Appalachian Mountains
October 1, 18:30
Action: Slay a Lord of Chaos.
Reward: 500 CP.
Action: Defeat and kill Black Adam.
Reward: 300 CP.
Action: Cheat death on a vast scale.
Reward: 500 CP.
Due to the increasingly compounding chaos and the ensuing events, all notion of the action-reward system had vacated my mind. So seeing it announce its presence after I left the Helmet of Fate's spiritual space jolted me a little bit.
I may have forgotten it, but it clearly hadn't forgotten me, judging from the heap of points it dumped on me. Said points had paved the way for a series of incredible abilities and items, though the third one kinda blurred the line between the two.
After all, a second, alien heart heart that pumped you full of magic at a constant rate and had the ability to resurrect you once every decade made the distinction between object and power vague.
You wouldn't hear any complaints from me though. Not even with the utter violation that had been implanting the heart in my body instead of handing it over so I'd do it myself.
The ability to confidently challenge a Lord of Chaos when it came to pure magic slinging would do that to a person. Seriously, this Monarch's Heart made me feel so full. The magic was at my fingertips, creating sparks when I flexed it a little bit.
Pulling back on the wild but tame energy with a flare of intent, I maintained my leisurely pace, exploring the hidden base of operations Vandal Savage had used to escape me for so long.
The structure, constructed deep within the belly of a mountain, reminded me of the G. I. Joe movie, the hidden and gargantuan base of the eponymous organisation in the desert to be precise.
How Savage came to acquire this facility was quickly attributed to his age and ruthlessness. Frankly, I'd be surprised with any less than what I found in the exploration. Vandal Savage saw himself as Earth's only chance in the grand scheme of the universe.
There was nothing he wouldn't do to ensure Earth's position at the food chain. This, I could sorta get behind. It was his utter lack of concern for the lives he wanted to uplift that drew an indelible line between us.
Between how much time had passed and the sheer severity of certain scenes on the show, I recalled the portion of mass graves filled with children and the experimentation and trafficking of said children.To Apokolips of all places.
Vandal Savage had lost the plot. Initially, I held no respect for the man. Someone who willingly allied himself with the likes of Lex and Ra's al Ghul deserved that from the jump. However, as more time went on and I thought about things more and more, this lack of respect morphed into contempt.
For a fifty thousand year old man, Savage should be wiser than this. Though, he called himself Savage so this was to be expected. Long story short, him and his little Light were finished. The others had been rounded up, it just left him.
For this particular mission, I chose a fresh version of my new suit and put it in Spider-Man mode. Spider-Man was the menace that had utterly ruined The Light. It was fitting for him to complete his campaign by taking out their leader.
I stepped into a large hall where my target stood before a screen larger than a billboard. He had his bulging arms crossed behind him, allowing me to spot a small rectangular shaped device in his grip.
It began to beep when I laid eyes on it. That drew the attention of the mountain of the man and woman beside him, Shiva. I gave her a top down glance, noting the change in clothing and the weapons she'd armed herself with.
Savage turned around slowly, his confidence and calmness unwavering. "Spider-Man…" his deep, baritone voice rolled across the hall.
I didn't deign that with a response and kept walking, thinking about Shiva's escape.
The Box. Sorely uncreative, I know. However, its functions and role were anything but. Anyone with an ounce of interest in Batman and other heroes with the "no killing" rule where I'm from eventually settled on the "why don't you create an inescapable prison then?"
Well, most of them. Some still thought the no killing rule outright stupid, and I was one of them.
Point is, The Box was my attempt at that idea. And I had succeeded. There were very few forces on Earth that could breach the prison, and even then said forces or the people wielding it would have to solve the problem of reaching Providence, locating that underwater cave, and then the dimension that housed the prison.
Savage had done all that with the exact ease I expected him to. If my talk of his dealings with Apokolips was unsubstantiated, the presence of the Father Box vindicated me.
I didn't care about that though. I just wanted the bastard to suffer for what he'd done and then cough up everything he knew. First things first, getting Shiva back to her cell.
