Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

With some convincing, the child accepted with a nod before Finn hopped onto the railing, balancing himself as he peered down.

["

Multitask

"]

Counting each fiend he could see by looking down, he estimated their numbers, finding a troublesome amount still on the prowl:

'Thirteen, maybe fifteen–I'll have to move quickly,'

he counted.

A breath was siphoned into his lungs as he readied himself, clenching his fist before letting himself fall from the railing. He began to descend through the stairwell, bringing a pitch-black orb into his hand–

["

Supercharge

"] plus ["

Blackout

"]

Fueling the black orb with a splendor of energy, he tossed it down, igniting the sphere to expand into a flash of total black. It spread through each and every inch of the towering stairwell, consuming the senses of everything from top to bottom.

"Huh–?" Jasper reacted, unable to see.

"This is…!" Charlotte realized.

There was mass confusion and panic, now for the sudden blindness, though it was to the advantage of the assassin as the fiends were left unable to sense as well. He caught himself on the closest floor with a monstrosity on it.

"Gruuuah?!"

A humanoid fiend stumbled around, lashing out at the walls without any sight. It used hands the shape of boulders to slam around into, bringing Finn to duck down as it swung around without any knowledge of his presence.

He closed in without trouble, sprinting by as he slashed his dagger through its neck, dismantling its head from its shoulders. There wasn't a single pause as he continued on his path without stopping.

'One down,'

he counted.

Heading down, a few survivors were found hugging one another, huddled into a corner while a bull-headed monstrosity looked for them.

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"Come out, come out, meat!" The barbaric fiend shouted blindly, ramming its horns against the wall just a few inches from one of the woman's faces.

He had an open look with its back turned to him, bringing him to flex his body as he leaned forward from the top of the floor–

["

Blink Slash

"] [2:59]

The steps were bypassed as he stopped the bull-like humanoid from goring the survivors, intercepting as he let his dagger remove its head.

'Two,'

the count resumed as he sprinted.

["

Phantom

"]

["

Spring Foot

"] [0:59]

["

Flicker

"]

Alongside the shadow-born copy of himself, he moved with unseen steps, imperceivable swiftness like that of a skipped tape. A grouping of the animalistic fiends were intercepted, cutting between them before their violence could reach the blinded patients.

He slashed through the necks of a stocky, tortoise-shelled horror along with a slender fiend bearing a mouth on its stomach. At the same time, a fiend with arms like saws closed in on a doctor that huddled herself against the wall–

As its body loomed over the doctor, Finn's phantom silently flipped over its head, stabbing into its neck from both sides before removing it as if unscrewing a nail.

'Five,'

Finn counted.

Down another floor, he worked in perfect tandem with his phantom to cut through the Devil's henchmen. He slid along the railing, slashing the tallest of the fiends while his copy dug a dagger through the necks of the entities that knew nothing but violence.

'Ten,'

the numbers were decreasing by the moment.

Blackout's effects wore off after the seconds were up, leaving both the people and fiends to be returned their stolen senses. Finn sprinted down the next set of steps, finding an unmistakable sight of blue hair.

"Charlotte!" Finn called out.

It seemed everybody was still coming back as Charlotte blinked, looking around. She was surrounded by a pair of the fiends, still safeguarding a group of patients.

"Finn–?" Charlotte called out.

As the fiends began moving again, with the mantis-headed monstrosity twitching its limbs, going for a quick slash towards the spellblade, Finn tossed his dagger right towards it–

["

Blade Warp

"] [Mana: -100] [4000/4500]

He crossed the distance in a blink, intercepting the visceral insect-humanoid's arms as he sliced through both in a single motion. At the same time, as its limbs were cut away, the fiend's head was blown through by a shadow-woven projectile from behind–

["

Phantom Piercer

"]

From behind, the copy of the assassin had unleashed the projectile, finishing the abominable creature.

