Chapter 92: Divine Maze (2)
The buildings moved.
They rotated, and the streets between them rearranged in real time. Walls rising where open ground had been, passages opening where walls had been. The white city reorganized itself around the plaza with the patience of something that had done this before and expected to do it again.
The tree did not move.
Its branches stayed perfectly symmetrical, each one the exact same length as the branch opposite it. The white roots ran outward through the plaza stone in straight lines. But the roots were glowing now, white light spreading through the lines from the tree’s base outward, and when the light reached the plaza’s center, it gathered into a shape.
A person.
Kai looked at the shape and understood what it was before it finished resolving.
Same height.
Same build.
Same face, the details coming clear as the light settled into solid form. The difference was everything else.
Every plate fit perfectly against the next. There were no scratches, no repairs, no signs of damage. It looked like armor belonging to someone who had never made a mistake severe enough to be punished for it.
Two handguns rested in his hands.
The level display floating above the figure read fifty-two, which was three levels higher than Kai had ever reached.
[Ironpact Kai.]
[Level 52.]
The alternate Kai stood beneath the tree and looked at him with an expression that was neither hostile nor friendly. Just an evaluation like a machine determining the most efficient solution to a problem.
A ripple moved through the nearby street.
A Divine Construct came out of the rearranged street to the left.
[Divine Construct.]
[Level 49.]
The construct immediately attacked while the Ironpact Kai moved. His first shot hit the construct’s shoulder, and then the second struck its knee. The third landed in exactly the place the construct exposed while compensating for the previous two impacts.
Every shot forced a reaction.
Every reaction opened another weakness.
The construct lunged, but Ironpact Kai stepped forward instead of back. One pistol rose. The construct’s blade smashed into the reinforced frame of the weapon.
The impact was redirected before the second pistol fired directly into the construct’s chest at point-blank range. A beam of white light erupted from the barrel and blasted a hole through the construct.
Ironpact Kai spun.
Then he fired off two more shots that blasted off the heads of the remaining Divine Constructs.
[Survival Rate: Improved.]
Kai looked at the combat and then at the alternate version of himself. "Looks boring," he said.
Ironpact Kai turned to face him.
The fight started without any further discussion.
The first gunshot sounded like thunder, and Kai barely got his head out of the way. The second shot arrived before the first echo faded.
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
The rounds weren’t aimed at him but at where he would dodge. Kai’s eyes narrowed at the same predictive combat style as the Divine Constructs. Except this version understood him personally.
The fourth shot forced Kai exactly where the fifth one wanted him. The beam of light that followed tore through the space he had occupied half a second earlier.
The white street exploded.
But Kai launched himself sideways, evading the blast. Just as he turned, he saw the alternate Kai was already there.
One handgun smashed toward his jaw, but Kai raised the Fractured Blade. Steel collided with reinforced metal, and the impact echoed through the street.
The second pistol fired directly into Kai’s chest.
A concentrated beam of light erupted from the barrel, but Kai twisted. The beam scraped across his armor and carved a glowing trench through the street behind him.
He activated Flame Swordsman.
Heat erupted around the Fractured Blade, and instead of retreating, Kai stepped directly into the next attack.
The blade crashed downward, and the alternate raised their piston to block. But that was a mistake as the pistol glowed and then a fiery explosion burst outwards.
The alternative was sent flying, blasting through multiple walls. But not before a beam of light came swinging towards him.
Kai ducked beneath it, and the beam sliced through a distant building.
The entire structure collapsed.
"Even with that, you could still react?" Kai muttered. "Should I say as expected of me?"
The alternate didn’t answer, even with burns on their right arm, and he fired again. But Kai wasn’t interested in doing that dance again.
[Class Emulation: Thread Caster – Partial.]
Silver threads exploded outward before they wrapped around the alternate’s ankle.
Kai pulled.
The alternate immediately adapted; instead of resisting, he used the pull. His body rotated with the force, and the spin accelerated him. Both pistols fired simultaneously, and twin beams crossed through the air.
Kai barely slipped between them, and then the five buildings behind him exploded in white lights.
Kai switched.
[Class Emulation: Earth Mage – Partial.]
Stone erupted from the street, and massive pillars surged upward beneath the Ironpact Kai. The ground itself became hostile. For the first time, Ironpact Kai lost positioning; it wasn’t much.
But just enough to shatter the perfect rhythm, and then Null Fang flashed. The blade punched through the opening. The durability-denying edge pierced straight through the armor.
The alternate froze, and then the gun in his hand lowered. For the first time, emotion appeared on his face. It wasn’t anger or frustration but recognition. As though he finally understood why this version of himself had survived.
Light began gathering around his body, and the roots of the white tree illuminated. The alternate looked at Kai one final time, and then he smiled.
