Novels by Edidiong Etuk

The golden hand of the God of Greed descended through the clouds. Miles wide. Cosmic lightning arced between its fingers, turning the night sky into a bruised purple. Malek was already a pile of cooling ash at my feet. The Blade of Eternal Ember had left nothing but a scorched circle on the pavement."Vaxen! The sky is falling!" Jace screamed, pointing upward, his hand shaking."It's not falling, Jace," I said. "It's reaching.""We're going to be crushed!" Lyra clutched the wounded girl to her chest. "How can you fight the sky?""I don't fight the sky," I said. "I fight the thing behind it.""You killed Malek, but this is a God!" Jace yelled. "Surrender! Maybe he'll only kill you!""Is that what you want, Jace? To go back to the cages?""No! But I don't want to be a smear on the ground either!""Then trust me," I said.I opened the Store. The payout for Malek's death sat glowing in the corner of my vision.[BALANCE: 70,000 KARMA.]"System! Open the Authority Vault!"[ERROR: INSUFFICIE

We reached the mouth of the ventilation shaft. The city air tasted like metal. Suddenly, the ground erupted in purple light. Malek stood there, his face half-melted from the orb’s backlash."You aren't leaving, Vaxen!" Malek screamed."You look pathetic, Malek," I said. "Go home.""The God of Greed has given me a final gift!" Malek shrieked. He crushed a black crystal into his chest.His skin began to tear. Thick, oily muscle burst through his tunic. He grew until he was ten feet tall. Horns ripped through his skull. He wasn't human anymore. He was a Greater Demon."Vaxen, run!" Jace yelled. "He’s a Calamity Rank boss now!""Stay back, Jace!" I shouted. "Take Lyra and the others to the perimeter!""I’m not leaving you to die!" Lyra cried."You’ll only get in my way!" I barked. "Move!"Malek roared, the sound shattering the glass in nearby buildings. He swung a fist the size of a boulder. I jumped, but the shockwave sent me spinning into a brick wall. My ribs cracked."Is that all the

"Move! Keep moving!" I shouted. My voice echoed through the damp tunnels of the Valerius Catacombs.Fifty slaves stumbled behind me. They were covered in filth and blood. Jace was at the front, holding a torch that flickered in the draft."Vaxen, the guards are behind us!" Jace yelled. "I can hear the hounds!""Don't look back, Jace!" I barked. "Focus on the path!""How do you even know where we’re going?" Lyra panted. She was carrying a wounded girl on her back. "These tunnels haven't been mapped in centuries!""I know every stone in this hell," I said. "Turn left at the next junction!""Left?" a man named Krell shouted. "That leads deeper into the sewer! We should go right toward the service lift!""The lift is a trap, Krell!" I snarled. "Malek has snipers waiting at the top!""You don't know that!" Krell slowed down. "I'm taking my chances with the lift! Who's with me?"Five slaves stopped. They looked between me and Krell."Stay with Vaxen!" Jace pleaded. "He killed the Butcher! H

I stood on the edge of the VIP balcony, my shadow blade dripping with black smoke. Malek scrambled backward, his boots sliding on the polished marble. He held the purple orb like a shield."Stay back, you freak!" Malek screamed. "You’re a glitch! You’re a virus in the System!""I’m the cure, Malek," I said."You cheated!" he shrieked. "No F-Rank slave can move like that! No one can buy from the Divine Store without a Priest’s seal!""Your Priests are just middle-men," I said. "I cut out the commission.""Guards!" Malek bellowed. "Execute him for high treason! He has violated the Divine Balance!"Four elite sentinels in silver armor vaulted over the railing. They leveled spears tipped with white fire at my throat."By the authority of the God of Greed," the lead sentinel intoned, "Vaxen 402 is sentenced to soul-erasure.""Vaxen, behind you!" Jace yelled from the arena floor."Don't worry about me, Jace!" I shouted. "Worry about the doors!""The doors?" Malek laughed. "The doors are sea

"You actually did it, Vaxen," Jace stammered. "You killed the Butcher. Look at the guards. They're terrified.""They should be," I said.I ignored the blood on my hands and stared at the air. The red interface was vibrating, glowing brighter than the arena sun.[SYSTEM OVERRIDE SUCCESSFUL.] [DIVINE SLAYER STORE: VERSION 2.0 ACTIVATED.] [NEW CATEGORY UNLOCKED: GOD-TIER AUTHORITIES.]"Vaxen? Are you listening?" Jace asked. "Malek is calling for the heavy infantry! We have to move!""Shut up, Jace. I'm looking at something.""Looking at what?" Lyra asked, stepping over a fallen pike. "There is nothing there but smoke and death.""The price list," I whispered.I scrolled through the new section. My breath hitched.[AUTHORITY OF THE SUN SOVEREIGN: 10,000,000 KARMA.] [AUTHORITY OF THE VOID REAPER: 25,000,000 KARMA.] [AUTHORITY OF THE ETERNAL CHRONOS: 99,000,000 KARMA.]"Ten million?" I hissed. "I just killed their favorite champion and I only got a thousand.""Who are you talking to?" Lyra

The gates of the Zenith Ring groaned open. I stepped into the blinding light. Thousands of spectators roared in the stands. In the center of the pit stood a mountain of flesh."Is that him?" a voice yelled from the front row. "The slave who killed the wolf?""He looks like a twig!" another laughed. "He’s dead meat!"The giant across from me was Karox the Butcher. He held a massive cleaver that dripped with old blood. He was the System’s favorite executioner. In my past life, he had slaughtered a hundred men in this arena."So, you’re the one," Karox rumbled. His voice sounded like grinding stones. "The little bug Malek is so afraid of.""Malek is a coward," I said. "And you’re just a puppet.""A puppet?" Karox laughed. "I’ll use your intestines as a necklace, boy!""You talk too much, Karox," I said. "Are we fighting or having a conversation?""Die!" Karox roared.He lunged forward. The ground shook under his weight. He swung the massive cleaver in a horizontal arc. To the crowd, it w