Ultimate Level 1
Chapter 507: A King's Trump Card

Savantus grew even larger as his body rejoined.

Easily twenty-five feet tall, everything about the elf also transformed.

His skin became black, his gold eyes and hair turned red, and claws, like those of a predatory beast, formed upon his fingertips.

“Someone worthy of this… imagine that. She said you were strong… but I didn’t believe her till now.”

His laughter echoed off the half-mile-wide dome, every inch covered in blood.

Unable to move, Max’s body knew the sensation of what had happened. It was like when the gorgon almost turned him completely to stone.

Every ounce of blood that was in him was draining out, running along the dark, bloody floor beneath him and to the throne, forming a single vein into the King’s foot.

“You… I can feel and taste the power inside you… How are you resisting… I have no idea.”

Bob?!

“It can’t help you, boy, nothing can,” Savantus said with a laugh. “You’re mine. Like a puppet on strings, I can make you do whatever I want.”

True to the King’s words, Max felt his body start to move, dancing as if he were nothing more than some child's toy.

Laughter came again from the King as he rose, having grown again.

His body looked almost like Sog’thollech’s.

Black flesh turned into muscle with no fat. Savantus towered over him, shredded in a way that seemed impossible to believe. Gone was the look of an elf who might be a mage or some other ranged class. Now, the King appeared in a fashion most warriors would give everything to look like.

An aura of death radiated from Savantus as he shuddered.

“The strength I shall gain from you… Please keep resisting… I can drink forever.”

Standing there, Max tried to look out of the corner of his eyes, his neck not obeying his desires.

On the ground was his weapon, dropped when the King took his body over.

“Please… there isn’t anything you can do,” Savantus declared, rolling his eyes. “You are mine. When I am done with you, I shall find my daughter and let her share in the same fate.”

A fire burned inside him. Gritting his teeth, Max strained, willing something to happen.

[ Formidable Mind ]

Whatever strand had connected the King’s connection to his body was cut like a string with scissors.

His body fell backward, and Max caught himself, blinking twice as the sensation of pain overtook him.

Now, we go! Do it!

[ All Cooldowns Reset ]

Laughter came from Savantus at first as the elf pointed at him with a finger.

“You cannot resist me! This is my world! My gift from Thuyja!”

Blood came from everywhere, like a tidal wave crashing against a beach.

Max barely had time to get his fingers on the shaft of his weapon before he was sent tumbling, lost in an ocean of blood that had come out of nowhere.

Do it!

Growling, he ignored the fear that came. His sonar couldn’t pierce the blood that covered him.

[ Ultimate Form ]

Pain came, this time from his own doing as his body ravaged itself, growing once more. Every fibre of Max’s being felt like it was at its limit.

His skin and muscles felt so tight he feared they might tear at the slightest touch.

[ Harden Body ]

[ Mirror Image ]

Again!

[ Cooldown Reset ]

[ Mirror Image ]

Again!

Max made copies of himself over and over, sending out seven before his mind became unable to think straight.

Then Bob spoke, and the world came back.

Fight him, I have these. You’ll have to handle magic on your own.

Grunting, Max sent a Fire Nova out from around him and then used Wind Magic to create a vortex.

While immersed in blood, Max had heard laughter, but as the liquid was removed from around him, he sensed a change in the air.

Behind him was the sound of combat and he turned, forcing himself through the blood that tried to drag him back to where he had been.

Max exploded from the bloody floor like a whale breaching the ocean, spotting two of his images attacking Savantus. One was sinking into the floor of blood, its neck bent backward. Another one was coming from the King’s right side.

Savantus snarled, his claws raking against the armor of a copy of himself, tearing through defenses like paper. The spray of blood vanished immediately from the injury as his mirror image lost half its chest in a single strike.

Charging the King, Max could sense another copy rising from the floor.

Each of them wielded the same axe as he did, and sensing the chance, Max took it.

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Quick Attack ]

[ Rampage ]

[ Stealth ]

Appearing behind Savantus, Max’s weapon transformed into a spear, both hands on the shaft as he thrust it forward.

Being only a few feet shorter than the twenty-seven-foot-tall elf, Max felt the tip of his weapon pierce the black skin where he hoped the King’s heart might be.

The first attack pierced over three feet into Savantus, forcing him onto his toes. The next two each got another foot, and it felt like his blade had struck a bone.

A roar came as the King twisted while stepping sideways, freeing Max’s weapon.

Savantus took an axe to his left leg and another to his right as the mirror images struck just a moment after he had.

[ Cooldowns Reset ]

A dance took place as Max began to attack from all sides, getting two more full combos in before the whole world flipped upside down.

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The four copies and himself fell, finding themselves standing on the ceiling for only a moment.

Claws raked across one face, with it a handful of flesh.

“This is my domain!”

Blood dripped toward the new floor as Max quickly spun, flying and coming back at the King.

Spears came at him from the ceiling, and summoning his shield, Max pushed past them. His new strength easily withstands the impact.

A bolt of lightning sprang out from one of his copies, striking Savantus, causing the elf to send the rain of spears at the offending image.

Go! He thinks it's you!

[ Stealth ]

Fire came from another copy, and Max watched as the King sent a barrage of bloody death to it.

With only one other copy and himself, they each came at Savantus, ignoring the two clones pierced by the King’s attack.

“You’re nothing, human! I will hollow out your soul and body!”

The King turned as he shouted, red eyes locking onto the last copy.

Walls of air began to form before it, and blades of wind rushed at the elf, who was still hanging from the ceiling.

Each attack that came for it missed, as Bob could control and react better with just one.

Max used the distraction, getting in close as Savantus wiggled his fingers, summoning half a dozen more spears every second.

