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Echos Chapter 4
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 19:58:01 +0000 UTCEchos Chapter
Duke Waters spun through the emptiness of space and launched a dozen [Water Scythe]s at the squad of generals who were trying to stop him from massacring their troops. It was quite rude of them. He’d so much rather be back with Liz, Matt, and Aster, congratulating them for a job well done and messing with them back in the home base, but the Republic just had to launch a deep strike. Honestly, didn’t they know how this sort of thing was done? You had to give the newbies a few softballs, and not pull aside their senior Ascender to answer a stupid invasion. And then another, and another, and another.
It was just rude.
Sure, normally it wouldn’t be that much of an issue. It was an easy enough mission of the sort he usually liked, just enough pressure to be fun. But damn it, he was missing all the good parts of watching a new pair of Ascenders being brought into the fold.
He couldn’t even slap the kids around a bit to keep their heads from getting too big.
Oh well.
General Grotesques fired off an array of decay needles. They slammed into his side with almost no resistance and began to liquefy his flesh.
Oh no. However might a water mage manage to survive being turned to liquid?
Water flowed from his side, carrying the poison with it and coalescing into a clone of himself, an Edgier And Cooler Abyssal Duke Waters complete with all kinds of murky water and glowing red eyes. It charged at the people responsible for its creation, meting out proper justice while the main Duke Waters called upon his Anchor, letting the ocean inside him refill the tiny amount of water that had splashed away.
What kind of mortal could harm an ocean? They were all hopeless before its overwhelming might. No attack could do more than cause a few ripples.
Not that he was fighting mortals, but hey, it wasn’t like he was always an ocean.
The other two generals, Tivus and Regta, outflanked and tried to destroy his clone, but hadn’t accounted for the incredible pressure of the abyssal ocean. Tivus’ sword crumpled like paper as it passed through the black water, while Regta’s bullets just vanished into the inky depths.
Then the water exploded and coated them, and they began to feel the unending pressure of the ocean. The surrender notice came, and he relented.
Danger rang out from behind him, and Duke Waters twisted just a moment too slowly.
A searing bolt of pain punched through his chest, sending the ocean within into turmoil, but he leashed the power before it could spiral out of control. Instead, he locked on just who had landed the blow.
Yuvgret. Now leading a bunch of discount Graduates instead of the normal flunkies he liked to boss around. Figured.
Fucking assholes had been hiding in a spatial fold or something and used the rest of the army as bait.
He had suspected something like that might be up when he heard a Tier 35 army had jumped over the established line of battle. He had just assumed he was wrong when they didn’t appear after he killed the first of the generals. Waiting until after the surrender came in was impressive dedication. Not against the rules of war, because this attack group clearly wasn’t part of the army, but it was just kinda… cheap.
Not that Duke Waters was a cheap date. He’d make them pay full price.
Of course, before he killed them, he had a few questions. While normally he might have asked out loud, his lungs were quite inconsiderately not healing, and it wasn’t the same to talk using just his Domain if he couldn’t accompany it with an appropriately menacing laugh from his own lips.
So he settled for sending it on his AI.“That stung. What was it?”
Rugrat and Blake, the team's melee fighters, rushed forward with earthen shields raised.
Seriously, the Republic had just lost all sense of proper procedure in this war. The quips were half the fun! But noooo, apparently President Janet wanted to “take this seriously” and the elites were actually listening to her. Bah, at least Maya had kept her head about all this. He’d gladly take her or On The Last Line, they appreciated the importance of proper mid-fight banter.
Hell, even Light could get chatty if you hit the kid’s right buttons. Because he knew how it was done!
The InSects were always a laugh with their grandiosity, the Feddies couldn’t stop themselves from yelling out hilarious insults, but these punks? They just kept refusing to have a philosophical conversation with him during the middle of a life-or-death battle! No self-important last words, not even a good old “For the Republic!”
Shameful.
He flushed himself with mana and willpower, trying to reset his body to regain access to his lungs and glorious voice. Unfortunately, whatever stupid attack they’d hit him with wasn’t so easily washed away, but he tided himself over by reassuring himself that the attempted Domain damage he could sense had just splashed harmlessly off him.
If that was the best the Republic could do as an anti-Duke Waters opening shot, it was fucking embarrassing.
Involuntarily, he coughed up some blood and noticed there was actually a curse hidden inside whatever he had been inflicted with.
Ok, so maybe it wasn’t a totally awful attempt. If the Domain portion had worked, which it couldn’t because he was the best at Domains, he would have been in serious trouble.
Rugrat cast some earth based spell that tried to ensnare him, but a [Washing a-Wave] dispelled it, the stone ending up very firmly lost at sea. While normally the dispel would have ended there, he called on his Concept to keep it running, rushing over to the next attack.
A flurry of molten blades was eaten by his spell at the cost of a negligible amount of willpower, but he must have surprised Yuvgret’s team, as they weren’t reinforcing their spells with their Domains beyond the basics.
Interesting. So they had really expected that initial bolt to disable his Domain. How fascinating. How foolish.
He manifested a bubble as a spell focus, overcharged it, and popped it. Torrents of water flooded forth, blasting into the pitiful fire and air-based walls Yuvgret, Kimberly, and Dlassa were sheltering behind. He enhanced them with his Domain, and fire and air gave way to the superior element.
Currents of power, unleashed through his Intent, ripped and tore at his opponents, and while Kimberly and Dlassa only lost an arm and leg respectively, Yuvgret’s body was torn outright in half, already being crushed from the overwhelming pressure of the ocean.
Drowning wasn’t the only danger in the depths.
Annoyingly, magic flared and she began to be put back together. A quick query to his AI told Duke Waters the name and identity of the healer responsible… Ethan the chronomancer? Time-based healers were always a pain in the ass to fight.
He wasn’t able to do anything else quite yet, as the melee duo of Rugrat and Blake were already on top of him.
