There is a very simple answer to the following question: what should any dungeon diver do when confronted with a new powerful foe who is more likely than not a boss?

  Inspect.

  Right away.

  Colt didn’t even have to think about it.

  ———

  Csaba The Great, Star Fated Prince - Level 68

  Description: A genius prince of great legend and the youngest son of Attila, King of the Huns. When he was born, the very heavens themselves shifted their alignment to broadcast his coming. Like his father, Prince Csaba was born to shake nations, and that he did, winning conquest after conquest and reuniting the broken tribes of the Hun with his father's disappearance. The prince never lost a battle and soon his victorious lineage brought a great army at his back. Where he went, so went victory. A leader. A king. A soldier.

  Yet Csaba was destined for more then earth. Taking the words of his father, at any time of being lost, Csaba could look to the stars and find guidance. With them at his beck and call on this earth, he never faced an equal. Seeking a greater foe, a better battle to test himself with, Csaba walked the path of the sacred peak itself, and ascended to the stars to do battle in the heavens where he might finally meet someone worthy to call a match.

  Now, marshaling forces of the heavens itself, he still seeks to test his hammer on worthy foes.

  Noteworthy Skills:

  Star’s Grace [Epic] - Level 19

  Celestial Skin [Epic] - Level 13

  Comet Strike [Rare] - Level 18

  Solar Flare [Rare] - Level 13

  Light Magic [Uncommon] - Level 9

  Edicts:

  Skyfall (Greater)

  Celestial Forge (Minor)

  ———

  Colt’s jaw worked in silence as he read over the information. The grand prince stayed there, standing near his throne as he regarded the group of them with a bemused expression. To him, they were ants. And taking in the names and composition of this boss…

  Well, Cerberus was one grade of boss. This guy was the next level entirely, even with his actual level being only four higher then that massive slobbering dog hid away the truth.

  No, the truth was in the Edicts. Colt felt them swell; the very same quality of Edicts that hung around the arena like a curtain suffused this guy’s entire being. Csaba took one step toward them, crushing multiple skulls beneath his boot with a loud crack. Nate shared a look with Colt—the soldier had run his scan, too, and come to a similar conclusion.

  This was going to be a dangerous fight.

  Colt got in front of the rest of the group, his body blurring with the speed he moved; Nate charged next to him, getting in place. The prince raised his hammer to the sky—a ball of light formed there, condensing and congealing; within its depths, a red-hot metal about the size of a person. Then the size of a truck. The radiance of the heat grew.

  Shit.

  “Water barrier!” Colt screamed at Julia—and the dazed mage threw up a sheaf of water between them, right in time for the Prince to jerk his hammer toward them.

  The comet streaked out—and in three seconds, it crashed right into the barrier; a cloud of steam burst as the membrane bent, and the comet’s fire crashed against their protective membrane; fire boiled water with an explosive burst, and Julia struggled, the top of her staff flaring with a bright blue light. It was too much.

  A ball of metal burst through, still sailing through the air at them, only no longer on fire. Right on course to hit Julia.

  Colt braced, wrapping his Edict around his dagger, figuring he could cut the attack.

  Nate was there—his hammer stretched, and he smashed it straight into the side of the comet. The giant ball of metal flew a short distance away, bouncing once as it rebounded away from his weapon.

  It didn’t stop there. Colt felt it in the background, a welling of an Edict—the curtain of stars surrounding the arena moved inward, their radiance growing. The intensity grew even further. The heat burned at his skin.

  “Close! Jullia barrier all around us!”

  For a second, they saw the world through the lens of water. Streams of water flowed out of Julia’s staff as it grew a brighter blue. She threw on more and more water, this time prepared and determined to take his warning and run with it. In the distance, Colt felt the wrapping of Prince Csaba’s Edict—the welling of the greater power working through all of those celestial stars around them.

  And it wrapped tighter.

  The lights grew brighter; their light suffused through the membrane of the puddle. The five of them closed in together, backs to one another as the intensity of the light only flared brighter; the stars were soaring right at them, an overwhelming barrage of celestial power wrapped and layered with a powerful Edict.

  “Shit,” Nick said—the light of his bow flaring in response; Colt felt him reach out toward the barrier—trying to apply his refract to Julia’s ability in a bid of desperation.

  It worked, but it was a clumsy thing like poking an embroidery through an already formed piece of thread versus intricately weaving in a design. Julia couldn’t guide or let him in—since the water mage had no Edicts of her own or a reference to enhance her own ability with their laws. So he just kinda shoved in the Edict and hoped for the best.

  The light increased, the brightness searing the eyes to look at, yet Colt couldn’t look away, fear boiling him inside as he felt the oncoming storm of fire.

  This was a Greater Edict and a powerful one at that.

  “What do we do?”

  Colt kept quiet, wrapping his own Cut firmly on his knife, thickening his own Greater Edict, his breath slowing as he felt the approaching heat.

