Chương 13: Chapter 12 - To Get an Island

It would seem your skill has brought us to the sea. [Path to Vengeance] does point in that direction… so. Yes? … Very well. We shall get into contact with the leader of the United North and book passage on a ship, which might be almost as much of a political nightmare as what has gone on with Pumil. Moreover, the seas are treacherous, so this may prove even more dangerous than my trip through the ashlands, but this time, surely, I will- Um… Yes, [Son of Dave]? If I'm not mistaken…

And I might be, I'm not used to this skill working since it hasn't for any [Son of Dave] in the past few decades. Spit it out. The skill seems to be pointing… I don't know… Down? Somewhere under the water? Wait! [Hero] Shalia, where are you going? I've had it! I quit! I am the greatest [Duelist] Placeholder has ever seen. I'm nearing a century of experience, but none of that matters if the [Demon Lord] is too much of a coward to face me! But, [Hero] Shalia- No! I quit!

Come and get me when there's a threat that I can duel or when the fate of the world is actually at stake. Not when the [Demon Lord] is prancing about disappearing and reappearing wherever he pleases! But, but, but… you can't give up! The [Sons of Dave] have sworn an oath to take our vengeance on the [Demon Lord] and- Not my problem. But we need your help! Wait! [Hero]! Conversation between the [Hero] Shalia and a [Son of Dave]

"And you're sure that this island is unoccupied?" I asked Jor-Ex… err… Jor-Ex-Ar. I was still getting used to his name change.

"Yes," he replied with a nod.

"More sure than the last 3 times?" I asked dryly, an impressive feat while underwater. He paled a bit.

"I-i-it's not our fault! How were we supposed to know they had their homes hidden away like that?"

"If there's a town out here, it was probably made by a bunch of people who didn't want to be found," I replied.

"I've come to learn that the sea is pretty much terrifying, so people aren't exactly taking pleasure trips across it." He looked increasingly nervous. I sighed.

"But, I get it. You have to use your landforms to search it, which limits you to half a day hike in, half a day hike out so you can get back in the water. That's a limitation that I shouldn't fault you for." I had also taken a quick [Scry] at one of the scouting parties during one of our failed attempts. Their "hiking" was… not much to write home about. I was definitely right about my swim speed being better than their land speed. I thought with an internal sigh.

Shaking my head to clear those thoughts, I turned back to the [Diplomat].

"Alright, I'll go take a look," I stated. Then, with a quick pause.

"I'll stay in touch. Don't assume this is the one until I give you the all-clear." He nodded and laughed sheepishly. He had made that mistake the first time, and parties had been planned for our project's completion. That was awkward for everyone involved. With only a quick nod and a wave for a goodbye, I made my way up to the island. Sometimes I swam, but I mostly just walked along the sea floor since it was easier than swimming in my armor. When I finally surfaced, I took a long, needless breath of fresh air.

I walked up onto the shore in soggy armor, but thankfully I had already figured out the fix for that. Singularity appeared in my hand.

"[Hell Blaze]," I cast while pointing the staff directly at my chest.

"Much better," I murmured as the dark flames licked up most of the water, but, for good measure, I also pulled my gauntlets on to complete the set effect for a bit. I left the flames burning as I looked for a good vantage point to get the lay of the land. From there, I teleported around a bit with [Advanced Teleport]. The nice thing was that I could get it relatively cheap when I was just porting around a single island.

The unfortunate thing was that I was still not one hundred percent certain that the island was unpopulated. That doesn't technically have to matter. A dark side of me thought. Trapping people inside the pocket dimension or killing them are both options. I paused and shook that thought away.

"That would just be pointless cruelty," I muttered. I had done many cruel things, but I drew the line at pointless. Looking around from the hill that I had decided to take a break on, I decided to do some complaining.

"There has to be a better way to ensure that there aren't people here than running around and checking every tree and bush," I grumbled. Then, I paused.

"Duh. Magic. But what kind? It would obviously be some kind of [Deprendio] similar to [Scry], but I would have to make it from scratch." I paused as an old memory tickled at the back of my mind.