Aiden wasn’t a melee fighter, and while he was happy to test his mediocre skills against weaker troops, he wasn’t dumb enough to treat these two with such contempt.
A wash of seafoam stopped a massive incoming spell, a whip of water pulled their blades to the side, and two more attacks bounced off a bubble shield he created around himself. [Water Armor] brought a cloying, sticky orange spell to a near halt, but it still brushed his skin and drained itself into his body, giving a really weird sensation.
That only heralded even more spells, and he found himself hard-pressed to keep any level of control over the battlefield, but he began counting down as the tide slowly turned in his favor.
Ten.
He dodged a blade and took a crossbow bolt to the shoulder as payment. It didn’t over-penetrate, but it shattered and sent shrapnel into his shoulder that locked it up. It attempted to send off a series of biological failures cascading through his body, but he called on his Anchor to keep him in one piece.
To his surprise, it took some effort to do so, but nothing he wasn’t able to handle.
Nine.
He dodged a bolt of dark purple mana that his spiritual sense suggested had some amount of void in it, but took a blade to the leg that suffused his body with a caustic green energy that smelled of pinecones. No, that wasn’t right. It was reacting with the Domain-inhibiting curse and somehow increased its strength. That was less than ideal.
Eight.
The torrents of his Aspect dragged six blows just enough off-track for him to avoid them, then he used that opening to shoot a [Riptide Hook] at Kimberly.
It pierced her thigh and dragged her off into the distance.
Seven.
A bubble-shield popped, and his attempted dodge was insufficient to stop the sword to the gut, but instead just provided extra leverage as it tore up his chest.
“Man, you guys are heartless,” he sent. “Or maybe I am. Is there a difference?”
Eh, he could do better. “Come on guys, stop ignoring me. You’re breaking my heart!”
Six.
A bubble was a funny thing. Below the water, it was the only source of air. But above water, it could either be a prison made of the best element, or simply a solitary refuge for the ocean in the form of a droplet. And any droplet preceded a rainstorm.
[Hurricane Arbor] manifested a bubble, and he flooded the rain-seed with mana until it began to glow a vivid, shifting blue. Instantly, a storm-tree sprouted, its trunk ice, its branches clouds.
Its fruit, a storm.
Five.
Rugrat proved himself the smarter of two as he started hacking at the tree, while Blake rushed Aiden down. In response, he shot off a column of water as wide around as his head that tragically missed, or perhaps mist, as it burst into a cloud of white not far behind the onrushing elite.
Four.
Duke Water’s harvest had ripened, and artillery-grade rain began to fall. Like petals, or perhaps bubbles, tiny drops of water fell in a meandering pattern beneath the still-growing tree. But instead of landing gently on their targets, they punched holes in hastily-raised defenses and tore into his attackers.
Three.
A bolt snuck through the swirling torrent of raindrops, striking him directly on the open wound in his chest and exploding into a toxic gas. [Cleansing Waters] took care of that, leaving nothing but the scent of freshly-fallen rain.
Two.
Raindrops slowed lethargically as his [Hurricane Arbor] was destroyed, but a wave of his hand collected the water around him into a [Tidal Wave], washing Rugrat and Blake as they came too close, and giving him a moment of respite.
One.
Kimberly re-entered the battle just as her would-be support left it, and Duke Waters released his hold over the compressed water he’d deposited in her thigh.
Blood and saltwater spread into a thin mist, and [Salt in the Wound] ensured that pain debilitated Kimberly long enough for him to pull her close to him.
[Calm the Storm].
All water in the woman simply stopped, even her slight twitches freezing instantly.
He smiled a toothy grin, then bodily raised her up, directly into the path of [The Water Cyclone]. Dispersed mist re-coalesced into water and unerringly shot back into his other awaiting palm. That Kimberly happened to be in the way, and was reinforcing her body with her Domain, did nothing to slow it. Still, he made sure that the guts sprayed at him simply washed past him and into the face of Ethan.
The healer thought he was being sneaky while trying to heal his teammate, but hadn’t been prepared for intestines smacking his eye. Even if they didn’t do any actual damage, or even truly disorient him- fighting professionals could be annoying- it was at least a moral victory for Duke Waters.
Then, the currents of his Aspect slammed Kimberly into Ethan, and the healer was knocked into an awaiting bubble of water, where he was most vulnerable to Aiden’s domain and was forced to try and take it on completely solo.
A hasty defense was raised, but Duke Waters simply crushed first the defense, then the Domain, and finally cracked the spirit itself as if it was a child trying to stop a train.
The move took a lot of willpower, but Duke Waters dug deeper and growled as he cast [One With Water] and [Water Swap] to join the still reeling healer in his bubble. He needed to flare his Aspect to break through their spatial lock, but he did so without care for the willpower expenditure.
When he appeared, he didn’t attack the healer, but rather Yuvgret, who had made it back to the fight and was trying to stabilize the man.
The bubble was popped, and its pressure redirected into a [Water Blade] that broke through Yuvgret’s shields and armor.
She was trying to use her Domain to stop him, but Duke Waters didn’t get his title because of his good looks.
The pressure of his own Domain rose, suffocating and crushing the woman’s spirit. She was deep in the depths while this close to him, and while Rugrat and Dlassa tried to break his spatial lock to save their team leader, it was too little, too late.
Yuvgret drowned in the depths, and the moment he felt the wash of essence, he cleansed it of Yuvgret’s Domain and immediately started allocating it. A Tier 35 had a lot of essence, it was a shame the realm only let him have such a small fraction, miserly fuck.
His willpower and mana were both running dangerously low, but he still managed to replenish some of the latter by re-absorbing the mana in the bubble of water around him. Rugrat and Dlassa charged, but Aiden had already left the spot they were attacking.
