《Souls Hero Academia》Chapter 27: From Zero to a Hundred (2)
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The group of teens and one Undead hurriedly rushed into the building. Once they entered, all of them stopped and listened for any kind of signs which could pinpoint earlier activity.
"Shoji, anything?"
"None so far," Shoji used his tentacles to mimic noses and ears to get a better grasp of the surroundings. There was no sound nor smell out of place in the building.
"Strange, I hoped that since they were Undead, they would smell like corpses," Shoji muttered to himself, which Izuku managed to pick up with his superior senses.
"Careful Shoji, thinking of Undead like that would cost you," Izuku apathetically stared at Shoji, much to his chagrin. "I'm not talking about feelings, I'm talking about cunning and wits, and if Patches is anything to go by, one misstep and you're done."
"... Noted," Shoji gulped air as he redoubled his efforts to sense the surroundings for the two Undead.
"... Alright, looking for them is a death sentence in and of itself," Izuku whispered to his group. Who knew if Patches was close by listening to their every word? "Bakugo, blast some holes on the walls but don't touch the pillars. I don't want this whole building crashing down on us."
Bakugo nodded in affirmation and his sweat that was already on his hand sparked. The next moment, he blasted a hole in the wall leading to a room nearby. One glance at the hole and everybody was able to see the insides of the room.
'Alright, 1st room clear,' Izuku brought out a catalyst, specifically, Logan's Catalyst. It basically looks like a wizard's staff if found on a movie set, but if looked closely, you could sense the lingering aura of the now-deceased great sorcerer and seeker of knowledge, Big Hat Logan.
After having killed Logan as an act of mercy (Izuku hated every second of it), he found this staff inside a small library room in the Duke's Archive.
"Gather here, now." Izuku's no-nonsense tone had the other teenagers quickly gather around. With a wave of the staff, the bodies of the group of students glowed for a second before vanishing. Another wave of the staff and their bodies became transparent.
The group of teenagers – sans Izuku and Shoji who had a mask on – had their jaws drop to the ground.
"... Wha-"
"Quiet, now listen carefully," Izuku glared at Aoyama, who was having panic attacks at not being his usual glittery self. "I've masked our sounds and made our bodies harder to see. With this, Bakugo can move up to a wall and blast it without being noticed. That said, the blast will still have noise, but your approach won't."
"... Hm, useful," Bakugo smirked as a maddened glint appeared in his eyes. The endless possibilities!
The remaining two shivered in fear.
"... Follow the plan," Izuku warned and everybody nodded.
So, like that, they rushed through the first floor and second floor, blasting walls to make holes big enough to see enough of the room to get a confirmation it was empty.
It wasn't until 7 minutes into the match where they encountered a heavy armored Siegward visibly combat-ready with his trusty Zweihander in his right hand and spiked shield on his left.
"Hmm... I must say, you young ones have so much energy. Breaking walls to potentially catch my... co-worker off-guard, as well as clear the room of suspicion," Siegward pointed the pointy end of his Zweihander towards Izuku, a smirk on his face hidden by the onion-themed helmet. "Hmm... Truly, marvelous, I tip my hat, or in this case, my helmet to you, fellow Undead."
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"... You really are alike," Izuku muttered under his breath, his helmet hiding his genuine smile. In case you were wondering, Izuku was wearing the Elite Knight Set. He sometimes switched between the Artorias Set for speed, Havel Set for Defence, and the Elite Knight Set for general use.
Sure, he could use other armor that was just clothes to lighten him up more. Hell, if this world had no laws, he would go full-blown naked just to get that extra speed needed to dodge attacks.
Ahhh... He still remembered killing those damned Bell Gargoyles with nothing but the Drake Sword and a loincloth.
Good times...
Anyway, Izuku mused long enough to himself. He gestured towards Bakugo, who was beginning to get antsy for action if his twitching hands were any indication.
Taking this as the go-ahead, Bakugo forgot all restraint and went HAM on Siegward, with Aoyama occasionally blasting a beam of pure light and glitters at the Onion Knight.