One Kai recognized immediately that it was the smile of someone who had found an interesting answer. Then the light consumed the Ironpact Kai before his body dissolved into particles, and the street fell silent once more.
Kai lowered his weapon, and he sighed. The battle had not felt like fighting another person. It had felt like fighting the version of himself that had sacrificed everything unnecessary in exchange for efficiency.
And somehow he still lost.
Kai continued walking.
...
The second district was financial. White skyscrapers with clean glass and polished stone, streets wider than the residential section, the buildings larger and further apart. Everything looked successful, but nobody looked happy.
The second figure formed beneath a smaller white tree at the district’s center.
Same face. Better suit over combat gear. The posture of someone who had never needed to be physically ready for anything because other people were physically ready on his behalf.
[Hale Kai.]
[Level 54.]
This version had more money. More influence. Higher level achieved through resources rather than risk. If he had taken Victor Hale had been positioned to offer, or if the ceremony had gone differently.
Then he saw Mina and Leo.
They were there.
Both of them were safe and clearly well-resourced with no signs of struggle or pressure on them. But they were standing at a distance from the alternate Kai, and none of them tried to approach him.
That communicated something blunt.
They were not family.
They were dependents.
People, the alternate Kai was responsible for in the way that a person was responsible for a lease, something managed rather than something chosen.
Mina, in this version, looked like someone who had stopped expecting to be asked what she thought. Leo looked like someone who had learned to be grateful instead of excited. No, when Kai looked closer, it was the same smile employees gave managers.
’What... What the hell is this!?’ Kai looked at this for two seconds. Not comprehending the absurdity or willing to believe such a thing was possible.
Then he attacked the alternative with an angry look.
Hale Kai responded with resources.
Items deployed from inventory, constructs summoned through contract abilities, and defensive tools that cost money rather than skill. He was fighting the way someone fought when they had always been able to purchase the solution. When Kai went through the purchased solution, he found that what was behind it was someone who had never needed to develop the thing underneath.
The instincts and experience of true combat.
The Tempest Fang stored four exchanges’ worth of kinetic energy, and Kai released it all at once into the middle of the summoned constructs. The pressure burst scattered them, and Hale Kai fell back to reposition, and Kai followed without giving him time to access the inventory again.
Close range, where purchased solutions stopped mattering. The Null Fang went through the armor that had never been tested.
One exchange, two, and then Hale Kai was down.
Hale Kai looked at him in a daze before mouthing out some words that didn’t echo out. But he understood.
"Was that path worth it?"
Kai glanced at that version of Mina and Leo before saying. "Yes."
"Why?"
"Because we are a family."
Hale Kale’s eyes widened before he closed his eyes and faded as if he was content with those words. Kai stood in the financial district and thought about the look on Mina’s face in that version.
He kept walking.
...
Every building had been stripped down to its most essential shape. White walls rose from white streets without decoration or individuality. There were no signs. No statues. No traces of personality.
Everything unnecessary had been removed.
Only utility remained.
Kai walked through the empty district in silence, and then he saw him. The figure was already standing in the middle of the street.
[Sovereign Kai.]
[Level 56.]
Faster than the others.
The highest level he had seen inside the dungeon was even higher than the other Kai’s. The difference was visible immediately. The pressure he gave off was like a predator who no longer worried about threats. This version had grown quickly without stopping or resting. And judging by the level floating above his head, he had never stopped.
Kai glanced around, but he saw no one, not even Mina and Leo. The empty district stretched in every direction, and the dungeon had not given Sovereign Kai additional enemies. It had not given him anything at all because it didn’t think he needed it.
A strange feeling settled in Kai’s chest.
Then Sovereign Kai moved, and the street exploded.
Kai’s instincts screamed before he quickly jumped and once more was in the air. The space he occupied vanished beneath a descending strike. The impact shattered the white stone, and a shockwave raced down the entire street.
Kai appeared twenty feet away, but Sovereign Kai was already there. The second strike arrived before the first shockwave finished expanding.
Steel crashed against steel.
The force traveled through both arms, and Kai’s feet dug trenches into the street. His eyes widened at the absurd strength in this version of himself.
The next exchange came faster.
Then another.
Then another.
Sovereign Kai always seemed to push him back without ever losing an exchange. Every strike felt optimized through thousands of battles. Every attack carried enough force to turn a mistake into death. Kai found himself giving ground not because he wanted to but because he had to.
The alternative was death, and a sword flashed toward his neck.
Kai blocked.
The impact numbed his fingers, but then a second attack immediately followed. Then a third, and the Sovereign Kai pressed relentlessly without any emotion on his face.
Kai activated Blood Tyrant.
[Class Emulation: Blood Tyrant – Partial.]
Red energy spread beneath his skin.
The first stack formed.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Kai stopped trying to win exchanges and instead focused on surviving them. Every clash built pressure, every impact increased his strength, and seconds brought him closer to the explosion.
