Apocalypse Tamer - Chapter 133: Man vs Journey's End

It could take a lifetime to make friends and an instant to lose them.

Basil had seen many people come and go in his life. His parents, René, childhood companions he lost sight of when he moved to France… The apocalypse only added to this count. Orcine, Kuikui, even Benjamin. Basil would have wished to spend more time with each of them.

The friends Basil was losing today wouldn’t die, so there was always hope they would meet again… but something in his heart told him it wouldn’t be so simple.

“This is not farewell,” Little Nessia told him with the kind of earnest smile only young children could manage. “It’s just goodbye.”

I doubt that, Basil thought. He was wise enough not to say it out loud. “I hope we can visit you one day.”

“Aww, I’m so sad,” Bugsy complained. “Your world sounds like such a beautiful place, Miss Nessia.”

“You can come with us!” Little Nessia turned to Cassandra. “What do you say, Aunt Cass? I’m sure Dad would like them.”

“There is no guarantee the portals will remain open after this ritual’s completion,” Cassandra warned the Bohens. The risk was why all of Earth’s visitors had decided to return home at once. “We would gladly welcome you to our home, but you must understand that this risks becoming a permanent stay.”

“My daughter has better places to be,” Braniño said while rubbing his nails together. “Namely, her new winter palace.”

Vasi suppressed a chuckle. “You’ve built me a winter palace?”

“The architects should complete it just in time for your birthday, my dear,” her father replied, his voice as sweet as honey. “Alongside the beach resort.”

“Whoa, we’ve never tried those!” Shellgirl grinned at the proposal. “A pity we’ll have to delay.”

Her words tug at Basil’s heartstrings. Considering the risks involved in letting the Avatars fuse, he had offered his party to retreat to Outremonde for their own safety. None of them took him up on it.

“Well, Sir, it’s been an honor treating your ills.” Zachariel then turned to his favorite patient on the team. “Mr. Plato, I am very pleased to tell you that your agnostic cancer is now fully cured.”

“Swallowing a goddess helped,” the feline replied with a deadpan tone.

“I would appreciate it if you did not make a habit of it. That kind of nutritive therapy tends to have a high death rate.” The angel nodded to himself. “Still, I am pleased to leave you all in good health. This is every professional’s dream.”

“You’re not going to charge us more?” Vasi asked in skepticism. “No insurance package to go along with the medical expenses?”

“As strange as it may sound to you, Lady Yaga, Heaven cares about satisfying believers first and expanding its customer base second.” Zachariel shrugged. “In your case, I believe any karma insurance package would be redundant. You are solidly on the good side of the fence.”

Eyes turned in Rosemarine’s direction, who giggled to herself. “When I go to heaven, I will eat everyone who did not believe in me!”

“You will fit right in with the ‘Righteous Wrath’ department,” Zachariel said, taking her comment in stride.

It pleased Basil greatly to hear an angel confirm he would go to heaven if he died… though he wasn’t sure if he would fit in Outremonde’s version of it.

Who am I kidding? Basil glanced at his other allies across the Parthenon’s plaza. Troops had set up a security perimeter around the two Avatars, waiting for them to fuse. If this fails, we’ll spend our afterlife in a Neurotower’s core.

And even if the plan succeeded… it would be a jump into the unknown. Basil couldn’t help but stare at Bugsy, Shellgirl, Rosemarine, and all his monster allies. Their very existence was intrinsically tied to the Trimurti System. What would happen to them if Kalki and Padma succeeded in rolling it back?

His worries must have shown on his face, for Braniño immediately sneered in contempt. “If these gods of yours are half as powerful as ours, it should be child’s play to make an exception for your group after all you’ve done for them.”

“Outremonde was already connected to Earth before the Trimurti System arrived, so we’ll keep a backdoor open,” Vasi reassured Basil. “We can also escape to Walter’s shop if the worst comes to pass.”

“We could watch the end of Major Chicken while you’re playing B&C with Walter!” Bugsy suggested joyfully.

Vasi scowled. “I’ll pass for the B&C part.”

“I admit the last battle was enough for a lifetime.” The memory drew a smile on Basil’s face. Yes, he was being too negative. He had plenty of allies and escape routes. “It was nice.”

“It was a disaster,” Vasi countered while rolling her eyes. “You promised me that wouldn’t happen again, remember?”

Neria Elissalde chose this moment to rejoin the group, with Ronald hopping behind her. “We’re ready,” she warned. “We’ll begin the ritual in fifteen minutes.”

“Guild strong and hungry,” Ronald added. “What are orders, chief?”

