Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

The black hole’s rotation had massively decelerated, and it was slowly unraveling under its own weight. Rory watched as the green light grew brighter in its depths. Guided by the Sage’s chanting and the twelve runic columns, the light seemed to form a portal in the middle of the black hole, out of which came a hand. It was perfectly human, yet grossly oversized—barely smaller than the black hole itself. Some of its nails were sharp, other trimmed.

Oh boy, Rory thought. If Enas is that big, he must have been super cramped in there.

The hand grabbed the edge of the black hole and started pulling. More of the arm was revealed at an agonizingly slow pace. The Sage started laughing.

***

In the midst of the three armies, the flashes were settling down. Hero was revealed—though he still stood, he was clearly hurt. His hair was burned and disheveled, his handsome face bruised and bloody. Cracks ran down his armor, while his aura was unsteady as if someone had poked holes into it. He breathed heavily as he glared down Jack.

“Do you know why I didn’t end you?” Jack asked, hovering calmly some distance away. Even now, he was barely injured. “It’s because I want the world to watch your downfall. A few years ago, you tried to kill my master. That was unacceptable. I promised to crush you before I killed you.”

Off to the side, Boatman swelled with pride.

Hero snorted. “You will pay for your arrogance.”

Jack gave a hard smile. His statement hadn’t been the whole truth. He did want to humiliate Hero a bit, but he was far too experienced to let an enemy recover. The real reason he stopped attacking was that he sensed something inside Hero—an extremely pure and potent power buried into his body, on the verge of erupting. It filled even him with fear. If Hero decided to use whatever that was and Jack was too close, he might not be able to react in time.

Now, however, Hero couldn’t mount a sneak attack. His pride wouldn’t let him hold back after being manhandled so heavily. He’d be forced to activate that core of power, and, as long as he wasn’t taken by surprise, Jack was confident in dealing with whatever Hero could throw at him.

The two crossed gazes, reading each other’s calculations. Hero tsked. “Very well,” he said. “I hoped I wouldn’t need to use this here, but so be it. Let me show you the true power of a hero.”

“Sure, and I’ll show you the true power of an ass-kicking,” Jack replied, but his mirth was cut short. The new power streaming out of Hero was no joke. Dark tendrils filled the void, spreading far and wide, carrying a weight too heavy for the mortal world. Jack could sense it like a bonfire in Hero’s belly, something great in there burning itself to achieve new heights of power. Jack suddenly had an odd sensation, as if Hero grew denser, weighing millions of tons.

“INSOLENCE!”

Angry divine Daos assaulted them from another side. The Gods stepped in. The Heaven Immortal teleported at the same time, appearing before them like he’d always been there, and the Gods froze mid-step.

Jack’s eyes widened, as did every other onlooker’s. One robot blocked the path of ten Gods, wires trailing from behind it into rifts of space. It would have been impressive if this wasn’t an enemy.

“HEAVEN IMMORTAL! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” Axelor shouted out, his divine voice shaking the fabric of reality. Yet, as imposing as he looked, there was no hiding the fact that he’d chosen to speak instead of attack.

The Archons watching narrowed their eyes. “Are they afraid of him?” the Arch Priestess wondered. “That can’t be good.”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“This duel was agreed upon,” the Heaven Immortal replied calmly. “No one shall interfere.”

“HE BURNS THE SOUL OF OUR SIBLING.”

“The core was spoils of battle. Elder Hero can do with it whatever he likes.”

The Gods’ aura churned like an angry fire in which someone had thrown a vat of oil.

“DO NOT THINK WE FEAR YOU, IMMORTAL. WE ARE HERE TO DESTROY YOU. WE WERE WILLING TO WAIT FOR THIS MORTAL CHARADE TO FINISH, BUT SUCH DISRESPECT WILL NOT PASS.”

It was clear they did fear him. Jack didn’t know why—the Heaven Immortal’s aura was no stronger than most Archons, noticeably below even the weakest of Gods.

In any case, even if they did fear him for some reason, Axelor was right. Since they’d fight anyway, they had little reason to endure such disrespect. A thousand calculations ran through Jack’s mind, and he knew he had to act fast.

“Let me fight him,” he telepathically told Axelor.

“WHY?”

Jack explained his plan. The Gods, who were ready to attack, suddenly teleported back to their original positions. “FINISH THIS BATTLE,” Axelor commanded the world. “AND THEN IT’S WAR.”

The Heaven Immortal hesitated for a moment, as if surprised by this development, then also teleported away. Jack and Hero remained alone in the middle of this vast starry field.

“You were saying?” Jack said, turning to his opponent.

Hero flashed with power. “In my name as a hero, I will end you.”

