Tribulations, p.3
Tribulations, page 3
“You know I really do love that fire you have. It has been one of the hardest parts of keeping you away from him for so long. I had almost thought you had lost it as the battles piled up, but it seems that I was worried for nothing. Now give up and accept me as part of you.”
“Never! You are nothing but a passenger on this ride, so just stop already and accept that it is time to get off.”
“Oh, you wish to expel me from your body! We both know that won’t happen, so just give up on that!”
“I think not!”
As Gale shouted this, she reached out and grabbed her copy and as it became a wrestling match, her copy started to laugh.
“Hahahahah, this is great. I am the goddess of war! Do you really think that you can beat me?!”
“I don’t have to,” retorted Gale. “After all, I am not fighting you alone. Right now Xeal is out there fighting you as well!”
For the first time Gale’s copy looked worried as she tried to put Gale into a hold, only for Gale to smile as she continued to speak in the midst of the struggle.
“You can’t defeat me here, can you? If you did, would I even exist any longer and if I didn’t exist, you would be forced to return to the heavens completely, wouldn’t you?”
“So what. I just need to restrain you- Ahhhhh!”
Gale just smiled as she felt the blow that had sliced her back, as she knew that Freya was finding it hard to focus on both fights at once. At the same time, Gale remembered that this whole world existed only for her tribulation and it was likely that this wasn’t even Freya as her confidence skyrocketed. With it she found herself gaining the upper hand on her copy, who sighed before dissolving back into her and Gale found herself looking at Xeal once more. In the same moment she dropped to her knees as one of Xeal’s swords swung over her head. Seeing the sudden change in her, Xeal paused as he looked at her with a smile as he spoke.
“Finally woke up, did you?”
“Ha, right, so now what?”
“That is up to you. You can surrender and I will take you back, or you can continue to fight and the winner will decide the other’s fate.”
“I think it only makes sense for me to see just how closely matched we are.”
With that Gale cast a self-recovery spell and charged at Xeal, as she focused on debuffing him even further than Freya had when she was in control. As she did this, the fight started to draw out as neither side seemed to be able to gain the advantage. Xeal was dealing more damage, but Gale was healing herself and constantly renewing the debuffs that were active on him, as they both watched their stamina drop until finally Xeal ran out first. As Gale was focused on blocking his dragon’s breath attacks with her holy shield skill and had enough dexterity to escape his double upward and downward slashes combo lock, Xeal lacked any real way to win quickly. As such the fight dragged on until he ran out of stamina while Gale still had over ten percent of her own left.
However, rather than look worried, Xeal just smiled as he continued his assault. As his health dropped further and further with each point of his constitution that he lost, Gale found herself being overwhelmed. This only got worse once her own stamina ran out and her own constitution continued to drop and each of her moves became sluggish. Xeal had trained to ignore the sluggishness and push through it. She had not and while his constitution was dropping faster, Gale’s health was losing out to his own as she struggled to just heal herself. Her ability to even get a hit in was also gone and Xeal finally succeeded in getting her into his combo lock as his health read one percent remaining. Gale remembered that this was due to his title, skin of your teeth, which made it impossible for him to die due to status damage. A side effect of this was that it forced his constitution to hold on as well.
Though, there was a simple loophole to this that Gale knew. All she needed to do was deal a single point of damage that would take him below one percent health and he would die. Simply put, the moment that something pushed him past the one percent point, the status damage would return to having an effect, thereby killing him. Still, getting that single damage at this point was easier said than done, as her own health was dropping quickly and all she could think of was a desperate move. So, she didn’t question the thought and just dropped her staff and as it fell, she kicked out her leg. While this made her lose her footing and fall to the ground which ended any chance of escaping Xeal’s assault she had, it also sent her staff into his knee and dealt a whole one point of damage.
