Lauren's POV
I stood across from her, oozing off waves of confidence that masked a growing frustration.
Armando's death was unfortunate. He was coming along so well…A few more challenging fights and he'd have been on my level.
Garrett, on the other hand, was a ticking time bomb with a half-decent mutation. He'd been freakishly strong and decently talented, but he wasn't irreplaceable.
Neither of them was. I had their DNA. All I needed was time and the right contacts, which I suppose was the point.
Time was a luxury I couldn't afford, especially with this bitch in front of me. If it were up to me, I'd have powered up and washed my hands of the situation, but apparently Shin's non-confrontational pact with the Phoenix included a clause about going easy on her chosen.
And after fighting her for two whole minutes, it was starting to really chafe on me. If only the friggin Space Stone didn't have a passive Teleportation lock around it. The job would've been as simple as teleporting into the vault and making away with the cube.
Instead, I had to do this the old-fashioned way. The tedious way.
I sighed internally. I took some solace in my recent gains. My little hunt at the raft had been very profitable.
Name: Lauren Strauss.
Race: Mutant*
Class: Emissary of the Avaricious Lv 30
HP: 3500/5000
SP: 8000/25000
MP: 9000/15000
Strength: 900
Dexterity: 1000
Endurance: 2500
Vitality: 500
Mana: 1500
Abilities:
(L)Duplicate (Master)
Create full-body duplicates of yourself with your complete skill and ability list. Costs: 500 Stamina, 500 mana per clone.
(E) Regeneration (Master)
Accelerated recovery of every tangible and intangible physical resource by 300%
Mutations:
(E) Precision (Master)
Dramatically boosts hand-eye Coordination, depth perception, speed, and reflexes by 200 percent passively.
Skills
Dead-Eye (Master)
Telescopic Vision (Master)
True Sight (Master)
Analyze (Master)
Hive Mind (Adept)
Mind Guard (Grand Master)
Prismatic Shield (Master)
Power Shot (Master)
Parry (Master)
Dodge (Master)
(L) Teleport (Grand Master)
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Master)
Dash (Master)
Teleport (Grand Master)
Gun Mastery (Master)
Sword Mastery (Adept)
Dagger Mastery (Adept)
Spatial Edge (Master)
Mana Shot (Grand Master)
Poison Shot (Adept)
Paralyzing Shot (Adept)
Blinding Shot (Adept)
Flaming Shot (Adept)
Teleporting Shot (Adept)
Void Bullet (Master)
Multi-shot (Master)
Battle Meditation (Master)
Class Skills
(L) Communion
(L) Seed of the Avaricious
(L) Descent of the Avaricious
(L) Reaper
(L) Bound Weapon
It lifted my mood some.
I was head and shoulders beyond anybody on this little hovel of a planet. The rest of the universe was another matter entirely. I'd sent some of my clones off to space after the stones that Shin needed to bind Dante to him forever, but they'd all failed.
Apparently, a demon had reached the Power Stone before we did and was carving out a section of the universe to reign over. The Nova Corp and the Cree have gone to war to challenge his authority.
Meanwhile, the rest of the clones were still tracking down the star charts for Voromir. The Galaxy was a ridiculoulsy vast place filled with thousands of star-systems. Finding one tiny, barely hospitable planet was like looking for a needle in a haystack the size of Texas.
I twirled my pistol.
"You know you can't win," I said to her, my eyes watching the phoenix fireballs she had hovering over her shoulders. They were the only thing in her arsenal that did real damage. She was miles too slow to hit me with Telekinesis consistently. Her daggers were fast, but not nearly fast enough, and don't even get me started on those rings. I didn't know why she was so desperate to incorporate it into her fighting style.
Simple was better in my experience.
But those fireballs though–even a lick of it was enough to flash-fry a clone, and it chewed through my prismatic shield like tissue paper.
"Not without getting Spiderman killed," she admitted, finally answering my taunt. "But now that they're here, I don't have to worry about that, now do I?" She rose up straighter, a smile tugging at her blood-red lips. Her injuries began to heal, and an aura of fire swaddled her, restoring her close to her peak.
I sighed, the visible recovery drawing exasperation more than anything else.
