Limitless by John Gold (best e reader for android txt) 📕

charges, and mobile combat units. Work together, using techniques and abilities to amplify your attacks. That fireball has to be stopped before it hits the planet, so I want all senior officers to put together operative groups. You have ten seconds; fire at will.”

Twenty-four groups representing a variety of civilizations began forming into their battle groups as soon as Tiamat finished talking.

∞ ∞ ∞

Akashi, the leader of humankind, was expecting the portal to open and to meet Sagie. He was going to start with an introductory speech before quickly introducing the envoys from the alliance of civilizations, finally bringing them to meet the chosen one Miguel had talked about. There, in the interworld, they had a special room used by all the senior representatives of the races. Akashi, Krash, and Miguel were there now. The trio had been watching a live feed from the portal ring, all excited until the moment Sagie jumped down from the tree. The players started behaving unnaturally, and then, Sagie went crazy. When Femida’s trident knocked him out from under the drop of light, Akashi got himself ready for the meeting, though Sagie didn’t come through the portal. One of the trial judges high above the ground noticed the planetoid right at the moment Sagie arched his back in pain.

The portal flashed, and the bloodied, tattooed young man tumbled in.

“I hate you. I hate you all.”

He clenched his fists helplessly near the open wound where his eyes should have been. The enormous bruise on his left side framed another wound, though the bleeding had stopped.

Akashi started talking.

“My name is Akashi, and I can heal you if you’ll let me.”

No sooner did he take a couple steps toward the young man than the latter instinctively jumped into a protective stance. He howled in pain, bloody tears running down his cheeks.

“I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. Oh, how I hate you!”

Krash looked Sagie over from farther away, and his eyes suddenly opened wide.

“Akashi, he has a third-order critical injury!”

“I hate you…”

As soon as Akashi looked over at Krash, the young man dashed in the opposite direction, tripping over everything in his path. He worked his way over to the closed portal to Papilio, having no idea where he was. Really, he was on the edge of a nervous breakdown, of complete psychological exhaustion. But the portal was turned off, so nobody paid much attention until Sagie uttered his final words.

“Please, take me to your field of flowers.”

The portal flame flashed as the young man fell into Papilio.

Akashi realized to his horror that he’d been outplayed. Even Miguel hadn’t predicted this turn of events.

Krash barked out an order, bringing everyone to their senses.

“Everyone, get into Project Chrysalis. That scumbag is going to destroy the planet!”

Part ThreeGolden Age

Reiji tried to stop the falling planetoid, but the chunk of rock cracked under the pressure and broke into four parts. Two of them were destroyed by antimatter charges. Tiamad and Akashi’s group went after the biggest piece, though none of the six were wearing the right equipment. And while their job was to smash the chunk of rock into bits of gravel, they were only able to chip off smaller pieces.

The part of the planetoid ticketed for the portal ring wasn’t going to damage the planet —the ring couldn’t be destroyed in an attack like that. But Akashi realized the mistake they’d made in not paying more attention to it as soon as it hit the Tree of Worlds. The tree died, as did its root system, which reached all the way through the planet’s crust to the magma underneath. The piece of the planetoid which hit the portal ring started destroying the stone layers. Each one, released by the dead roots, collapsed into the next, burying the portal ring underground along with the piece of planetoid. Magma spouted high into the air. The thousands of players who hadn’t been able to get to a portal either died in the first couple seconds after the impact or from the fire that broke out immediately afterward. The welcoming committees from other worlds, not to mention Akashi and Tiamat’s group, teleported away from the strike zone.

Akashi took charge.

“Split into trios, with a water mage, an earth mage and support. Cool the magma and keep it from spreading any further and throw up the biggest barriers you can. The mana isn’t as dense here, so it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll modify the local climate to minimize the damage.”

Tiamat received a system message.

“The keepers of nature were disembodied in both the north and the east. The magma was contained; trees, plants, and animals were used as sources of energy.”

Azami and the other higher natural divinities had sacrificed themselves to protect life on the planet. They didn’t die, though they lost part of their body and strength for a very long period of time. But they would remain as long as there was life on the planet.

Catastrophe was averted, and the planet survived, though the portal ring disappeared into the mantle and was on its way down to the planet’s core. Everything within a hundred and twenty kilometers of the impact was dead. Not even the plants survived, nor did the interworldly portal.

Tiamat suggested that the welcoming committees enjoy a walk around the Project Chrysalis world while he figured out what to do next. Then, he yanked Akashi into the interworld using a passageway in the Heaven trial zone.

“Wait here until I come back. And whatever happens, don’t log out of the game.”

∞ ∞ ∞

Femida stepped out of the portal wearing a dress, a guy holding her hand. Why a dress? And why the guy? Why was he holding her hand?

“Huh, so the armor and its mistress get sent to the same room in the interworld. Hey, am I going to see you get changed?”

“Isaac, you damn parasite! Why do you look like that? I mean, you’re human!”

He grunted and replied seriously.

“I’m a man, too! And I’ll never have another chance to see your