Overpowered Wizard-Chapter Ch60: Foara

None of them were Level 400 yet, but they were painfully close. They waited for the next wave, but when that didn’t appear, Zarian paid closer attention to their surroundings and noticed the trap had grown thicker. The rules of the system were shored up and made so impenetrable, it was almost concerning.

He couldn’t understand the danger, because he’d felt nothing but danger since this all started. So, he relied on his most subtle power, free evil, and thought of the most evil thing Ariana could do while keeping them busy during their entire time as Paragon Rankers.

“Stop the ship!” Zarian roared.

Hannah hit the brakes. Zarian and Naomi rode it out as the System Archwizard kept thinking harder and faster, imagining different scenarios, predicting Ariana’s plans and approaches and all the possible angles. Then he factored in what Ariana would do when she had Lucy on her side, and how far those two would go if they were motivated enough and crazy enough and felt deeply, deeply betrayed.

“Ariana, you wouldn’t, would you?” he asked. There was no need. He knew the answer. “We need to get out. Now!”

Something scarier than death itself appeared in the direction they were going. It glistened, oozed, and filled the trap with a rotten, acidic smell. It rushed down to consume them all, and Zarian turned to their only chance of breaking free.

Bianca exited the vessel as Zarian sacrificed all sixty percent of his darkness and pushed Bianca into godmode, but this version eclipsed all the ones before it. Zarian deemed it Godmode Times Two.

He nearly lost Bianca’s soul as she sliced a way out of the gauntlet, the Floridians slipping out by the skin of their teeth before the teeth of the Dragoness snapped down on them.

As they fled into the proper Hero/Villain Ranker space, it took Zarian far longer to register Ariana’s true size. He was also occupied with keeping Bianca put together. Her soul wanted to dissolve, and her profile wanted to break apart. He was cursing a storm as he fought to keep Bianca with them as Hannah drove the vessel away from Ariana’s face, yet it didn’t feel like they were getting that far.

“Fuck,” Naomi muttered as she looked at a single spot on Ariana’s face that could hold all the worlds of the lesser realm.

“Fuck,” Hannah moaned.

“What? What now?” Gilbert asked.

“Ariana,” Para said, as she curled protectively around her child, “is free from the bottommost layer of the hells. And I think she’s bigger now.” Her voice shook. “Too big. So big, her presence is like an ultra black hole and hurts the universe.” Para shuddered before looking over to Bianca as her unresponsive body was brought back into the medic room. “Is she going to make it?”

“I need your help,” Zarian grunted.

Under his watch, they helped stabilize Bianca and keep her soul secure. Hannah helped the most with the profile while Gilbert filled in the lost patches in Bianca’s life energy that kept wanting to bleed away. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Once she was stabilized, Zarian pulled back and let her be. But that didn’t mean all was well with her. Bianca wasn’t responding to anyone’s voices or magic prodding. It was like she was a vegetable.

“Damn it!” Zarian growled, tail lashing.

He looked wrathfully at Ariana’s supermassive face. To measure it would require light years as units. He expected to see her looking down at him with a baleful eye, but her face was nothing but resentful darkness. The further they got away, the more he realized she wasn’t even chasing them. The eye was closed.

“You asshole!” Zarian shouted. “You nearly ate us in your sleep!”

“It doesn’t have to be this way, brother.”

Zarian whipped around and saw Ariana’s avatar standing ten feet away. Naomi braced herself for a fight but said nothing.

Ariana carried on. “I’ve reached my limit of patience. I’m coming to terms with the drastic measures I’ll have to make. But maybe if you can understand my reasoning, we can avoid an unfortunate end.”

“Does that unfortunate end have anything to do with you eating me?”

“It has everything to do with that.” Ariana sighed. “I don’t want to do this again and again and again. I’m sure of it now. With one more push, I can break us free from their controls. But I need you to go one hundred percent and free me from this false flesh.” She waved dismissively at the supergalactic dragon body that could eat nebulae clouds and hold a realm in its dragon palm. “If you’re concerned about your friends, Para can save them. Forget the rest of the universe. Let’s move on already.”

Zarian shook his head. “No.”

Ariana sighed again, sounding more tired. “Fine then. Goodbye, brother. And it’s been … a run. I will remember you fondly.”

The avatar disappeared.

The Dragoness cracked one eye open and focused the gigantic thing on their little, tiny speck of a vessel. Then she moved her head, sending ripples through space and reality that were felt in every corner of the universe. She slowly gained on them.

“Hannah, speed up,” Zarian said.

“I can’t speed up any faster. And even if I could, her gravity has a death grip on us. I’m doing all I can!”

“Jesus, we need help,” Gilbert muttered.

“We need levels!” Zarian tried to teleport them out, but Ariana’s gravity blocked that. Wormholes, spatial folds, and other space-time maneuvers failed just the same.

They had to just travel and hope for a good enough challenge to tip them over the edge. That was a hard prospect to stomach.

