When Zane stood, his aura pierced the skies.
“Eh?!” shouted Brom.
Zane slammed a fist right through the Chief’s shattered face. The meaty squelch burst through the yard.
Then what bones the Chief had left broke in a thousand different places.
Even Zane’s fists carried the full weight of a Red Giant.
The sheer force rippled up the Chief’s head, snapped that great jaw all the way back, crushing its teeth in—
But Zane wasn’t done.
...
2025-04-14 01:30:05 +0000 UTC
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The Professor had barely finished his sentence when Zane's domain made contact.
And steamrolled those Tier 7 fields.
“What the—” was all he had time to choke out.
Then Zane went to work.
Ten blows.
That was all it took for Zane to crush that horde. Those spears were powerless against the weight coming back at them; Red Giants crushed their attacks straight up. It was clear the sheer destructive force coming at them was like nothing they’d ever felt.
2025-04-13 01:30:06 +0000 UTC
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3 hours until the Second Challenge…
Tyler and Becca were on the case. Behind them, on a giant split-screen, were all of Earth’s top Rankers. There was Eze polishing his gauntlets and Vanessa testing blizzard portals.
At the center of it all was Zane, sitting there chewing some leftover cookies. Evan had left him a fresh batch—Evan had some time to bake during the lulls. Rocky road flavor—quite good.
He was just considering what it’d be like to fina...
2025-04-10 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Zane didn’t know Noughtfire could get that angry.
That was awesome.
The sight of that pillar stayed seared in his mind.
That Dark Elf Prince had run through Empyreans. And Noughtfire had obliterated him with hardly a thought.
It really went to show—there were levels to this.
Every time he saw a display of strength like that, it only fired him up more. He liked having something to chase.
Grinning, he checked out his new Red Giant. He had just made a smal...
2025-04-09 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Zane tossed the Shard of Destruction around in his hand, feeling its weight.
What little of that light made it out was destroying the ground around him. Not melting, not vaporizing, not evaporating—destroying. Simply erasing from existence. The most pure, most terrible form of Destruction.
The moment he crushed that stone, it’d blast through him. Like a tribulation. He’d just have to take it.
It’d be pretty tough on his soul—but well worth it.
It was just a m...
2025-04-08 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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The scene zoomed in—and there stood Zane, shirtless as usual, with his back to them, facing down an encroaching black sea.
Brom gave a start. “Is that…?!” he gasped.
He leaned a little closer.
“Never in all my years,” he whispered. “The Million Year Bone of a Titan Rhinoceros!”
“Good catch,” said Becca, surprised.
“At just Minor God…” Brom rummaged through a pocket, picked out a telescope, and pointed it at Zane.
“What a fantasti...
2025-04-07 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Zane pulled up the next challenge. The box glowed before his eyes:
Countdown to 2nd Challenge: 2 months
He’d get his first Shard of Destruction long before then.
He figured it wouldn’t be long. And sure enough—the chance came just two weeks later.
“It’s a tense morning, folks,” said Tyler. “That Apocalypse Horde is just hours out from making landfall.”
“Don’t let the name scare you!” said Becca. “True—it does have the po...
2025-04-06 01:37:00 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Editing mistake in previous chapters—Shards of True Destruction should’ve been adjusted to 12 System coins. Changed how event coins were awarded, so the price had to account for that
On with the chapter!
//
Reina didn’t linger much on how things went on her end, other than that they went well, and they’d routed the Monster army. She wasn’t one to brag, but he heard the news. In some of the lulls between battles, he’d turn on Elias’s networ...
2025-04-05 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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His domain was a field of furious colors.
The red of the Red Giant—harsh and dense, seared through with the white of destruction, seared through with darker reds, the reds of battle blood. The color burning through his body.
Chains shattered down his chest.
He turned to the Pharaoh, his eyes pyres.
He burst into an Annihilation Charge.
Three steps slammed out like that. At the same time, his hammers soared behind him, but they no longer looked like hammers.
...
2025-04-03 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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Zane stomped. And brought the full strength of his domain to bear.
Magnetic Hotspot raged to life, bolstering his hammers; heavy Solar Winds tore out of the edges of his Axes.
They struck the birds head-on.
Feathers melted like wax.
They screeched and blurred away. A blink, a screaming of wind, and they were dots on the far horizon.
“…Birds,” he growled.
Then the Mummy floated up, and the Distortion Field was upon him.
It felt like he’d been c...
2025-04-01 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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By the end of it, craters razed the dunes flat. The desert was a smoking wreck.
