Awaken Online: Armageddon, page 36
“I’m sorry, you’re going to need to be more specific. I killed a lot of people in that dungeon,” Jason shot back. “They were all pretty forgettable.”
“How dare you!” Pewpew growled.
Jason dove to the right around the next corner, dodging yet another bullet that rocketed past and slammed into the boulder at his back, not even slowing its steady roll. The lumbering rock then crashed through the wall, sending up another shower of dust and debris. That cloud offered Jason cover as he dashed through the opening, the telltale glimmer of Alexion’s armor visible through the fog. He slid toward the fallen angel’s location, taking cover behind the fresh mound of rubble formed by the boulder.
Alexion was badly wounded. The shot had managed to penetrate one of the glowing panels along his chest, and there was blood everywhere. While Jason didn’t have much in the way of ranged attacks, he did come loaded with potions – a gift from Eliza. He pulled one from his bag, unstoppered it with his teeth, and poured its contents into Alexion’s mouth. Already, he could feel the rumble of the boulder behind them and the dust was beginning to clear.
They didn’t have much more time.
Pewpew apparently didn’t intend to wait. A barrage of gunshots rang out, projectiles crashing into the stone around them as electricity arced through the air, leaving searing lines across Jason’s armor, and welting the occasional patch of exposed skin. Jason acted quickly, grabbing Alexion, and dragging him back into the debris, slowly edging around the boulder. If he moved quickly enough, the stone merely rotated in place, offering cover from Pewpew.
“You know, I do seem to recall a young girl with anger management problems,” Jason shouted. He needed to keep her riled – not thinking clearly. “Shit, what was the name of her guild? The
“You asshole—” Pewpew ground out, her voice obscured in another barrage of gunfire.
Meanwhile, Alexion’s health had stabilized and his eyes crept open. Jason decided to hurry that along by slapping him. Hard. The fallen angel’s eyes snapped open, taking in their situation in confusion. “What… where…?” he grunted uncertainly.
“Pewpew is on the walls. Teleporting sniper. Stay behind this boulder and keep rotating,” Jason answered softly. “You almost died and I barely stabilized you. Can you heal yourself?”
Alexion stared back for a moment and then nodded. With a swift gesture and a flash of golden light, he healed the hole in his chest, the skin knitting back together rapidly. It seemed he had a hell of a healing ability – which gave Jason an idea.
Without warning, Jason lashed out with a Soul Blade, carving cleanly through Alexion’s arm. His blood poured onto the floor as the young man grunted in pain. “What the fuck—”
Jason’s hand was over his mouth in an instant. “Shut up,” he growled, nudging his chin in the direction of the walls above them where Pewpew was no doubt perched – just waiting for an opening. She couldn’t see them with the dust, but she could sure as hell hear them.
“Just heal yourself again. You only need one arm for that.”
Alexion glared back but followed his orders, a fresh limb slowly inching from the ragged stump, the blood vessels, bones, and muscle fibers weaving back together to form a full-fledged limb once more. Now that was even more impressive. But Jason didn’t have time to appreciate that magical feat. Instead, he grabbed Alexion’s fallen arm – just enough materials to make something small…
“I need you to head toward the exit and add waypoint markers on the map showing the path out of here,” Jason grunted.
“That’s your plan? Use me as a decoy so she can light me up, then step over my corpse and escape?” Alexion muttered.
“I just need a few seconds. Then, once I break cover, she’ll focus her fire on me.”
“How can you be sure?”
“We have some… history, I believe,” Jason answered. He did indeed recall a young guild leader that had almost managed to kill him back in Peccavi. If Pewpew was the same person, she wasn’t going to give him up easily. He locked eyes with Alexion. “If you’ve got a better plan, let’s hear it.” The angel simply stared back, then shook his head. “Good. You ready?” Jason asked, nodding at Alexion’s freshly healed arm.
“Yes. But, first, close your eyes.”
Jason hesitated.
“I’m not going to cut off your fucking arm,” Alexion ground out.
