Making Game: CH 145 – Clearing the Shadows (Patreon)

Dorian crouched in the dark corner of the basement, strictly maintaining his Ezio form. He was clutching a rusted metal bowl he had found, his movements trembling as his stomach violently churned. He heaved into the container, squeezing his eyes shut until the wave of nausea finally passed.

Hermes floated in from the side, a sympathetic grimace on his face. "Uh oh. Are you gonna vomit again, cousin?"

Athena just silently floated behind him, her expression remaining completely stoic.

Dorian wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve, tossing the rusted bowl aside with a clatter. "Just don't tell Ares about that."

In all fairness, tonight was the very first time he had killed someone up close. The first time he had ever taken a life was when he almost got caught back in the Nexus Prime market. Even then, he had just used a slingshot to fire gold bits from a safe distance, and the force of the projectiles had killed them.

These kills felt entirely different. This was only the third room of the underground hideout, and he had already killed more people than he could count on his fingers using the hidden blade.

Hermes looked over at Athena, seeking some kind of reaction. Athena still remained perfectly stoic. Hermes then turned his attention back to Dorian. "There is more room to be cleared. Are you sure we should clear them out?"

Dorian took a deep breath, steeling his nerves. He changed to his Stardew Valley profile, the Farmer of the Past. On the contrary to his previous stealth approach, he materialized the heavy Adamant Rail. He aimed the weapon and blasted the heavy lock on the captive cell door into burning pieces.

He lowered the smoking weapon and muttered under his breath, "I started this, so I'll finish it through."

Dorian pushed the ruined door open and stepped inside the cell. He saw the distraught girls and women huddled together in distress, including Vulpy the LNN reporter and the young Yustean singer.

"You are all free!" Dorian announced softly. "Eat these, I'll come back."

He accessed his Stardew Valley inventory and materialized several plates of nutritious food, setting them gently on the concrete floor. The girls and women inside the cell still hesitated. The rescue had all come too fast for them to process, leaving them staring at the food in sheer disbelief.

Dorian didn't wait for their response. He turned and stepped back out into the corridor. Reaching for a Poké Ball, he muttered, "Gengar, guard them from the shadow." The ghostly Pokémon immediately sank into the shadows around the cell walls, keeping a silent, watchful vigil over the captives.

Dorian walked down the dimly lit hallway to meet up with his Shiny Metagross and his Articuno, which he had told to go ahead of him to assist with the breach. As he walked, he glanced toward Athena hovering beside him. "You hadn't said anything."

Athena looked at him calmly. "It's your battle. So far you hadn't needed my advice."

Dorian finally met up with the two powerful Pokémon. Ahead of them was the main chamber holding the majority of the syndicate. Through a narrow slit of light peeking from the heavy doors, he could see dozens of people inside. Some of the syndicate members were gambling, some were resting, and others were eating around large metallic tables.

He reached out and pet the cool metal of Metagross and the frost-tipped feathers of Articuno. "Great job. Now, Articuno, use Mist. Metagross, use Confusion."

The legendary bird flapped its magnificent wings, sending a thick, freezing gust of mist directly into the room. Instantly after, Metagross's eyes glowed blue, unleashing a massive, invisible wave of Confusion through the air.

A chaotic commotion erupted inside the room. It seemed the psychic confusion attack was very effective on the majority of the regular grunts, causing them to stumble blindly and collapse in the freezing fog.

Dorian ended up going inside the room. As the mist swirled around him, he saw three people standing firmly in the center. They were holding their ears in obvious pain, and they still had their focus locked.

Hermes floated closer to Dorian, pointing at the trio. "This is the Solars I'm talking about."

Dorian cracked his knuckles. "Alright."

He opened his spatial inventory and retrieved his Twin Fists of Malphon. The heavy gauntlets materialized over his hands, and he specifically shifted them to the Aspect of Gilgamesh. The weapon glowed with a volatile, beastly energy.

The three Solars focused their bearing. One of them stepped forward and forcefully clapped his hands together. A sudden burst of localized energy erupted from his palms, and the mist violently cleared from the room.

With the visibility restored, the other Solar glared at the teenager standing before them. "Who are you?"

Dorian sighed, raising his glowing gauntlets. "Doesn't matter. Where is the 'Kepler heir'?"

The last Solar finally regained her bearings as the freezing mist began to dissipate. "What happened?" she demanded.

The giant man beside her, who had forcefully clapped his hands to clear the fog, scowled. "Intruders," he grunted.

"Solars," the woman corrected, her eyes scanning the room.

The smallest of the three nodded slowly. "Likely," the small man murmured.

