Safe Zone, The Emperor’s Ascent - 8:59 AM

  I couldn’t help but tap my feet as I watched the early morning matches taking place in the arena. Not only were things going extraordinarily well, but I had received a lot of great things since stepping into the Emperor’s Ascent. Even being watched rather brazenly did nothing to hinder my fantastic mood.

  A pair of Comfort Plus socks had made their way into my possession thanks to my wonderful girlfriend, along with a Holy Rotary Saw that I hadn’t found use for yet. Points were rolling in from the safe zone, and I had already made back my initial investment along with a profit of 20,000 more. Yesterday’s acquisitions from the Gemini bosses, Blue Dress and Red Suit, made things all the cleaner.

  Once more, I looked down. The Heelies of the Twice Blessed were still on my feet, but they needed to be for me to get the most out of Winged Messenger. What no one else could see was the second pair of shoes that were superimposed over them.

  They appeared transparent so that I could still see my Heelies, but I was wearing the Boots of the Warmongering Mystic as well. I had hoped that Jamie took the Saltation Jerky from the Williamsburg fight so I could have the Fashion Indecision skill book. Unlike what Jeff expected, I had not used it on my coat.

  <<<>>>

  [[Passive]]

  Fashion Indecision (Shoes)

  You may wear two items in the same slot and gain the stat bonuses, skills, spells, and passives of each. Whichever item you put on second are the ones you physically wear.

  When learning this passive, you must select a slot and cannot change your choice later.

  <<<>>>

  The Heelies of the Twice Blessed really were too good to pass up. My Boots of the Warmongering Mystic were nonnegotiable, however. If I hadn’t received Fashion Indecision from a boss then I certainly would have sought it out on my own time, or at least offered the Dealer top dollar for it.

  Like the rest of the set, the boots were made of cloth except for the soles. They sported the usual rosewood red with gold laces and lining. On the outside of both was a symbol that resembled an R, but without the connecting line in the middle. This was the rune for Raidō, which stood for the ride or journey. It was fitting, considering it helped with my Flight ability and even went so far as to allow me to share it.

  <<<>>>

  [[Equipped]]

  Boots of the Warmongering Mystic

  (Set Item 4/6; Growth Item, kill 5 bosses to upgrade; +30 Mental Points, +10 Wisdom, +10 Willpower, Increased Speed ability augment, Shared Flight ability augment)

  [[Ability Augment]]

  Increased Air Speed

  Treat the level of your Flight skill as one level higher.

  [[Ability Augment]]

  Shared Flight

  You may use Flight on one willing ally within your field of vision. Using this ability in this manner costs twice as many Mental Points as using it on yourself.

  <<<>>>

  I had already talked with the team about Shared Flight. Basically, I was only going to be using it on those I had an open Mental Link with. The Cowl of the Warmongering Mystic turned an okay ability into a really good one.

  Thanks to the Strengthened Mental Link ability augment, I could use it on all four of Sol Ligatus’ fighters at once without Splitting my focus. Not only that, but I could maintain the connection from just over 600 feet away due to my high Willpower. Now that I felt as though they had a good groove fighting with each other without it, it was time to move them to the next level.

  One that included my favorite Warmongering Mystic set bonus, which I was really excited for.

  <<<>>>

  [[Notice]]

  You are wearing multiple Items from the Warmongering Mystic set. You will receive the following set bonuses.

  Two Items: Increase your Mental Point pool by 50.

  Three Items: You can comprehend the speech of any creature with some level of intelligence even if you don’t speak the language, and they are able to understand you in return. This ability does not work through a medium.

  Four Items: You gain the use of a second Shield that can be used on an ally that you have a Mental Link with. In addition, you can now create as many Force Fields as you have items from the Warmongering Mystic set. Both of these abilities operate on the highest level available and recharge concurrently.

  <<<>>>

  This was a substantial boost in survivability. While the Shield was for anyone else, suddenly having three extra Force Fields really expanded my options on what I could do and get away with. Honestly, it was almost too much protection for where we were now, but it would come in handy down the line when more of the bosses had bunker busters like Blue Dress.

  If Red Suit had been alive to amplify her three pulse ripple attack, my Shield would have overloaded immediately instead of halfway through. Heavenly Hero would have had to save me because there was no way I’d survive it even if I was allowed to be at full health.

