The First Archmage

(Gavin)

"Gavin?" Michael asks as we land in front of the Dungeon's entrance. "Why did you Advance your Species again on the way here?"

"Should I have waited, do you think?" I ask.

"That's… that's not the point, Gavin," he says.

"I can do it," I say. "And I do need to grow stronger, in preparation for what is to come. Do you think I should simply send myself to Tier IV of it, now? Or should I wait a little bit, to adjust to my current level of power?"

Michael thinks for a few moments.

"I'll do it after we take care of this," I tell him. "The current boost to my power might cause me to overuse my powers."

"Alright," he looks at the Dungeon's entrance, tilting his head to the side. "This place is familiar. Perhaps Warren and I passed through here at some point? We are near the Fairy Kingdom."

"It's the Dungeon," I inform him. "We exited through when we fled Jozan."

Michael's eyes widen in recognition.

"Right!" He says. "Wait – why are we destroying it?"

"I have a grudge against it," I send him a Party Invite, and he joins my party. "Let us enter."

"What kind of grudge?" He asks as we enter that colored-tile-floor room. "We never figured out how to get through here."

"You attempted it?"

"Yeah," he nods. "We thought that maybe clearing the First Stage would give us a bit of Experience to work with, but we couldn't figure out how to pass through here."

Considering how powerful I am and my resilience to pretty much everything, there's a good chance I could just walk to the other side, rather than going along the proper path.

"Don't step on the red tiles," I say. "You can walk on the blue tiles without issue. Before stepping onto a green tile, you must step onto a yellow tile. However, you cannot step on a yellow tile without first stepping on a blue tile. In other words: avoid the red, and step on the tiles in the order of blue, yellow, green. Do not step on two yellows in a row, and you can walk across as many blue as you wish."

"You did it?" He asks.

"Correct," I nod. "The next area is a test of your mental resistances and capabilities."

"And the next?"

Undead.

"The reason I have the grudge."

"So what are we doing to destroy it?" He asks. "Destroying the core will only result in it weakening until a new one forms, and same with removing it."

"We're not destroying the core," I say. "We're destroying the Dungeon. As powerful as a Dungeon might be, this is nothing more than a Tier I Dungeon. It isn't a true Tier I Dungeon. I am a Tier III Species, nearly at True Tier III Species, with three Subspecies, two of which are at their Second Tier, with four of the First Five Species as X Species.

"Destroying something like this," I gesture to the area around us. "Is simply a matter of figuring out how."

"Isn't that what I was just asking?"

I step forward onto a blue tile, then onto the red tile directly across from it. Immediately, I feel the power of the Dungeon assaulting my blood. It takes me a few moments to adjust myself and begin to manipulate my own blood in response, quickly ending the threat as I feel my body revert to its true form.

If it wants to force me into my true form in order to resist its death-inducing punishment for stepping onto the crimson tiles, then I shall show it what happens when a Timeless One is crossed. Or when one holds a grudge.

Lifting a foot up, I allow it to hover for a moment, then bring it down with all the might of my two Timeless One and my Eternal Species augmented by the 9,770 STR Stat.

With a deafening boom, the tile shatters, my foot driving a hole through the ground beneath, forming a crater around as the tiles connected to it break as well. Michael is launched into the air from the sheer force of my impact, and I catch him, then throw him to the entrance to the next area.

I continue walking through the room, damaging the floor as I go. Normally, a Dungeon could repair itself from damage. However, that's from minor damage, as they're resilient things that are impossible for normal people to damage.

This much damage will take it a long time to repair, if it ever had the chance to. I'm going to overload the Dungeon's defenses and healing mechanisms, and that will, hopefully, give me the opportunity to destroy the Dungeon.

I reach the end of other area, then look at the amused and bewildered Wolfborn.

"So," I say. "Are you ready to resist a mental assault?"

"I never knew Dungeons could be damaged that badly."

"I used to think that," I shrug. "But as I'm me, it only makes sense I'd find a way. Come on."

We enter the temple-designed area, and I immediately sense the influence, though it's so pathetically weak against me that I can't help but laugh.

Then I immediately augment the link with my own psychic energies, feeling its flow and how it functions. I sever it from Michael, then immediately yank on it. It permeates the air, an intrinsic part of this area of the Dungeon.