The woman's gaze locked onto the majestic bird and the hovering steel arachnid. "What the fuck are those two?" she asked.

The small man analyzed the creatures. "They can use abilities," he guessed. "Some kind of plasma-sync beast, my guess."

"Yeah, but they are tamed by him?" the woman questioned, pointing at Dorian.

The giant man cracked his knuckles. "Doesn't matter," he stated flatly. "We can sell those when we take care of him."

In his mind, Dorian aggressively forced his racing heart to slow down. He knew that sooner or later, he would need to face legitimate combatants. He needed to focus and utilize the discipline he had honed to loosen his tense nerves. Dorian raised his hand, pointing directly at the trio.

"I will call you big one papa bear, you mama bear, and you baby bear," Dorian declared softly.

In a split second, the room erupted into motion. The woman opened her palms, falling into a flawless fighting stance. Her solar energy vibrated violently, compressing into microscopic, vibrating edges along her hands, revealing her as an elite Striker from the Razor branch.

The giant man held his arm across his chest like a massive shield. Concentrated solar energy poured from his limbs, forming heavy, overlapping photon shields that locked together into an impenetrable suit of armor, the signature of an Aegis branch Bulwark.

Finally, the small man moved his fingers in a rapid, complex knitting motion. The unconscious syndicate members scattered across the floor suddenly jerked upright, their limp bodies forcefully manipulated into attacking formations by his unique Weaver path abilities.

They all charged at once. Dorian immediately dashed left and right, his muscles acting on pure, precognitive reflex granted by his training.

Above them, Articuno took flight and unleashed Tailwind, instantly doubling the Speed stat for the user and all allied in the area. On the ground, Metagross activated Magnet Rise, causing every piece of loose metal in the room to rumble violently with static electricity.

Dorian felt the sudden, exhilarating speed buff course through his veins. He heard the terrifying, high-pitched hum of solar energy right beside his ear. It was the mama bear, her Razor slash tearing through the air toward his neck.

Dorian dodged and prepared to strike. He seamlessly changed to his Ezio profile. Bounding backward off a concrete pillar, he deployed a deadly spread of throwing knives. The sharp projectiles pinned three of the puppeted grunts to the floor before they could swarm him.

The mama bear pivoted, launching a second, impossibly fast strike. Dorian realized his momentum was entirely broken, leaving him unable to physically dodge the incoming blade. Without missing a beat, he seamlessly changed into his Sky profile. His physical body instantly dissolved into pure, weightless light. He turned into a small child of light, allowing the lethal solar edge to pass harmlessly through his glowing form.

Materializing safely across the room, he snapped into his Regional Champion Pokémon profile. His vision dynamically updated, revealing the exact tactical stats and positioning of his Pokémon.

"Articuno, use Ice Beam to lock down those puppets! Metagross, Meteor Mash the big guy!" Dorian commanded.

As his companions unleashed their devastating elemental attacks, Dorian swapped to his Hades profile, the Prince of the Underworld. The heavy Twin Fists of Malphon clamped over his hands, radiating the volatile, beastly power of the Aspect of Gilgamesh. 

The papa bear lunged forward to intercept him, his massive photon shields raised. Dorian utilized his Greater Reflex talent from the Mirror of Night, seamlessly chaining an extra Dash to slip right past the giant's initial guard. He unleashed a relentless flurry of heavy strikes, using the fast repetitive short-range combo attacks of the fists to violently chip away at the Bulwark's solar armor.

Dorian kept his footwork incredibly light. He applied the grueling, brutal muscle memory forged by the God of War. Adrenaline spiked in Dorian's veins as his center of gravity instantly dropped, his right arm tensing to perfectly execute a devastating, close-quarters counter-throw against the bulky shield. 

Athena's tactical logic overrode Ares's bloodlust. He perfectly balanced Athena's patient, calculating tactics with Ares's raw aggression, ensuring he maintained a safe, strategic distance from the mama bear's vibrating blades and the relentless, shambling horde controlled by the baby bear.

The heavy metal doors at the far end of the underground chamber violently swung open. The initial clash had been loud enough to alert the rest of the compound, drawing a flood of syndicate grunts into the room. 

Dorian scanned the incoming crowd of cannon fodder, his mismatched eyes narrowing as they locked onto a very specific face. Standing safely near the back, surrounded by bodyguards, was a man with brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

It was Julian, the fake Kepler heir.

Dorian cracked his knuckles, the Twin Fists of Malphon glowing with the volatile, beastly energy of the Aspect of Gilgamesh. He had to clear the board first.

