Apocalypse Tamer - Chapter 102: Man vs Return

After an awkward start and terrible middle, Vasi’s family gathering ended somewhat calmly. Basil and his girlfriend’s kin sat down around a table like reasonable adults under the looming shadow of their dragon patron. All listened as he told them exactly how his planet had been turned into a hellscape.

Funny times.

“That’s…” Victor Dalton sipped from his champagne glass as he struggled to find the correct answer. “That’s rough, buddy.”

“Gee, you think?” Basil replied with a deadpan look.

Most of the guests had promptly forgotten about the battle and returned to their preoccupations. Basil took it as a hint that watching two people fight to the death followed by a divine miracle was no big deal by the family’s standards. And here he thought the Bohens were an eccentric lot.

Only Victor, his dragon master, Baba Yaga, and Braniño had stuck around to listen to Basil’s tale; and while the latter sat next to his daughter, Vasi did everything in her power to put space between them and ignore his presence. Even returning Basil’s halberd to its rightful owner hadn’t endeared the demon lord to his child.

It wasn’t very Christian of him, but Braniño’s distress filled Basil with an unmistakable sense of enjoyment.

“Argh!” Vainqueur Knightsbane stomped the ground with his back foot with enough force to shake the entire hall. Vasi’s own glass of alcohol slipped through her fingers, but her father proved quick enough to catch it before it hit the ground. The witch grabbed it back without thanking her sire, much to his dismay. “These… these Unizmeys are giving us dragons a bad name!”

“Unity, Your Majesty,” Victor corrected him. “They call themselves the Unity.”

“Same! Only Zmeys could be so stupid as to trample the proper dragon way of life!” The dragon god snapped his fingers and a colossal, dazzling pile of gold coins large enough to fill a house materialized under him. Vainqueur nested on it with his jaw clenched, the sight reminding Basil of an angry child burying his face in a pillow to soothe their rage. “Friend Victor, we must open this portal! I will not stand idle as these fools humiliate my ancient race!”

“I don’t think we can enter Earth at all, Your Majesty,” his minion replied, scratching the back of his head. “Without taking the Level Barrier into consideration, we’re gods of this world. I don’t think we can leave it for another.”

“How did it happen?” Basil asked. The question had been bugging him for a while. “Becoming a god? You said you were from Earth, so I assume you weren’t born a deity.”

Vasi’s mother, who had listened to the conversation without a word, answered him. “Godhood in Outremonde works similarly to your Trimurti System,” Baba Yaga explained. “Anyone reaching level 99 goes through a unique trial. If they succeed, they gain a level in the Deity class and ascend to godhood with a portfolio based on the mortal’s chosen classes.”

Basil briefly wondered what classes made Victor a god of minions and overworked employees, but he was kind enough not to ask.

“Except of course that becoming a god doesn’t destroy Outremonde like your Trimurti System threatens to do with Earth,” Victor added. “It has happened fourteen times since the System appeared, and I’m pretty sure Kia will become the fifteenth member of our Pantheon once she finds someone strong enough to give her experience.”

“Manling Kia is not goddess material,” Vainqueur replied with a snort.

“Yeah, I’m sure she would rather move on to another world as He Who Shall Not Be Named did.” Victor sighed. “Godhood is only one of the prizes. Some instead chose to reincarnate into other universes in search of new challenges. The opponent I faced during my divine trial chose that option after I kicked his undead butt.”

Vasi frowned and locked eyes with Basil. His girlfriend had guessed as much.

“Lord Victor–” Vasi stopped herself. “Victor? What am I supposed to call you?”

“How about…” The man grinned ear to ear. “Grandaddy?”

“No, I don’t think it’ll sit well with me,” Vasi replied immediately, much to his chagrin. “Grandpa… Grandpa, do you think it would be possible for someone to reincarnate in another world without a System? Like Earth?”

“I suppose?” Victor glanced at his dragon master, who overshadowed the table. “Is it?”

“Of course it is possible, Friend Victor,” the dragon replied. “Think, think! Your soul was first summoned from your native Earth before it incarnated there, did it not? The Elder Wyrm, in her boundless wisdom, connected our world to countless others across the cosmos when she fashioned it from nothing.”

“Our Eldest co-created the world, wyrm,” Baba Yaga replied with a snort. To Basil’s amazement, she held the dragon god’s glare without flinching. That alone spoke volumes about her power. “Don’t get us started on this again.”

“The Elder Wyrm?” Basil asked with a frown. He had heard the name mentioned a few times without the proper context.

