Savage Awakening 456. The Beginning of the End (II)

 “To the folks who’re just joining us, it’s been a long night. Zane’s coming up on yet another big wave,” said Tyler nervously. “It’s been a real grind so far. It’s been nothing but hordes of Half-Steps in between these big Boss waves—they only come every few hours, but when they do it’s all Tier 7 True Gods and Monster Kings… the big man’s had to come in and out of Limit Break a half-dozen times by now. He’s barely had a minute’s rest!”

“The final challenge’s turned out to be a lot more than we bargained for,” said Becca. She looked worried too. “Humanity’s front lines’ve broken a half-dozen times now. Every time the Bosses get diverted to Zane—he’s held them off every just fine so far…”

“The question is, how much more can he take?”

They watched as Zane wrestled with down yet another Monster King—it lashed its tail and he ate a wrecking-ball right to the dome.

He took it well enough. Returned fire, cracked its plate-armor head and drove his hammers through.

He collapsed to a knee right after.

He sported grisly wounds down every limb. Chest heaving. His heart still pumped strong, pumping new life even as it bled out. But already new hordes of Half-Steps gathered in the distance.

“It’s been, what—thirteen, fourteen hours now?” said Tyler. Even the reporters looked exhausted. “You can see it starting to wear on him… they’re just not letting up!”

Even as they were speaking, another more Monster King aura blasted through the rifts.

“Already?” gasped Becca.

Zane turned to face it. Visibly steeled himself, eyes narrowing.

Then there was a cracking sound—a shifting—

A second portal tore open in the distance.

And another Monster King aura roared out.

“Two Monster Kings, while he’s in this condition?!”

“…Hells,” whispered Becca.

***

Forsaken Champion (Monster King)

Essence Level 652

Forsaken Champion (Monster King)

Essence Level 654

One donning obsidian armor. Smoking at the eyes. Its shield and sword both heavy with gravity-welling Laws.

It felt like the Barbarian Sage’s—much less strong; far from complete. But still—there was no mistaking that weight.

Even this far out, Zane felt the way it dragged at him.

The other Monster King wore sapphire armor. Lightning raced down its pillar of a sword, flickering with pure black—the stuff of Creation.

He wiped the blood off his face, and faced the new threat.

His body was fueled by Red Giant heat. Pumping with the vigor of a maxed-out Titan’s body. As long as his heart kept beating, he was still in the fight.

But he’d been fighting for so long he could hardly think straight.

With his Asura body, with his soul, he could burn his will as fuel. Bite down and fight on as long as it took.

But more and more he was feeling the warning signs. That light-headedness, the feeling of clouding over, the black spots creeping into sight… he’d lost count of how many times he’d been rammed through heavy metal asteroids. Taking forces that would’ve broken his back just months before. Lost track of how many Creation-laden slashes he’d taken—how much blood he’d lost…

One man could only take so much.

Even when it was just cannon-fodder—masses of Half-step True Gods—they battered him for hours on end.

He never rested more than a few minutes. Never got his essence, his stamina back.

He’d never stopped fighting.

It took a toll on him, coming in and out of Limit Breaker. Firing back up every time.

It made the next fight that much more of a challenge.

The Monster Kings advanced.

One of Lightning, one of deep-earth metals. Heavily armored. And those shields burned with as much Creation as that Gigapede he’d beaten earlier.

It didn’t matter that the last time he’d fought a Monster King, it’d taken him under 50%. Didn’t matter that he was badly wounded, and now he was facing two.

He shoved those useless thoughts right out of his mind. Set his jaw.

His friends—all of Earth—were counting on him. That thought made his heart beat faster, gave him some much-needed fuel.

He’d just have to find a way. He’d promised them.

Just as he was about to strike—his eyes widened.

His chest lit up with warmth.

And he felt alive.

His next heartbeat came stronger. And the next, stronger still—it felt like a flower of gentle warmth was blossoming in his chest…

Another soul, touching his own.

His head cleared in an instant. Everything felt bright—full of energy—

The wounds ripping him up and down were stitching back up. His chest muscles stitching together, his Health ratcheting up, his essence too—

“You’re here,” he breathed.

Reina’s grin was even more beautiful than he remembered.

“I said I’d fight right by your side, right?”