I'd be as good as new in a few short minutes myself, but I knew I didn't have that long. I felt him before I saw him.
Dante.
The swell of oppressive energy was unmistakable, a metaphysical weight boring down on everything in sight. He stood in the sky, his tall, armored body held in the air by four blue wings that flaked off at the edges.
The core in his chest crackled with electricity, and his dark armor glowed with an invisible power.
I might have more stats and skills, but he had more bullshit skills, despite not using the store as much as I did. The little shit didn't play fair. Well, neither did I.
I'd used Communion before we started this entire mission and had spoken to the big man. I'd seen his status. It was impressive, yes. Ridiculous, even, but not impossible to beat if you prepped and had the bodies to pull it off.
It was the other one that really bothered me. Rin.
He was front and center, and Analyze put his comparative strength far above Garrett's now, meaning stats in the high 600s before he started channeling his demonic energy. Pair that with a mutation that basically makes him a more optimized version of his father, and you see how things can quickly spiral out of control.
"Well, looks who finally decided to show–"
His aura exploded, teal blue energy pouring out of him like an avalanche before hardening, clinging tightly to his body. My brows hiked up. That was some energy control.
It was a whole lot better than he started the day with. And the weight of it…it was many times denser than what I'd seen before. That battle with Ororo must've been something.
But he wasn't done yet. Eight spectral blades materialized above his shoulder, each one packed with thick dimensional energy. Twin blades materialized in his free hands, and Time energy drifted off him.
Okay. This was going to be a bit harder than I'd expected, but this was why you prepped.
I called on my class-exclusive skill (L) Descent of the Avaricious, and the world hitched, and a black pillar shot into the sky. My attributes climbed, infusing me with so much energy my soul shuddered. The boost stabilized at 6 times my attribute limit.
My clones joined me, each a tower of power and destruction, ready to test my mettle against him. His pets decided to follow his example. Jean combusted, donning a limning cloak of fire and layered on her Vibranium and Adamantium suit, and did the kid. He was a nimbus of kinetic energy, growing and waning.
And just as I was certain all hell was about to break loose, something strange happened. Reality stopped, and I suddenly found myself in the white liminal space I communed with Shin in. He was on top of his throne of black metal and power, leaning forward, his face a rictus of something I didn't know a being such as aloof as him was capable of…panic.
"Teleport out of there, you dunce. He's stopping Time."
"B—But my Ascended form should be able to fight it off."
"That was before the bald bitch gave him the Time Stone. You need to run."
Still, I didn't see the need for urgency.
"These are just clones, I can afford to sacrifice a few if they get me closer to the Space stone."
"It's not worth it. He'll burn straight through your soul if that purple fire touches you. Get out of–"
The skill fractured and stuttered, bringing me back to my reality, almost too late. Eight of my ten clones were already dead, split in half by his dimensional shurikens, even in their empowered forms. A lazy swipe of his hand, packed with a disgusting amount of runes, cubed my ninth body. I teleported out of there as soon as I saw the barest hint of fire, reappearing in one of my safehouses, a penthouse suite I reserved in Abu Dhabi, overlooking the water.
"Son of a bitch!" I roared, backhanding a decorative vase standing in my way. The shockwave unleashed ground the vase to fine mist before my hand even made contact, and split the floor and walls of the luxury suite.
I scowled.
Now, I have to move.
I huffed, stomping to my bed, stifling down my scream. Weeks. Weeks of work went into planning that double-cross. Now Dante had two fucking infinity stones. Getting them back was going to be next to impossible.
If only I hadn't been saddled with such incompetents. I rubbed my brow. The only silver lining in all of this was that I knew where he was going next. And I had every intention of transforming it into more of a death trap than it already was.
"Something the matter?" a voice came from the corner of the room. It belonged to a reedy man with a severe face and desperate eyes. Kaecilius was my latest acquisition. He'd betrayed his mentor and only friends to get revenge for his wife. How positively pedestrian.
I suppose I should be thanking her. Her husband was a formidable sorcerer, and I can't wait to see what the Gluttonous seed makes of him.
"I'm fine," I said, rising up from my bed. "Be a doll and open a portal to the ship, will you. We have work to do."
Read ahead on patreon.com/artandcreativewriting