Basil clenched his jaw. He hated what he was about to do, but he had to. “You will evacuate to Outremonde.”

Ronald gazed at him in confusion. “Evacuate?”

“I have discussed this with our allies, and there is a high chance that Apocalypse Force remnants will try to escape to other worlds when they realize what’s about to happen. Outremonde’s dragon ruler also asked that Unity defectors be handed to him, and they require an escort.”

That wasn’t a lie. Apocalypse Force warriors would certainly try to escape from Earth, and Vainqueur asked for Unity survivors to be transferred to his custody so he could enlighten them into the ‘proper dragon way.’ Basil doubted reforming these fascistic lizards would work, but at least Outremonde would have the infrastructure required to deal with them.

“While our party secures the Avatars, the rest of the Guild will help our allies contain these invaders,” Basil explained. “We must make sure that they never threaten the multiverse again.”

“Ronald shall tenderize them all.” The burger monster heedlessly raised an arm in a parody of a military salute. “Ready for deployment.”

“Don’t forget to sell wares to Outremonde locals while you’re at it!” Shellgirl said cheerfully. Unlike Bugsy, who shifted in place uncomfortably, her smile appeared genuine. “We’re going multiversal, baby!”

“We’ll be in touch, Ronald,” Basil said before opening his status management screen. “I’m teleporting you all.”

The burger vanished from Earth with a flash of red light and resolute words. “Ronald won’t disappoint!”

Basil nodded sharply as he read his Guild’s ledger. Everyone currently registered in it had their name registered there. The list went on and on and on.

Have we grown so much while I wasn’t looking? Besides his team, Basil could recognize half a dozen names on the list. That leech Varney, the vampire they met in Romania; the goblin Cafaimal and his cohort, who had been the Bohens’ neighbors a lifetime ago; and the mimics they recruited in Paris. Basil had almost forgotten them. Otherwise, the list included Gearsmen recruited by Shellgirl, undead, wolfmen, and countless creatures he had yet to meet in person. So many people I never got to know.

This only reinforced Basil’s resolve. He was no general, drafting young soldiers as if they were a statistic and then throwing them off into the meat grinder. He simply couldn’t live with the guilt if anything happened to his guildmates.

Basil swiped one name after another off the list, sending them through the otherworldly pathways currently connecting Earth to its neighbors. He received warnings that their dungeons were now unoccupied, but he cared little.

Neria hugged Little Nessia. “Goodbye, little griffin rider,” the former policewoman whispered to the child. “I’ll visit you if I can.”

“I can see the future, silly,” Little Nessia replied with a sad smile. “I’m sure we will.”

That was a lie, but like a good spell, no one opened their mouth to dispel it away.

“Good.” Neria kissed the girl on her forehead before shaking Cassandra’s hand. “Please take care of her. She’s a handful, but braver than men twice their age.”

“The apple didn’t fall far from the tree,” the other woman replied with a smirk. “There will always be a place for you on our ship, if you ever decide to sail with us.”

“I’ll think about it.” Neria smiled at Zachariel next. “What do you say, Zach? Up to putting back the band together if the opportunity presents itself?”

“Of course, Neria,” the angel replied, his tone strangely subdued. “Always.”

Basil remembered that these three had become good friends while in Bordeaux, even forming a party. While he tried to keep a straight face, Bugsy teared up a little at the scene. They weren’t the only ones saying farewell today.

“I wish you good luck in the fights to come,” Cassandra told her allies as she cast a spell of some kind. “Whatever they are.”

She and Little Nessia vanished in a flash of light, the latter waving goodbye to Neria and Zachariel until the very end. The rest of their crew swiftly followed, as did their flying ship.

“We will be waiting for you on the other side,” Braniño told Basil while glaring at him. “If anything happens to my daughter while I’m gone–”

“Nothing will,” Basil cut him off. “Not when I draw breath.”

“I can take care of myself, Dad.” Vasi smiled at her sire. “But… thanks for the concern.”

It said something about Braniño that a mere kind word from his daughter left him somewhat despondent. Basil wondered if deep down, this mighty demon lord was desperate for someone to love him for what he was, rather than what he represented.

“It is my duty as a parent.” Braniño regained his composure. “Return to me well and sound, my daughter.”

And like that, he and Zachariel vanished along with their troops. Only the Bohens, Steve, and their human allies remained on the Parthenon’s plateau.

“I thought you didn’t believe in keeping secrets from allies?” Plato asked with a disapproving frown after Braniño teleported away. “Or lying to them, for that matter.”

“I am,” Basil replied with a sigh. “But we both know Ronald and the others would have insisted on staying if they knew the truth.”

