Sworded Affair

Chapter 170: Mandatory Onboarding

[WARNING: This Dungeon is unstable, and will collapse if unbeaten in 11 hours, 11 minutes.]

Just twenty minutes after her sudden banishment to the void, and Emma was already reminded why sensory deprivation was regarded as torture, and something the System had gone to great pains to avoid when creating a body for her. Even now, she was still better placed than most prisoners who experienced it, as the System remained, giving her a sense of the passage of time. It was still a highly unpleasant experience, especially knowing that she had less than twelve hours until the dungeon fell on her, meaning she really couldn’t afford to sit around wasting time, hoping something eventually happened.

[REBOOTING.

USER DETECTED.

COGNITIVE FUNCTION SUFFICIENT.

BEGINNING ONBOARDING.

PLEASE STAND BY FOR MANDATORY VIDEO.]

Emma barely had time to comprehend what she’d just read when the light returned, blinding her, whose sight had long since become accustomed to the dark. When at last she adjusted and could see clearly again, she found herself sitting in a luxurious, folding leather chair. In front of her was a large flat screen television, while an endless forest passed by just out the window. She was alone in the cabin, three other seats visible but empty as the screen flickered to life and began to play. A well-dressed reporter appeared in portrait, his tailored suit and fedora evoking memories of a bygone era. There was still no sound, as he spoke, though thankfully subtitles were available.

[Once, trains like this were commonplace across the globe, a cheap, comfortable and environmentally friendly method of long distance transit. In those idyllic days, travellers could journey from across a continent in cabins much like yours, watching cities and countryside pass them by, wining and dining, all on track to their next great adventure. What an idyllic world that was, once upon a time.

Trains don’t exist anymore, nor do cities, nor even humanity. Even this facility is a mere echo, its name a base pun: a place of learning, should another species ever arrive from across the vast expanse, and seek to learn of our fall, that you might avert it in your own society. A form of training, if you will, passed on by virtual reality.

Once, humanity thought itself masters of the universe, united as a species and unchallenged, already beginning to reach into the nearby solar system, even the cosmos ripe for the taking. Ours was to be a golden age, propelled by scientific mastery unto glory everlasting. Then, the apocalypse arrived, and tore down the comforting lie. We were not alone. We were never alone, and our neighbours weren’t friendly.]

Here, familiar images appeared, of death and devastation as modern society fell overnight.

[But humanity was resilient; we did not falter, even when reduced to a hundredth of our population, our vaunted technology set back decades, the survivors reeling from the revelation of a mystical world hidden from our own. We evolved, we adapted, and we overcame the demons, rising from the ashes to build a nation ever great. But whilst many embraced mysticism in their struggle to survive, we never forgot the ruin it wrought upon us that day.

Across centuries and generations, as the world gradually recovered and accepted their new reality, we kept faith in the old ways, in the supremacy of science alone. We wanted the world back as we knew it in our youth, and promised to move heaven and earth to make it happen.

Working always in secret, on the margins of a new world, we sought a return to truth, and the end of magic. We were mocked and ridiculed in every strata of society, called luddites and lunatics at best. Those who knew the true extent of our ambitions hunted us at every turn, consigning countless enlightened minds to the flames, in an ironic echo of the witch hunts of eld.]

Cutting away from the speaker yet again, Emma caught a glimpse on screen of a vast machine. A mountain of clockwork that stretched in every direction, further than the eye could see, etched with what she first thought were runes, but upon closer examination were mathematical formulae writ large. That made them no less, as they writhed upon sheets of metal, clawing at her sanity even across a broadcast that was by no means live.

[We persisted, we endured, and in the end, we won. Blending cutting edge intelligence with rituals stolen at great cost, we created a grand design, a unified framework of how the world ought to be, and brought it to life. Our triumph, our hubris, and our end. We should’ve known, it was far too easy to be natural. How did the handful of dabblers among us acquire the knowledge needed for such a feat, over a mere decade and for a handful of lives?

We were manipulated, ironically by a secret society very similar to our own, albeit carefully hidden in polite society. They, too, rejected the fusion of magic and science, seeking to undermine the status quo as we did. We thought them old order purists, desiring a return to the separate societies of the past. That was a lie. Their true goal was not stagnation, but annihilation: worshippers of Entropy, who sought only the death of all things.

