Universe's End

Chapter 194: But before then, one last thing

But before Rory could get serious about tier eight, there was one last teeny tiny little thing he'd almost forgotten.

He had a rematch to address.

"That stupid asshole almost got me," Rory mumbled. It had been a week since the end of the last wave, and while on his way to check in with Tsarina, the thought had struck him, the niggling little thing in the back of his mind that he had been forgetting something.

Of course, that was the third round with his bane.

"It really tried to pull a fast one on me. And damn it, it almost worked."

The moment Rory had realized he'd forgotten his bane was the moment he knew it wasn't unintentional. The bane had assumed he would forget, ascend to tier eight, and would therefore mark their final bout of tier seven as a surrender on his part.

"Tricky god damn bugger," Rory had continued to mutter before shaking his head.

I'll have to handle that, but not right this second.

After all, he was in the middle of Ehkorrus. He was pretty confident that he could easily set up a ritual to summon his bane for their final bout of tier seven, but that was probably best saved for outside city limits.

I could probably set up a trap for it during the summoning process, but it's probably best not to. Anytime I've pulled any tricky shit on it, it sucker punches me twice as hard the next time around. No, I think this fight will be by the book.

Plus, Rory was just downright curious. Comparing himself at the start of tier seven to now at the very end was like night and day. Once upon a time, he hadn't been much of a fighter, mainly relying on the quality of his creations to bridge that gap, but no more. He still had doubts that he could throw down in a straight fight with some of the other founders, but his knowledge had become a weapon in itself.

He was far from the clumsy man he'd once been.

Still no combat skills, though. What I would give for a real boosting skill.

In a way, his 'boosting' was simply the fact that he was more capable of drawing out the full capabilities of his gear than others could. When Rory channeled a float gem through his armor, it was more effective than when Zoey did. It wasn't really anything 'magical,' just that, like most things, it was a knowledge gap, his understanding of physical mechanics and conceptual elements gained from decades of crafting at play.

But I still want a boosting skill, ignoring the cognition boost from Eyes of the Architect. It doesn't matter how fast you can think when a tier eight monster is treating you like a chew toy.

Putting his gripe aside, Rory came to a stop just outside the inner wall, hands on his hips. If you didn't know better, looking at the wall, anyone would assume something was severely wrong. Thick red and black vines had begun ripping their way out from the walls, bark-like material following after, and if you parted both the vines and strange bark material, one would find a wax-like substance slowly carpeting the wall, a crimson so light it could have been mistaken for an off-white pink.

"Tsarina?" Rory called out.

Ignoring the patches of vines, wax, and bark that had begun tearing free from the walls like a busting parasite, the more glaring issue was the hole in the wall, in which a 'nest' had been formed of the same materials.

Clack. Clack.

"Lord. Khan." Tsarina appeared from the hole in the wall, her mandibles clacking as she bowed.

That's new. Did someone teach her that?

"How's it going?" Rory asked.

"Busy. Very. Busy."

"I'd imagine so. Lots of materials to process, eh?"

"Yes. Very. Dense."

They were, of course, referring to the thousands of monster corpses, all ranging from high-tier six to low-tier seven. If one kept track of the accounting of all the monster corpses, they'd notice a strange discrepancy: corpses laid out near the holes in the walls were vanishing. It was the work of Tsarina and her growing hive of worker drones. While Rory had hoped that the secondary dose of ascension energy would allow the walls to change overnight, the energy was lacking for such significant changes. Instead, it was enough to essentially give 'permission' to the Ehkorrian bug monsters to chew and dig through the walls freely, which ordinarily were strong enough to repel even tier sixes, much less tier fives and below.

Using the nourishment of the corpses from the siege wave, after the initial boost in speed from all the excess corpses was used up, it would probably be the better part of seven or eight months to transform the inner wall fully.

"Has anyone given you troubles?" Rory asked. Now that she was standing straight, it occurred to Rory that she'd grown around an inch taller.

Not too surprised, she isn't a human that needs eighteen years… At least, I think.

"No." Tsarina clacked. "The. Overseers. Have. Done. Well."

The overseers in this case were referring to Edward and Kai Rong. They, along with a small support team, kept people from becoming overly curious about the changes in the wall. A notice had been issued not to be alarmed, but it was better to exercise caution around people.

Lord knows that humans can act stupid at times.

