Chapter 77 – Too Late

As Riddick was beginning the fight for his life, Dream was ending his.

*Thud*

"Oof..."

*Click*

[I win.]

Dream laid on the floor, looking up at Sophia who was pointing a gun to his face.

"...No fair."

[All is fair in love and war.]

"This isn't war."

[You're right, its love.]

Sophia put out a hand. Dream grabbed it and was pulled up.

The training he had been doing was all with Sophia. And they had done a variety of things over the last dozen hours. Mainly combat.

Sophia trained him in some martial arts combined with the use of his weapons. There was no particular goal other than to beat her. But in the last 12 hours, that never happened.

This was the reason Dream said that it wasn't fair. It was the hundredth time that he was thrown to the floor and the thousandth time he was beaten. And the reason was that Sophia knew every damn martial art there was. He was never able to beat her in anything. 

[You've been getting better though. Definitely better than you were 12 hours ago.]

"Thanks."

[Time to rest?]

"I think so. I've never done anything like that for 12 hours straight. It's weird not getting tired."

[Your actual body is like that as well. It has no need for sleep and it doesn't get fatigued. So staying awake indefinitely isn't impossible. Though yes, you will need to get used to it, at least mentally. That might be something we can work on.]

"Maybe."

As they spoke, the surroundings changed and they appeared back in the cabin. They sat down at a table where food appeared for them.

Dream and Sophia began eating the food in front of them. It was pizza. They took slices and ate as much as they wanted.

It wasn't like the food did anything for them. Dream ate because it tasted good, and same with Sophia. Though he wondered if she actually tasted anything.

[I can.]

"Taste?"

[Yes.]

"How does that work?"

[Everything I know comes from you. This includes senses, which are basically a form of data. Taste, touch, smell, sight, and hearing. I get them all, and they pretty much affect me the same way as you. Though I have control over the data, so I can change things as I wish, but I usually don't.]

"Interesting."

Dream continued eating while looking at her, happy that she could experience senses the same way he did. She also watched him, smiling sweetly as she nomed on the melting cheese falling off her slice.

"*gulp* Damn, this pizza is good. Is this from that restaurant?"

[Yup. Frantone's pizza. I know it's your favorite.]

"Of course. I would go there for my birthday instead of having a party. It was always fun getting the family together."

Dream sat back as old memories came to him. 

"...So how's Earth doing?"

[The panic from the angels is dying down. But the demons are growing in strength by the day. We also have our first batch of class 1's. And the mana concentration is only a bit below this world's. Monsters are spawning excessively, and this is leading to more deaths. But its also giving more chances for people to grow.]

"What's the death toll?"

[910 million.]

"..."

Dream flinched a bit hearing that number. Almost a billion people have died? There were only 15 billion people on Earth. 

[You don't have to worry about that number increasing too much more. At least for now. The world is beginning to adapt and people are handling themselves. The only thing that'll change this is the demons. And the angels are assisting the elites of the world to go and fight the demons while they're still in the early stages of development. I've also made accommodations with the Seeker program. So for the time being, nothing crazy will happen.]

"...Thanks."

[Of course.]

Dream just thanked her and finished his slice of pizza. There was no use worrying about it when they had done everything they could.

"So what about the demons here?"

[Proliferating at an insane rate. Many times faster than on Earth. They've taken over two more kingdoms on the third continent. I have a feeling that they're able to take on class 3's. Whether it's with numbers or individual strength, I'm not sure. We won't be able to get a good look at them until we do so in person.]

"Have the Empires made any movements?"

[Also hard to tell. The Mercenary Empire is right by the landbridge that connects the two continents. So if anything happens, it'll hit them first. It's a good thing that everyone there is a fighter. Worst case, they'd be able to buy us lots of time should the demons invade.]

"Mm."

Dream nodded while chewing another slice of pizza. At least he didn't have to worry about them right now. He had other things to focus on right now. Like eating pizza.

"...How's the family?"

Dream suddenly felt like asking about them. 

[They've been in a skirmish for a bit, maybe a couple of hours. Though there are more foxes attacking them this time.]

"How many?"

[Usually, there's only around a dozen. But now there are over 30.]

"...Why so many? Don't they just harass them?"

