Sailing like a torpedo, Momo approached the man much faster than she planned. She skid to a stop in the air just in front of him, her chest rising and falling raggedly as she looked down at just how far she’d traveled in only a few seconds.

  And, wow—it was quite the distance. The black dome she’d created looked more like a zit on the face of the street than an unbreakable wall; the scampering people and passing police cars seemed like tiny impersonations of the real thing.

  It was like looking at life through an airplane—and it immediately reminded her of her near-fight with Valerica, the two of them circling each other in the air as the demons haunted the fields below them. That had been the most terrified Momo had ever been.

  Now, she just felt… light.

  “So, a challenger rises to face me?”

  Momo blinked. She had nearly forgotten what had brought her up so far.

  “Oh. Right. You.”

  The man hovered effortlessly in front her, his arms crossed over his chest as he gave her a slow, arrogant smile. His outfit rippled in the wind like shadows brought to life—dark billowing fabric that seemed to absorb the light around him.

  His cloak, black as night, flared out behind him, giving him the appearance of a specter with no solid form beneath.

  As soon as she locked eyes with him, a System prompt appeared in front of her.

  NAME: NICHOLAS MARKS

  RANKING: #7/#808,437 (San Francisco Bay Area)

  Damn. Number seven out of almost a million people? So this wasn’t a fluke. The guy was powerful. And given that the System had only existed here for like fifteen minutes, that definitely confirmed her hypothesis that the System let people cheat their way to the top some way or another. At least temporarily.

  Momo had stopped receiving Earth’s system notifications after that initial blurb, so she was probably missing a lot of context. Context that she was hoping to extract out of this nice young gentleman.

  “Nice outfit,” Momo complimented him genuinely, completely ignoring his taunting from moments before. “What class gave you that cool cloak?”

  His cocky smirk fell, and he frowned, wagging his finger.

  “You want me to reveal my class so you can evaluate my weaknesses. Clever, but I won’t fall for such a simple ploy.”

  "Oh. No. Sorry. I don’t care about those," she said. She didn't really need to know his weaknesses. His weakness was that he was a human being and she was a god. That about summed it up. "I really just want to know about the cape. Oh, and if you could tell me a little bit about whatever messages you’ve been getting, that could help too."

  He scowled. "Are you trying to taunt me?”

  He flicked his fingertips up and Momo heard a rumbling sound from below. The pavement on the street began to break apart, pipes bursting and water showering the street. Chips of rock soared upwards, melding and mingling together to create large boulders of steel and cement. They floated around his head and he grinned.

  "Huh," Momo said, tapping her chin. "Some kind of telekinesis power then? Neat.”

  She had never really met anyone with telekinesis on Alois. Nether magic did something similar, but it required deconstructing things back to their base forms before they could be manipulated. He was just throwing things around as they were.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Maybe he's just using powerful air magic to suspend things and break them apart?

  That would be a much simpler explanation.

  "Why are you looking at me like that?" he growled. "Are you scared?"

  "Um," Momo checked her arm, seeing if any of the hairs on it were standing up. "No, I don't think so," she said genuinely. "My stomach seems fine as well."

  "Oh, for the love of— Enough! You’re just wasting my time!"

  He slammed his hand forward and a giant ball of rock spiked towards her.

  Opting to try something a little bit different, Momo summoned the Nether again, but instead of creating a dome or another type of shield, she lathered her body in it, as if she was wearing a skin suit of just the black protective material.

  The rock shattered around it, splitting into thousands of pieces.

  Nicholas balked at her, his mouth hanging.

  "How did you... are you some sort of defensive mage?"

  “Well, not technic—”

  Not waiting for a response, he thrust another boulder towards her.

  It shattered just as quick, not even leaving a scratch on her black suit.

  “You’re not going to get anywhere with that method,” Momo told him honestly.

  He scowled.

  “These are massive pieces of cement being thrown at hundreds of miles per hour, how are you building a resistance that can stop that?”

  Momo brightened, smiling. “Well, if you want to know—”

  He hauled the biggest of his creations—a ball of crumbled street lamp, sidewalk, and car parts that was about six times his size—straight at her, and then promptly screamed when it shattered easily against her protective layer.

  Momo rubbed her eyes. They were starting to get dust in them.

  "Um, are we done with this yet?" she asked, yawning. "Because I kind of have things I want to talk about.”

  “Your ranking," he spat, practically growling. "Why can't I see it? It just has a bunch of question marks next to it. Are you from outside the city? How did you get here so fast?" His eyes widened. "Did you beat the first quest already?"

  "There we go. Just what I wanted to discuss," Momo said, grinning eagerly. "What quest?"

  He looked at her suspiciously.

  "The only quest."

  "And what would that be?"

  "You should know."

  She frowned.

  "Clearly I don't.”

  He screamed, his hair erupting into a black flame. Raising his hand suddenly, the air around them became thin and tight. He pushed his hands out from his chest, and Momo felt a strangling sensation around her throat.

  It kind of… tickled.

  "So I was right," she said, coughing, "You are an air mage.”

  “How are you still..." He clenched his hands tighter. "Breathing?”

  She coughed again. This actually felt kind of comfy, in a strange way. Like a scarf.

  “Tell me about the quest," she said. "And I'll tell you the answer to that question."

  “Shut up about the goddamn quest!”

  His eyes were almost bulging out of his head. He clamped his hands down together, exerting the maximum force of his air magic.

  Momo just laughed.

  "I could do this all day," she said, clearing her throat, "So, do you want to waste your time with me? Or do you want to tell me what I need to know, then go and get more powerful by beating up someone else who you can actually handle?"

  He faltered, his grip weakening.

  It appeared she had finally spoken his language.

  The language of power-hungry douchebags.

  "Fine," he said finally, relenting. "Everyone on Earth has the same quest, as far as I can tell. It’s called Fight For Dominance. We were all offered classes based on our specific skill sets, and then could rapidly level in the first ten minutes by defeating as many people or as much nether spawn as we could manage. I was able to strangle everyone in the prison that I work at, securing me this spot at the top."

  Goosebumps ran up Momo’s arms. But it wasn't fear she was feeling. It was disgust.

  "Strangled as in—you killed those people?" she said. "They were just prisoners. Prisoners under your care."

  He waved her off.

  "So what? They were just soaking up government funds. Criminals like that are just a waste of breath."

  Momo clenched her fists.

  “And you’re not a criminal? You just tried to kill an entire police force.”

  He shrugged.

  “Self defense. They would have locked me up for what I did at the prison.”

  Momo pinched the bridge of her nose, tempering her rage.

  She had to be careful not to kill the guy by accident.

  "You aren't God," she said. "You don't get to decide who or what is a waste of breath."

  "Oh yeah? And you are?"

  At that, Momo smiled at him.

  She began to bubble a tremendous amount of Nether out of her palms, creating a large, giant-sized hand. A fist that was big enough to grab him in his entirety. The black Nether hand clamped down on him like he was a shrimp, fingers circling around his body and keeping him in place. He roared, struggling against its superior grip.

  "No—wait! Don’t!"

  "Don't worry. It’ll just be a quick swim," she said. "God's feeling merciful today."

  Then, with a giggle, she yanked her arm back, and threw Nicholas at full force towards the Pacific Ocean.

  Want to know what happens next? Find out right now on Patreon (25 chapters ahead)!

  Join the conversation on Discord!