Amazingly, I completed my task in time.


    The flying serpent complied with my wishes, albeit not without a few angry hisses of protest. And no wonder, since its delicate wings suffered untold damage in the process.


    Still, by the time the first group of tentacles reached melee range, the seam was blocked—leaving me free to engage them. And I did just that as they bypassed me altogether and converged on the helpless flying serpent.


    Lunging forward, I plunged the sword in my right hand through the thickened base of a tentacle. In the same motion, I pivoted about and cleaved through another with my second blade.


    You have destroyed an overlord’s tentacle.


    You have destroyed an overlord’s tentacle.


    Dashing right, I slashed upward, then downward and two other tentacles died. Activating whirlwind, I unleashed another flurry of blows.


    More tentacles died.


    Killing the things were easy, but this was just the beginning, and the main horde was yet to arrive. Once they did… my mouth thinned into a grim line. Matters would grow more complicated then.


    Still, I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I did not kid myself, though. Eventually, I would get swamped.


    “You better hurry, Ghost,” I said. “Things are about to get hairy.”


    ? ? ?


    You have cast noxious vapors.


    You have cast furious storm.


    Your blood-bound creature has died.


    You have ignited 5 acid bombs and 5 firebombs.


    You have destroyed 372 tentacles of an overlord.


    A few minutes later, the battle for the overlord was still raging.


    Down below, at my insistence, the party had retreated to a safe distance. By this point, the overlord was already over one thousand feet high, and there was nothing those on the ground could do to affect the outcome.


    Time and again, the tentacles had threatened to overrun me—but only threatened. Thanks to vanish, shadow blink, and windborne, not only was I still alive, I was still managing to hold the tide at bay.


    Sadly, though, my minion had died.


    Notwithstanding my expansive use of bombs and stolen spells, I’d not managed to prevent the tentacles from killing it. Yet, even dead, the creature fulfilled a vital role, and the seam remained blocked. This, despite the tentacles’ frantic efforts to haul out its corpse.


    But most crucially of all, Ghost was almost done with her own task.


    Your familiar has injured a level 308 stygian overlord!


    It is near death.


    The stygian Power teetered on the very edge. I just had to keep my own efforts going and buy Ghost a little more time. It can’t be long now, I thought as a tentacle wrapped itself around my torso. The things couldn’t see me, but that didn’t stop them from flailing about in an effort to trap me.


    Plunging my sword downward, I buried it deep in the meaty appendage, then blinked away before a second tentacle could repeat the first’s feat.


    I emerged out of the aether behind yet another tentacle pack massing around the dead stygian. This group had somehow managed to wrap themselves around the serpent’s neck and were attempting to drag it out of the seam.


    Damn, if these things are not smart.


    Wading in, I cleaved a tentacle in half, hacked through another, then tossed a bomb and fled.


    You have cast windborne.


    A firebomb has ignited! 6 tentacles of an overlord have been destroyed and 5 injured.


    Somersaulting off the windslide, I plunged straight into another mass of tentacles. This pack was much larger than the previous one and already had their snaking ends buried inside the serpent’s corpse—doing what, I had no idea, but I couldn’t let them continue.


    Rushing into their midst, I activated whirlwind and laid about with abandon. My blades a blur, I struck and struck, heedless of what I hit, how hard, or where.


    A level 104 overlord’s tentacle has been injured.


    A level 113 overlord’s tentacle has been destroyed.


    A level 107 overlord’s tentacle has been destroyed.


    A level 105 overlord’s tentacle has been critically injured.


    …


    …


    Realizing their nemesis was within reach, the tentacles flung themselves at me.


    I slew them as they came, cutting through the thin bodies as easily as a farmer reaping stalks of wheat. But the tentacles’ numbers were limitless—or so they seemed in the moment.


    And no matter how many I hacked down, or how fast, the press of thin, wriggling bodies reaching for me grew greater every second, and with no other choice, I fled.


    Not without leaving my foes a parting present, though.


    You have ignited an acid bomb!