[I'm not sure. But Riddick is moving around, so it looks like things are fine. He's able to handle himself.]

"...He'll have to. At least until we're done. But why..."

Dream felt uncomfortable. He wasn't sure why. It was like something bad was going to happen. But whether it was on Earth or here, there was nothing he could do for any of the problems right now. Especially the family. And he wanted to put it aside, but Luna kept popping into his head.

[It's your familiar connection with her. She must be scared.]

"I know. I felt it when we first split up. She had been scared for a while, but it eventually went away. So why is she scared now? What's going on?"

[They're in that battle right now. I would give you more details, but I can only see so much with all the trees above them.]

"...I don't like it."

Dream felt his heart rate rise. He was panicky. It was like the connection was tearing at him. 

"I...But we can't go over there..."

[Yes you can.]

"..."

[Something's happening. Her connection has never tugged on you like that. So let's check it out. At least get closer.]

"...Fine."

After he said that, his vision went dark. He momentarily woke up in his body which was still in the container for the core. He stood up.

[Let me pull the connection from the core.]

Dream felt his mana come back and fill him up. It looks like Sophia had saturated the hell out of the core. 

[Alright. We're good.]

Without another word, Dream tore a hole in the roots around him and went through. After sealing it back, he began rising out of the lake.

*Splash!*

His body shot out of the lake and up to the roof of the dome. After maneuvering through the leaves, he popped out and rose into the sky.

"Where?"

[That way.]

Dream saw a blip in his vision and equipped his armor. Then, he shot off, quickly accelerating to top speed.

[They're almost 3000 miles away, so it'll take a while to reach them.]

"I don't think we have all the time in the world. How fast can I go while consuming mana from the cubes?"

[If we empty them all by the time we get there, you'll be able to go around 1200 miles an hour. But if you give me time to enchant the mana balls and we use those in conjunction with the cubes, we'll be able to go faster.]

"That's fine with me."

After he said that, 30 cubes and the 20 mana balls appeared around him. They circled him like a hamster ball, and Dream could feel mana being exchanged among them. After a minute or so, the mana settled.

[Enchantment complete.]

<[Magic] has leveled up!>

<[Magic] has leveled up!>

After she said that, Dream got a couple of notifications. The mana balls also began to operate and condense mana around him. The mana concentration shot up and the cubes began to transmit mana to his suit as well as pull in mana from the surroundings. 

Overall, his immediate environment turned into a dense blob of flying mana. This enabled him to speed past his previously top speed.

He dumped mana into his suit and accelerated past 1000 miles per hour. He noticed that he wasn't consuming mana, so he kept pushing his speed.

1000, 1100, 1200.

Soon he was moving 1300 miles per hour. He still wasn't losing mana.

[Calculation complete. Top speed is 1633 miles per hour with light consumption of mana.]

"...Damn."

Dream exclaimed a bit and accelerated more. Within a minute or so, he reached his top speed. 

When he looked down, he saw blurs of trees passing by. He never saw a patch of trees for more than fractions of a second. 

'Sophia, how many meters per second is this?'

[About 730.]

'And how were you able to get this kind of speed?'

[Using your armor as the anchor, I was able to create a semi-isolated environment of mana with the cubes and balls. They connect to each other and form a barrier of mana. The balls fill the area with mana and the cubes collect it. And it all comes back to your suit, allowing all the mana here to be used as fuel. And since it's an isolated environment, we don't have to worry about losing the mana while moving.]

'...Fun.'

Dream smiled a bit in excitement. It was fun being able to go this fast. He was reaching fighter jet speeds. Though if he had to fight wind resistance, he would probably be going quite a bit slower. 

[You got an hour and a half before you arrive.]

'...Let's hope nothing bad is actually happening.

Dream's smile went away as the connection continued to tug on him. It would be a long hour and a half.

...............

.........

....

As Dream was flying in their direction, the family was getting into a worse and worse situation. 

*Slice!*

"Argh!"

"Dad?!"

Riddick grunted as his left arm was sliced clean off. The girls saw this and panicked. 

"Our lead may have been arrogant, but he was right, Riddick Durov. You can't fight all of us."

