CH7

Paul was dead or as good as.

He floated in a pod in a brackish solution as demons with oversized heads toiled. Tiny beads of light rose to the top of the pod. A machine took them as bubbles rose to the surface.

A mask connected to his face forced air into his lungs as he used it to scream.

From a one-way mirror, Aoi watched as his essence was extracted.

“This is cruel,” Rictor said.

She patted his arm and watched. “He refused to give up his essence willingly. This was the only option.”

“We could have worked with him.”

“Too many have died already, and we agreed power can’t be trusted in their hands.”

“What about Zack? He’s worked with us in the past?”

“I sent Ally to retrieve him. But Rictor, Zack isn’t right in the head. He let kids be sacrificed so he could kill a demon to gain more power.”

“How many?”

“Even one would be too many. He can’t be allowed to keep his powers.” Aoi said.

…

Pitfalls, flying skulls, skeletal dogs, and a Black Alice stood between him and his goal.

Hounds made of bones leaped from their flank.

When Zack pulled the trigger, it looked as surprised as bones could. The golden light in its eye holes winked out as its skeleton shattered.

He kicked a skull through the head of a zombie. Artemis sang, unloading into flying enemies one after the other. Every step crushed a grasping hand underfoot.

The others followed behind him, careful to stay on his path. Each step brought him closer to the goal.

People must be saved.

The power he felt billowing through his body wanted to propose something to reach for. What better purpose than saving his fellow man? Annihilation would no longer be certain for mankind if he could grow strong enough.

It was a good feeling to see the skeleton dogs hesitate to give chase.

That’s what rifle mode was for.

He unloaded and felt each bullet drop back into his gun. Artemis returned to pistol mode, and Zack called out. “Feast,” The remains of ghosts, bones, and undead erupted into black gore.

It was hard to separate the magical from the mundane in the old steel mill with its concrete floors working demons and so many spirits. The two blended so well with the soul-crushing apathy of a factory and demon enslavement.

Artemis lvl6

+1 Round

Riot Shotgun

Three grouped too close together. He squeezed the trigger, and three demons vanished in puffs of smoke.

The ghosts stopped and tried to fly away when his spread killed three in one shot. He couldn’t use his gun for the short moments, so two massive tendrils of pressure fought. The demons stared in shock as long black tentacles slammed into them like runaway trains.

“How are you doing this?” Werzelith asked.

“Type advantage,” Zack said.

“This isn’t Pokémon.”

“Can demons evolve?”

“We rank up; that’s not the point. How are you already so strong.”

“That’s easy, I’m not. This place is weak to my form of attack. If these were goat demons at lvl50, I would be dead.” Zack said.

Because he was getting too full of himself, a kick to the gut greeted him. A black Alice in all her bunny girl glory decided to say hello. He swept out with tendrils, and she blinked away. Space warped, and she laughed as his attacks were missed.

“Best speed gains but meh speed scaling. I would call you a 7/10.” Zack said.

The rabbit froze at that, then stared at Werzelith and pointed. “6/10. She didn’t have a fireball, and I will never forgive that.” The rabbit demon paused at that, then pointed at the imp. Zack sighed. “3/10. No matter how you look, it's an imp with poor scaling.”

“Some would say it's not the scaling or stats; it's how you use them,” the bunny girl said.

“How about it? Why don’t you contract with me?” Zack asked.

The bunny girl frowned. “You want this bunny butt, huh.” She bent her knees, and darkness swirled around her. “Not unless you earn it.”

Zack pressed the ends of his tendrils against the ground and felt his feet easily lift off the ground. A smirk plastered his face. This feat was far beyond anything he had done early in his runs.

She blurred, and so did he. His feet never touched the ground as his tendrils made his body blur.

The bunny demon kicked, and he parried with a tendril. They traded blows, and he marveled at her long chocolate legs and thick rear. She screamed, and darkness warred against his tendril.

He felt a force press down on him.

Zack’s heart rate sped up. Sweat poured down his face, and he held his goal in his heart.

He roared and pushed, pulling out every ounce of power he could.

The force batted them aside, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

“No, that’s not possible,” Zack said.

The bunny demon laughed before placing her hands on her hips. “Who’s a 7/10?”

Zack shattered the concrete with his tendrils and crossed the distance. Her eyes widened as he unloaded his shotgun. A tendril lashed out and caught her in the chest. His other tendril caught her leg as she twisted and kicked for his neck.

He ducked under the blow, wrapped reached between her legs, and grabbed her throat. Her eyes widened as she started choking.

“You won’t fool me into playing your game. I won’t waste time playing here.” His grip tightened as the other tendril grabbed her free leg. “Contract with me or die.”

She resisted for almost a minute, and he held on as she scratched at his hands. The bunny girl wiggled her fat hips and pressed against him to distract him. Charm's attempts failed as he glared with all his rage from too many deaths.

Golden light erupted, covering both of them, and he took her speed gains.

Black Alice lvl55

He let go of her, and she laughed. “My name is Moka, and I think we’ll be best friends if you can choke a girl like that.”

“Get in line, rabbit bimbo,” Werzelith said.

The two girls stared at each other and found rivals in each other.

Above the factor, a door opened, revealing a demon with green hair, amber eyes, and a very human appearance.

“Fuck,” Zack said.

“Oh, you know what I am. How curious. Would you care to explain why a human would know an elite?”

Zack aimed his rifle, and the demon was already in his hand lashing out. Tendrils raised to block and Zack went flying. He hit the line, and it bounced, and he threw himself backward to get more distance. He landed on his feet with the demon staring down at him from the top of a conveyor belt.