Though the chance of Apocalypse Force members or Unity survivors trying to escape Earth before the reboot existed, most of the Bohens’ allies believed they could handle them. Reinforcements were nice to have for them, but not necessary.

In truth, Basil had evacuated his Guild members to protect them. If things went wrong, the Maleking, Wyrde, and other apocalyptic threats would soon enter Earth. The gulf in strength was so vast that the likes of Ronald wouldn’t even give them experience.

It would be a slaughter, and Basil had seen too many friends die to add his Guildmates to the list. After confirming every single member except for the Bohens had crossed over, Basil opened his menu management screen.

Since Maxwell had already shown himself capable of messing with the Guild’s teleportation system, there was only one way to ensure he wouldn’t use it to throw Basil’s allies back into the meat grinder.

You are about to disband the [Homeowners Revenge Association] Guild. Are you certain of your choice? This action cannot be undone.

Clicking on the ‘yes’ option felt like the end of an era for Basil.

You have disbanded the [Homeowners Revenge Association] Guild. Items in the Guild inventory will be transferred to individual accounts or liquidated if this cannot be arranged.

His allies received the same message. Shellgirl looked devastated about the items part, even if she had already transferred the good stuff to her own bottomless Inventory.

“It’s done,” Bugsy muttered, his wings folding. “I know we avenged the house long ago, but… that hurts.”

“We’ll start something new,” Shellgirl said, trying to lift his spirits. “Like Monsters Multiversal! Or Bohen Bros!”

“My roots will spread to a thousand worlds and seed them with my brood,” Rosemarine chirped in. “Until everybody gives me a present on Christmas!”

Basil cracked a smile. Rosemarine always had a gift for lighting up the mood, and not always with fire. “You can still leave, you know.”

“Aren’t you tired of asking the same question and getting the same answer, Basil?” Plato teased him. “We’ve followed you to the moon and back already, what more do you want?”

“I still say Maxwell was messing with us,” Shellgirl added. “We’ll be fine.”

“We’ve all pushed our chips on the table long ago, handsome,” Vasi replied. Steve echoed his allies’ resolve with a flash of lightning and a roar of his engines. “We can’t walk away before the final round.”

Basil’s cheeks reddened a bit. “Thanks, guys. For everything.”

“Aww, did we make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?” Plato joked. “Should we follow up with a group hug to smother your embarrassment?”

“Maybe later,” Basil mused while glancing at Neria. “Will you join in?”

Neria blushed. “Me?”

“We’ve fought side by side for so long, you’re almost part of the team now.” To think Basil and the crew met her in Dax, all the way back when a single Gearsman was enough to send them running… so much had happened since. “You’re a friend now.”

“Thanks, Basil. The feeling is mutual.” Neria put a hand on her waist. “I hope we’ll keep hanging out together… no matter what happens.”

These ominous words were enough to ruin Basil’s good mood. With only minutes left before they all put their fates in Kalki, he opened his inventory and unstored the Lotus of Completion.

“I guess this is now or never,” Vasi noted. “What affinity will you choose, handsome?”

Basil pondered over his choice. The Moon Shield granted him a de facto immunity to the Light element while in full moon mode, while his armor and Steve’s Aegis covered his Lightning weakness. This left Basil only two elemental frailties: Soul and Wind.

Basil glanced at his halberd and swiftly reached a decision. “Soul.”

“Soul? Not Light?” Vasi raised an eyebrow. “Have you given up on becoming a dazzling paladin, handsome?”

“That ship has long sailed into the sunset.” Basil didn’t need to wield the power of light to do good. “Being a Deathknight, Dragonknight, and Warrior Saint is enough to satisfy my holy warrior urges. A better Soul affinity will synergize better with my build.”

Especially when the threat of a demon lord’s arrival loomed darkly over them. Basil suspected strengthening his spirit would matter as much as reinforcing his body.

He activated the lotus and watched it turn to red dust within his hand. Its magic flowed into his bones, filling Basil with the same magical energy that reinforced him on level-ups.

Your weak [Soul] affinity has transformed into a strong one! You have gained resistance to [Soul] and unlocked the [Necromancer], [Blackguard], [Soulknife], and [Spiritualist] classes!

So many classes hidden behind affinities and obscure requirements. Basil wondered how many other paths he had missed out on from the apocalypse’s very first day. In the end, it didn’t matter.

Even if he could turn back time, Basil would have chosen Tamer all over again. It was the class he was most fond of, the one that served him most and protected his team against so many dangers.

Basil was an Apocalypse Tamer, and proud of it.

