Overpowered Wizard

Chapter 285: B3: C75: Fulfill Your Whim

“Here,” Luciana said, reaching the thickest and most enchanted doorway on the entire invasion base.

Behind her, Zarian, and the skeleton punk legion, death and destruction covered the hallways with some floors and walls left in disarray or completely collapsed.

Zarian looked the heavy door up and down while slowly de-powering his Lion Prince skill. He checked for any consequences for twisting reality in his favor and found nothing significant.

He caught sight of multiple cracks and fractures appearing around Luciana’s doll body and figured the tricky Ultra Goddess had taken the brunt of the consequences for him.

That bothered him.

“Don’t suffer for me,” Zarian said.

She chuckled. “You are not the master of me, remember? If I wish to suffer, I will suffer. Or would your freedom not allow such?”

Zarian shook his head at the mad young goddess. He didn’t agree with the arranged marriage, but his Ultra Family certainly knew how to pick them.

Back to feeling like a weak, frail, and vulnerable wizard, Zarian took his time to adjust. Everything felt faster and more intense compared to when he had the physical boost from Lion Prince.

Morph made a squealing noise from the sheer shock of getting a 250% boost to the grimoire skill. Zarian moved ahead quickly before the enemies inside could counter him, the wizard casting No Hard Walls on the door.

Technically, it wasn’t a wall. But Zarian had long realized spells were more philosophical than exact, especially with the help of Aura Mastery, so the door melted into water regardless of its high quality and enchantments.

Luciana crashed into him, moving him aside. A deluge of dark green magic flowed through the opening and struck all the skeletons they’d brought here.

Zarian watched while slammed into the corner as his skeletons turned to ash after coming in contact with the outrageously deadly dark green magic. Even the punk skeleton giants stood no chance as the enemy’s magic eradicated them and left nothing but green-tinted scorch marks and ash in the power’s wake.

Counter now.

Zarian flipped out from under Luciana’s doll body. She felt light in his arms, too light. She was missing her legs. His heart sank for a split second until he reminded himself that this was only an avatar of his wife.

He looked at her cracked face. Her eyes blinked with a click, her smile remaining, showing him she was clearly unbothered, unlike him. He placed her down gently in the corner and gave her a pat on her head.

“Wait for me,” he said.

“Maybe I will. Maybe I won’t.” She remained in the corner, watching his back as he entered through the melted doorway.

Zarian unleashed the twenty remaining blood blasts and void blasts. The shock and awe caught the ten individuals waiting in the command center off guard.

The blood blasts burned their life energy and sent them reeling back in horror. The void blasts knocked out all the sensitive magitek electronics, holographic screens, and advanced magic-science equipment that seemed more like Science Fiction compared to the Fantasy elements Zarian had seen in the Star System Universe.

Nonetheless, the room went dark, and the darkness thickened as Zarian became an impossible nightmare. His Wizard Body Conversion skill activated, turning him into something akin to the void, as another roaring torrent of dark green destruction slammed into him and failed to eradicate him on the spot.

Zarian responded with an unrestrained volley of void spears. He skewered nine of them instantly, snuffing out the rest of their lives.

A single man remained. He didn’t wear helmets like the others. He didn’t wear the biker-like cyberpunk gear, either.

Instead, he wore a mix of medieval armor and practical modernized military gear with neon runes on the hard edges. He had a salt-and-pepper look to him and scars across his face. In his gloved hands, he wielded some of the purest destruction magic Zarian had seen.

“I’m taking that skill,” Zarian promised.

“Over my dead body,” grunted the Invasion Leader.

“That can easily be arranged.”

The Invasion Leader rocketed across the command center with blazing dark green flames roaring behind him. He punched down at Zarian and entered the void along with the wizard.

Surprisingly, the old man endured the void better than most, continuing to unleash dark green flames of the purest destruction, making the trip more costly for Zarian’s limited aura.

By the time they exited the void, Zarian focused more on his One Percent Darkness to block a series of immense and explosive attacks that demolished the room further around them.

If it wasn’t for the command center’s incredible structural integrity, they would’ve busted out instantly. Instead, every shockwave bounced around them, only finding a way out through the open doorway the Conquest Wizard had entered through.

Zarian found his position becoming more precarious as his aura drained away from trying to fight the Invasion Leader head on while the old man kept coming at him with dark green fists of destruction.

It was clear the Invasion Leader was trying to win the war of attrition, and he probably had this in mind the whole time while sacrificing his troops against Zarian.

Can’t let him kill me and reset. I’ll have to unseal Overwhelming Darkness again.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Zarian searched through his laundry list of options and found them all unserviceable. So he played the only hand he had and entered an attrition warfare willingly.

First, he gathered nine orb charges of Blazing Blood Blast from the recently deceased. Then he unleashed them all on the Invasion Leader.

The old man roared as his life energy burned under the crimson flames. He still refused to back off as he kept throwing punches like a dark-green-flaming machine gun. He even got better at destroying Zarian’s One Percent Defenses and striking through Zarian’s void body conversion.

So Zarian switched things up again. He changed his Wizard Body Conversion to reflect his Blazing Blood Blasts. His body became a hungering fiend for life energy.

When he touched the Invader Leader, even more life energy drained away from the old man and into Zarian’s body. But the Conquest Wizard had to take a dozen solid punches of destruction in return.

Zarian’s face turned to ash and revealed a grinning skull. The muscles along his shoulders and his torso darkened and disintegrated. All of his movements became jerky and slow, making him seem like an easy target as the Invasion Leader circled around and aimed to strike the back of Zarian’s head.

Got you.

Before the Invasion Leader realized his mistake, Zarian used the skill boost from Overpowered Times Two again. He focused the power on the Lion Prince, specifically the tail.

