The Boundless Expanse(An Epic System Apocalypse LitRPG)

Three more demons fell within the next thirty minutes. Sam had no rest between battles, no opportunities to regain lost resources. The Demon Lords of Envy, Greed and Lust had taxed him to the extreme, but the fights hadn't been especially different to his battle with Alcazadran. Brutal back and forth exchanges with no quarter given nor asked for. Battles where Sam ended them in barely better shape than his foes. He was growing closer and closer to death the further he went. Each D Ranker was stronger than the last, growing at a speed that surpassed Sam's own. The only thing keeping him going was the desperation of a cornered animal. He would die here unless he kept going, at least until the ninety-fifth floor.

As Sam rose from the ground on that floor, missing his entire left arm, and a chunk of his right bicep, he groaned, seeing his next foe waiting for him. A titanic red giant holding an ax, the Demon Lord of Wrath, Melzoran, was a terrifying sight. The aura of raw strength and brutality that he exuded was even more terrifying.

The demon sat on a throne of blood stained iron, with a crown of pitted bronze on his head. An arena surrounded him, its walls converging above. A hellish light burned above, choked by clouds of ash. Beneath him, a sandy floor extended out for a few miles.

All around him, thousands of warriors fought in brutal combat, desperately trying to kill one another. Their wounds opened and closed in a matter of seconds, creating a cycle of pain without end.

"Welcome," Melzoran boomed, rising from his throne. "You seem like a real fighter. Not a coward. Have you come to face me in combat?"

"I have," Sam replied simply. "Are you ready?"

Melzoran laughed, and slammed the haft of his ax into the ground, cracking it. "I am always ready for battle. You do not seem to be ready, though. You are caked in blood, both your own, and that of my siblings. Do you think yourself my equal?"

Sam laughed. "Your siblings were not. Why would you be any different? You're bigger, sure, but I'm still stronger than you."

Melzoran's face went from placid to apoplectic in the blink of an eye, veins bulging out, and his eyes going red. He bared his teeth, spittle flying as he let out a wordless howl. His ax swelled with power, and transformed, turning from a slab of sharpened iron on a metal pole into something different. Something alive. Flesh grew over the weapon, surging up from Melzoran's hand. The demon fused with his ax, leaving only the sharp edges exposed.

Sam grinned, his lips flecked with blood. He raised Terra's Will to the heavens above. A bolt of lightning fell from thin air, tinged red and blue. It struck the tip of the hammer. A corona of lightning surrounded the weapon, turning it into a burning torch of barely contained electricity. Sam brought it down with all of his might, forming a portal beneath it. Another opened above Melzoran's head.

The demon howled in fury and swung his ax, meeting Terra's Will as it fell through the portal. There was a sharp metallic chime, and a shockwave pulsed outwards as Melzoran powered through, tearing Sam off his feet, and through the portal. Sam followed his hammer, flying off away from the demon lord.

Melzoran reached out with his free and grabbed Sam by the ankle. With a grunt, the demon tore Sam from his flight path, and bashed him into the ground so hard that he lost his grip on Terra's Will. Sam spat up blood.

The demon lifted Sam up, dangling him upside down before him. "How did filth like you defeat my family?" Melzoran asked in a guttural growl. "You're not fit to clean the ground I walk on."
Sam, whose mind had already coalesced around a solution, spat a wad of blood into Melzoran's eye. The demon's eyes narrowed, and he started to squeeze.

"You know, anger has its place in battle, but it really clouds your judgement," Sam observed, as if having a casual conversation with a friend. "You didn't see what I was doing, even with your D Rank senses."

Melzoran's eyes darted around, looking for a trap. For a brief moment, his attention diminished, and his grip loosened. Sam reached up, and wrested his foot out of the demon's grip. Then he grabbed onto Melzoran's hand.