From the hole in the wall, Rory noticed several 'small' things appeared. The first was nothing more than an oversized centipede, with a bulbous mouth that opened wide like a worm before closing again. The second was what looked like a cross-breed between a spider, scorpion, and even a crab, somewhere between the size of his head and chest. The last bug was to a butterfly what Battra was to Mothra, a dobsonfly on steroids. Fluttering its wings, it flew over before landing on his arm, looking up at Rory as if it were a cute little puppy and not a bug out of some hellish pit.

"New. Brood. Crawler," Tsarina pointed at the centipede-looking monster. "Digger." She pointed at the following bug, the scorpion-crab-spider hybrid. "Digester." She finished by pointing at the oversized demonic earwig-looking moth on his arm.

"Your workers?" Rory asked.

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"Yes. Digger. Crawler. Loosen. Wall. Digester. Eats."

Opening her mandibles, Tsarina spat out a red glob; the slime took shape in real time, and Rory saw the bug's internals form, a shell hardening over it moments later, until she held a fist-sized, gelatinous-looking termite.

"Spreader."

"And I take it that the spreader is responsible for the wax and other growths?"

"Yes." Tsarina nodded. "Demonstration."

The Crawler and Digger immediately turned around, diving into the hole in the walls as they tore into it, emerging moments later with debris and residue from the wall. The Digester, the oversized flying bug, flew over, and its massive mandibles instantly snatched the material up, before a set of smaller inner jaws shot out and swallowed it. Then, wings buzzing, it flew over the wall before returning moments later with the leg of some dead monster. Gorging itself faster than should have been possible, it buzzed its wings once. The Spreader on Tsarina's arm promptly dropped to the ground, rushing over to where the digester was, and began massaging it, as the flying insect regurgitated a thick paste. Rushing to the thick paste, the spreader grabbed it with several of its legs, arms, whatever they were called, and began to spread it within the wall. Hardening in moments, it looked the same as the rest of the waxy material, and Rory, when activating his eye skill, could sense things growing within, the plant life that had been noted tearing out from the walls.

"Quite the streamlined setup," Rory said approvingly. "

"Khan. Pleased?"

"Very," Rory said. Over the last few days, Rory had sensed the roots of his home reaching out, like tendrils on a mission, as growths appeared within the walls. Over time, the Star Blood Sequoia, which surprisingly hadn't undergone a sudden evolution even after bonding with the Core Room, would connect with the walls, as two became one and the reach of the Star Blood extended ever further.

And the hope is that one day, the entirety of Ehkorrus becomes part living organism.

But that day wasn't today, and it wasn't soon. What was happening now was only the beginning.

"Well then, carry on," Rory said as he prepared to leave, until a small, clawed hand reached out, grabbing his wrist.

"Lesson. Please?"

Rory sighed, turning back around. That was one other thing he'd been doing a few times over the last few days as he'd checked in with Tsarina, and that was giving her 'lessons' on basically acting human.

Mostly human. Apostolos and Gil aren't human after all. Wait, why aren't Apostolos's kids the same species as him? Why is this the first time I've thought about that? No, bad Rory, don't get distracted…. What was I doing again?

Right, lessons.

While Tsarina was smarter than the average monster, it was exceptionally clear to Rory that without proper socialization, she would likely default to her more monstrous instincts.

Which would probably result in people being eaten before the tier sevens inevitably put her and her spawned monsters down.

So…. Best to avoid that outcome!

Not intending to waste a year of effort in the form of Tsarina having to be put down, Rory clapped his hands together.

"Alright, well, the lesson for today is small talk!"

Four hours later, Rory finally managed to extract himself from the odd sight. There he'd been, giving a lecture to a monster girl who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, as an assortment of other monstrous bugs had collected around her. An odd sight, but still not the oddest thing Rory had experienced in his now rather long life.

Anyways.

While he'd been giving the lecture on small talk and manners to Tsarina, at the back of his mind, or more appropriately, in the back of a separate mind, a second mental thread spooled off. Rory had been considering his next move.

Because, while his progress to tier eight was still a year or a few months off at the conclusion of the wave, that had changed just a day prior.

Hence, the reason he was marching his way to the city hall. Pushing through the front door, Rory stormed past the secretary, who made no attempt to stop him.

Heading straight down the hall at a leisurely pace, nearly a minute later, Rory was pushing open the doors to the council room. Within were two figures, clearly in the midst of an argument.

"I already told you, we can't afford to be directing our attention to-" Irene cut off as the door suddenly opened, Rory striding in.

"Rory?" Apostolos asked, leaning back, temporarily freed from Irene's ire. "What brings you here?"