Loud explosions echoed throughout the room, halls, building, and the general area where they were battling. Siegward, a veteran of life and death battles, effortlessly parried, blocked, and dodged Bakugo's relentless attacks.
Although the body obscuring sorcery as well as the muffling sorcery was a bit irritating to the Knight, it wasn't enough to drastically impair his battle senses.
That's how Siegward was able to survive in that desolate place.
The only reason why Izuku was hit by Bakugo during their Battle Trials was that Izuku was becoming rusty. 10 months of no fighting would do that to any veteran.
That said, he recovered from his fight with the Abyss Watchers. Now, Izuku was sure no one in his class could touch him, well, maybe Bakugo, Iida, and Todoroki could, but that was if they were lucky and Izuku wasn't paying attention.
Which would never happen.
He wrote off Momo because of her self-confidence issue, as well as her sub-par decision-making due to said self-confidence issue. It can be fixed in the future, making her a possible threat if they ever fight, but right now, she was nothing more than an insect compared to Izuku's hardened skills.
Bakugo blasted himself to the right using his explosive sweat. Not a moment later, the business end of a giant sword was piercing where his stomach would've been had he not dodged.
Bakugo was sweating, he knew a losing battle when he saw one. Sparkles was already down for the count, his stomach roaring in protest at the abuse it was going through.
'Heh... Fucking hell,' Bakugo launched propelled himself to the air, his eyes not leaving the figure of the Onion Knight. One look at his posture and Bakugo saw that he was holding back considerably. In the past, this would've sent him on a warpath, but now...
'Goddamn, fucking Onion Teach's no ass,' Bakugo grinned as he pumped himself to full throttle. 'But that's even better!'
"PLUS ULTRA!" Bakugo roared as his senses went into overdrive. He was pretty sure he would collapse once this fight was over, but he didn't care. He was fighting against an incredibly powerful opponent, and this was a very huge opportunity to fix the mistakes in his fighting style.
For all of his life, ever since he got his Quirk, everybody always praised him, fueling his ego until it got big as Jupiter itself. It was only until recently that he had a wake-up call, but that wasn't the point.
The point was that there was no one willing to fight him at full power, Izuku doesn't count.
Now though, there was a living training dummy that used a huge ass sword that could take his hits and come out none the worse.
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It was the perfect opportunity.
Bakugo dodged a stab and countered with a blast to the legs. It was dodged and he was briefly blindsided by a shield that hit his side. Spit came flying from his mouth, but he took this as an opening.
Grabbing the shield arm, Bakugo blasted himself upward while tightly gripping on said arm. Siegward was briefly surprised before using his strength to regain his center of balance. However, due to the sudden jerk of force, Siegward failed and was briefly hoisted up in the air.
Bakugo grinned at his success, then proceeded to rain down explosions on the Onion Knight's armor, his eyes never leaving the upper half body of Siegward who was defenseless against the explosions.
Sadly, Bakugo forgot one rule in battle, and that was to never let your enemy out of your sight, even if it was just half of his body.
Sharp pain on his nether regions caused him to cry in shock and pass out due to the pain.
Shoji, who saw this covered up his balls and whimpered.
"... I didn't think you could do a high kick with that armor..." Izuku winced in sympathy towards a Bakugo who was frothing at the mouth.
"Oh! Er... Forgive me, young lad," Siegward quickly crouched down to appease the frothing teen. Sadly, Bakugo was completely unconscious due to the pain.
Meanwhile, All Might was seen coughing up large amounts of blood due to the... trauma-inducing scene before him.
Back to the fight...
Aoyama was paled-faced as he bore witness to the jewel crushing that happened to his teammate. Couple that with the pain in his bowels, he passed out on the floor.
"... I hope the blonde lad forgives me... Hmm... Quite a pickle indeed," Siegward muttered as he sat down and brought out a flask, the famous Siegbrau drink.
"... Great Gwyn above... I'd hate to be that guy," a voice piped in from the sideline. Shoji quickly snapped towards the voice to see a fully armed Patches. "Ah ah ah, unless you want one of yer limbs amputated, you best stop glaring at me like that."