Sam's fingers burst into flame, and he dug them into the demon's flesh. They sizzled, burning through red skin to tear into the wrist. With a tearing motion, Sam split Melzoran's arm down the middle, his hand falling to the ground. Then he teleported away, deciding against using a portal. His normal teleportation ability was better in this case, when speed was all that mattered. Melzoran's ax-hand came cleaving through the air, a comet's tail of light behind it. Reality split as the demon used his Domain, creating a rocket booster of white hot flame, accelerating his weapon to unbelievable speed. It sliced through the corner of the rift Sam was tumbling through, prematurely closing the gap in reality. It closed sharply, cutting Sam's right toes off.

Sam rolled as he emerged a hundred feet away, coming up with his hand outstretched. Terra's Will hurtled in from the side, slapping into his palm with a satisfying thunk. Melzoran charged, bellowing like a bull as he bore down on Sam.

Realizing his opportunity, Sam used his Wormhole Creation skill, a massive portal opening in front of Melzoran. He prepared to set up the same combo he had used on Alcazadran. Only, Melzoran reacted in time, and he skidded to a halt, digging his ax into the sandy ground beneath.

Sam swore under his breath and closed the portal, watching the demon lord's scarlet eyes twinkle in mirth. Melzoran dug his heels in, and with a sudden explosion of speed, likely the result of a skill, he took off. The ground, which was far more durable than any sand Sam had ever seen before, turned into a bubbling pool of molten glass for fifty feet in every direction around Melzoran. The entire structure of the Inferno Gauntlet thus far had incorporated incredibly durable stone and other construction materials, rendering it almost impossible to truly destroy without a concerted effort.

As a direct result of this, Melzoran moved so fast that Sam didn't see him until the demon was already standing behind, his ax outstretched, and blood dripping from it. Sam fell to the ground, bisected at the waist. He gritted his teeth, memories of his battle with Granthar coming back like corpses crawling from an open grave. Only, this time it was different. This time, he could do something.

Sam used his Dao, channeling his desire for revenge into being. Legs formed from his Authority, growing out from his waist. They were made of metal, but infused with the full might of his Dao. He picked up his discarded legs, and put them in his storage device. He didn't need them to regrow his legs, but having them on hand would help.

Sam's health dropped, but eventually acclimated to his new state. His maximum health capped off at about two thirds of its normal amount, but as he threw himself to the side, avoiding a blade of crimson energy spinning off the tip of Melzoran's ax, he had to admit that it was better than dying.

In a dramatically oversized version of the battles still going on around them, Sam and Melzoran faced off. Their weapons were beacons in both the physical world, and the world of the Dao. Two titans, brought to the end of their tether by a battle not only for their lives, but for the very meaning of their cultivation journeys.

Sam nodded once at his foe, a tiny spark of respect in his eyes. Melzoran was evil, a demon who grew strong off the suffering of the damned, but he was still a warrior through and through. While Sam couldn't let him survive, he could at least acknowledge that.

"Three," Melzoran began.

"Two," Sam continued.

"One!" Melzoran barked.

A split second later, the two fighters attacked. The arena floor turned to molten slag as they exploded forwards, their Daos burning like dying stars as they used the last vestiges of their power. Sam and Melzoran grinned, blood flecking their lips. Then, as one, they struck.

Sam came to what could have been seconds, minutes, or hours later. The massive corpse of Melzoran lay behind him, its entire torso missing. The life had gone out of the demon lord's eyes, but a twisted smile still tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Looking down, Sam realized that he had been unconscious for quite some time. His legs had regrown, pushing away the metal prosthetics that he had created earlier. His body was healed too. It seemed that he would not be forced to enter the ninety sixth floor until he was ready. Before he did so, there was a more pressing concern. Whether he had what it took to do so. It was very clear that this pause in the Tower was meant to give him time to think about his choices, and what he planned to do next. This was his last chance to leave. After that, he could either make it all the way, or die trying. There was no surrender, no escape. Just him and his will to survive, up against a nearly impossible challenge.

