Zet

Gears ground, spun, and shuttered as the doors to the outside closed behind me. Telekinesis barred them and only telekinesis could unbar them. From the outside there would be no more reinforcements for the tower. The doors were shut tighter than a bank vault. By the wards carved into the steel, I was confident no outside forces would break through.

I ran through a long winding hallway to a large door. Upon the door were images of goblings wearing crowns atop the bodies of Mind Flayers. The imagery carved into the wood held a great amount of craftsmanship. Six distinct figures stood apart from the other goblings. One held a flower in hand, another had a sun on her forehead, the next held a bag of gold, the forth had black halo above his head, the fifth stood atop a mighty beast, and Dol sat on his throne wearing pitch black armor. Each wore a crown and stood below the throne of Dol. My hand brushed the throne.

Beyond the door, I sensed a powerful force. Denser aura than my own flowed beyond the door. I felt it contained within a single individual. This fight would be fierce. It was time to cheat.

To win this what I needed most was speed. It didn't matter how powerful my opponents were if they couldn't catch me. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to practice all the variants of Aura Rush. Normally, I wouldn't dare upgrade those techniques to max. There was so much I still needed to work on with my other skills. It would be like going from a golf car to a space shuttle.

Aura Rush X – A simple technique that manipulates aura to increase movement speed. +500% AGL

Class: Movement

Rank: F

Stop Start X – Plan and predict each point for a faster reaction time. +100% PER.

Class: Movement

Rank: F

Frictionless Slide X – Use aura to lower friction and skate on the ground. +1000% AGL +100%DEX

Class: Movement

Rank: E

Controlled Thrust X – Manipulate the direction Aura Rush pushes. +500% DEX

Class Movement

Rank: F

Rush Zone X – Boost senses to react with Aura Rush. +500% PER

Class: Movement

Rank: F

New avenues to bend my aura flowed through my mind. While they were unfamiliar to my body, I knew I could handle them. This would be my test to show I could control my own power.

The doors opened to a massive jungle. When I stepped through, the humidity hit me like a truck. A breath drowned my lungs with the shear concentration of moisture in the air. A heavy fog covered the trees blocking out eyesight.

A voice carried over the fog loud and boisterous. "Hello visitor, I am Zet the guardian of this gate to Dol's Tower. The only way to pass through the gate is with my key." Zet dropped down in front of me.

Jet lvl80 Noble Chimera

Rank: Plebe

Zet was nearly nine feet tall. Curved goat horns stretched back behind his head. He kept his arms crossed and struck a pose locking his hips to the side. A smile spread across his face, before he opened his mouth showing off a black key resting on his tongue. Then he swallowed it.

I swung Diabla at his throat. He leaned back letting my blade pass just over his chin. I dashed forward swinging. Every swing was dodged by a hair's breathe. I dropped all pretenses and skated around a tree to deliver a killing blow to his back. Zet leapt in the air and hundreds of tree limbs cracked like whips.

Hundreds of powerful tree limbs smashed into me at once. I shot across the jungle and lost track of Zet's aura. It blended into the jungle. The trees would be a problem. I slashed my blade and unleashed a powerful stream of Soul Fire. While it scorched the bark, it didn't do much more. New growth soon appeared within the tree.

I shot forward as a barrage of tree limbs smashed down where I had stood. From one boot to the other I skated through the forest. Friction only applied to my feet when I told it to. Most of my movement were done with aura alone.

"Have you noticed difficulty moving since you entered my domain?" That voice sounded like it could come from any direction. "Are your senses troubling you? Do you feel pain in your stomach? Is there any bleeding from strange locations?" I pinpointed his aura after is last words and formed a fireball and fired.

The orange ball of flames shot through the air before hitting one of the trees and exploding. Flaming bark rained down but Zet didn't appear. I sensed a fluctuation of aura and moved to the left.

A spear slammed into my shoulder. Black Static formed a field and shot out. I felt him yank the spear away and take a few steps back. Only just out of range he waited. This guy was the worst.