As his clone was destroyed, Duke Waters snatched his prey. Blake was still trying to rid himself of the parasitic [Hurricane Arbor] seeds, and was wholly unprepared for a [Water Blade] to tear him twain. Some kind of life-saving device began to activate, but Aiden refused to release his Domain grip. Between the potent rescue lifeline trying to spirit Blake away, and the insatiable grip he had on the man’s spirit, something had to give.
And it ended up being Blake.
The man’s body vanished in a puff of smoke as essence washed over Aiden. Hmm. Between Yuvgret and Blake, he’d gotten a pretty good sense as to how that particular lifeline worked, what were the odds the rest of them had it as well?
Clearly, they’d prepared for his Domain to not be fully suppressed, because it was set to trigger when foreign willpower infiltrated the body. Well, he could oblige that.
Kimberly was still floating around here somewhere, trying to patch herself up with a broken Domain, and there she was. She was out of range with Dlassa, trying to stabilize herself, but Rugrat was charging at Aiden… and ran right into a drifting bubble of his Domain. It didn’t actually do much, and didn’t cost much willpower, but it was tuned perfectly for what their lifelines were looking for.
Rugrat vanished in a puff of smoke.
Aiden couldn’t retreat, not without giving up the battle he’d literally just won. But the Republic stuck-up squad, with their leader killed, two members in serious need of healer attention, and only one member still in fighting shape?
Dlassa decided discretion was the better part of valor, with a blast of wind dragged herself and Kimberly over to Ethan’s catatonic figure, then the three of them vanished.
Duke Waters wanted to collapse into a puddle as the exhaustion and injuries hit him all at once, but he couldn’t look weak.
So, instead of retreating like he wanted to, he looked out at the Republic troops who had been watching on in horror.
Using his [AI], he sent a short message. “I believe you all were in the middle of something?”
Aiden mentally sighed as nobody tried to retract their surrenders. And that was why having a reputation was useful.
If anyone else had the wounds Aiden had and still pushed for surrender, they would just get attacked, but he had proven his tenacity in a thousand battles before this.
Aiden stabilized himself with a couple of subtle healing enchantments worked into his gear, careful to not give anything away as the haggard Empire defenders mobilized to begin securing their new prisoners.
The moment the final Republic soldier was taken into custody, he withdrew his personal ship and boarded it while telling it to enter chaotic space.
Breaking a fragile ceramic plate from his spatial ring, he felt his ship recall to deeper into the Empire with a lurch that aggravated his wounds.
He hated to use the stupidly expensive teleportation formation, but he needed to get seen by a healer sooner rather than later, and the ship would get him to the military base without a million questions or anyone seeing just how badly he was wounded.
As he concentrated on keeping his wounds under control, he counted the days.
If the kids were sent on the normal kill-an-army Ascender first mission like he had been, they should be back by now.
And Melinda should be back. Perfect.
Then he could fight the kids and not have to hold back too much.
How much better could that be?
He pulled up the Ascender group chat and sent off a mocking picture to Maya, depicting a cartoon version of himself trapping the elites he’d just fought in bubbles.
“Your puny little team of elites were no match for the awesome might of Water!”
He smirked as Lila, Gideon, Sien, and Krodag began to express their amusement. Maya was probably out of service range… or silently stewing, figuring out a scathing response of some sort.
Eh, so far as he knew, Maya wasn’t too attached to either of the elites he’d killed. Worst-case, she’d probably respond in kind. If any of them got too salty about a few random dead countrymen, their group chat wouldn’t work. Of course, the new kids wouldn’t be invited quite yet. They needed a proper war under their belts, a bit more experience before they truly joined the cool kid’s club.
After all, what was a bit of mortal combat between friends?
***
***
Krodag Oakarmour sighed as he kicked the air, reading about Aiden’s latest fight.
There was nothing to do. Damn it. Why did the new Saint need to be a chicken? If she was a little more brave, he could be out there kicking ass like Aiden was. The little shit wasn’t even a proper Tier 35 like the rest of them, but he was out there living it up and wiping the highest-Tier battlefields while they were stuck at home.
But hey, maybe once he did reach Tier 35 they’d be able to face a truly overwhelming opponent! It had been far too long since they’d had a proper uphill battle. Once On The Last Line had hit Tier 35, the hardest fights were just those that they couldn’t catch their breath. Lug outmuscled everyone, Boney had trouble finding good skeletons, and Jack barely learned anything actually worth copying. Krodag just wished there would be more good stories to go around. Crushing ants just wasn’t the same.
Maybe that was why Aiden liked being Tier 31, come to think of it. Even as a fresh Tier 25, the man had never settled for just the normal fights. Well… normal by their standards. Same-tier armies and all that jazz.
At least the newest Ascenders seemed a bit more sane. It was crazy that they’d gone from being the most junior set of Legends in the entire Realm to middle of the pack in less than two thousand years, but crazy was the best kind of.
That thought brought Krodag back to the present, and he sighed. The documents on the center table were still projecting images of the most-junior Ascenders, and all the lore they’d gathered on the trio. The diviners were hard at work trying to learn as much as they could, but at least in Krodag’s opinion, it was all a waste of time. It was far better to learn about people through fighting them yourself.
He sighed again, and a sharp pain lanced up his leg. “Ow!”
Stomping his foot, he started punching himself in the thigh, trying to kill what had bitten him, but he was slower than the bone mouse shaking its tiny fist at him. He didn’t need the mouse to speak to hear Boney complaining about his moping.
With a whiplike crack, his rope struck the undead mouse and sent it flying into the far wall, where it fell behind the bar and skittered away. “Boney you fucking necrophiliac, if you have a problem with me come out here and say it to my face like a real man.” he took a deep breath, “[KOLGAZOR’S HONOR DEMANDS YOU PRESENT YOURSELF]!”
