106 It Comes

I frowned, “What?”

Ajax spoke with a voice like metal,

“We need to escape, before he awakens. You cannot fight him.”

I kept my guard up, “I don’t trust you.”

Ajax stepped forward, “Good. You shouldn’t. Not yet. I can promise you that there are other ways of handling Yawm besides fighting him. I can show you those ways, for something in turn.”

Althea skulked up, her form invisible and without sound. Ajax turned towards her, “I can see you, hunter. Understand that I’m not in a position where I fear either of you.”

He finished speaking and disappeared. It was a complete and utter erasal of his existence. Nothing remained, not his scent, the heat off his breath, not even his effect on gravity. A second later, he appeared beside Althea. He grabbed her skull, lifting her with a single hand,

“I could squash your head ike crushing a ripe fruit.” He set her down, “But I’m not. That alone should warrant some kind of discussion.” He turned to me,”Should it not?”

Althea stepped back, fear written over her face. She touched her face with her hands, making sure she was still alive. Ajax laughed, “Come now, I already know you revive after death. There’s no need to act in front of me.”

Althea’s fear disappeared, a grimace replacing it. Ajax turned to me, “I can hide in places neither of you can see. I am the eyes and ears of Yawm, and I have watched you since your time in BloodHollow.”

I whispered, “There’s no way.”

Ajax raised a hand, “There are things that exist that you know nothing of. There are places that you are blind too. I can share them with you. I can open your closed eyes, and give you what you need to fight Yawm, but I need something first.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, “Like what? Our souls?”

Ajax laughed, “Hah hah, No. I need my soul back instead.”

Confusion leaked onto our faces before Ajax continued,

“Yawm has experimented with all of us followers. I am the most sane of us, but I still carry scars.”

Ajax took his hand and plunged his fingertips into his own chest. They broke through the bark as Althea grimaced. Ajax pulled, opening up his chest. Within him, there were bloodshot eyes, grinning mouths, and whispering voices. Ajax lowered his hand, letting his chest heal.

“This is what has been done to me. I ask you to cure it, just as you cured Kessiah.”

I frowned, “Cure that? I didn’t cure anything...wait...You mean after Dakhma infected her?”

Ajax nodded, “Precisely. Heal me of my affliction and I will give you what you need to know against Yawm. Otherwise, every person here will die in moments.”

Above us, Yawm stirred within his shining green prison. As he moved, the ground quaked beneath us. Ajax raised his hands,

“Trust me when I tell you this. You do not have time to hesitate. You have two options. Help me and I will help you, or Yawm obliterates you both. That is-”

Ajax rolled his shoulders, “Unless I kill you first. What is your decision, Harbinger?”

I raised a hand towards him, “You have to explain everything before I help you.”

Ajax leaned back and laughed, “And tell me why you’re in the position to make demands?”

I pointed up at Yawm, “Because I can tell him that you let three of his followers be killed.”

Ajax lowered his right hand, “I’ll kill you before you can.”

I banged my fists together, “I told you what I would accept. Good luck finishing me off that fast.”

Mana charged into my runes, the red aura of energy radiating out,

“I'm very, very hard to kill.”

Ajax raised his right hand and clasped it. The fluid movement split reality at my neck. It was an odd sensation, like he was cleaving the fabric of dimensions apart around me. It didn’t cleave me apart, however. IT felt like I wasn't the dimension he was slicing.

It confused Ajax more than it confused me even. Ajax’s eyes were glowing, green orbs, and one opened wide while another narrowed. It was like he was raising an eyebrow at us,

“You’re not of this plane...You’re somewhere else, while being here...What are you?”

I charged at him, “Something that will kick your ass.”

Ajax raised a palm to me as he shouted, “Stop. I’ll do as you ask.”

I stomped my foot into the ground, extending my footing with telekinesis. The ground caved in around us. I stood up, my hands lowering, “You will?”

Ajax nodded, “Yes. I can’t dispatch of you quickly because of your...I don’t know exactly. You will live long enough to tell Yawm of what I’ve done. I’ll do as you ask and tell you all I know. We must leave now, however. Yawm’s wrath will level this entire city once he’s awakened. That army of yours is dead already.”

I gripped my hands into fists, “Fuck. Really? It’s that bad?”

Ajax leaned his head, giving me a Kubrick stare, “I will not reiterate my words again. He is death incarnate. We must run.”

I turned away from him, pacing behind Althea. I shouted at Hod, "Hey, come over here."

Hod walked up to us as I opened my status screen, writing out a message to Torix and Kessiah.

