Deus in Machina (a Warhammer 40K-setting inspired LitRPG)

Others sought the Lord's blessing, pleading for His aid, His intervention, a miraculous deliverance, a reward for their steadfast faith and loyalty, repayment for their virtuous lives and noble actions.

That wasn't the Mecian way. They asked for nothing, desiring only to tithe their Lord and glorious battle, and a grand one loomed before Angar.

To die untested and unworthy was a fate worse than defeat, and Angar vowed this stone would bear witness to a clash worthy of song.

He stood firm on the dueling circle's ancient stone as its many scars whispered of long-forgotten death. With his enhanced senses, the stone's icy scars almost chilled his soles through his boots.

His eyes fixed unyieldingly across the distance to Zhaeryn Vexn.

The Pleiadean stood like a silver phantom, his reflective armor splintered the chamber's crimson light into ragged beams across the scarred stone.

Vexn's right hand hovered near the blaster on his back, a coiled threat trying to force Angar to strike first, a silent challenge hanging between them.

It felt like the arena itself hungered for the violence Vexn's taunting stillness promised to unleash.

Though his opponent was thirty meters away, Angar could clearly sense Vexn's anticipation, almost feel his desire for blood.

Harc had told him much about this alien. Vexn was once a member of the Voidborn Chorus, a Pleiadean Knightly Chapter of Psionics renowned for their mastery of the mind's unseen currents, expelled after his third duel over a century ago, cast out into the galaxy's fringes, a pariah, shunned by even his own kind.

Pleiadeans were naturally long of life, and ascension through Holy Theosis extended this greatly. They were beings who viewed time differently, known for their patience, not rushing for the next level, their ambitions honed slowly, purposefully, like a blade on a whetstone.

Supposedly, Zhaeryn Vexn hadn't gained a level in that century, a deliberate stagnation, slowly mastering his psychic powers. He was a hunter content in his lethal prime, sharpening the edge of his prowess.

The Pleiadean diligently studied his opponents, poring over their strengths and weaknesses with a scholar's zeal, and only took offers to champion duels he knew he'd win, often demanding an exorbitant fee, a price paid in credits and dread.

Harc had said he often demanded gear tailored to counter his foes, such as the new armor he wore, suspected of being resistant or immune to lightning.

He could hunt bounties for Heretics to earn experience, stalking the galaxy's fringes for such wanted targets, but focused on game that granted none, happy with where he was, able to easily defeat those close to or early in the second Realm while at Knight-Master Rank.

Vexn's strategy was not to kill outright but to prolong the torment, to humiliate and dismantle his opponents before delivering a crippling blow, either a spine or brain injury that left them broken, alive but forever crippled, like Maximillian.

This was the type of person Spirit would want spared and redeemed.

Angar saw things differently, believing dead and gone a much better remedy.

He could sense the Pleiadean's anticipation thanks to his Cognizance Stat of 33, a figure far exceeding most at his rank, even accounting for the significant enhancement Crusader Armor typically provided.

Thanks to his Capstone, Glory Thunders, all his Attributes and Stats surpassed his rank.

He shifted lightly on his feet, unencumbered. He bore no armor, but the Skill Points invested in power and Crusader Armor hadn't been wasted.

Collectively, they'd delivered 300 hours of System-guided combat training, honed amid the weight of heavy galvornium steel armor.

Though his mind couldn't recall the memories, his body could, and he felt the imprint of that rigor, the System searing those lessons into his reflexes, armored or not.

This was paired with 200 hours of acrobatic training, complemented by additional combat practice with his power hammer and claws, all rooted in the fighting style Spirit had trained him with, long ago instilled as a foundation, now reinforced with the advanced Tier 2 training across those Skills.

He wore no armor, but Lightning Strike conjured a damage-shield matching his Power Level for up to three seconds, followed by slightly over 50% damage mitigation for three seconds once it dissipated. As his Power Level was in the soft cap, he was left uncertain what the mitigation worked out to.

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Taut and unbroken seconds dragged on, neither combatant initiating, their eyes locked on one another, waiting in torchlight's shadows.

The crowd yelled jeers, urging them to break the stillness and ignite the storm. Angar paid them no mind. He wouldn't make the first move.

Long seconds later, swift as a thunderbolt, with his right hand still hovering near his blaster, Vexn's left hand whipped a pistol free and fired.

Angar activated Ground Current a fraction too late, and a chest shot seared into him like a fiery lance, nearly robbing him of breath.

Light and medium standard Crusader Armor variants boosted Adroitness by a point, a bonus Angar lacked.

With a score of 5, his Adroitness matched the usual score Tier 3s had in such gear, but Harc was certain Vexn's exceeded 5, placing Angar at a disadvantage in a duel where speed reigned supreme.

Vexn's opening shot, and Angar activating Ground Current a beat too slowly, proved that with brutal clarity.

Angar materialized beside Vexn, his body coalescing from charged particles in a burst of crackling light, but the Pleiadean was no longer there, his absence another taunt.