And my violent mental assault on it shows clear physical signs as the walls begin crumbling and the 'bath' breaks apart, the water spilling onto the floor. I raise a hand, lifting it up before bringing it down with the palm facing the floor, and as I do, a force of concentrated air crushes the bath, driving a hole down into the next Stage.

"Let's go," I tell Michael as he looks around with wide, wide eyes. "Time to destroy the Second Stage."

We descend to the next section of the stage, back into that disturbing tunnel, and I summon the Violet Dragon and Voids, ripping through everything in my path, be it wall, ceiling, floor, monster, decoration, whatever.

The next area is a crypt with dozens of skeletal death knights and mages, and they and their space is destroyed with ease. When we reach the next Stage, we find ourselves in a broken place.

The crypt is only half-formed, with sections of the walls missing, emptiness beyond. Many of the torches are partial, and most are either missing or unlit.

"What… is going on here?" Michael asks.

"The Dungeon's failing," I answer as I destroy the place further. "I'm overloading it, resulting in it being unable to handle creating the spaces required to function properly as it attempts to mend itself and function at the same time."

He nods.

"Why doesn't it just reject us, then?"

"It can't," I answer. "That's not a feature any Dungeon has – they aren't designed to be able to simply kick someone out unless they've failed the task. The reason for that is because some Dungeons are created by Divine Beings who want to use them as a sort of testing grounds for their followers.

"Because of that," I continue. "To prevent the gods from making sure that only people who they want can enter, they have to have that as a requirement for entry – once someone's inside, the Dungeon isn't allowed to reject anyone, to evict them, unless it's actually part of the trial. This way, a god can't unfairly kick someone out just because they don't like them. It was implemented for all Dungeons, though, rather than just those designed by gods. Otherwise, a god could then meddle in ones that formed naturally."

"Ah," he says. "This looks like it would've been the boss Stage."

"It probably was," I shrug. "Too much damage to summon up the monster, though. Let's go."

We pass through the passage on the far end, the barrier that would normally seal it until after the boss's death having never formed. Through there, we're greeted with the sight of the Dungeon Core, a shimmering, shining sphere three feet in diameter, with a light yellow hue to it, hovering in the center of the chamber, which stretches around thirty feet on each side.

"I thought Dungeon Cores were a light blue?"

"Normally," I nod. "Was the one you encountered blue?"

"Yeah," he nods. "From what I know, that particular shade is normal. What does the yellow mean?"

"It's a Divine Being's Dungeon," I answer, extending a hand.

Immediately, a Void surrounds the Dungeon Core, and beams of the Void extend out, piercing through the walls of the chamber.

The Dungeon begins to rumble and shake, and I confirm it's soon to break, so grab Michael and Teleport us out. Not ten seconds after we arrive in the fores does the doorway explode. A simple thought, and a barrier forms in front of us, stopping the shards and dust from hitting us.

Once the dust settles down, I look at Michael, grinning.

"Bye bye, Dungeon!"

He snorts, shaking his head.

"You're a fucking monster," he says, and I shrug. "So what now?"

"Now?" I ask. "I'm going to ask you a question, and I want a simple, and honest, answer."

"What?"

"What was it," I say. "That you suggested to Warren that you ask me to join in you two doing that got him so embarrassed, the other night?"

Michael gives me a goofy grin.

"Spirit meditation!"

"Spirit meditation?" I ask. "Is that some Skill or something?"

"Nope!" He quickly strips. "Focus on sensing my Spirit and the Spirits around us!"

As soon as he's naked, he sits on the ground, crossing his legs and resting his hands on his knees, closing his eyes.

"Why did you just get naked?"

"It's easier," he tells me. "To do Spirit meditation if there's nothing on you."

I frown, but watch with my eyes and senses as his breathing slows and becomes rhythmic. After several long and awkward minutes, a shift in his Spirit occurs as the Resource stops simply being within him and starts flowing through him.

The way it's doing it… is he using Spirit Manipulation? It seems different than when that normally happens? There's something… off about it.

I can't describe it, though. It's so weird.

Several more minutes pass, and I'm about to ask what he's doing when I sense a stronger source of Spirit. Or Spirits? What in the-

"Gh!" Michael gasps, bending forward and hacking.

"Michael!" I rush forward, crouching and putting a hand on his shoulder to sense his injury. "What the-there's no injury? Michael, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he coughs, and I release his shoulder, waiting until he's recovered from whatever that was. "Thanks. Dammit. Almost had it that time, too."