“You’ve grown, dog.” Plato nodded at Basil with what could pass for pride. “The old you would have chosen to take what he wants rather than what we need.”

“And the old you would have rather fled than die fighting Zeus incarnate.” Basil petted his best friend on the head. “We’ve all grown, Plato.”

“Of course we have,” Rosemarine said. “I’m big now.”

“Yes you are,” Basil confirmed. “In and out.”

They started as a small band of gardeners hiding in the woods and now stood shoulder to shoulder with gods. Plato had become the mighty feline he always aspired to become. Bugsy had grown from a cowardly centipede to a mighty beast willing to challenge fate itself. Rosemarine had bloomed into a wonderful flower. Shellgirl and Vasi had both become masters of their own crafts. And though he never accessed the class, Basil had evolved from a self-destructive Berserker to a Paladin in all but name.

They should all be proud of their accomplishments.

After casting their last buffs, the team rejoined their allies. Kalki and Padma stood amidst a ring of survivors from Earth’s apocalypse. Everyone present had lost someone, whether to war or monsters. All were eager to see it end.

Perhaps too much.

“I don’t like it,” Basil told Leblanc. “I have the feeling we’re playing into a trap of some kind.”

“I know,” the general answered with a heavy sigh. “Maxwell has steadily removed all our good options. I can only hope we picked the least worst of them. As Caesar said once he crossed the Rubicon, the die is cast.”

Basil folded his arms after exchanging one last glance with Kalki. At this point, he could only pray.

“Are you ready, my love?” Padma asked her counterpart.

“I am.” Kalki inhaled sharply. “One, two, three…”

All held their breaths as the couple raised a hand at each other. Time slowed down, or so it seemed to Basil. The moment of truth was upon them.

The Avatars’ fingers touched, and the world came to an end.

All across the world, the System shuddered.

From guards protecting a clock tower in London to a gentle cat helping flee the void encroaching upon Tunisia, everyone on Earth’s surface sensed the end approach before it happened. An overwhelming sensation of danger filled their hearts. An overwhelming pressure fell upon their entire world, whose every molecule was now beholden to the Trimurti System’s influence.

In the heart of a thousand dungeons, Neurotowers lit up like candles; for the time of awakening was close at hand. The castles, caves, and other fortresses they had built around themselves were nothing but eggshells, a protective layer meant to shield them from danger while they gathered nutrients for the harvest. They had grown fat on the souls of many like the many roots of a great tree.

Whether they had been claimed by a Faction or remained independent, they were all parts of a single network in the end. A single organism whose influence had reshaped the land, the sky, and the very laws of physics. A parasitic being that had gestated inside reality the way a maggot’s egg incubated inside juicy flesh. It had taken a long time and many tries, but the moment had finally come for the flower to bloom.

Dis awakened.

The dungeons collapsed all at once, as swiftly as they had come into being. Their auroras flared one last time, irradiating all creatures unlucky enough to be caught inside their radius. All movements, from the lowest monster’s growl to the strongest Player’s sword swing, came to an abrupt halt.

The particles making up the dungeons swirled around the exposed Neurotowers. The pillars of steel grew like the fingers of a great beast, piercing through the clouds. Their tips touched the circuit of stars connecting Earth to the infinite worlds.

The apocalypse’s roots spread across the cosmos.

A necromancer shuddered in the house of the undead.

His shop was his lair, his domain, a pocket dimension floating in the void between his world and countless others. It was beholden to his will alone. No intervention nor teleportation could happen in this place without his explicit authorization. The door was locked, so to say.

Yet something slithered through the keyhole. Something vile and unnatural, something that filled his unflappable heart with unease and disgust the way a disease horrified the healthy. A foul force smashed through his defenses like a tidal wave, riding the System connection on which his multiversal business relied.

“Chief?!” Hagen had immediately summoned his mace. A useless gesture, but a brave one. “Do you feel that?”

Walter Tye did not respond with words. Instead, he looked through his shop’s window and gazed into the black void that surrounded it.

Tentacles of steel reached out of the darkness.

Nessia shrieked so loudly that Cassandra’s eardrums almost ruptured.

“Nessia?!” Cassandra grabbed the girl by the shoulder, forcing her to look into her eyes. “Nessia, what’s happening?!”

Her niece did not even seem to register her presence. She screamed until all color drained from her face. Her eyes were turning upside down as if her pupils sought to gaze into her own brain. Her body shook and convulsed, to the point Cassandra had to struggle to prevent the child from harming herself.

Cassandra, as an experienced heroine and demigoddess, was no stranger to such episodes. Her niece was an oracle, a seer connected to the Fate System that ruled their world. Many times she observed a terrible omen.