  He could Cut through it with a combination of both of his Edicts—but if he did it, it’d be in one direction. Meaning that Colt could penetrate and get on the other side of this attack, especially if he throw in Phantom’s Gambit… The issue was, though, that his allies would be left behind. Nate might weather it… The rest of them, though…

  The water began to boil, its smooth surface erupting in bubbles.

  Then, a second later, the light crashed into the barrier, blocking the view of the stars as they converged on them with that of pure steam; Julia cried out, her staff growing brighter as she wobbled in place. Sarah grabbed the girl and helped keep her steady as she waged war against the approaching star storm.

  Colt pushed outward with his Cut edict—trying to tie it to the barrier, too. However, whereas Refract had a place to interact with such an ability, his Edict could find no purchase. It was like pouring oil on water, so Colt pulled it back, condensing it on his blade. Movement… That Edict had the same exact issue, trying to infuse it just wouldn’t work. Worse, with the way it liked to buck him, any work he weaved onto their defense might backfire and undo the Refract currently pressing back against attack.

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  Nate strode up to the barrier—screaming as he dug his hands into the boiling surface. Joining his Forge with Nick’s Refract—temporarily pushing back the light of the oncoming stars. For a second, Colt thought it to be enough. The water became denser. It surged brighter—less of the star could penetrate their defenses.

  Then Csaba reacted.

  His will pressed in. Warring against the two lesser Edicts.

  They broke before him, a grand prince striding through all contention and winning yet another war; the water broke. Heat seared Colt’s skin; his heart sped, pulling at his body and the Edicts he had. His survival instinct screamed to run. Yet he waited, sensing a change.

  A third Edict joined in with Nate and Nick.

  The stars came to a halt.

  “No!” Julia screamed, her voice hoarse. Tears ran down her eyes. The staff in her hand was a star unto itself, like the blue sapphire at its top. She leaned on Sarah, her eyes red and veins bulging on her face. “You will not hurt my friends!” she screamed, her voice surging outward with more force than was natural.

  The water reacted. Her Edict erupted in the water barrier. It met the other two stronger Edicts trying to suffuse her barrier and wrapped them up, empowering itself and the ability. Before Nate and Nick had tried to simply force their Edicts onto the skill to defend them in a haphazard, necessary way, Julia redirected them, weaving them into the spell and surging the water back thick. It pushed against the stars in a geyser, cutting the heat off.

  Csaba pressed in again, contesting the three group members, slamming his mighty will down on the bubble shield.

  He got no further.

  Steam hissed and burst like a bomb from their position; the heat outside lessened, and the stars withdrew. Seconds later, when Colt finally got a look at the battlefield, he saw Csaba striding towards them, anger in his eyes.

  The three of them had repelled the assault, but their foe wasn’t done; he raised that hammer in the sky, intending to smash into their bubble if his onslaught of stars couldn’t do the work for him.

  His three friends looked spent. Sarah held onto Julia, keeping the mage, which looked like she could barely stand upright.

  Colt knew his job. There was a lull in the attack, and this was the opening. He ran to the edge of the bubble and activated Phantom's Gambit, sliding clean through the foot of condensed water. He arrived at the other side. Once there, he popped his last tool, Olympic Mandate, suffusing his body and enhancing everything all the bit more.

  Csaba sighted him, a bold grin appearing on his face as he picked his victim.

  No.

  Colt pulled deep; the Edict wrapped around his blade, a deadly thing. Suffused, sharpened, wrapped as many times as he could manage it. A dense knife that even to a giant the size of the prince should represent a real and tangible threat. There was no concealing such a deadly and Edict-dense weapon. And the grin slipped from Csaba’s face as he sensed it.

  Those stars warped around him—more of the small-scale celestial weapons popping into existence. This time, flaring and moving to condense and protect him.

  The prince radiated with fear.

  Colt didn’t give him the time; he stripped it away, yanking upon Movement and suffusing his entire body with it. The world slowed around him, going to a crawl slow enough that it might as well not be in motion at all. His heart beat in his chest. Once. Twice.

  Each one a movement that was hammering about ten times the speed it should be; his Edict was a cowl, and in a burst of speed, he used it to fling himself at his target, crossing the hundred feet in what would amount to a real second of their time.

  Colt drank deeply from his cup; his strict Soul power investment finally reached a point where he felt in control of the Edict—had it in his grasp. Well, as in control of an Edict like this as he could be. The truth was that Movement was like strapping into a rollercoaster and going for a ride; each Edict, he felt, had its own conditions. Its own nature. But to wield an Edict, you had to understand it and accept it for what it was; to embrace it was to move along its path and begin to grasp that power for your own.

  This was simply the nature of Movement’s strength: It could only be wielded for a short time. Movement controlled everything, and when in use, it demanded much.