"Or do I?" I muttered as I tried to think.

"It was back when Tim first became a lich… I was running from him, and I got to watch him cast…" I grinned and activated [Spell Recollection]. The spell practically jumped into my mind, and it was so incredibly easy compared to many of the things I had cast before.

"[Detect Life]!" The spell took effect, and the world lit up… Mostly the forest I was looking at over to the south of me. I groaned.

"You've gotta be frickin' kidding me," I facepalmed and slowly dragged it down my face.

"Might as well be [Detect Plant Life]." I shook my head.

"No, this is fine. I just have to make some adjustments. Find a way to filter on only sapient life. Maybe based on class or-" My musings were interrupted by howls from Placeholder's most common enemy.

"Oh, come on," I grumbled.

"Why is a frickin' island a valid spawn point for wolves of all things?" I got ready to deal with the menace when I realized something.

"Wait," I muttered.

"They might actually be useful." I paused.

"And I should practice my [Swordsmanship] if I want it to ever get past level 3." I took off my gauntlets to kill the fire, pulled out one of my "backup" weapons, and then mulled some things over. I suppose it doesn't have to be a sword. I thought as I easily lopped the first lunging wolf in half. But is there any weapon that I would want to use instead? I put down two more wolves with two quick thrusts, and then the alpha loped over. What weapon would I use instead of a sword?

I asked myself as I [Flash Stepped] over to the alpha and took it down before it even knew what hit it. I know that people always said that polearms were better weapons of war, but that was back on Earth where there weren't stupid HP values. The extra reach matters a bit less if the sword wielder can just take one hit to step in and make things awkward. The remaining wolves hesitated, and I sighed. I pointed at an area that I thought would get most, but not all, of them killed.

"[Hell Blaze]," I cast. The conflaguration slew all but three wolves, and I darted over and slew the remaining two before slamming the final one to the ground with my boot. Not as an actual attack since I wanted the monster alive, but I ended up killing it anyway.

"Dang it, a bit too hard," I grumbled. That meant I had to wait for the next wave, but that was okay. I had the time.

"So, polearm or no?" I asked myself. I went with a no… mostly because it was a bit late to be asking that question. If I wanted a different weapon, I should have thought of that before I spent ages making swords. Also, the childish part of me just thought swords were cooler. So, there was that too. Anyway, I waited around for the next group of wolves to attack, and then I made sure to keep one alive this time. When it was the final enemy remaining, I hefted it over my shoulder as it tried in vain to bite me.

"Alright, now to find somewhere to work," I muttered. I need somewhere that is monster-free… I shot a glance at my shoulder. At least, mostly. Free from distractions… Should I just make a dungeon? I asked myself. It seemed like a decent plan. It would help protect the island, and as long as I made the monsters unable to survive underwater, they wouldn't even be a threat to the merfolk if they moved in. And if there happen to be people on this island that I just haven't found yet? I asked. I frowned.

"Yeah, that could be more of an issue… unless… I just don't complete the dungeon setup?" I paused.

"Wait… If I don't complete the setup… and just leave it in first-time setup mode…" I immediately tabled that thought. Not because it wasn't useful, but because it was too useful. Don't think about that again. I'll probably just get one shot at using it, and I need to save it for the end. The System is undoubtedly going to nerf it. Just like it nerfed XP gain when I attempted to powerlevel my entire cult to level 25, or [Summon Infernal Dire Snail] once I could actually cast the dang thing.

And while I didn't think that the System would nerf something solely based on me realizing how ridiculously OP it could be, I didn't want to take any chances. After figuring that out, and learning the hard way that it's more difficult to cast [Advanced Teleport] when you have an unwilling monster in tow, I created my inactive dungeon and got to work on making my new spell.