Having little choice, Jason complied with his request. Light bloomed behind his eyelids, accompanied by a gust of wind as Alexion took off. The glare was so intense that there were still spots in Jason’s vision as he peeked his eyes open once more – the gloom having resettled across the massive room. He could see Alexion’s goal now. He’d cast Light to blind Pewpew before he took off. Unfortunately, the wind from his wings had also pushed away the rest of the lingering dust, leaving Jason without cover. Jason heard gunshots ring out again, Pewpew laying down suppressive fire to force Alexion back to the ground again. He only had a few seconds.
Jason looked down at the severed arm in his hands as he kept stepping around the boulder, the rock rotating slowly in place. Then he began casting Custom Skeleton. The world slowed to a crawl around him as he quickly broke apart the limb in a shower of blood and repurposed it. Luckily, he could use one of his older designs.
Lightning arced in the corner of his vision as Jason dropped his spell, diving behind the boulder once more. Even so, the bolt glanced his shoulder, carving a furrow in his armor, the bone cracking and failing. Even worse, the electricity scored his skin and made the limb go rigid, leaving it numb and tingling. A prompt confirmed he’d lost the use of the arm momentarily.
“Damn it,” Jason grunted.
“Ahh, I’m sorry, did I nick you there?” Pewpew drawled, another flash appearing along the top of the walls as she shifted locations.
Jason winced. The wound hurt, but it wasn’t debilitating. Then he pushed away from the boulder and sprinted down the lane, heading toward that light on the far end of the room. The floor rumbled again as the smiling rock at his back began to pick up speed, barreling down the alley and occasionally bouncing off the walls with a concussive boom, causing shards of rock and dust to rain down around Jason.
“You know, I think I remember your name,” Jason shouted out.
“Oh, really?” Jason just barely managed to pick out the direction of her voice as another gunshot rang out. He twisted to the side, narrowly avoiding another missile.
“Yeah… it was Sarah, right?” he grunted, pushing off the wall and racing forward again, following the path highlighted by Alexion – he was getting close to that light in the distance. It was just up ahead now. Jason could only hope he didn’t screw him over. Yet again.
“Shit. That’s not right,” Jason huffed. “Maybe Amy? Damn, I’ve killed a lot of people.”
“It’s Lauren, dickhead. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you remember it this time!”
Lightning arced overhead and projectiles crashed into the rock around Jason. At first, he thought she’d missed, the shots going wide. Yet as he passed one of the projectiles, he could see they were spikes of solid steel. Almost like a rod…
Energy suddenly flashed, lightning arcing between those rods and catching Jason in a net of energy that made his muscles go rigid. Yet the rumble of the boulder behind him never stopped. The energy winked out, smoke coiling away from Jason’s body. While it had managed to blunt most of the blast, the remains of his Bone Armor crumbled away like ash. More importantly, he’d lost precious time and his limbs were tingling and less responsive now.
A flash appeared at the top of the wall, and Jason forced himself to move, stumbling forward – his body not fully responding to his commands. “Ahh, look at you. Moving slower, are we?” Pewpew – or Lauren – taunted. Then, there was another gunshot, and Jason felt something stab through his calf, his blood spraying the ground.
And that boulder was still careening toward him. As Jason made it to the corner, he dove around it, hitting the ground with a dull thump. The rock barreled past him again, crashing into the wall and sending up another protective layer of rock and dust. However, Jason didn’t trust that, rolling to the side and just narrowly avoiding another gunshot that would have pinned him to the floor – the steel rod nearly a foot long.
“Ahh, you’ve still got some fight in you,” Lauren taunted.
“A player has made it out of the arena. Game ending in sixty seconds!” an automated voice rang out across the arena. Jason glanced up, blinking away the dust to see that the exit loomed ahead of him, a portal of stone slowly descending, a pit forming in his stomach. It was so close and yet still so very far away.
“Oh, this is just perfect!” Lauren said with a laugh. “He left you! And after you went back to save him. Karma is a real bitch, isn’t it? You deserve it after what you did to me.”