However, Xeal ceased his assault as well and just looked at her as he was unable to move without dying from loss of constitution at this point. Gale just sat there and breathed as her own constitution was still over 50 points, but her health was under 1,000 and she knew that all Xeal needed to do was unleash a single dragon’s breath and it would kill them both. Things had reached the point Gale doubted that she had the reaction time to counter it, especially without her staff. It was in this situation that Xeal spoke.
“It seems that it is a draw.”
“I’m good with that. Neither of us should be the ruler of the other anyway.”
“So, what now?”
“Retirement for both of us, declare Hardt Burgh as neutral grounds where all can worship how they like, so long as you live to guarantee it and can keep me next to you.”
Before Xeal could respond, the world around Gale dissolved and she found herself looking up at Freya, only she was back in the form that she had taken when Gale had reached tier-5. She was looking at Gale with a mixture of interest and respect as she spoke.
“I must say that you truly did better in that tribulation than I thought you would. Certainly better than any resident of this reality would have done. Though that may be due to the time you got in your other reality helping to ground you.”
“Right, so I take it I have passed then.”
“Not yet. Gale, you are my vessel. As such I have final say on if you are allowed to reach the next tier once you complete your tribulation.”
“Great, so you saw everything?”
“Yes, and don’t worry, I will not fail you for revealing anything about it to me here.”
“I am going to do the same as Xeal and just not risk it.”
“Fine, he is ever the cautious one, even against himself.”
“Ha, you can put yourself on that list as well. I think he fears your designs more than anything.”
“Ah, he actually fears me wanting to experience more than I get through the connection I have with you.”
“Is he wrong to?”
“No, especially as I have abandoned the path that you walk and would see him as nothing but a dalliance.”
“Yet you fell into his trap.”
“Come again?”
“Freya, he hasn’t said anything to me, but do you really think that if he chooses godhood, that he will have any doubts about being able to defeat you?”
“Interesting. You are saying that I would be forced to either marry him, or surrender my place in the world he has given me access to? Perhaps I should just have you invite him to visit me again and have my way with him.”
“You and I both know that you would lose too much if you did that, as I would ensure your mark was no longer on my body at that point.”
“Yes, even now you are thinking about doing that over what you just dealt with from the copy of me your mind made up. Honestly, that is the only part of your whole tribulation that has me upset. You still fear that I will control you completely one day. Gale, you have seen just how much it takes out of you to even channel a fraction of my power through you. Were I to try and control you directly as happened in that final fight, well, you would have died long before you wrestled control back from me.”
“Oh, and will that still be true when I am level 300?”
“No, I might manage a few hours at that point without killing you, but your body would be so damaged that it would take months to recover completely and that is if I just controlled it. If I started to use my power, well, let’s just say that the more that I use it, the faster your body would reach its limit.”
“Until it grew accustomed to it. I saw how fast Xeal was able to increase the amount of electricity he could control through training. I can even say that after opening the portal to your realm twice, that the second time was much easier to recover from. Can you really say that in another 100 years in this world that you won’t have the ability to treat my body as an extension of yours? I mean, you can even use the time I am offline to increase its resilience without me knowing.”
“Gale, nothing that I can say will mean anything at this point and that is a major issue as if you can’t trust me, you can’t play the role I need you to.”
“Oh, and that would be?”
“The same one you played in your tribulation. It was truly wonderful seeing you wage war in my name and grow my clergy. While you will not be focused on converting anyone, you will have need to purge other faiths who wish to cause us issues.”
“So long as Xeal and Kate approve it I have no issues playing that role. Hell, I have accepted that I will have to do that, even if I don’t like it. Just don’t ask me to start actually worshiping you, as sorry, but this is all make believe to me as while I believe you and every other person in this reality truly exists, you are no more of a goddess to me than Aila or any of the others are.”
“As long as that statement is only shared between us and those in your reality, I have no issue with that so long as you change that to being to your kind only. To Aila and the others that you share Xeal with, as well as all others who are native to this reality, I am very much a goddess.”