Jor-Ex-Ar was worried. He hadn't heard from Titus in nearly a month. Jor-Ex-Ar wasn't worried about Titus, of course. He was worried about his position. What good is a [Diplomat] if there isn't someone to discuss diplomacy with? He asked. What will happen to me if I fail our one potential relationship with the land? Maybe they will let me go back to a [Sea Hunter]? He didn't like the odds of that. If I fail like that, I doubt I will return to Jor-Ex. I will likely become Jor-El… Or… He gasped. Jor-En!

For a failure of that magnitude, they may force me to become a common laborer! My family would never recover from the shame, and I-"Dear, you're treading again," his wife, Teres-El, called to him as she looked up from a stone tablet she was mulling over. Jor-Ex-Ar stopped swimming in tight circles and groaned.

"I can't help it! The fate of our family… no… our entire race could depend on our relationship with Titus! And he hasn't sent word for an entire month! What if it was something I did, or-""Jor, my love," his wife said as she swam over and gently placed her hands on his arms.

"Just breathe. You have done everything you could, and I am sure the council is aware of that. Even should Titus never return, they should-" Titus: Hey, I need you to bring some people to the island. And, if possible, could you make sure that one of them doesn't have an advanced class?... Err… I think you called them primary classes? Anyway, if you have someone that doesn't have one of those, that would be ideal.

"Titus!? Oh, thank the bountiful sea!" Jor-Ex-Ar shouted before his wife quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.

"If you are talking with the former calamitous one, you can't show relief that he contacted you! You're giving up any diplomatic advantage you might have!" she hissed. Jor-Ex-Ar gulped and then slowly nodded his head. His wife released him.

"I… had been worried," Jor-Ex-Ar started. His wife raised an eyebrow.

"That something might have happened to you," he tried to recover, and his wife gave a brief nod.

"I should be able to gather another group of [Sea Hunters] to travel to the island with little difficulty. However, bringing someone without a primary class would prove difficult. I am not sure the rest of the council will approve of bringing a mere swimling along through the portal."

"What does he want with a child?" Teres-El asked with a look of slight horror. Jor-Ex-Ar shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but trying to get a full explanation through this spell would prove difficult. I might need to go back and ask in person to get-" Titus: Your reply to my [Advanced Message] got cut short. That's mostly my bad. You have to match my word count or shorter, but I'm not actually speaking virian, so it can be a bit hard to tell. Anyway, let me give you a nice big word count here so that I can explain what's going on and hopefully relieve any misgivings you may have about this…

Titus: I am about 95% sure that the island is completely uninhabited except for wolves and daves, which both seem to like spawning anywhere and everywhere. However, I think I'm finished with a spell that should bump up that number to 100%, but I need to test it to see if it works on people with primary classes and without primary classes. Got it? Jor-Ex-Ar's eyes widened. Titus: Oh. And the spell is completely harmless. It won't do a thing to any of you. It's just a spell to detect people.

The [Diplomat] sighed in relief. Then, looking at his wife, he made a quick motion with his hands. She quickly picked up on what he was trying to say and grabbed a blank tablet for him to carve into. Once she did, Jor began carving out a brief explanation of what Titus had sent and asking his wife for advice… since he couldn't talk without the words being sent back to his number one cause of greying hair. It was a bit wasteful to carve out something so ephemeral… but Jor-Ex-Ar was a member of the council now.

He could afford the luxury even if it wasn't being used for his official duties. His wife read through what he wrote… and then read through again.

"The [Sea Hunter] promotion hunts," Teres whispered.

"That would work, wouldn't it? They take place soon. The swimlings undertaking it are as close to having a primary class as you can be without having one, so they would be the safest to go. And they would also go along with an entire pod of actual [Sea Hunters]. You just need to convince them to make a brief stop where Titus is." Jor-Ex-Ar grinned and enveloped his wife in a hug. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her and appreciated her… but also didn't want to send that to Titus.

His wife was startled but returned the hug.

"Whatever would you do without me?" she asked with a small laugh. Be entirely lost. Jor-Ex-Ar thought and also started making plans to get a gift for his marvelous wife. However, he still had this diplomatic situation to maneuver, so he needed to get back to work. He cleared his throat before speaking. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"We should be able to make that happen. However, it will take some time before we can get the hunting group together," he stated in reply to the message.

