Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 436: Choices

Quick strikes with tremendous power assaulted him, the swords flashing red and then green after each attack, creating a barrage of metal that would have crushed or killed most people.

Yet beneath it all, Max smiled and waited, knowing what Bob was doing. A ball of lightning formed near the top of the glass ceiling, mana poured into it as half a dozen wind blades formed.

Each time he was attacked, Max positioned himself near another item, watching as it shattered beneath the barrage. He knew that if someone was watching or getting a report, how frustrated they must be to see their own champion be the one to cause destruction.

Half a minute passed, and the room was filled with splintered wood smashed and destroyed objects, all trampled underfoot and ruined.

Only three more items remained in their cases. They were set on a small platform on the far side of the room and his opponent had taken great liberty to keep them from shifting in that direction.

As quickly as the assault started, it ended, both swords missing chunks of metal from where they had connected against his weapon and shield, no glow present and a loud popping sound came.

From both weapons, the power cores that had been in them cracked and fell out.

“You… are strong… their report was incorrect,” CP-8D0 stated. “I am not a match. You are far beyond the potential I or–”

The creature before him jerked, and his arms began to move slowly, shaking with each inch they moved.

“You’re being controlled, aren’t you?”

A grunt and pained expression came as metal lips curled upward but the flesh ones moved down.

Those things can do this…

It would appear he is controlled by strings. A shame really.

“I’ll end your pain,” Max said as he shifted his stance and set his feet. “But only after those who are watching realize the error of their ways.”

As the creature before him struggled to fight against the commands it had been given, Max moved to the platform and swung his weapon at the first object.

From CP-8D0’s mouth came a pained guttural cry. Next, its body dashed toward him, but not before the second case was shattered.

Both swords came at him, and a burning light from the red-gemmed eye was locked on him.

“I can’t…”

Max didn’t need to hear any more words, he understood what had to be taking place and could only imagine the life and pain the creation before him experienced daily.

Easily dodging the two strikes, he smashed the last object, a pair of bracers that began to arc and smoke the moment his weapon crushed them.

Sensing the power that was coming from them and having witnessed something similar, he didn’t hesitate.

[ Blink ]

Appearing right inside the open section of his dimensional storage, Max watched as the space around him began to suck in on itself, stone pulling from the floors and walls. The glass ceiling fell as thousands of pieces, each one flying as a trained dagger to the ball of power where the bracelets had been.

His eyes saw firsthand what he had experienced once already, and he had no desire to endure it again if it was possible.

“What have you done?”

A fist smacked into his side, but it didn’t do a thing as Gudarno struck him repeatedly.

Ten seconds later, his entrance to the dimensional area hung in the air.

Sobs came from Niziver and the gnome woman pressed her hands and face against the magical barrier she couldn’t escape.

“It’s…. Gone… all gone…”

Beneath them for a half mile in diameter, the landscape of this block was no more. Like the space in Quan Ma where Nimyn had set off a smaller one, this to was smooth and cut like a sphere into the ground.

“I warned you. This is only the beginning.”

Turning to where the two gnomes were, he smiled.

“Perhaps I won’t kill you… instead, I’ll strip you of your wealth and power. Then when the world burns I’ll hand you over to them. Maybe I’ll even stick around to watch the trial that takes place.”

“The capital… she’s in the capital.”

“Quiet!”

Max caught Gudarno’s hand as she attempted to hit the gnome on the ground. Without waiting, he pulled out a rope and bound her, tossing her to the purple stone floor.

“Where in the capital? And trust me… I’ve tortured enough people to know how to make certain they don’t want to lie to me.”

Tears still running down his cheeks, the gnome shook his head.

“I won’t lie… just… don’t do what you said you’d do. Kill me at least. That would be a mercy.”

“Then tell me where Nimyn is.”

“I’ll kill you! She’s my daughter! Next in line for–”

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“For what?! It’s all gone! You saw it! All our wealth! All our power! How many will come for us now that we don’t have what we had? You know what else was destroyed… what kept some at bay… With that gone…”

His shoulder slumped, and Niziver went limp.

Gudarno was still scowling, yet her mouth only moved, and no words came forth.

“The command to not destroy things… that was because they wanted what you had on others? Blackmail?”

“Yes. Thousands of years worth… gone… in a moment.”

Rubbing his chin, Max considered what that could be like for this world.

“Why have something like those bracelets in that room then?”

Scoffing, the gnome looked up at him, eyes red from all the tears.

“You don’t have any idea how something like that works. Only a fo… person not trained in them would smash them. Setting them off is a last resort thing. No one would wear them because if you did and someone knew what they were… the potential to be used as a walking black hole is strong.”