Floating before the King, Max set himself and thrust.

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Quick Attack ]

[ Rampage ]

The red left eye squelched as the tip of his spear pierced it, the thick shaft driving the entire tip inside the skull on the first strike.

Both of the other attacks were there, seemingly as one, and the speed of it all made it impossible for most even to comprehend that it had been three.

A beastial howl came as the feet stopped sticking to the ceiling and the weight of the King’s body dropped downward.

The sound of liquid came and Max looked down, seeing that the vast area they were in was filling with blood that rose from below.

Bob?!

I don’t know! He’s not dead!

Max stared at the lifeless body hanging from the end of his spear. No movement came and suddenly the right eye opened up, the red glow so intense as both hands swung at him.

He couldn’t dodge; something held him in place. The connection to Savantus was back, somehow forcing its way through his skill.

Pain came as they raked across his chest and stomach, the claws passing through his armor somehow, slicing him open.

[ Regeneration ]

His body burned on the inside; whatever damage that had been done felt like someone had shoved a volcano inside his stomach.

Wind buffeted the King as the mirror image Bob controlled slammed into their opponent, yanking it free from the spear and sending the pair of them tumbling. Claws ripped at the clone's back as they plummeted into the swirling vortex of blood that filled over half the cavern.

Time lost meaning as the Elven King twisted and moved suddenly, his speed increasing for no apparent reason.

“I told you! This is my domain!” Savantus shouted as he reached out with his hands.

Blood rose from the base of the room, thousands of strands, so many that Max couldn’t dodge, even with Bob’s help.

Like rope, they began to wind around his limbs, ensnaring and pulling him toward the vast ocean of blood below.

Shouting, Max unleashed everything he had, waves of flames radiating from him, stone spears and boulders assaulting the cords of blood.

Bob likewise activated every possible spell they possessed, sending wind blades and more, attempting to free Max from what felt like certain death.

Laughter came from above as Savantus floated downward, his legs connected to a thick strand of blood, moving near him as they approached the rising liquid.

“You are mine. I shall drain you dry.”

His body began to freeze up again; the connection the King had to his mind had returned as the cords that bound him also pierced his skin.

Everything began to turn blurry, and Max considered one last chance, unsure if it would work as his skill continued to try and sever their bonds.

[ Formidable Mind ]

Open it!

Max tried to summon his dimensional space and felt it fail. The hope that he might be able to escape inside it was crushed.

“No one escapes my domain,” Savantus declared, motioning with his hands at the area they were in. “Here, I am King. Here I am a god!”

Laughter filled the space of the domain and the Elven King smirked, watching as Max continued to be pulled downward.

“Thuyja granted me a blessing, a gift that will allow me to wipe you and those who stand against me off this world. Soon, it shall be just the chosen race. My race.”

His mind raced, and Max tried to devise a way to get away. Every spell he and Bob threw at the blood that had ensnared his body was useless, each attempt causing Savantus to laugh louder.

“Nothing in this world can escape this place, boy!”

This world…

Fuelled by that thought, by that word, Max went for broke.

[ Planetary Travel - Waypoint ]

A tearing sound came, and his body immediately felt like it was being torn apart.

The walls of the domain flexed for a moment, shuddering for a few seconds. And then a few small cracks appeared. Purple and clear lines formed as the ability tried to activate.

Focus on it!

Willing the ability to continue, a roar came from beneath him, a spout of blood coming toward him.

Savantus was racing toward him, hands out, the one red eye glaring at him.

“NO! That is impossible!”

Everything hurt, yet Max knew he didn’t have any other options.

Do it!

[ Phasing ]

[ Haste ]

Taking a breath felt like the worst imaginable thing. Yet not taking one seemed just as bad. His lungs burned, feeling heavy from what Max guessed was blood in them.

Bob flew him around the area of the domain, dodging the countless attacks that Savantus sent at them, geysers and blood spears coming from every direction.

Yet the rising blood faltered; the cracks in the walls had somehow stopped its advance.

“NOOOOO!”

Two spears almost struck him as Bob dodged left and right, sending spells back at the elf now resembling a demon.

The cracks in the domain grew larger each moment. Suddenly, the warm, humid air turned cold.

It plummeted instantly to a temperature so cold that the blood Savantus had been using to move with became solid in the blink of an eye.

Gone was the fire in Max’s belly, replaced with a pain of agony far worse as his skin started to break apart.

The cold froze everything; his eyes were blinded instantly, and Regeneration could not heal through it.

Hold on, keep focusing!

The pain grew until it ceased for a moment, coming right back as the layer of cold ate away at his nerves, agony coming back as his ability replaced them one time.

Can… I…

Max could sense the dread of it all as the cracks in the domain grew. He saw a place that he remembered. The words of Quilazmore asking if he knew about space and if he could survive it.

During those times, Bob revealed things in his dreams; they were in a space above the planets.

We need to escape… we cannot… fail.

Bob’s voice seemed weak and panicked. Max wasn’t sure if it was his mind failing or something else.

Small waves of sound came that his sonar detected, a groan of pain beneath him.

Tanila flashed through his mind.

She lay next to him, giving him a smile in that way that always caused his heart to speed up. Her hair wasn’t braided, strewn over her shoulder as she lay beside him. And then he saw her arm moving slowly, noticing the hand that rubbed her stomach.

The fear of losing them and the panic of his friend ignited the flame of what all this meant.

Death… a true death.

Facing that challenge, Max poured every bit of willpower into the ability.

[ Spell Burst ]

[ Planetary Travel - Waypoint ]

An explosion of purple and white light came as the cracks ripped across the entire space.

Chunks of frozen blood fell and crashed onto the floor below.

A howl was there momentarily and then cut off as a white light came, blinding him.

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