Nightmare Realm Summoner

Alex set his stance and readied the black sword that Armament Elegy had given him from Princess’ power. The barbed centipede legs sticking from the edges of the blade twitched and squirmed in eerie unison.

For some reason, they almost resembled the mandibles of the massive crab monsters that were currently advancing on him and spark. There were two of them left — not to mention Aubrey, who was definitely the greatest threat of the lot.

He didn’t have much left to work with.

Aside from the sword, Alex still had his Qi, a cast of Encore, and the silver cloak draped around his shoulders that had come from Glint. He didn’t know what the cloak or the sword did yet. It was looking like he’d get a good chance to find out quite soon.

”Distract one of the crabs,” Alex said to Spark. He didn’t bother keeping the instructions to his thoughts. There wasn’t enough of Aubrey left to hear his words. The System had warped her body in to the bone monstrosity that rose before him, hateful eyes boring into his as she charged alongside the crabs.

How many monsters are of the same make? Is everything I’ve killed just some poor bastard whose world got consumed by the System? Or is Aubrey special?

Alex’s jaw clenched and he sprinted forward, meeting the monsters’ charge. The last thing he wanted to do was sit around until they could surround him. Spark shot off in one direction, making for the leftmost crab to occupy it while Alex angled for the other crab.

He kept it between himself and Aubrey to make sure they couldn’t double team him. Neither of the monsters was exactly nimble, so he had a good chance of isolating the fights.

The crab shifted its weight. A pincer whistled through the air toward Alex. He ducked to the side, rolling into the attack and letting it pass safely over his head. Shoving himself back to his feet, he dove for one of the monster’s legs, swinging his centipede sword with all his might.

A roar split through the air. Not one from Alex, nor from the crabs or Aubrey or Spark.

It came from his sword. The weapon rumbled in his hands like it was trying to buck itself free of his grip, but Alex held strong.

The weapon slammed into the crab’s leg.

There was a loud, crunching shriek. His sword bucked once more. A violent tremor ran down his hands — and the sound of cracking chitin and blending meat filled the air. His sword practically ripped itself through the leg of its own volition.

Alex stumbled, barely managing to keep his balance. He spun with the blow and brought it across another leg beside him. The blow was nearly entirely on accident, but the rumbling shriek filled the air once more as the blade carved straight through the second leg.

He stared at the weapon in his hands in abject disbelief. It was so out of place that his mind was struggling to process the sight before him — but there was simply no denying it.

This wasn’t a sword at all.

”It’s a giant fucking chainsaw,” Alex breathed, his eyes going wide.

The centipede legs whirred along the edges of the blade so fast that they’d simply become a blur. All the blood and gore splattered across the weapon’s surface vanished within the weapon and the rumble within it grew stronger.

It was literally eating his enemies as he cut them.

Alex’s lips split into a cold grin.

An agonized hiss from above him marked that the crab was far from done fighting. Alex dodged to the side as a leg slammed down into the ground where he’d been standing and he swung his sword again.

It tore through the armored leg like it was a piece of paper. The crab stumbled, now down three of its limbs, and Alex pounced. He leapt into the air, driving his chainsword point first into a leg with a whirring crunch, then using that as a springboard to jump right at the monster’s underbelly.

He drove the blade into the crab’s stomach with a roar.

Then he sent a wave of magic ripping free of his arm and through the length of the blade. Mirrored shards exploded from the monster’s stomach as they shredded its inside like a blender. Blood poured from the cracks within the monster’s shell as it swayed.

Alex dropped to the ground, darting out from under the crab as it crashed to the ground, dead.

He didn’t have any time to celebrate the victory. A shadow passed over him. He spun, but it was too late. Even before the crab had crashed down, Aubrey was upon him.

The bone golem let out a wordless roar as it swung a massive hand down straight for Alex’s head.

Oh, shit.

He twisted, but it was too late to dodge. Aubrey had bided her time perfectly, and her fist was already nearly upon him.

A silver blur split through the air at his side. The cloak hanging around his shoulders unfurled, snapping out and driving into the ground. Then it snapped taut. Alex found himself lifted off his feet and hurled to the side.

He hit the ground with a roll and a grunt, the world spinning around him. A flash of silver cut past his vision again and he was suddenly hoisted back upright. The cloak slithered back to its former position at his side.

Holy shit. Did it just dodge the attack for me?

Aubrey didn’t seem to have any plans of letting him ruminate over his new abilities. The bone golem charged him with another rattling roar. Every step she took made the ground tremble beneath her.