"Was going to direct a message your way, but then I figured I'd tell you in person, figured you and Irene both deserved to hear it."

"Are you leaving already?" Irene asked.

"What? No, not quite yet. Well, technically I am, but only for a few days."

"…a few days? Why?" Apostolos asked, confused.

"Because I've got a hot date with a downright evil bitch," Rory chuckled as he flicked over his interface to the two of them.

"Wait, what?" Apostolos asked, still confused. "Only a few days ago, you were still a few months off from tier eight? When the hell did it max out?"

"Only the other day," Rory said.

"How?" Apostolos asked.

"I figure as recognition for the efforts with the walls and all that. It was more than a year's worth of effort into creating Tsarina, so while the walls themselves haven't been fully changed, the effort was still rewarded. It just took a few days, I guess."

"Huh," Apostolos scratched at his chin before shrugging. "Makes sense, I guess."

"And you're leaving for a few days because why, exactly?" Irene asked.

"I already said. In more direct terms, I need to face my bane one more time for tier seven, otherwise it will auto-win the tier seven bracket anyway. I don't want to have our battle anywhere close to Ehkorrus."

"Where are you planning?" Apostolos asked.

"A familiar spot," Rory said, as Apostolos caught on, his eyebrows jumping.

"Ohhhh."

"What? I'm not following," Irene said.

"The Shores of Oblivion, where we fought the Architect Bane once before. He wants his rematch, the final match of tier seven, to take place where the final match of tier six occurred."

"Concepts and all that jazz," Rory said, waving it off. "In short, a summoning ritual will be easier there than anywhere else, though I doubt I will have difficulties either way."

"Right, right," Apostolos nodded along. "And you need several days… why?"

"In case I lose, and it fucks me up bad, and I need time to regain my strength after having my ass whooped."

The frankness with which Rory spoke took Irene by surprise, blinking several times in rapid succession.

"That bad?" Apostolos asked in the meantime.

"Let's say split the difference," Rory said. "Part of it is, yes, my bane is, as ever, a vicious bastard. The bigger reason, though, is that I'm looking to make this as fair a fight as we've ever had. No traps, no sucker punches, no extra minions, nothing. Just one on one, mano a mano."

"Mano a mano?" Irene asked, face scrunched up in confusion.

"Just a phrase, means one on one," Rory dismissed.

"Why?" Apostolos asked, getting to the heart of his decision. "If you're the one choosing the battleground, surely you can prepare well in advance."

"I could, but every time I do something like that, it never fails; the next time around, it returns the favor. You know what happened after our tier six fight?" Rory asked.

"No, so I assume you're about to tell us," Apostolos said.

"There I was, digging a mine shaft, minding my own damn business, when I stumbled into a cave. Cool, lots of fun resources. Problem: It fucking dropped on top of me like a god damn drop bear."

"What's a drop bear?"

"A bear that drops on you. Very dangerous," Rory said before continuing. "I wasn't prepared, had next to fuck all on me, and in the end, it kicked my ass without breaking a sweat. The thing is that tier eight is where it really counts. So, I don't want to allow it to be awarded a cheap shot on me, tit for tat."

"So, a fair fight," Irene said.

"Correct."

"And you think you will win?"

"Honestly? It's a little up in the air," Rory admitted. "Banes don't follow the ordinary rules you'd expect. They aren't as insanely stacked in attribute density as a Territory Alpha, or even some Alpha Variants, but they're smarter, a lot smarter, or at least mine is, plus it has its adaptations. Now my bane hasn't collected any additional adaptations in tier seven, but that's still no guarantee. After all, outside of my trusty armor, I'm missing any truly outstanding gear, so it's about as close to a level playing field as can be."

"And so, you need a few days, just in case," Apostolos said.

"Correct."

"And why don't you spend some time making some truly outstanding gear if that's the case?" Irene asked.

"Time," Rory answered. "Two main factors are involved. First, I've maxed out tier seven. Second, having remembered we still have our third round to go, there isn't a chance that I ascend to tier eight by 'accident' and forego the tier, meaning my bane has nothing to gain by waiting around. If I take too much time, my bane will probably appear here. Maybe not in the city directly-"

"But close enough that it could be a problem."

"Bingo. And I can say with certainty, it will absolutely love the chance to murder our people. I figured I had probably a day, maybe two, before it would take action on its own. So, time to put some distance and get going."

"Is there anything we can do to help before?" Irene asked, eyes darting around for a moment.

"Nope, not really," Rory laughed. "In the end, just wish me luck."

Because I'm probably going to need it.