The Apocalypse is a Side Quest: Book Three, page 23
Nathan watched as hundreds of his own troops advanced through the city, systematically cutting down reinforcements racing toward the front.
As Nathan scanned the battlefield from the kraken’s head, he spotted a lone swordsman sprinting toward a squad of his men, screaming about vengeance.
Wait.
He’d recognize those fishnet clothes anywhere.
“Is that—?”
Verik immediately caught a flying shield to the face and collapsed.
“Yup,” Nathan muttered. “That’s about what I expected.”
His gaze snapped back to the Black Spire.
“Nathan Lee!”
Gabriel stood atop the spire, staring straight at him. A challenge.
“You know that’s a trap, right?”
“Of course I know.”
“So what are you going to do?” Mara asked.
“I’m going to spring the trap.” He glanced down at the kraken. “Get me closer. I’ve got business to settle. Don’t follow me.”
As Gabriel’s town burned, Nathan kept his eyes locked on him.
When he was close enough, Nathan leaped from the kraken—soaring through the air, flying nearly twice as far as he should have. He shot past the spire’s peak, nearly grazed a cloud, then plummeted back down, crashing onto the roof in a shower of debris.
He shook his head, pushed himself up, and dusted himself off.
“Nathan Lee.”
“Gabriel. Or should I say B32?”
The mention of the name caused B32’s composure to crack.
“How did you know?” B32 asked.
“Spoke to your kraken friend. He told me some interesting things.”
B32 clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms.
“You think you’re so damn clever, outsmarting me, huh?” B32 growled. “You have no idea what kind of hell awaits you. Kill me, and the best you get is a reprieve. There is no timeline, no world where you escape unscathed. You were doomed the moment your planet was selected. I don’t care how many fish you catch, how many upgrades you make to your town, or how many allies you gather. There are some challenges even you can’t overcome.”
B32 cracked his neck. “Including me, for that matter.”
Nathan reached into his inventory and pulled out his trusty fishing rod and harpoon.
“You know, if you’re really stuck here, what happens if I take you out while you’re in possession of a body? I couldn’t hurt you earlier when you were just a spirit or whatever that was. But what about now?”
For the first time, Nathan noticed a flicker of nervousness in B32’s eyes.
Nathan had hit on something vulnerable. While B32 was in the body, he was susceptible to danger. But why wasn’t B32 choosing to leave the body? Was there some limitation? Perhaps he was stuck until he regained his power? Or maybe it was pride. Nathan got the impression that B32 viewed his current status as a fundamental disordering of the world. The idea of Nathan defeating a System Administrator—actually, Lily deserved the credit for that—was unacceptable.
So now B32 was seeking to correct this injustice.
But Nathan wouldn’t let him.
“You’ve beaten me down every step of the way since this mess began,” Nathan said. “You threw me into an impossible tutorial. You manipulated people, gave them items they had no right to have just to give them an edge over me. You separated me from my friends. You even tried to attack my soul—I didn’t even know that was possible until you did it. All this time, I thought the universe was against me, that I was just unlucky. But it was you all along. And I think it’s time I got some payback for everything you’ve put me through.”
B32 let out a small, low laugh. It grew and grew in intensity until he spread his arms wide.
“Come on, then, mortal,” B32 sneered. “Show me your might!”
Nathan swung his fishing rod forward, the hook flying through the air. B32 reached into his inventory and pulled out a pike with a fluid motion. He knocked the hook aside and slammed the pike into the ground, embedding it several inches into the black stone of the spire.
B32 lunged forward, striking with the pike. Nathan parried with his harpoon, then made a wide vertical cut. B32 jumped back, dodging the attack, and the two stood frozen, staring at each other.
Nathan felt his shoulders relax. He needed to stay cool.
B32’s technique was flawless—better than before. Not only that, but he was faster.
But Nathan had gotten a boost of his own.
Shall I try to kick it up a notch?
