By the time I arrived at the fortress, the damage was startling. Walls were smashed in, and people were strewn everywhere, lying on the ground, moaning and bleeding. Pools of blood marked where bodies had once been before the system reclaimed them.
We had left a skeleton crew to man the fortress, but I had expected them to last longer than...
2025-05-31 06:00:06 +0000 UTC
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I drew a sword from my spatial ring and tossed it over to Circe. The woman snatched it out of the air with a small gust of wind, holding the blade and turning it over in her hands.
"I must say, Bran, this is exactly what I thought a date with you would look like," she said, striking a pose that told me it wasn’t her first time with a swo...
2025-05-30 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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After pulling Circe away from everyone else, I snapped my fingers. A crimson barrier shot up around us, twisting with inscriptions and blocking out all of the outside noise. The noise outside stopped immediately, and I knew our sound wouldn't spread out.
"Are you that upset that I told you you would die if you went in there?" I asked...
2025-05-29 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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"What?” The Mul Branova said, sounding beyond confused as the stone statue she'd been fighting bled into the ground, disappearing, only for another statue to grow back up on the platform in front of her.
She picked up a single system coin. Not even an F-ranked monster would drop something this low. She cursed and looked at the two others...
2025-05-28 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I stood outside the gates of the Heavenly Fist Sect, trying to appear as casual as possible. I couldn't let them know that I was aware of their true nature. It wasn't yet time to put them on high alert.
For a place filled with so much evil, it was opulent. I snorted, overcompensating much?
Simone stood next to me, disguised as ...
2025-05-27 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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High above the world, nestled in the Himalayas, lay a mountain even taller than Mount Everest. It was capped with a shining silver city, inlaid with white gold that glistened across its walls. The rays of the sun beamed down on it, and on the tirelessly working and training members of the Heavenly Fist Sect.
On a terrace that overlooked al...
2025-05-26 06:00:11 +0000 UTC
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I arrived back at Vein City with Merlin and Simone in tow. The small group included Cao, the drunk monk and a few of his top performers, who had all shaved their heads to imitate him.
I was fairly certain the old man was naturally bald or his drinking had knocked out all his hair. His group had begun dressing like him too. Coincidentally, ...
2025-05-25 06:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Gloria and a team of three dozen Mul Branova managed to track the raiders all the way back to their camp. Although the word camp was being generous.
The place looked as if it could have been put together by giant toddlers the way everything was precariously stacked. The entire camp was made of lean-tos that largely resembled ripped-out wal...
2025-05-24 06:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Circe stepped into her office, looking absolutely radiant. Her hair was done up with a few strategically placed strands that had escaped to frame her face.
I looked up and over the massive stacks of paper that had begun to drown me at her desk. Once last night I nearly punched a man who came in with a four foot stack and was about to liter...
2025-05-23 06:00:08 +0000 UTC
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I stepped into the ornate room, Circe’s office.
A desk dominated the room with what seemed to be an endless stack of paperwork trying to creep over everything, including the woman that was just moments from being burried. The other end had a curtain and a fold out bed peeking out from where it hadn’t been fully closed.
Looks like...
2025-05-22 06:00:07 +0000 UTC
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Our presence bolstered the Heros Clan's efforts, the extra support giving the broader group a new wave of energy. Circe’s presence in of itself seemed to make their spirits rise.
It didn't take long for lightning to fill the sky and bolts to crash down into the demons. Zeus had joined the war effort along with us, and it quickly be...
2025-05-21 06:00:06 +0000 UTC
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"Report," I commanded, returning to the fortress. Only Simone, Nyx and Gloria were with me. The generals and other leaders of our forces were still occupied with the aftermath of their battles. Circe and Merlin were watching over the retreat.
I had noticed that the other two major sections of our forces had encountered more problems while ...
2025-05-20 06:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Hurtling myself into the massive melee, I swung my Bloodiron Blade back and forth like a scythe through wheat. The small, hairy demons fell swiftly beneath my strokes as I bodily shoved and checked my way to the central combat.
The bigger demon, though still barely coming up to my waist, was a green wolf-like creature. It spun on me,...
2025-05-18 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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"Where are these even coming from?" Rogers yelled at his advisor as the demon swarm seemed to come without end.
"Underground, sir." The retired general had his hands neatly folded behind his back. Not a single worry creased his face.
It made Rogers want to punch it off. The old man was insufferable, but he thought about Bran’s reac...
2025-05-17 06:00:04 +0000 UTC
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I woke up the next morning both spent and refreshed in a way I hadn't realized I needed. This was why, after Simone's antics, I ended up taking Nyx both with and without legs several times, proving to her in every imaginable way that there was no significant preference between the two. My preference was simply her. I then reminded Gloria of who ...
2025-05-16 06:00:06 +0000 UTC
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I grinned to the three ladies as I stepped out of the limo. "With the three of you, I don't think it'll be any problem forgetting about the war at least for a time."
