The GOD-SLAYER'S INFINITE REGRESSION

The First Boss — Overseer Kael

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 Great Slayer has?" Malek’s voice was a guttural growl. "You’re weak! You’re just a bug in a borrowed suit!"

"I’ve killed thousands like you, Malek!" I spat blood onto the pavement.

"Not in this life!" Malek lunged.

He was too fast. The System buff was pumping him full of Divine adrenaline. He grabbed my throat and slammed me into the ground. The concrete shattered.

"I can feel your pulse slowing!" Malek laughed. "I’m going to eat your heart while it’s still beating!"

"Get off him!" Jace screamed. He threw a rock at Malek’s head.

Malek swatted Jace away like a fly. Jace hit a dumpster and slumped over.

"Jace!" Lyra ran to him. "Vaxen, do something! He’s going to kill us all!"

I struggled to breathe. My vision was blurring. Malek’s grip was like an industrial vice.

[ALERT: CRITICAL HEALTH.] [RECOMMENDATION: EMERGENCY PURCHASE.]

"Open... the Store," I wheezed.

[DIVINE SLAYER STORE] [CATEGORY: RENTALS] [ITEM: BLADE OF ETERNAL EMBER (1 MINUTE)] [PRICE: 20,000 KARMA]

"Do it!" I screamed in my mind.

[PURCHASE COMPLETE.] [TIME REMAINING: 60 SECONDS.]

"What is that light?" Malek gasped.

A pillar of white fire descended from the sky. It hit my hand. The heat was absolute. Malek’s hand began to sizzle. He shrieked and let go, jumping back ten feet.

"My hand! You burned my hand!" Malek yelled.

I stood up. In my right hand was a sword made of pure, white sun-matter. The air around the blade didn't just heat up. It crystallized. The oxygen turned to solid glass and fell to the floor in shimmering flakes.

"What... what kind of weapon is that?" Lyra whispered, shielding her eyes.

"It’s a God’s tooth," I said.

"That’s impossible!" Malek roared. "That weapon doesn't exist in the Earth server!"

"The Earth server is a playground, Malek," I said. "I’m playing for keeps."

I stepped forward. The ground turned to lava under my boots.

"I’ll kill you anyway!" Malek charged.

He swung both fists down. I didn't move. I didn't need to. I raised the Blade of Eternal Ember. The sword didn't even touch Malek. The heat alone evaporated his arms before they reached me.

"AAAGH!" Malek fell to his knees, staring at his charred stumps. "My arms! Where are my arms?"

"Gone to ash," I said.

"Please!" Malek sobbed. the demon-blood was boiling in his veins. "The God of Greed... he told me I’d be a King!"

"He lied," I said. "Gods always lie."

"Vaxen, finish him!" Lyra shouted. "The gunships are circling back!"

"Forty seconds left," I muttered.

I walked up to Malek. I placed the tip of the blade against his forehead. The smell of burning hair and bone was overwhelming.

"Tell me the bypass code for the city shield," I said.

"I can't!" Malek whimpered. "The System will erase my soul!"

"I'll erase it faster," I said. I pressed the blade an inch closer. His skull began to glow orange.

"Okay! Okay!" Malek screamed. "It’s 0-0-9-7-Alpha! Just let me live!"

"Thank you, Malek," I said.

"You’re letting him go?" Jace asked, limping toward me. "After everything he did?"

"I never said that," I said.

I swung the blade in a vertical arc. Malek didn't even have time to scream. His massive body was split down the middle. There was no blood. The heat was so intense it cauterized everything instantly. Two halves of a charred husk fell into the lava.

[BOSS DEFEATED: OVERSEER MALEK.] [EARNED: 50,000 KARMA.] [LEVEL UP: 1... 5... 12...]

"Is it over?" Lyra asked.

"The blade," Jace pointed. "It's disappearing!"

The white fire flickered and died. The sword vanished into particles of light. My hand was shaking. The feedback from the weapon was tearing my mana circuits apart.

"Vaxen, you're bleeding from your eyes!" Lyra rushed to me.

"I’m fine," I said. I wiped the blood away. "Jace, did you get the code?"

"0-0-9-7-Alpha," Jace nodded. "But what good does that do? We're still in the middle of the city!"

"The city is a cage, Jace," I said. "We're going to the docks."

"The docks?" Lyra asked. "The harbor is guarded by the Kraken Sentinels!"

"Not for long," I said.

I looked up. Three gunships were hovering directly above us. Their spotlights locked onto my position.

"Target identified," a voice boomed from the sky. "Surrender now, or we will commence orbital bombardment."

"Vaxen, we're trapped!" Jace yelled. "There are hundreds of them!"

"No," I said, looking at my new Karma balance. 70,000. It was a fortune.

"What are you doing?" Lyra asked.

I opened the Store. I didn't look at weapons this time. I looked at the 'Abilities' tab.

"Hey, Malek was right about one thing," I said.

"What?" Jace asked.

"I am a glitch," I said.

I pressed the screen. A massive explosion of blue energy erupted from my body. The shockwave hit the gunships, sending them spinning into the buildings.

"Everyone, hold on!" I shouted.

"Hold on to what?" Lyra screamed.

"The wind!" I yelled.

The air around us began to spin into a massive cyclone. We were lifted off the ground.

"We're flying?" Jace laughed hysterically. "We're actually flying!"

"We're escaping," I said.

But as we rose above the rooftops, a massive, golden hand appeared in the clouds. It was miles wide. It started to descend toward us.

"The God of Greed," Lyra whispered.

"He’s finally coming down," I said.

The hand reached for us, its fingers crackling with cosmic lightning.