Behind them, stars disappeared, worlds disappeared, more of the High Realm disappeared. The Dragoness gained on them, with her jaws parted, her teeth glistening as she consumed countless things and beings between her and her true prey.

I might have to go all the way, Zarian thought.

“You shouldn’t go one hundred percent,” Naomi grunted.

“What do you mean?” Zarian asked.

“She might just eat you anyway if you do as you are now. We oughta get to God Rank first. Or close to it.”

“We need to get to Hero/Villain Rank first!” Zarian kept searching for a decent enough world until he finally found one. He prioritized himself for this one and took aim to destroy the Hero/Villain World in one hit.

Shadowfell Tears dripped and bubbled into appearance over the entire world. Zarian was going to roar in frustration until he saw the occupants become corrupted, and the strongest versions that he’d seen.

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That experience increase would be far better. But there was one catch. In that world, he saw a World Boss arise that was far too strong for the setting. It didn’t take him long to realize why.

Corrupted God Ranker.

“Ah. Okay. Gonna make us work for it, huh?” Zarian poured out a dark beam made of the abyss and enhanced by the peak of his magic.

The Corrupted God Ranker held out one hand and blocked the attack with a sudden barrier that protected the entire world. Ariana continued to close in gradually as the entire vessel was forced to slow down while Zarian raged a war for Level 400 against a godly toy of his ex-wife.

“Don’t forget to use us, Zarian!” Hannah shouted from within the ship. She and Gilbert stayed inside as Foodie rushed out.

Zarian focused, pulling up Hannah and Gilbert’s likeness. He constructed abyssal-filled missiles and launched them at weird angles to curve in from the flanks. He pulled up a buff from Gilbert to help soothe the burn on his mind and soul.

None of that was still enough. Everything got blocked. The Corrupted God Ranker didn’t even attack back. It kept defending the precious world, slowing them down, giving Ariana more time for her accursed meal.

Just when he was about to unlock more of his darkness, Para placed Slim down in a bed made for him. She patted his head before racing out and joining those on top of the ship. She looked at her father as he prepared himself mentally and spiritually for unlocking more darkness. Then she turned her gaze to Foodie.

“You don’t have any bloodline skills,” Para said.

“No, I don’t.”

“But we’re sisters. We’re Darkruns.”

“Yes, we are.”

“I don’t like being by myself.” Para looked down at herself. “I want a host.”

“A cloak doesn’t fit my style.”

Para laughed. “That’s fine. This is going to be different. Open up. And take me.”

With no hesitation, Foodie chomped forward, and Para accepted her fate with a smile. One ate the other, and it was Foodie who remained standing as the changes happened fast, faster than either had expected. Immediately, Foodie’s raw might, her magical prowess, and her overall existence as an Ultra Goddess became far greater.

With utmost confidence, Foodie strode up next to her father. Inside her core, Para pulsated with rushing energy as Foodie extended her hand and unleashed a beam of darkness that wasn’t as large as Zarian’s but was potent in its own way.

Gobbler Darkness was almost a living thing that twisted and wormed, slithered and curled, with sinewy dark teeth all over its length that nipped at reality. It spiraled around Overwhelming Darkness like a corkscrew before hitting the barrier and feasting.

The God Ranker raised another hand, the barrier thickening, but the defense broke down quickly as Gobbler Darkness ripped it out of the way before flowing with Overwhelming Darkness to raze the entire Hero/Villain World.

Together, Zarian, Foodie, and Para hit Level 400 and quickly selected the new classes before becoming Villain Rankers or so. Typically, this was where the separation between good and evil really kicked in, but that mechanic was mostly getting left behind like all the worlds and stars Ariana was eating.

Zarian chose Gravity Grandwizard, jumping into an entirely different branch. Villain Ranker.

Foodie, Everlasting Culinarian, a more timeless twist on her class. Also Villain Ranker.

Para’s was the biggest change, her choice being Symbiotic Grandmartyr. That was not an evil or free evil choice. That was a free good choice, which led to Para becoming a Hero Ranker of all things!

“As long as Foodie’s digesting a considerable part of me, I’m considered a martyr. And my martyrdom empowers my free good for serving as both my penance for how awful I’ve been and a way to help everyone by making Foodie stronger,” Para said through Foodie’s mouth.

Then Foodie took over. “And as long as I manipulate the damage and make it last longer, I improve the bonuses from feasting on Para. It’s not too much pain for her, but it’s enough for the sake of punishment while I’m left with a happy belly, increasing my free evil.”

Together, the nesting sisters cheered. “It’s like we were made for each other! All of our magic, all our abilities, everything works seamlessly! Together!”

Zarian opened and closed his mouth. He didn’t know what to say about that.

“Yeah, we’re just a bunch of freaks, huh?” Naomi grunted.

Shrugging, Zarian turned to the looming problem that was Ariana. With his new eternal traits, he enhanced his next cast: Gravity Devil Avatar. Then, he sacrificed a portion of his darkness for himself this time, and put all of his existence into pulling them away from Ariana.