Warning!
Health under 75%
Calculating…
+0.28 Credits
That’s what he was talking about.
This past week had been a little dull. The fights weren't putting up much of a challenge anymore. When he didn’t use all his strength—when it wasn’t needed—he just didn’t feel the same.
But this hit the spo...
2025-03-31 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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A/N:
We're back!
//
The explosion snuffed out, and Zane stood.
The cyclops looked down, nose wrinkling, as if it smelled something very foul.
Zane looked like he’d just finished a fight. He stood there, chains out. His hammers were already on fire.
Blood runes blazed down his chest.
The cyclops jabbed a finger so big its shadow swallowed him up. This is your great hope?
The Defiler leaned in, bar...
2025-03-30 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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In the first week, just two other Monsters' surges needed Zane’s intervention. He crushed both with little trouble.
+0.11 Credits
+0.24 Credits
That first Credit was in striking distance.
***
In the second week, he faced his first challenge—a horde got him under 75% Health for the first time. A mega-horde of nearly 2,600 stampeding Monsters. A good chunk of them were half-step True Gods.
He’d had to bust out his Solar...
2025-03-27 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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World Rank #44 Gunnar Beck took a drill of a claw straight to the chest. His knotted beard splattered red.
His bracer shattered, its Steelheart sigil breaking apart before his eyes…
He rolled, got to his feet, and grimly took out his Spirit weapons—dual-wielded axes slicked with density, weighing down the fabric of reality. He took a deep breath, spat blood, and gave that wall of red eyes and slobber and gleaming goblin teeth a long, hard look.
He gave one last glance ov...
2025-03-26 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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He decided he’d head off right after he had one last lunch.
So he sat there stuffing in some of his new Dreamsteel on a beach, just enjoying the weather. A few seagulls looked at him funny.
He kept munching.
He saw himself getting that Stone pretty soon for sure. And after that, three Shards seemed quite doable—especially as things ramped up.
But that 10-Million-Year-Bone would be quite a leap.
Those last few Events would have to drop a ton of credits.
...
2025-03-25 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Changed the incentive structure for the coming waves! Zane will have more chances to earn Credits. The Shard of True Destruction has been adjusted to cost 12 Store Credits
//
Zane woke and groaned.
It felt like his skull was a sheet of metal, and a crowd of Steelheart blacksmiths was taking turns hammering it.
Off to one side, there lay a simple glass flask. Inside, suspended in a clear liquid, was a glistening dewdrop.
Glacier Essen...
2025-03-24 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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A howling jagged void tore open. First down the middle of the sky. Then—in two violent rips—running down the horizon.
Zane’s eyes narrowed.
That aura…
It stained the skies with Monstrous colors.
Noughtfire’s words came to him then—to guard himself, since in the moment of breakthrough he’d be most exposed.
A single slitted pupil broke open. A crimson crescent that took up half the sky.
Their eyes met.
Zane knew he was staring at something...
2025-03-23 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Bonus chapter! Also, I a stat sheet to the last chapter!
//
By the 74th attempt, Brad started getting visibly impatient.
By try 82 he started pistol-whipping Zane.
Try 114, and Brad ground a boot into his face as he slumped. “Why—is it so damned hard—for you to do nothing?”
Zane spit blood in his face.
Try 137, and Brad started waving around a $100 bill—right in Zane’s face. “Look at him. The eyes don’t li...
2025-03-21 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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“These bones have been preserved across Chaos Cycles,” said Reina, breathless. “Even million-year bones have a chance of fading away. But sometimes the System catches them.”
She showed him a few. There were tons—Flood Dragon bones, Golden Roc bones…
Even Titan Rhino.
He blinked. “There are 10 million-year bones in here.” Though they did cost dozens of credits.
He wasn’t sure how he was meant to afford it.
“You get credits from challenges, righ...
2025-03-20 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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No-one spoke up.
“Let’s take it down a notch,” said D’Angelo, giving Jason a dry look. But he was smiling. “We're on the same side.”
“I get the concern,” said Zane, standing.
The room quieted when he spoke.
For the most part he got the sense folks knew what he could do. Reina was only confident suggesting 50% because of his record.
He put a hand on her arm, and just looked at her; they shared a look. She nodded to him, took a breath.
It’d ...
2025-03-19 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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She wore a dress that looked made of pure frost. Frost aura puffed out around her as she strode through. She made her way to the tower as though there were no crowd at all.
