraphic Soothe with an Evolution – covered the whole group. The small symbol representing the Skill was…different. It was not a golden hourglass, but instead showed a meter that slowly drained down. "We have [Regeneration] up and running!"

Thanks but that doesn't really help, Greg thought. The entity kept coming down, and Greg kept firing – but it stopped fifty feet above them and floated there. What is it doing?

He got his answer a split-second later as the world around him exploded. Greg was falling, and he felt intense pain. Everything was on fire, and he was left groaning at the bottom of an enormous crater. He whited out from the injuries, and surrendered to the blissful release.

Jace had fallen into the crater along with Priam, Dee, and Greg's limp body. He was unaffected by the blast thanks to his Void Shield still being active, and Priam and Dee did not look worse for the wear.

Greg, though, was a mess. His body was blasted. The sheer concussive force must have ripped apart his insides, and Jace cursed at himself. He saw in his HUD that Greg was still alive, but his vitals did not look good.

Priam scrabbled over to him "Exarch's Seraphic Soothe (Rank 1)." All of Greg's injuries healed immediately, and the man stood up with a deep breath. "Oh, you're fine," Priam said as he clapped the man on the back.

Jace looked up and saw the creature begin its descent. He moved to the center of the group, standing right over Greg. "Void Shield (Rank 6) [Sphere]." The grey-white bubble popped into existence around all of them, and a few seconds later the creature landed atop them. Jace saw the ground buckle and break beneath them, and could see the serrated teeth above as the creature tried to eat them. "How can it see us down here?" he wondered aloud.

Quinn's voice replied over the comms, "A Skill equivalent. Jace, you might want to blast it with a Void Beam."

He looked over to Greg who was staggering to his feet and pulling his rifle out of his TPSB – which his Wayfinder must have stored it in before the impact of the explosive effect. He then looked back at the lamprey mouth surrounding them, futilely trying to eat through the nothingness of Void. "I think I'm good. My energy is at a good place. Dee? We are inside it now, kind of, and your shouts can go through the shield."

She smiled and raised her hands, "Let's do another one then. More explosions!" Her hands glowed the familiar green color and she let loose a torrential wave of acid that coursed down the creature's gullet above them. The enormous entity shuddered and went limp. "Looks like acid inside of it, really deep in it, that did the trick."

Ollie flew up from Jace's head, giving the newly-minted Ascendant a wicked headache. He tapped the creature's body, and it vanished into glimmering, shining, light-blue Stardust.

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[Stardust Acquired: 750,000]

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Ollie grinned and flew around the group in tight circles, "That, combined with the 500,000 from earlier, split up now…"

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[Stardust Split: 250,000]

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"Plenty of Stardust," Quinn said over the comms, her voice filled with excitement. "Head back to Khrox, let's get everyone leveled up-"

"And then the Ascendant Trials!" Priam shouted. "What's that like?" he asked as he looked at Jace.

Jace began diverting energy to Ollie so that the Wayfinder could open up The Cosmic Corridor. "Well, I fought myself in various stages of my journey. Then I had to pull up some weird cube thing from the depths of The System." He paused and recalled the vivid sensation of feeling like he was drowning, whilst at the same time having all thoughts compressed to singular instinct. "It was…scary. But I got through it."

Priam frowned, "You had to fight yourself? That's not good for me. I can't fight well at all."

"Your Trial is customized to your past deeds and your Class," Ollie replied. "You will be fine, I'm sure."

Greg uncrossed his arms and sighed, "I…I don't like being open with folks…I'll say it now – thank you. All of you. I wouldn't be here without help." He looked at Jace and there was a raw level of soul-baring in his voice, "You saved Quinn and me on Velenar Prime." He looked to Priam, "And you've healed me a ton. Without you all…this journey would have been a lot harder and taken far, far longer."

Dee raised her hand and frowned, "What about me?"

Greg chuckled, "Yes, sure, you too. Ms. "I'm going to blow up everything.""

The portal to The Cosmic Corridor opened, Jace led the way through, and when all were through it snapped shut behind them. A second later they were all warped into the apartment entry hall. Jace glanced at Ollie, "I can still use Stardust to buy things, right? And use them on my Cosmic System loadout?"

"Yup! You can buy Boons if you have a mind to. It will apply to your status screen for that specific System, not the Astral one."

Jace looked between his allies, "Then you lot level up, do your Ascension Trials, and get ready."

Xera warped into the entry hall and stood with both sets of arms clasped behind her back, "I never anticipated one, let alone five Dark Between Stars Signers reaching Tier 10. I must say…this is a momentous occasion." She glanced at Jace, "Go upstairs to Quinn and she can facilitate your transactions." She then looked to Greg, Dee, and finally Priam, speaking in a measured, even tone as she addressed the group. "Once you are ready…we can begin our assault."