Nightmare Realm Summoner

The white links of Alex’s anchor slammed down around his fist. He let out a delighted laugh, the Singularity Core turning over within him as the first monsters drew up close to him. Alex was spinning before the last links of his weapon had materialized.

A monster leapt at him. Chain links clotheslined it. The monster’s eyes bulged under the immense weight of the weapon before it was sent hurting through the air in orbit around Alex like a fly pressed to the windshield of a car.

Alex didn’t stop spinning. He kept his pull on the Singularity Core active. The final parts of the anchor took form and the huge chunk of metal drove right into the crowd of monsters racing toward him. Bodies transformed into fine mist. He barely even felt the impacts as he rotated, his laughter filling the air.

He turned the Singularity Core over again and again, faster than he’d ever tried to before. The anchor’s orbits around him accelerated. A keen whine filled the air as he transformed into heavy metal blender. It would have lying to claim he was still in control. He was spinning to fast to see anything around him other than the blur of dark greens and splays of red arcing through the air whenever an enemy was unfortunate enough to emerge from the forest anywhere near him.

Deafening crashes and the blast of crashing magic tore through the evening. He could just barely make out the howls and screams of the horde around him as he rotated. Everything else was drowned out by the whooping roar of his chain-axe.

His body definitely would have been torn to shreds by the sheer forces bearing down on it had he not been strengthened by the System and his progression through the Forsaken Grounds. Even with the immense resilience his form had gained, Alex could feel the strain building.

He couldn’t keep this going forever — and he was seeing fewer splatters of color at the edges of his vision. It seemed the horde had parted around him to avoid redecorating the trees with their innards.

Alex tightened his grip on the anchor and slowly eased his hold on the Singularity Core. The orbits of the weapon slowed. He adjusted its course, sending the heavy anchor crashing down into the earth and bringing it to a halt. A wave of dizziness drove into him.

A monster leapt at him with a howl, thrusting a barbed spear down for his throat.

Alex forced his body to move. He raised his hands.

A huge, sludgy hand slammed into the creature with a crunch. The gangly humanoid monster shot through the air and slammed into a tree, wrapping around it as its spine cracked. It dropped to the ground, twitching.

“Thanks,” Alex said as Princess rose up to her full height alongside him. His monster, somewhat predictably, didn’t respond. She just turned as he sent several more mental commands to her, sending Princess loping toward the parts of the horde that were the thickest.

To his side, Ein’Zahl puppeted Glint’s body through hordes in a spinning silver blur. His cloak flashed in a deadly dance at his side as it sliced through flesh and armor alike. Huge blasts of elemental magic ripped through the field as Orchid rained death down from her spot atop Mirrorwane’s walls.

Faint threads of glowing blue energy spiderwebbed outward from Spark, snagging the bodies of the monsters that had died anywhere near him and slowly dragging them back to hang from his branches. Several corpses had already been re-animated, their eyes glowing molten blue as they flung themselves into the battle, ignoring the blades that carved into them as they threw their new lives into tearing their former allies apart.

Claire leapt from one spot to another, soaring on her black wings as her black whip snaked out to strike at her targets. It struck with enough force to shatter armor and send those unfortunate enough to be struck bouncing across the ground like toys.

A grin spread across Alex’s lips. For all the forces that the first wave had brought, they were being slaughtered. They might have been in the Adept stage… but it was clear that the vast majority of them were nowhere near at the same level as Mirrorwane’s forces.

They’d already pushed the attacking monsters back into the forest, but nobody had followed them in. Fighting within the woods gave the monsters a chance to get behind them. Mirrorwane had the defender’s advantage, and Orchid had trained everyone far too well for them to overextend just because they were winning the initial fight.

Alex glanced around for another monster to attack, only for him to find that there were none in the area. The attacks hadn’t yet stopped. There were still leagues more in the forest. But every time one emerged, they were carved apart by one manner of attack or another.

Mirrorwane was completely slaughtering them.

Sure, it was only the first of who knew how many waves, but Alex was more than pleased with their progress thus far. He banished his anchor and glanced around the field to see if anyone was struggling and needed reinforcement. Alex wasn’t sure if he was pleased or disappointed to find that nobody did.

Their defensive line hadn’t faltered anywhere.

Damn. Good shit. I can’t wait to see—

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The world shifted.

Alex stumbled as he suddenly found himself standing at the Warp Relay, facing off against Mite.

“Mirrorlands!” Mite barked.

Alex burst into motion, sprinting for the Warped Embassy without so much as a word. He heard the Warp Relay activate behind him again. There was no time to check who else had been summoned. He’d find out soon enough.

Reaching the entrance of the Warped Embassy, Alex flung himself through the rift within it without so much as slowing. A buzz filled his ears as the world shifted once more — and then he was in the Mirrorlands.

Abby stood just beside him at the entrance of the building, gripping a sword in both hands.

“They’re in the forest!” she said urgently. “I haven’t seen anything specific, but normal monsters would have tried to attack by now. We’ve still got barebones forces, but not enough for a full attack.”

Alex nodded. He darted off, shooting a look up to the storming Mirrorlands sky as he ran. The Trial message floated overhead, just as it had in 274-50. And if he could still it here… there was a damn good chance that both versions of the town were indeed under siege.