"That said, I would still cut it off either way," Patches tapped the ground with the butt of his spear, a large tower shield, capable of hiding his entire body behind it on his left arm.
Izuku made a split-second decision to dash towards Patches and slash at him with his broadsword. Patches deftly blocked the slash and countered with a stab with his spear. Izuku spotted an opportunity and parried the stab skillfully with his shield.
Patches lost his center of gravity due to the parry and tried to recover, only to get the business end of the broadsword to his side, and with his armor being simple cloth, a huge gash formed on his body, blood dripping from the open wound.
Patches winced and chuckled, before getting a kick to the face, courtesy of Izuku, towards a shocked Shoji. Quickly taking the hint, Shoji used his massive strength to knock out Patches who was lying on the ground due to a concussion.
Being kicked with a metal boot on your unprotected bald head would do that to you.
A few seconds later, Patches could be seen unmoving on the ground with a huge slash wound at his side and a bruised face. Izuku then looked towards Siegward who was finished with his drink.
"As a Knight of Catarina, an honorable duel with a Lord of Cinder would bring me great joy," Siegward raised his Zweihander to his shoulder. Izuku knew his weapon would not work with his current enemy, so he swapped the broadsword with something better for this situation.
He brought out Smough's Great Hammer.
Shoji paled at the huge hammer, imagined himself getting hit with that... thing. He quickly shook it off. Siegward however took it in stride, although, he knew he was at a huge disadvantage.
Izuku was the first to move, his speed mind-boggling for a figure wearing full body armor and hefting a giant hammer twice the size of the wielder. Izuku brought down the hammer against the Onion Knight.
Siegward dodged to the side and brought out a talisman while Izuku stopped the hammer an inch just before hitting the floor. The strength of the strike brought out a strong gust of wind that was able to push back Shoji who was a heavyweight.
A quick prayer and Siegward's body began to glow before the light faded. Izuku had no idea what it was but prepared for the worst.
Izuku once again charged, and instead of smashing it downwards, Izuku swiped it sidewards. Siegward backstepped the attack, before counterattacking with an overhead swipe.
Izuku used the force of the hammer to continue into a sideward roll since he knew Siegward wouldn't be able to change the course of his sword due to its weight.
The sword landed on the floor causing cracks to appear. Izuku ignored this and continued with his swing, and since Siegward had no choice but to block it with his shield, he just did so.
A sickening crunch later and Siegward found himself soaring through the sky out of the building.
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"What a fight, fellow Undead!" Siegward boisterously claimed as he shared his Siegbrau with Izuku, who in turn accepted the drink with a smile. "If it wasn't for my miracle, I would've ended up dead again!"
Izuku nodded as he partook in the drinking festivity with the Onion Knight. From what he could garner from his fellow Undead Onion Knight, the miracle he used was called Sacred Oath. It enchants his sword, shield, and armor to deal more damage, as well as take more punishment.
A fine miracle to use against countless other adversaries.
It was the day after they fought, just a few minutes before class. Siegward was waiting in class, probably ordered to as a hero assistant.
The other students who went up against him shivered.
It was no wonder why they did so. None of their plans, schemes, and attacks worked. Whatever countermeasure they had in mind failed utterly against the Onion Knight who had a vast amount of experience in life-or-death battles.
Especially against grouped enemies, the major reason why he chose to use the Zweihander in the first place.
As for Patches, he was smiling smugly at the rest of the teens. His injuries yesterday were patched up and healed by the Undead's favorite drink, Estus.
Uraraka hated him to the bone if a kick off the window was any indication.
Thank God for Zero Gravity, the same couldn't be said for her stomach.
A few minutes later of pointless banter and Aizawa came in, his mummy cosplay still in effect. He headed to the teacher's desk, just beside the two standing Undead, and registered his student's faces.
'They look like they had fun,' Aizawa rolled his eyes towards the students, a smirk hidden behind the bandages.