It took half a millennium from the conception of our order, to the final end. In that time, magic had wound itself around every surviving soul, far too deeply to be extricated. Perhaps a gradual separation, winding down over generations, might have worked. We’ll never know, because that wasn’t what we attempted; no, we wanted shock therapy, a sudden and immediate end to magic. We ended magic, and magic ended us.

Learn all that you can from this facility, then do as you will. Preserve it, or consign it to the pyre, we care not, because we’re already dead. We’re already dead. God help us all, because we’re already dead.]

—

Status update

Practitioner Emma Knight

True Form: Level 16 Damned Apostle

Anima: 500

EXP: 10081/12000

Abilities

Summon Unholy Sword {Epitaph}

Toxovolia: Epitaph can transform into a Bow, firing arrows of ambient anima.

No Pal of Mine: Capture the souls of the worthy, gaining a simulacrum of equal level to the User. Maximum 1 active per 10 levels, rounding up. 10 minute cooldown when defeated. Captured:

The Leech King, Sir Bearington, Earthbound Immortal, Antipode, Duplicate

Flying Sword: Epitaph can change size, and fly up to 60 miles per hour. Passenger optional.

Oversoul: Instantly possess the body of a living target.

Parallel Lives (Cooldown: 1 minute): Swap places with your active Summon.

Angel of Extinction (Cooldown: 12 hours): Summon an Angel within line of sight. The Angel is invulnerable and departs after 12 seconds, killing anyone who saw it.

Return (Cooldown: 24 Hours): Teleport Home. Cooldown resets when Home is in danger.

Traits

Wolf, Ram and Heart (Toggle: ON): Attacks are imbued with Death magic, significantly increasing damage and carrying a [Level]% chance of inflicting Instant Death.

Ephemera (Toggle: OFF): Become intangible.

Null Zone (Toggle: OFF): All incoming magic fails.

One with Everything (Cooldown: 10 minutes): If Anima would be reduced to 0, stop at 1.

Babble Fish+: You are fluent in every language.

Rorschach's Blot: Attempts to observe you remotely produce nonsensical images to those bearing ill-intent. You will be alerted when observation commences.

Home Is Where the Hearth Is - EXP gains doubled for 1 hour after eating a home-cooked meal.

Inventory - Eden's Echo A ring containing fifty cubic metres of storage space, capable of instant transfer. Living beings are held in stasis and slowly heal. All sapient creatures are less likely to attack the wearer. This item is invisible except to the wearer, who cannot wear other jewellery. Currently contains:

50 Thrones

Victorian Gown (3-piece)

Your Sacrifice (1 oz)

Self-Reflection (3 Pages)

Sacrificial Blood (1 gallon)

Qilin Horn

Quests

It’s the Green You Need

Objective: Raise the Potted Hydra until it blooms.

Objective: Convince the Hydra to give Saint a vial of its blood.

Bonus Objective: Form a summoning contract with the Hydra

Reward: A powerful ally from the Age of Myth, Saint’s Divine Item

Bonus Reward: ???

Vae Victis

Objective: Deactivate the gateway beneath Blenheim Palace before it explodes.

Rewards: 25,000 Thrones, Commendation (Order of the Empire, First Class), Season Ticket (The Ghost Train), Residence Permit (Avalon)

Penalty for Failure: Death

Who Wants To Live Forever?

Objective: Pay your respects at the Grave of Sectmaster Horizon.

Objective: Discover who manipulated his Son to turn against the Empire.

Bonus Objective: ???

Reward: ???

Bonus Reward: ???

Half-Demon Homunculus: Level 5 Chandler

HP: 100

MP: 100

EXP: 810/850

Appearance

Red hair, green eyes, plain complexion.

Traits

I’m a Candle: A modern understanding of non-magical candles.

Noncombustible: High resistance to heat and fire from all sources.

Blood of the Enemy: Blood taken from those you slay may substitute for one reagent when making Candles. Candles made using this trait are Demonic.

Breath Control: You can hold your breath for (Level)*2 minutes without losing focus.

Candle Attributes

Black: Consumes nearby light, leaving impenetrable darkness.

Hallowed: Repels beings of evil alignment or intent.

Soothing: Emits a potent soporific that can put an elephant to sleep.