    You have teleported 8 yards.


    I emerged from the aether feet set and blades at the ready. Where shall I strike next? I wondered.


    There were no more attacks to fend off, though. All but unnoticed, the battle had drawn to a close.


    Your familiar has killed a level 308 stygian overlord!You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    569 tentacles of an overlord have been destroyed.


    The overlord was as silent in death as it had been in life. No sound escaped it, and except for the Adjudicator’s message, nothing marked its passing.


    I lowered my blades, stunned. As incredible as it seemed, we’d slain the overlord, and without suffering any losses.


    “Excellent work, Ghost,” I murmured, my chest heaving as I surveyed the suddenly empty battlefield.


    “Thank you, Prime,” she replied smugly. But only a second later her tone turned plaintive. “Can I please unmanifest? It smells ghastly in here!”


    I smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll let the others—”


    A resounding thunderclap interrupted me.


    I froze, fearing the worst.


    A second crack cut through the air. Then a third.


    Realizing the source of the sound, my gaze whipped downward. It was the overlord’s shell.


    It was finally cracking.


    More Game messages vied for my attention. Ignoring them, I focused on my latest dilemma. How to touch down safely. Step one was obvious enough: flee the imploding titan. Breaking out in a flat out run, I gathered psi.


    “Saf, I’ve news…”


    ? ? ?


    Ghost has unmanifested.


    You have cast windborne.


    You have cast windborne.


    …


    Returning to solid ground turned out to be simple enough, the most complicated part being getting the timing right. Breaking my fall with a series of windslides, I turned what would likely have been a fatal freefall into a controlled crash.


    You have been injured! Health remaining: 67%.


    “Oof!” I exclaimed as I rolled to a stop in an untidy heap inside Safyre’s purifying field.


    Leaning down, Anriq helped me up. “You did it!”


    I grinned as the others added their praises. “It was as much Ghost’s doing as mine. I gestured to the pyre wolf manifesting beside me. “Don’t forget to congratulate her.”


    Safyre smiled. “We will.”


    “Where is it?” Adriel asked, peering blindly into the mist beyond me.


    “Somewhere back there,” I replied, knowing she referred to the overlord. “Quite a ways back in fact,” I added, having made sure to make my own landing as far away as possible from the overlord. “In about a million and one pieces.”


    “Oh,” the lich said, deflating slightly. “Its shell cracked then?”


    “Before it even hit the ground,” I told her. “When the overlord died its hide lost all remaining integrity.”


    “That’s too bad. It could’ve been useful,” she replied wistfully.


    “We can still gather the pieces,” I said, ignoring the unhappy looks Shael and Anriq were throwing me.


    Adriel shrugged. “We can, but the pieces will be far less useful.” The ghost of a smile touched her lips. “And somehow I doubt Shael and Anriq are too enthused by the idea.” She shook herself. “But enough of the overlord. What did the kill earn you?”


    I tilted my head to the side. “I haven’t checked yet, actually.”


    “You haven’t—” Shael sputtered. “What’s wrong with you? Go on, find out!”


    Smiling, I turned my focus inward and called up the waiting Game messages.


    You and Ghost have reached level 250!


    Congratulations, Michael! You are now a tier 6 player. For achieving rank 25, you have been awarded 1 additional attribute point.


    Your light armor and thieving have reached rank 17, your chi rank 19, and your insight rank 25.


    Ghost’s magma maw has reached rank 11, her stygian claws and ash armor rank 13, and her death magic rank 9.


    Congratulations, Michael! You’ve slain your second Power, deepening your Power Mark. Slay further Powers to evolve your Mark further.


    “Wow!” I exclaimed. “Ghost and I advanced seven levels. That’s unbelievable!”


    Shael looked affronted. “Unbelievable? C’mon, you soloed a Power! I’m amazed you didn’t gain more levels.”


    I shook my head. “This is not the first Power I’ve killed and when we slew the harbinger—”


    I broke off, realizing what was different about this time. Ghost and I had dealt all the damage to the overlord—as opposed to before where the bulk of the damage had been inflicted by Adriel and Farren—and the Game didn’t consider the pyre wolf a separate entity when it came to leveling.