"I've reviewed your battles, and from what I could observe, all of you are sorely lacking in improvisation," Aizawa remarked while showing a few scenes of their defeat against the two Undead. "That said, you all were up against a foe that you could not beat, but that's par for the course in the Hero business."
Most of the students' winced at Aizawa's harsh words, but could not refute any due to how true they were. Hero business was no longer their career to quick fame, richness, success. Instead, it was now full of traps, obstacles, and death waiting at every turn.
"Anyway, I've scolded you all enough, here are the videos of your beating," Aizawa clicked a button and a huge Television screen lighted up, before showing a scene of Team A fighting against the two Undead.
"Your plan was solid, with little to no flaws," Aizawa paused the video right before they started fighting. "But your opponents were not conventional fighters, I suggest you brush up on your creativity in planning before trying to undertake a fight against a cunning opponent."
A quick view of Iida distracting Siegward came to view, with Sero throwing tape around the area in hopes of trapping the bald Undead, but not too much that it would hinder the speed of their speedster.
Mina was with Hagakure, the pink-skinned teen throwing sticky liquid instead of harmful acid towards the heavily armored Onion Knight in hopes of slowing him down more, while the invisible teen was waiting for the right time to strike against the bald Undead.
The first mistake was thinking that Siegward would slow down from the hindering liquid.
He did not.
The next was using tape to trap Patches, who was wielding a very sharp spear that could cut through it easily from a distance.
And whoever thought that they could not sense invisible enemies were just waiting to be blown into the next universe.
Siegward threw the liquid towards Iida using slashes that voluntarily missed, slowing the speedster in the process. Sero saw this and tried to wrap the Knight in tape, but was foiled by a collision, courtesy of his naked, invisible classmate.
Patches then proceeded to distract Mina while Siegward pounded Iida to the moon with the hilt of his Zweihander once he caught him due to his slowness. Once Iida was unconscious, Mina was next, and you could say the both of them triggered a bad memory inside Mina's head, which caused her to fight like a rabid animal while flinging lethal acid everywhere without any inhibitions.
Sad to say, her classmates were hit, though not that bad since the two Undead were able to subdue the rabid student. Iida had to repair his suit, Sero was lucky since Hagakure was on top of him, but the same couldn't be said to the invisible girl.
The reason why she was currently absent with Mina feeling incredibly guilty.
'Note to self, continue her therapy after class,' Aizawa mentally stored the information in his brain. Sure, the rest of the class were still receiving therapy, but most were already beginning to recover.
The next scene proceeded to play.
"Okay, first off, I would like to remind all of you to remember your teammates' weaknesses and strengths," Aizawa showed a clip where Tsuyu went into hibernation mid-fight against Siegward while Shoto was using his flames to simultaneously attack Siegward and warm the hibernation frog-teen. "If this ever happened in the middle of a real fight, there would be a disastrous consequence."
"Next off, practice your split-second decision making, as well as adaptability," Aizawa then pressed another button to show a clip of Momo taking too much time to react against Patches, thus getting bonked in the head with the butt of his spear, leading to her crashing on the ground. After that, Ojiro was ultimately beaten down with skills and unpredictable moves because Ojiro could not get into a stance to counter said attacks.
The clip continued to the next team.
"Mineta," Aizawa's icy tone froze the midget in his place. "One more stunt like that, and you will be expelled, no questions asked, understand?"
"Y-y-y-yes-s s-s-si-siirrr!" Mineta shook uncontrollably while glares of disgust radiated off from Uraraka and Jirou, as well as the two Undead.
The clip won't be shown to the students, but what happened was Mineta tried to help, but instead, got distracted with the... jiggling boobs of the brunette due to Patches playing around with her, and not in the lewd way mind you.
That distraction was enough for Patches to knock him out with a solid kick to the head.
"Also, more brawn does not necessarily equate to more chances of winning, if the said consequence was the degrading of your mental faculties," Aizawa showed the class a clip of Sato ingesting too much sugar to increase his strength, only to fail at fighting Siegward due to being easily exploitable from his predictable attacks.
