“Repeat it, if you please,” said Gerard.
“I’ve got two vials,” said Sun. “One’s the vampire poison, one’s the antidote. I’ll take the poison first, sneak in with the cargo, and take antidote once I’m in.”
She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. “I might talk, and act, and pout like I...
2023-05-11 03:08:48 +0000 UTC View PostAn airship streaked across the sky, a golden infinity etched onto its prow. And in it were three creatures of Empyrean power.
The first was the Sky Wolf, a werewolf dressed in a hunter’s leathers, knives sticking out of dozens of pockets, some small as a thumb, others big as a head. They jingled at each move. He hummed tunelessly to hims...
2023-05-10 01:43:07 +0000 UTC View PostThey were back at the warehouse. Dorian found Gerard sitting on a high-backed chair, sipping tea, legs tastefully crossed. Sun was hanging upside-down off one of the lamps, scatter-gunning appleseeds. She waved cheerfully when she saw him. Gerard offered him a curt nod and a raised brow.
“You’re four minutes and sixteen seconds late,...
2023-05-08 23:54:57 +0000 UTC View PostThis time Baldur came out swinging. His plan was very simple. Break his stupid fucking face!
Then light blossomed at dragonboy’s feet, like a tiny crimson trampoline, and he vanished. Bounced away. And Baldur turned just in time to take four knuckles to his left cheek.
He whirled, he clobbered, he smashed. It felt...
2023-05-08 01:44:03 +0000 UTC View PostPatreon-only bonus chapter!
Baldur hit the boy, and he could tell it hurt. Dragonboy’s eyes went wide, but his pupils went small, and Baldur felt a spike of satisfaction.
You liked that one, did you? I’ve a feeling you’ll like this much better!
[Anvil Fist!]
All of Baldur’s immen...
2023-05-07 02:59:42 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
Updated last chapter to mention that Lv. 10 is Lv. MAX for all Techniques—probably should have mentioned this earlier in the series but ah well
It should be noted a shitty technique maxed out < a very good lv 1 technique
//
Palace of the Trolls, Underworld.
Ninth C...
2023-05-06 03:47:05 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
Note: New official schedule for patrons is 7 chapters per week! (daily)
RR readers get 5 chapters per week (weekdays).
:) Onwards!
//
Pure Jade Realm
The Pure Jade Realm was a realm of pure jade. Jade crystals sprouted from the ground lik...
2023-05-05 03:29:41 +0000 UTC View PostA beginner had moves. An expert had tactics. Where a beginner saw a battle in only one dimension, an expert like Pinker—a title he more than deserved, if he did say so himself—saw two. When a beginner saw a face, their first thought was, ‘I will punch it!’ When an expert saw a face, their first thought was, ‘how can I punch it...
2023-05-04 03:29:17 +0000 UTC View PostWhere did it all go wrong?
It was a question Pinker woke up to every morning, blearily staring at his stubbled face in the mirror, at the sagging cheeks and the mustache like an unkempt lawn. There was a time he’d daubed his face in oils and gels, took daily skin-tightening elixirs—when his face was still on the promotional po...
2023-05-03 03:38:10 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
Quick writing update: Daily pace is going smoothly, even during finals week. Fixing a set writing schedule has streamlined things for me writing-wise :)
//
The Spirit Pavilion!
It was the same everywhere. In Hell, in Zenith, in Pithia, in Shen’Zi—even the entrances to the Spirit Realm themselves ...
2023-05-02 02:14:12 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
I am fresh off banging my head against a CS project for 4 hours
late upload bc thought i wasn't going to make it in time. then I figured I just wouldn't sleep until I finished the chapter lol
ite off to bed
//
It was one of those ideas that really felt like it shouldn’t work. But Dorian could...
2023-05-01 04:27:44 +0000 UTC View Post“That’s the full floor plans to the Royal Palace,” said Sun through a mouthful of bread. “Plus—a catalog of all the best shit they’ve got!” She swallowed, then grinned. “Not bad, eh?”
“How did you manage this?” said Gerard, frowning in consternation. “I was under the impression all documents pertai...
2023-04-30 02:08:41 +0000 UTC View PostDorian worked his way through the drooling crowd, wielding his tail as a wedge. Remarkably nifty thing—he’d had little use for it thus far since he hadn’t had much in the way of close combat. But in time, once he began tinkering on that skillset in earnest, maybe he’d pick up a Tail Technique.
For now, though— ‘GODKING HOUY...
2023-04-29 03:47:59 +0000 UTC View PostDorian’s sorting process went something like this.
Flip open a book—usually stained with grease, oil, food, or other such grime—and skim. And then about a quarter of the way through—sometimes less—he tossed it aside, picked out another, and started over. He did not expect to find the sort of manual that might adorn the shelves of...
2023-04-28 01:21:18 +0000 UTC View PostHell sure had a fascination with Heaven! These Technique shops found a way to squeeze the word into the title of nearly every manual—Heavenly’ this, Heavenly’ that. Dorian strolled past grimy windows crammed with display cases, all variants of the same sleazy design, each shoddier than the last—a fake gold stand which held up books with ...