    “Is there another message?” Adriel asked intently, interrupting my musing.


    Turning my attention inward again, I saw to my surprise that she was right.


    Congratulations, Michael! You have accomplished the feat: Solo your First Power! Requirements: slay a tier 7 creature on your own. As only the 8th tier 5 solo player to defeat a Power without external aid, you have been offered a choice in the matter of your reward.


    Option 1: A Fate’s Key.


    Option 2: +1 ascendant point.


    Option 3: +10 Class points.


    Make your choice now.


    I inhaled sharply, stunned by the sheer scale of the Adjudicator’s offerings.


    “What is it?” Anriq asked eagerly. “What did you get?”


    Breathlessly, I recited the Game alert for everyone’s benefit, leaving them equally shocked in turn.


    “How did you know?” I asked, turning to Adriel.


    “I didn’t,” she replied. “I suspected you would earn a feat, though. The bard was right. You and Ghost took down a Power on your own. That seemed like an accomplishment worthy of recognition by the Adjudicator.” Her look turned pensive. “But an ascendant point... I would never have guessed the Game would offer you that.”


    I nodded, sharing her awe. I knew what ascendant points were, of course. Adriel and Ceruvax had lectured me too hard on the subject of higher evolutions for its significance to pass unnoticed.


    Starting at legendary rank—ascendant rank two—players received ascendant points that let them upgrade existing ascendant benefits or receive new ones. In this way, they worked very much like Class points.


    Only, ascendant points were much rarer.


    Over the course of an entire Game and assuming they reached the pinnacle of advancement—that being Primehood—a Power could expect to acquire, at most, four ascendant points.


    But that was during the ordinary course of events.


    And these were not ordinary circumstances.


    As a result of what Ghost and I had done, the Adjudicator was offering me a free ascendant point. Or rather the option of one. But there was little doubt as to my choice. As wonderful as ten Class points and the Fate’s Key sounded, both paled in comparison to an ascendant point.


    “You will take the ascendant point, of course,” Adriel said.


    “Of course,” I agreed.


    “Should he do that?” Safyre asked quietly. I’d already shared everything I’d learned about higher evolutions and ascendant Classes with Safyre, and she was now as knowledgeable on the subject as I was. “Will he be able to use it at his current ascendant rank?”


    I pursed my lips, knowing what she was getting at.


    If I had to wait until I reached legendary rank to use the ascendant point, then the ten Class points or even the Fate’s Key would be of more immediate benefit.


    “I’m not sure,” Adriel admitted. “We’ve reached the limit of my understanding on the subject. Only another Power will be able to answer that question with any certainty, and I’d wager that not even most of them can do so.” She paused. “I do know that ascendant benefits are usually capped by rank. That means a rank three Power should not be able to acquire rank four ascendant traits and abilities, but…” She shrugged. “Sire’s strain, the ascendant trait Michael gained from his sire wolf Class, has already broken that restriction.”


    I nodded slowly. Sire’s strain had advanced all my wolf-type traits by one tier. That included were’s bite, which was also an ascendant trait. “Maybe the Game will allow me to use the ascendant point to advance sire’s strain?” I suggested hopefully.


    Adriel snorted. “I’d be surprised if it does.”


    I sighed. She was right. If the Adjudicator allowed me ‘free’ upgrades of the sire’s trait, I could become wildly overpowered before even becoming a Power. “So, what will I be able to do with the ascendant point?”


    The lich frowned. “Best guess? The Game will let you acquire another rank one ascendant benefit.”


    I rubbed my chin, pondering. “Hmm. That might not be so bad.” None of the rank one ascendant benefits the Adjudicator had offered me when I’d first chosen my champion and commander Classes had been what I would label a poor choice.


    Adriel smiled. “I’d say. There’s only one way to find out, though.”


    “Agreed,” I said, willing my choice to the Game.