City of Sin

The Alter World

After a few days, Richard had broken through the surface layers of the alter world’s laws and could finally perceive the unique scenes here. This place was no more empty than the void between the myriad planes, with strange landmasses in the distance and dense energy storms all around. Faust’s radiance protected them from it all with ease, but until they could take control it simply floated around without direction.

Those in the city felt like they weren’t moving at all, but they understood that they could actually be zooming around at high speeds until they actually unraveled everything and took control. Richard continued transmitting the progress of his analysis to his followers as he explored the space around them, his field of perception slowly widening with time. It was only a few hundred metres on the first day, but he was already at a kilometre on the second and three on the third. The veil of the alter world was slowly lifted before his eyes, revealing a twisted world of chaos.

After a month of adjustment, Richard could perceive everything within thousands of kilometres. Faust finally started adjusting direction, heading towards the closest major landmass. Its speed and direction weren’t perfect, and it snaked around as the power his followers put in varied, but those here were amongst the cream of the crop in Norland. While none of them had his speed, they still adjusted quickly and reduced the variance. In only two months they tried their first teleportation, crossing tens of thousands of kilometres in an instant. However, that was only the start.

Two and a half months later, the flying fortress reached the first major landmass nearby. It was completely different from any plane on the light side, without any crystal walls to defend it from the energy storms all around. The violent energy occasionally blew onto the surface and tore apart anything that wasn’t sturdy enough, making the continent seem like a rotten piece of meat covered in bubbles of pus. There was no shape to speak of, but even more frightening than the parts that had been smoothed out by the storms were those areas that still had their craggy peaks.

Even this twisted land had its own form of life, looking like rats made of piles of rotten meat. These creatures looked like the fabrications of a lunatic’s mind, and as some of them noticed Faust’s existence and started approaching Richard had the city teleport away. These creatures were hundreds of metres tall, and having scanned the entire surface without finding a single clue he had no interest in fighting them.

At this point his perception covered over a hundred thousand kilometres, and was continuing to expand. In this world of chaos, even the slightest difference in power was magnified enormously.

Faust continued to move from landmass to landmass, occasionally fighting any enemies that got too close. Richard took care of everything at first, but as more of his followers got used to this world they started participating as well. Zealor actually burst forward in his first appearance, shooting a hundred kilometres into the void and destroying all the chaos beasts approaching them instantly in an unprecedented show of power. Where on the light side a group of saints could overwhelm a legend and there was a critical mass of legends that could even fight an epic, here that possibility didn’t exist. An epic being could slaughter a hundred legends with ease.

Once his followers took over in battles, Richard stopped moving out of his study, focused purely on his analysis and exploring the domain all around him. They didn’t have much time remaining, and if they didn’t find Sharon’s whereabouts they would have to turn back soon. No one knew if the creatures of the light would be assimilated into the dark side if they stayed too long, but when Mordred was finally broken by the will of Arbidis they would have to go through another deathmatch to return.

The days continued to pass, but one day Richard suddenly gasped as he scanned a region that was 150,000 kilometres away. His heart leapt into his throat as he noticed a little blue star, prompting him to blink out of his study and cut the chaos beast that was currently fighting them in two. He then turned to his followers, “Change of direction, follow me!”

The giant city slowly changed directions, but impatient as he was he directly teleported to the star. It flickered with a dim light, and being powered by astral energy it couldn’t replenish itself in the alter world and had almost been extinguished. He stretched his hand, and feeling the astral energy within him it jumped over and transmitted a message. This was the coordinates of a distant location, where an injured Sharon was currently in hiding.

There was still hope! Richard’s hand shivered as delight flooded his face. After decades of searching, he finally had a chance to change the destiny he had foreseen!

However, his expression suddenly turned cold and he swept an icy gaze through the surrounding void. Countless mechanical warships suddenly slipped out of the darkness and surrounded him, an enemy that he could recognise even with his eyes closed.

The reapers!

“The… Fucking… Scholars…” At this point, it was obvious that the coordinates had been used as a trap. Richard’s aura pulsed with unadulterated rage as he realised that the Scholars had an actual connection to the reapers, and he erupted with power. He was no longer the epic being that had struggled to defeat them, but a pinnacle powerhouse that would crush them!

He didn’t even wait for Faust, blinking a thousand kilometres into the centre of the enemy and grabbing everything within a hundred kilometres within his field of control. Everything but the two largest warships lost all control, getting crushed into metal balls that were then thrown away. He personally flashed over to the ones that he couldn’t crush, simply knocking on their exteriors to tear them apart.

Almost all of the reaper warships were destroyed, leaving behind only a metre-long silver barrel. This was the only component that he hadn’t finished analysing, the control centre that received and executed orders.

A gentle feminine voice rang out from within the barrel, “My adorable runemaster, welcome to the dark side of the world! I have been waiting for so long, you did not disappoint!”

“Who are you?” Richard asked calmly.

“Who am I?” the voice laughed with hysteria, quickly devolving into gasps for breath, “Let’s… keep that little secret for now. If you successfully pass my test, I will reward you with my identity!”

“Not interested,” Richard pointed at the metal barrel and flicked at it, disintegrating it into countless tiny components. His hand reached out like lightning to grab a crystal, but before he could touch it the thing actually exploded alongside the conscient talking to him.

“You’ll pay for this!” a shrill cry echoed through the void, “I swear!”

“Escaped again…” Richard frowned. In another moment he would have grabbed the conscient and managed to track the main body, but whoever was moving behind the scenes clearly wouldn’t give him that chance.

The void behind him lit up like a rainbow as Faust teleported over, finally catching up. The city could go farther with a single teleport, but it took less time for him to build a portal for himself. As the city approached, he gathered all the reaper remnants into a giant metal ball that he threw over.

Tiramisu grabbed the remains, stacking them nearby as he smiled with malice, “Is this where the reapers come from?”

“Exactly.”

“Then let’s tear it down!” the ogre lord’s eyes gleamed ominously. The hatred he had accumulated in Faelor was something he would never forget.

Richard shook his head, “We don’t have the time, or maybe even the energy. I’ll find another way here in the future, we can crush them then. But for now, Sharon is our goal. I know where she is.”