Two pistols flared, one in each of the Pleiadean's hands, the shots hammering into Angar, dealing no harm, rebuffed by the second of invulnerability from Ground Current's Fervor Upgrade.

Vexn stood roughly twenty-five meters off, now back near Angar's starting point, moving like a silvery wraith against the background of scarred stone.

Angar tried using Ground Current again, as he could within two seconds of its use, but it didn't allow it for some infuriating reason, likely because Vexn had moved before Angar exited the ground.

And his foe was too far away to make smart use of Tempest.

Lightning Strike blazed as a damage shield covering Angar, and he surged toward the alien like a juggernaut clad in the storm's embrace.

Almost instantly, Vexn must've noted his shots eroding a shield without touching Angar's flesh, and with lightning speed, nearly too swift to track, he holstered the right-hand pistol, drew its neighbor, and unleashed a fresh barrage.

Whether due to that pistol's unique rounds or the sheer volume of fire, the shield ruptured well before Angar crossed half the span, and shots struck his belly and shoulder, each searing deeply into him despite the 50% mitigation and his high Toughness Stat.

As he continued his charge, he dove and rolled, zigged and zagged, doing his best to mimic how he had seen Spirit move, evading as best he could as he narrowed the gap, while Vexn retreated, maintaining his assault, filling the chamber with the scent of scorched flesh.

When Angar drew within ten meters, as he executed a sideways tuck jump into a butterfly twist to dodge the onslaught, a shot burned into his thigh, nearly toppling him to the stone, testing his tolerance and balance.

As Lightning Strike's 6-second cooldown ticked off, he activated it once more, a new shield flaring around him.

Wanting to preserve the shield as long as possible, he performed a forward roll to gain ground, stopping just three meters shy, but as he moved, a crystalline compartment on Vexn's forearm parted, unveiling a violet crystal.

As Angar lunged forward, channeling Energy into his power hammer, ready to strike, the crystal flared, its violet hue intensifying, briefly flashing silver.

A bizarre force invaded Angar's mind, raking through it, leaving him dazed and disoriented.

This was Mind Flay, a psychic power that ravaged minds with psionic energy, unfailingly dazing its targets for long and crucial seconds.

But with a score of 67, Resilience stood as Angar's highest Stat by far. He'd repelled mental assaults from mighty entities of Hell, and this effect did little beyond staggering him, forcing him to abort his strike.

Vexn tensed, a sign the Pleiadean hadn't anticipated his Mind Flay having such a minor effect.

Others prayed to God, begging for services and miracles. Instead of demanding services from the Lord, Mecians thought it smarter to create their own miracles.

A grim smile spread across Angar's face, and zealous wrath spread through his chest as his power hammer swung at the alien.

Then it was Angar's turn to be surprised, as Vexn all but teleported backwards, halted by the chamber's wall with a clang.

This was Wrathful Withdrawal, an Ability enhancing either firing rate or Adroitness post-use. As it was the Pleiadean version, Harc knew few specifics, but believed it likely carried a 30-second cooldown, matching Tempest.

That clearly wasn't true, as the alien had used it once already, right after Angar used Ground Current.

Luckily, the chamber's wall prevented Vexn from retreating all that far, halting him barely more than ten meters away.

Angar pressed forward, rolling and spinning, striving to shrink the distance before his shield failed and the 50% mitigation slipped away.

Vexn's right hand kept firing as the violet crystal pulsed again, this time unleashing psychic energy to root Angar in place with a power named Pin.

It gripped him for a split second, then he shrugged it off, proving his will mightier.

As soon as he lifted his foot, a psionic wave crashed into him, a concussive force that hit him with a grunt, knocking him back a few meters, his boots skidding on the stone, the ring trembling beneath his struggle. That was the psychic power Push.

Now at about seven meters distant, determined to hold his ground, Angar whirled into Tempest, spinning toward his foe, a storm of righteous fury unleashed.

But an unseen force arrested him mid-motion, halting his spin and snuffing Tempest before it truly even began. Not a psychic power, but some Ability Harc hadn't mentioned or known about.

A pistol was quickly swapped out with another on the belt as the barrage intensified, a relentless tide trying its best to break upon him.

Angar dove. As his body arced through the air, a shot took out his real eye, sending blood spraying in a crimson arc, and agony exploded through his skull.

Another shot got close to hitting his Infernus Oculus implant, barely missing it, but the dual impacts thrust him back, tumbling across the ground, and more blasts seared into his body.

The rate of fire slowed as Vexn dashed sideways along the wall, still spitting bolts from his pistols.

Angar rolled across the stone as his opponent put more distance between the two, the gap widening with every fluid stride of the lithe alien.

Vexn still held in reserve another psychic power and an Ability Harc knew about, both unused, ready to strike.

And as another shot carved into the muscle above Angar's collarbone, he began to fear all the blood tributed to the Lord in this battle would be his own, and that Harc and the others were correct.

That he stood no chance against Zhaeryn Vexn.