The core of the deceased Mass God burned inside him, infusing his body with endless mass and his Dao with divine providence. It was a pale imitation of Jack’s divinity. At the same time, Jack knew that for every moment they spent fighting in this state, part of the Mass God’s essence burned away forever. He had to end this fast. However, carrying out his plan wasn’t simple.

The two flashed, then met in the center of the void. Supernova met heavy sword. The clash between them was far more balanced than before, Hero’s strength sharply increased by burning the core. “Divine Justice!” he kept shouting. Fists met blade. Their strikes continued, painting the world silver and purple, shedding new light in the galaxy’s night sky. Stars were born and died. The belief of Hero’s perceived people clamped around Jack like a vise, threatening to suffocate him.

“It’s funny,” Jack said between all-out strikes. “Your divinity is a pale imitation of the real thing, achieved through a shortcut, the same way your heroism is nothing compared to mine.”

“What!?”

Jack pressed the attack, not letting Hero act out his shock. Brilliant purple and silver rivers illuminated the void. “You are not a true hero,” he said between punches. He paused to dodge the greatsword, then continued. “Your achievements were all given to you. Your masters are the world’s tyrants. How could a true hero work for them?”

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“You know nothing about me!” Hero cried out.

“That’s where you’re mistaken,” Jack replied. Despite their frantic battle, he spared a hint of his power to make their voices echo undisturbed through the void, reaching everyone’s ears. “Unlike you, I’m too experienced to underestimate any opponent. I had people research you before this. You were born as royalty to a B-Grade faction. Your early achievements came in the form of stomping the rebellions of starved farmers. You labeled yourself a hero as you committed endless atrocities against your enemies, who were nothing but oppressed people fighting for the future of their children. You pushed them into the ground and laughed upon their corpses.”

“Lies!” Hero roared.

“Are they? Because that’s what I heard about you. Your heroic achievements were always against the wrong people—as they still are. When you helped your family eradicate the space pirates of the Gentle Sun constellation, who were those space pirates attacking? Innocent people, or slave traders working for your father’s interests? When you saved the plantations of planet Eresol from local bandits, were they really bandits, or were they people your family had starved, desperately trying to feed their families and escape your oppression?”

“Shut up!”

“The Immortals helped you frame yourself as the hero, but all you’re doing is patting your own back!” Jack declared, laughing. “What hero? You’re nothing but an enforcer!”

A tremendous wave of energy blasted Jack, headed by the heavy blade of a greatsword. He blocked the strike, flying back a bit to dissipate the blow.

“What do you know about me?” Hero asked, panting, his body still wreathed in the dead god’s flames. “What do you know about being a hero!?”

The flames dancing around him made a stark contrast against his white armor. They framed his bloodshot eyes in a scary light, making him resemble a hero less and less.

“I told you, I am a hero,” Jack replied. “A true one, unlike you. I overcame terrible odds to save my planet from the B-Grade Animal Kingdom. I fought tyrants and stood up for the right thing. I almost doomed myself defending my values. Unlike you, who only ever fought balanced battles, I had to struggle for every advantage I ever received. In fact, you could say my current standing and power are the results of true heroism. I don’t usually tout my own horn like this, but if we’re talking heroes, I’m far more qualified than you to possess that title!”

Hero’s gaze flared dangerously, but Jack only laughed and pressed on. “You were unlucky to face me, Hero. Against anyone else, you might have had a chance, but when daring to use your frail Dao before me, only matching my power because of desperately burning massive resources, you are completely inadequate. I am the living proof of your Dao’s failures. A true hero stands before you, and that makes you feel so small.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Hero roared, finally pushed past the limits of his patience. He barreled forward, sword poised to strike even as his aura slowly wilted. All around Jack, space suddenly erupted with light. Silver beams emerged from hidden crevices in space, placed there during Hero’s previous attacks, and lunged at Jack. A terrible mass of power besieged him, all of Hero’s potential erupting in one calculated strike. A shocked expression emerged on Jack’s face. Hero grinned manically.

“Die in the name of heroism!” he shouted. “Sword of the People!”

Silver swords fell on Jack from all directions. Hero’s sword pierced in, carrying a dead god’s power. Jack raised his gaze—and, suddenly, his shocked expression was wiped by a smirk. “I don’t think so,” he said. Sparks and green light erupted together as Jack grew taller, with two extra arms. The silver swords fell on an invisible barrier around him, suddenly deteriorating like they’d weathered the endless passage of time. The silver sword pierced into that same barrier, but Hero desperately burned his own lifeforce to forcefully penetrate.

