Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System
Chapter 152: The Hero

Entrusting his comrades to handle the golden knight, he pressed his palm against the sleek door. It was cool to the touch, replaceing his hand not making contact with the perceived solid object, but as though his fingers traversed a moist cloud.

A weightlessness overtook his body as his vision shifted from that of the doorway to an entirely different scenery.

"Huh–?" Finn quietly let out in confusion.

A sensation rose through his body as though waves ran across his skin, replaceing himself rising through the sky. It took him a moment to realize he was now standing on a silver platform that ascended from the peak of the palace.

'The moment I touched the door…I was transported to this–some kind of elevator in the sky? Where is it leading?' He questioned.

Bringing his gaze upward, the upside down landscape that acted as the sky, mirroring the ashen fields far below, had a circular hole through it. As the platform rose closer to the gaping hole in the sky-bound land, a swirl of dark clouds guided the lift.

Though the weather shaped itself around the lift, spiraling up like the shaft of an elevator, it didn't push at the assassin.

As it passed through the gap in the sky landscape, he found himself being risen through a grand scenery. Your next read is at m v|l-e'-NovelFire.net

A true sky; though rather than a pale blue, it was violet with a golden complexion bleeding into it. All of it left fractured with cracks in the horizon as though it was made of glass.

'There's a real sky…? It's on the verge of shattering, it looks like—can't be much longer,' he thought.

Past a collection of drifting clouds in the shattering sky, a structure was suspended at the world's peak. A vast, glass platform surrounded by walls of swirling clouds; the eye of the storm and the world itself.

Approaching that transparent place brought a chill across his body, as though taking strides right into the mouth of a raging tornado. Despite that feeling gnawing at his mind, it was a rather tranquil looking structure, bathed in sublime radiance.

When confronting monsters of horrific appearances and intentions, he no longer found his heart racing nor his skin clad in sweat, yet the thought of confronting Sirius was something else entirely.

'--I've come a long way. From flipping burgers to facing down a god…It's not a huge leap, is it? Just stay loose, and you've got this,' he tried to instill confidence in himself.

Bringing a breath into his lungs was a tad more difficult at the incredibly high altitudes, exhaling as he prepared himself. The platform brought itself to the perfect destination, sliding right into the circular gap in the structure bound to the sky.

A constant parade of wind brushed against his hair and coat as he stood on the glass floor, only mere inches from standing on the sky itself. Across the minimal structure, he viewed the dedicated lord of the First Order, looking up with a melancholy in his eyes as his messy, black hair swayed in the unruly winds.

Finn looked up at what the Storm King gazed at; a colossal orb sat at the highest point of the world, just above the glass box, producing a supreme glow of magenta that warded the storm.

"From the moment I was born, my purpose has been to protect this world."

The melancholic words were softly spoken through the quiet storm that swirled at the world's summit, bringing the assassin's gaze back to the lonesome figure in the clouds.

Sirius stayed with his side turned to him, not moving his gaze from the orb above, "I never once thought of it as a burden nor a curse. That's just who I am. Until my body is dust and my soul is cast to the wind, I'll protect this world–"

Finally, the youthful lord's focus turned to the assassin as electricity coiled around his limbs, sparking in the air with a valiant glow.

"Even if it may crumble," Sirius declared. "It will only do so once I draw my last breath."

["Sleuth Status"]

[...Assessing information about [???]...]

[LORD Identified: "The God of Heroes, Sirius"]

[Level: 100]

Finn kept his daggers ready, though didn't yet attack as he looked at the noticeable exhaustion worn on the godly figure's face. Uneven breaths left Sirius' lips as he seemed almost too tired even to properly stand.

The cracks in the sky only seemed to stretch further as the colossal sphere flickered.

"Sirius, it's over…This world, it's not going to last much longer, is it?" Finn sincerely asked. "What're you even fighting for at this point–? It won't accomplish anything. Everybody is gone. You're not obligated to do anything anymore…Just rest now."