Sam slowly got up, sitting in a cross-legged position. He had been given a great gift. That of time. It was up to him to decide how to use it. Before doing anything more, Sam wanted to upgrade his two weaker Dao Seeds, which, even if he didn't continue through the Tower, would be a great boon going forward. He already knew that he was as strong as a D Ranker, at least one near the beginning of the Rank. That was something that he doubted any E Ranker at his level could say. Even the Creator Kings couldn't claim such a thing, as, according to the records, none of them had made it to the final floor. There was no way a D Ranker would show up before that, save for in Sam's Nightmare Mode difficulty, and by the System's own words, he was the first to earn such a challenge.

The only person he could see accomplishing such a feat was his own father, and only because of the man's ridiculous ego based powers. Just going up against a D Ranker, seeing that the System thought him worthy, would stoke the flames of Jacob Atlas' Dao to previously unknown heights. Even if he couldn't beat a D Ranker then, he could come damn close. He was barely weaker than Sam, and he had a Dao path that seemed almost as strong. Supremacy was likely one of the Dao Incarnation paths directly beneath Sam's. After all, Supremacy couldn't be weaker to anything, save for the very concept that made it possible, Existence.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Sam smiled at the thought of the man who once would have made him grit his teeth in pure rage. Jacob Atlas had come so far since the days of the tournament. While he was not the man Sam had known as his father as a child, he was at least someone he could consider an ally. Now that their destinies were intertwined so tightly, Sam was confident that his father would never betray him, as it would deal a blow to his own Dao. After reaching E Rank, Jacob had realized that it was better to work with Sam, rather than against him. How could a man who considered his own words to be law go against them?

Sam shook his head, realizing that he was distracting himself. He didn't know how long he had here, so he intended to make the most out of it.

***

A week later, Sam still meditated amongst the warring damned. Even with the death of their warden, none had given up. They had been fighting for far too long to stop now. Sam had learned to ignore them. The fact that he could shut off his sense of hearing certainly helped.

Every day, the System increased the pressure on him, trying to force him to ascend to the next floor. He held out as long as he could.

He closed in on an upgrade to his Dao Seed of Travel, while already having upgrade his Dao Seed of Reaction. As a cousin to his more powerful Dao Seed of the Avenger, the Dao Seed of Reaction had been quite easy to deepen.

Dao Seed of Reaction(Second Step)

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, or at least, so said a great scientist from your planet. In the wider Multiverse, such a thing is a bit mushier of a concept, but still accurate on the power scales that you operate on. You have taken a small shard of the wider concept of Balance, and formulated it to match your needs in the field of battle. You are intimately attuned with the flow of war, and can make the most out of any situation, twisting your foes' strengths against them. Through many battles, you have further deepened your connection to this concept, leveraging it to level the odds against foes that should have spelled your doom. You balance the tides of battle, and use your talents to come out the victor.

+800 to Dexterity and Strength

It was quite a welcome upgrade to his stats, if nothing else. In other terms, it added to the potency of his Superior Weak Point skill. While not bringing it to the next rarity, it would allow for greater efficiency.

It took Sam a few more hours to upgrade his Dao Seed of Travel, finding a useful insight for the conceptual ascension. That Dao was built up through practicing his teleportation abilities, discovering what the true meaning of travel actually was.

Dao Seed of Travel(Second Step)

Space is vast, and near infinite in all the ways that matter. Crossing that space, or more realistically, a small fraction of that, is one of the main aspects of life. Without motion, there is stagnation. With stagnation, there is nothingness. Seize the concept that underpins the continuation of existence, and wield it to great effect. You have learned that the traversal of space is a function of time, and that time is the key to achieving your goals, whether one of distance crossed, or of the reaching of a more metaphysical destination.

+1600 to Dexterity

Sam pushed away the flowery description, focusing on the more important changes. With his absurd title bonuses, the amount of power he had just gained was immense. Easily thousands of points between Strength and Dexterity. With the boons of his thresholds and his Perfect Ascension, that increase was equivalent to tens of thousands of stat points. It was more than he had ever had for the entirety of F Rank, and focused on two stats. His speed was beyond ridiculous, more than enough to fight a D Ranker while using Dao Juggernaut.