But Cassandra had never seen such terror written on her face.

Then she felt the same thing her dear niece did, and Cassandra understood.

Their ship trembled as fearsome waves battered upon its hull. Home was within sight, only for a dark shadow to blanket the sea and land alike; a darkness had spread across their world in an instant, its venom touching all souls within it.

Cassandra looked up at the portal linking her world to a distant Earth.

The clouds had vanished behind a steel curtain.

“Friend Victor?” Atop a great castle in the middle of lake of fire, a great dragon deity pointed a finger claw pointing at the sun. “Is this normal?”

The god of minions, father to demons and grandfather to witches, gazed up at a sky that used to be clear and cloudless a few seconds ago. His son Braniño stood at his side, having come in person to ask for his support.

The sun and the golden moon alike had vanished. A sea of tendrils and circuits observed them both and spread through the heavens like a dark cloud of metal. The phenomenon appeared made of blackened steel, yet the deity’s enhanced senses identified them for what they were: an anomaly in the very fabric of reality. His mind perceived it as circuits because it was the closest frame of reference it could come up with.

A System screen manifested before his eyes, and alarmed messages soon flooded it.

Warning! System infection detected!

WARNING! SYSTEM INFECTION DETECTED!

“No, Your Majesty,” the god of minions said. “That’s not normal at all.”

A shrieking tower of steel shattered the Parthenon.

It surged from below and emerged from under Kalki and Padma, the resulting shockwave unleashing a stone tsunami in all directions. Basil instinctively activated double-jump as the ground collapsed beneath his feet and the earth swallowed people by the dozens.

“Basil!” Vasi took flight at his side, as did Bugsy. Plato and Shellgirl hastily jumped at Steve like mice instinctively seeking refuge on a sinking ship.

“Grab every–” Basil screamed as a flood of messages swallowed his vision and intruded upon his brain.

Menu options disabled! Inventory feature disabled! [God-Field] negated! [Stasis] stopped by ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR

“Close, close, close!” It took Basil his willpower to banish the flood of messages from his mind. When he regained consciousness, he was falling off the Parthenon alongside familiar faces. “Neria! General!”

Neither of these two answered. They didn’t even scream or call for help. Both were paralyzed like the Unity’s petrified victims, their expressions frozen into a look of fear and shock.

Acting on instinct, Basil dived to catch the two. He noticed Bugsy doing the same with Simeon, while Vasi went after Kalki. Rosemarine shed her nymph guise to assume her true dragon form, her roots catching Steve before the Steamobile and its passengers could crash into Athens below.

Basil grabbed Neria and Leblanc, jumped around falling rocks, and landed atop what remained of an Athenian house a few hundred meters away from the Parthenon. Bugsy joined him with his own catch as a colossal Neurotower taller than Mount Olympus emerged from under the monument.

A throne of steel fit for gods.

Kalki and Padma were united at last. They had grown larger than Rosemarine, their flesh, and bones now intermingled steel. The two sides of the coin, man and woman, had become a single entity: a two-faced, four-armed statue of metal sitting in meditation atop the immense Neurotower. Their eyes and mouth were shut, their ears heedless to the suffering of mortals. The entity radiated a golden light marred by foul black particles, like clear water infected with foul poison. This searing radiance pushed back Vasi when she tried to approach the statue, forcing her back.

Basil cursed. “We’ve been had, Bugsy.”

He knew Maxwell was a snake, and he still let him bite them.

“I know, Boss.” Bugsy gently dropped Simeon to the ground. The brave Paladin was as still as the others, unable to move an inch. “Is this the final Incursion?”

Basil wasn’t so sure. He looked around as Rosemarine landed nearby alongside the others, and witnessed colossal Neurotowers rise from the void consuming their world. Though the one on which Kalki and Padma sat was as tall as a mountain, the others reached all the way to the star circuit in the sky. The most worrying part about them was also the most subtle.

Namely, Monster Insight triggered.

Dis, System Apocalypse

Level ¬ [अधर्म]

Faction: ∀

The Neurotowers…

The Neurotowers were alive.

“How unexpected,” a familiar voice cut through the noise of quakes and falling rocks. “It seems the godly essence protected you, and a foreign power did the same with your girlfriend.”

The Bohens looked at Kalki’s steel throne.

Someone emerged from the metal like a pustule growing out of a piece of skin. His feet vertically walked along the Neurotower’s surface in flagrant violation of the laws of gravity.

“Welcome to the end of all things, my honored guests.” Anton Maxwell’s smile morphed into rows of metal teeth. “Welcome to Dis.”