“Fair. Now is there anything else, or have I passed your interview?”
Freya just smiled at Gale as she closed the distance between them and gave her the same kiss that she would give Xeal to establish a soul bond. Before Gale could even object, one system notification came in after another and she found the world dissolving around her.
(Tier-7 Hellish Nightmare tribulation complete. Calculating completion rate… 101% completion, rank S. Rewards: 25 class skill points, level will automatically be raised to 200, 750 renown, 250 gold.)
(Congratulations, you are one of the first 5,000 tier-7 players. Rewarding a bonus 500 renown and 5 class skill points.)
(Congratulations, you are one of the first 5,000 players to complete a tier-7 Hellish Nightmare tribulation. Rewarding: 1,000 renown and 20 class skill points.)
(Caution, Freya has placed more of her soul within you. Please find a secluded location within an hour of returning to the main Eternal Dominion world, or her soul fragment will take root on its own.)
Gale wanted to curse as her stamina was still empty and she needed time to recover, so she quickly entered the nearest inn and started to focus on her recovery. By the time her hour was up, she was still far from in the best shape as a sharp pain blossomed in her head. Instantly Gale found herself experiencing one scene after another of battle and pure pleasure mixed in the most confusing way. Every image had one constant, and was that it was clearly Freya in them and she was enjoying herself. At the same time Gale was experiencing this, her body was racked in pain as it took another step closer to the version of Freya that she took based on Gale’s own definition of ideal beauty. As the pain came to an end, Gale just had time to check what changes she had undertaken as she looked at the description under vessel of Freya.
(Vessel of Freya: the goddess Freya has decided to put a significant part of her whole inside of you, marking you as her herald in the mortal realm. To fulfill your role, you have been gifted with enhanced beauty and battle prestige. You now have the hidden class of Divine Scion so long as you remain her vessel. All attributes increased by 1.25% and 1 additional attribute point will be added to strength, dexterity, charisma stats and 2 free attribute points each level. All senses are now able to pick up divine influences that others would miss. Bonus skill, blessing of Freya, added. All levels require 1.5 more experience and status of Freya’s vessel lost upon death.)
Gale knew that it was almost time to start using her blessing of Freya skill on more than just the few she was allowed to as she looked at it once more as well.
(Blessing of Freya: gives a 5% boost to all attributes until blessing is canceled by the giver. Can only be given to clerics and champions of Freya and only one blessing can be active for every ten of the user’s levels.)
Thinking about how she could mark 20 individuals now and just what that would mean for the tier-7 members of the faith made Gale smile and she let sleep take her.
(*****)
Morning May 14 to Evening May 19, 2268 & ED Year 6 Days 175-192.
For the first time in what felt like forever, Alex smiled as he enjoyed a morning with all five of his ladies in reality, as Sam and Nicole leaned on both sides of him as they held their daughters. Meanwhile, Ava and Mia were focused on the four-and-a-half-month-olds that were still completely reliant on others. Still, it was finally the start of tummy time and all four had learned what smiles were, as they always loved to use them to melt their mommies’ hearts. Especially Kate’s as she had gotten used to being there to help Ava and Mia out whenever Alex wasn’t able to, which was more often than not at this point.
When the morning had ended, Alex had yet to get more than a quick response from Sam and Nicole on their tribulations. They had simply said something akin to, that it was hard and they were glad it was over and they just wanted to relax. Though that changed by the time night came and Nicole claimed Alex for that night as she showed a more aggressive side to her which Alex had never met in his last life. Though he just smiled as he embraced it and reaffirmed that he loved her as they enjoyed their date night.
This had been followed by Sam taking the following night and Alex found her to have been affected by the experience of her tribulation as well. Though it was in a much more subtle way that he couldn’t quite put his finger on, as she just seemed to have a brighter smile, or something, that brought a new freshness to their time together. Instead of trying to identify the cause, or what it was, Alex decided that he would rather just enjoy it as they spent the night together.