The assassin, who was the only remaining assassin out of the original three, spoke to Riddick. Another fox, one of the mages, also spoke.

"Indeed. But I will say, Riddick, you've done well to kill those other four. It seems it's only us who fought you from all those years ago that are still standing."

"That's right. Destiny is a funny thing."

The three remaining foxes stood around Riddick. They were all battered and looked exhausted, but Riddick was in no better shape. Especially now that he just lost an arm.

"...Get the girls."

"Come any closer, and I'll end you."

Riddick raised his head and glared at the assassin.

"You can't even maintain your shield and you want to end me? Mage."

The assassin called out to the mage. He nodded and put up a barrier separating the girls and Riddick.

"No!"

*Boom!*

*Shatter!*

Riddick threw a ball of fire at the barrier and shattered it. Though this only worsened his situation.

"*cough*"

A bit of blood came up after he released the fireball. He kneeled to the floor, barely having the strength to stand. Luna tried to heal him, but even she was running on empty, not to mention the energy required to heal a class 3. She was helpless.

Iris though was doing better than them. She moved in front of her father, snarling at the people around her. The assassin saw this and just shook his head.

"*sigh* Notify the escort. We're finishing this mission."

"Understood."

The third fox brought out a device and activated it. Waves of mana were released as communication.

The assassin walked over to Riddick.

"Get back!"

Iris flared up and was about to lunge at the assassin, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was pulled back.

"D-Dad? No, I can kill him!"

"Iris."

Luna called out to her. Iris turned her head back to see tears streaming down Luna's face.

"Just...say goodbye."

"..."

Iris looked back at the assassin, who had stopped approaching. She then lowered herself and brushed up against her dad.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"There's nothing...to be sorry for."

Riddick brushed her fur with his remaining hand. Then, he took off his wristband and spoke to her through telepathy.

'Take this in your inventory. Don't let them take it. You can talk to him through it.'

Iris quickly put the band in her inventory and inspected it.

'This is-!'

'Yes. Tell him I said sorry.'

"Escort is here!"

Suddenly there was a shout. In the distance, a dozen foxes were approaching.

"Alright. Time's up."

The assassin walked over and used magic, pulling the girls away. The mage also put a barrier between them and Riddick.

"No! Dad! You piece of shit!"

Iris cursed out and lunged towards the assassin, clamping down on his arm.

"Save your energy, girl."

Nothing happened as Iris burned or clawed the assassin. He grabbed her and forced her to the ground, tying her up with some magic rope.

The same thing happened with Luna, though she didn't fight back. She just let herself be tied up, not that she had a choice.

"Target secure. You two, deliver them to escort and head out. It's time to go home."

"Understood."

The two foxes bagged the girls and made their way over to the foxes in the distance. Soon, they, along with the escort, disappeared.

The assassin nodded when they vanished. He turned to Riddick, who was basically laying on the floor.

"After 20 years. The great Prince of Destruction finally falls. But hey, I at least spared your daughters from seeing their father die."

"...Why?"

"Why? Well, you had children with the princess behind the back of the councilor. You're lucky you lived this long. If you were anyone else, he would've died that day by Raoul's own hands."

"...What're you going to do with them?"

"Oh don't worry. They're still princesses themselves. They'll be living the high life, just under a bit of supervision. But unfortunately for you, you won't get to see that."

The assassin brought out his blade and picked up Riddick by his hair. He put the knife up to his throat.

"Any last words?"

"...Uh-huh."

Riddick nodded. The assassin titled his head.

"...Bullet."

"Bul-?"

*Splat!*

*Thud*

"..."

The fox's head exploded and they both fell to the ground. Riddick turned his head and looked up to the sky. 

"...You're too... late..."

Saying those last words, he finally fell unconscious.

...............

..........

....

Sp4de

It's been a while since I've checked in. But when I saw the stats for the story, I was ecstatic. 

200,000 words, 500 readers, nearly 75,000 views, and almost 2,500 favorites. That's freaking wild!

I never would've expected things to come this far, and I just wanted to thank everyone a bit. This is more than just a story for me and it's nice being able to succeed a bit in something I enjoy. 

So anyway, thank you everyone! 

Sincerely,

Your friendly neighborhood Theorist.