Dimension C-138(01/04/2 11:42 P.M.) - Abort mission. Get out with the legion. Elijah’s dead. Ajax is with us. It’s complicated. He may help us. Don’t count on it.

Althea guarded me the entire time as I wrote out the message. Once I finished, I turned towards Ajax,

“Alright. We’re running right now. If you can actually help us, then this is good. We could use a dimension slicing alien on our side.”

Before I finished closing my status, I poured all my points into endurance. Better to get the points in now then later. Before I finished doing so, a perk came up.

The Endless One(Endurance over 10,000, Genesis of Potential tree unlocked, Obliterator tree unlocked, Devotion to the Enduring perk unlocked) - Unlocks the Endless legacy. Only one legacy can be active at any time.

I didn’t really know what a legacy did. I didn’t have time to stand still and figure out either. I turned towards the others, “Let’s go.”

I sprinted away from the world tree, The rest of the group followed not far behind. I ran up beside Althea,

“Can you guard me while I handle my status points? I’ll guard you right after.”

She nodded at me before going back to staring at Ajax. The porytian alien kept pace with ease, his movements lithe and calculated. He didn’t feel or look hostile. Instead his shoulders loosened up in relief. He even sighed as we gained some distance from Yawm.

His relaxation only made me more nervous. He knew what we were up against. It didn’t look good. I glanced back at my status, trying to squeeze any advantage out that I could.

So I observed the endurance perk closer for details. I couldn’t find anything that hinted at what it was either. I remember it being mentioned whenever I unlocked a perk a long time ago. I figured it wouldn’t come up for a while. It was time to figure out.

Even without knowing what it was, I invested a perk point into it. One attribute was a drop in an ocean of stats for me now. Even if the perk wasn’t overwhelming, it would certainly be better than one more point endurance.

Once I selected the perk, I invested all the rest of my attribute points into endurance. With that in mind, I opened up my tree menu and put all my points into my current tree, the Killer of Titans. I had enough points to complete it.

Your own mass is something to fear. The ground quakes under footsteps. Enemies will know your coming. They will hear a titan that leaves destruction in its wake. They will hear the might of a giant that crushes cities under its feet.

They will hear you.

Killer of Titans(Tier 5) unlocked! +130% to total mass. +10% of total level added to constitution. 10% more damage against foes with higher mass.

The tree was a surprising boon. Constitution was one of my best stats with my dimensional storage. With a few extra points left, my tree menu opened. There was some interesting options.

Bounty Hunter(Finish an A tier bounty)(0/500) | Immense(have over 50,000,000 effective health, have a mass of over 100,000 pounds (45,360~Kilograms))(0/2,500) | Legendary(Gain a legendary skill)(0/2,500)

I had two tough choices. Bounty hunter wasn’t one of those. It didn’t synergize with my build like Immense or Legendary did. I didn’t have an enormous amount of time for deliberation, so I chose Immense. It seemed like something that would increase my health. I could convert that into more health regen, which let me make more stats.

It was like a cycle that fed into itself. I was already in the habit of feeding the eldritch rune all my excess mana. In fact, I hadn’t checked out the bonuses in a while. I opened up my armor menu and glanced at the last bonus.

[Modifications - The dimensional fabric composing this structure has been modified with code from the dimensional cipher. The bonuses are as follows.

+68 Strength

+68 Dexterity]

The bonuses were amounting to something now. With all that handled, I selected finalize on my status screen. My mana generation surged, along with my strength and size. My armor tore once more. I grew several inches in height in an instant. It was an intoxicating rush.

With how many extra stats I gained from spamming endurance, my stat layout was well rounded. Combine that with the per level bonuses from my leveling perks, and each level improved almost everything. Leveling was like evolving into a better version of myself each time. One level was hard to notice by now. Several hundred though? That made a big difference.

Considering that each follower was a massive leap, this rush was palpable. Clearer sight, thoughts, and movement followed an increase in vitality. I was a mana factory at this point, generating massive flows of energy. With how the eldritch runes worked on my forearm, I could convert that mana into raw stats.

It meant endurance was and always would be king for my build. Before I could analyze my status, a notification was in front of me, blocking my screen.

Legacy unlocked! Endless(Tier C)! Legacies allow for the creation of guilds and give stat bonuses to those that join your guild. The grade of your Legacy determines the increase. These bonuses are meager at the lowest tier, tier F. They are very strong for higher tier legacies, like tier A or S.

Endless(Tier C) - Grants 50 endurance and 25 willpower for anyone who joins your guild. Requires at least level 300 to join your guild if you choose to make one. This bonus does not apply to you, only those that join your guild.