  I expected situational ones from the floor bosses, like how Gemini required both dolls to be active to make the attack a true bunker buster, but the guy at the top of the Emperor’s Ascent was definitely going to have a devastating one-off move that it could use at its leisure. At that point, the administrators expected the people to have defensive measures for such things. Not that they always would, but that was a complaint only screamed out into the void.

  “Would you mind terribly if I sat here?” a man asked, his voice muffled due to his helmet.

  “I wouldn’t mind at all, Bishop,” I answered, motioning to the seat next to me. Despite being nice to everyone that came up, people were still too intimidated to sit by me.

  The older man sat down, and his shining armor made the chair creak underneath him. Bishop Dennis Riggens, Saint Commandant and the avatar of Virgo, hated his gear and that fact was evident in his aura. Despite that he felt like he needed to keep up appearances. The fact that he looked like he just stepped out of the crusades of the 13th century certainly gave a certain weight to his presence.

  He removed his barrel helm and set it on his lap, revealing a gray haired man with a clean shaven face. The stress of the past two months had done more to age him than his life ever had, but there was still steel in his voice. Or there normally would be, but today he just sounded tired.

  “Have you seen the Memorial Obelisk this morning, Mr. Franklin?” he asked.

  “Just Anthony’s fine,” I said, matching his tone.

  “Then, please, call me Dennis.”

  I nodded, accepting his words. “And I have. Seen the obelisk, I mean. A hundred and fifty deaths in three days. Over ten percent of the people who came into the Emperor’s Ascent have perished. Mercury, our ninja, was asking me just last night how no one managed to overtake us even though the other teams had so many people. I had to tell him that everyone else was taking it slow, aside from a few whose pride made them push their fellows all the harder.”

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  Dennis sighed. “I’ve tried talking to Arthur and Tanvi, as they seem to be the ones pushing the hardest, but they seem to think they can catch up with you and Ross. Well, you now, as he seems to be taking it slow.”

  “Yeah, I know they’re trying to get people on different sleep schedules so that they can remain fresh and run through floors before we even wake up,” I told him. He gave me a look of surprise, and I shrugged. “People talk a lot. Nothing here’s really sacred when it comes to secrets.”

  “You really have your ear to the ground,” he observed.

  “Have to, really. But if they snag an MVP from us, then that’s fine. So long as we get to the next safe zone first then I won't be bothered,” I said, only partially lying. Getting the rights to the safe room was the biggest thing, but I also expected to pick up as many MVPs as we could. “Not that this method is really working out for them. I’m sure they were wonderful people before the system, but now they’re abrasive, brash, and only thinking about the goal while neglecting to plan the journey. There’s nothing wrong with not getting first, which I think you and most of the other faction heads got right.”

  Dennis nodded at my words. “I’m not comfortable sending people into the grinder, as it were,” he admitted. “What you’ve built up is incredible, by the way. I’ve been having people watch your guild through the television to take notes. It allows us to move at our own pace. We finished Gemini this morning. Your showing against them was admirable.”

  “Thank you. And that’s pretty good,” I said. “Your pace is quick, but not abusive. You’re doing a good job.”

  “That’s what I thought,” he sighed. “Some wish to go faster, but they listen at least. I’ve had to take a few people on a trip to see the obelisk to get it into their heads that we need to be careful. We still have nine more floors of this nonsense; there’s no reason to be in the lead if it means we have to accept casualties to do it.”

  “You and I are pretty similar, then. The only reason I can push so hard is because my guild is, as you’ve said, incredible, but if I were in any of your shoes? I’d pull back. Do what you’re doing. People are more important than the victory.”

  “We do agree on that,” he said with a light chuckle.

  We fell into silence as the arena match ended and the next one was set up. Dennis fidgeted, which was all the more noticeable in his armor, and I decided to throw him a bone.

  “I’m surprised it took you so long to approach me,” I said. “I heard that you had grilled my team about my Angelic form. In a competitive room, no less.”

  The Bishop looked chagrined as I brought that up. “There were things I had to ask, and then things I had to pray on,” he replied softly. I sensed from his aura that he had more to say, and I let him get there. After a handful of seconds he looked around before facing me. “Do you mind if I use one of my abilities on you? It won’t hurt, but it will give us a little more privacy.”

