Unchosen Champion-Chapter 298: Pillar of Heaven

Coop’s ethereal morning star smashed through a fortified Field Boss that skittered along the surface of the ground, using its many legs to navigate the battlefield with unsettling efficiency. It had surreptitiously crawled into range, using the cover provided by the parties of Elites to try and catch its target by surprise. The monster bore its pointed mandibles, aiming to drill into its victim, only for the heavy mace to catch it unprepared, sending shards of its metallic body splashing in all directions. All eleven primary legs were splayed out beneath the pressure, but the center of its body was completely annihilated as if it had been banished from existence.

A shockwave erupted from where the dirt received the strike, too slight to have a real physical impact on the battlefield, but strong enough to momentarily clear the air in the immediate vicinity of the combatants. All of Coop’s more dramatic movements had enough gravity to be framed by smoke and dust, as if he was dragging the heavy atmosphere with his most powerful swings.

The tough shell of the monster hardly slowed the momentum of the crashing slam he had brought down before the fanged mandibles could snap shut. A streak of mana accentuated the path toward the earth, conveniently highlighting his actions for those who were too slow to accurately observe. Coop imagined that the weight of the mace was further fortified by the weight of the abyss, watching as dark ribbons streamed behind the weapon before he reloaded for more thumping attacks.

Sweat dripped from the Champion’s brow as he jerked the ponderous weapon back out of the shallow crater and shifted his attention to the nearest party of Elite Primal Constructs. They rushed his flank with reckless abandon, seeking to capitalize on the death of a boss monster, praying that it had at least been enough to distract their target.

Coop had been making smooth progress through the final army of the invaders, steadily moving across the control points representing Shinjuku Gardens on the surface with practiced ease, almost like he was savoring the last meal of experience he would have in the Underlayer Event. He whirled on the aggressors, already aware of their movements, predicting their actions after developing such a familiarity with the Primal Constructs that he didn’t even need Presence of Mind to understand their intentions.

Combat with the manifestations of alien invaders was a straightforward challenge, one that Coop willingly embraced as yet another grind. If only everything in life was so simple. He had been introduced to more than half a dozen societies as he circumnavigated the globe, and he didn’t even want to start thinking about the many differences they would need to address or the disagreements that would have to be overcome.

Instead, he just wanted to focus on what he saw as a common denominator to their problems: the Primal Constructs. They weren’t so much of a problem for him and his friends, but they were the catalyst for the population dynamics across the globe. The first step in getting everyone on the same page was to rise above the alien invaders. At least, he thought so, recognizing that it was almost certainly a drastic oversimplification of a complicated apocalyptic scenario. Hopefully, someone else could iron out the details on his behalf.

Coop grunted as he prepared another strike, concentrating on utilizing all of his Strength, engaging his entire body as he moved. In order to compensate for the necessarily slower attacks, he was intent on transforming every collision into a moment of absolute disruption. Each individual swing impacted entire groups of enemies, directly and indirectly, like a giant fist slamming a plate-filled table. All of the dishware was rattled even if they avoided being shattered.

The end of the event was within reach, and Coop was making the most of the last batch of monsters, flexing the central core of his stats in Strength, Body, and Mind. The final battle had become a celebration of his uppermost advantages as a way to compensate for the mental baggage that had piled on.

Coop blasted the entire party of constructs with a single crunching slam, then repeated the motion of lifting his mace out of the dirt, while turning to another assault. He could sense that it was the end - the time to sprint for the finish line at the end of a marathon.

As the conclusion approached, time slowed and Coop embraced Inheritance of the Mists, not bothering to specify a single attack to empower. He intended to keep this last possession going until he completed the task of destroying the rest of the Primal Constructs.

Regardless of the settlement on the surface and the people who had control, defeating the Primal Constructs was the one burden he was happy to bear. Coop would see it through. He wouldn’t be discouraged by exhaustion, frustration, or politics.

While the thoughts crossed his mind, the possession took place. Coop’s figure was cloaked in swirling ethereal energy and a mixture of his Spectral and Abyssal manas cascaded through the pure mana of the Underlayer, concentrating directly behind him. Otherworldly light emanated from the billowing fog, letting individual rays escape here and there while rising higher and higher.

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The air grew heavy with tension, and the ground trembled once, then twice, as if a giant was setting its feet before taking on a challenge as the Apparition manifested an earthbound presence. A deep hum echoed throughout the tunnel, stifling all other sounds, and even the Primal Constructs, slowed by Coop’s perception, seemed to hesitate in the presence of a paragon.

The mists kept unfolding, clouding a portion of the enormous tunnel that reached all the way to the distant ceiling, incorporating the vaporous rivers while engulfing the final control point as well as all the areas surrounding it. A colossal shadow descended across the battlefield, growing darker as the behemoth emerged from the swirling mist, features still clouded by the deteriorating fog bank.