The attempt at persuasion brought a small smile to the lips of the benevolent man, bringing Sirius to laugh softly, "You're not wrong, Finn. Right now, I'm holding the world together with everything I've got–barely. That orb above us…It's my soul. This world's heart has died…Think of it as a transplant–it'll maybe last another day."

"Then why–?" Finn asked.

"You're doing exactly the same, aren't you? Fighting for your world–no, it's simpler than that. Fighting to survive–what's wrong with that?" Sirius asked genuinely.

While it was a logical reason, not for a moment did Finn buy it as he looked at the figure that embodied the very concept of heroism. In that glass box amidst the crumbling sky, he saw right through the words of the man-god.

"You're not the type of guy that fears death, though. I'm just throwing a guess out there, but I'm pretty certain about it," Finn accused.

"That's where you're wrong. I'm terrified of death–of nothingness. The moment I fall, so does everything I've ever known," Sirius explained with a melancholic smile that soon turned into one driven as the electricity around his body sparked. "--What awaits me at the end is the loneliest death. So, I'm going to fight against it until the bitter end–as I've always done."

By the way the strands of lightning coiled around the body of the man of depleting godhood, it was clear to Finn that hoping to end this all by means of talking wasn't going to happen.

'There's nothing that can really be said. The only way to get what we want is to kill him–that's just the way it is,' he resolved, clenching the handle of his dagger.

A silence between them settled that the time for discussion was over; all that was left now was a confrontation–one that the assassin seldom wanted. In hopes of seizing the initiative for himself, Finn kicked himself forward, trusting the glass to be unbreakable–

["Spring Foot"] [0:59]

As he broke the distance between himself and the lightning-wielding figure in an instant, getting within striking distance–he pivoted.

["Flicker"]

In a single moment, he warped himself only a couple steps, bringing himself right behind Sirius, then vanishing again as he arrived at his right. This repeated multiple times across a single second, fastly flickering from one spot to the next to overwhelm his opponent's senses.

–One.

–Two.

–Five.

–Twelve.

All at once, he produced over a dozen fakeouts in that moment, all to bring his dagger as close to the neck of the God of Heroes as he could.

["Wraith Flame"] [Mana: -100] [3500/4000]

A coating of white-and-emerald flames extended from his dagger as he slashed it towards the exposed side of Sirius' neck in that pivotal fraction of a moment.

"Gotta be faster than that."

The calm voice of the thunder bringer was quickly overwhelmed by a roar of wind as a flash of magenta light filled his vision in that moment. In that split-second, all he perceived was a casual nudge of Sirius' wrist in his direction, followed by a build-up of sparks in the air.

All of the breath was shot from his lungs as a burning sensation centered in his abdomen, replaceing himself flung back rapidly by the swift force.

'What…happened? I couldn't even see it–he countered? With lightning?' Finn figured out amidst his unwelcome flight.

The glass structure quickly distanced itself as he was pushed through the clouds, replaceing the force behind the swift bolt devastating.

What awaited him was a descent tens of thousands of meters above the ground; a thought that accelerated through his mind as the fragmenting sky cracked around him.

Still, he forced himself to control his breathing, not letting his mind panic as he calmly tossed his dagger towards the glass box–

["Blade Warp"] [Mana: -100] [3400/4000]

As he caught his dagger, the sensation of solid ground beneath his feet made him slip a bit before he caught himself, quickly returning his focus to the monumental foe before him.

Looking down, he found a chunk of his coat burned away at the front with a steaming bruise left on his stomach. It quickly became purple, tightening with a sensitive pain, though it was nothing debilitating; only thanks to his leveled body did he replace himself in that condition.

'I'm fine…It hurts, but it's nothing I can't handle–that was just a casual display of strength from him though, wasn't it? Even as he is now, he's in an entirely different realm,' Finn analyzed, watching the figure across the transparent structure.