Kyoka was, all in all, doing good, but her good was not enough so she was knocked out by Siegward as well. She was just outmatched, the same could be said for Uraraka who had no hand-to-hand combat experience as she tried to grab ahold of the slippery bald Undead.
"Piece of advice, learn some type of CQC (Close Quarters Combat) or CQB (Close Quarters Battle). It might save your life one day," Aizawa stated with a glare. Uraraka nodded meekly, with Jirou looking sheepish.
Another click and the next video was playing.
Aizawa remembered this one, and winced sympathetically towards Bakugo's suffering... Although, this could be good to troll the class, so why the hell not show it to them?
"For this team, I suggest better teamwork," Aizawa eyed Midoriya, though, from the viewing, he could tell that he was a lone-wolf type. "And also, Aoyama, try and ask the Support Department to see if you can remove that side-effect, or if not possible, lessen it instead."
The now not-so-sparkly teen nodded solemnly.
Then the video arrived at the part where Bakugo had his balls crushed by a metal boot. Needless to say, Bakugo cringed at the sight. The feeling was not pleasant, AT ALL. The rest of the males, sans Izuku, drew back, feeling phantom pains, while the females expressed their condolences towards the explosive teen.
Then it showed Izuku demolishing the two Undead with skills and strength far superior to them if the giant hammer was any indication. Their eyes widened at the sight of Siegward flying out of the building from just a swing of a hammer, granted it was a giant one.
The next team clip was next and it showed Fumikage being beaten by a rejuvenated Patches, with Eijiro falling from fatigue by holding back Siegward, who was a bit shocked by Kaminari sending his entire brain cells to oblivion from one massive electric attack.
"Wheeeeyyyy!"
It hurt like hell, but nothing the Onion Knight couldn't handle. Koda was completely useless because of no animals in sight and his refusal to use his quirk on bugs and insects, not that it would deter the two Undead in combat.
Living as a walking corpse would do that to you.
"Koda, my advice to you is to get over your fear of insects. Kaminari, don't rely on one big attack that would send you out of commission. You never know what your opponent could do if he endures the attack. Tokoyami, also try to get some experience on CQC and CQB, and don't always rely on your quirk. Kirishima, don't always tank the hits, if you can, dodge it to avoid losing more stamina."
Aizawa clicked one more button and the T.V. shut off.
"Anyway, reviews are over. Wait for your next teacher to come in. In any case, dismissed."
A quick round of "Yes, sir!" was heard throughout the room and Siegward and Patches followed Aizawa out of the room.
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A few minutes before lunch...
Izuku had a tick mark on his head. One thing he remembered fondly while he was back in Lordran was eating, and the annoying students who were perched outside their classroom blocking their route made him want to bring out Smough's Greathammer and smack the nearest student into red paste.
"Excuse me, but can you please move aside?" Izuku politely asked the students who were blocking his way. "I'm hungry and lunch won't last long."
Nobody moved. All of them were curious as to what happened at the USJ. All of them, as well as their parents, were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements about the whole incident that sent a whole class of Hero students to the hospital, with others in very, very bad states.
For Todoroki though, who lost an arm, a cover-up was quickly made. A training accident happened, and in Hero careers, it was not uncommon to lose a limb due to a mistake, although the amount of flak U.A. got from it was pretty harsh, it was a better outcome than showing what truly happened at the USJ.
It was at that moment a purple-haired teen began walking up to them with a scowl. He took a glance at Izuku, then towards his posse, a.k.a. Bakugo, Uraraka, Kirishima, Jirou, and Momo.
"Are you Hero students? You don't look like much," and with one sentence, Izuku already didn't like the student. If he had to guess, he was a General Studies student that was rejected from the Hero Course.
One glance and Izuku scoffed. Bakugo as well, scowled at the purple-haired teen.
'This damn extra, mocking me! I went through hell to get here!'
Bakugo approached the teen and gave him his best menacing glare. The purple-haired teen winced slightly but schooled his expression into a disinterested look.