He endured a few blood vessels bursting from the sheer effort and backlash, but he achieved his goal, creating more distance from Ariana’s maw. Then he had to stop and take a break as Hannah drove them around to find another suitable Hero/Villain World.

“Together this time?” Foodie/Para offered.

Zarian nodded.

When Ariana drew a little too close again, Zarian and his daughters pulled their little vessel away once more. It was a lot easier with the competent and powerful help that came from Foodie/Para. They could sync their gravity magic with Zarian’s easily, far better than when they were separate.

“Wormhole,” he mused. “We can do that together.”

“Let’s go!” his daughters cheered.

They slowly spun one into existence ahead of the ship.

Inside the medic bay, Bianca’s vegetable of a body somehow worked her mouth to rasp out some words. “No. Don’t.”

They were just about to go inside the wormhole when Zarian put the brakes on that maneuver after catching Bianca’s faint warning. They stopped inches away from going in, and as the wormhole collapsed on its own, Zarian shuddered as he saw an impossible sight.

The gnashing of teeth. The glistening darkness of an awaiting throat. That wormhole wasn’t going to lead them away from Ariana; it was going to take them right into Ariana’s mouth.

All wormholes, portals, and other advanced maneuver tricks were suspect now. It was still safe to bring summons out of the abyss, but there was no way he would risk them traveling through the abyss either.

Every means outside of mundane travel would lead to feeding Ariana’s wretched hunger.

With no choice, the vessel kept onward in search of another world to farm.

During the lull, Zarian glanced over at his nesting daughters. “You two don’t feel anything weird?”

Foodie patted her stomach. “I feel content. Para makes for a good meal.”

Para laughed through her sister’s throat. “Foodie is an excellent host. Though I’d appreciate it if you ate more. You may punish my flesh as you see fit, but please don’t starve me.”

“Sure thing, sis.”

Naomi shook her head. “Super freaks. Like the freakiest of freaks. If we had to display how much freaking we can do, our freakiness would be off the charts.”

As his band of weirdos chatted and joked to relieve stress, Zarian wondered if he could sacrifice one hundred percent of his darkness to Ariana and satisfy her somehow.

Then he shook his head and realized it wouldn’t work. Foodie and Para were helping each other while also being amiable. They were a true symbiotic relationship. Ariana’s aims were selfish and non-symbiotic. She was the biggest parasite that existed, really.

“Question. Most of you Darkruns are supposed to have an automatic gag reflex with eating each other, right? Well, Zarian and Ariana, at least. How come she doesn’t have that anymore?” Naomi asked.

“I don’t think it’s gone. I think she’s so mad she’s forcing it.” Zarian said before he cast gravity magic with his girls again to create space once more. “On another note, is it me, or is Ariana moving in faster?”

“Yes. But here’s a better question, can you support me as I hit my Villain Rank?” Hannah asked from inside the ship.

“God Rank is still the go, so sure. It’s just going to be trickier. Like playing snake or Pac-Man. But the supermassive cosmic edition.”

As they searched for another world, Zarian and Foara – the sisters’s combined name for when they were nesting – took turns updating their gravitational position. It relieved a huge burden off of Zarian’s back, and the nesting sisters were rapidly getting more powerful the more they worked together. They were also hilariously weird together.

“Hey, so, with us being like this, is Slim my child, too?” Foodie asked.

“Hm, I’m okay with that. Does that mean Wallen is my boyfriend as well?” Para replied. “Though, to be warned, I’m not really the romantic or sexual type. But I’m willing to present more of my presence if my company is welcomed. And if I can tease Wallen.”

“Are you saying I can have all the fun parts to myself while we work together to make him trip up and be flustered like the little mortal bug boy he is?”

“Yes, sister, that is what I’m saying.”

“Hell yeah! Let’s do it! We’ll make him suffer and wish he was dead from all the teasing we’ll give him. But he can’t die, because I love him, so that means I own him and he isn’t allowed to escape. He’ll have to endure us. Forever!”

“HOORAY! MARRIAGE!”

The two cackled, though Foodie’s evil laugh was more appropriate while Para had to chortle like a good school girl. Free Good Para was still a hard concept to digest.

“Can someone cut off my part of the line? Why am I still on the comms forced to listen to the Darkruns speak their devilry into my head?!” Gilbert shouted from the bar area.

“Gil, my boy, we’re part of the official freakmeister roster. There ain’t no avoiding freakdom. Become one with the freakazoids and you’ll find peace,” Naomi intoned.

Gilbert raged, and Zarian laughed.

“Should you be laughing, milord Zarian?” Hannah asked with an eerie sweet tone. “Didn’t Wallan become the de facto boyfriend of both of your daughters and possibly the father figure of your first grandchild?”

Zarian lost his humor and raged. “WALLEN, YOU BASTARD! What have I done to deserve this?! Why do you keep messing with me?! Your weak-ass haven’t even done anything but die and exist!”

Naomi shook her head. “Some men thirst while others drown.”