The trees around me twists, bark popped, and limbs raised. "I'd advise you to run while you have the chance." I opened my mouth and sucked in a dragon's breath. Zet laughed. "Don't you get it yet Darkling, I've poisoned the air. Every breath is killing you."

What does poison matter to an Underworld Dragon? It was silly but it also felt right. Rings of blue light gathered around my blade as I lifted it. It was stronger than before. That was good. Zet's eyes widened comically before he turned and ran. My blade crashed down just as he jumped into a nearby tree.

Blue flames spread across the forest, the fog caught on fire, and the heat spiraled around me grasping for the ceiling.

"You know if he dies, you'll have to look through a ton of ash." Diabla said.

"I'm fast, it won't take me much time to find the key." All around me trees burned to the ground. It was strangely satisfying. My hands looked a little singed but otherwise fine. Leveling up had improved my ability to handle the flames. Greater control over my aura from the intelligence increased hadn't hurt either.

A sound like the roar of a thousand motorcycles blasted a hole in the spiraling flames. Zet leapt through the hole and looked worse for wear. Burns littered his body and one of his horns had broken off.

His arms changed. Soon the arms of a lion replaced Zet's own arms. He charged claws barred.

I raised Diabla and blocked the strike. He ducked and my sword cut through his other horns. I brought up black static and he barreled through it. Ignoring the pain in my shoulder I placed my other hand on my blade. And changed its direction. Then I added Aura Rush to my blade. I shot down with incredible force. Just as the lion's claws sunk into my stomach my blade sliced into his shoulder.

Just before I activated Armageddon's chainsaw, he dropped letting my blade pull out of his shoulder and rolled to the side. I swung down and activated Aura Rush. My blade sliced into his back as he rolled out of the way.

I fell to a knee blood leaked from the two massive claw wounds in my guts. Diabla's blade was all that kept me from collapsing entirely. The wounds and the poison were getting to me. "You've forced me to do this." Zet said.

His skin began to change. The humanoid appearance he had before was gone. His head was that of a wolf's, his legs were a mix of bear and goat, horrid black fur covered his body, and he had a mix of human and lion arms. This creature was easily 15ft tall. Purple mist wafted from his body in a hideous miasma. It was different from the light mist before. It smelled like rot.

I roared and charged. There wasn't any time to care about my wounds or pain. It needed to die and I had to move forward. I pulled for the golden power and my body filled with its strength.

Just before it hit, I planned out my path. Its claws were moments from cutting into me when I moved. As I moved to the creature's side, I stabbed my sword into its side. The buzz of Armageddon's Chainsaw sounded as it tore into the beast's side. A concentrated blast of miasma blasted me in the face sending me to the edge of the fire cyclone. Everything went numb as the beast approached.

"You feel that numbing sensation. Its apathy when you can't feel anything you stop caring about your body." I narrowed my eyes and stood up. My body was numb, and I couldn't feel a damn think. As a system AI it was meaningless. I was in every nook and cranny of this body. Nerve gas was no more effective against my systems than a code error was to the body.

I stood up and stumbled. Zet laughed while my hands played at being geriatric. He reared back his claws glowed with sickly green light while he glared at me. "Allow me to put you out of your misery." Zet yelled.

All it took was a moment to put myself behind Zet. I stabbed down into his back. Blood erupted while my sword sunk into the chimera. More purple mist flowed out but that didn't master. I held my breath and committed. My sword stuck out through Zet's furry chest. I twisted it and cut another way out.

The broken Governor of Dolville collapsed on the ground. "Please have mercy." He yelled and quickly returned to his humanoid form. Blood seeped from his wounds while it tried to shrink its body and close the wounds.

I lifted my blade like the executioner's axe ready to finish this. From Zet's green eyes saw the reflection of flames erupting from Diabla.

"Will you open the door." I asked. His gaze hardened. Then I saw something in his hand. He crushed it and I dashed away.

"No, I just needed some time to take out my back up plan." His aura vanished but it moved into something else. Whatever was in the glass container he had; it had consumed his aura. I took a breath and felt my aura begin to recover. Feeling returned to my fingertips along with the sensation of pins and needles. The spiraling flames began to peter out and whatever consumed Zet's aura stirred.