"What's it to ya, damn extra? If you think you have a chance in fucking hell to get into the Hero course, think again creepy weirdo! Not with that body, you ain't!" Bakugo poked a finger at the stomach of the purple-haired teen, feeling soft, flabby flesh instead of rock-hard abs. The teen took a step back from the poke and glared at Bakugo.
'This is what he is? Pathetic, fucking extra.'
"Bakugo, enough, let's go," Izuku calmed the explosive teen and went on their way towards the cafeteria.
"Oh, you'll see," the purple-haired teen muttered to himself as he was left behind by the ground. "I will prove you all wrong."
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The two weeks came and gone. Students in and interested in the hero course trained and practiced, in hopes of having a fair chance at winning the whole festival.
Izuku sat on the bench, briefly thinking about what the future holds.
'I know the Abyss Watchers were all made into a Lord of Cinder, and if so, are others coming here?' Izuku was brought out of his musing when a hand grasped his shoulders.
"Come on, Deku, the festival's starting."
Izuku stood up and faced the speaker, the rosy-cheeked brunette smiled at him, which he returned slightly.
"Alright," Izuku followed. No use thinking of it now since there weren't any leads to them.
It was while they were walking towards the gate did they get stopped by a certain half-and-half teenager.
"Midoriya, a minute please," Shoto tilted his head sideways, a curious but stern gaze directed at Izuku.
"Ochako, leave us for a moment," Izuku focused on the one-armed teen. Once they were alone, with no one to witness their interaction did Shoto speak.
"You're stronger than me, and probably the strongest student here," Shoto began, Izuku staring at him with curious eyes. "But that will not stop me, I will beat you, with both my powers."
"Hm, challenge accepted," Izuku replied, an amused smile hanging on his face. With that, Shoto made his way back to the entrance gate towards the stadium. Izuku followed incredibly thick silence gracing the two students as they continued.
Ochako, as well as the rest of her peers, saw the two teens gracing their presence with their silent personas.
"Finally, you're here," Bakugo grinned madly, an excited glint in his eyes told Izuku everything he needed to know. "I will beat you, and I will prove I am better than you!"
Izuku made a silent reply, and that was an accepting nod.
"Dude, what the hell are with these declarations of war?" Kirishima sweatdropped, a little bit taken aback by the happenings in his class, but then rebounded into a hint of excitement. "But it's so manly! Midoriya! Everybody! I won't lose!"
The rest of the students who are in class 1-A nodded with enthusiasm. So, what if they were dwarfed by some of their peers, they won't give up, not when everybody here was giving it their all.
"AND NOW! THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! GIVE IT UP FOR THE HERO STUDIES! CLASS 1-A AND 1-B TAKE THE STAGE!"
It was a few hours later, everything went to utter hell.
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- In Serial261 Chapters
Lineage Saga (Kingdom Building Fantasy)
[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] The continent of Erdenia is in flux, nations large and small move to swallow their neighbors. Roving bands of marauders pillage the countryside, and the seas are choked with piracy. Against this backdrop upon the central island of Syroneika exists the Mercan League, an alliance of city states ruled by the Archon from his seat in the Capital, Merlabria. Yet all is not well beneath the surface. The Archon’s health is waning, while the House of Mercan appears on the verge of conflict. Both princes vie for the Archonship, with the aristocracy close behind looking to settle old scores. In the immediate west the Althai Federation is in a state of civil war, the conflict spilling over the border into the League, while nobles’ squabble over petty slights. In this time of growing conflict, the Archon has summoned the warlord of the southern frontier, bulwark against the horrors of the dark forest, and former Grand Scholar of the court. Behind the scenes pieces are in play, and the Scholar possesses numerous enemies, many still envious of his meteoric rise to power. A simple trip to the capital may be more than it appears. However, the branches of fate are fickle things, a single encounter could change the course of history. Or perhaps that is simply the will of fate, and nothing has changed at all, who could know? Could the meeting between a simple slave and a warlord truly be fate’s bough? And if so, where could that lead? Read this if you like: Army Building Rational Combat War and Strategy Gritty Violence in a Dark unforgiving world Realistic and engaging characters Medieval/Classical Economics and R&D Do not read if: Looking for OP MC (power gain is gradual) Last minute Deus Ex Machina moments Want Evil enemies who are evil just to be villains Can't stand Slow Development and extensive world building You can join the Discord here: Lineage Discord Channel Cover Art created by: Illusstation Check out their work: Illusstation's page Updates Monday-Thursday (Guaranteed) [more chapter releases per week are possible depending on buffer and as rewards for events I announce]
8 289 - In Serial75 Chapters
The Remedy: Catalyst; Static