My stride forward hadn't stopped, yet none of the people present said or did anything. Shiva, I understood. Her sternum must be holding her back. As for Vandal…
"If you're waiting for your army of freaks, don't…" I said, "They've all been cured and sent off. The authorities should be processing them now."
Vandal's expression grew severe and he narrowed his eyes at me. I'd recognize the look anywhere. Villain monologue whining about meddlesome behaviour, centuries of planning ruined or some other bullshit.
"Whatever it is you're gonna say, don't. I'll tell you what I told the bitch beside you. I don't care why you did the things you did. They won't change the fact that you did them and they won't change the fact of what I'm going to do to you."
After my interruption, an Oriole drone assigned to Shiva specifically left Subspace and materialized in real space, a flare of blue light heralding its arrival. A jolt of electricity flew from it into the woman and dropped her in a writhing heap.
Savage made no move to intervene and the drone whisked her back to her cell.
"Impressive. You have bested me—"
"Motherfucker, what did I just say?"
Vandal's smile faded into a grim frown. "Father Box," he intoned.
Nothing happened, and I chuckled, the distance between me and the Light's leader shrinking bit by bit. Perhaps having sensed that I was in no hurry to deal with him, he uncrossed his arms from his rear and checked the Father Box.
Behind my lenses, my pupils had turned square shaped and now sported thick purple edges. This was just a cosmetic side effect of my new power, the one besides Monarch's Heart.
True to my love of the Arrowverse, I recognised Kilg%re's ability as soon as I obtained it. And boy was it a doozy. Sure, I could and I had replicated the ability to control technology with my mind through cybernetics.
But the nifty devices weren't intrinsic to me. With Technopathy, now it was. Not only could I usurp the functions and control of any technological device no matter its level of construction, I could sense any possible thralls in a five mile radius.
Knowing what I knew about Mother and Father Boxes, I expected the ability to fail when it came to the miraculous device in Savage's possession. It didn't.
Oh, it fought back and struggled without relent, the tiny soul in the device screaming "Hail Lord Darkseid" on repeat while trying and failing every time to reassert control over its systems.
The feedback was annoying, but I powered through it and finally reached Savage. He was utterly defeated, the Father Box unresponsive, his men sent away, and all his paths of escape cut off.
My eyes drifted down to the restrained Father Box. Savage's rage had leaked into his hand and changed the tune of the Box, the unceasing "Hail Lord Darkseid" shifting to pleas of mercy.
We couldn't have that. I wanted that Box. Cyborg's abilities upon merging with one of them hadn't suddenly escaped my mind. With a burst of speed too fast for the immortal warlord to see, I kicked my shoulder and tossed my new weapon upward.
Hands gripped tightly around the wooden haft, I took control of its trajectory and turned it horizontal, transitioning into a chop that tore cleanly through Savage's arm.
Stormbreaker continued to cut into the undying man and embedded itself deeply into his side, its travel only stopped by the bulge leading its opposite, hammer end.
"You cannot kil—"
BAM!
I silenced Savage with an uppercut that sent him soaring backward, a trail of blood in his wake.
"I said shut up."
Ignoring him for a moment, I untangled his thick fingers and pried the Father Box loose, thinking of how I'd integrate it into Project Ascension, the one I'd created solely to give myself a stronger body.
"HAIL LORD DARKSEID."
"Yeah yeah I get it. Shut up," I said while storing the device in my coat. I held my hand open afterward and my new and trusty axe-hammer flew into my palm with a smack.
"Now… time to loot this place."
Time to become the richest man on Earth. Again.
Action: Destroy The Light.
Reward: 500 CP. That's Just Asking For Trouble (400 CP), SUPERHUMAN DESIRE (100 CP)
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Providence
October 1, 20:01
There were multiple parties I'd addressed and briefed in some shape or form since I woke up. That of the Justice League was the shortest, seeing as multiple of its members were present at the incident sites.
Before going to the Watchtower though, I met my agents first and took their reports on the various missions they undertook. The STRIKE team's results spoke for themselves. The world had returned to normal and the elderly wizards that helped Klarion with the ritual were in custody.