  Csaba was moving even now—trying to bring his stars in and sacrificing his hands to defend his neck. For the prince to move at a speed that even registered in this Colt’s state said a lot. Csaba could move fast, should he wish. Unfortunately for him, not fast enough.

  Colt yanked the momentum away from the limbs as he arrived, causing them to hang limply in the air—one jump tossing him at the venerable Prince.

  His blade struck the guy’s neck.

  And Cut did its work, penetrating, slicing deep while super-charged by the wild Edict of Movement. Like any foe facing the potent combination, Colt expected the fight to end here and now.

  Only it didn’t.

  It cut an inch into his neck. Then met resistance. A strong resistance. As if someone had wrapped titanium around and around; infused it with an Edict, then wrapped it again, layering it in thin-atom-like shells. The Edict and Skill at work felt similar.

  Forge and Steel Skin.

  But it wasn’t. Celestial Forge—and what was that skill he had—Celestial Skin?

  Colt grunted, sparks flying from his blade as he contested the ability, the spectral steel of the weapon warping before his eyes as two mighty forces yanked against it. His Edict—Cut, sharpened it, layered as thick as it was, the weapon had a sharpness that could cut down anything on Earth. Paired with Movement, it had the speed and sharpness to do so with ease.

  But this skin. It was denser. Thicker than anything in known existence before the System—and it was paired with its own Edict, wrapped diligently around for years upon years; his Edicts clashed against this. And were winning. The blade slid another inch in, cutting vital veins.

  Yet Cut was not a reinforcement Edict. It wasn’t Forge. Beneath the great mights throwing themselves into one another… What could a knife do?

  Colt grunted and shoved more of both Edicts into his attack—leeching away any Movement he felt near him—even the beating of his own heart as it hammered; his vision blackened. Within the blackness, he still felt his Edicts. And pushed them to their full effects.

  The spectral blade shattered. Hundreds of split shards of spectral exploding.

  Colt spent even more of himself—directing the charged pieces of metal, wrapping the momentum, and expelling them even more violently, suffusing each with as much of his cut as he could.

  One supercharged cut became a hundred.

  Colt did the only thing he could do as he detonated essentially the most violent shrapnel bomb to ever exist—using what remained of his Movement Edict to shove his body as far away from the blast zone as he could.

  Time returned to normal as his body tumbled over the ground; pain radiated, his hand bled from his own sharpened bits of metal, parts of it hitting even him but stopped just short from ruining his limb thanks to his commandment of Movement. His heart skipped beats, lost in its rhythm from the stolen beats he’d sacrificed to his Edict to save himself. Colt coughed blood as his body came to a stop.

  The fight wasn’t over.

  Colt propped himself up, his body screaming in pain as he maneuvered to look at Csaba.

  The Star Prince also laid on the ground, gurgling audibly as he pressed a wound against his ruined throat, and half of his face now being eviscerated. The rest of the damage was impossible to see from where Colt was. But, impossibly, the guy hadn’t died yet. He was trying to forge—or rather Celestial Forge the wound back to closed.

  Colt’s head swam, his body refusing to get back to his feet.

  An arrow of light slammed into Csaba, bursting against him but doing nothing; then charged in Nate and Sarah—the big guy crashed his spiked hammer into the struggling prince, kicking him around. But there wasn’t a notification; even as Nate crashed his hammer into the guy’s skull, it just didn’t have the raw firepower to get through his defenses.

  Sarah’s fists were next to useless.

  Still, Prince Csaba didn’t have the time to respond, taking their beatings as he tried to breathe, to close the massive missing hole that was the side of his face and his neck.

  Then Sarah pulled back—barking an order to Nate.

  The big guy yanked at Csaba’s arm, his muscles straining as he pried the guy’s hand from trying to close his throat. The prince tried to scream, but it came out as a liquid gurgle. Colt tried to move again, but his legs were jelly. His heart was just now finding its place; his skin felt cold and clammy. He’d spent too much.

  Sarah went in with the opening that Nate made—and shoved her red hand-wrap into the wound, grinding it into the blood.

  Csaba gurgled as she forced an acidic poison directly into his bloodstream.

  And like that, the Star Prince finally died.

  ———

  You have defeated Csaba The Great - Level 68

  You have leveled up!

  You have leveled up!

  You have 6 Stat points to spend. You have gained 2 points of Dexterity and 2 points of Soul.

  Olympic Mandate (Basic) has gained a level!

  *Soul And Mind Fortitude* (Intermediate) has gained a level!

  *Soul And Mind Fortitude* (Intermediate) has gained a level!

  *Phantom’s Gambit* (Intermediate) has gained a level!

  *Knives/Daggers Proficiency* (Intermediate) has gained a level!

  Dungeon Alert: Csaba The Great has been defeated!

  Your class has advanced to Edict Carver (III), please check Class Screen in order to evolve.

  Congratulations!

  All mandatory bosses have been slain. The exit has been opened. You have completed Primeval Park!

  Rewards distributed to associated Faction!

  ———