How can anyone escape, when time is held in your enemy’s grasp? Stalked by a monstrous bird-like wizard, with the power to manipulate time, fifteen year old Phynley Okie has never known safety. Staying alive only because of the warnings of a strange brown eyed boy and an extraordinary ability of her own, she has lived on the run. Caught in the crime life of Tetrad, Phynley delivers a letter that has her stumbling onto a brewing conflict. Talk of impending doom and secret alliances; the world is never quite what it seems. As the dark forces move she is caught in the cross hairs. Thrown into a fight she isn’t ready for and a destiny she doesn't want, Phynley has to decide if she will run away once more or face the very thing she fears the most. Becoming a hero is a difficult thing. After all, picking up that sword means you might die by it…. (Book 1) Catalyst: Complete (Book 2) Static: Complete
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The Curio Shoppe
Kellan Klein is an ordinary college student with an average, if traumatic and painful past. Everyone grows up grappling with depression and anxiety that seem to be genetic in a house with parents that, while loving, fight all the time and have weird ideas about what kids should and shouldn't do, right? Everyone deals with bullying, racism, judgement on their romantic inclinations and their family's economic status and just general shittiness, right? All of Kellan's friends sure did, and for all of them, entertaiment media were a welcome escape from their painful, dreary lives. After all, who wouldn't want to sail the seas with Monkey D. Luffy and the Strawhats, or help Meng Hao con increasingly powerful and influential people, or join Cecil Harvey and his friends on their weird journey to save the world, or make friends with Peter Parker while pretending to not know he was everyone's favorite wall-crawling superhero? Kellan certainly wanted to, and while he pursued college to seek out a career he saw himself enjoying, something felt inexplicably empty about his life. So when a decidely sinister force kidnaps him and the prettiest man he's ever seen saves his life and offers him his wildest dreams, Kellan becomes the shopkeeper of a mysterious, dimension hopping shop, complete with a system that helps him acquire items. abilities, materials, and other cool shit to stock it with, as well as some other neat perks. Will Kellan become a boring overpowered MC, like the kind from web fiction that he reads to sate his boredom? Will he keep his generally kind, sweet nature despite the shit he's gone through and will go through, or will he inexplicably become a scary, violent, irrational arrogant douchebag? Will he use his newfound abilities to explore the multiverse and improve the lives of himself and others, or will he become his own antithesis, a purely mercantile jerk obsessed with money and profit, with no concern for anything that doesn't help or hurt his business? Find out in The Curio Shoppe! Author's note: Please suggest possible setting he could visit in the comments. I'll gather ones i'm familiar with, and at the end of every arc, a poll will be held to decide the next location he visits. There will be polls for other purposes, and I might not always go with the poll winner if I feel one of the other options is more fun to read/write about. I will not use the settings of other RRL writers without their permission.Do not ask for that, unless the author in question gives permission. Most settings he visits will be slightly AU in some way or another, but please remind me if I drift too far from canon unintentionally or characterize a character wrongly. This work will eventually fit all tags I selected once he visits universes suited to those tags, so don't ask when or where a given tag is coming. I do not own the cover art, it belongs to Nicholas Belanger Thiel, and I will stop using it if he asks me to. Kellan doesn't look like the old man on the cover, though once he acquires a disguise-type ability he may occasionally use that appearance. The tapir, however, will be a thing, as despite looking like a failed attempt at an elephant, tapirs are cool and this dragon finds them to be kinda cute. The art, along with more of Nicholas's pieces, can be found at https://www.artstation.com/artwork/51bXz
8 196 - In Serial33 Chapters
Beyond Tomorrow
The galactic war has shaken the galaxy since prehistory, but mankind knew nothing of it. Like most of the truths of the universe, it was kept secret. Among the travelers arriving in New Westminster in 1879 is Cylas Renford of Indiana, a man seeking his fortune after trying a long string of trades. His new friend and companion, Morninghawk, warns him of strange occurrences in the wilderness and the myth of a secret people, but Cylas fails to heed the warnings. An innocent walk in the woods and a series of coincidences will bring Cylas face to face with criminals, monsters, startling weapons, the secret people, and will culminate in being propelled Beyond Tomorrow. Written in the tradition of American dime novels of the 19th century and the planetary fantasies of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Beyond Tomorrow is a pulpy first person tale of adventure in a future where the world itself has become an alien place. This LGBTQ adventure has a gay male protagonist and is non-explicit, in keeping with 19th century pulp writing. This work has been broken into sub-chapters for its posting here and will be updated regularly.