It was an interesting prospect. It made me wonder what the bonus was for the legion, if they had one. The legion seemed more like a guild regulated and controlled by Schema, not by a person. It offered technology and training rather than raw stats. The stats didn't amount to some massive amount for anyone, but it was a nice bonus.

The real use of it came with offering it to someone. I could have people do odd jobs for me, collect information, gather artifacts, etcetera. In exchange, I let them join my guild and gain free stats. I would have to speak with Torix about it first.

If I could make a powerful guild, then that would be something worth exploring. I didn’t want to ruin that before it even got off the ground. With all that finished, I opened my status screen and checked out the changes. They were epic.

Level 2,406

Strength – 2,226 | Constitution – 3,246 | Endurance – 11,031

Dexterity – 810 | Willpower – 5,453 | Intelligence – 1,902

Charisma – 194 | Luck – 595 | Perception – 323

************************************

Health: 863,485/863,485 | Health Regen: 728,291/min or 14,391/sec

Stamina: 483,817/483,817 | Stamina Regen: 4,452/sec

Living Dimension: 0.14 Trillion/4.30 Trillion

Mass: 102,261 pounds(46,384 kilos)

Damage Res - 98.5% | Dimensional Res - 49.25%

Phys Dam Bonus – 26,350% | Damage Bonus – 40%

Event Horizon – 20,000 + (100% of your total health)/min

My health regeneration was increasing faster than my health was. My status changed a bit from previous versions as well. All the damage resistances fused into one, besides for dimensional res. That was probably because it was a different value.

Overall, several of my stats were inflated from my perks and trees. My endurance was higher than it should be by far. My willpower was as well. I imagined my constitution and strength were what a warrior’s build normally was. My intelligence was hyper inflated for a fighter in general. My luck and perception were likely higher than a normal fighter too.

Charisma was a stat that lagged behind because my armor reduced it. Besides for that though, I was a stat stick from hell. I could out attribute anybody that was near my level, giving me an edge if raw power. After a few more months of using the dimensional cipher, I would edge out anyone in raw stats.

Working on that was on the top of my priority list now, but I needed time. That was something none of us had. Ajax, Althea, and I all ran away from Yawm with all we had at that moment. I turned behind me, and something like sweat was pouring off of Ajax. I shouted,

“Are you alright, Ajax?”

He shook his head, “No...He’s come.”

Right after he spoke, I glanced up at the world tree. We were half a mile away by then. I was flying through the air, giving me an aerial view of the city. The green glow of the world tree had dimmed. Yawm stirred within his prison. With each movement, waves shot through the ground around the world tree.

With my enhanced vision, I saw him with pristine detail. His eyes cracked open. As they did, the green lines traced across his skin. The intensity of the light enhanced until he shined like a star on earth. The light dimmed down before the runes across his skin began glowing.

As the runes over an arm glowed green, he moved it from his fetal position. Another arm cracked off, then a leg, then his other leg. Yawm struggled against some unseen force before stretching out his arms.

The unseen shackles around him snapped. A hellish shockwave rippled through the city, radiating from him. The wave was vast and powerful. Trees uprooted. Windows shattered. Buildings collapsed. All of the floating islands within the rift crashed down onto the ground as the wave passed them.

The wave of force shot through the rest of the city after. A gust of wind followed in its wake. This gust collapsed buildings and flipped cars. Miles above yawm, clouds were sent outward. A circular opening appeared in the gray, cloudy sky, letting light beam down onto where Yawm stood.

It was like watching a nuclear bomb drop onto a city. The shockwave reached us. In mid flight, even I was sent tumbling by the unbelievable energy.

I rolled through the air before crashing into the ground. Pavement rushed past my face, wind howling in my ears. Dirt, dust, and rocks were sent past me in the shockwave. Boulders rolled by me. Every piece of untempered glass was broken apart. By the time I oriented myself once more, I found myself on the top of a hill.

I jumped onto the top of a building, getting a better view of Yawm. He had raised his hand towards the legion’s battle. Facing the black plumes of smoke, Yawm coalesced a blue light into his palm. He launched it towards the legion. As it passed over the city, grass and trees burst into flames. The world burned as the ball of light passed over it.

Before the light collided with the steel legion, I looked above Yawm to check his status. When I saw it, I fell to my knees, the concrete beneath me cracking. I grabbed the sides of my face, my stomach sinking.

A hollow, sickening sensation crept through my body, leaving me numb. There was a reason Schema hadn’t sent Overseer’s to fight him. There was a reason that Schema hadn’t sent a some higher level person either.

He was simply too strong.