"You might be able to push for some concessions," his wife suggested.

"Due to the difficulty." Giving her a smile, a nod, and a quick peck on the cheek, he decided to do just that.

"However, given the extra complications with your request, it would seem only fair that we be able to make a request of our own," he finished. Titus: Having your own underwater part of this pocket dimension not good enough for you, eh? The [Diplomat] froze. Had he pushed too far? Were the talks in jeopardy? Would he- Titus: I guess that's fair. While this is mostly a joint venture, I am asking you to put some people in a bit of danger here, aren't I? Fine. What do you want in return? That gave Jor pause.

What could he ask for? What could the former calamitous one give them that they wanted the most? As a former [Sea Hunter], the answer was somewhat obvious.

"Weapons," Jor-Ex-Ar replied.

"But not simply a supply of weapons like you have given. I want you to teach our people how we can make our own weapons of a similar quality to the ones that you have made." Titus: Cut off again there, but I think I get the point. Hmm. That will be a bit difficult. In fact, almost impossible without light-heat-reaction. Maybe I can make a type that works underwater? Or make some underwater smithies that drain all of the water out of the room first or something… Titus: Frick. Didn't mean to send all that.

What I meant to say was, sure. I'll figure something out in return. Deal?

"Deal," Jor-Ex-Ar replied.

"But what is light-heat-reaction?" he asked. Titus: You don't have a word for light-heat-reaction? Duh. Underwater. Why would you have a word for something you never see? Ummm… What if I use the virian word instead? Fue?

"Um. No," Jor-Ex-Ar replied with a shake of his head.

"You will have to show it to us sometime." Titus: Huh. Yeah, I guess I can do that. Anyway, I'll see you… when will I see you? How long do you think?

"Two weeks." The [Diplomat] glanced at his wife.

"Though I can't make any promises. It will be difficult to convince the rest of the council." Titus: Alright. Fair enough. I'll just chill until then. I'll keep in touch. Why would he choose to cool himself? Jor-Ex-Ar asked in confusion. However, the landperson's mannerisms and customs were rather strange. He decided not to question it.

"Yes, please do," Jor stated. And like that, the conversation was over. Unlike what Jor-Ex-Ar had stated, winning the council over wasn't terribly difficult, especially since he went to the [Sea Hunters] first and called in a favor. It was settled with relative ease that the [Sea Hunters] and their prospective new members would simply include the island that Titus was scouting along their route. For coordinating things, Titus also sent a message each day, and it seemed like things were going well.

Jor-Ex-Ar wasn't terribly happy that he was nominated to go along with the group, however.

"I don't have my [Sea Hunter] levels anymore!" he protested to the council.

"I will be useless during the hunt!"

"No less useless than any of the swimlings we're bringing along," Nathal-Ex-Ar, council member in charge of the [Sea Hunters], replied in a huff.

"Besides, it's your job to deal with the calamitous one. Not ours." Jor-Ex-Ar sighed but went along with it. He has been difficult to deal with ever since Titus knocked him out… Jor had a feeling that the man was using him as a proxy to take out his frustrations with Titus, but there was nothing he could do about that. Either way, the day for the trip came soon, and Jor-Ex-Ar was nervous. Despite his misgivings, the multi-day hunt went well.

Several of the swimlings had achieved their required kill of a small sea monster, and there had been no sign of the Titan of the Depths. They were a couple hours away from the island when Jor-Ex-Ar suddenly received a [Message] from Titus. Titus: And wow. Headache. That was a lot more data to process than I thought. Okay… You brought… 24 total merfolk with you? Jor-Ex-Ar blinked in surprise and then did a quick headcount.

"That is correct," he stated slowly.

"How did you know?" Titus: I made a ritual to detect people based on the presence of classes or subclasses. Seems like it's working, and the good news is this place is completely uninhabited. Good find! I'll get to work on turning it into a pocket dimension now.