The Mama Bear surged forward, her arms vibrating with lethal solar energy. She launched a blindingly fast razor strike aimed directly at his throat. Dorian anticipated the trajectory, leaning backward and letting the deadly plasma slice harmlessly through the empty air just millimeters from his chin.

"Articuno, use Sheer Cold!" Dorian shouted.

The majestic ice bird let out a piercing shriek. It unleashed a devastating, absolute zero blast of air directly at the overextended Striker. The attack landed with terrifying precision. In a fraction of a second, the Mama Bear was completely encased in a thick, cloudy block of solid ice, frozen mid-strike.

Before Dorian could capitalize, the Papa Bear charged like a runaway freight train. He slammed his massive, Aegis branch solar shield forward. Dorian braced his footing and met the charge head on. He parried the heavy blow with his left gauntlet, using the giant's own momentum to spin around and redirect his right fist straight toward the frozen Mama Bear.

His glowing fist was inches away from shattering the ice sculpture. Suddenly, invisible, kinetic strings snapped tightly around his forearm. The Baby Bear, utilizing his Weaver path abilities, had puppeted his arm to forcefully halt his momentum.

"Metagross, Psycho Cut!" Dorian commanded, fighting against the heavy kinetic pull.

The floating steel behemoth's eyes flared blue. It launched a barrage of crescent shaped psychic blades directly at the small Weaver. The Baby Bear panicked, violently yanking his fingers. The unconscious syndicate members he was puppeteering were thrown directly into the line of fire, taking the gruesome, slicing brunt of the psychic damage to keep their master alive.

Dorian needed to break the stalemate. He seamlessly shifted his system profile, trading the heavy underworld gauntlets for the sleek, deadly agility of the Prince of the Renaissance. His form blurred, allowing him to slip effortlessly past the Papa Bear's massive shield and directly into the giant's blind spot. The moment he was perfectly positioned, Dorian instantly swapped back to the Prince of the Underworld profile.

The Twin Fists of Malphon materialized back onto his hands just as he unleashed a brutal, localized strike directly into the Papa Bear's right armpit. It was a devastating critical hit. The giant roared in agony as his shoulder muscles tore and went completely loose, instantly disabling his ability to materialize the solar shield.

With the enemy defenses crumbling, Dorian called for an absolute, all out assault.

"End this!" Dorian roared.

Articuno flapped its wings, firing a concentrated Ice Beam directly at the frozen Mama Bear. Metagross locked onto the Baby Bear, charging a blinding, devastating Hyper Beam. At the exact same second, Dorian unleashed a relentless, savage barrage of punches against the staggered Papa Bear.

His fists became a blur of golden light. He hammered through the flickering remnants of the Aegis solar armor, tearing through the defensive layers until his gauntlets completely pulverized the giant's face and head.

The room erupted in a symphony of destruction. The concentrated Ice Beam struck the Mama Bear, and she instantly shattered into a million glittering, bloody pieces of ice. Metagross's Hyper Beam annihilated the Baby Bear and his meat shields, completely vaporizing them into scattered molecules and leaving absolutely nothing behind except a pair of smoking boots on the concrete floor.

Beside Dorian, the headless, massive corpse of the Papa Bear dropped to the ground with a sickening, heavy boom. Gory chunks of his skull scattered across the room.

Dorian stood in the center of the carnage, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air. He looked down at his blood soaked gauntlets. He wondered if his actions were entirely too gruesome. Perhaps they were. 

However, the vivid memory of the terrified, hopeless faces of the captive women and girls trapped in the dark cell quickly rushed back to his mind. The sickening cruelty of the traffickers instantly steeled his will, solidifying his resolve to see this dark task through to the very end.

He slowly raised his head.

Metagross's Hyper Beam had blown a massive, glowing hot crater straight through the reinforced back wall of the basement. Standing right beside the smoldering hole, completely paralyzed with fear, was Julian Kepler. The fake heir was shaking uncontrollably, pissing and shitting his expensive trousers. The horrible stench of his terror filled the dusty air.

Dorian lowered his gauntlets, and stood amidst the smoking, blood-stained wreckage of the underground chamber. His chest heaved as he stared at the gruesome remains of the syndicate members scattered across the concrete floor. The adrenaline that had fueled his movements was slowly receding, replaced by a sudden, heavy wave of realization.

He began to look closely at the carnage around him. Did these people truly deserve to die? Surely one of them did for the sake of the job, considering the horrors they had inflicted on their captives. Yet, a part of Dorian's mind argued that surely some of them were just doing what they could to survive from the harsh circumstances they had been dealt. The suffocating reality of what he had done was beginning to weigh heavily on his conscience.

"Focus," a calm, authoritative voice echoed right beside his ear.