Coop, watching the Constructs in front of him instead of the manifestation behind him, was still fully aware of its arrival. He could feel the mental weight pressing down on him, gradually increasing as the Apparition entered the world, using the Mistwalker as an anchor. Compared to a single empowered attack, where the presence was fleeting, this one settled into his mind, delving deep into his spirit, and made itself comfortable.

At Coop’s flank, a titan revealed itself from the clouds, letting the vapor stream from its body. As the mists cleared, a towering, muscular figure, with skin the color of ancient marble, bleached by eons, and eyes burning like pools of molten lava, filled the spacious cave as if it was a small tunnel.

A violent gust of wind swept forward, pushed by the manifestation’s mere presence in the real world. Coop, though he was completely dwarfed by the giant, stood firm, skin and mace slowly transforming while his hair was disheveled in the gale.

While the Apparition of the Pillar of Heaven made its ponderous existence known to all, Coop felt an additional physical weight that pressed down onto his shoulders, added by the possession. At first, the increased weight threatened to topple him onto the ground, but he braced himself, flexing his abs as he bent under the pressure and his feet sank into the soft dirt.

He felt the tension build in his legs. His calves and quads vibrated, but he successfully kept himself upright, maintaining his confident posture. The heaviness was like a physical manifestation of his mental burdens, but somehow it felt right. A small smile crept onto his face as he clenched his jaw and successfully carried the weight. He wished it was always so easy to address his problems. If all it took was power and stamina, he was perfectly suited to fight through. His muscles burned as his spirit ignited.

“You have impressed me, human. Enduring these small trials is true strength.” A ponderous voice resonated in his head, low enough to shake the foundations of the Earth. Despite the force present within the words, the cadence was gentle, as if it was considerate of Coop’s relative mortality and precarious position beneath such weight.

Coop thought he detected a hint of melancholy as well, and he tried to hold back his own conflicting thoughts. Over time, he had grown to appreciate the position he had carved out for himself, regardless of the responsibilities that often came with it. If his ‘trial’ ended up being to defeat manifestations that invaded the planet, he would consider it good fortune. Frankly, he would have done it for free, so long as he was able.

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“Even trivial burdens become difficult when drawn out over time.” The Apparition continued, sagely. “But remember, the weight of an entire world is not meant for mortals.”

Coop wouldn’t deny the manifestation’s words, especially given the building fatigue through the Underlayer Event, but he still thought he was in relatively good shape. He had companions that shared his burden and clear limits on the responsibility he willingly accepted. His foundation was sturdy.

He glanced up, gazing into the source of the shadow that was being cast upon the whole battlefield, prepared to argue about his ability. The Apparition had appeared as a titanic figure of stone, larger even than the Azure Colossus. It was hunched over, holding a sphere so large it appeared to clip beyond the Underlayer’s ceiling. From the right angle, it would seem like the titan was holding up the Underlayer itself.

Even Coop, with his untraveled lack of culture, recognized the depiction of Atlas, condemned to hold up the heavens and sky by the gods. Coop thought that maybe he should set his ego aside, considering there might not be another entity more suitable to comment on burdens.

“I will lend you some of my strength, little hero. Wield it well…” The giant added, shifting the gigantic sphere from one shoulder to the other without a change in expression. “...If you can.”

Coop glanced back at the Primal Constructs, now converging onto his position as the possession finalized and he felt the weight on his shoulders increase even further. He heaved his transformed morning star, struggling to move it at all. The mass of the weapon was already pushing him beyond his ability.

He gritted his teeth, letting a growl escape. For a moment, he grew concerned that the burden might actually be too much. The stone-infused weapon manifestation had become a test. Could he exceed his current limit or was he supposed to recognize when enough was enough to avoid overexerting himself. The morning star rose a foot off the ground before he had to drop it.

Coop kicked the first pair of monsters away with a low kick directly into the center of a triangular shield meant to bash him into the ground, then took a massive breath of air before dragging the mace up again. He could feel the veins in his neck bulging as he tilted his head up, willing the weapon to move. Was he going to have to abandon the possession? This was too much.

“Embrace the weight. Accept the burdens for they are part of your journey.” The Apparition continued, watching him struggle like he was an ant that had been endowed with a sugar cube.

Coop halted his struggle and punched another Primal Construct that had drawn too close, sending his fist straight through its metallic head before he redoubled his effort to retrieve his weapon with a better grip.

“Find balance. Seek equilibrium.”

Coop hissed as the weapon came off the ground, rising to his hips, then planted a foot forward, lunging underneath the weight. He recognized that the titan wasn’t talking about the morning star, but that didn’t mean the advice couldn’t be applied in more ways than one.

Coop felt the mental barriers collapsing one after the other as he pushed his body far beyond realistic physical limits. It was like peeling the layers of an onion, revealing new depths of internal possibilities. Mana leaked from his pores as it flowed through his muscles, giving his entire body an ethereal aura similar to those of his manifestations.