"That's all you needed us for?" the [Diplomat] blurted out. There was no reply.

"Titus?" he added in the vain hope that the words would be added to the [Message]. Nothing. He then had to explain to the others that they didn't need to go to the island directly after all… or even see head or tail of the calamitous one. That was an awkward discussion.

"I wasn't sure this was working," I muttered to myself as I nodded in approval. In front of me was a giant magicite crystal into which I had carved a mana-generating enchantment. Sitting below it was a large mithril pedestal that I had enchanted with the spell I had taken to calling [Detect People].

"The next trick would be getting it to feed me that information without touching it," I muttered. That would solve the problem of knowing when people had invaded my island. However, that would be hugely difficult since I would have to discover a way to beam that information to me no matter where I was and then also find a way to filter out the merpeople I had just gotten it to detect since I didn't need to know if they were inside my pocket dimension.

Probably more important to just get the pocket dimension working. I paused. And then just put the entrance underwater and have the merpeople guard it. Since it would also be their home, at least the underwater bits, I was sure they would be down for guarding it and keeping it safe. That meant that after my brief [Deprendio] interlude, it was back to [Spatius].

"Probably going to need another giant crystal. Or a dozen," I thought aloud. Pocket dimension upkeep sounded like it would take a lot more mana per second than the small trickle needed for [Detect People] after I got it up and running.

"Alright, first step, farm some more magicite…"

"I should have known that they had a respawn timer," I grumbled as I stood on the ceiling of the Below in a very empty cavern that usually housed a level 25 enemy and a big crystal.

"But I don't want to waste a trip. It took me whole hours to get here." I snorted at the irony of that. [Teleport] and [Teleport To Beacon] have really skewed my perceptions on traveling. I thought. I mean, my first life I ran everywhere. I shuddered briefly.

"I guess I can take a look around," I stated to no one in particular.

"I mean, maybe I can find some more magicite?" I paused.

"Ya know… I did just make a spell for detecting people at long range… How hard would it be to do something like that for magicite?" The answer was very. It turns out that upping the ante from detecting broad ranges of beings based on an already existing spell was much easier than detecting one specific type of rock that absorbed magic. My attempts at creating the new spell took so long that the original boss actually respawned while I was down there.

Fortunately, the giant piece of magicite also respawned along with it. That meant that I had an excuse to leave the Below, and that also made me realize that I had wasted a huge amount of time doing my magical R&D down in the Below when I could have been doing it in my throne room, where I had my 5 times mana buff. Even with the buff, it took months before I made any headway. I made sure to send Jor-Ex-Ar some [Advanced Messages] every once in a while, just so he knew I was alive and still working on the problem.

I also interacted a bit with a few of the demons who were milling around the castle waiting for Anger to respawn again. Mostly to tell them to leave me alone while I was working on the ritual. They took the hint pretty easily. Finally, I also stashed some extra crystals on the island during that time since I learned that the Crystalline Calamity respawn timer was indeed one month.

If I had failed to get a spell for detecting magicite working for much longer, I was starting to reach a point where I wouldn't have even needed it to fund my pocket dimension. However, I don't think I truly realized how long I had spent until I heard the screams and panicking of lower-level demons coming from the direction of my castle's entrance. What now? I asked myself in irritation as I [Flash Stepped] over to my throne to grab my castle's scrying mirror.

"Oh," was all I said as I watched the [Hero] tearing through the demonic hordes like a hot knife through butter, with her oh-so-useful party following behind.

"Time to leave," I muttered as I started casting [Teleport To Beacon]. I took one hesitant look at the giant magicite crystal, but with a shrug, I decided I might as well leave it. I hadn't carved the mana-gathering array into it, so leaving it wouldn't give up that secret, and there wasn't much they could do with it. What are they gonna do? Cart it off? I asked with a brief chuckle. Unless Shalia had decided to pick up [Pack Mule] of all things.

