Savage Awakening 114. Tomb Kings (I) (Patreon)

(1/1)

A/N: 

Retconned so Mike Masters broke through 2 weeks before present time, and is Level 106!

//

1 month ago...

A full moon shone over a desolate mountain peak. A peak so high it loomed far above the restless churning clouds.

A man stood atop it—a broad-shouldered man with strong features and short white hair. His eyes were trained on the sky.

They glowed an unearthly bright blue.

He held a beautiful obsidian sword, a sword thrust skyward. From its tip flowed a stream of shifting shadows—shadows cast on thin air.

They flowed into a Monster.

The Earth Dragon Kyron — the dungeon's Level 100 Boss—floated before him. Its scales were the color of weathered stone. Its steel-silver eyes glowed just as his did.

For a moment, all was still. The man and the dragon stared at each other, locked in some unseen duel.

Then the dragon snorted; its whole body started quivering. Suddenly it seemed very agitated; its face curled up in a look of immense pain. It gave a strangled cry.

Its eyes rolled back. Blood leaked out the sockets, leaked out its mouth—and it plummeted. It broke through the clouds and was gone.

The man got a notification.

B+ rank dungeon Earth Dragon Sanctuary has been cleared!

For a moment, he stood there silent. Then he frowned. He patted his suit's breast pocket, pulled out a crystal, held it up to his ear.

We finished the interrogations. The account was corroborated by five witnesses at the Abyssal Crater. It was as you suspected, sir. It wasn't the Ice Princess. Someone else intervened.

The man stilled.

Zane Walker. The Savage Sage.

His expression spasmed. For a moment, rage flickered across his features.

"Thank you, Gabriel," he said.

Then in silence, he looked at the stars.

"We found your killer, Javi," he said softly. His voice began to tremble; it grew thick with feeling.

For now, he was still Level 99. He was not yet strong enough to sweep the West Coast…

But soon. His breakthrough was coming.

Soon—“Brother, I will avenge you!”

***

Modern Day

Sunset

Zane stood at the border of Silicon Coven territory and waited in a field of sagging knee-tall yellow grass. They went on and on, stretching into the horizon, swaying softly in the breeze.

It wasn't long before he saw them.

They popped up on his mini-map first—a clump of seven white dots. Then he saw their auras—a glut of black essence sweeping toward him like a low, bleak fog.

Seven men. All in expensive-looking sleek black suits. Six in a row behind—the clear leader headed the pack. Soon he was close enough to identify.

Mike Masters

Essence Level 106

Signature Title: Dark Knight

Mike saw him in turn—and froze. His eyes widened. A spasm ran over his face.

Then Zane felt an outpouring of fury. So much he was taken aback.

But Mike didn't let it show on his face. Instead he put on a strained smile. "Zane Walker," he said softly. "Perhaps this is fate."

What?

"My name is Mike Masters." He bowed deeply, to his waist. "I lead the Tomb Kings. And these are my Marquises."

He gestured to the men behind him—all dark-haired, well slicked; they were a well-groomed bunch. Each of them was in the high Level 90s.

And each of them also felt very angry at Zane.

"I've known each of these men for well over a decade. Some since we were children…we are like family. There used to be more of us. But a few have passed on as of late."

Uh…

"One in particular—Javier Mendez—I think of every day," said Mike. His eyes started misting a little. "Javi and I… it is difficult for me to tell you how close we were. He was like a little brother to me. Tell me. Why did you kill him?"

"Oh." Zane scratched his head. Well—this was kind of awkward. He wondered how the guy found out. "I saw him trying to kill someone. So he tried to kill me. So I killed him back."

It took a moment for that to sink in. Then Mike closed his eyes, breathed out heavily, nodded slowly. “That makes sense. It would not have done to leave witnesses." He sighed. "His hand was forced. And yours was forced in turn. You cannot be blamed for that."

What a surprisingly reasonable thing to say.

"I know this in my head," Mike continued. "But… I'm afraid my heart does not agree."

He held out his own hand, and a sword dropped into it, smoking shadows—a beautiful thing. He shook his head sadly. "Today we must duel to the death, Zane Walker.”

This wasn't really how Zane thought things would go down. This Mike seemed like a chill guy—other than being a murderous mob boss and everything. Right now he was just a guy looking out for his friend—Zane could understand that. He was even polite about it. Now Zane felt kind of bad about the whole thing.

"Uh," he said, scratching his head. “You know. We don’t have to fight, if you don’t want to.” Which were words he never thought he’d say. "We can all just go home and forget about it.”

He felt he should give the poor guy a way out.

But at that Mike's anger spiked. His face spasmed—he had to close his eyes, take a deep breath or two.

"No. This will end only one way." His men nodded behind him. "You do not understand. Each of us—we are like brothers. Each of these men is like a part of my own heart! Gabriel, Hector, Liam, Jeremy, Paul, Antonio…" he started choking up a little. Zane could feel he really meant it. "How can you ask me to simply forget the killing of a brother?"

Yeah… Zane supposed that did make sense. He'd be pretty mad if someone tried to kill Evan or something too.

"… Alright…" Nothing to be done for it, Zane supposed… they just really wanted to kill him.

