Chapter 141


    <strong>Chapter 141</strong>


    “Here’s the list.” Fay said, handing over a booklet of names and dispelling the illusion she’d ced on herself. Her body shifted from one of an overweight, bearded guard in a police uniform to that of her usual self - and she smiled at Riven’s nod of approval.


    “Great job as usual.” Riven stated, getting an eye roll from Ath when Fay clicked her feathered boots together, adjusted her crop top and bashfully tossed her hair to the side. “Have you ever thought about bing an assassin? Those hallucinations or illusions you cast are quite handy for infiltrating ces. Perhaps you and Ath could team up and support one another doing it, and when Ath gets her shapeshifting abilities under control she’ll be able to change forms as well. You’d be quite the duo.”


    Ath raised an eyebrow, silently evaluating the subus who hesitantly nced her way.


    “I don’t think I have the qualifications to be an assassin… I’m more of a mage, and my curses don’t kill very fast.” Fay stated, frowning slightly and avoiding Ath’s stare. "And they''re technically hallucinations, not illusions, but if you want to call them illusions that''s fine. Hallucinations have a direct effect on a mind, where illusions are not directed towards the mind but are directed towards external sources. It really only matters when you get into how the curse works, rather than the oue. Usually, anyways."


    Ath nodded. “If she picked up some high powered strike magics, it’d be doable as a mana-assassin instead of the traditional kind like me. And she’d need to improve her hallucinations considerably if she would want to utilize them against higher level enemies who have a far higher willpower and perception.”


    Riven nodded, flipping through the charts listing the inmates down below. The prison roof they now stood on was a much smaller version of the highly guarded one he’d been put in, but it still had what he was looking for. “Thief, drug dealer, drug dealer, battery and assault, ah - here we go. Rape, home invasion and double homicide. Checkmate.”


    Riven pointed to the name. “Where would this one be located?”


    Fay looked at the room number, then nced around the prison grounds and pointed to a jail cell on the 2nd story after memorizing theyout. “That one!”Riven gave a thumbs up, then tucked the booklet into his bag. “Thanks, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”


    A rift opened up in space, and in a blip of shadow he was gone. Instantly he found himself inside a prison room, where a bald, shirtless, middle-aged white man was brushing his teeth next to a mirror and a hulkiertino guy with a wife-beater tank topid out on a bottom bunk.


    They both startled when Riven shed into their room, with the bald guy yelping in surprise and thetino man quickly taking out a shank to stand up - eyes wide and cursing under his breath. “What the fuck!?”


    Riven took the book back out, nted his unholy staff into the floor, and flipped open to the page where it had the name he was looking for. His crimson feathers red out to the sides of his hood, seven eyes peering out at them, and the maw along his chest hissed with excitement. “I’m looking for a Timothy Ransen. I assume it’s you, baldy?”


    Riven snapped the book shut and pocketed it again, waiting expectantly.


    “Who the fuck are you!?” The man replied, only for his bunkmate to step back against the bars.


    “You don’t know?” Riven asked curiously. “Footage of me has been all over the Chicago cortex.”


    Thetino man shook his head rapidly, shiv still clutched in his right hand. “We can’t ess the cortex because we’re imprisoned, it’s part of the system rules.”


    Ah.


    Yes.


    Riven had forgotten about that. Anyone considered captured or ‘bound’ lost all ess to forum functions.


    “What’s it to you if I am Timothy?” The bald, shirtless man asked hesitantly after ncing over at his cell mate. “Why the fuck is a mageing to meet me of all people in this prison cell? Did gramps pay you to bust me out or somethin?”


    Riven raised an eyebrow from underneath his porcin mask, and an amused chuckle echoed out from behind it. He shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I was just looking through the prison roster because I’m a vampire, and I need someone to die for me. Someone who can be my next meal.”


    Riven spread his arms out to either side and the maw along his chest opened wide - revealing rows of teeth leading into an abyssal, ck hole. Both men screamed in absolute terror when cords of ck tore out from the abyss,tching onto Timothy’s neck, arms, ankles and waist.


    “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!?!!???” Timothy screamed, starting to thrash and struggle as he was dragged across the floor, and the other man started frantically yelling for help while banging on the cell doors. “WHAT THE FUCK! WAIT-WAIT-WAIT! PLEASE!!!”


    The maw grew, bing wider and wider while Riven’s ribs cracked painlessly to adjust the size. Riven saw the fear, the sweat, the piss the man had just released onto his pants, and he could hear the thunderous heartbeat of the horrified human while Riven dragged him forward.


    “PLEASE NO!!!”


    Riven’s maw yanked an arm in first, snapping down and tearing off the forearm in a bloody spray of bone and muscle. Timothy howled, renewing his attempts to thrash free while hyperventting and being eaten alive, only to lose more of the arm when the ck cords yanked it in further.


    <strong>*CHOMP*</strong>


    “AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!”