“I acknowledge your perseverance.” The Apparition stated, approvingly. “Remember your purpose.” It added.

Coop snarled as the weight of the mace continued to increase. He hissed through his teeth as air escaped his lungs. Of course he remembered his purpose! How could he forget? He was surrounded by the last set of Primal Constructs preventing him from returning to Ghost Reef. The Lighthouse was waiting for him to come home.

But then, once both of his hands, one gripping the bottom of the weapon’s handle while the other slid beneath the bulging stone head, elevated beyond his head, the weight went back to being reassuringly comfortable, like he had broken through another major threshold in his own mental limits. He threw his right hand up, shifting his torso and stepping forward while swinging the ponderous weapon into the path of a rushing Bane Construct, wielding its dual sword arms like the blades of an oversized pair of scissors.

The torso of the monster was obliterated, and Coop leaned back, still firmly holding onto the mace. He swung his weapon, twisting to the side as other Constructs closed in, believing he had finally given them an opening to take him down while he struggled with his own weapon.

The Apparition of the Pillar of Heaven granted Coop vast superhuman strength, far beyond what even his absurd stats established, but it was a struggle for Coop to allow his body to use it all. His muscles were pushed to their limits, screaming for him to stop and rest, but he forged onward. It was as if the possession had taken his already ridiculous stack of attributes and multiplied them to impossible levels. He could feel all the power surging through his being, and he willed his body to adapt to the change, seeing the level of strength as a precursor to what he would eventually wield himself.

Small tears formed where his skin stretched and mists leaked from the tiny wounds as he proved to be an inadequate vessel for so much power. But they were actively being sealed by marbled stone, marking solid striations all across his body.

In the meantime, his morning star had lost its spikes, transforming to a manifestation of solid marble, becoming a smooth shape that mirrored the celestial sphere held up by Atlas. The veins of the opulent stone were the color of Spectral and Abyssal mana, frozen within the altered manifestation.

Coop took it and smashed his opponents. All those in the same region of the Underlayer as the possessed Revenant felt the rhythm of his attacks. Muffled booms shot through the tunnel. It was an incomparably larger chamber than the pearlescent caverns beneath Ghost Reef, where he first embraced his modified morning star and broke through his mental limits, but the beat was the same.

After he bulldozed through hordes of invaders, the shaft of his weapon landed on his opposite shoulder, hard enough that it would have killed him before, but instead it allowed him to reset his grip and swing again, rushing ahead as if he was a wrecking ball among clay statues. The monster exploded into fragments at the mere touch of Coop and his mace.

Beyond strength, Coop also gained incredible durability. His gladiator armor had melted away, absorbing into his skin as it transformed to match the Apparition while filling the tears. He was entirely reinforced by stone as he really got into the flow of battle. His shoulder was as effective as his weapon, but he was unwilling to let the mace go, seeing as it a symbol of his responsibility based on the possession’s words.

Coop’s weariness disappeared as he witnessed the unbelievable stamina of Atlas, who would hold the celestial spheres for all of eternity without succumbing to exhaustion. In comparison, Coop’s responsibilities were quite simple. 111 years was nothing compared to an eternity.

For the moment, Coop reentered the zone and evolved into a walking catastrophe. His meteoric slams cracked the earth, forming pools of magma within the condensed craters, not because he was excavating the planet, but because the pressure on the dirt was so extreme it liquified beneath the head of the mace. The shockwaves from his attacks became earthquakes that toppled the walls of the final fortification, sending aftershocks resonating through the tunnels.

One side swing sent countless Primal Constructs flying hundreds of feet through the air, flopping like ragdolls. They arced with such density, they formed waves, like errant splashes after someone slapped the water at the beach. Coop marched forward, occasionally charging with his shoulder in order to gather enough opponents to make another sweeping attack worthwhile.

The overhand slams culminated in thumps that brought crowds of the invaders to their knees, while the ones that received the brunt of the blows were vaporized. Coop feasted on the low level enemies, anticipating few opportunities in the future to experience such a disparity between himself and a mass of opponents.

Coop demonstrated the enormous gap between his progression and those expected by the assimilation. He had started far beyond what was expected, but he took the difference and ran away with it. Now, he was something else. The Pillar of Heaven seemed to approve, watching silently as Coop proved that his bedrock was solid.

It was finally time to end the event, and with one conclusive leaping slam, he annihilated the last of the Primal Constructs within the Underlayer, freeing the fourth control point with a possessed attack that rocked the cavern.

Dust drifted from the ceiling, in response to his effort, but the way it caught the Underlayer’s illumination, it could have been mistaken for a confetti drop. If the system wouldn’t give him an over-the-top celebration, Coop could make himself seem like a grand prize winner through his own efforts.