Somnix's face was remarkably expressive considering it was all snout and fangs. First, he was shocked, then raw indignation twisted his features, closely followed by blinding pain.
I was jolted back to reality from the nightmares of my own past and I was pissed. Somnix had tried to destroy my mind, even worse, he dug up things that should have stayed buried and flaunted them like a cheap weapon against me. Righteous anger welled forth in me. Somnix thought he would break me by plunging me into a vortex of my own memories, but all he had done was remind me of why I did what I did. Why I sought power. Why evil things like him needed to be destroyed. I felt chaotic, violent energy coursing through my being, and all I wanted to do was unleash it on the monster in front of me.
“You dare…” Somnix began, his voice guttural and arrogant.
“Yeah… I do!” I snarled back, sending a wave of force through the Chain and Somnix howled as the Chain constricted and burned his arm.
I had never felt power like this. It was as if I had lived my entire life with access to only a small tap and now suddenly I was experiencing the force of a dam breaking. Somnix lurched backwards, the shadow snake that was crushing the Pigeon King vanished into smoke, and the nightmare wraith brayed like a wounded donkey.
The Shock Rune appeared in my mind’s eye and I sent that power down the Chain. I had no idea how I had done it, but the Chain suddenly crackled with blue energy. Somnix’s eyes widened as he saw the power surge towards him. He raised his other hand, palm towards me, gathering power, but he wasn’t quick enough. Volts of energy crackled through his arm and into his body. He bucked like a mad mule, trying to pull himself free of the Chain, his body convulsing as the fur on his arm smoked.
“What’s the matter, goat boy?” I spat at him. “Not so fun when someone’s causing you pain?”
It felt good. It felt righteous. I took pleasure in hurting Somnix, watching him writhe and convulse, cowering in front of my power.
“You wanted to see my pain?” I hissed at him, stepping towards him. “You wanted to make fun of me? Make me feel small and weak? Well here it is you bastard! Here’s my pain! How does it feel?” I twisted the Chain and sent more crackles of energy pulsing down it, relishing his animalistic wailing. “You used my mother? My mum!” I felt hot tears in my eyes. “Why? Why would you show me all that again, you… you fuck!”
“Because it’s what you are!” Somnix spat back, his teeth clenched. “You are a broken thing. A weak child clinging to the horrors of his life!”
“No, I’m not!” I roared.
“Mageling! Behind you!” The Pigeon King had managed to find his feet in time to see a silky black panther creeping up behind me.
Damn it. Somnix had drawn me in and distracted me long enough to summon another one of his shadow creatures. I spun and tried to whip the Chain at it but Somnix held it fast, accepting the searing pain with a wicked smirk on his face.
“Die little boy and join your kin in the dirt.” Somnix said with a foul, satisfied smirk on his face.
The panther leapt. The Pigeon King was too far and injured to intercept it. I saw its jaws open wide, fangs gleaming in the candlelight. I raised my left hand and pointed my gun fingers.
“Bang!” I said.
If I was shooting a little pistol before, now I’d upgraded to a supercharged bazooka. The report of my gun fingers cracked like cannon fire and the kickback almost took me off my feet. I didn’t put a hole in the shadow panther, I evaporated it. The snarling face, and upper torso were obliterated and the bottom half splatted to the floor and turned into smoke.
I stared at my smoking fingers and then whirled on Somnix. But the monster hadn’t survived for a 1000 years by waiting around to have holes put in him. He was darting across the walls of the hall, literally sprinting horizontally across them. How had he escaped my Chain? I looked down at the end of the Chain and my stomach rolled. Somnix had cut through his own arm. His twitching hand was on the floor in a puddle of inky black blood, the digits still twitching.
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“Do not let him escape!” the Pigeon King barked.
He stumbled into a run and forced his broken body to take flight after Somnix. I aimed my finger pistols at the beast and began firing off explosions. The juiced up finger cannons proved to be unwieldy and impossible to aim. I blew chunks out of the wall feet away from Somnix who was a dark blur, blood flying from his severed arm as he sprinted the wall. He leapt from the wall, cracking the stone beneath him, and summoned a wall of shadow, sending it at me. I levelled my finger gun and blew holes in the wall. It flew harmlessly past me and I realised too late it was just a distraction.
Tendrils of shadow whipped at me, lashing around my legs and one around my arm, wrenching at my limbs. Somnix was trying to rip me apart! I fought to stop my limbs from popping out of my joints. Golden blades of light slashed down from above and severed the tentacles. I fell to the floor and looked up and saw the Pigeon King wheeling around above me, his feathers glowing.