Then he struck the Invasion Leader in the jaw with a fast and powerful tail whip, landing like a slug from a magitek rail cannon.

The old man’s jaw fragmented. His boots left the deck. His back struck the thick see-through glass plane that endured the entire fight without a single crack, except for that moment.

The window turned into a spider web of cracks before the Invasion Leader crashed down. The man tried to push up, but he was at the end of his ropes as the crimson flames continued to consume the rest of his life greedily.

Zarian shambled forward like a zombie, his skull face grinning down at the Invasion Leader. Then, with a raspy growl, Zarian said, “I’ll be taking that skill now.”

The man tried to act with one last attack of defiance. Zarian’s One Percent Spikes skewered the Invasion Leader in the limbs, stopping him in place, before Zarian’s aura invaded the old man’s aura, digging deep into his profile, finding the exact skill he wanted despite the foreignness of a profile from another System Universe.

After some struggle, Zarian traced the alien runes and copied the new Level 0 skill into his soul. He did it right on time before the last of the Invasion Leader’s life snuffed away, flowing straight into Zarian.

“Ah, now that’s a nice way to win,” Zarian said with a rasp from his skull face.

Glancing up, a few notifications appeared. He knew the Enslavement System was speaking based on the aggressive dings sounding in his head.

<It seems you have temporarily blocked your destiny to being enslaved! Very well! The enslavement of the Star System and the darkness has been delayed for now.>

<You have three minutes to flee through the portal before it closes!>

<If you don’t make it through that portal, then the Enslavement System has full jurisdiction over you.>

Three minutes was plenty of time.

Zarian shambled out of the ruined command center and found the upper half of Luciana waiting in the corner. She still had a creepy smile and gleeful wide-eyed look on her face.

“We can leave,” he said.

“Let’s choose a more exciting exit,” she replied.

“Is this where you betray me by separating me from my friends in the most horrible universe with an overly aggressive System?” Zarian asked.

Luciana leaned forward, still grinning like a loon. “Want to see if I do or don’t?”

Zarian mulled it over before deciding to wait. He wanted to see Luciana play another one of her ultra cards, and he figured the best way to do that was to put himself in the worst position he imagined.

So Zarian waited. The Enslavement System counted down all the way to zero. Then the way back to the Star System was gone, and the notifications from the Enslavement System sounded gleeful about that.

<You’ve failed to return to your universe!>

<In ten minutes, the most powerful regressors of the upper realms will be transported to Corpo Slave World Surging Ice Wrath. There is no escape for you now.>

<You will be captured.>

<You will be ENSLAVED!>

“Mm, excellent, I can shed all pretenses then,” Luciana said, speaking with more authenticity belonging to her godly power.

The doll stopped functioning. The nearest shadows deepened and moved like oil. A shadowy specter floated in the air to the corner of Zarian’s peripherals.

He didn’t bother to turn and look fully. Ultra Gods seemed to have a thing of hiding their true forms out of direct view, him included.

The Enslavement System returned with notifications that didn’t sound so pleased. In fact, they seemed … scared.

<What are you doing?>

<Stop that!>

<You’re … you’re … invading past my parameters!>

<Stoooo-oo-p!>

The notifications from the Enslavement System cut off.

Zarian reminded himself to seal away his darkness and power down. He turned about as the shadows deepened further. Then he heard soft weeping from multiple voices, some like children, some like crones, some like lost men.

The voices were legion, all distinct, except for the obvious sorrow and tragedy their cries carried. With all that sorrowful noise happening, the walls dripped oily liquids that Zarian knew very well – Shadowfell Tears.

“I think I get it now,” Zarian said. “You were following the rules while acting through a summoned avatar in the conflict between System Universes. But now that it’s over, you’re exercising more of your power.”

“I’m exercising power I haven’t explored before,” Luciana said in a soft, alluring, and melodic tone. “I can’t use these powers inside of the Star System or I might corrupt too much. But here … in the Enslavement System … I can do whatever I like with this minor piece of me.”

“Only a minor piece, huh? Fucking aye. How far are you planning to push it?”

“That’s what I want to hear from you. How far would you like me to push it, my dear? Tell me. I will fulfill your whim.”

Zarian shifted slowly from side-to-side. He was juiced up with extra life energy, but his body was still partially destroyed along the face and torso. He felt no pain, thankfully, but he definitely felt odd. That might be from having his skull and ribs exposed.

He probably should get some healing before making a decision that would decide the fate of an entire universe.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

Zarian made his choice.

“Corrupt. Destroy. Eat the Enslavement System from the inside out. And do as much evil as you want as long as you balance it out with kindness to those who require it. I know that’s vague. And I know you can do whatever you like regardless of what I say. So, I hope you can decipher the intent of my words and follow the spirit.”

There was a tense silence, Luciana’s cosmically unburdened piece of herself chewing on his words. After a while, Zarian felt ghostly fingers comb through his hair gently and stroke down the jawline of his face.

Luciana made her choice.

“I will follow the spirit of your intent then, husband. More importantly, I will return you home before I commit to this work. All I ask for this service is to make me feel special when you can. Arranged marriage or not … I’m still your wife. Please don’t ignore me.”

Zarian’s tail lowered to the ground. “Maybe I should stay and see things through. What if you have to face an Ultra God or something?”

A clear image of Luciana’s darkly painted, luscious lips appeared inside Zarian’s mind. She left an imprint of a beautiful smile on him, stunning him.

Before he could shake off the image of her dark and beautiful smile, she ripped a hole through space and time, disregarding all powers and parameters of the Enslavement System. Then the minor piece of Luciana shoved him away, casting him into the spiraling shadow portal.

Zarian felt something similar to traveling through a wormhole, but this time it was dark and comforting, just like the first wormhole he’d found in the mall.