Anyway, I watched from the castle's [Scry] until my [Teleport To Beacon] was finished, and then I noped off back to the island. Then, I pulled her back up on my hand mirror's [Scry]. She looked deadly serious up until they opened the throne room doors and saw no one there.

"He ran away again!?" she seethed as she stabbed her rapier into the magicite crystal up to the hilt.

"Coward!" she shouted.

"Stand and fight me!"

"Hah, no," I replied to the air. Then, I realized it didn't have to be to the air after all.

"[Message] Shalia Zinphyra," I cast.

"Hah, no." Was it a wise move? Probably not. Was it hilarious watching the [Hero] who had come to kill me nearly pop a blood vessel and devolve into shouting a bunch of things that were probably elven swears? Yes. My trolling done, I almost turned off the [Scry], but one of her party members caught my attention just before I did.

"He had one of these giant crystals when he cast the last ritual that System warned of, didn't he?" the man asked.

"We probably shouldn't just leave it here."

"We can't exactly carry it off," a female elven… [Cleric]? If I had to guess… stated.

"We can break it up, though," he stated as he pulled out a hammer and chisel. With a few sharp taps, he swiftly broke off a piece and then stuffed it in his inventory.

"Wait, no," I said as I watched that happen.

"I worked hard for that crystal! You can't just steal it!" I was ignoring that it was pretty dang easy for me to get more of the things, and also that I'm not sure if it counts as stealing if you are taking something that the enemy of the world might use to destroy it. Either way, I wasn't pleased when the rest of the party got in on the action, and one of them even pulled out a pickaxe to break the crystal up even faster. Soon enough, it was gone. The party left soon afterward. I wasn't in the greatest of moods.

I can't stick around in one place for too long without the [Hero] coming knocking. I thought. All the more reason that I need to make my pocket dimension. I looked up at the 12 giant crystals surrounding me. Which means I need more magicite… which means I need to finish the spell to find the magicite. I sighed.

"I guess that just means back to work. Even if I now have a distinct absence of one of the magicite crystals I'd worked on." And that triggered a thought.

"Wait," I muttered.

"Absence… I've been trying to find the crystals just like I was finding life or people… but what if I try to locate it based on the absence of ambient mana?" I asked. And that was the final breakthrough I needed to finally create [Detect Magicite]. Well, it turned out that the name was slightly non-indicative because it also seemed to detect obelisks of all things, but I didn't worry about that much. I just mentally noted that obelisks appeared to have a mana-absorbing component and then went about my business.

Specifically, I returned to the Below to hunt down other magicite spawns. I also belatedly realized that I hadn't checked on my skill levels for a while. It turns out that making new spells and casting rituals by yourself are good for experience. I thought as I examined my newly minted [Deprendio] skill level of 4. I also put it to good use as I used it to cast [Detect Magicite] and tracked down another large piece almost immediately.

"This cave looks familiar-" I was interrupted by a jutting line of crystal as a boss health bar appeared.

"-and so do you. Huh. Didn't realize Crystalline Calamities were mass-produced," I stated. I replied to its attack by deactivating [Invert Gravity] to pelt it from the ceiling, and the fight was just as boring as usual. While they were by no means close together, it turned out that there were a dozen of the Crystalline Calamity spawns. That meant 12 giant magicite crystals a month and only 2 months to gather enough that I figured I could easily power my personal island's pocket dimension.

That just left the hard part.

"Now to figure out a giant permanent pocket dimension," I mumbled as I started trialing various smaller versions of what I was aiming for.

I lost track of time pretty quickly. I didn't even remember to go grab more crystals, which I really should have since that was the entire point of the island. A place to keep a bunch of mana-charging crystals safe from interference. Unfortunately, in my tunnel vision, I lapsed on both my end goal and the fact that it needed to be safe from interference. The latter would prove to be much more important.

It was a usual day. I was hanging around in my inert dungeon with 24 giant crystals spread evenly throughout the room. I was also banging my head against the wall when it came to putting the ritual together.

"Maybe… no," I muttered as I examined the mithril channels I had put down to connect all the magicite pieces.