Alex bared his teeth.

He tightened his grip on the chainsword in his hands.

Then he met her charge.

Aubrey swung her fist.

The cloak around Alex’s shoulders snapped out, adapting to his desires. It lengthened and drove into the ground behind him. Like the world’s strangest pole-vault, the cloak launched him clean into the air and over the massive bone fist.

Alex landed on Aubrey’s arm. One of the spikes protruding from her flesh drove into his foot, but he ignored the pain and drove the chainsword down into her arm. Then, with a roar, he charged, dragging the weapon through the bone golem behind him.

He raced up the golem’s arm, splitting her body apart behind him as he arrived upon her shoulder. With a grunt, Alex pulled the whirring sword free of the monster’s flesh and reared back, taking aim at her neck.

Aubrey lifted her other hand with a scream of fury. It extended for Alex in a blur.

His cloak snapped out once more, vaulting him into the air. Alex spun, taking advantage of his momentum and bringing the weapon down on the bone golem’s head with a scream of defiance.

The weapon screamed with him. It bucked and shook in his grip as it bit deep into Aubrey’s skull, ripping through the bone and digging itself deeper into her cranium. Smoke filled the air from the friction of the centipede legs against their victim.

Aubrey staggered. The hand that had been reaching for Alex trembled, then fell to her side. She swayed, the light in the monster’s eyes sputtering like a bulb in a forgotten basement.

Alex ripped the sword free from her head and leapt down, landing on the ground and taking several hurried steps before turning back to the monster as it pitched forward, crashing to the black ground with a resounding crash.

The crab that Spark had been distracting fell an instant later, ripped to shreds by the Knight Wraith.

Blood pounded in Alex’s ears as adrenaline poured through his body. It had been a good fight. He’d nearly died... but his thoughts were elsewhere.

Rest easy, Aubrey.

A sudden thought struck Alex. He hadn’t gotten a single Soul Flame from any of the monster’s he’d fought inside the trial — and there was no reason to believe that things would be any different now.

What, so Aubrey’s soul just goes back to the System? To what, get turned into yet another monster? That’s some bullshit. What right does the System get to hold over the afterlife? If you’re dead, you’re fucking dead!

Indignation burned within Alex.

Indignation… and something more. A pressure deep within him, within his heart. It drank his emotions in like a cactus draining the desert of water — and then it shuddered.

Blood trickled down from Alex’s nose and traced across his lips. His ears popped as the pressure abruptly changed and he tasted electricity on his tongue. The world went out of focus for a brief instant.

And, for that instant, he could have sworn that gravity changed its direction. Instead of pulling his feet to the ground, toward the center of the planet, the laws of the universe decided that Alex was now the point to which all things flowed.

Then nature took its proper course once again. Alex staggered, suddenly finding his lungs devoid of air. Stars flashed before his eyes and he nearly tripped over his own feet. He caught himself by driving his sword to the ground.

Alex drew in a ragged breath. He grit his teeth and pushed himself back to his feet. The trial wasn’t done yet. He didn’t know what had just happened, but he couldn’t afford to let himself get distracted. It was probably the side effects from overusing —

He froze.

Aubrey’s body had faded away into nothingness, but not without leaving something behind. Floating in the air where she had fallen was a dim white Soul Flame. It was so faint that it was practically invisible, but it was there.

The System gave me her flame? Why her and nothing else?

Alex frowned, but he didn’t waste time questioning his good fortune. He didn’t know what happened to someone after they died for the second time, but at this point, he trusted himself a whole lot more than he did the System.

Pulling free a Spatial Mirror, Alex strode forward and scooped the flame into it. He returned the mirror to his side and took a quick glance at the crab that Spark had killed. There was no Soul Flame.

Weird.

”Well?” Alex asked, cracking his neck and baring his teeth. ”I’m not done here, Keeper. What’s next?”

There was no answer.

Alex raised his gaze to Keeper.

The monster was staring at him. And, even though its features were completely alien, he could tell exactly what emotion was on Keeper’s face. It was surprise.

”Impossible. How did you do that?” Keeper asked.

”What, did you think I was just going to leave Aubrey to suffer? And she was strong, but not that—”

”Not the woman. I’m talking about what you did after you killed her,” Keeper snapped. ”How did you do it?”

”Do what?” Alex demanded.

Keeper’s flat, silver eye bore down onto Alex like the moon itself as it stared at him, and Alex there was another emotion hidden within its surprise.

Fear.

”How did you steal from the System?”