    <strong>*CRUNCH-SNAP-RIP*</strong>


    The man’s screams immediately died into nothing when Timothy’s head was torn off his body, and half of his upper body was now gone while being devoured. The other inmate, who was still up against the bars as far as he could physically pushed himself, sobbed and shook while holding the shank as threateningly as he could. Shouts from outside began to reach Riven’s ears, and he heard their heartbeatsing down the hallway at a quickening pace.


    At the same time, he felt his body rejuvenate as the man’s blood soaked into his vessels… and he sighed with a long, contented exhale. “That hits the spot.”


    <strong>[You are now well fed.]</strong>


    A thunderous echo rolled out across the night sky, and a shockwave brought Riven’s attention upwards. Looking out the window and eyes widening, he riftwalked back onto the roof where his two female demons stood - leaving the remaining meal behind.


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    Fay and Ath both stared upwards as well, watching in confusion as myriads of colors bloomed over them - rapidly encasing the entire city andndscape for miles out in an enormous dome of energy.


    “The fuck is that?” Ath asked with furrowed brows.


    Fay shrugged. “That’s what I was about to ask you two… Any idea, Riven?”


    “Not a clue.”


    <strong>[A CLASH OF FATE HAS BEEN FORCIBLY INITIATED.]</strong>


    *CRASH*


    The entire city shook, and a pir of dusky gray light tore skywards from just beyond the city’s perimeter. Immediately rms went off all around the city, and skylights positioned along the skyscrapers and military base further in illuminated the air.


    <strong>WARNING</strong>


    <strong>WARNING</strong>


    <strong>WARNING</strong>


    <strong>A CLASH OF FATE HAS BEEN FORCIBLY INITIATED BY RICHARD LONGHOLLOW THROUGH THE ACTIVATION OF A CURSED SANCTUARY STONE. THE CITY OF CHICAGO HAS BEEN TARGETED AS THE PLACE FOR THIS SANCTUARY’S CREATION.</strong>


    <strong>RICHARD LONGHOLLOW HAS SET TARGET ACQUISITION TO CHICAGO’S ENTIRE HUMAN POPULATION. ALL DECEASED SOULS WILL BE ABSORBED BY THE SANCTUARY STONE TO FEED ITS CREATION.</strong>


    <strong>CHICAGO HAS BEEN SEALED OFF. THE BATTLE FOR CHICAGO IS ABOUT TO COMMENCE.</strong>


    <strong>ATTACKERS: AZAG HIVE CLUSTER</strong>


    <strong>DEFENDERS: THE POPULATION OF CHICAGO</strong>


    Riven sneered in distaste, then nced up at the dome above. Secondster a series of booms erupted from the ce where the gray pir of light was shooting up into the multicolored sky, and even from here - Riven could see a swarm of… something, tearing down hillsides all across the western border. They came rushing towards the city like a tidal wave of gray, though their figures were hard to make out at this distance in true detail. Whatever these things were, they were met with hostility immediately. In return the humans opened up with heavy artillery and gunfire, meeting their charge from numerous points where military units had been stationed to fend off against monster attacks.


    “So he’s finally made his move. Didn’t think there’d be so many enemies though.”


    Blinking in surprise, Riven’s brows furrowed and his attention shifted when another notification appeared. He rapidly began to read while his demons watched the battle unfold. Attack helicopters began to scramble from the military base further east, no doubt to be followed by whatever fighter jets Riven had seen earlier that day, and lights all along the city started flickering to life where the suburbs had been kept in good enough condition to house the civilian poption.


    <strong>[A sh of fate has transpired in your vicinity. Due to not meeting the requirements of the sanctuary’s targeting system, you have been given the option to leave the perimeter of the sealed city if you wish to do so. If you do not leave, you will be entered in as a hostile presence to the attackers: AZAG HIVE CLUSTER, and their leader RICHARD LONGHOLLOW. Do you wish to stay? Yes or no?]</strong>


    Riven selected yes. “Didn’te all this way just to run away now.”


    <strong>[A sh of fate has transpired in your vicinity. Elysium’s Administrator has designated this sh as a battle of supremacy. You have been added to the defenders side: THE POPULATION OF CHICAGO.]</strong>


    <strong>AN OUTSIDE FORCE REPRESENTING THE THANE NECROPOLIS HAS VOLUNTEERED TO JOIN THE DEFENDING SIDE. THE BATTLE FOR CHICAGO HAS NOW COMMENCED. THE ELYSIUM ADMINISTRATOR HAS RULED THIS CLASH OF FATE TO BE A STRATEGIC BATTLE.</strong>


    <strong>RULES FOR SYSTEM-REGULATED STRATEGIC BATTLES ARE AS FOLLOWS: EACH TEAM’S PARTICIPANTS ARE MEASURED BY FATE IN TERMS OF INFLUENCE. THE TOP 5 INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED AS BATTLE TARGETS. IF ALL 5 OF ONE SIDE’S BATTLE TARGETS ARE KILLED, THAT SIDE WILL BE INSTANTLY PURGED BY THE SYSTEM.</strong>


    <strong>PROTECT YOUR BATTLE TARGETS AT ALL COSTS. ALL TARGETS WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED BY DOTS IN THE SKY - RED SYMBOLIZING THE ATTACKERS, AND BLUE SYMBOLIZING THE DEFENDERS.</strong>