"I know that I have enough mana, and I have the basic structure down, but it still seems like I'm missing some- THING!" The end of my sentence turned into a high-pitched shout. Not because I was going crazy, I had [Restored] myself a few times just to ensure that didn't happen again. No, I had been caught completely off guard by the barest reflection of the [Hero] and her rapier sneaking up on me. I [Flash Stepped] out of the way out of reflex, and her weapon cut a gouge into the crystal.

I belatedly noticed the rest of her party coming around to encircle me.

"He noticed! Plan B!" she called out.

"[Demon Lord], I issue you a [Hero's Challenge]!" All of a sudden, we were both wrenched into a copy of the same room. I could tell it was a copy because it didn't look like the outside existed anymore, and the rest of the [Hero's] party was gone. That was actually some helpful inspiration. However, I didn't want to stick around in the skill that was designed to be a 1 v 1 death trap for whoever she used it on. I quickly snapped a [Disrupt] on her skill, and she stumbled as we were suddenly brought back to reality.

I quickly noted that probably meant she got some sort of buff while we were there, but I had a bigger debate going on. Leave or stay? If I leave, they'll break the crystals, and they also know where my island is. But if I stay… That thought didn't need to be completely formed. While my track record against [Heroes] had been improving in recent memory, I wasn't sure that I would be able to get off a [Lightning Spear] to end her in one go.

The cost of failure was also 50 years, whereas leaving them to their devices would only cost me everything in that room, which I could get back in another 2 months. My waffling almost caused me to take a rapier to the chest, but I [Blinked] across the room.

"Yeah, not worth it," I nodded to myself. I snorted and gave a cheeky wave to the charging [Hero].

"See ya. [Panic Button]." With no further fanfare, I reappeared in a hidden backroom behind my throne room that had a giant piece of magicite sitting there. A giant piece of magicite that was now fully depleted of mana.

"10, 000 stored mana for a single [Panic Button]," I snorted.

"But definitely worth it, if only I could see the look on her face." I paused.

"Wait, I can. [Scry] Shalia Zinphyra," I cast as I pulled out my hand mirror. Boy oh boy she was mad. As I watched her yell at the System and take her frustrations out on the crystals I'd gathered, I briefly wondered if she was actually more fitting for the role of Wrath than I was. I also wished that I had popcorn. Maybe I'm getting a bit too used to being the [Demon Lord]. I thought to myself with a chuckle as she continued her rant at the sky.

"-and if I cannot even fight the [Demon Lord], what is the point of me being [Hero]!?" she shouted.

"You have granted me weapons, armor, and skills that are a match for him! Why can I not face him!? Why do you keep from me the chance to rid the world of him, at least for the next 50 years!?" I was about to shut off the [Scry] when she got a familiar look on her face. My eyes widened. Ship! That look means-"[Relentless Pursuit]!" she called out. Then she took a step forward… and into my panic room.

"-a new [Hero] skill," I muttered aloud.

"You can't escape now, so stand and face-""[Blink]!" I cast to teleport into the throne room and to try to get some distance. The first part happened. The second did not. Apparently, her new skill let her follow along with any of my teleports, no matter how short. I took a quick slash across the chest for my troubles. I grunted in pain as I frantically [Flash Stepped] her next attack, but she followed through with that as well and nearly scored another hit. Forgot how much it sucks to get hit by a [Hero] weapon.

I thought as I noticed the missing quarter of my HP bar. I also was running really low on options. I couldn't get any distance from her to cast a [Lightning Spear], and the only other attack I could make that would damage her would be playing into her strengths. However, it was play into her strengths or roll over and die, so I pulled out a sword and activated its sharpness enchantment.

"You wanted a duel?" I asked as we started circling each other.

"Fine. Come at me." I pulled my gauntlets on and lit on fire.

"[Haste] activate. [Strengthen] activate." We continued circling each other for a bit.

