Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3) by John Gold (novel24 TXT) 📕

Nate was chucked onto the sacrificial altar. The statue of Leon flared its eyes, as if ready to receive the blow.

“You feeling okay? Anything hurt? What’s that? The stone is cold? Okay, let’s fix that.”

Leon just had time to stand up and see Sagie lop Nate’s head off with his own sword. A flash, and the body disappeared.

The main altar was destroyed. Nate didn’t reply in the chat. The only people left at the altar were Rachel, pinned in a corner by Femida, and Leon. Sagie walked over to the latter.

The young man looked the god in the eye and smiled. Leon just turned the situation over and over in his mind, trying to figure out how to survive.

“I’m going to kill you, Leon. I’m going to take everything you care about, destroy your cult, kill everyone who means anything to you. The very idea of your existence, your reason for living will be ground into dust. And not just in this world. I’m going to take everything from you, and your parents will be first. You took mine, after all. Goodbye, Leon.”

Sagie swung his sword, Leon screwed his eyes shut, and nothing happened. When the god opened his eyes, he and Rachel were alone in the room. A crowd of reporters, guards, and bystanders were rushing up to the temple.

His head spun. Rachel couldn’t say anything, and Leon dove into his thoughts. When the first people peered into the temple, he opened a portal to his island in the astral and disappeared. Rachel was surrounded by guards to keep the reporters away.

“What was it like to survive a meeting with Bloody Sagie himself?”

“What did Project Chrysalis’ living legend want from you?”

“Did he become a god? Is the apocalypse coming?”

Rachel was so stunned that she could only think of one thing to say.

“He looked so scruffy!”

***

Back on my astral island, Femida and I break out laughing as the stress bursts out of us. Ah, I’ve wanted to do that for so long! In just one day, I did everything I’ve been dreaming about for years. I destroyed Leon’s belief in his own omnipotence, looked Rachel in the eye, and destroyed the city that was the reason my parents died. The promise I made to the archmage helped me do the maximum amount of damage to Airis Castle. I was even able to fight off the shapeshifting mage.

When Femida stops laughing, she asks me a question.

“Where did you send the paladins? I’ve never heard of battle spells for teleporting people.”

“To Hell.”

“How? I mean, how is that even possible?”

“Remember the Sefirot I drew on the floor of the lab? While you were farming bots on the surface, I was busy making a discovery. Basically, my new tattoo is the key that opens a portal to Hell. The victim needs to be killed somewhere deeply linked to a god, though anything will do as long as you have the right concentration of divine energy. The rest is simple. I’m a walking altar, and I can send people to Hell just by killing them with my sword after activating the tattoo.”

“Why don’t you get sent to Hell along with them?”

“Because it isn’t a ritual, and I’m not using a spell. The only requirement is that I have to be in contact with the target that’s supposed to be teleported out. My sword is part of me, so that’s good enough.”

“And why did you send so many people to Hell? What happens if a bunch of people like you come crawling out the other side? What were you thinking?”

“Fem, it isn’t that simple. When we made your spear, you opponents in the astral matched your level and abilities. It was the same thing for me when I made my weapons and everything else. That’s why I decided not to make them this time. Anyway, Hell is the same kind of place—it matches your strength, skills, and level. My opponents were a good 200 to 1000 levels above me. Beating them is impossible, which makes surviving just one day in Hell incredibly hard. Believe me, you don’t just get one creature coming to greet you; you get a whole crowd. Plus, every circle in Hell has its own guards, and they can sense intruders.”

“But they’re paladins!”

“And what can paladins do without their god? Also, when I got to the devil in the ninth circle, he congratulated me and told me I passed the test. I think Hell is an area for special tests that gives you rewards if you pass them—abilities that have to do with your consciousness and body amplification. How many people do you think there are in the world who have just two streams of consciousness? I can’t help but notice that you aren’t surprised Project Chrysalis can give abilities like that to simple people. I imagine you won’t tell me how you know what you know, either.”

Femida doesn’t want to continue that conversation, though I can tell she knows a lot more than she’s letting on. I’m absolutely sure she’s from Lunar now. There can’t be any other explanation.

“Let’s not talk about that,” she replies finally. “Why don’t you tell me why you left them alive. Leon participated in the death of your parents, and Rachel betrayed you. It’s her fault you were sent to Hell.”

“You think I’m just being kind? I’m going to find them in real life and tear away everything they have. What do you think will happen when the paladins die in Hell and lose their characters? What will happen if Nate dies and makes a new character? He’ll probably come back to Leon looking for his old job, though I don’t think any of them will trust Leon the way they used to. When someone is devoted to an idea, all