Krodag’s favorite taunt skill combo was strong enough to compel an entire rift to run straight for them, but Boney didn’t even budge. Well, he couldn’t leave that lying down. Krodag stomped up the stairs and kicked his friend’s door open, revealing the man leaning back in a chair, sketching something in his notebook.
Most people thought that the Deadlord was actually a lich, held to life by the same network of phylacteries he used to control his armies on countless worlds, but Boney was still as alive as any of them. He had a fully adult human body just barely shorter than he was technically allowed to have, but with fluffy enough hair it would be nearly impossible to prove.
Boney didn’t even bother looking up as he replied, “I told you last week. If you sigh more than three times a day, I’m going to have something bite you. This time, it was Anny Mouse. Next time, maybe Draco McDragonFace will be close enough to do the job. Do you want to find out?”
Krodag huffed and stomped into the room.
“Bottle, if you sit on my bed I will—” Boney’s threat went unheard as Krodag threw himself into the bed with an emphatic sigh.
“What are you gonna do about it?”
“Send a video of you sleep-talking while passed out on the couch to the Ascender chat?”
“Psshhh, you do that and I’ll stick the silliest wig I can find on your fanciest skeleton and send a picture of that.”
Jack popped her head through the doorway, “Look, I know we’re all very impressed that you knocked up a hooker, Bottle, but there’s no need to try and pretend that Boney could do the same.”
“Oh come on! I didn’t even say where I was going to get the wig, how did you knoooooo-” Krodag’s eyes widened as he fell right into Jack’s trap.
“I know everything,” she struck mercilessly, performing a perfect triple flip onto Boney’s bed, right next to Krodag.
Lug lumbered through the door, sweat dripping down his beard from whatever exercise he’d been working on.
“What’cha guys talking about?”
“Bottle can’t stop sighing.” Boney called.
“Ookie spookie bit me as a mouse!”
“No, that was just Annie.”
“Then he made a mouse bite me!”
“The idiots were fighting and I wanted to stir the pot,” Jack mock whispered.
Lug nodded. “So the usual. I—”
A gruff voice called out from behind him, “—Are in the fucking way! Move it, tiny!”
Krodag groaned, but this time, he was joined by his teammates.
Jack threw a pillow at the new arrival, but he swatted it away with a growl. “I told you to stop throwing shit. I tell all four of you shit every day and I feel like I'm talking to myself most of the time. Do you fucks remember anything I say!? Why can’t I have easier Legends to manage?”
Krodag offered up his opinion, “Because you hate yourself?”
Jack nodded. “And you're a masochist.”
Boney added with a straight face, “And you hate your wife.”
Lug gently patted their boss on the shoulder. “And you’re dumb. But it's ok, we love you anyway.”
Ugnud's face went a deeper shade of brown as he tried not to explode.
Seeing how close they were to getting him to pop, Jack added, “Or are you trying to steal my panties again? I told you I'd just give you some. No need to dig through my hamper.”
That did it.
Ugnud punched out, and all of them jumped and dodged as their Tier 45 questgiver started wailing at them, blasting them through the wooden floor and into the middle of Boney’s ‘secret crypt.’
“I was looking for the unstable reactor you idiots thought you could smuggle into your rooms, you stupid shits! I hate you four. I hate you four. I hate you four. I swear you four are powered by pure concentrated stupidity! I hate you four. I—”
By the time they were beaten into the ground Ugnud finally stopped repeating his mantra and Krodag squeaked, “Feel better?”
He got another kick for his efforts, but it at least dislodged him from the indent he had created in the stone floor.
“No, you idiots. This does not calm me down. What calms me down are Legends who do what I say and not stir up trouble. Now get up! There’s a job for you four to do.”
Krodag perked up at that somewhat, but didn’t let it show. They’d been trying to get them to do all kinds of boring, non-Legendary stuff for ages. In fact, he didn’t want to give a speech to snot-nosed brats about the importance of the Power Of Friendship for the hundredth time. They’d even managed to burn Boney out on public appearances, and the guy didn’t even need to leave the house to do it!
“Nuh-uh-uh!” Jack wheezed, “Say it right!”
“You have a job!”
“Nope!”
Ugnud leveled a tumultuous expression at the four of them. “I have a quest for you, Legends.”
“With feel-oof! With feeling!” Jack didn’t relent.
Ugnud dramatically closed his eyes and sighed before pepping up and actually emoting as he said the line, “Brave Legends, I have come to deliver you a quest!”
With their cue finally spoken, the four of them popped to their feet.
“ARE WE [JOINING THE FIGHT]?” Krodag's taunt, specifically named in preparation for this very occasion, just got him a boot in the chest, but it was worth it to get the old man to slip up like that. Now he could say he’d taunted a Tier 45, which would get under Ugnud’s skin.
Jack immediately pounced, starting to sing-song, “Bottle taunted Ugnud! Bottle taunted Ugnud!”
Even a squadron of Boney’s skeletons dragged themselves off their shelves and began to bob up and down in a mocking dance.
Scrunched up, face lost behind his puffing beard, Ugnud yelled and restarted their beating.
A few minutes later, some real bruises started to form, and Ugnud calmed down. “As I was saying. You idiots have a missi-quest.”
Jack popped out from a pile of rubble. “Is there a mining outpost under attack by sinister forces from beyond the unknown?”
From his hole in the ceiling, Boney asked, “Do we need to infiltrate a secret cabal of mages who want to summon some kind of eldritch entity that can’t exist in a Tier 50 realm?”
Lug piped in from where he was dusting off his towel. “Is there a planet that descended from a higher realm that landed in the middle of all Great Powers we need to fight over?”
Krodag added his own suggestion, seeing the others hadn’t managed to fluster their boss. “Is there a fair maiden who was captured by an evil lord who needs rescuing?”
Ugnud… Smiled.
Krodag knew something was wrong upon seeing that. but underestimated how bad it really was.