"Well?" I demanded. She didn't reply with anything but a small smirk. It took me three more precious seconds to realize what it was about. Frick! She's waiting for my buffs to expire! I realized. That meant it was up to me to go on the offensive. And so I did. My downward slash was parried to the side. My follow-up horizontal swing was caught near her weapon's guard and shoved off.

A clumsy stab was met with a quick flourish that I didn't track well enough and somehow gave me a clean hit on my arm that dropped me down to about half HP. This isn't working. She's more skilled than me. I thought. Skilled… I thought. I took a quick mental stock of any of mine that could help. [Reflect Attack] was a definite candidate, but the problem with that one and [Disrupt] was that she had just been kicking my butt with normal attacks. There were no active attacks or skills to [Disrupt] beyond- Wait…

Who said it had to be active skills? My face broke into a grin as I snapped a [Disrupt] in her direction. She looked confused as I charged at her recklessly… and ate a rapier to the chest that bounced off my armor. Meanwhile, my thrust landed true.

"Sucks to not have your weapon skill, eh?" I asked.

"Tree blight!" she swore. For the next 10 seconds, I was a juggernaut. I completely ignored her attacks and scored five hits of my own. I was unstoppable… and then her skill came back online, and I was down to a quarter HP, just like that. I backed up and gave her some room as I prepared to reactivate my [Haste] and [Strengthen]. Is there anything else? Any other buffs or damage options? I asked myself. And as I did, I realized that I had yet to use my highest-level skill.

With a quick wordless cast, so she wouldn't know what was coming, it was time for round two.

Shalia could scarcely believe her eyes. The [Demon Lord] was fast but a rank amateur when it came to wielding his blade. That's why it caught her completely off guard when he started… anticipating her strikes. The first was when he suddenly aborted a reckless slash that left his left side open. His sword instead flashed downward and caught her riposte at that last fraction of a second. The longer it went on, the more it seemed as if he was reading her mind. Feints were never fallen for.

Her best techniques were seen through without issue. And all the while, his glowing adamantium blade chipped away her HP. Shalia had been too prideful. She thought that she could defeat anyone, or anything, in a duel. Now, she humbly begged in her heart for System to give her aid one more time. Please, noble System. I cannot defeat the foe before me. Grant me power like the [Heroes] of old. Give unto me the ability to strike down evil like this with a single blow. System answered.

The holy blue text appeared to her once more as the world itself seemed to move in slow motion. She batted away the [Demon Lord's] attack and prepared to make one final thrust. The [Demon Lord's] eyes shot open wide as she called out the name of the skill that would be his end.

"[Pierce]!" she called as she stepped forward, accompanied by a clap of thunder. But something was wrong. There was a flash of red, and then there was pain. She collapsed to the ground.

"Wow, that was frickin' close," I muttered.

"If I didn't have [Foresight] active, that would have been too fast for [Reflect Attack]." Speaking of [Foresight], I had severely underestimated that spell's utility. Probably because I was used to casting it back when it only lasted a second. That was before I had hit 10 levels in [Temporus] and 7 levels in [SpatialTemporus], the latter of which I didn't even have unlocked at the time.

As far as I could tell, it now allowed me to see a varying length of time ahead, and the amount I chose determined how long it lasted. The number I dialed in was about half a second, meaning the spell lasted longer than a minute. Why a half-second instead of longer? Because any action that I took based on my [Foresight] knowledge changed the future. And it also wasn't the most useful version of seeing the future where I got to see the entire chain of events leading up to the 3 or 5 seconds I tried initially.

No, [Foresight] instead functioned in real-time, just however many seconds ahead. That meant if I decided to duck instead of stab, Shalia's footing, position, and blade would all jump around until I stopped making enough changes for the future to stabilize. If that sounds horribly disorienting, it was. I got used to it pretty quickly, though. I had to admit that the training I had done in the Below, where I was looking at myself through a [Scry], had been a helpful starting point.

I came out of my musings as I heard the [Hero] groan. Right. I thought to myself. I have a dying [Hero] in my throne room. I looked over at the aged elf.

"What am I going to do with you?" I asked as I knelt over her.