At the same time, Finn glanced over, finding a flesh-fiend covered in spikes closing in on the spellblade, "Charlotte!--"

There was no need to call out to his companion as she was well aware of the creature's presence, quickly spinning around and ducking as her blade swept through its midsection. It was easily bisected, left crumbling away into dust.

He watched as Charlotte breathed out, pushing her hair behind her ear; that focused look was one he admired, though quickly refocusing on the situation.

"C'mon! Keep moving!" Finn kept moving, gesturing to both the spellblade and the survivors to move downward. "I'll catch up in a minute!"

"Right–come on!" Charlotte said, guiding the trembling patients and doctors alike to move their feet.

He kept his phantom with the group that moved down, going back up alone as he leapt from the railings, going up floor-to-floor by swinging up each time. It only took him a few moments to climb up the sides of the stairwell, though a terrified scream from up above sent a chill through his body-

"Anna!" He shouted desperately, throwing himself up with a tug.

As he flipped over the railing to the section he left the small girl on, he discovered her backed into a corner as a fiend approached. It was a lanky, hunch-backed monstrosity that resembled an old man, unrolling a sinister tongue from its mouth.

"Small child…Small child! Come, come!" The fiend moved its fingers with a grin.

Seeing the repulsive creature, Finn launched himself with a dropkick, slamming both boots through its head as he slammed the fiend against the wall. The tremendous impact pushed a crater into the concrete before it fixed itself, leaving the splattered creature to flop down and wither.

"Mr. Finn!" Anna called out with a look of hope in her eyes.

"Sorry I left you here. You stayed strong though! You did a good job!" He quickly praised the child before scooping her up in his arms, making a quick dash down the stairs once more.

Only a few steps down did he make it before he was stopped in his tracks. It wasn't a fiend that intercepted his both, but rather a change in the air; a chilling sensation. Only for a moment did he need to feel it before his body recognized that presence–

'It's him. He's here,'

the realization came to him.

Chapter Experience:

The immediate thought in his mind was the safety of the others; those he cared for. Imagining a situation in which Charlotte or Jasper had to face [Nameless], the only thing he could foresee was death. Utter, engulfing despair; an outcome he needed to avoid at all costs.

"Replication," Finn mumbled.

"Mr. Finn?" Anna looked up at him.

The perfect doppelganger emerged from his body as he handed the girl off to it, giving her a pat on the head.

"I've got friends down there that'll look after you. They'll make sure you get to your mother, alright?" Finn assured her.

"What about you, Mr. Finn? Why aren't you coming–?" Anna asked worriedly.

"I've got to make sure everybody can get out of here," Finn said, readying his dagger.

As the doppelganger of his took off down the stairwell, a weight was lifted off his shoulder as he looked up towards the ceiling of the blood-painted sector. A massive sphincter of flesh descended, having engulfed the roof itself.

Black goo oozed from the womb-like ceiling; a hand slowly pushed out from it, wielding a hunting knife that made Finn's abdomen tingle at the sight of it. Every rational part of his mind, with all the logic in the world spanning across his brain, advised him against what he decided.

His legs wanted to run the opposite way; his fingers trembled, his lungs quivered as he exhaled, but he knew what he had to do.

'You're not getting to them. Not before you get through me,'

Finn resolved before throwing his blade upward.

["

Blade Warp

"] [Mana: -100] [3900/4500]

Grabbing a hold of his blade, he pushed right into the flesh-formed hole, squeezing through its grotesque entrance as he pushed back the sinister being that attempted to emerge from it. Pushing through the mass, he found himself stepping into somewhere on the other side.

Though he had gone upward, he found his boots meeting the ground, returned upright as he found himself in what resembled a twisted wing of the hospital. The walls were coated in rust, decayed by age.

"--"

Finn found himself staring down that stain on humanity; once more facing down the man too depraved to leave his mark on history. Just standing there again, no more than ten strides away, he could feel his heartbeat rising, sweat escaping his pores, his breathing becoming heavier–

'Calm down. Before, I wasn't prepared–I know what I'm getting into now,'

he assured himself.