Modified: Part 1

The air of Heaven was lighter than Zezhria. It felt like I should be getting light-headed from a lack of oxygen. Come to think of it…could I get high? Were there drugs in this game? I knew there was booze aplenty, but I wasn't sure about anything more extreme. Then I remembered who I was. I was a being of incalculable power. What drug could compete with the thrill of being able to kill anyone, anywhere, any time I felt like it? Even if they didn't exist, I could simply create them or control myself into a similar state…somehow.

"Um, Dad? We're level one. You know that, right?" I turned to look at Htaed. He might have all the skills of a warrior, but he wasn't one. Not yet. A Berserker wouldn't be worrying about something so trivial as the chances of survival. "If one of them looks at us wrong, we die. Just saying."

"I know that none of them will be thinking of looking at you with me and Lethe around." It was a leveling method I'd thought of as cheating in the beta. Usually it was a Shadow, and they'd just follow packs of high-level characters around, claiming the ambient experience caused by death. Instant level twenty. After that it was better to at least try to assist, which amplified the results. "Besides, you've all got armor your big brother made specifically for you." 

Htaed looked like he was competing for the biggest, spikiest, and most rigid plate award against Hell. The main difference was the crimson cape that hung from his monolithic pauldrons and the lack of fur. He was probably going for a refined version of Hell, but Hell's ensemble was very refined already so all he did was make himself look like a boss's mob instead of a boss himself. His great helm didn't help, as it had less character than Hell's Corinthian helm. His massive twelve flanged mace and tower shield set him apart, though. That much was a solid choice.

Phyx wore a black robe with steel spines sticking out at random intervals. Her helm was the most flashy piece that any of us wore, an ornate helm that could have a medieval knight's helm as a core, but one that was stuck in the middle of an extremely thorny bush. She'd gone full into the idea that she could enchant her armor to be invisible from the inside, so it was as impractical as it could be. Supposedly, there was a helmet in the middle. Maybe a great helm. There was no way to know for sure. Piercing that ridiculously ornate façade was far too much effort to see what the core of her helm was designed around. The armor under her robe was plain, if effective, but it was never seen. Or she'd have demanded it be as ornate as the helmet. How the robe managed to be an unremarkable black with no embroidery, lace, or any sort of adornment apart from the occasional spike was a miracle. Both of her staves looked like thorny vines, so maybe she wanted to look like someone eaten by a carnivorous thorny plant. She couldn't even use her staves like spears if she wanted to, as her handholds were the only part of them that weren't covered in spines.

Edge wore a suit almost identical to Lethe's style, except for the mask. Hers was a demon face instead of a skull and she'd decided to trade black and red, switching so that everything that was black on Lethe was red on her and so on. I hadn't yet made the mistake of calling Edge Lethe or vice versa, but it had been close a few times. Maybe she should use different weapons. Daggers got extra bonuses and with the quality she could demand from her siblings the damage potential wasn't lost, but still. Something that made her look actually different instead of Lethe's second transmog would be appreciated.

The two nameless ones had decided to go simple, wearing featureless plate with almost no embellishments. Italian plate for the female and gothic for the male. Perfectly utilitarian, if beautiful in their own way. Compared to their siblings, however, they seemed very…basic. The only remarkable feature they had was the lack of cracks in the steel. Every piece met seamlessly with the piece next to it. Even their helms were unadorned, a simple bascinet and sallet respectively. Without glowing eyes or cloth, they looked more like metal golems with the shape of armor than a human wearing armor. He carried a heavy sword in each hand, both perfectly identical as well as being excessively simple. She wore a bow over one shoulder, with no quiver, and held a bladed spear and tower shield. An odd combination, since most that used bows favored daggers or swords, but she'd practiced that way. Not that I could talk. My staff and heavy sword combination was unique to me, as far as I knew. If only because there weren't humans among the people I knew personally. Having the ability to wield a heavy weapon in one hand was a very useful ability. 

The nameless twins had bound their weapons to their sets already, but the others hadn't had true weapons made for them yet, despite looking correct. They were using testing weapons first, I'd insisted after hearing about what Phyx wanted as hers. They weren't particularly bad, still legendary but not at max level or filled with enchantments. They would use them until they could figure out exactly what they wanted. Dream equipment for most characters, but utter trash compared to their armor.