He climbed the Veil of Stolen Confessions ringing, leaping up onto the top of the wall to look down on the surroundings from above. And there he stood. His heart pounded in his chest as his eyes darted around in search of an opponent — but there was nothing.

Alex’s eyes narrowed. He drew on his magic, summoning Glint and Princess from 274-50. He left Spark behind — the monster was best suited going up against large hordes. It would be best to leave him with the main town for the time being.

The whump of wings beating against the air came from behind Alex. Claire alighted on the wall beside him. Her gaze quickly traveled over the Mirrorlands around them.

“See anything?” she asked.

“No,” Alex replied with a shake of his head. “But Abby said she did. And given the message is here as well…”

“Yeah. Looks like we got unlucky,” Claire said. She paused for a moment. “Or lucky. Depends on the perspective. We’re definitely going to get a better reward.”

Alex chuckled, but he didn’t let his attention falter. He squinted into the twisted forest surrounding their town, still trying to make anything out within its shadows. All he found was darkness. His lips thinned.

“If anything is here, then it’s definitely hiding.”

“It seems so,” Claire agreed. She looked up to the sky briefly. “Hm. Nothing actually mentions a deadline. The monsters here could be planning to wait until we’re forced to go hunting in a less advantageous area.”

“You’re kidding,” Alex said. “You think they’re that intelligent?”

“We can’t discount the possibility,” Claire replied. She glanced over to Princess, who was perched rather precariously on the wall. It really wasn’t meant to fit something the huge monster’s size. “You should send your monsters in. See if they can find anything. I don’t want to put anything past the Mirrorlands. We could be up against something that needs more than a skeleton force here.”

Alex nodded. He sent a quick command to Princess.

The Mirematron leapt. She hurtled down, splattering to the ground with a thunderous squelch — which was really a combination of sounds that had no right existing in the first place. Her body knit itself back together, rising back up to its proper height, and then she lumbered into the forest.

“I will take a look as well,” Ein’Zahl said. “I have no desire to stand around on top of the wall like a lout.”

He leapt, sliding down the side of the eye-covered wall before hitting the ground in a fluid run and racing after Princess.

Alex and Claire glanced to each other.

“You think this might have something to do with the variable aspect that the Trial mentioned?” Alex asked.

“Probably,” Claire replied, her voice distant. It was clear she was deep in thought. “I honestly don’t understand what that means. How can there be an outcome to something like this other than either victory or defeat? Maybe the System is implying that the extent of the damage our towns take could play into the reward?”

“Could be it,” Alex allowed. They were both silent for several seconds as they waited for any sign of combat from within the forest. Nothing came. Both Princess and Glint were silent. They hadn’t run into anything yet. Even if they’d been ambushed and killed instantly, Alex would have known the moment they died. “But I feel like that wound be almost implied, right? Like we’d obviously get a better reward if we have a clean sweep victory than if Mirrorwane got torched.”

“Yeah,” Claire said through a frown. “We can’t pull too many people from 274-50 to back us up here. We don’t have the forces to man the Warp Relay in two different dimensions at the same time while also keeping all our defenses.”

Alex grunted. “Well, right now, we don’t need anyone else. Let’s just give Princess and Glint some time to—”

The forest exploded.

A huge section of warped trees deep into the woods tore up, spinning up into the air. The air was split by dozens of loud, rumbling cracks, and a huge form tore up from the ground. Alex and Claire’s necks craned up, disbelief carving across their features as a looming humanoid giant rose to one knee, then up to its full height. It was nearly as tall as Mirrorwane’s walls.

The massive monster’s body was made up of thousands of gray roots that had been poorly woven together, leaving behind huge gaps, almost like the walls of a seriously messed up birdcage. There didn’t seem to be anything within the giant. It was hollow, but that did nothing to make it any less intimidating.

Its eyes burned with two brilliant green flames the size of houses. In one of its hands was a massive blade made up of the same material as the rest of its body. The weapon alone looked large enough to flatten a large section of Mirrorwane with a single blow.

And, as Alex watched in stunned disbelief, it kicked a foot up into the air. Trees shattered and cracked, sailing upward along with Princess. The Dire Matron flailed for several seconds as she soared through the sky before crashing down a the base of the walls just a short distance from him. Sludge splattered in every direction, but her form managed to absorb the impact without letting any of her masks crack.

“Holy shit,” Alex breathed. “That’s one big bastard.”

And stranger still was the fact that the giant didn’t have any manner of name to identify it. The System wasn’t displaying anything despite it being right in front of them.

What, does it have an item to protect its information?

“It was lying in wait,” Claire growled. “We’ve got an intelligent enemy. And if it’s smart, then it probably knows that it wins when it destroys the town, not us.”

The giant took a step toward them. Its foot fell with enough force to send a tremor racing through the forest, shattering trees like twigs beneath its heel.

“Then let’s go stop it before it can.” Alex raised his hand, summoning his anchor back into being and drawing on the Singularity Core. He gave it a single spin, sending the massive weapon screaming over both of their heads.

Then he launched it — and himself — through the air and straight toward the giant monster.