“One of the creators of our world’s System, alongside our ancestor, the Fomor Eldest,” Baba Yaga replied. “These two have sowed countless worlds with Systems of their own design.”

“Walter mentioned many Systems could be traced back to two Overgods,” Vasi remembered. “He must have been referencing these two.”

“In any case, Vainqueur has a point,” Victor said, his dragon master nodding in appreciation. “A lot of us earthlings reincarnated on Outremonde long before Earth obtained a System of its own. I don’t see why the process shouldn’t work in reverse.”

According to Walter Tye, a portal had been opened between the world of Elysium before its destruction and Earth. This new information helped put this revelation into perspective.

If the Trimurti System functions similarly to this world’s one, Basil thought, then each time a competition ends inconclusively, Maxwell reincarnates somewhere else and repeats the process.

No wonder Dismaker Labs’ founder didn’t care about the world’s destruction; worst case scenario, he would get off it without a scratch.

As they said in gambling: the House always wins.

“So you’re both Overgods?” Vasi asked Vainqueur and Victor.

“No, I’m just the normal kind,” Victor replied with a sheepish smile. “There can only be one at the top.”

“I alone was granted the privilege of being the Overgod, master of the pantheon,” Vainqueur declared proudly. “I alone can administer this world’s System all the way to its Third Edition.”

“We don’t speak about the Second Edition,” Victor whispered.

“I’ve heard you, Friend Victor.” Vainqueur sighed, his eyes brimming with nostalgia. “The Second Edition was a great first draft for the Third.”

“That’s the kindest thing we can say about it for sure,” his assistant deadpanned. As usual, his dragon master completely missed the sarcasm.

“As the Administrator of this dimension’s System, I alone can determine its mechanics,” Vainqueur explained to the confused Bohens. “I can edit stats, invent new classes, determine how they can be accessed, or the availability of experience. My logic is that of the world itself!”

If Basil wasn’t mistaken, Victor and Baba Yaga briefly shuddered at the dragon’s bold words.

Considering the Trimurti System had seeped so deeply into Earth’s reality that its bugs threatened to destroy parts of it, controlling it meant dominating reality itself. Basil struggled to picture the potential applications in his mind besides the obvious ones.

“So you could, and forgive me if I’m wrong…” Basil cleared his throat. “Raise someone’s levels tenfold?”

“I could,” Vainqueur replied, “but as a dragon, I am beyond such favoritism. It would be grossly irresponsible, not to mention dangerous, to infuse undeserving minions with such power.”

“Dangerous?” Vasi asked with a frown.

“You gain levels by strengthening your soul,” Victor elaborated. “If you gain too many at once, your essence becomes unstable and it might self-destruct. It’s why the leveling curve exists in the first place.”

Basil could see how a responsible deity might restrict leveling, but dangerous didn’t mean impossible. If the Unity could artificially inflate the levels of its soldiers and send them into other universes, the consequences would be apocalyptic.

“What can gods do exactly?” Basil asked. “Like, besides altering the local System? I’m struggling to understand the exact limits.”

“You wish for a demonstration?” Vainqueur snapped his fingers. “Minion, do the thing!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Victor pointed at the hall’s broken windows and the night sky beyond. A golden moon shone in a sea of darkness and distant stars. “Do you see the constellations?”

Basil frowned in suspicion. “Yes?”

Victor raised his hands at the sky as if touching an iPad’s touch screen and swiped the stars out of place.

The deity achieved this act of cosmic power so casually that for a brief second, Basil’s mind failed to register the reality of what he was seeing. A winged man no taller than him moved the stars out of their position, disassembling constellations and rearranging them into a very clear message.

V&V FOREVER!

“Perfection,” Vainqueur commented.

“I’m the god of minions,” Victor explained to the astonished Bohens. “I can do almost anything my boss asks of me, within some limits.”

At first, the sight of the stars rearranged into a personal signature amazed Basil. Then he imagined the Maleking commanding such power, and his heart was filled with dread.

Victor had arranged the stars in a new order, but the demonic master of the Apocalypse Force would bring them crashing down to Earth. He would burn Basil’s world to the ground and then move on to another. Worse, his servants might become inspired to follow in his footsteps. They would seed new planets with Neurotowers as Maxwell did and restart the competition for Overgod. The Unity’s Grandmaster ascending to the throne would be equally disastrous.

They can’t be allowed to win, Basil thought grimly. No matter what. Even if it’ll cost me my life, they don’t get to win.

“You can rearrange the cosmos,” Vasi whispered in shock, “and still fail to cross a doorway?”