We finally reached the edge of the pasture. The cyclone of beaked bone snakes hadn't reached this far yet. They were focusing on protecting the settlers first. The grass didn't change, but I could tell we'd left the pasture because of the monstrous creature roaming just in front of me. It looked like a cross between a buffalo and a sheep the size of a house. I dashed at it, carving through the hide of the beast effortlessly. What I didn't expect was the force of my dash sending me into the beast's body. I glanced around, disoriented at my sudden appearance in a red world that was heaving and churning. I slashed a few times, but I didn't seem to be making a large difference. The vitality around me was bleeding out almost as fast as if I was cutting it to pieces. That was a good bit of information to know. I was standing on the diaphragm, so I could tell it was trying desperately to breathe. It was failing, since I'd cut a big hole in the muscle. I kicked off a rib as I felt the thing start to topple. When it stopped moving, I started hacking my way out. I burst into the white light of Heaven, finally freed from the gory mess that was a giant creature. I'd need to keep that in mind for later. Piercing into a dragon could allow for a much more authoritative position when negotiating its surrender. "And that is a weakness of large beasts. Get inside them, and every strike you deal is a critical as well as a constant level of damage to the beast you're…riding. Any questions?"

The nameless male lifted a hand. "Did you mean to go inside? Seemed accidental." The female nodded, but the other three looked too shocked to give an opinion. Either that or they were stunned at the excessively fast progression from level one to level eighty. Maybe the nameless twins were the weird ones for not screaming on the ground. Had they encountered significant feedback already?

Now…a fundamental question; honesty or easily pierced lies to maintain dignity? "No, I didn't mean to go inside. I don't need the advantage. For you, however, it might prove useful if, for some odd reason, the monsters notice you." Htaed stumbled backwards, almost falling on his ass. Was he really supposed to be the brawler of my children? They each had every class, so there was no need for them to remain as specialized as they currently were, but still. "Using that method, even you should be fine. You have good enough weapons to get inside and they won't be able to effectively attack inside themselves. Attack that one. Pierce the flesh and kill it from the inside." 

I pointed at another of the lumbering beasts. Htaed went pale, or as pale as he could while remaining as dark skinned as a chunk of basalt. Edge didn't hesitate in her assault, however. Neither did Phyx. Edge's attack rebounded off of the monster's hide as a blast of ice evaporated without leaving so much as a mark on the beast's fur. It didn't even react to either assault. Had I underestimated the monster or overestimated their equipment? Their skills, maybe? Both had only unleashed a single skill in their attack, and another to retreat. A level eighty, no matter how powerful, was still useless when faced with monsters with double the levels, but their armor should have provided enough to pierce the skin at least. At the very least they should have been able to leave visible damage to the hair. These things were only level one eighty one, and mobs at that. Not even elite mobs. Figuring out the answer would be too much work. They didn't really need to know how to fight vastly superior monsters just yet, either. I used an Executioner skill to make a wave of power coalesce on the blade of my sword, releasing it as a crescent wave of slicing force at the beast. The ability carved right through the monster, having been amplified by the buffs on the sword. 

A shockwave blasted from it carrying a horrific bleat. Odd that a slow death didn't result in the bleat, but maybe it was a chance-on-death and the last one just got unlucky. The sound of its "death" bleat woke up several of the nearby monsters. They bellowed and pounded their massive beaver-tails into the ground, leaping at me. I found it amazing that the grass was tall enough that I hadn't seen the massive limbs before now, but still short enough for me to see over it without impairment. It was designed to be a surprise when these massive lumbering beasts took to the sky. I was impressed with the attention to detail shown by the development team. I whipped my staff around and unleashed a fireball spell I'd amped up pretty hard.

The ball of fire streaked at one of the beasts, exploding on contact with such force that the momentum of the beast halted and reversed, spraying gore in the opposite direction. I released similar spells at the other four, with identical results. Each kill gave me a level. It definitely didn't feel like I was only forty levels ahead of my kids, given the massive difference in effectiveness, but either way Heaven really was on a different level from the world below. If anyone had been hunting up here regularly they could easily be over level two hundred by now. Maybe I was falling behind. I accessed my map to find my living dragons, and had the gratification of seeing all of them somewhere in Heaven. None had fallen, which I saw as a very good sign. Perhaps none would fall. That was best-case-scenario. I was expecting to lose at least three up here before they got strong enough to destroy anything and everything they came in contact with. They were already level two hundred, so maybe they didn't have as far to go until that point as I'd thought. Good for them. I ordered one to go back to its birthing plateau and start enslaving the offspring of the mountain in my name once it was maxed out with grass and meat.

"How do you do it? You're over fifty levels weaker than they are. How are you killing them effortlessly?" Phyx demanded. Her eyes were glowing so bright they were actually visible through the intricacies of her helm. Desire was written clearly in every single burning line. "They should be crushing you."