Nathan dug his feet into the ground. The force cracked the stone beneath him as he dashed forward. B32’s eyes widened slightly before he hurled himself out of the way of Nathan’s harpoon stab. Nathan followed up with a flick of his fishing rod, sending the hook toward B32’s blind spot. Somehow, B32 sensed it, whipping his pike around to deflect the hook. He breathed deeply and stared sharply at Nathan.
“You’re faster than before,” B32 said.
“What, you think I wouldn’t have leveled up by now?”
“Considering the kraken is still alive, yes.” B32’s eyes narrowed with intense focus. “How did you get so much stronger in such a short time?”
“Who knows? Maybe I was blessed by the divine,” Nathan said, half-joking.
B32’s mouth dropped open.
“A blessing? Of course. So this whole time, you had one?”
“Hope you don’t take offense, but I don’t feel like answering your questions.”
Before B32 could do anything, Nathan did a stab with his harpoon. The shot was slow, an easy dodge. B32 slid to the side, a smooth smile on his face.
Nathan’s skin crackled, and lightning burst out of the harpoon and directly to the right. Unable to do anything, B32 screamed as his insides were fried. Nathan cut the flow and jumped back to avoid the follow-up.
To his surprise, none came.
B32 breathed deeply, his head pointed toward the sky. He pulled his gaze back down and stared at Nathan, who adjusted the grip of his harpoon in response.
“That…” B32 flinched. “That hurt.”
“That was the intent, yes.”
B32 growled and swung his pike in a wide, sloppy circle. Nathan ducked underneath and leaped forward, knee pointed directly at B32’s stomach. Bone met soft, malleable tissue, and B32 was knocked to the ground. Blood flowed freely from his mouth.
Nathan stared down at B32 with a neutral expression. He raised his harpoon in the air to stab downward.
B32’s face locked up in desperation. “Shit shit shit!”
Nathan lowered the harpoon, and B32 threw his hand up to block the shot.
Nathan froze.
A wave of pain struck him, and he stumbled backward. “What the hell…?”
B32 stared unabashedly at Nathan’s form. “What are you doing? That shouldn’t have worked…?”
Nathan growled and made to swing his fishing rod. B32 winced and raised his hand, and once again Nathan felt himself freeze, pain like ice and fire tearing through his veins.
“Y-you’re kidding me!” B32 laughed manically. “It worked! It worked!”
Nathan pressed his fist to his stomach, desperately controlling the urge to vomit all over the ground. “What the hell did you do to me?”
“Want to know something funny about this host?” B32’s breath came in quickly. “He’s quite annoying. He’s been fighting me this entire time. Really, this isn’t a fair battle—it’s one on two.”
“What does that have to do with anything?!” Nathan barked.
“It should be one on three right now. Your little ally should recognize me from our last encounter. Given how much of a pain she is, I expected her to be giving her all to end me. But I haven’t heard a peep from her.” A wide grin spread across B32’s face. “For whatever reason, your little soul defender is out of commission. Which opens you up to entirely new points of attack.”
B32 held out his hand, forming a gun shape with his fingers. He raised it and mimed firing. “Bang.”
Instantly, Nathan was rocked with a sensation like vomiting, as if he’d been struck from inside his stomach.
“You’re probably wondering what just happened,” B32 said. “Let me elaborate, my young fisher friend. Last time this happened, you had a defender—that little plant. But right now, she can’t protect you. My attacks have become less sophisticated. I’m not doing a direct internal transfer. Instead, I’m overloading your soul with energy. It’s messy, inefficient, but for someone as uneducated in this art as you, it should do the trick.”
Nathan growled and swung his fishing rod forward. B32 dodged and made another gun pose. Nathan’s world erupted in pain, and he nearly fell before catching himself.
“Look at you, rendered useless because of the one area you’re deficient in.” B32 clicked his tongue. “Unfortunately, you and that damn plant are so entangled that her mere existence acts as a passive defense. But it doesn’t matter. You’re still too weak to do anything.”