Elites were demons forged to rule. They were a mix of all the best traits of multiple demon lines formed through careful breeding.

Elite Cloud lvl200

Zack cursed his bad luck. There was nothing for it. He compressed his stored soul mass.

Density 16

Pressure: 35.5

Moka spun and kicked at Cloud’s head, only for the elite to lean out of the way. “You are too slow as ever. I never thought you would let yourself be contracted to a human.”

“Don’t look down on me, you smug bastard. You’re just jealous you can’t have me.”

“Hardly,” The elite said.

Zack shot once, and the demon closed the distance. Zack swiped with his gun as the Elite struck and scored a slight wound. Cloud kneed Zack in the gut, sending him up to the balcony above.

Zack spat out blood and wheezed. The demon appeared balancing on the rails. “This wound isn’t healing as it should. Did you poison me?”

“Sorry, there's no antidote; you’re done for.” Blood continued to spill as the elite threw blows, ripping through Zack’s defenses.

The prophet felt surprised, but he wasn’t. The Elite kicked him in the chest.

Ribs cracked. Pain landed up his arm as his wrist cracked when he hit a wall.

Old plaster crumbled, revealing black stone with red veins underneath. The building took a breath, and more ghosts slipped out of the walls.

They flew down, and he fired. Every shot jarred his cracked bones.

Zack watched blood trickle down from the Elite’s leg.

He smirked, and Cloud frowned. “What’s so amusing?”

“Shotgun,”  Zack fired a wide spray that bounced off a barrier. Purple light flickered before vanishing.

“Like I said, what is so amusing?”

They traded blows as Zack took hits, slowly falling behind. Still, a smile remained on his face.

“Why are you smiling? You have no reason to be happy. I’m going to kill you.” Cloud shouted.

Moka lvl60

Werzelith lvl58

It took them long enough. The Elite moved, and Zack was only a little slower. Two cuts scored the demon’s arm after his blow snapped one of Zack’s ribs.

Zack smiled as blood dripped down Cloud’s arm. He raised his pistol and shot the Elite in the foot. The Elite stumbled before a red glow surrounded him.

COMPRESS

Density: 17

Pressure: 44.4

Moka and Werzelith were running around, killing every demon they came across. Since the battle began, they had built their levels and raised his soul mass.

His shotgun pressed against the Elite’s chest. Even as the demon’s wounds healed, as a red haze overtook him, Zack fired. The prophet’s shotgun drank in his pressure, loading back up to 9 rounds.

In her curved silver beauty, Artemis glowed a brilliant silver before returning to pistol form. Zack shot forward and made a few cuts until a shell of purple appeared, and Cloud’s human appearance shattered like glass.

The Elite’s body changed into its demonic form.

White angelic wings, a black halo, and three eyes were plastered on a demonic body sculpted from granite, with bone-plated armor covering every weak spot. Hunks of purple glowed around the demon, covering it in a buff. His wounds closed up instantly, and in his hand, a longsword appeared carved from a solid mass of shadow.

Zack felt a whisper in his ear, something from Werzelith’s lvl55 ability. Lover’s illusion was that it was time to dig in his heels. They found the survivors and were evacuating. From his shadow War emerged and knocked Zack back into her saddle. A red aura gathered and he felt a buff to his strength.

The factory walls stretched high to a catwalk leading to the outside balcony. Zack could feel his soul mass increase as demons fell and Werzelith fed him time. It was time to dig in his heels. Zack kicked, and Cloud intercepted.

He shot with his rifle, and the bullet bounced off of the demon’s breastplate. War leaped, and Death dove from a shadow and kicked a bit at the demon before slipping back into the shadows.

“Foolish human,” The demon slashed, and the shadows turned grey. The others couldn’t move through them any longer. War ran up the wall and sprinted.

The demon slashed, and blood erupted from the side of War’s leg. Cloud was up close and personal and swung his sword to cut War and Zack in two.

Zack raised his pistol and fired bullets that bounced off Cloud’s helmet until one slipped between eye holes. Blood burst from the demon’s eye, and he swung.

The prophet kicked off of war, moving her out of the way as the blade came down. Silver light revealed his rifle, and the sword slashed down. Sparks flew as Zack was thrown to the other side of the room.

COMPRESS

Density 18

Pressure: 55.5

With a rifle in hand, he shot nine rounds, and the demon’s hand moved rapidly, catching each one. It held its hand up, revealing nine bullets made of swirling darkness.

“The longer an Elite fights, the stronger we become. You are slippery, but it's only a matter of time before your luck runs out.”

Elites were the perfect early, mid, and late-game fighters. It didn’t matter when they were at fault; they were always a daunting hurdle. War slowly got up as Zack returned his rifle to its pistol form.

The red buff surrounding Zack remained, and a blue one appeared as he felt Moka's eyes on him.

Moka lvl68

Werzelith lvl70

They slaughtered every demon in the factory for him. So the least he could do was kill an Elite for them.

He felt the gains from her levels bringing his speed to unheard-of levels. Moka’s buff brought him another stage up in scaling. The strength from War held his body well together. So maybe he could handle his pressure. The smile on his face grew wider.

“Why are you smiling still? I beat you, but no weapon you have can match me in this state.”

“Let me give you a taste of combat in the late game.” Zack felt the pressure work on his body, and his muscles bulged, barely able to take the sheer might as he used pressure to strengthen his body.