“Which was what exactly?” Jason grunted. He just needed to buy a little more time.
“After you destroyed our guild, it fell apart,” Lauren snapped. “They kicked me out as guild leader. So, I wandered this world looking for a new home. Except no one wanted a little girl in their guild – despite my skills. Grown men and women trembling at the thought of fighting beside a teenager. Assholes, the lot of them.”
A pause and another flash of electricity as Lauren repositioned.
“But I eventually found a home. People like me who don’t give a shit about your age or stature, only whether you can handle yourself,” Lauren continued. “Now I have an opportunity to finally get even. To make you feel what it was like to lose everything.”
As she spoke, Jason eyed the boulder and pulled another healing potion from his bag. Fortunately, the massive, smiling rock was buried under rubble and didn’t seem to be able to dislodge itself this time. Not that this would be enough to save him. The wound in his leg was beginning to heal – but it was slow, far slower than Alexion’s healing spell. And that last stretch of hallway was a death trap. Pewpew would gun him down long before he made it through the exit.
Yet she knew that – knew that he was wounded. And Jason could feel her rage. Another player he’d wronged – just like Finn and Vanessa. Maybe he could use that.
Maybe he could lure her closer.
He began crawling, inching along the stone and dragging his leg behind him. He just needed to get as close to that exit as he could. Another shot rang out and Jason’s blood sprayed. He could feel a burn in his other leg. Another shot. His abdomen that time. His impressive health pool was beginning to plummet, the bleed damage stacking up with each shot as he left a bloody trail in his wake.
Yet he kept crawling, the seconds ticking down.
Willing himself to ignore the pain and keep moving.
Then he saw it. The flash of energy he’d been hoping for.
“Ahh, poor you,” Pewpew drawled. The girl had flashed down into the hall, her feet padding along the stones now – avoiding the blood streaking out behind Jason.
She stalked forward and Jason felt something cold press against the back of his neck. He froze, his eyes on the glowing white exit in front of him, the stone sliding ever further downward.
“30 seconds!” that monotonous voice reported again.
“I’m going to make you watch yourself lose,” Pewpew growled at his ear. “Watch everything you’ve fought for slip away. This game. This world.”
“What… about Alexion?” Jason grunted.
Pewpew laughed. “He’s long gone by now. But the others will handle him. They’re out there. Waiting. Watching. Possibly even celebra—”
Her voice cut off suddenly.
“Wait, what the fuck is this?” she demanded, recoiling.
She’d finally moved close enough for Jason to strike. His drone had skittered slowly out from under his armor while she was talking and crawled up her leg. Pewpew danced in place as the creature skittered across her body, twisting and craning as she tried to get a clear shot at it. Getting desperate, Pewpew let out a growl and lightning coated her limbs. Yet Jason had anticipated that and had used his few precious seconds to imbue the creature with metal, its body conducting the electricity harmlessly back into Pewpew’s own body.
She tried to teleport then, but the drone was touching her – clinging to her. So, it just teleported along with her as Pewpew landed a few feet away. She turned then, eyes on Jason as he struggled to push himself back upright.
“10 seconds,” that voice announced. The portal was almost closed.
“You asshole. You baited me to get close, so this… this thing could attack me,” Pewpew growled out. Jason could only smile at the anger in her eyes. “Well, I’ll get the last laugh—”
The barrels of her pistols rose toward Jason as she gave up fighting his minion. Yet Jason simply stared them down. Just as she fired, he cast Dark Incarnation. His body blew apart into a cloud of darkness, the missiles passing harmlessly through him. And no longer encumbered by a body or his injuries, Jason swept forward, speeding past Pewpew and toward the exit as the stone portal lumbered ever downward.
However, his spell ended just shy of the doorway – Jason’s body solidifying – and he landed hard on his injured legs. He toppled forward, just a few inches from the door.
Well, it was a good effort, he thought to himself as he watched the portal close, red notifications flashing in the corner of his vision and his health depleting rapidly from his wounds.