Dorian blinked, pulling his gaze away from the floor. Athena hovered silently next to him, her grey eyes scanning the ruined basement.

"Lament isn't for the battlefield," the Goddess of Wisdom stated firmly, her voice grounding his spiraling thoughts.

Dorian took a sharp breath and snapped out of his daze. He stood up straight, turning his attention to his two hovering companions.

"Articuno, Metagross," Dorian commanded, his voice steadying. "Round up those who lived and tie them up. Then, run the perimeter and tie up those who are still in the other room."

Because Hermes had already conducted a thorough reconnaissance of the facility, Dorian knew the three Solars they had just defeated were the only real threats in the building. A single powerful Pokémon would be more than enough to capture the rest of the regular grunts hiding in the compound. The two majestic creatures let out affirmative cries before floating away to execute their orders.

With the area secured, Dorian turned around and walked slowly toward the smoldering hole in the back wall.

Cowering on the floor next to the debris was the so-called 'Kepler heir'.

Julian Kepler scrambled backward until his back hit the concrete. He stared at the hooded figure walking toward him. To Julian, the intruder looked like a walking nightmare. His terrified mind raced to categorize the threat.

He assumed the attacker had to be an elite Scout from the Phantom branch, utilizing advanced techniques to create blurry illusions and shift his appearance. However, the sheer, devastating force the boy had just unleashed to brutally execute Farem, the Papa Bear's real name, rivaled the raw defensive and offensive power of a frontline Bulwark.

Julian trembled violently, a dark, foul-smelling stain spreading across his expensive trousers. He watched in absolute horror as the figure approaching him began to change form several times in rapid succession. Dorian was actively swapping through his System profiles, debating internally what he should do with this pathetic impostor.

The shimmering light finally settled. Dorian locked into his Prince of the Renaissance profile, the heavy eyes of Ezio Auditore towering over Julian.

Dorian kneeled down directly in front of the trembling man.

"Golden Rock Guild," Dorian said, his voice a low, lethal whisper. "You are a Golden Rock Guild member."

Julian's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Hearing his actual affiliation, the fake heir's terrified expression cracked, and he began to let out his emotions. He wept loudly, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"You have finally come to save me!" Julian cried out, aggressively crawling forward to grovel at Dorian's boots. "Please, I have been forced by them! I know I was wrong to use the name of our partner, but this is how they kept me alive!"

Dorian's mismatched eyes narrowed in pure disgust. With a sharp, metallic shing, his hidden blade snapped out of his wrist bracer.

"Tell me the fucking truth," Dorian growled, pressing the razor-sharp edge of the blade directly against Julian's throat. "I know what you have been doing."

Julian choked on a sob, feeling the freezing cold metal biting into his skin. His desperate facade crumbled entirely.

"I am really a guild member first!" Julian stammered, raising his hands in surrender.

"Then how did you connect to this syndicate?" Dorian demanded, keeping the blade steady.

Julian squeezed his eyes shut and began to frantically explain everything. He told Dorian how he had originally found out his last name was the exact same as the Kepler family, the famous creators of the highly coveted Kepler-grade foods.

As the Golden Rock Guild expanded its territorial reach, Julian had been operating a standard transport route. He decided to stop and get a drink on transit. When he sat down at the club, the bartender asked for his identity puck to verify his race and age. 

As Julian handed over his ID puck, the bartender saw his official Golden Rock affiliation and his last name. Because the Golden Rock Guild was widely known as the absolute, exclusive distributor of Kepler-grade goods, a massive misunderstanding occurred. The club staff automatically assumed Julian was the wealthy heir to the agricultural empire.

That night, Julian ended up getting a free drink, but the club management asked him for a recommendation to secure those exclusive Kepler-grade ingredients for their establishment. One lie turned into another, and the deception grew bigger. At one point, Julian became famous in the local nightlife scene as the rich Kepler heir.

The lie eventually attracted the wrong kind of attention. The underground syndicate kidnapped him, fully intending to ransom the Kepler heir for an astronomical payout. But when the violent traffickers tortured him and the truth came out that he was just a fake, they were about to kill him off completely.

"I didn't want to die!" Julian sobbed, spit flying from his lips as he looked up at the hooded assassin. "I offered them a deal! I offered to use my fake status to lure women and girls to the syndicate!"

Dorian stared at the pathetic man. The women currently sitting traumatized in the holding cells had been dragged there by Julian's false charm… No, by his Kepler name. And so here they were, exactly one year later from that fateful night he offered his soul to the traffickers.

A/N: Making these action scene remind me on how I used to make Monkey King fanfic. :D anyway, who's ready