  I arched my eyebrow, but gave him the go ahead. There wasn’t any deception to be sensed and, even if he were lying, the safe zone would protect me from harm. Dennis nodded before reaching out and touching my shoulder.

  Suddenly, everything else except for our two seats were much further away. It wasn’t a gradual process, either. Our space remained the same followed by a segment of stretched colors and then the rest of the arena was far away. From the outside looking in there would only be a slight shimmer. I knew what he had done, but waited for him to explain it.

  “This is technically a combat ability used to force duels, but I found it quite useful as an impromptu confessional booth,” Dennis explained. “Not for you, but for myself. What I have to say should be done in private, and this is the best way to do it.”

  “I have to admit, Dennis, I’m definitely not qualified to be taking confession from you,” I snorted.

  He offered me a small, grandfatherly smile. “I know. Virgo was the first to tell me that you weren’t a real Angel, and she didn’t want me to get involved with you at all,” he replied. “Then I met your team, and they threw out a lot of words about you. Heroic, loyal, a savior. But also a goofball, vain, and far too carefree in the face of danger.”

  “Who called me vain?” I scoffed with mock anger. “Was it Jamie? I bet it was Jamie. Or maybe Kayla. Yeah, I could see her saying all three of those things.”

  “I suppose that would be the goofball in you coming out,” Dennis said, sniffing as if he didn’t find my antics amusing. His aura did become a little lighter, so it had worked.

  “Eh, guilty as charged. But why don’t you tell me why you need the privacy?” I urged, turning partially in my seat to show him that he had my full attention.

  Dennis nodded, but didn’t speak right away. I got the sense that he was ordering all of his thoughts one last time before laying them out. This was a big step for the old man.

  “I will admit that hearing there was an Angel among us was quite a shock to me,” he started slowly, but quickly picked up speed. “At first I wanted to denounce you because, as much as I wanted to believe, this calamity has brought so much evil into the world.”

  “Understandable,” I said.

  “But then I started paying attention. With the way you interacted with your guild, and how you interacted with Gemini that first night. Then Cancer yesterday. I saw how much… devotion you put into training people who had nothing to do with you, starting with Trevor. You were patient and kind even when people didn’t understand or questioned your credentials. There was a gravitas to you that I had seldom seen outside of the highest reaches of the church, far beyond your years.”

  “What can I say? I am awesome,” I joked before giving him a serious look. “But what I’m not is a true Angel. I’ve also met them before, and they wanted to hunt me down because they thought me a Nephilim. It’s been cleared up, but things were pretty rocky for a moment.”

  “So they do exist out there,” he sighed, leaning back in his chair.

  “You don’t sound pleased by that revelation.”

  An aura of profound sadness overtook Dennis. “I’ll be completely honest, Anthony. Ever since this whole ordeal started, my faith has been shaken. It started small, just a little doubt in the back of my mind. But then I saw the bodies pile up over and over again, all people taken when it clearly wasn’t their time. I close my eyes and I see the horrors the monsters have brought on us, and I can’t reconcile my vision of God’s green Earth with what is actually going on around us. This is no Rapture, that is as clear as day.”

  I gave the sky a quick glance to see if Sara was going to say something about this, but she was silent.

  “I have been doing what I could to push forward and save lives,” the Bishop continued. “Despite my own despair, I have been shepherding the people around me towards safety, fighting alongside them and doing my best to reduce the strain of their burdens. But it’s—I hate to say—exhausting. Every day we lose more people. Strangers, more often than not, but that kind of grief spreads and it hits all the harder when you do lose friends or family. I live in perpetual fear that I’m going to give an order to a group operating under me and they will not return alive because of it.

  “Virgo, whatever magnificent sprite she actually is, assures me that I’m doing a fine job, but I’m too human to accept that. Do you know the feeling?” he asked, and I nodded. “I wanted to speak with you at first because you were an Angel on Earth, and that was wrong. Then, I wanted it because it was right. Now, I think I just need to hear that I’m not the only one with this fear. It’s tearing into the very fiber of my being, Anthony, and I’m afraid I don’t have enough in me to persevere long enough to escape this terrible mountain.”