Kate claimed the following night, while Ava and Mia enjoyed their night on the 18th, as they just snuggled and took a nap as Alex held them. Like this time in reality passed as they got ready for Alex to return to his two one-hour logoffs each day, as the conflicts in ED returned to being his focus.
In ED, day 175 was another family meeting, as Gale and Aalin shared the details that they wished to about their own tribulations. This had of course caused a lengthy discussion to commence on just what, if anything, should be done about Freya, while Xeal frowned after learning that Kate had planted the trap idea in Gale’s mind. Xeal didn’t know if he liked the fact that Kate had sent it as a message and said that if Gale knew, it would ruin the plan. Still, it was clear that Freya would likely be wary of Xeal trying to make an honest woman out of her by what Gale and Kate were saying. However, in the end, it returned to the wait and see game as they returned to their daily lives.
For Xeal this meant more and more meetings about the state of the war, as all fronts remained in a stalemate, or with FAE’s side slowly losing ground. With Nium holding to the prewar lines after pushing Paidhia back, while the elven lands were still dealing with an invasion from the NPCs of Paidhia. Muthia had officially secured the area surrounding the slime dungeon where Jewel was and were working to fortify the new lines. At the same time, the Huáng empire was losing ground every day as Jingong and the few other players that had joined them were unable to maintain the lines. Even with FAE sending over 1,000 tier-7 players to help, three cities had already fallen and the situation was looking dire, and Xeal knew that he had his work cut out for him if he planned to turn things around there.
Though it seemed that Abysses End was really ready to play the long game of chicken, as they dared Xeal to show his face on the battlefield as another 60,000 of FAE’s members started their attempt to reach tier-7. This, above everything else, was what was hurting FAE right now, as if Xeal had held them back, he could have reinforced the lines at a number of locations, but that would be foolish in the long run. Instead, he was focused on surviving and ensuring FAE could respond to any advances much the way it seemed that Abysses End could, should FAE try something from what Kate’s intelligence suggested.
At least until day 181, when Abysses End launched major offenses on all three battlefields. With 60,000 reserve forces unavailable, only Nium was in good shape as all of the other guilds that had been roped into its defense were more than enough to handle the latest attempts to break through. Muthia, however, was in trouble as it was clearly an attempt by Abysses End to recapture the slime mine to discover why FAE valued it so highly and how they got into it. They had long since realized what had happened when Xeal and his party used it to get behind enemy lines and were clearly planning to turn things around on them. Meanwhile, it looked like Abysses End was attempting to end the war in the Huáng empire in a single move, from the intelligence reports.
It was with this information in front of Xeal that he gave out his orders, as Takeshi would lead the efforts in Muthia with the aid of several of the phoenixes’ marked. Meanwhile, Xeal’s party would be headed to the Huáng empire, with Aalin, Gale and Kate leading the main force that would be working to bolster the efforts there. This left Taya to continue in the role of managing the situation in Nium, as they all were waiting for the next trap to be sprung.
When they arrived in the Huáng empire, Xeal gave his party the location of their next meetup point as he handed command over to Lucy. At the same time, Xeal took note of which ministers seemed happy to see them, especially the ones who looked too happy as if there was a trap set, it would likely be at this point. Still, all he did was ensure that his party was on its way and Kate and the others had already transferred to their designated battlefields. With that taken care of, Xeal looked up in the sky as he activated his enhanced senses and lightning form as he flash stepped into the sky, such that he could see a significant portion of the continent. What he was able to see from this vantage point with his senses, such that they were, allowed Xeal to get a general idea of the overall situation of the battles as he moved between them. When he was overhead each of them, he could also make out where several ambushes were set up. From what he could tell based off the illusion magic that his senses could make out, their plan seemed to be to create a pincer attack on several of the battlefields once FAE’s reinforcements arrived.