Sam got to his feet, and smiled. Over the last week, he'd not only upgraded his Daos. He had proven to himself that he was strong enough for what was to come. In fact, Sam had realized that turning away from the last five floors of the Tower was impossible. He could no more shy away from a challenge than he could simply will all his foes to die. His path was to become something beyond even the System itself. How could he achieve that goal without doing what had never been done before?

"I'm ready," Sam declared, clenching his fists around Terra's Will.

The System did not respond in words. Instead, the hellish vista warped and changed. Sam appeared in front of a twisted altar, covered in macabre artifacts, ranging from bloody heads to ears and fingers. The altar was surrounded by darkness, inscrutable to even Sam's senses. Sam looked closer, realizing that each one of the body parts was still alive. The heads screamed silently, lips pulled back in grotesque expressions. The fingers wiggled and the ears shook every now and again.

Like a nightmare, the altar grew and grew the deeper Sam peered, the severed appendages of what could have been millions spilling out of the dark, and joining the horrific monument.

In front of it knelt a rangy, black skinned demon that looked stretched out, like a serpent given legs. The demon was utterly androgynous, its features like a rubber action figure heated and pulled between the fingers of a bored child. It had two heads, each of which looked in different directions. As Sam strode into its domain, the demon got up, turning first one head, and then the other.

"Welcome to my abode, cousin." The demon's first words were utterly unexpected, but as Sam looked it over, he realized the truth in them. The altar, and the demon, were soaking in a very familiar Dao. That of Revenge. Or at least, one of the myriad of concepts that sprang from that line.

"I am no family of yours," Sam said. "Don't insult me by comparing me to something like you."

"Something like me?" The demon chuckled darkly. "I am not just a demon. Neither are my brethren. We are representations of the darkest aspects of the mortal soul. Sins made manifest. In the realm of the Hells, where reality is but putty in the hands of powerful cultivators, such things are commonplace."

"What are you, then?"

"I am Garexolan, Demon Lord of Unending Revenge. I take inspiration from those wronged by the damned souls sent here, and claim vengeance that can never be accomplished in the mortal world." The monster unfolded its fingers, revealing a disgusting number of joints. Each started to elongate and flatten, sharpening into blades. "I have to say, I have never seen one as despised as you. You have powerful enemies, Sam Atlas. Powerful enemies indeed."

"I do," Sam admitted. "And you aren't one of them."

Two portals appeared on either side of Sam. Dao Juggernaut thundered into life, the potent engine of cosmic power flooding Sam with strength beyond his Rank. Like lightning bolts, his hands shot out into the portals, one carrying Terra's Will. His left hand snapped into place around Garexolan's skinny neck, holding the demon in place as Terra's Will came crashing down, fulminating bolts of power crackling around it.

The demon laughed, and slashed at Sam's arms with its blade-like fingers. Space tore as Garexolan tapped into its Dao. Sam felt a hostile presence lock onto him, a fragmented entity of vague hatreds and grudges amalgamated from those he had slain, and their families and friends. Garexolan's body expanded, faces pushing their way out its flesh. To Sam's horror, he recognized a few of them. Berrigious, Rodney Kane, Hugo Mar, and others beside. They glared at him with such hatred in their eyes that Sam couldn't help but flinch. It was like he was some sort of devil, the ultimate evil that dominated the personal hells of his dead foes.

As Sam faltered, he felt the presence increase in strength, and the vague icon of a pair of scales appeared in the air above Garexolan's head. The demon was suffused in a warped golden light, shot through with flecks of darkness. Wings exploded from his back, a twisted mockery of an angel's majestic pinions. They were made out of leathery flesh, more like a bat than anything else. Instead of the feathers that would have been present on an angel, spikes poked out along the length of the wings.