Sovereign Kai noticed immediately.
’Of course he did.’
The alternate adjusted, and his attacks became more aggressive. Sovereign Kai seemed to understand exactly what Blood Tyrant was doing. He simply intended to kill Kai before it mattered.
A downward strike shattered the street.
But Kai rolled.
That strike split the buildings behind him from the energy wave it produced. The district began collapsing around them, and white structures crumbled beneath the force of their battle.
Stack four.
Stack five.
Kai grinned. "Still alone?"
The question slipped out during an exchange, but the Sovereign Kai didn’t answer as he slashed out once more.
But this one came a couple seconds slower.
And then steel collided.
And the next strike came faster, almost cutting his throat, but Kai blocked it.
Barely.
"Where’s Mina?" But Sovereign Kai said nothing as his sword thrust toward his heart. Kai twisted aside, but the blade missed by inches.
Stack six.
The pressure inside him finally stabilized, and power surged through his body.
Now!
Kai exploded forward, and Null Fang flashed. For the first time in the battle, Sovereign Kai was forced to react instead of attack. The durability-denying blade pierced his armor, and the strike landed.
A shallow wound, but it landed, making Sovereign Kai stagger back one step.
That was all Kai needed.
[Class Emulation: Earth Mage – Partial.]
Stone erupted beneath the alternate’s feet, and the street transformed into jagged terrain. Pillars exploded upward, and cracks spread in every direction, which further destabilized Sovereign Kai.
Kai followed immediately as the Tempest Fang came across in a brutal horizontal arc, and the strike connected.
The impact launched him through the side of a nearby structure, and the entire building collapsed. Dust filled the district while Kai breathed heavily.
Then the dust exploded outward.
Sovereign Kai emerged, and to Kai’s irritation, he was uninjured.
"Alright, Null Fang it is."
Sovereign Kai rushed out with a vastly faster speed. Kai’s eyes widened as that shouldn’t have happened. The distance vanished, and pain erupted across Kai’s side. He looked down to see blood spread across his armor.
Too fast.
The alternate had crossed the space, struck him, and repositioned before Kai fully processed the movement.
The follow-up came instantly.
Kai switched.
[Class Emulation: Guard – Partial.]
He quickly summoned an A-ranked shield just as the attack crashed into it, and the impact detonated like artillery, with cracks forming on the shield.
Kai switched again.
[Class Emulation: Flame Swordsman – Partial.]
Fire erupted.
Compressed heat exploded from the Fractured Blade at point-blank range. The blast engulfed Sovereign Kai’s weapon arm. For the first time, the alternate lost momentum from his arm being flung back with some burns on it.
Kai instantly switched to Null Fang as he said. "Where’s Leo?"
Their eyes met, and the first emotion appeared. A flicker appeared before it was gone immediately. But Kai saw it, and he saw it delayed the alternative Kai even more; that was enough.
Null Fang flashed as the black blade pierced through the opening, and the strike ended the fight.
Silence returned.
The district stood broken around them with collapsed buildings, shattered streets, and craters everywhere.
Sovereign Kai looked down at the blade embedded in his chest and then up at Kai.
Kai held his gaze. "Have you ever met Sera?"
For the first time since appearing, Sovereign Kai closed his eyes. No answer came because none was needed.
Understanding settled heavily in Kai’s chest.
This version has achieved Level 56 and climbed faster than him. This version had surpassed every measurable benchmark. This version had become stronger than Ironpact Kai, who was efficient, stronger than Hale Kai, who took Victor’s deal and gained extreme wealth and support.
But strength had required payment.
Somewhere along the path, he had stopped making room for people. Stopped making room for friendship. Stopped making room for loyalty and making room for love.
The level remained, but everything else disappeared.
Light gathered around Sovereign Kai’s body. The district brightened, and the alternate slowly dissolved into white particles.
His final expression remained calm without any regret or satisfaction, simple acceptance. Like a man who had completed his objective.
Kai watched the light disappear.
Then he saw the light rush towards the root systems. He saw all three root systems in the plaza pull their light back toward the original tree simultaneously, the white glow fading from the ground, the tree’s symmetrical branches going still.
Then the trunk split cleanly down the center, and the two halves fell to either side. There was a staircase beneath where the roots had been, descending into white light below the plaza.
Kai looked at the three spaces where the alternates had stood. Better equipment and higher levels. More power and stability. Every one of them was objectively superior to him on a status screen.
But every one of them had given something up to get there that did not appear on a status screen.
He walked to the staircase.
At the bottom, standing in the white light, was a construct. Not moving toward him or taking on a combat stance.
It was just standing, looking up at him as he descended.
[Divine Construct.]
[Level 50.]
It spoke in a monotone voice. "Why do you keep choosing inferior paths?"
Kai reached the bottom of the stairs and looked at it. "Because they’re mine," he said.