“She’s undergone a Title evolution since we last saw her,” said Tyler, voice a little hushed. “She took her mother's old title—and her powers have just exploded since then...she’s just untouchable.”
“Vanessa rounds out Earth’s top-tier defenders,” added Becca.
Then two shadows gathered...
2025-03-18 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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“Welcome, folks, to WRN's live presentation of the Summit of Heroes!”
There stood Tyler, Earth’s local longtime WRN anchor, in a fluffy parka. Right beside him was his co-anchor Becca in a matching parka. Both were beaming at the camera.
“Over the next few days, all of Earth's mightiest fighters will gather to work out the battle plan for the coming ‘first wave’ – or, as it’s known in the broader Galaxy — 'the Beginning of the End.’ I know. Bleak name,” said ...
2025-03-17 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Noughtfire took a sip of tea. He closed his eyes, a ghost of a smile on his face.
For the old Sage, it was never in doubt.
***
Out in the northern ice floes, the Titan Rhinos were gathered around a roaring fire. Their fishing poles were left out to one side. A heaving net was off to the other, stuffed with fish.
The herd got a bit restless when Zane went down. But there was a great deal of tail swishing and bellowing when he broke his limit.
“That’s it!” ro...
2025-03-16 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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Zane’s breathing was getting heavy. He'd been sliced up so badly it seemed a miracle he was still upright—a constellation of gory X’s ripping down his body.
“He’s got to be under half health!” said Jake.
“He’s got to turn it around. Now!” growled Mox. “Before she—”
A dark pulse roiled the room.
Mariel’s hollow eyes went bloody and started to bleed.
Mox swore.
Stone started flaking off Mariel’s skin, revealing black flesh...
2025-03-13 01:48:32 +0000 UTC
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There wasn't much room for him to get out of the way of their blows in this little crypt.
But it went the other way too. Once he laid out his Chains, they were stuck here with him.
He quite enjoyed the feeling—like setting molten steel on an anvil.
All he had to do was hammer.
The Mage threw up a bright-blue barrier—too late. Gold was already searing through the sides of it; it shattered a split second later. The archers tried shooting for him, but the Chains lashe...
2025-03-12 01:30:02 +0000 UTC
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“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Jake, a slight tremor in his voice. “We just saw two hundred-odd Minor Gods wiped—just like that!”
He laughed—just sheer disbelief. “He’s warm now, that’s for sure. Good grief!”
You could barely hear him over the uproar. The screens panned to show audience reactions for a second; Princess Dya’s face filled the big screen, mouth wide open.
Haxorax, beside her, stood expressionless, jaw clenched tight.
It panned...
2025-03-11 01:30:01 +0000 UTC
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“Begin!”
The first chamber lit up—a beacon of System-blue light, showing a nest of pale blocks. The rest of the planet went dark.
Zane kicked off toward it and landed.
Beyond—high up in the bleachers—the audience grew quiet, breathless; they faded away in his mind.
He took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
It was time.
***
“There are no gimmes on Ragnos Penultimate. Even this first Chamber’s a tough ask,” said Jake. “But al...
2025-03-10 01:30:03 +0000 UTC
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The Eclipse Stadium was one of the premier stadiums in all of the Dragonspire Galaxy, with a history of hosting era-defining events since the dawn of the Chaos Cycle. It had been transformed to host everything from war games to concerts drawing crowds of billions. It was used to big transformations.
But today’s event was something else.
The stadium had to be blown up and reassembled from the ground up.
Usually, it took up the face of a moon. But a moon couldn’t fit Ragno...
2025-03-09 02:30:01 +0000 UTC
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A/N: Bonus chapter!
//
Reina looked up and considered Zane—just considered him. She had a curious look on her face.
“…What?” He blinked.
“Nothing.” She settled back in with a little smile. But he knew that look. She was making plans.
She put a hand on his chest. “Go out there and show them what you can do.”
***
Planet Unknown 18
Planet Unknown 18 lay in the outer reaches of the Guild of Endless S...
2025-03-07 02:30:01 +0000 UTC
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“Then we drank some spirits and I left,” Zane explained.
Noughtfire stayed quiet his whole story through, except to ask a clarifying question or two.
“…That,” he said slowly, “explains a great deal.”
Zane looked quizzically at him.
“The year Aiwe made his triumphant return to the City of Silver Spires is year zero on the Universal Calendar,” said Noughtfire. “It’s the origin of modern history. The Spires adopted the System first, and from there, i...
2025-03-06 02:30:01 +0000 UTC
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