Ugnud's smile only grew as he spoke. “No, no, nothing like that. The Saint felt you four could put your power to better use by training Seasaìdh with her new skills. She—”
Boney retreated, pulling his head back into his room. “Not interested.”
Ugnud flickered, pulling Boney back downstairs just to kick him back upstairs, but the necromancer was unbothered. “Not interested. Make Jack do it, she’s the one with a Talent for teaching.”
Jack shook her head vigorously. “Nope, sorry. Teaching is the only thing my Talent doesn’t cover. It’s about learning, not teaching. I hoard the knowledge. Rawr. My knowledge. No givey.”
Ugnud shook his head. “You idiots have declined too many missions, this is your last chance before you lose your salaries and I send you on a publicity tour through charted space, with absolutely no hidden grottos, forgotten ruins, or powerful rifts for you to find. The Last Line of The Clans must do its duty.”
Lug shook his head as he crossed his massive arms. “That's not our name.”
Ugnud nodded once like an axe falling. “Yes, it is.”
Lug shook his head. “No, our name is ‘On The Last Line’ because you told us to write down our name, on the last line right there, or get kicked out of the Legends program.”
Ugnud’s face started to grow dark again, but he was clearly trying to control it. “And you were told that name was rejected. You four, as Mastermind, Lifegiver, Deadlord, and Greathammer are The Last Line. The only optional part of that name is if you want to include ‘of The Unification of Clans’ to the end of that. It’s that or your real names, and I know you don’t want that, do you, Brian?”
Boney shook a head, sending the skull’s loose jaw flying across the room.
“Still sounds dumb.” Krodag didn't realize he had spoken his thoughts out loud until a boot was flying towards him.
“[THE HEALING LIGHT OF HEAVEN’S RADIANCE ENGULFING THE SKYWARD BOUND].” Shouting with a broken jaw was hard, but Krodag managed, and the healing spell knit himself back together quickly.
Ugnud shook his head. “It's either this or a press tour. Your choice, but you are doing one or the other. If you aren’t at the Inheritor’s training square in an hour, it better be because you’re packing for the trip.”
Ugnud wasn’t even out the door before the four of them were racing ahead of him.
***
Maya Embers stretched as she woke up. Wiggling her toes, she saw a dozen messages waiting for her in her [AI]’s inbox.
One was from Janet, but she ignored that one.
She slept once a year, but her new Tier 50 couldn’t wait until she woke up.
Going to her other messages, she growled at the spam messages addressed to Maya, Reality Manipulator Extraordinaire. She was going to make Ellen’s brains an illusion next time she saw the Legend. How the woman managed to keep sneaking spam through all her filters, she didn’t know, but she knew she was responsible. Only Ellen, Gideon, and Max had the technical know-how and drive to actually do it, and the retirees usually didn’t mess with the active Ascenders.
Deleting those messages, she looked at the messages in the Ascender group chat.
Aiden had killed Yuvgret and Blake, who had tried to take him out in an ambush.
Well, at least they would have gone out in style.
She conjured a wineglass and toasted to the memories of her former comrades. They’d had some good fights together, were admirable opponents, and she’d make sure to give her consolations to Blake’s wife when the news officially broke.
Then she toasted Aiden, for a fight well-fought. Even she would be hard-pressed if a half-dozen elites ambushed her at the conclusion of a battle. Doubly so this deep into a war. Of course, it would take more than that if they wanted to eliminate a Gladiator or one of her ilk, but managing to kill two of Evermore’s own was never something to scoff at.
Naturally, only time would tell how long Aiden would be out of commission for. If she were to hazard a guess… a few months to return to a hospital where he could get treated by an out-of-war-Tiers healer, then somewhere between a few days and a few years for the healing and recovery afterwards.
Sounded like the perfect opportunity to strike back while he couldn’t do anything about it. If she was lucky, she’d be able to pick off an elite or two of the Empire’s, get back a bit at Aiden. Of course, it was way harder to actually land a kill on a defender… eh, she’d manage.
For now she needed to figure out a comeback. Hmmm.
“So your smell really is stronger than an Everborn. And here I thought Lila was just joking.”
Once she was done sending that message, she again looked at what Janet sent her. After reading it once she read it out loud this time to make sure she wasn’t going crazy. “I need you to create an illusion of the new Ascenders so a team can practice against them.”
Her response was short and sweet. “No.”
First of all, she was strong, but not that strong. There was no seeker element to it, and she wasn’t going to pore over reports that Janet had gotten to try and recreate their styles, and any guesses she had for their hidden tricks would be way off-base.
Besides, she had better things to do.
Putting the Tier 50 on mute, she walked into her shower, where she created a few helpers.
An hour later, she dried off and sauntered to her wardrobe, where she got dressed in a cute little top and bottom combo before she made it her armor.
Her outfit momentarily flickered like an illusion, and then she was all set.
She exited her house to find herself in the middle of a busy army base. Whoops.
That hadn’t been there when she started her nap two days ago. She checked her [AI] and sighed in relief when it told her it really had only been two days.
She hadn’t overslept in decades.
Checking her orders, she sifted through them before rejecting them en masse.
No, she wasn’t going to go work with Yun Me. The Sect woman might be nearly as strong as she was, but she was as boring as one could be. No, thank you.
She was just getting started, and the old fuddy-duddy would just put a damper on it. Once the war was really underway, then sure. But not yet.
That was how things were done, damn it. Not this skipping steps thing Janet wanted to do.
A trooper passed by her, and given his missing arm was likely en route to the healers. But… Maya fidgeted with reality for a moment, and her imagination became an illusion and then became reality.
And the man was healed. He jumped as he was startled, but she was already gone before he started thanking the air.
She made a few other minor changes to reality as she walked to the military leaders’ buildings. Freshly taken fortress planets usually had at least one.
Once she found it, she created a new door for her to enter and slipped through into the meeting room.