They also helped in the battle with Klarion and the eventual takedown of his cat. After I lost consciousness, they helped the League members and the team take it down. And it wasn't difficult according to them, meaning destroying Klarion weakened it somehow.
Flashes of the beating interrupted my thoughts from time to time, but I took solace in the fact that the cat had been separated from the Amazo bot and the bot itself dismantled and placed under lock and key in separate locations.
I gave all the agents the rest of the day and the following week off. Some of them had kids and family that had initially been displaced by Klarion's spell, and the sheer insanity of the concept and what could've been clearly weighed on them heavily.
As for me, I had the same plans to take things slow, but I didn't want to come back from my mini vacation to a pile of work. At least work that didn't interest nor excite me.
So with begrudging stubbornness, I stayed behind in the helicarrier's command room and reviewed the performances of all the agents, doing my job as director and singling out those with promising talents, those that needed more work, highlighting errors, leaving encouraging notes, e.t.c.
My whole body felt like lead, my eyelids like the stuff Superman used to make the key to his fortress. However, a quick command to one of the Oriole drones and I received a freshly printed inhaler with boosters and stimulants.
The much needed energy couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. There was still the loot from Savage's secret base. At this point, explaining the kind of wealth the immortal boasted—sorry, formerly boasted—felt like saying the Joker needed to be stopped permanently.
Been there, done that.
There was so much of it I didn't think a normal mind could comprehend the kind of numbers at play here. And I hadn't pried open the savage fucker's skull yet. Who knew how many more hoards, properties, and accounts I would uncover?
At some point during the cataloging process, I stopped adding to the mental financial tally I had going on and simply focused on giving every single thing a glance, checking it for any traps or trouble, and then putting it in a category when nothing untoward revealed itself.
Scanning the last treasure in the hoard should've spelled the end of work and the start of my vacation. Sadly for me, there was one last thing. Admiral Olsen had made contact about the obvious.
He wanted an explanation for the recent attacks and any pertinent information related to it. Which is how we ended up in a video call together, with me doing a retelling of how things went down and his face shifting between expressions like a slideshow.
"What safeguards can be put in place against something like this?"
"Honestly, I don't think we can ," I said and shook my head, much to the mild surprise of the admiral. Why that reaction? "The good news is Klarion is gone for good, and it'll be a while till his replacement arrives. I have that on good authority."
Olsen mulled over my words before responding. "And this replacement… they'll be just as capable as Klarion?"
"Exactly. Though they could be more powerful. You really can't tell with these assholes. For all we know whoever is sending them here could give them more power so they don't die like their predecessor."
An exhale loud enough to be heard came over the line. "Someone once told me that he refused to believe we cannot save everyone."
I frowned when I caught the general's meaning. "...It's just—its been a long day. I'm sure if I put my mind to it and worked with other experts, we could devise something to protect the planet from such large scale alterations. It's not our only defense though," I looked back at the screen, the emptiness in my eyes vanishing. "Rememebr what I said about Klarion?"
"An evil superman of magic."
"Doctor Fate is his opposite. Klarion's side is Chaos and Fate is Order, and one of them has more backup than the other."
"Hmm…"
Our conversation died down from there, ending with me assuring Olsen that I'd look into the safeguard and get back to him. According to him, the president was taking the matter seriously, so I had better have something good.
After a final round of reassurances, he surprised me with a meeting date. The guys at the Pentagon finally wanted to meet. Fortunately for me, it was about a month away. I thanked him nonetheless and we ended things there.
There was no fanfare when I teleported from the lab to the bedroom of our house on Providence. I'd already let Felicity and Mike know when I'd be home, so the latter wasn't startled when I walked out of the portal.
Besides, she'd seen and used them an uncountable number of times.
"Elliot…" she stood up and approached.
"Babe," I met her and wrapped her in a hug. God she smelled so nice.
"Wha—"
That was the last thing I heard before sleep took me.