“I told you, we’re gods of this dimension,” Victor replied sheepishly. “Our powers are limited outside it.”

“Vainqueur Knightsbane does not know defeat,” his dragon master declared with a claw on his chin. “There must be something I can do to help you brave minions.”

“Why not raise our levels?” Basil suggested. “Victor said the Level Barrier made an exception for locals that return from trips, so we should keep them on the other side.”

Victor swiftly shook his head, disappointing him. “The exception is for individuals whose level exceeds the barrier’s threshold and then come back without gaining any in the meantime. If you gain new levels here, the level penalty will apply on your return.”

“Then give us an overpowered class, or powerful items,” Basil pleaded. “Something we can use on our return home.”

“I don’t think it will work, Basil,” Vasi replied. “Orcine lost access to her native classes when she jumped over to Earth.”

“There is an issue of System compatibility,” Victor confirmed. “Your Trimurti System will no doubt restrict any cheating ability we grant you for the sake of its internal balance; our divine-granted Claimed Perks will probably disappear on your side. As for items, I assume they will be… nerfed.”

Basil cursed in disappointment. Couldn’t he and his team just pay to win like Metal Olympus’ members?

Vainqueur Knightsbane, who had been deep in thought, snapped his fingers. “Aha! I know!”

“Your Majesty?” Victor asked, his voice suddenly less confident.

“I know what to do!” Vainqueur Knightsbane locked eyes with Basil, his eyes brimming with power. “When you cannot break the rules, bend them!”

Much like his girlfriend earlier, a flash of red light swallowed Basil whole. He felt an alien power fill his bones; a sensation almost identical to the one he enjoyed while leveling up.

Congratulations, you have been blessed by the supreme master of Outremonde! You will gain +10% chance to gain a stat increase when you level up! Additionally, thanks to your clever use of time and space magic, you have unlocked the mighty [Chronomancer] Spellcaster class!

“Chronomancer?” Basil asked, utterly confused.

“Hey, that’s my class!” Braniño protested. “I had to struggle for decades to unlock it!”

“Which is why I helped you with a shortcut!” Vainqueur explained to Basil. “While I cannot create new classes, I can help you meet its requirements.”

“Oh, that’s genius!” Victor grinned. “Yes, if a class exists in both Systems and shares the same criteria–”

“You can say I met them in this world,” Basil guessed, his heart pounding in his chest. “Can you make me a Paladin?”

“No,” Vainqueur replied almost immediately, much to his dismay. “I cannot trick the Light Affinity requirement, whatever that means.”

Basil sank in his chair. Vasi patted him on the shoulder to comfort him and nodded in silent support.

“Your resume will now say that you achieved amazing feats of time magic during your short stay here,” Vainqueur explained. “Moreover, while I cannot grant you levels, I can improve your stat growth. Not too much or your System will strip you of my blessing, but just enough to give you an edge. I wish I could do more, Manling Bohen.”

“That is already a lot, Your Majesty.” While Basil might have had some issues with dragon lords lately, he was no ingrate. He bowed deeply before the deity in respect. “You have my sincere thanks.”

Vainqueur observed him in silence for a moment, before nodding in appreciation. “Manling Bohen, heed my words. I see you have a wyrm’s spirit. Do you know what that means?”

Basil frowned. “That I’m a capped Dragonknight?”

“It means that victory is certain, so long as you remain true to yourself,” Vainqueur replied. “Struggle, loss, humiliations, those are but words. The only defeat is to surrender. So long as your spirit shines with bravery, you will always win. My kindred on your world have lost their way by forgetting this… or rather, they have yet to fall on the right road.”

Basil listened in silence. The oafish, dimwitted dragon from before had vanished; in his place, an ancient and mighty wyrm stood atop his bed of gold. His divine aura had returned in full force.

“I was like this Unity once,” the deity explained. “I had never known defeat, and so I grew arrogant. I believed myself invincible and that lesser lifeforms existed only to serve me. It took me many years of reflection and friendship to contemplate the very concept of death.”

“You’ve gone a long way, Vainqueur,” Victor whispered with a grin. “I’m proud.”

“True strength comes from growth,” Vainqueur agreed. “The Unity believes itself powerful because they have scales hard as steel and physical strength, but their spirit is weak. Their so-called dragonlords will always underestimate you, Manling Bohen, even if you slay one of them. They will say that those you defeated were the anomalies, that you did not win by your efforts but through others’ mistakes. How could they not think so? They believe themselves perfect, and perfection does not lose.”

The great dragon god folded his wings, his eyes brimming with wisdom.