What a weird situation.

Mike leveled his sword at him. Zane didn't need Sage Mind to tell his feelings. His posture exuded confidence.

"Have you made peace, Savage Sage?" He called. His aura began to rise. "Are you ready?"

They were starting?

“Not yet," Zane said. He turned up Sage Mind's in-depth Identify.

Mike Masters

Essence Level 106

Signature Title: Dark Knight

Class: Shade Paladin

Key Laws:

Elemental Law of Darkness

Key Skills:

Nocturne Soul (Passive) [Signature Skill]

In exchange for a 15% reduction in power during the daytime, the wielder's powers became 30% stronger at night. This Skill does not Level.

Dark Night of the Soul (Active) [Signature Skill]

Locks the enemy in a duel to the death in the astral plane, where one’s capabilities are directly proportional to one’s soul power. A high-risk, high-reward Skill. Best used as a last resort.

Slash of the Endless Void (Active) [Legendary]

An enormously powerful slash which voids all resistance, crushing Law and Essence.

Shade Walking (Active) [Legendary]

Grants the wielder the power to step into any darkness in a general radius and re-emerge at any other darkness.

A few things stood out to Zane. That slash Skill sounded like it could be a doozy. And he didn't even know what that soul Skill meant, but it seemed unpleasant. And if Mike got extra powerful at night... the sun was most of the way down the horizon. Then there was that teleporting skill too. That… could be some trouble.

He half-expected the guy to jump him while he was inspecting. But Mike just waited there politely. What a nice guy. It really was kind of a pity Mike wanted to kill him so badly. Then—"Alright. I'm good."

Mike nodded. "Then let us begin." He turned his head skyward. "For Javi," he whispered. "For brotherhood!"

"For brotherhood!" roared the Marquises.

Mike's aura exploded. So did those of the Marquises—but Mike's overshadowed them all.

Damn! That night Skill was stronger than he’d thought. He could instantly tell Mike was the strongest being he'd ever met—he felt a lot stronger than even that Gale Dragon. Zane had to get serious.

He brought out his own best weapon. Mike was readying a Slash; his sword was a smoldering pyre of darkness. A dark so dark it made the night seem pale by contrast—a smothering, domineering, absolute darkness, a gaping void of an element.

Zane's meteors burst into being, blazing high above. Stormfire brought their brightness to another level; it was like the sun had come out, washing away the night.

Mike stared at it—Zane felt a spike of shock. He got the sense the man hadn't expected Zane to pull out enough essence to match his own, much less exceed it.

Then Zane brought the hammer down. Apocalypse Smash!

The sun fell out of the sky.

Mike's eyes widened; he gritted his teeth, let out a roar—and unleashed an arc of smoking inky darkness.

An arc of black met a line of white.

The eruption was spectacular; a wave of blinding essence torched the world. And to Zane's surprise, his smash was knocked off-course—just how much essence was in that thing? It cratered to a halt a dozen odd feet away.

When Zane blinked the light out of his eyes, fires spread everywhere. Every strand of grass in a hundred foot radius had been reduced to ash; the rocky ground was charred black.

Mike was breathing heavy. There were a few black, sizzling spots on his face where he'd been scorched pretty good—and his suit looked a lot shabbier for wear. But he'd come out of it mostly fine.

It really said more about how strong Mike was than about his new Stormfire Skill—he could tell it was monstrous just by that splash damage. Pretty much everything without an Elemental Law protecting it had gone to dust.

Then he frowned. Wait. Where'd all the Marquises gone?

Then he noticed the six piles of ash smoldering behind Mike. … Ah. Oops.

He hadn't even meant to do that. The blast really was stronger than he'd thought…

Then Mike saw where he was looking—and turned. He saw the first pile of ash, and gasped. "No..." He whispered. "NO!"

For a second he just stood there in shock. Then he sank slowly to his knees.

He reached out a trembling hand, grasped a handful of dust—it slipped between his fingers. "Gabriel!" He croaked. He turned—and saw the next ash pile. He choked. "Hector!" Then the next, and the next—"Liam! Jeremy! Paul! ANTONIO!"

Well. This… this was very awkward. Zane stood there shuffling his feet.

He knew they'd been trying to kill him, but he still felt kind of bad about it.

Mike buried his face in his hands. He started to sob. Zane just stood there, scratching his head. He wasn't really sure what to do now.

Zane supposed they were doing a little break now—he tried to be respectful. He waited patiently for the guy to finish up.

Man—Mike was still tearing up. He must've really liked those guys…

…Could he actually tell those piles of ashes apart, or was he just guessing? They looked the same to Zane…

After a while, Mike finished up. He looked up again, sniffling, eyes red.

Slowly, Mike turned. His face twisted. If he'd been angry before, well…." ZANE WALKER!"

"Uh," said Zane.

"YOU TOOK ALL MY BROTHERS FROM ME!"

"Yeah…" He felt kind of helpless. He did get why the guy was angry. But they did also insist on trying to kill him—they didn't give him much of a choice here, he felt like—

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Mike screeched,  spittle flying, veins bulging purple on his forehead. And his aura exploded to new heights.

Oh dear.