    <strong>Battle targets for ATTACKERS: AZAG HIVE CLUSTER</strong><ul><li><strong>Richard Longhollow - (Azag Overmind)</strong></li><li><strong>Clidra Mutishbane - (Azag Broodmother)</strong></li><li><strong>Scythewalker Trik Trak - (Azag Broodfather)</strong></li><li><strong>Tiklik Longjaw - (Azag Broodfather)</strong></li><li><strong>Everkill Gorgemonger - (Azag Bull Champion)</strong></li></ul>


    <strong>Battle Targets for DEFENDERS: THE POPULATION OF CHICAGO</strong><ul><li><strong>General Florence - (Leader of Chicago’s Military Forces)</strong></li><li><strong>Lieutenant Cliff - (Cyborg Champion)</strong></li><li><strong>Lieutenant General Bruner - (Human Military Officer)</strong></li><li><strong>Governor Banks - (Human Civilian Authority)</strong></li><li><strong>Riven Thane - (Pureblooded Vampire Prince, Allied unit: The Thane Necropolis)</strong></li></ul>


    <strong>[You, Riven Thane, have been designated as 1 of 5 battle targets on the defending side for the sh of fate ongoing in this region. Should you and the other four battle targets die, the side you represent will be immediately purged by the system. Good luck.]</strong>


    <strong>[Richard Longhollow has been engaged in battle. Click to view.]</strong>


    <strong>[Lieutenant Cliff has been engaged in battle. Click to view.]</strong>


    “Oh look! The system called me a prince. That’s neat.”


    Both demoness nearby got the follow up notification about the battlemencing, and how Riven was now a battle target. They slowly turned, staring wordlessly his way when a pir of blue light skyrocketed from all around his position, and he held up both hands to either side with an innocent shrug; bouncing hisrge horned pauldrons up and down as he did. “WHAT!? Don’t look at me like that! We were going to potentially die here anyways if we decided to stay, and finding that asshole is what I came here to do!”


    Four other pirs of blue light around the city illuminated the darkness. Two of them were already on the front lines where the battle was raging, one of them was in the military base, and another was in the eastern suburbs on the opposite side of the city. Five red pirs, four of them within the oing swarm of gray bodies, shot skywards next. And a momentter all ten pirs dissipated, only leaving blue and red dots that glowed brightly along the multicolored dome overhead to symbolize the positions of the battle targets.


    Ath’s eyelids drooped. “You <em>volunteered</em> for this? Don’t you think it would have been smarter to just wait this battle out, and when Chicago falls you could havee and cleaned up afterwards?”


    “I was more… voluntold, rather than volunteered.”


    “How so?”


    “Gotta kill this guy either way if I don’t want to anger Chalgathi, and I can’t just let all these people die. There’s almost a million people living here, I don''t have a choice.”


    “You have a choice if you stop giving a shit about these nobodies! And if someone is powerful enough to wipe out an entire city of that size, even more reason to hold off and strike after the battle.”


    Riven rolled his eyes, only noticed by Ath by the way he rolled his head along with it for emphasis. “No more discussion, we have a battle to fight.”


    <strong>[General Florence has been engaged in battle. Click to view.]</strong>


    <strong>[General Florence has been killed in battle by Azag Hive Cluster forces. 4 of 5 battle targets for the defenders remain.]</strong>


    A pop up window showing the same man who’d framed Riven not long ago appeared next, in front of all of them. It was a video feed, showing the man in a hybrid suit of mesh and metal with intricate engineering enchantments being torn apart, being eaten alive byrge mantis-like bugs as he screamed and cursed in a bloody disy of carnage. The men nearby in some kind of base camp tent were firing off whatever bullets, energy weapons, or explosives that they could - shredding the oing swarm of armored, chitinous insectoids, but the monsters were far too many. Their thick hides, de-like limbs, ripping pincers and yellow eyes soon dominated the scene - burying the general underneath a wave that swept over him in seconds. The footage ended with two tanks and arge sci-fi looking mech engaging the swarm - leading a counteroffensive push with guns ring and insectoids sting apart.


    <strong>[Lieutenant Cliff has been killed in battle, in by Richard Longhollow. 3 of 5 battle targets for the defenders remain.]</strong>


    Another pop up window disyed next, showing a huge dark figure in an underground cave impaling a wide-eyed cyborg outfitted in American military gear underneath a w-like leg of sharp, spiked chitin. Blood and another sma-like fluid leaked out of the man, but despite the kic stsing out with every desperate punch he made - he was doing little damage to the leg that had impaled him through the chest.


    The shrouded, dark figure grinned with piercing yellow eyes, and with a blur - mmed arge stinger through the cyborg’s skull. Abruptly the man stilled, his brain matter stered against the ground next to him.


    Riven blinked as the window winked out. “Wasn’t that guy supposed to be S-ss too?”


    Fay pointed skywards, drawing Riven''s attention to a red dot along the dome that was very quickly closing in on his own blue dot''s position. "I think we have iing."