"What in the hells was that?"

"I told you," he grins at me, sitting up straight so he can meet my gaze evenly. "Spirit meditation. It's an advanced technique that requires meditating upon your Spirit and visualizing it flowing within and around you as if you were a Spirit. Sort of? It's a bit hard to explain, but you'd understand, once you did it."

"Right before you started hacking away," I tell him, standing. "There was something weird – it was like there was a lot of Spirit or Spirits, yet there weren't any. What was that?"

"The point of Spirit meditation," he answers. "I had almost connected. If you do it successfully, you can actually gaze into the Spirit plane. According to the Fairies, it helps you increase your Spirit, understand the Spirit language, and a bunch of other stuff. It's also not easy to do – Lord Oberon said that even among the Fairies, who have a natural affinity for Spirits unlike any of the other Enlightened Species, the odds of being able to do it is one in a million. Warren and I both being able to do it is exceptionally rare."

"Why does that make him embarrassed?" I ask.

"Huh?" He asks, then giggles. "It's because he's shy about his crush on you."

Ah. I can see why that'd make him uncomfortable, then, if he has to get naked to do it properly right now.

"Alright," I say. "Well, get dressed, then we'll head back."

He nods and starts dressing, then pauses and frowns at me.

"Should we be worried about the fact that you just destroyed a Divine Being's Dungeon?"

Before I can respond to that, I sense a Divine Being, and then we both look to the source of that sensation – a Divine Being that formed. With golden hair and eyes, and a white and gold outfit, this guy exudes a level of holiness, arrogance, and stupidity. He looks relatively human, one somewhere around forty years of age, though the Divine Aura around him makes it clear that human is not even close to what he is.

"How can we help you?" I ask the clearly pissed-off Divine Being that's appeared. "If you're looking for members of your following, we haven't seen any. If you're looking to recruit, we follow another."

"I'm well-aware of who you follow, Hero of Nies," the god says through clenched teeth. "If you weren't his Hero, I'd strip you little by little as punishment for what you did to my Dungeon."

"That was yours?" I ask. "You seem a bit too holy for such a horrid Dungeon."

"It was to be a test," he says. "To see who is worthy of receiving my Blessing. While I can't touch you, because of your status as a Hero, I can touch others. Such as your former King, your son, your friend there, your allies back at the Order-"

My vision goes white as an unholy rage fills me. No one threatens my allies.

My Violet Dragon forms around me, then attacks, and the Divine Being laughs, dancing to the side. By the time he's done that, I've already lunged, my fist slamming into his stomach. He's a weak Divine Being – weak enough that I'm stronger than him.

The Divine Being attacks back, using all sorts of holy spells, but I shrug them off or evade them. Even his Divine Smites miss me, hitting where I'd been, not where I am. My spells and body collide with his over and over, but I'm not intending on killing this avatar, since I can't.

I just need to weaken it enough. Even as a weak Divine Being, he's still powerful, as this seems to be his native form.

It takes a lot of work, but eventually, he becomes weak enough for me to do what I want with him. He's realized by this point that I'm too strong for him to handle, that he's pissed off the wrong person. He's attempted to flee into the Divine Realms a few times, but I'm not letting him.

He'd just go after what's mine. What I've built and intend to protect until my end.

Once his avatar's weakened enough, I reach out with my Soul. I've never truly used it before, outside of such a thing as my Violet Dragon, so this is new to me.

"No!" The Divine Being roars as he tries to escape my assault on his Divine Soul. "No! Do you know what-"

"Shut the fuck up," I crush his jaw, sending my flames into his throat to silence him for good.

I continue my assault, exerting my Soul over his Divine Soul, ripping it, shredding it, tearing it to pieces. I can't kill a Divine Being, but I can certainly scatter him across the universe and make it take him an eternity to reform, and I do so, sending the bits and pieces through Black Holes.

Normally, they would destroy anything, erasing it from existence. But souls are eternal and everlasting, so I'm taking a wild guess in that doing this will simply scatter his.

Black Hole (III) 9 is now Black Hole (IV) 1

As the last bit of his soul is scattered, I suddenly find myself assaulted by… something.

New Title!

(X) God Destroyer: One who has committed the taboo of dealing nigh-irreversible damage to a Divine Being.

Before I can process that, a new message forms in my vision.

Taboo Title Earned: God Destroyer

System Access Blocked