8 87 - In Serial9 Chapters
Adam & Eve: A Romantic Sci-Fi
After hundreds of years traversing the vastness of interstellar space, the ship's artificial intelligence begins gestating frozen embryos. It will raise and educate the men and women who will colonize a new world. Unfortunately, the gestation chamber fails after only two children are birthed. With questions to homeworld requiring years for an answer, the AI is uncertain how to continue the mission as their destination looms closer. Meanwhile, alone on the ship, the two children grow into adults under the watchful eye of the AI and its robotic avatars. ------------ Release Dates Prologue — 2022 June 24 Chapter 1 — 2022 June 24 Chapter 2 — 2022 July 01 Chapter 3 — 2022 July 07 Chapter 4 — 2022 July 14 Chapter 5 — 2022 July 21 Chapter 6 — 2022 July 28 Epilogue — 2022 August 04 [end] STEM Puzzles — 2022 August 04 Copyright © 2021, Mark Wilkinson. All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, psychic, copying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. Published by MarkWilx, MarkWilx and the MarkWilx logo are trademarks owned by Mark Wilkinson. Cover image: Composition by Mark Wilkinson via Affinity Designer by Serif; background, “GOODS/ERS2 FIELD,” by Hubble Space Telescope; public domain; credits: NASA, ESA, R. Windhorst, S. Cohen, M. Mechtley, and M. Rutkowski (Arizona State University, Tempe), R. O’Connell (University of Virginia), P. McCarthy (Carnegie Observatories), N. Hathi (University of California, Riverside), R. Ryan (University of California, Davis), H. Yan (Ohio State University), and A. Koekemoer (Space Telescope Science Institute). Text: Title text is Edwardian Script by International Typeface Corporation. Header text is Myriad Pro (sans-serif) by Carol Twombly and Robert Slimbach, Adobe. Body text is Minion Pro (serif) by Robert Slimbach, Adobe; and Courier (fixed-width) by Howard “Bud” Kettler, IBM. Font appearance may vary in electronic presentations. Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The author does not imply an interpretation of, nor does he contest, the account of Adam & Eve contained in Genesis, The Holy Bible, which can be found at the website for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or other Christian faiths. He invites all to read and ponder this book of scripture, and to seek divine inspiration in discovering its teachings. Disclaimer: This book is also available for purchase as a DRM-free ePub or Mobi from Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Drive-Thru Fiction, Google Play, and Rakuten Kobo.
8 321 - In Serial51 Chapters
Write Better: Tips and tricks
The guide for aspiring fiction writers who want to improve, sharpen, review, and/or learn. Warning! This book encourages editing and contains many tips that often require revision. Practice makes perfect, and it's good to workout your mental muscles. The more you do now, the better your writing will be later (because you'll correct yourself *before* you get it on paper). If you think your writing is perfect or you're lazy or unwilling to try new shoes on your baby, just turn away now. You'll find this guide about as useful as hoarding frozen peas.
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