Tower of Avarice: A LitRPG story

Chapter 109 – Floor 9: Part 30

Yule approached Mathew cautiously despite the danger being over. The Lower Ranks were either dead or had retreated, except Mercy, who was still banished. She had watched everything from the protective cover of a wooden palisade the retreating army had left behind.

She had never seen anything like the fighting that had just occurred. It wasn’t just the superhuman strength, speed and magical powers. It was the viciousness both sides displayed, the lack of hesitation to strike, to kill.

Yule had heard Mathew speak of his time in the Tower, of how each Floor was a struggle. He had even touched on some of the events of the Seventh Floor, although he refused to elaborate more than simple descriptions of his time there.

But, after watching this battle, she could imagine how it had shaped these men and women to be what they were now. Each of them, despite their calm demeanours and sometimes genteel manners, was a monster on the inside.

They truly were Demon Lords.

“Yule, you shouldn’t have come. It’s not safe.” Mathew said, from where he leaned on his mace. He was waiting for Mercy to reappear so that they could put an end to this.

Kristen had prophesied she would be returning in mere moments, and the group of Upper Ranks were trying to recover what energy they could before the final showdown.

“Mercy won’t hurt us, and she promised the god of Accumulated Knowledge that we will be safe in your company.” Yule replied confidently as she stood next to him and assessed his wounds. They were mending, although Mathew’s clothing was in near tatters, and his body showed clear scars that even the magical elixirs he drank couldn’t remove.

Mathew scoffed at the words and shook his head.

“When Mercy reappears, she likely won’t even be human anymore. There’s no telling what she’s going to do. She’s likely to rip your head from your body as anything else. You should leave; this isn’t the place for a Local. It’s our business.” Mathew stated, and Alivia spoke up from the side where she was sitting on the muddy ground, her back up against a wooden crate.

“Leave her be, Mathew. She just wants to see you put an end to this. We all do.” Alivia asserted. Next to her, Aster stood with her lance ready in order to protect her friend from whatever happened next. The two had grown closer after defeating Lucas, and without her deck, Alivia was nearly defenceless.

“Fine.” Mathew let it go and sagged harder against the mace, burying its head deeper into the muck. Yule could see the exhaustion on his face, the regret of having to fight and kill, but the determination to protect those close to him.

She made sure to capture it perfectly in her notes for the chronicle. Yule knew that the future Lords and Ladies might twist and turn events here to their advantage, but the Cathedral’s Chronicles would always have the truth.

Yule was about to speak when Kristen interrupted them.

“She’s coming.”

Mercy ripped her way out of the prison space that Kristen had consigned her to, a grey plane lacking in anything but the Fiend-Tainted Mercy. It couldn’t contain her for long, but it had been enough time for the other battles to end.

Mathew watched as a pair of black talons emerged from a slight crack in the boundary between this Floor and wherever Kristen had banished Mercy. A grey mist leaked out, spilling onto the muddy ground and dissipating.

The talons gripped the edge of the portal and pushed, forcing it wider until a head surfaced. Long, black horns curled around a dark grey face crisscrossed with pulsing lines of crimson veins visible beneath its flesh.

Mercy was more of a Fiend than even Samuel had been, and Mathew was forced to remember his final encounter with the man on the Seventh Floor. What had Mercy sacrificed for this power? Was Mischievous Depravity, the former Outer Deity, still fueling her transformation, or was this powered by something else?

Mathew didn’t know or care. He needed to put Mercy down, not just for the safety of everyone here but for the security of the entire 9th Floor. They were here to be villains, a way to encourage the people of the Ninth Floor to cast off the yoke the Lords and Ladies had placed on them and become their own heroes.

But Mercy wasn’t what this Floor needed. As it was now, Mathew could see her killing her way through the nations of this world, indiscriminately killing everything in sight.

A clawed foot set down on the muddy ground, revealing her fully transformed figure to Mathew and the others. She was covered in a layer of armour, spiked and jagged, formed of a material similar to her horns and talons.

A thick exoskeleton, it completely protected the flesh beneath, and Mathew was struck by how similar it appeared to Samuel’s own armour when he became an Apostle of the Outer Deity. It moved and wrapped closely around her like her own skin, more a part of her body than armour ever would be.

Mathew wearily straightened his body and hefted the large, heavy mace over his shoulder. The increase in his body stat that the mace provided was the only reason he was still on his feet. Even potions and elixirs couldn’t completely drive away the accumulated weariness that had built upon him from the fighting.

“I don’t know if you can understand me, Mercy, but we can stop this right now. Surrender, and no one else has to get hurt.” Mathew offered the Fiend-Tainted, but Mercy was beyond comprehension. She was being driven by instinct and emotions.

As soon as Mercy was fully free of her imprisonment, she shot forward in a unparalleled display of strength. Mud and dirt shot out from behind her as her feet dug deeply into the ground to propel her forward.

Mathew barely had time to protect himself with the mace as a clawed hand slashed at his face. Not slowing in the slightest, Mercy gripped the haft of the mace with one hand to keep him in place while she cut toward him with the other.

He was forced to let go of the mace and leap backward to avoid the blow. Rolling across the ground, Mathew shot back to his feet and threw his hand forward while shouting.

“Mystic Bolt!” Energy flew from his hand, a bluish-white streak of mana that sizzled in the air as it moved. With his other, he recalled the mace to his other hand. The bolt of energy struck Mercy in the chest and impacted harmlessly, splintering into multiple shards that burned the ground when they landed.

Mercy screamed in rage at the assault, and a haze of reddish-black energy swirled around her. The horns on her head, already nearly a foot long, grew slightly as her rage fueled her transformation further. Mathew threw out another bolt before activating his ‘Blur’ blessing to better protect himself.

Like a heat haze, the air around him shimmered, and his figure distorted to those watching.

But to Mercy, whose instincts were honed by bloodlust and enhanced in her new form, she could easily pierce the disguise and launched herself at Mathew again, this time even faster than before.

“Shit.” Mathew cursed as the monster leapt toward him. He managed to grab one of her clawed hands when it cut toward him, but the other managed to pierce his side. He felt the magic of the Coward’s Brand activate, but it barely slowed.

“Now!” Mathew shouted, locking Mercy in place with all of his strength. So great was her fury that the Fiend-Tainted could see nothing but the enemy in front of her, allowing Aster to attack from behind. The lance in her hands shone with silver light as she put all of her remaining mana into the blow.

“Onerous Strike!”

The lance pierced Mercy’s side, cutting through the black armour and penetrating the flesh beneath. Mercy roared in anger and tried to swipe her claws at her but was held in place by Mathew.

“Thunder Dance: First Form – Piercing Fulmination!” Marvin shouted, his sabre flashed like a lightning strike toward Mercy’s back.

“Hunter’s Mark.” Aleks added, unloading his revolver into the Fiend. His hand was a blur as he rapidly pressed down on the hammer of his revolver, and the shots rang out in one, continuous bang. His hunter’s mark ensured that every bullet struck true.

The damage quickly accumulated on Mercy’s body, overwhelming her and momentarily weakening her for the next part of the plan.

“Do it Joseph!” Mathew ordered, and the Illusionist appeared out of his invisibility blessing next to Mathew. Looking into Mercy’s crimson eyes, he focused his mana and spoke.

“Lost in a Dream.”

The Blessing, which had been ineffective against her before, took hold immediately. Weakened as she was by their combined assault, she couldn’t resist Joseph as he forced her mind to enter a world of his creation.

Mercy’s eyes, filled with anger and hate, lost focus and slowly closed.