“And this is why you and your beloved dragon will prevail,” Vainqueur said. “Because you have the courage to accept reality and grow stronger from adversity, while they would rather stick to their wrong ways out of fear. When you doubt yourself, always remember this: never stop fighting. For one is never truly born strong. True strength is earned.”

Vainqueur’s words echoed the Maleking’s in a way; but they were wiser, more inspiring. The deity’s charisma was such that Basil believed him on the spot. The words warmed his heart like kindling poured on a pile of burning wood.

“I will not disappoint you, Your Majesty,” Basil said with a hand on his chest.

“No, you will not,” Vainqueur replied warmly.

Baba Yaga, who had listened to the speech in silence so far, folded her arms. “My daughter, you should return home. This war is not yours.”

“I can’t abandon my friends, Mother,” Vasi protested.

“Just bring them on this side of the portal,” Baba Yaga replied with a shrug. “Our hut is not the biggest, but we can accommodate a few dozen guests. The cat should fit nicely into the oven.”

Basil gave her an outraged look, but Vasi acted quicker. “It’s not my war, no,” she admitted before immediately taking her boyfriend’s hand into her own. “But it’s Basil’s. I cannot sit on the sidelines while his homeland goes up in ashes.”

“Bah!” Baba Yaga grunted. “You speak like a paladin!”

“Perhaps,” Vasi replied with a smile. “He has been a good influence on me.”

“So have you.” Basil kissed his girlfriend on the cheek, not caring about her father’s reaction. “You’ve made me a better person.”

“Aww…” Victor was brought almost to tears. “I’m so happy…”

While Vasi’s mother rolled her eyes, Braniño opened his mouth to speak. Basil expected him to challenge him to a second round of dueling and was swiftly disappointed.

“I have misjudged you, Bohen,” Braniño admitted. It seemed Vasi’s trust in him—and tales of their adventures together—had mollified the demon lord somewhat.

“Damn straight you did,” Basil replied, utterly unimpressed.

“Although you are a mediocre fighter, you have defended my daughter many times and proved your mettle.” The demon lord crossed his arms and cleared his throat as if it hurt him to speak. “I shall… tolerate you.”

Your girlfriend’s dad accepts you. Few people will survive to read this message.

“Well, fuck you,” Basil snapped back. “You stabbed me in the chest. I’m the one tolerating you!”

“No, mortal!” The demon lord wagged a finger at Basil. “I’m the one tolerating you!”

“I am!” Basil replied, pointing back. “I’m the one!”

“I am the one!”

“I am!”

What followed was an awkward contest where each of them pretended to have the moral high ground; to outsiders, they must have looked like two bickering children completely out of their depth. The battle only ended when Vasi declared it a draw.

“Father, for now I am the one tolerating you.” The witch glared at her sire so balefully that he avoided her gaze. “That already is a great concession from me.”

“But sweetie–”

“I don’t want to hear excuses,” she interrupted him. “Yes, Mother deserves some guilt for not telling you of my existence, but your reaction did not endear you to me in any way.”

“It was for your own good!” her mother protested.

“I decide what is good for me,” Vasi insisted firmly. “And unless you learn to get along with my boyfriend, Father, then your company is not one of them.”

“Sweetie, I was only trying to help you,” her father replied, hands joined in prayer. “All I want is for you to be happy with someone worthy of you.”

“It’s not for you to choose.” Vasi let out a sigh. “I’ll… I’ll try to think you acted the way you did because you care, but actions speak louder than words.”

“Then let me prove my goodwill this instant.” The demon lord bolted out of his seat. “Where the gods themselves failed, I, Braniño II, future emperor of Outremonde, shall prevail!”

“Vice-emperor,” Vainqueur grunted with a snort. “I do not share my hoard.”

“And how do you want to help her, my dear?” Baba Yaga asked her ex-boyfriend in skepticism. “You cannot cross the portal, no more than I can.”

“Why would I?” The demon lord chuckled darkly. “Securing conquered land is a minion’s job… and I have so many of them. Armies who will gladly die for my beautiful princess’ sake.”

Basil’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wait, are you implying–”

“That is right, human.” Braniño proudly raised a fist to the ceiling. “My demonic legions shall enter your world and put you where you belong… at my daughter’s side, as she seizes the throne of this land you call Bulgaria!”

The idea of another demonic army invading his homeland didn’t exactly thrill Basil Bohen. “No way in H–”

“This is an excellent idea, Demonling!” Vainqueur Knightsbane agreed immediately. “Though I cannot assist personally, I too shall engage in aggressive minion diplomacy to bring these foolhardy dragons to heel!”