The Tier 35 generals were startled and grabbed their weapons, but when they pulled them out, they found they were now bouquets of flowers. She’d put them back later, of course. But for now, the expression on the guy who kept trying to re-manifest his anchor, only for it to keep being a chrysanthemum was too good.
Leaning forward, she sniffed the closest.
It smelled perfect.
“Gladiator Maya, what can we help you with?”
Maya spun, letting her dress flare up, teasing what was hidden underneath and pulling all eyes to her rear. She ended the enthrallment by sitting on the table they had been using to project things.
“I need new orders,” She sing-songed.
The oldest looking woman shook her head. “We already issued orders, Gladiator Maya.”
Shrugging, Maya tapped the table and started shuffling through reports and general information. “Yeah, well, I didn’t like them. Oh, this one looks fun. A place where the Empire’s repelled the attackers twice. Oh and it’s even got a Graduate! I want to go there.”
The same woman stood forward and started to speak in the negative, but Maya waved her hand. “Won’t you please agree? I’d really like to go. I would hate to kick up a fuss about it.”
That made the general freeze, and finally, she nodded.
“As you command, Gladiator Maya.”
Jumping down from her perch, Maya blew them all a kiss. “Thank you all!”
Sauntering through the newly manifested door, she set a new rule.
All paths lead to war.
With a skip and a hop, she set about her way, and woe betide any that crossed her.
***
Authors note. I wont be doing the image thing often but it was too good to pass up. AI generated art is wild in how far it has come in just a few years. The discord has more cool stuff like this as well if you want to join and see.
Discord information if you want to yell at me.
https://support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles/212052266-Get-my-Discord-role
Discord link: https://discord.gg/6ukhCjayC5
Comments
Donan The Barbarian
On the Last Line we're the newest ascenders 2000 years ago but thanks to Waters, L&S, and MLA all showing up in the last 2000 years when new ascenders typically show up once every other T50 ruler cycle in a given great power Lila being the Empire ascender from pre Agatha Sophron and Waters showing up right before the transition from Georgios to Manny. This means that On the Last Line expected to be the middle group of ascenders in the realm in roughly another 30-50 thousand years not 2k years after their debut. If things went as they did historically On the Last Line would maaayybe be the second youngest group currently active in the realm if not the youngest in the realm, instead there's as many different ascender teams younger than them as there are older than them (counting those which retired from the wars by tiering out).
Al
Not the Ascenders group chat XD
Nicholas Grey
“At least the newest Ascenders seemed a bit more sane. It was crazy that they’d gone from being the most junior set of Legends in the entire Realm to middle of the pack in less than two thousand years, but crazy was the best kind of.” Not quite sure I understand this. Given that L&S have been operating for less than two *hundred* years, and MAL have been operating for less than two *months*, when he says “the most junior set of Legends”, is he actually referring to himself and his team, On The Last Line? Ie, is he complaining that in 2000 years, they’ve fallen into a boring rut? . “Boney was still as alive as any of them. He had a fully adult human body just barely shorter than he was technically allowed to have, but with fluffy enough hair it would be nearly impossible to prove.” Interesting piece of worldbuilding - the Clans enforce a *minimum* height on their humans (presumably this only applies to T15+), presumably to enforce the racial distinction between humans and dwarves? . “She was going to make Ellen’s brains an illusion next time she saw the Legend. “ Does this imply the Clans have two active Legends teams? This seems highly unusual. Or is Ellen simply “Jack’s” real name?
Nicholas Grey
Now that I’m seeing what Duke Waters looks like… did Duke Kahanamoku provide any part of the inspiration for him? 😂
Aaron
Yeah I guess, but when you can commission art for like $20-30 and most of us are paying $10/month then I think it's fine to expect AI art wouldn't be involved at all with any of the posted work. I just have very strong opinions against AI artwork on any projects that are taking in profits though. If it's a donationless web novel I would have less issues with it.
adam1
If the art was a major focus of the Patreon I might agree, but a fun quick include is different. I don't mind it here. AI art for a book cover or something major would be in poor taste.
Alex
Ahh yes, I knew I was forgetting sth. Mundane stuff can still be useful, enchantments are great, but that doesn't mean stuff without them is useless.
adam1
Anchors scale up in tier as the spirit grows, at least in terms of physical toughness. Enchantments on items don't tier up, so they effectively become mundane items. Growth items work because the abilitynto grow their powers are built in. Matt's heart of a black hole and Liz's blood aren't enchanted, so they should remain useful. Queen's sword will remain a concept weapon with all associated benefits as well.
Aaron
But AI art works off of plagiarizing other artists work when building the model. It would be like feeding PoA, Beware of Chicken, the wandering inn, and he who fights with monsters all to an AI to train it and then have it write a litrpg for you.
Alexander Delgado
The tech is out there. Might as well take advantage of it and bring your vision to your readers. I love you taking advantage of a new tool that will get more and more steam!
Psyren1596
Reality manipulation !?!?! That’s too OP pls nerf lol! Thanks for the chapter
Alex
Except for Duke waters, the others aren't fighting up Tiers. Wars are limited to T35, so Maya at least is only allowed to fight at Tier oppenonents. And on the last line isn't allowed to fight at all.
Alex
I am still a bit confused about how anchors work. It just still seems like a bad idea to use some fragile low tier thing as an anchor. Some people use growth items or other scale able stuff and that just seems superior? It's probably not actually that much of an advantage, but deep down it still feels lacking
MikeL
Team Biscuit is from He Who Fights with Monsters.
Aaron
I know some artists have super long turnaround times, but just searching '#commission #chibi' on Twitter I found a few different artists that I feel like could've made the art you posted with a short turnaround time https://twitter.com/Gldnxpuff/status/1651556960574263303?t=CL7zAQ0bghGxzta6x5bOdw&s=19 https://twitter.com/ashita__aaa/status/1695110732034281596?t=bxf_22hR3V7gGQSosM3NpQ&s=19 Again I'm not trying to like cancel you or anything, and I get it's annoying to try and find artists with open comms in a style you like, I just feel like there are artists out there who would be able to do what you want with a quick turnaround and I would personally rather have some of my patreon money I use to support you also go to help other artists. I'll leave it there, and I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it.