-New Perks-
Name: Technopathy
Description: You have the ability to control any form of technology within your immediate facility, overriding it with your own encryption which changes and mutates like a biological virus, and can make technology do whatever you desire. You can also sense technology in your surroundings. Lastly you're able to create a digital copy of your brain and upload it to any technology around you, but the copy will die if the power is cut from the device you've uploaded the copy to unless transferred elsewhere.
Cost: 300 CP
Source: Arrowverse, Chapter: Manipulation Domain, Category: heros_journey
Name: Monarch's Heart
Description: What a curious thing this is, Jumper. It seems that you have come into possession of one of the Monarchs' hearts. And in a quite literal way. Or at least something close to it. Inside of you, a second set of heartbeats can be heard whenever you close your eyes. Regular people can't see it due to the incorporeal nature of the Monarchs, but those with fine magical senses may be able to perceive its presence. Besides the creepy experience, this Heart grants you two boons: the first one is that it will give you an increased massive pool of mana, the increase being 100,000 Mana Points, at least the same Mana Points as the Shadow Monarch had, to be added on top of whatever your current mana pool is. This amount of mana would be enough for even a National Rank Hunter to be casting spells or using magical abilities all day without running out of mana as it regenerates. The second benefit that it grants is that in case you are killed, this second heart will not perish with you, but instead it will keep beating on its own, regenerating you back to full health, preventing your actual death, and granting a minor temporary boost in strength after the resurrection. This effect can only be used once every jump or once every 10 years, whichever comes sooner. This heart is similar to the Shadow Heart within Jin-Woo and will be completely loyal to you, never threatening to reincarnate its former self through you and instead being fully assimilated into your being as a natural part of yourself.
Cost:600 CP
Source: Solo Leveling, Chapter: Source, Category: grimoire_yggdrasil_personal
Name: Divine Weapon
Description: This is a weapon forged by a divine blacksmith on par with legendary weapons such as Stormbreaker and Gungnir. This weapon has been designed to channel your power and may freely take any form that you desire. This weapon amplifies your control over your energy and allows you to make more powerful attacks. It will always function as a perfect weapon regardless of what techniques you practice or how powerful you become. Lastly, if you wish, it may possess an artifact spirit similar to that of a Zanpakuto used by the Shinigami in Bleach. You may freely design the personality and appearance of this spirit if you want to.
Cost: 400 CP
Source: Epic of Leviathan, Chapter: Making, Category: grimoire_yggdrasil_personal
Name: That's Just Asking For Trouble
Description: When you make advanced technology far beyond what the locals are used to, it tends to make waves. Maybe your little DNA database is actually one of the greatest weapons ever created or an attempt to prove you can harness the fundamental forces of the universe ends up destroying a planet. The good news is you're not stupid it's the Genius tree, not the Drooling Idiot tree! You have excellent insight into the moral implications and long-term effects of your inventions if they were used by others or made commonly available, especially when it would be a purely bad idea. Also, just to make sure nobody steals or misuses it, any sort of failsafe you make to keep it from being abused is unable to be hacked or bypassed...if you made a device that works only for a certain person, no amount of hacking or DNA swapping will make someone else pass off as that person. If you need two keys to unlock a certain feature, you bet only those two keys will work. This goes both ways all your devices will come with a backdoor for you to take back control if someone does misuse it, and it will always succeed. Enjoy the look on the face of a wannabe thief when the superweapon they stole from you just shuts down in their hand.
Cost: 400 CP
Source: Ben 10 0.1, Chapter: Domain: Quality: Safety, Category: forge
Name: SUPERHUMAN DESIRE
Description: You always wanted to be special and that want was itself so strong that you really did become so. Whenever you are subjected to a procedure that will improve or beneficially alter you with a chance of injury to you, death or even just the procedure failing outright, it will instead have a guaranteed chance of success. Risky operations will always go off without a hitch, shoving an energy source into your own body will have it combine with you successfully if there was even the smallest chance of you not dying.
Cost: 100 CP
Source: Medaka Box Abnormal, Chapter: Reality Domain, Category: heros_journey