"Pure brawn isn't everything. My magic has been building up for a long time as I sat in my keep. I've been accessing power that nobody my level should be anywhere near reaching. As well as the fact that my skills give me access to the arcane script and simultaneous casting. A single ability at once can be blocked or countered easily, combinations or at least chaining would be necessary if I didn't have my keep." Something she should know. She was my little wizard, she should understand this stuff. None of them had a real excuse, though. Unless my skeletons were absolutely abysmal at teaching warfare, which was quite possible. "That and if you look closely at the cursor, you can see the stats of the monster you're facing. With enough practice, and an Assassin ability to expose weaknesses, you can see the elements that the monster is weak against long before battle begins. With proper preparation, it's child play to slaughter monsters far above your grade. Observe." I released a bolt of lightning at a nearby monster. The actual power of the spell was equal to that of the fireballs I'd used on the others, but the effect was almost nothing. I barely made its fur raise. It was enough to grab the thing's attention, though, so even that was more than Phyx and Edge had been able to do together. It launched itself at me. "The more powerful a monster is, the more drastic the weaknesses become. These things are almost immune to lightning, slicing, and blunt force attacks, but piercing or burning them is almost too easy." I whirled on the spot, starting a whirlwind skill without fully activating it, using the instant momentum to drive my blade through the attacking monster's head with almost no stamina expenditure as I spun out of the way. It crashed to the ground behind me, skidding for a few feet before settling. Now Edge was the one with spotlights for eyes. I ordered the raised monster's I'd killed so far to flank me. "Having gear designed for a much more powerful player helps as well, but only in the time spent. Fast monsters will still evade poorly timed attacks and defensive abilities will still activate before you can land a blow they were expecting. Get on." My progeny didn't hesitate before climbing onto the beasts. Moving around in Heaven might make them nervous, but undead were a familiar presence.

We kept hunting the Heavenly Herdbeasts until each of them had managed to kill one by themselves before I decided it was time to step it up. Edge was happily bursting out of the HHs' skulls by the time Htaed managed to kill one by himself. Phyx wasn't killing them as easily as Edge or the nameless, but she was definitely putting Htaed to shame. Despite their progress, hunting mobs wasn't what we were here for.

Like everything else in Heaven, these monsters could fly. I ordered them to fly to a forest my dragons had discovered. It was filled with beasts I would have "trouble" killing. Without preparation, they'd be very difficult to kill without access to my keep. Armored Angels, each level two hundred. Monsters that powerful always had at least one really annoying ability, and I had no way of seeing what they were. Players were easy to understand but the range was unbelievable as far as actual skill was concerned. Monsters and npcs were more uncertain, but easier to classify. It was time to start my test.

"Look down. See the power of the monsters below you." They actually needed me to point them out for them. Htaed gasped and almost fell off his ride. I rolled my eyes. I hoped he was just being dramatic, but there was no way for me to know for sure. Not yet. "All level two hundred. Terrible foes. Prove your worth to me." All of them turned to look at me, surprise and fear in their body language. "Obey!" all of them ordered their mounts to dive, heading straight for the forest.

I activated a stasis spell, freezing all of them in time. I wasn't sure how large the aggro range of those angels was, but I needed them all totally focused on their dive. The nameless twins had kept their attention on me until it was almost too late. They were all frozen just as they entered the top leaves of the forest, any later and I would have definitely pulled them back. I teleported them down to the illusion I'd built in my empire. The trees were exactly the same, everything about the place was identical to the forest I was flying over. I even added a negative pressure spell to make the air feel as light, making the illusion perfect. Working the magic so even Phyx wouldn't notice had been the hardest part. I opened my map and watched their forms sitting in stasis. This would decide their value to me. Permanently. Hopefully. It would at least let me know if they could represent me without giving me a bad name. I let them out of stasis and watched as they dropped to the ground. I ordered the beasts holding them to roll, depositing them on the ground, and fly away. My nameless daughter didn't want to let go, so her beast had to perform a truly acrobatic aerial dance to force her to actually fall.

"He's killed us!" Htaed shrieked like a little girl, panting with his hands near his mouth. He pulled out his non-set-activated weapon and stared at it in horror. "I need a better weapon. I need a better weapon! I'm going to die! We're all going to die!"

"If you do, you'll respawn." Unnamed-Male growled. He pulled out his swords and glanced at his twin. She nodded, though her hands were shaking. "This is obviously a test. Designed and implemented by Father. He told us to prove our worth. I suggest you heed his words. Should you die before he wills it, you may be destroyed permanently." Smart. As expected of a craftsman. He understood the purpose of a test. No piece went directly from the forge into a warrior's hand unless it was mass-produced garbage.