C_Mantis
I've commissioned several pieces of art but despite AI art and the fact I'm happy to pay for it art is damn hard to get done. Even now trying to contact an artist I'm told 'I'll get back to you in three to six months'. That's just too damn long for something as small as an emoji/sticker or for trying to figure out character art. It's all over here and the discord. I've even pairs hundreds of dollars for simple emojis. I'm happy to spend the money but damn hard to get an artists time. And yes I've tried using Fiverr but despite them being fast the quality of their interactions and understanding of what I want has been severely lacking in several occasions.
Aaron
Maybe it's just me but AI generated art is a bit gross when you have a patreon. I don't think it would have cost that much to commission an artist for that image vs use a tool that rips off other artists work to make an image. If there wasn't any money involved in the story I feel like it's a bit more acceptable, but since you are making money I feel like commissioning an artist is a much better look.
Jeppe Fiig
Maybe because his talent is about herding goats,
Jeppe Fiig
I initially thought it was a one piece reference. But i absolutely love that they are a Funny team, that forces their handler to issue them "Epic quests" and apparently took the literal wording From "sign on the last Line" XD
Serran
Team Bucket was the thing. I think it would be getting much more respect than you would think at first.
He thinks of it as a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s good stress relief, on the other, he hates punching down at people who didn’t do anything to piss him off, which quill had to do sometimes.
Havokk
Well the Emperor did mention at one time that Melinda would be invaluable in returning assets back to combat faster than expected
C_Mantis
We will get them.
Ryan Berends
Team Biscuit!
Mistfate
yeah i would love to see all of them. I'm interested in the queen's reaction a lot as well, since we actually got to see her a bit more. Also I want to see the King suffering with the asteroid stuff.
Daniel S
I thought Matt hated his Quill persona though as he doesn't like being intentionally mean to people like Quill is.
SCDarkSoul
I think for me it was that he is always called "Duke" Waters. That emphasis on the noble title always had me imagining him as more regal looking, especially combined with his fearsome reputation.
SodaBoBomb
Here I was thinking of him as like a Jeremy Irons looking guy except cheerful
SCDarkSoul
I rather enjoyed the necromancer. The "Dreadlord" with apparent armies of undead he controls across multiple worlds, but he's just a shut-in who his friends call "Boney" and has a dragon skeleton named Draco McDragonface.
Quixotic
are we getting any from Juni and the others from the pather war/golem incident?
Rehoboth Okorie
what's the bold letter stuff? are we finally seeing aspects in action. they seem to be actually reality warping instead of just special telekinesis. can we get a bit more on how aspects work?
John Anastacio
Wonder if the Empire strategists will let Aiden go out to fight some more immediately afterwards or if they'll hide the fact that he's almost fully healed except for the Domain or spirit damage. I don't know how much they'd value the secret of Melinda versus the fortresses, battlefields and lives they'd lose if they kept Waters on hold.
C_Mantis
Fixed. That is what I get for making a dumb name
C_Mantis
at least another 5 or so. IDK well keep having them until I run out of ideas. Its fun to get away from the MC's
C_Mantis
this is a little losser than usual but the echos will start being less directly about MLA the further the way we get from the source. I mean I could have main this a main story chapter but I didnt want to slow the main story down soooooo.
C_Mantis
Im not seeing them. Can you point out the words?
Shmigit
This is a fucking fantastic explanation of each group!
Phil
I think Matt would certainly benefit from taking on a bit of his Quill persona. He could certainly use a bit more of a playful confidence and half-serious condescension sometimes. For stress relief if nothing else. Maybe spending time with Duke Waters will help with that.
Istyatur Elestel
The ones I have noticed are when there is a missing space after a period, and it gets corrected to a link
Mistfate
Was not expecting to get these perspectives at all but it was awesome. Would love to see more of this every once in a while. Still want a talous pov! Btw how many more echo chapters can we expect?
Joshua Jernigan
Followed up with at tier 35 them "channeling Duke waters and just going nope I refuse those orders on the grounds that they sound boring"
Jeppe Fiig
I hmm there was a Gideon, but i was under the he was one of the first ascenders and like the cosmos had ascended
austin kutz
"Please sign on the last line" is pretty great to take literally for supposedly one of the most powerful teams at a given tier It's got a bit of a "Team Biscut" feel to it
Phil
hmm... for some reason I pictured Duke Waters as more an 80's style Italian greaser than an islander. Not sure where I got that picture, maybe the attitude? The blue haired Islander seems more fitting though now that I see it, chibi form or not. Captures more of his cheerfulness than the image I had. Love the idea of the ascender chatroom. Really carries how detached and flippant most ascenders are towards politics. They've all got their heads looking at the upper realms. Treating their current realm as more a playground or staging area.
SCDarkSoul
Ah. So Allie fits right in with the other Ascenders and Light being all serious, and the trio being (mostly) sane makes them the odd ones out.
Alex
No clue. I'm guessing some other retirees like Lila?
Jana
I bet there is an anonymous Therapy Group for People who try to make Ascenders (and peers) do Stuff. It’s not only the T50 who need it, that Ugund Guy seems pretty tense as well :-P
William Johnson
Okay so Maya is the pumped up version of that one guy from the tier 10 tournament, that is spooky. I had the idea in my head that On the Last Line was going to be a bunch of stoic hardcases, them being a pile of idiots was excellent. I wonder if MAL is going to be that nuts after ten tiers of basically being gods.
Bender
Nice chapter, but it's more of a Interlude rather than a Echo. Echo pretty much focused on aftermath of the ascender revelation, which this chapter is not. Still fun to read about Ascender Group Chat. Oh, how I'd like to get access to that!