2023-04-27 03:38:06 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Daily streak still going! :p
//
Eighteen.
The number was surreal. Out of millions, eighteen. The top twenty Gods in the Multiverse were legendary creatures, carved out snug spots in drinking songs across a good dozen languages—and had far more tales of their feats whispered around...
2023-04-26 01:52:03 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Schedule may be a little unstable as finals approach… will aim to do at least 5 chapters per week (M/W/F + Dailies on weekends?). More if I have time!
//
“May I ask what it is you intend to do, sir?” asked Gerard. His eyes flickered down to his tea-table, on which three teacups, a book, an...
2023-04-25 03:11:50 +0000 UTC View Post“You know, Gerard,” said Dorian as they strolled down the long, winding stairs, “It occurs to me we’ve been all business since I got here. How’ve you been these past few… Hells, has it only been a few months?”
“I am fine,” said Gerard with a little nod, the picture of courtesy. “Thank you kindly for your concer...
2023-04-24 03:07:36 +0000 UTC View PostNote:
*Probably* no chapter on Sunday! Taking the day off to plan, rest a little.
//
A lotus unfurled in the air, budded with crystal-blue dew, hung in a halo of pink light. Qi drifted off it like warm breath on a frosty day. Gerard plucked it gingerly out of the air and presented it to Dorian with a bow....
2023-04-23 04:17:07 +0000 UTC View PostDorian fully expected the safehouse to be a storage facility in an alleyway. Or perhaps underground. Some dingy out-of-the-way place that shunned light and bathed in smog; it was where he would’ve put such a place.
Instead Gerard led them to a hotel that looked like the shorter yet prettier little sibling of Ur’s royal palace....
2023-04-22 02:28:55 +0000 UTC View Post“What took you so long?”
“…”
“I expected you days ago.” Gerard tapped his watch. “You’re late.”
For a few seconds all Dorian did was stare. “You’re alive.”
Gerard spread his hands. “I was given a last-second warning. Call it Fate.” There was that quirk of the lips again, so fast it was nearly...
2023-04-21 02:23:22 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Maybe I should schedule releases at specific times... hmm
10PM EST perhaps?
I have blocked out time on my calendar to write 2k words (i.e. a chapter) a day!
I don't know how sustainable this is!
We will see!
//
They were swimming. Deep in the underground lava-flows, heading to the s...
2023-04-20 00:47:59 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
Bonus chapter!
//
As Dorian heard the plan—over the course of three long minutes of excited babbling, no less—his expression underwent a series of metamorphoses. First a cock of the brow, a smirk of mild amusement. And then up went the second, around the minute mark. If Sun noticed she didn’t stop ch...
2023-04-18 21:40:58 +0000 UTC View PostWeeks later…
Dorian and Sun saw the Kingdom of Ur rise in the ashy distance, watched endless streams of caravans trundle towards it yanked by herds of giant demigod drakes. In the mortal realms they might’ve been kings. Here they kept their heads low as God traders lashed their impatience with flaming whips.
As a...
2023-04-17 22:46:17 +0000 UTC View Post“You know what my one regret is?” said Dorian through a mouthful of fried locust leg.
“Mm?” said Sun. It was all she could get out. She’d managed to squeeze five into her mouth, which was quite the feat to behold. They bulged against her wobbling cheeks. It looked to him like one of those demon serpents that swallowed elephants...
2023-04-16 23:39:16 +0000 UTC View PostThere was a drawn-out pause, filled with a great deal of nothing.
“Sun?!” He hissed. “Cloak!”
Nujia frowned at him. He, in turn, frowned at Sun.
“…Please don’t tell me you’re frozen again.”
“Am I?” Sun looked rather spooked at that. She raised a hand, wiggled her fingers. “Phew!”
“Then wh...
2023-04-16 00:16:03 +0000 UTC View Post“You should go.” Meng said. Sharply—“I’ll not involve myself in your petty squables.”
Then she eyed Sun flopping on the floor. She softened. “But…perhaps I’ll give you a way out. This much, and no more!”
She tapped the air. A seam in the fabric of the Multiverse split open, giving way to a foreign stretch of Swamp...
2023-04-15 00:48:20 +0000 UTC View PostA/N:
I wasn’t going to release a chapter today, on account of the fact that I have a giant midterm tomorrow whose existence I only learned about this morning
But here we are! Procrastination is the mother of writing, or something?
//
It was a choice that would define the rest of this life.
Hellfir...
2023-04-13 01:41:33 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time Dorian and Sun turned back around, the grin was wiped from their faces. Dorian put up a quizzical brow. Sun simply blinked wide-eyed, like a newborn fawn. “Wait,” said Meng once more. She dithered for a second. Then she shook her head, sighed again, cleared her throat. “I’ve got a gift for you too, child.”
“You astound me,” said Meng as they strode up the path back. She glared at him, but in that exasperated half-lidded way, not the kind she really meant. This was Meng the old lady glaring. Nearly playful.
Dorian had been on the receiving end of the other kind of glare too, the kind from Meng the Warlord. Twice. It hadn’t ended well. I...
2023-04-09 23:18:58 +0000 UTC View Post