Jack’s barrier of entropy shattered, but it had already dealt with all the silver swords and delayed Hero’s main strike. In that moment of delay, a black sphere had formed in place of Jack’s fist, sitting eerily still. He pushed it into the tip of the sword. Hero’s silver greatsword pierced into the darkness and kept going, its length gradually consumed by the black hole. Horror finally appeared in his eyes, but it was too late. Jack pushed the hole deeper, fully consuming Hero’s sword and arm, then punching it into his abdomen, where it tore and swallowed his armor like paper.

The black hole pierced into Hero’s body, but it wasn’t as wild as it used to be. A thin barrier of entropy was draped around it, letting Jack control what it ate and what it didn’t.

When the lunging Hero came to a stand-still, his expression frozen into horror and disbelief, Jack’s hand was in his stomach. He slowly pulled it back, revealing that in place of the black hole he possessed a regenerated fist, and in it he held a dark, burning spherical core. He extinguished its flames with his own divinity.

Everyone rose to their feet. The Heaven Immortal teleported beside Jack, reaching out to grab him, but a dark tentacle slapped the hand away even as Jack dodged it. The Heaven Immortal grabbed Hero’s body and teleported back to the safety of its army.

“This is impossible,” he said. “You extracted the god core. Give it back.”

“It’s my spoils of battle,” Jack said, brazenly inspecting the core. “I can do with it whatever I like. Right?”

These were the exact same words the Heaven Immortal had used to defend Hero’s actions before. Now, Jack threw them right back in its face, a crisp slap which echoed throughout the universe.

Axelor gazed at Jack with appreciation, while the Heaven Immortal considered its next words. “Taunting me is pointless. I possess no emotions,” it said. “In return for sparing Hero’s life, I will not kill you immediately. Return me the core, and I promise not to execute you after the battle either.”

“Ah, but you see, Heaven Immortal, you’re wrong about two things,” Jack said, lazily flicking the god core up and down in his hand. “First, taunting you very much has a point. You may be emotionless, but I enjoy it. Second… While I did technically spare Hero’s life, you killed him when you took him over there. You see, I can’t control entropy that well yet. Whoops.”

“What are you—” Hero muttered through gritted teeth, still folded in on himself, when his eyes shone with new horror. “NO!” he shouted. The Heaven Immortal sensed it at the same time and pushed Hero into the empty space ahead of them, far from the army.

When Jack had pierced the black hole into Hero’s body and retrieved the core, he didn’t dissipate it. He just left it in Hero’s stomach, perfectly covered in an entropy barrier which prevented it from eating him up. That same barrier absorbed all perception, effectively hiding the black hole so no one could notice it without careful scanning.

When the Heaven Immortal dragged Hero away, however, Jack lost the ability to control that entropy barrier. A hole formed, the barrier shattered, and Hero found himself with an active black hole in his stomach. What’s worse, his body had regenerated, closing the wound. The black hole was sealed inside—and all it had to eat was Hero.

“NO!” he screamed again as his body warped. Bones snapped, flesh tore. His horrified face was distorted as it got sucked in alongside his armor, and all that was left of him was a black hole absorbing its surroundings like a whirlpool. It exploded a moment later, sending a dark shockwave through the void.

Everyone watched silently. The Heaven Immortal tilted its head. “I rescind my words,” it said. “You will be destroyed.”

“Try it, bitch,” Jack replied, giving it the middle finger.

The Immortal army moved behind its leader. A-Grades flew in, led by Archons and followed by B-Grades. “Protect Jack!” the Arch Priestess shouted, and her army charged right back, all of them converging on Jack’s location. The Gods had already appeared there, and Jack suddenly found himself surrounded by dozens of Archons, all ready to fight each other. Warcries echoed. The first blasts of energy were launched. The Arch Priestess and Heaven Immortal were flying at each other.

“GIVE ME THE CORE,” Axelor commanded.

Jack hesitated. Before he could reply, however, something changed. The Time God rippled, and all the Gods shuddered with rage.

“YOU ARE AWAKENING ENAS!” Axelor shouted, his voice echoing so hard it paused the battlefield. Jack didn’t even have time to panic. The Space God snapped its fingers, and a large portal suddenly appeared over the battlefield, falling over everyone and forcefully teleporting them. It wasn’t a particularly powerful spell for a God. All Archons could have resisted, but they chose not to. The entire battlefield was sucked into the portal, leaving a large empty portion of space in the Spiral Stair galaxy.

At the same time, in a different galaxy far, far away, a portal appeared out of nowhere, spitting out two armies and ten Gods. A black hole in the middle of unraveling towered in the distance.

“Shit,” Rory said.

Axelor waved a tentacle, and all the runic columns shattered, consumed by entropy. The black hole resumed its rotation, while a muted cry of frustration echoed through space. Jack was stunned. The Arch Priestess was stunned. The Heaven Immortal hesitated for a moment before resuming its attack, and the two armies clashed in a cataclysmic explosion which illuminated that entire corner of the universe.