Simone took those words as some sort of signal, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the restaurant door, only for Jenny to rush around us and open that too. Inside, a smal...
2025-05-15 06:00:06 +0000 UTC
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We’d been busy training everyone the last few days. Yet Simone had managed to keep the plans for tonight a complete secret, despite my best attempts at persuasion, which were usually effective on her.
As instructed, I was getting dressed in a nice suit, something that felt out of place given the current state of the world. But the suit h...
2025-05-14 06:00:04 +0000 UTC
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I waved to Circe in greeting, putting my best smile on my face as I approached.
She chuckled. "You’re chipper for somebody about to lead a war. Although I guess it’s not your first time.”
“Well, technically I didn’t lead much in my last life, and this is all moving much faster. I was more of an elite force. Get in, destroy ...
2025-05-13 06:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Vidar had started with his fists, and I had been happy to continue that type of fight, feeling like we’d established an unwritten rule that we weren't fighting with weapons. The only skills he'd use were for movement, along with passive enhancements we had in our own bodies.
So, I felt betrayed and cheated by the sudden stabbing sensatio...
2025-05-12 06:00:06 +0000 UTC
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There was nothing special about the brute force fighting behind it. She was likely trying to lull me into a sense of complacency for her next sneak attack.
I would have to keep my eyes open for it, yet the more I watched her the more I felt a pang of pity from where I’d been hoping to get satisfaction.
She activated some device hid...
2025-05-11 06:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Vidar let out an incredibly fake laugh. "Oh, Bran, it'll take a lot more than your face to anger me." He stepped forward, and I could feel the purpose behind his movement.
The years of fighting had honed my instincts, and I noticed how his hips shifted down slightly as he took that step. His entire posture went loose, like a fighter ready ...
2025-05-10 06:00:04 +0000 UTC
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"Thank you again, Merlin," I said as she teleported our group to Egypt. It felt like we hadn’t stopped moving since we recruited the generals weeks ago.
The massive battlefield was more attention-grabbing than the colossal red hell gate stretching out to the sky above. From atop the sand dunes, I could see nothing but blood soaked sands ...
2025-05-09 06:00:07 +0000 UTC
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As a group, we strode into a fortress filled with Simone's Russian and Chinese recruits as well as the locals from Kazakhstan. It looked more like some plantation that had been rapidly fortified with makeshift walls, slammed together by superhuman strength and no knowledge of engineering.
The familiarity made me smile.
It was expandi...
2025-05-08 06:00:03 +0000 UTC
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"What are we doing here?" Nyx asked, her voice sugared despite the harsh circumstances. At the moment, her serpents were wrapped around her body, stretching out like a living coat. "I thought only penguins lived on this island."
After their first two weeks, when they learned of my new plans, my women had insisted on coming with me. It had ...
2025-05-07 06:00:03 +0000 UTC
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"Bran, are you just going to ignore the problem?" Circe asked.
"I'm not ignoring the problem. I'm thinking," I replied. There were already too many things on my plate. Having lost a year and a half, I was, admittedly, scrambling to put the pieces together to protect the entire world.
There was already too much to do and now the...
2025-05-06 06:00:03 +0000 UTC
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"Who would have expected that I would be so quick to miss modern transportation?" Circe said as we walked along the now defunct train line in Spain. Merlin had gotten us as close as she could with teleportation, but we were going to have to walk the rest of the way to where the Tartarus branch had previously had their base.
"You get used t...
2025-05-05 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I grabbed Merlin as she sagged. Teleporting a group of our size had clearly been difficult for her. I held out a mana potion between two of my fingers. "Drink up, it's the least I could do.”
“The least you could do." She confirmed, snatching the bottle out of my hands and quickly slugging back the potion.
The doors of our new Den...
2025-05-04 06:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Circe landed back at the fortress, still holding me tight. Her blue hair danced about us before the wind collected it to fall down her back. With the sun behind her she was particularly eye-catching, especially the way it backlit her loose dress, to highlight her slim form underneath.
"You know, you didn't have to come all the way back her...
2025-05-03 06:00:09 +0000 UTC
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I roared, and a Crimson Barrier snapped out of me, pushing away the demons. I whipped my sword out of the gate guardian and charged into them with sweeping, powerful strikes.
The demons scattered out of my way, yet at the same time tried to swarm in behind me, their spears finding purchase when my barrier shattered.
Blood Boil made m...
2025-05-02 06:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Our group had reformed with a few more to go after the Hell Gate and the Gate Guardian closest to Vein City.
Already, humanity had lost control of the Hell Gate, and the surrounding space had begun terraforming to this particular demon clan's preference. Small ponds, far deeper than they looked, dotted the landscape in front of us. Meanwhi...
2025-05-01 06:00:08 +0000 UTC
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