“How many more of those are there?”

A look of contemplation flashed across the gnome's face as he stared out the open doors of the dimensional area.

“On this world?”

“Yeah.”

“Less than fifty… maybe less than forty now if Nimyn used hers. They’re rare… very rare and no one would ever waste theirs. I’m surprised she used hers because of what it requires to make them..”

“What does it require?”

“A power source that none have seen in ages.”

“Like a dragon core?”

He began to blink rapidly, and Max thought for a moment that the gnome might break his own neck, considering how fast Niziver had turned towards Gudarno.

“She’s making one… you know what she’s making!”

A snort was all the woman gave as she turned her face away from both of them, rolling on the floor until her back was facing them.

“That’s why she’s in the city. To make one and possibly unleash it. If she does that… is that what she stole from you?”

Slowly, he nodded, watching the gnome’s lips and cheeks pull back as horror swept across his face.

“We’ll need to move quickly then. I’m not sure how we can get to the capital though if you can’t use the train.”

Smiling, Max held out a hand and helped the gnome up.

“I can take care of that problem. I’ll give you my word. Help me find her and stop this mess, and I’ll either put you somewhere safe on this planet or provide you with transportation to mine. Double cross me and–”

“No, I’ll help. If what she is planning is what I think it is, I don’t want to be any part of that.”

“And what would that be?”

“War.”

***

Niziver had settled down, and the good part about the experience was that Max held the gnome off to the side after teleporting back to Din Buldar.

I wonder if someone far below is going to be struck by that.

You never cease to amaze me with what you find funny.

Handing the gnome a water skin, they waited as Bob kept them afloat in the air.

“We’re flying… and without a gravity belt or boots… amazing.”

“Focus, where is Nimyn?”

Nodding, the gnome started looking around and pointed off to the left.

“Can we head that way? I think I know where I am, but we will have to make sure. I have ridden on air transport only once, and that wasn’t here.”

Bob immediately took off, and Max chuckled as the gnome gripped his hands tightly that held his waist.

“There! Over there! Where we’re headed is a place that will be guarded by two of the gnome council members. We could try to get a meeting with the other races of the council, but I have no doubt you are probably the number one public enemy right now. As such, we can’t get close without a lot of fighting. Even still…”

As the city below raced past them, Niziver occasionally pointed slightly.

“You… do not seem to be the same person who I witnessed back at our property. Are you?”

Cocking his head, Max glanced down at the gnome who couldn’t see his expression, the wind blowing past them as they flew above.

“You mean a cold-blooded killer?”

“That would be a good way to put it. Yes.”

“I don’t like killing,” Max replied, ignoring what he felt coming from Bob. “I’ll do it if I have to and your daughter–”

“Step-daughter.”

“Step-daughter… stole something I had promised a friend to keep safe. I could almost look past her trying to kill me afterward, but I cannot forgive stealing the dragon core. For that… she will suffer.”

“I understand. And your promise to me?”

“I’m a man of my word, which is why you never want me to promise to do something horrible.”

Neither said anything momentarily and then Niziver pointed downward to the right.

“Over there, see that blue and green building?”

“There are four of them.”

A chuckle came from the gnome, his stubby fingers pointed at one in particular.

“Yes, but that one is bigger than the other three. That’s where we’ll find her.”

“And you know this how?”

“Because a long time ago this was her mother's dream, and it became Nimyn’s as well. To start a war between the dwarfs and the goblins, allowing us to swoop in and take over the pieces left afterward.”

“So she is creating a weapon to use and blame on the others?”

“Only the dwarfs are believed to have a dragon core. If that’s true or not, no one knows for certain. Yet if a real black hole bomb went off, powered by a dragon core, it would destroy… maybe a hundred miles.”

Max winced as he considered that idea and the amount of life that would be lost.

How much… I mean… the destruction…

A world would suffer far greater than that. To lose so much of itself. It might spell the end of everything.”

“Show me where to land. I’ll try to keep you safe, but if you’re not in my storage, I may not be able to protect you.”

“How often can you summon it?”

“Time’s not a problem, why?” Max asked.

“Then perhaps I’d rather be in there. I’ve no doubts you’ll face things much stronger than what was back at… our old property.”

Stopping his descent, he willed the space to open and set Niziver inside.

“What floor do I need to get on?”

“There are fifty floors in that place but if I’m honest… it’s underground. No one does that kind of work above ground with what they're building.”

“Yet you didn’t have a place like that back at your home,” Max pointed out.

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“That’s because we didn’t do that kind of stuff there. That place is here.”

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