B32 stepped forward, raising his pike to stab. Nathan braced himself when the sound of footsteps landing nearby caught their attention. Both turned to see a new contender. When Nathan saw who it was, he froze. B32 frowned, then jolted back. “Not you, of all people—!”
The vigilante had arrived.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Nobody moved. Nobody even breathed. Something hard and angry stirred inside Nathan’s chest. The fact that this woman had the audacity to come in at the last second, like some kind of savior from above—
“How dare you?” B32 said.
But his tone was different. The normal B32 was smooth, suave. He had this laissez-faire way of looking at things, of speaking. The person talking now had a clipped, sharp edge to their voice. It was strange, a stark contrast to the B32 from earlier.
The vigilante didn’t move. “I’ve come here to stop you—”
“You could’ve stopped me at any point,” B32 said. “You could’ve stopped me ages ago, but all you do is put up this pathetic resistance and act like you’re a victim.”
Gabriel breathed hard and slumped over at the end of his outburst.
“You still don’t even have the decency to take off that mask.”
The woman didn’t respond. Instead, she reached into her inventory, pulling out a gleaming rapier. She slashed once, and water seemed to materialize out of the air.
“I don’t expect you to understand. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I’m sorry,” she said.
B32—Gabriel?—moved faster than Nathan had ever seen him move before. He was like a lightning bolt, like Reckson when he used one of his empowered movements. One second, he was there; the next, he was right in front of the vigilante. His pike swung down like an axe, aimed at her head. She dodged, using her rapier to deflect the blow into the ground. With a quick flick of her wrist, her sword cut into Gabriel’s clothing and bounced off the metal armor underneath.
She grunted and jumped back.
“You know, I never understood why so many of you refuse to use armor,” he muttered. “It could’ve saved us all a lot of trouble. This is why things need to be standardized. Need to be controlled. If only they’d listen to me, they’d understand.”
“There’s no reasoning with you,” the vigilante said.
Nathan tore his eyes off her and charged in from behind. Gabriel dodged her attack and pointed a finger at Nathan. Nathan braced himself for the impact—only for the vigilante’s glistening rapier to stab into Gabriel’s hand, knocking his aim off course. A wave of pressure shot past Nathan’s left side, missing him entirely.
Gabriel roared and grabbed the rapier lodged in his hand. He stabbed with his pike, forcing the vigilante to let go of her weapon. Gabriel pulled the rapier free, now wielding both the pike and the rapier in one hand, then passing the rapier to his other hand.
“It’s a terrible combination,” Nathan said.
Almost as bad as a fishing pole and a harpoon.
Nathan dashed forward, appearing right in front of Gabriel. He feinted with his harpoon, then drove his knee up—only for the attack to be blocked by the pike’s hard metal shaft. The shaft swiveled, and its blunt side cracked Nathan’s ribs. He rolled with the blow, managing to hit the ground and avoid any follow-up attacks.
“Initially, I was pissed this bastard decided to take my body,” Gabriel said. “But this kind of power? Maybe it almost makes it worth it.”
Nathan’s teeth ground together. B32 had mentioned they were fighting for control of the body before. Now, they were unified as one? The third strongest person in the apocalypse, enhanced by a system. A terrifying combo.
The vigilante rushed back in, pulling another rapier from her inventory. She stabbed forward, and water vaulted to her side, launching at Gabriel one after another. He staggered backward, and she rushed in to follow up—but Gabriel blocked with his rapier, then swung the pike in a wide arc. The vigilante let out a pained cry as the shaft slammed into her liver. She staggered, nearly collapsing, before catching herself.
Nathan let out a few long breaths. His legs lit up with pain, strained from moving so fast. He staggered but used the speed to get behind Gabriel. His eyes widened as he turned to meet the incoming attack. Nathan shot forward—only to miss, miscalculating his strike.
Nathan cursed under his breath and drew back to avoid the follow-up. He had the edge in raw power, but he didn’t know how to control it. It was taking all he had to avoid running off the side of the building.