"What good is a test we are clearly not ready for? We're among level two hundred monsters. Two fucking hundred! They'd be a match for Father!" he clearly didn't understand me. A difficult battle, maybe if I was trying to challenge myself with arbitrary restrictions, but not a match. And they were monsters. No monster was a match for me. Uber-monsters, maybe, but normal monsters were not my equal.

Edge spat at Htaed. He turned to look at her incredulously. "You disgust me. No monster is the equal of our Father. He is the epitome of power. He defeated a max-level dragon. Max. Level." She spat again and vanished. She headed out into the woods on her own. I'd expected the older two to be the first that left the group. I followed her. Time to test her. I created an illusion of one of the Armored Angels, it rushed her, bellowing a war cry. Half because I wanted to see what a rogue put on the spot would do and partly because all Armored Angels could see through her level of stealth. She winced and tried to block the blade, but the illusionary angel only knocked her blade out of her hand. She backed away, looking for something to turn the battle to her advantage. My Angel grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off the ground to peer into her eyes. His touch deactivated her stealth. "What do you want, monster?" she hissed.

"You're the progeny of that monstrous Emperor. Strange that he would leave you unattended where you are so obviously outmatched. Do you feel betrayed?" he cocked his head waiting for an answer. Maybe, in retrospect, I went a little too hard on that bit. Was it too obvious? Edge didn't reply. He slammed her into a tree, shattering the trunk into splinters. She screamed in agony as the force of the blow passed her armor's damage threshold and shredded the skin of her back. The armor was intact, it would take a lot more than a tree to get through that, but light armor didn't block damage as well as plate. "Do you feel betrayed?" he slammed her into another tree. "Is there yet any hope for your redemption, oh Spawn of Darkness?"

"No!" Edge snarled. She wouldn't survive another tree. She wasn't half as powerful as her armor, and she knew it. "My Father knows that the trials of absolute agony and suffering produce the strong and the broken. I will not break, and he will accept me as his own in payment!" she jammed a knife into the Angel's face, but it deflected off the visor of his helm. She tried again, but her level was too low and her weapon was pathetic. The Angel prepared to slam her into another tree, but a skeletal knight slammed into him, knocking them both into another tree. Edge dropped to her knees, wheezing as she tried to heal.

The skeleton drove his gauntlet through the Angel's chest plate, but not before the Angel activated a holy fire spell, destroying both in a flash of light with the sound of tearing metal. Edge looked at the crater they'd left and dispassionately resumed stealth. She'd barely walked ten paces before she was surrounded by four Armored Angels and one other that had glowing wings pulsating behind him like living whips of lightning. "Progeny of the Dark Emperor. He may concede our territory in payment for her life." His voice was the same as the second mist being. My illusions might be excellent, but I had limits. I didn't know how to make something I didn't remember, and I'd only heard so many voices. Hopefully she didn't visit her brother or Misty on the rare occasions when Misty wasn't screaming wordlessly. "Remove a hand as proof of capture." One of the Armored Angels instantly grabbed her hand and sliced it off before she'd even reacted to their presence. She was still jarred from the last encounter, but that was something I could train out of her.

She screamed as the hand was removed, and she dropped to her knees to cradle her stump. "Father. Please, save me." She whimpered. Momentary weakness when faced with impossible odds was acceptable. "Please! Please he…"

Then she activated a rogue skill and vanished, appearing behind one of the Armored Angels. Then she used another to leap into a tree. Even with one hand, her stance was firm. She bolted through the branches, showing agility I hadn't known she was capable of at her low level. It wasn't enough, though. The angels were too powerful for her to escape. The ability to move at my thought helped, but I did my best to keep their movement continuous. One of them grabbed her by the neck before she'd gone past three trees and carried her back to the glowing one. 

"Escape is not allowed. Further attempts will result in needless suffering." He tossed her hand between his, his head cocked to the side. "What to do with you?" Then he jumped slightly, turning to look into the trees. Past the trees. "Look at that. Daddy's watching." He hurled the hand with all his might, a throw that would easily send the severed limb to me if I was in the fake woods where I was above the real woods. Scrying was so damn valuable. He shaded his face with one hand, a gesture that was completely unnecessary since he obviously had vision strong enough to see "me" clearly. "Doesn't look like he cares. Look at that, boys, he's flying away." He chuckled as he pulled out his sword, a gleaming piece of work that shone with heavenly power. "Guess we don't have a use for you after all, girlie." He raised the sword, but didn't strike. He held the pose for a few seconds before sheathing his sword again. "I had a thought. Do you have the memory of Zezhria locked in that pretty little head of yours? Access to the teleport gate, perhaps? Give it to me. Then we can invade directly. We wouldn't need to bore a hole to make sure we're not teleporting into the ground."