Then she caught sight of the Monster Kings, and he saw the determination in her eyes. Her heart was going quite fast—nervous. But you’d never know it by the look on her face.

Just the look of her gave him heart.

In just seconds he was surprised to feel good. Pumped—for the first time in hours.

She looked up at him—“Ready?”

He grinned right back. “Let’s do this.”

And Zane took out his Chains.

***

Reverberations from that fight could be heard across the entire battlefield.

By the end of it, Zane sank to his knees—so broken he couldn’t even stay upright anymore. 

Warning!

Health under 25%

Reina let out a cry, ran up, kept him upright as she healed him…

But he was smiling.

For two smoking cracked helms clattered against the ground.

He’d finished them.

Even Reina looked flushed, a bit out of breath.

He wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe it was the Invigorate she threw on him. But just looking at her as she healed him, face all scrunched up in focus—even wrecked as he was—he felt incredible, all of a sudden. Like he could get up and go on and on.

This time they had a little time to catch their breaths.

Then he knew the Monsters would come at him again. Relentless.

Still—they had a little moment to enjoy that victory.

“How how many credits have you got so far?” said Reina.

He took a moment to check. “21.3.”

She pursed her lips. “If the Third Challenge’s meant to last a day…”

“I know. I’ll have to go faster.”

It’d been a weird Challenge. This time around, they either threw cannon fodder at him in masses, or tough True Gods and Monster Kings—and then, only in these big waves.

That meant no easy Credits.

He’d racked up a fair few. But if he wanted to make it to 28 before the end of the day, he’d need to slay a lot more—and fast.

She looked at him, brow furrowed—“Are you sure you can take it on?”

She looked him up and down. At all the faintly healed chunks of him crisscrossing him.

“Yes,” he said without hesitation.

“Zane…”

“I feel great right now.” He was still quite pumped. “And you’re here to boost me. Reina, I’ll be fine.”

She blinked. Grinned. “Well—good. Then maybe…”

Then the portals started acting up again.

Reina blinked at it—“Another one, that fast?”

He frowned at it too.

She looked at him. “Zane—you know what this means…”

“Yes.”

If the waves were ramping like this, and hammering them—that meant the end was getting close.

From here on out, it’d ramp until it all broke lose.

“Incoming—big wave, five minutes out!”

It was the speaking charm.

“Southeast sector—looks like… ten Tier 7 True Gods, all Corrupted—”

“This is World Rank #29, Kai Nakamura, Southwest Sector II. We’re really not sure we can take this—”

“World Rank #51, Charles Griffin, Northeast—same situation. Half our archers are down—I’ll be honest, folks. It’s… it’s not looking good. We’re just… we’re spent, man.” You could hear the exhaustion in his gruff voice.

More voices chimed in.

It sounded like humanity’s forces were pushed to the limit almost everywhere.

Reina shot him a look—a question. And he nodded firmly. They were on the same wavelength.

She cleared her throat. “This is Reina,” she said. “Zane will take on the horde. All of it, this time… it looks like we’re in the final stages. Take this chance to rest—you’ll need it.”

Silence followed her declaration.

Then—“Gaia Central Command. Pardon, mistress—but—how? We’re being hammered on every side.”

“Then we’ll draw every monster to him,” said Reina, nodding confidently. “We’ll use the lure.”

“Mistress, there’s forty True Gods this wave, it looks like, and the bulk of them Tier 7…I don’t mean to doubt you, but a lure won’t be able to hit all of them at once—we’re talking drawing an entire battlefield to Zane. His strongest lure’s only drawn a dozen True Gods…”

“But the lure works based on Vitality, remember? And Zane’s is the strongest we’ve got,” said Reina. Then she looked at him, bright-eyed. “I’m here too, remember. I can boost his Vitality even stronger. If I hit him with an Invigorate, and then he throws in his aura…”

Central command went quiet.

Then—“Zane. Mistress. Earth is counting on you.”

The line went silent.

“Here,” said Reina, pointing to a gap on the map. “It’s a natural choke point—just between two dense fields of asteroids… it’s a good bottleneck. You can fight them off there.”

A few blasts, and they landed.

Then it was time.

“One minute out!”

He met her eyes. Nodded. “Hit me.”

She hit him with a thumper of an Invigorate.

And he poured a primal roar of aura into that lure.

Then he released it. Send that signal flare deep into space…

And it detonated.