“Do not let up now, mageling!” the Pigeon King cried as he dove towards Somnix.
They clashed on the dais. The Pigeon King slashed Somnix’s chest. The Nightmare Wraith lashed out with his horns and butted the Pigeon King. They separated and then hurled bolts of energy at each other. Gold and inky black clashed and exploded between them. The Pigeon King was buffeted back and lost altitude. Somnix staggered but recovered quickly. He summoned up a spear to hurl at the Pigeon King and I leapt. I whipped my Chain at him. Somnix saw it coming and dived out of the way, his powerful hind legs rocketed him upwards and over the flailing Chain but that made him an easy target. I raised my gunfingers and sent four bursts of explosive energy at him. Two missed completely, one clipped his leg and spun him, and the fourth caught him square in the chest. Somnix was blasted out of the air and sent spinning into the wall.
There was a great crash and explosion of stone and dust. A cloud of debris obscured Somnix. The Pigeon King wheeled around and dropped clumsily down next to me. He was panting and looked to be near exhaustion, and so was I. I didn't know where this well of power had come from, but it was starting to run dry. Sending out those bazooka blasts from my fingertips, while wielding the Chain, was leaving me exhausted. My entire arm had gone numb already, and the Chain was feeling heavier and heavier in my hands.
"How are you holding up, mageling?" the Pigeon King said to me quietly as we both stared into the cloud of dust.
"I think I'm reaching my limit. How about you?”
"There is still resolve in these feathers," the Pigeon King replied. "But I too am beginning to strain the edges of my abilities.
“This guy can sure take a hit, can’t he?”
"He is weakening," the Pigeon King replied. "Have you noticed there's no more summonings? No more shadow beasts? All the damage is beginning to add up. Somnix, even in his own kingdom, is not invulnerable," the Pigeon King said.
"So we just gotta keep hammering him?" I asked, and before the Pigeon King could respond, the dust cleared and something was happening deep in the shadows.
All the candles around the room suddenly flickered and flared at the same time, throwing deep shadows across the room. Then the shadows from the pillars, the dais, the organ, even from us, began to stretch like they were being sucked into a black hole, and all of them were going towards Somnix. I felt immense power reverberating from where the nightmare wraith was. The shadows twisted, spun, stretched, and whirled their way towards him, and when they reached the ball of power that was beginning to envelop him, they spun wildly.
"What's going on?" I said.
"The beast is about to reveal his true self," the Pigeon King replied, his voice like steel.
“What? We haven’t been battling his true form?”
"No," the Pigeon King replied. "We must have hurt him worse than I thought for him to resort to calling upon his full powers.”
"Oh, this is bad," I said as I watched the shadows grow and morph, enveloping the form of Somnix, and he grew taller and broader in the darkness.
"No mageling," the Pigeon King replied. "Now is when we can strike at his heart. Summon whatever will and might you have left and listen closely. I need you to provide a distraction for me. I have just enough power for one more true strike, and I must use it to break open his chest. Once we do that, we can reveal his heart and destroy it. But it will take me time to gather the vestiges of my energy.”
"And if you miss, then we're dead," I finished for him.
"No," the Pigeon King replied. "Our bodies will live on as catatonic shells. It will be our minds that die.”
"Great," I replied. "How long is it gonna take you?”
"I cannot say," the Pigeon King replied. "You must keep Somnix away from me.”
"Okay," I said.
As the dust cleared and the shadows finally settled, Somnix's form morphed and twisted. Above the whipping of the air, I could hear bones breaking, and flesh tearing. A monstrous roar emanated from the beast. He was 16, maybe even 18 feet tall now, and as wide as a house. Long spikes peppered his skin and his horns had grown to 6 feet long. His skin was entirely inky black, and his eyes, those demonic eyes, were blood red. He took one stomping step forward and then roared so loudly the cavernous room shook.
Oh, we're so dead.
Ascension Of The Throne[LitRPG/GunSlinger]
Edric Veyra's new reality. He only wants to survive, but trouble knocks like it's DoorDash. He soon realizes he is the fallen heir of House Veyra—once the pillars of the nation, now nothing more than a story.
System. Before he can mourn his luck, he is bombarded by cryptic memories and a weapon magically appears from thin air: a flintlock gun engraved with runes that shoots magic bullets.
"Why did House Veyra fall?"
WHAT TO EXPECT:
- ?? Weak to Strong:
- ?? 'Lite' LitRPG System w/ Minimal Stats
- ?? Emphasis on Party Dynamics (No Harem)
- ?? 1500+ words/chapter & Smooth pacing