“Wait, wait,” Vasi panicked. “How many troops can you deploy?”

“Thousands, sweetie,” Braniño replied. His daughter’s interest caused his eyes to shine with hope. “For you, I’ll spare no expense.”

“I will vouch for it,” Baba Yaga mused. “Conquering a country for me is how he won me over.”

Braniño took his ex’s hands into his own. “And I would do it all over again for a single of your kisses, Baba Darling.”

The ancient witch reddened slightly, much to their daughter’s annoyance. Vasi clenched her teeth and leaned against her boyfriend’s ear to whisper in it. “What do you think?”

“You can’t be considering it,” Basil whispered back.

“Do you want to expel the Unity from your country or not?” she countered. “Having an army would definitely help.”

“An army of demons,” Basil pointed out. That alone would frighten Bulgaria’s people; Earth’s only experience with fiends so far was the Apocalypse Force, so it would be a public relationship disaster all around at best. “And what if they don’t leave? I don’t want to trade one oppressor for another.”

“Let’s see…” Vasi turned to her sire. “Father, will I be in charge of the army?”

“But of course, Sweetie,” the demon lord replied joyfully. “My little princess, already leading minions to battle…”

“So I can send them back once the job is done?” When her father nodded in response, Vasi returned to plotting with her boyfriend. “See? Not a bad deal.”

“Forgive me if I’m not enthusiastic,” Basil admitted. He couldn’t bring himself to trust a demon, especially one who had tried to kill him hours earlier.

“The Unity has killed thousands and will probably slaughter more,” Vasi replied with a frown. “Shouldn’t saving your countrymen be the priority?”

When she put it that way… Basil mulled over the situation and realized he had few options. His homeland was occupied, Shumen was besieged, and mankind’s enemies were growing stronger and more numerous with each Incursion. Six billion people had already perished across the globe.

Basil couldn’t save his country with his current resources, let alone the world. Mankind desperately needed allies; any allies. Beggars couldn’t be choosers.

And when he looked at Braniño, Basil realized that he would deliver. The man seemed so desperate for his daughter’s approval that he would do anything for a ‘thank you.’

“I’ll regret it.” Basil sighed. “Somehow, I know I will.”

He was immediately proven right.

“Bohen, your country shall henceforth be known as Vasiland,” Braniño declared. His daughter put a hand on her forehead with a groan. “I’ll let you command troops during the change of name process, though you will need to prove yourself worthy of the task. You have no means to debuff a foe, let alone disrupt their buffs. At your level, this is inexcusable.”

“I figured out it was better to specialize as part of a team,” Basil defended his build. “Though I’ll admit I should have gotten a backup spear.”

The demon lord wouldn’t hear any of it. “Your lack of a competent ally is no excuse! At your level you should have the resources to compensate for your shortcomings! Summoning Truck-kun cannot be your only ace-in-the-hole!”

“What my son means is that usually at the elite level we usually accumulate enough magical items to cover our weaknesses,” Victor said. “Your halberd and armor look good, but surely you must have other tools to call upon.”

“Our System is stingy with loot,” Vasi admitted. “And we usually sell it for favors anyway.”

“Your days of poverty are over, my child,” Braniño reassured her. “I couldn’t spoil you for over twenty years… but no more! From now on, you shall not sleep on a bed unless it is made of bills and gold!”

“Diamonds help for the back too,” Vainqueur commented. “A diversified hoard is the key to a good night’s sleep.”

Sleeping on gemstones sounded extraordinarily uncomfortable, but Basil had never done it, so he couldn’t judge.

“I know someone who will be very pleased to hear that,” Vasi replied, smiling at her father for the first time since they met. “We can discuss gold and gemstones another day.”

Her father’s expression instantly deflated. “Sweetie, you’re leaving?”

Vasi nodded slowly as she and Basil rose from their seats. “The New Year is only a few hours away, and we can’t be away much longer.”

“But you will be back?” Victor asked eagerly. “We have so much time to catch on, and you haven’t met your grandmother yet.”

“I…” Vasi briefly hesitated, but after a glance at her pleading father’s eyes, she couldn’t help but agree. “We’ll return as soon as we can.”

Basil could read between the lines. Though her paternal family was exactly what she had imagined, she was willing to give them a chance.

If it made her happy, all the better.

“Vasi, I have to say it.” Basil gathered his breath as they prepared to return home. “Your family… your family is weird.”

His girlfriend laughed so hard that it drew a smile to his lips.

2023 was bound to start well.