MMORPG: The Almighty Ring

“A.. an Ultralisk?” Jiang Fei stammered. Where he was, in the Domini System, was a place packed, well… used to be packed… with people and military forces. Ultralisks had a tendency to live only on the edge of known galaxy clusters. Hence, the appearance of an Ultralisk in the galaxy was odd.

“Update! The signal is getting stronger! I-I-I I think it’s coming our way! It’s fast!” the operator yelled out.

“Dispatch probes! Right now!” Jiang Fei ordered. Ultralisks were a mysterious species. Right now, the one heading his way might be weaker than the ones he defeated in Tallgeese Outpost, or perhaps stronger… That being said, he needed to be prepared for the worst. Isabella and the others were still on Turandot. He could not simply ask them to leave right then.

“Dispatching observation drones!”

“Sir, we should leave right now or we might lose the chance to escape!” one of the captains radioed in to express his concern.

Education about Ultralisk started as early as when kids were still learning how to read. Grandparents would often use Ultralisks to scare bad kids that didn’t behave. Just like the boogeyman or the baba yaga in certain countries on Earth. It went without saying that almost everyone was scared of them.

“Contact Bison. Tell him to be ready for anything. I will do what I can. Track my location and teleport me to the surface!” Jiang Fei ordered. Right now, he needed to act as if he was in the worst-case scenario. If the signal indeed belonged to an Ultralisk, he needed to fetch Isabella and all of the girls out of the training room and away from the planet.

“Location tracked. Preparing for teleportation. Stay put!”

Jiang Fei was currently in his private quarters deep underneath the planet’s surface. Going to the surface by foot would be the slowest way possible.

“Energize!” the operator yelled as he pushed the button. Just then, before the teleportation light particles could even form around Jiang Fei, he vanished in a white coat of light.

“What happened?”

“Where is the commander?”

“Was he teleported already? Is this a new teleportation device that I don’t know about?”

“No! I was sure of it! The teleportation sequence had only just started…”

…

Jiang Fei’s crew member panicked at the “mishap”.

The instant teleportation was fast and Jiang Fei opened his eyes when he could feel the coldness of space as he was standing on a metallic silver surfing board.

“Where am I…” Jiang Fei muttered to himself as he continued to observe the familiar board.

“We’ve not talked to each other for a while now. Don’t tell me that you have already forgotten about your master!” Theon’s voice echoed from behind.

“Master?!” Jiang Fei bellowed happily. He could not have been happier as he had been trying to look for him. Unfortunately, his search effort was always in vain as this enigmatic master was like a ghost.

“How have you been?”

“Not entirely good. I have so many questions to ask you!” Jiang Fei said. There were questions about the invaders from the Gamma Dimension and there was the thing about himself.

“Calm down. Breathe. And speak once you have collected your thoughts,” Theon said calmly.

Jiang Fei nodded and took three deep breaths. At the same time, a sudden thought came to his refreshed sea of mind. He started to hesitate about revealing the truth about the Gamma Dimension. Theon could be a person he could consult, but no matter how strong his master was, there was no definitive method to defeat the enemy.

No matter how strong any superhero was, even the infamous One-Above-All, it was just a comic book entity that was created by writers and illustrators. Not even the strongest being with the magical metal glove could do anything to affect the writers of the story.

“I guess I should just ask about myself… I’ll find some other time to talk about the Gamma Dimension,” Jiang Fei thought.

“Master, after the battle with Bargh, something happened to me…” Jiang Fei started to explain every event that took place, but not the entire truth about the 10th Dimension.

“That’s not quite right…” Came Theon’s reply. “I have never heard of a Bjolnian’s malice that could infect others…”

Jiang Fei was stunned for a good second. He had sincerely thought the black matter that infected him was something viral, like a virus that could spread to others.

“Bjolnians are special only because of their hidden evil nature when their third eye opens. But that sort of ability is race-bound. From what I know about them, there is no way for them to pass that ability to others,” Theon explained.

“What is going on with me then?” Jiang Fei asked worriedly.

“Give me a moment,” Theon said as he hovered his many faces in front of Jiang Fei’s one. A warm light emerged and formed a blanket of particles that surrounded him. Bigger, brighter particles then seeped into Jiang Fei’s body to start investigating his internals. The way it was done felt extremely uncomfortable. However, Theon was only doing this as a favor. No matter how uncomfortable it was, Jiang Fei had to endure it.

A few minutes later, Theon stopped and started to think thoroughly.

“Master, what is wrong with me?”

“To be honest… Nothing. I cannot find any traces of the black matter that you said,” Theon confessed as he furrowed his eyebrows. Something was wrong and based on his god-like abilities, nothing could escape his eyes.

“Oh what fresh hell is this…” Jiang Fei groaned. Theon was supposed to be his last hope and not even he could see what was wrong with him!

Only

“Captain, I think that black matter might be changing itself according to the environment. It is always merged with your body as one, rendering itself untraceable,” 0541 said.

“What can I do now?” Jiang Fei groaned again. He knew how it felt when the black malice took over his body and he did not want to experience that again.

“Nothing. Until I can see the black malice working, I will not be able to do anything to “fix” you,” Theon said. Obviously, he heard 0541’s conversation with Jiang Fei.

“That reminds me. What brings you here to this galaxy?” Jiang Fei changed the subject when the issue with the black matter was making no progress.

“Oh! I heard about a new visitor in this galaxy and I was curious,” Theon said simply.

Unbeknownst to Jiang Fei, Theon was part of a secret society called the League of Hidden Ones; a group of powerful beings that chose a life of isolation from society.

“I see. Allow me to shed some light on the matter. Many other forces had come to investigate the sudden appearance. The unknown race had technology that was so advanced that all fleets that arrived to investigate them were destroyed in a single flash of light.

“A light barrier was deployed and nothing could pass through it. There were ships coming out of the barrier a few days back and I have easily defeated them as they were incredibly weak. I am not sure what their combat strength is and have no information about their general intention,” Jiang Fei vaguely explained and was careful not to reveal about them being beings from a higher dimension.