Sam's hands were forced away from Garexolan's neck by a wave of spiritual pressure. The demon directly contested Sam's Authority, crushing it down to its minimum size. Then he struck, a thousand times in a single second. His claws flashed back and forth, cutting into Sam's flesh until he was nothing but a tattered ruin. Or at least, that was what Garexolan thought happened. When he stopped, Sam still stood there, but he was unharmed. He had dodged all of the strikes, weaving his way through them with consummate ease. With his Dexterity at the level it now was, he was faster than Garexolan. For the first time, Sam actually had a D Ranker beaten at something.

"I spent a week debating whether to continue through the Tower," Sam said, not caring if Garexolan knew what he was talking about. "I thought I was too weak. Stretched beyond the end of my strength. But do you know what I discovered, somewhere deep within me?" Sam teleported in front of the demon lord, and faster than Garexolan could react, he crushed the monster into the ground with Terra's Will. "That I am strong enough. I've come this far, and I sure as hell won't back down from the faces of worms that I already crushed months ago. You're just another enemy in my way. Perhaps one day, you will be added to another demon's collection of angry spirits."

Sam weaved his way around a sudden strike, the claws passing by just beneath his neck. While he did not show it, Sam was operating at a level that he had never experienced before. With his speed so high compared to his other stats, he had to rely on his Dexterity more than his Resilience. That meant that if he did end up missing a dodge, he was in serious trouble. It was a flashy style of fighting, but one that was extremely effective if mastered. The only thing better than having the durability to take a hit was not having to take it in the first place.

Terra's Will was a streak of iron lightning, battering Garexolan into a slab of ruined meat. The demon couldn't even muster a defense as he was rocked back and forth, his flesh splitting. Then, as red light started to condense around the monster, Sam realized what he was doing. Garexolan, as much as Sam haded the idea, had a Dao very similar to his own. The demon was tapping into the power of Revenge, using Sam's assault to fuel his own riposte.

A moment later, a claw buried itself in Sam's stomach, before ripping its way out at an angle, tearing apart Sam's abdomen. Garexolan rose to his feet, cloaked in scarlet flame. His eyes were like embers, and the blood dripping from him flamed as it fell. In a flurry of speed, Garexolan attacked, far faster than before. Sam was forced in the defensive, his hammer acting more like a shield than anything else. He was barely holding on, fighting to respond. As he was forced backwards, Sam used I Am My Vengeance, surrounding himself in ethereal armor. Jets of mana lifted him off the ground, giving him greater mobility. His Dao of Travel allowed him to make better use of this, telling him where the best places to go were.

Garexolan continued to attack, not giving Sam a moment to breathe. While the demon lords of the Inferno Gauntlet seemed to not have many skills, they were very good at using those they did have. In Garexolan's case, his ability with his claws was far greater than Sam's mastery of his hammer. Had this been a fight between mortals, Sam would be dead already. As it was, the only thing keeping him going was his E Rank body, turning what would normally be life threatening attacks into mere flesh wounds. Sam felt like a side of beef on a butcher's table, carved up for dinner.

The more he was pushed back, the brighter the flames surrounding Garexolan grew, and the more pronounced the faces growing from his body became. Whereas before they had simply been likenesses, now the faces were exactly the same as the people they came from. Berrigious' face turned the pink shade of his actual skin, a mocking sneer creeping its way onto his lips. Rodney Kane bared his teeth, spitting at Sam. Hugo Mar laughed maniacally, his mustache bouncing up and down as he did so.

"The time comes for your death to feed the appetites of those clamoring for your soul," Garexolan said. "I can feel them. I can feel their hunger."

"Well, they're going to have to go without," Sam spat, more to distract himself from the pain of his flayed skin than anything else. "I'm not their meal. Or yours."

Garexolan answered with a blistering cross slash, bringing both hands across Sam's midsection. His chest turned into a minefield of flesh and blood, rent beyond belief. His health dropped, and dropped until it was nearly below half. Still, it was better than most of his battles in the Inferno Gauntlet. Garexolan wasn't much better off, his body warped and deformed from the brutal beating Sam had given him earlier.

Both warriors glared at one another, blood dripping down from all across their bodies. Then, with simultaneous roars of rage, they attacked.