  Taking a breath, I offered him a small smile. “You’re absolutely not alone,” I told him honestly. “I traveled a lot and gathered the cream of the crop to make sure that I wouldn’t have to worry about them, especially since the level of difficulty can change drastically wherever you go. Some places are easy, while others have already killed off half of the population that lives there. I have met with so many people in your shoes, Dennis.

  “But, from the sounds of it, you’re doing everything you can to make sure it doesn’t happen to the people who are trusting you to lead them,” I continued. “You’re doing everything you can. You’re gathering information, you’re taking it slow, and you’re not letting people push you into taking a position you’re going to regret later. And you have 99 people under you.”

  “93 now,” he corrected gently. “We’ve had some losses the last two days.”

  “Six people, which I think is the smallest amount of casualties when you don’t count Ross and I,” I said.

  “That’s—”

  “Six people too many, yes,” I interrupted. “But my point is that you are doing literally everything you can to make sure your people are taken care of. Saving everyone is an impossible task, but you can’t see the forest for the trees.”

  Dennis pursed his lips. “In what manner?”

  “You’re talking about all the people you couldn’t save, but what about the people you have?” I asked. “The Virgo faction has the smallest amount of casualties and that is because of you. You’re out there, saving lives, and I bet you’re not giving yourself enough credit for it.”

  “It’s what’s expected of me as a Saint Commandant,” he said.

  “Yeah? And?” I challenged, elbowing his arm. “Are you telling me that everyone does what’s expected of them perfectly all the time? You want to sit there and tell me that Arthur Sutherland, having the Pack Leader class, is nothing less than flawless at commanding his faction because it comes built in with leadership functions? No, absolutely not. No one can argue that because he can, and I’m quoting Trevor, go eat a whole bag of dicks.”

  “Language,” Dennis chided, and I could tell that it was practically a reflex.

  “Sorry, Bishop,” I responded with a contrite grin. “You may be confused as to why this is all happening, but look at what you’re doing. You’re still living by all the same virtues you have been for years, just with more anxiety attached to it now because the stakes are so high. I mean, the mere fact that you’re trying to connect with me shows a lot about who you are as a person. What I think you need is time to mourn.”

  “I have been mourning,” he contested. “I haven’t stopped.”

  “No, you’ve been grieving,” I argued, keeping my voice soft. “There’s a difference between grieving and mourning. You’re haunted by the things you’ve seen, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s no going back. You need to express these feelings in order to cope with them. No one will think less of you for it. Not here. But the shadows of the dead still stand before you when you need to be focusing on the light of the living. Those who trust you to lead them. To keep them safe.”

  I held up a hand. “Now, I’m not saying that you’re wrong to feel the way you do. What’s happening to us as a whole is unconscionable and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but finding ways to cope is paramount to success. Because things aren’t going to go back to normal any time soon.”

  Dennis nodded, but didn’t say anything. It was clear he was lost in thought.

  “There is something I think you can do, and I think it’s something that everyone here needs,” I said.

  “What do you have in mind?” he asked.

  “Every morning at the Memorial Obelisk, you could host a gathering of people who’d like to say goodbye to the fallen,” I answered. “It doesn’t have to be a full on funeral or anything, but something to help get closure. Your faith has been shaken, but we are living in unprecedented times. Everyone’s has regardless of religion. I think doing this will help center you, and do a lot of good for the community. Especially the hotheads who want to avenge their friends.”

  Dennis tilted his head as he thought about this, and I could see the tension in his aura start to unwind some. “Thank you for your counsel, Anthony. You have left me much to think about.”

  “I’m just here to help,” I said with a smile.

  “I’m glad. There would be quite a few more lost without you, I believe,” he replied. “Now, I believe I have taken up too much of your time already. If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “It’d be nice if some people from Virgo could join me with Gemini and Cancer. I have the bandwidth to train more,” I offered.

  That made the older man smile before he put on his helmet. The world around us snapped back as he released his ability. “I think you’ll have some takers for that. Go in peace, dear Anthony.”

  “And you, Bishop,” I replied as he began walking away.

  <<<>>>

  [[Patron Message]]

  Thank you, Anthony.

  <<<>>>

  I smiled as I returned my gaze to the arena. “Nothing to thank me for, my love. I’d do it for anyone.”