"You'd have to kill me!" Edge snarled. There was panic in her voice, though. She wasn't mentally prepared for this sort of situation. That was a mistake. If she passed the test, and became a powerful member of my hierarchy, she'd need to be worthy of it. Meaning that she had to be prepared to be tortured for information on me or how to hurt me. Since death wasn't much of a threat, torture was all they had left. King Arthur might not have the stomach for it, but her underlings would. And the monsters of Heaven would have no problem cooking her for answers. She threw a knife at him, but he didn't even bother deflecting it. The blade bounced off his helm without so much as a scratch to the metal.

"You really are pathetic. I expected more from a member of the enemy's household." He leaned down and picked up the knife. "Such a crude weapon. Oh well, what will you do?" he slashed her thigh, severing the femoral artery. Blood sprayed, but it didn't adhere to his shining plate. It was interesting that all the physiology was intact, but that wasn't even a critical strike. There was bonus pain, but no extra damage. Useful for some rogues and Cultists, but not much else. "Where's Zezhria, little girl?" he slashed her again. She screamed, but her mind and mouth remained closed. He continued for several minutes before he accepted the fact that cutting her wasn't enough. "Go get a proper torturer. Wouldn't want her to die by accident, after all." One of the Armored Angels nodded and beat its steel wings like a hummingbird, launching himself into the sky. "Unfortunately, I can't heal you in a torturous manner. However, if you died before he returns, that would be inconvenient." He activated a holy spell, but it rebounded off her armor. She sniggered behind her mask. She pulled out her last dagger and drove it toward her neck, but Shiny caught the blade. "Now, now, that's cheating. Cheaters get punished." He dug the blade into her bicep. I could almost feel her grinning behind her mask. She'd taken too much damage and she had several stacks of bleeding. She wouldn't live for long.

Spells needed consent, but potions were different. A pack of elf players rushed into the scene, attacking the angels with abandon. Edge crawled away in the confusion, but one of the players caught up to her. He threw a potion that shattered against her mask, the glass bouncing off while the liquid penetrated and provided her with plenty of life to survive. Then he lifted her to his shoulders and rushed off at a run, whooping about being favored by the goddess RNG. After he'd put a few miles between them and the angels he stopped, putting her on her feet. "Hello, gorgeous. Name's Peter. Out for a walk or what?"

"Something like that. Why'd you rescue me?" she demanded. Her guard was up, obviously so. Her tone seemed…almost too combative. Like she was acting. "Who are you really?" Her posture was definitely an act, though. I didn't buy for a second that she had a demure bone in her body.

"Damn, you're a suspicious one. Paranoid much?" he chuckled as he dropped to his heels, spinning a knife on one finger. "We're players. We kill monsters. That's what we do. When we run out of monsters to kill, we find bigger or better ones to kill. It's how we're made. Why do you have to ask, that's the real question. And what're you doing in such an advanced area?" he pulled his hood back and removed his mask, showing an elf face. I hadn't spent a lot of time studying beautiful men, so I wasn't sure how gorgeous he was…but I thought I did a good job. Delfina and Shyndyn agreed, for what that was worth.

Edge deflated, shifting from impressed fear to shy adoration with her body language. It took her a few seconds to remember she'd had her hand cut off, at which point she dropped to her knees and cradled her severed hand, though her legs probably hurt more. The loss of a limb was more traumatic, though, and that damage was still quite visible. "I trusted the wrong person. He ditched me here."

"Damn, that's one cold bastard. Who was it, King of the Dark Elves?" he sniggered like he'd made a joke. I was a dark myth to most of the players outside my empire, so it was a believable jibe. Being right would also test her acting more than some name she'd never heard before.

Edge nodded. She pulled off her mask and hood, showing her face. She was crying, tears running down her face like a pair of rivers. They even looked fresh. She was quite a talented actress, I had to give her that. "I trusted him! And he left me to get mutilated!"

"More than that, babe. He left you to die, and there's no coming back from that. Not in this game. Crazy shit, huh?" he growled wordlessly. Then he froze. "Did you just nod? Like, really? As in you actually know the Dark Elf Emperor? He, personally, dropped you off to die? What are you that he'd do that? Damn guy's a fucking myth, man. What makes you so special?" Edge sniffed, wiping at her eyes. "Sorry, where are my manners. Let's get you to a town before we start the interrogation." He smiled to show he was joking, Edge took his hand and left with him, a smile on her face.