“Don’t you see?” Gabriel shouted. “You can’t hurt me! I know every single one of your tricks. The new ones you have aren’t worth anything because you don’t know how to use them!”
Nathan focused, and oxygen filled the air. Lightning cracked forward, snapping into Gabriel. For a few seconds, Gabriel stood straight. He looked down at his chest, where his metal armor had been ripped open, exposed by the sheer power of the lightning.
Nathan didn’t waste a moment and threw his hook forward. Somehow, Gabriel pushed through the pain and jumped out of the way.
Now, Nathan and the vigilante stood side by side, with Gabriel on the other side of the tower.
Nathan breathed hard. He could feel his strength going down—his strikes were a bit weaker, his movements a bit slower. Whatever blessing he had was disappearing.
Nathan needed to finish this. Fast.
He’d tried lightning earlier. He considered using his tree arm—
What was the worst experience he’d ever had?
An image flashed in his mind.
The pressure of the deep ocean. When he’d been trapped, his lungs bursting, his blood boiling.
“You have some kind of water manipulation skills?” Nathan muttered.
“I do,” the vigilante said.
“In ten seconds, I want you to grab as much water from the air as you can and wrap it around him. I’ll be doing it too. Then we’re going to crush him under the pressure, got it?”
A few silent moments passed as both sides rested. Then Nathan held out his hand. Water materialized from the air and wrapped around Gabriel before he could escape. The vigilante added her own power to the mix, and Nathan could feel their combined grip holding the water.
Then they squeezed. Nathan had been through this. He knew what pressure could do to a person—even someone as powerful as Gabriel. If Nathan couldn’t handle it, he doubted anyone else could either.
Ten seconds. Twenty seconds. Thirty seconds.
Nathan gripped tighter and tighter, the pressure building. When he felt he couldn’t maintain it any longer, he let it disintegrate.
“Now, let it all go!”
The water burst forth in every direction, finally free of their grip. Gabriel had been under enormous pressure—and then it was gone, replaced with normal atmospheric pressure.
His body dropped from the air and hit the ground.
Even Nathan winced at what he’d done. Blood dripped from Gabriel’s mouth. His clothes had shrunk slightly. All over his body were holes from burst blood vessels and bruises.
“Is it over?” the vigilante asked.
Gabriel’s bloodshot eyes snapped open, and his pike zoomed toward Nathan’s chest—
A crack of thunder echoed in the background. Gabriel’s momentum stopped, and he was thrown to the side by an invisible force.
Nathan blinked. There was a clear bullet hole in Gabriel’s head. He looked to the left, catching the glint of a gun scope in the distance.
Mara.
Nathan felt the tension flow out of him. He almost fell over.
It was finally over.
The vigilante stepped toward Gabriel’s broken, battered body and pressed her fingers against his eyelids, shutting them.
“Be at peace,” she muttered.
“I’m sorry,” Nathan said.
“Don’t be. He died a long time ago, and I’d never accepted that.”
The fires were dying down. Most of the troops had probably been rounded up or imprisoned.
“What’s your plan now?” Nathan asked.
“I’m unsure.”
“You’re free to come with us, you know.”
The vigilante was quiet for a moment before speaking hesitantly. “I’ve been following your progress for a while, ever since you popped up in that man’s livestreams.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I was… so proud. You turned from a disappointment, someone our parents couldn’t even look at, into a hero. Someone thousands of people rely on, look up to. I’ll admit, I was a little jealous.”
Nathan felt his lips twitch.
“That’s a bit of a role reversal,” he said. “It used to be the opposite.”
“I remember. Back when we were kids, I was always the leader. Always the one in front.” Her voice turned distant, like she was talking to someone else. “We used to play those co-op games, and it was my job to come up with the strategies. Our opponents always thought I was the threat. I was the one they’d pay attention to, while they ignored you, giving us the chance to win.”