Isley
good chappie
Jeppe Fiig
Yeah, somehow i am not surprised all the ascenders quality people are like Duke Waters. they all struggle and clawed their way to the top, and now they mostly fight up tier, but will usually find their opponents easy. with how valueable they are to the great powers, they are unlikely to be matched against each other, whom would be a challenge. Then having to stay in such a state for a very long time... i can definitely see why they rush off instead of staying below tier 36 when given the chance. Now who was Gideon and Sien?
CringeWorthyStudios
“she walked into her shower, where she created a few *helpers*.” Well that’s certainly one use for solid illusions…
Alex
Remember when they completely wrecked the queendoms economy by giving everyone a Manas tone 15 tiers above their Tier after they stole the planet?
Alex
Truthfully though, as if Mara and Leon (or even Rusty) arent all that much better. The only reason they're slightly less trouble is that they've gotten used to not being allowed to fight in wars. They still act out. Mara and Leon probably cause the emperor a similar amount of grief as Aiden
Alex
Every chapter recently seems to have one or two words that are blue instead of regular text color (white in my case cause I'm reading in dark mode) I am not sure if that's an intentional choice, a bug in what the author writes or just some weird issue with patreon itself
SodaBoBomb
Waters is awesome as usual. Wasn't much of a fan of On The Last Line until "I hoard the knowledge. Rawr. My knowledge. No givey." Because that was hilarious. Tyfc.
Havokk
The image is fantastic and I can completely see Duke Waters doing that. The fact that from this we can see that all Ascenders are definitely more eccentric , with MLA seeming to be the most normal so far but that may just be due to us watching them from the beginning, just makes me picture all the higher tiered people trying to get them to do what they want as herding a bunch of cats... who happen to all have nukes, death star lasers and any other world ending weapons strapped to them.
Shaun McDonough
Ty
James Faulkner
This would be hilarious 😂
J
"Yuvgret" is spelled as "Yugrev" 3 or 4 times.
Jana
Quill and Torch would fit in that group quite well, especially Quill. Hopefully there is a bit of that persona left in Matt because that’ll be hilarious.
Violet
Alas, I'm pretty certain some of the T50s legitimately hate one another, unlike the Ascenders. Also, JR would constantly be trying to upsell them all.
Rielgesh
Tftc! Was all the swapping around of "Ascender" and the equivalent titles meant this way? Was very confusing for me.
MikeL
Yes, we now need a T50 group chat of them complaining about Ascender types.
Violet
Adding somewhat satirical explanations of what each of the 8 is: 1. Unification of Clans: Dwarves, currently facing the significant challenge of not digging too deep or becoming too greedy after the ascension of their former leader. 2. The Empire: You are here 3. The Republic: Where all the World of Darkness and Nasuverse fans were allowed to set up a society. Surprisingly less prurient than you'd expect, given that fact. 4. The Sects: You DARE forget the nature of these formidable Sects!? You are courting DEATH!! 5. The Conglomerate of Guilds: Their primary imports are spandex and capes. Allied with the Empire because the Empire bribed them really, really good. 6. The Monster Collective: Insert cheap furry joke here. 7. The Corporations: Where all the Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead fans were allowed to set up a "society". Administered to by a particularly acquisitive birb. 8. The Federation: Mustache-twirling villains who have an entire social stratum dedicated to the act of kicking puppies.
AirSak2000
Ok. Thanks.
Alex
I love the ascenders. They're all just children with nukes. That's what you get for making them do 24/7 fighting and training during their formative years. I can just see the T50s (the ones that don't hate each other) commiserating about how much it sucks to get Ascenders to do what theyre told
Azulmar
So wow! Matt and Liz really are oddball Ascenders. Now I want a scene with a room full of Empire generals with all of them bursting into tears and someone walks in asking what happened. "The new ascenders!" " oh no, what did they do? Did it cause too much damage or problems?" "We asked them to do something reasonable.. And they just did it..we have sane Ascenders .. WE HAVE SANE ASCENDERS!!" And the tears kept flowing.
Derek Walker
A team of ascenders is counted as 1 ascender for tallying purposes. So the empire has 3 ascenders. DW, LS, MAL
MinE
They are the closest thing they have to peers. I mean the tier 45+ are basically politicians or observers, they're basically gods to anyone sub tier 25, and anyone tier 25-35 beside their fellow Ascenders are basically cannon fodder; that leaves their fellow Ascender and tier 36-45s.
C_Mantis
1 the unification of clans 2 the empire 3 the republic 4 the Sects 5 The conglomerate guilds 6 The Monster collective 7 The corporations 8 The federation The Empire and the Guilds are at war with the Republic, the Sects, and the Federation
AirSak2000
Are legends the clans equivalent to the empires ascenders? Why are they using the empire terminology to refer to Matt and Co. Also, wasn't the whole reason for the war that the empire has too many ascenders? Why was the addition of light and shadow a problem when the clans have atleast 4
C_Mantis
we do on teh discord but you dont really need to memorize it. I try to ensure its pretty obvious when its brought up.
Violet
Interesting reference for a Republic Ascender. I'd expect that one in the Guilds!
Shaun McDonough
Am I the only one who really struggles to remember which great power is which?... and who is at war with who?.. 😪
MinE
Does anyone have a list of all the great powers elites and Ascender equivalents; I lost track.
MikeL
So now I want to see an argument between Aster and Duke Waters on what is the superior element. Or will they bond over it technically being the same but different states.
RedLeaf
Fun seeing the 'incident' through Aiden's eyes as it happened. I reeeaaally want to see more of "On The Last Line" -- that crew just has "crazy shinanigans" oozing out from everywhere.
Jason Hatter
Why am I not surprised that there's some sort of group chat going on with the various Great Power Ascenders..
Tyftc First!
