Apocalypse: Generic System by Macronomicon (shoe dog free ebook TXT) 📕

get any Myst near it while he was working on it. He swapped out the Fire lens in the Fire/Fly/Control sandwich for a tiny, grain sized slice of annihilation lens carved off of the pinky-tip chunk.

It was delicate, cramp-inducing work, and the heat of the cave system made his ass swampy as all hell, but Jeb was confident it would be worth it in the end.

Jeb delicately lowered the myst lens sandwiches back into their slots and carefully closed the casing overtop them, making damn sure the tiny Myst capacitor was in exactly the right spot and nothing was out of place as he did so. If this thing blew up, he’d lose a hand…if he was lucky.

The brass lid of the lantern squeaked into place, and everything looked like it was back to normal.

“Stand back a minute,” Jeb said, reaching out and touching the handle with his least-favorite hand.

Nothing happened.

A moment later, the capacitor clicked and three beautiful black butterflies with fluorescent blue in their wings manifested inside the lantern.

Jeb carefully opened the door of the lantern and directed the butterflies out.

Responding to his desires, the beautiful creatures fluttered out into the air and hovered far away, near the ceiling.

“Public safety announcement,” Jeb said, staring at the three fluttering creatures. “Do not touch the butterflies.”

“What are they supposed to do?” Jess asked, a brow raised.

“Well, the previous ones blew themselves up and lit stuff on fire…so I assume these will…make things not exist anymore? Let’s test it.”

Jeb sent the now-six butterflies to the opposite end of the hall, instructing them to do their thing on the wall.

The creatures landed deceptively gently against the surface of the wall, then the light around them warped for a fraction of a second before they vanished, leaving a divot about the size of a golf ball in the wall.

Six golf-ball sized holes in solid stone. No muss, no fuss.

Very interesting.

“That’s it?” Ron asked, seemingly a little disappointed.

“This thing can make thousands of them,” Jeb said, holding up the lantern to show Ron the next batch had already spawned, gently fluttering their wings inside the lantern.

“Oh, shit.” Ron said, eyes widening.

Jeb tried to read the description on the lantern, but he got nothing. Maybe it hasn’t been named yet.

“Anybody wanna do the honors and name this thing?” Jeb asked. “I’m terrible with names. I keep thinking ‘death butterfly’ but it sounds like a women’s metal band.”

“Beautiful Revenge.” Jess said with a smile.

“Oh come on, that seems like it would be on the cover of a-“

Name accepted.

Beautiful Revenge (Rare)

The second original by the Human Mystic Trapsmith, Jebediah

Trapper, this adaptation of a quaint Krokker design is a testament to the malicious ingenuity of Humans, converting household objects into weapons.

The Beautiful Revenge drains 5 Nitsu of Myst every four seconds, creating three Void Butterflies under control of the user. The lantern can hold fifteen of these creatures before it stops drawing Myst.

The strength of this design is the rock-bottom Myst requirement, as well as the damage that bypasses Body and resistances. The weakness is that butterflies aren’t particularly fast, so it will struggle against speedier enemies.

“You know how you can make an I.E.D. out of fertilizer? The same concept applies.” –Jebediah Trapper

This is perfect.

“Let’s hunt.” Jeb said, directing the six butterflies up into the air.

“Alright,” Jess said, rolling up her sleeves.

“Oh, no, not right now,” Jeb said, directing the next three to join the growing swarm. “We need some time to make an entrance.”

***Lagross, the Suppressor***

The tiny creatures ducked their heads in and gazed in awe upon Lagross. They must have decided to keep their pitiful lives, because less than a minute later they scurried away.

They were of no concern to Lagross. Only feeding mattered. It still remembered that distant time long ago, when its brethren charged through titan’s halls, dying in droves.

Lagross had been slippery, and clever, flying above the battle, slipping through cracks in the rock until it finally came upon the heart. After that, Lagross did what came naturally: He feasted.

That was…So many years ago. Lagross hadn’t even been particularly conscious back then. Even now, he was dominated by his base instincts: Feed, and Protect. Despite having grown in intelligence, he didn’t feel unsatisfied with his simple task.

He was doing as he was meant to do.

He would drain the Titan, keep it asleep, and he would not allow any of the fiery ones to approach his feeding spot. They had long since stopped trying.

Lagross closed his colossal eye, going back to sleep as he nursed upon the titan’s nourishing lifeblood. It’s sense of time began to stretch into a sleep-state, spinning faster and faster as his consciousness waned.

Ow.

Ow.

OW!?

Lagross opened his eye and spotted a fluttering black…something, an instant before a chunk was hollowed out of his pupil.

PAIN!

***Jeb***

The void butterflies were silent and nearly weightless, able to crowd around the monstrous creature and stand upon its thick scales without waking it.

Thousands upon thousands of butterflies swarmed around the creature, looking for a place to land and deliver their payload of annihilation Myst. At first, the creature didn’t even wake up, unable to feel the holes cut out of its thick scales.

Eventually that changed when they began carving away flesh.

The creature’s eyes snapped open, only to be blinded by the butterflies crowding its face.

It gave a honk like a fifty-ton goose and unwrapped itself from the heart, thrashing around violently, gnashing its bleeding gums at the enemy attacking it from every direction.

“Heyo!” Jeb shouted, flinging his bag of trapped marbles out into the room, scattering them all across the open area.

The weakened, pitted armor of the titanic lamprey was unable to stop the spears of telekinetic force as they slammed into the