Limitless, John Gold [best novels of all time .TXT] 📗

Femida shouted at Sagie when she realized that the pair was about to exchange blows. But he was too focused on the source of his hatred to hear her. As soon as he spent all his pent-up strength on the attack, he would lose the protection of the condensed aura; the keeper would cast his spell and her chosen one would be killed.

No matter how loudly she yelled, Sagie didn’t hear her. And when she decided to dash over, three opponents jumped her at the same time. There was almost no time left before Sagie would make his decision to attack. Femida knew the keeper was going to fire back instantly, so she leaped away from two of her assailants, buried her sword in the third, and pulled the trident Sagie had given her out of the inventory. She was just in time. Sagie attacked; the keeper intensified his shield and let go of the drop of light. Femida used all her strength, abilities, and throwing skills to hurl the trident. Of course, she didn’t pour her power into it, as the goal was just to knock Sagie out from under the keeper’s attack.

The trident pierced Sagie’s left side and sent him flopping right to the cube. It wasn’t anything near to being a deadly blow, so she knew he would be fine. In the meantime, the drop of light fell right where he’d been standing a second before and melted into the air. Nothing else happened. Sagie’s aura strike hit its target, though the keeper blocked it completely, regardless of the colossal amount of strength that had been invested in the attack.

Femida saw a boney sphere appear above the keeper’s head, unroll, and take human form. The cloak lined with needles transformed into a white spear in the person’s hand, and when the keeper noticed his new opponent, it was too late. The latter was already too close for him to throw up his shield. One stroke to the head killed the keeper. The snake-like body plummeted to the ground, the attacker still astride the head of his conquered foe. The white spear started to spread, enveloping Tser’Kareni’s body in a white film before swallowing it completely and returning to its original shape.

Femida was so stunned that she didn’t notice the three tall men appear next to her, Idzumi, death, and one other. The keeper’s unknown killer did notice them though; he took two long leaps and dove into the portal.

But Sagie, what about Sagie?

He was sitting with his back to the cube, his head just about touching the portal window. A bloody foam dripped from his lips, a lung was punctured, and he had broken ribs, but he wasn’t dead. His eyes still hadn’t healed. Grabbing the shaft of the trident, he yanked it out of himself, though he didn’t toss it aside. Even though he knew the keeper was dead, he didn’t know how he’d died. And why wasn’t he throwing the trident away? The thorns on the shaft. He felt it over, coughed heavily, and spat blood before speaking wearily.

“Even you betrayed me, my goddess of justice. How I hate you all.”

“No! I didn’t!”

But Sagie wasn’t about to listen to her. Again, the world descended into tones of red. Tearing aside the tattered remains of his clothing, he pressed a hand against the enormous seal on his chest.

“How I hate you all.”

Sagie’s last words were spoken with tears of frustration running down his face.

The players looked like they were just waking up from a deep sleep. A normal albeit badly wounded guy was sitting there in front of them, covered in blood, his eyes gone, and with a deep wound in his chest. He wept in pain. Tears mixed with dried blood as they trickled down his cheeks, the pain of hurt, betrayal, and hatred breaking out into the world around him. What hurt the most, however, was what Femida had done.

As the world was bathed in bright red tones, Sagie arched his back and howled in pain. His hand was activating a seal. Femida knew that the recoil did enormous amounts of damage to him, but she had no idea what he might have up his sleeve that could be so incredibly painful.

Suddenly, it stopped. Sagie was again sitting against the cube, the portal hole already at shoulder level. Just a slight lean backwards, and it would suck him in. But what had he just done?

In silence, the players watched Sagie, the mystery man who turned out to be no different from anyone else you might meet on the street. He was wounded, battered, stripped of his equipment, and indistinguishable from any other player.

Yellow leaves began to rain down from the sky. The Tree of Worlds was disintegrating, its crown crumbling to reveal the onrushing planetoid. Sagie had used his final trump card: the rainbow sunset seal.

The ring lurched, throwing Sagie’s body into the portal. Femida looked up at the enormous block of stone the young man had summoned down upon himself. Suddenly, the falling leaves froze in mid-air; the planetoid was so large, it was distorting gravity. As soon as she realized what the impact was going to be like, Femida took off for the portal. A quick message went out to everyone in the group chat.

“Hurry, follow me!”

Ekron switched to her Petbe visage. Five seconds later, the two girls were both through the portal.

∞ ∞ ∞

When Reiji saw what Sagie had done, he decided to step in. One powerful leap sent him flying into the sky with a shock wave that knocked all the survivors backwards, also shaking them to their senses.

The cloak Sagie had given him fluttered in the wind. His mind was crystal clear, just one thought beating through it: he had to stop the monstrous meteor.

∞ ∞ ∞

Death was gone, and Tiamat was bellowing at the crowd.

“All battle units at red alert. Knight squad! First-level threat. The third-sequence limitation is off for twenty-four hours, and you’re authorized to use plasma and laser weapons, antimatter