Then Jason suddenly felt himself moving. He looked up in surprise to see Alexion standing there – dust and blood covering his body. Alexion hesitated for a moment as he stared down at him, a war of emotions flitting across his face before he finally pulled Jason forward. They toppled across the threshold to the sound of Pewpew screaming behind him.
“You won’t escape!” she roared.
Jason turned, seeing the girl teleporting forward, her pistols raised and the barrier closing. Jason’s minion had already skittered up into position behind her neck, clamping its skeletal legs onto her skin. Its body glowed with a telltale orange light.
In that moment, Jason pulled back his hood, meeting the girl’s eyes.
“That was a nice try, but it looks like you still aren’t good enough,” he said quietly.
Then the drone detonated and Pewpew’s head exploded in a shower of blood and the barrier finally slammed shut – signaling the end of the first of the games. Jason slumped against the door, bloodied and tired. His eyes drifted downward, noticing that a mask lay at his feet – covered in blood and painted in a perpetual smile.
It seemed they’d won. Barely.
Chapter 33 - Teamwork
Jason’s back pressed into the exit door, the rough stone digging into his shoulder blades. His chest heaved, and his heart thudded a frantic rhythm as his body gradually began to recover.
“Congratulations to the victors of our first game… I guess. Although, killing a little girl doesn’t really seem like much of an accomplishment,” Bard’s voice rang out, soon stolen away by the stiff winds that blew across the Mile-High Club.
Jason couldn’t help the groan that escaped his lips, pressing his eyes closed to block out the image of the massive screen floating in the center of the city. You know what was worse than getting stuck in a floating prison with Alexion? Having the entire process narrated by Bard. That was definitely worse.
“Oh, and I have a special surprise! You can now vote for your favorite player in that last match-up – the MVP of our last little game, so to speak,” he continued, Jason’s eyes shooting open.
Wait… voting?
Jason shoved himself upright in time to see a montage of the last game. First, Alexion’s grandstanding and attempt to solo the maze, promptly followed by him getting taken out by Pewpew. There was a rather unflattering shot of Jason running for his life from a giant smiling boulder. Then finally, Pewpew’s head exploding as Jason was pulled out of the arena by Alexion.
A constant chime repeatedly pinged, presumably as the spectators around the game world cast their votes. Jason and Alexion shared a look – both battered and beaten. What sort of technology would allow Bard to do that…?
“Alright, time’s up, folks!” Bard announced. He hesitated, cocking his head. “Wait, are you all sure about this one? Really, really sure?” He shook his head. “Okay, well, it looks like our White Knight in Shining Bullshit is our MVP! It must be his daring rescue attempt there at the end. Let’s check in with our hero now.”
The screen cut to a shot of Alexion’s face, the camera beside the pair spinning toward the angelic young man who glanced in surprise between the glowing orb and the screen hanging from the center of the city – almost as though he didn’t believe he deserved the title.
Although, Alexion recovered quickly, reassuming a gallant pose. “It was noth—"
“Haha, just kidding. Captain Crash Landing here wasn’t our MVP,” Bard quipped. The camera spun toward Jason, his cowled face suddenly appearing on screen. “There we go. Suitably dark and brooding. You have anything you want to say to your adoring fans?”
Jason ground his teeth. He was going to enjoy killing this guy.
“Yeah, sure,” Jason grunted, staring into the floating blue orb beside him. “I’m going to find you – wherever you are – and I’m going to shove that camera up your—”
The screen suddenly cut away, Bard’s face reappearing on screen. “Woah there! This is a family show… you know, except for the blood and gore and violence and all the other times you two have gone on an expletive-laden tangent. Annnnywaaaaay, I hope all of you in the audience enjoyed this first round. I expect the next will be even more interesting. And now for a commercial break—”
The screen abruptly cut to a commercial showcasing what appeared to be a line of moisturizing products. “Bard’s Basics is here to give you that battle body glow!” Bard announced, holding up a small jar. “It’s really all you need to… Hey this is totally relevant! Smiles told me I could do whatever I wanted,” Bard hissed at someone off camera.
