Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

Somehow, the stature of Ilya matched that of the gargantuan man-shaped Sun. Even so, it was obvious to Jasper that the blade wielded by the heroic warrior didn't reach the blazing tyrant.

"Rah! Grrr! Ghhraah—!"

Ilya roared as he wildly swung his blade, stirring up a storm with his might alone all while the Sun roared as well, only with laughter. Each time the silver blade made contact with the Sun, it merely moved through its non-physical body, pushing its flaming skin around.

"Keep trying! Try harder, and perhaps give me a challenge!" The Sun welcomed the assault, responding with wild releases of burning energy in all directions.

There was nothing the blade could do, no matter all the strength behind it. Such vicious swings only resulted in the Sun grabbing a hold of the warrior, lifting Ilya off his feet.

"Unhand…!" Ilya forced out.

"Inconsequential," the Sun remarked, bathing the hero in fire before tossing him aside.

The chainmail was melted from Ilya's body, torching the massive warrior's skin as he was cast to the burnt soil.

Jasper sprinted harder, moving his legs with all of his might as he crossed the waves of heat, heading into the domain of the Sun. Such an abundance of heat exuded to the point he could feel the moisture drying from his eyes with a single step forward; the blood in his veins began to boil; his skin blistered–

'Just a bit more–just a little closer,' he willed.

There was only one path to victory cemented in his body, drawing him closer to that brightly-burning entity, even as his body was cooked in those pivotal seconds. Blistering, burning, boiling, he stomped forward, reaching his hand out.

Somehow, it wasn't until that moment that the being manifested as the blazing star even noticed him. Jasper stretched his arm out, reaching with his palm as he put everything into touching that burning form, just for a second, just enough for a single moment.

As he made contact, the skin on his palm was burned away without remorse, though he ignored the pain, casting it aside–

"Open: Avalon!" Jasper screamed, feeling as though his throat tore as it was drier than a summer desert.

["Gate To Avalon"]

With that momentary contact made, the gateway was opened as all of that heat was washed away. The burnt soil he once stood on was a flourishing field of flowers as a soft wind brushed against his burnt body.

He sighed out, standing in that mystical place, looking up at the concealed, misty sky as it seemed to twinkle with pollen. The pain across his body, touched by the heat of the vicious star, was dulled as he breathed in and out.

Still, his hands twitched, his arms layered in burns with his right hand missing its skin entirely, yet he stood tall.

Just across from him was the Sun, with a perplexed expression placed upon his ever-burning face for the first time.

"...This is? What is this place, human? My heat…It's not burning the field–what is this occurrence?" The Sun questioned, baffled as the vibrant flowers simply swayed in his presence.

"A place of rest…of peace…In here, I can't harm you, and you can't harm me," Jasper explained with a look of content, glancing down at his burnt hands. "This is Avalon."

"Avalon…? No harm? You speak in absolutes against the Sun–that is a foolish endeavor!" The tyrannical elemental shouted.

As if testing that claim, the Sun swept his hand forth, unleashing a tidal wave of fire that swept through the tranquil forest. It brushed through like a wind, trickling against the knight's body without any harm, not so much as burning a petal on a lily.

"How is this–?" The Sun remarked in disbelief. "...Your claims may hold true, but what of it? What can you hope to accomplish when neither of us can harm the other? Do you believe boring me to death is a viable strategy?"

"I wish it was, but unfortunately, I came here with a way to kill you–completely and totally," Jasper claimed, reaching into his pocket with no rush.

The Sun almost seemed entertained by the words themself, "Kill me? Now that is a claim I simply cannot believe, human."

From his pants, the burnt and exhausted young man held a heart-shaped, titanium object, grasping it as though it were a fragile organ between his fingers. Jasper's messy hair laid over his face as he looked at the nebulous item, feeling a tear slide down his cheek, almost mistaking it for sweat.

["Man, I don't want to die."]

Squeezing the object, he breathed out, feeling the air travel up his chest and past his lips, studying the flowers at his feet, for some reason.

["Right now, the flowers just look so damn beautiful. They're enchanting–I could stare at them for the rest of time. Their colors, the shape of the petals, imagining what each one smells like…I've never really cared for them, but I guess staring down the end, it's all piling on."]

He paid no mind to the calamitous force standing across from him, only clutching the steel-clad construct close to his chest.

["I don't want you two to leave me behind. I don't want to leave you behind, either. The thing is, there isn't any other way, is there? When it comes down to a world like this, it's the only choice sometimes. I guess today, I'm just the one that has to make it."]

—

[...Some Time Prior…]

Jasper stared up at the drone, dumbfounded by the proposition, "A way to put down the Sun? Are you sure? Do you have something like that?" He asked.

The small, robotic recon lowered itself, relaying the voice of Nikko, "...I am. There's just one thing I have to tell you beforehand."

"Yeah?" Jasper said, brushing the dust off his arm as he coughed.

"If you go through with this plan, you'll die," Nikko relayed through the drone. "There's no in betweens with this one. The way things stand, everyone will die–that is, unless somebody steps up."

It caught the knight off-guard as he tensed up for a moment, staring blankly at the empty street as the drone buzzed beside him.

"Jasper?" Nikko's voice called out.

"Yeah…I see. What's the plan, then?" He asked.

From the hovering drone, a compartment opened, lowering a container that held something made in the shape of a human heart, made of stainless steel.

"What is this?" Jasper asked, taking the object into his hand.

"An antimatter bomb, to put it concisely. When squeezed and given the keyword, it will create a reaction that vaporizes everything within a fifty kilometer radius. It's a one-of-a-kind weapon, something I can't recreate…Do you understand what I'm telling you?" Nikko asked.

Jasper stared at the small, but heavy creation, slowly nodding, "Yeah."

–

Standing there in that tranquil garden, he looked at the calamitous device entrusted to him.

["It's just, right now…Right now, I'm thinking about it. I wish we could've hung out together when the world wasn't like it is. I know we were a world apart before, but…A bloke can dream."]

"Hey! Stop ignoring me! I'm speaking to you, human–!" The Sun roared, lashing out as he stomped his foot in frustration.

Jasper took his time glancing over at the brightly-burning entity, calmly answering, "Oh, you were talking? My bad, just getting my regrets in order."

A breath pushed past his lips as he watched the flowers sway at his feet. He could feel his heart in his chest, weighed with the choice he had already made. The brightness of the Sun was sidelined by the beauty of the flowery field; he only listened to the soft, passing breeze, tuning out the angered rants of the entity.

["Just wish I could've at least said goodbye."]

Squeezing the object between his fingers, he carefully breathed out, reciting the keyword given to him, "--Tomorrow."

A "click' resounded from within the steel contraption, feeling some sort of mechanism trigger itself with that single word spoken into it. Even standing there, holding it, he couldn't feel anything but a fuzzy sensation wash over his body, as if disconnected from any other worries.

The Sun sprinted for him, though he didn't budge an inch, not caring for it as it changed nothing–it was done.

["I just wonder. Is this the moment my life led to? Was this why I was designated as a knight? I never considered myself one, but right now–I guess I can accept it."]

As the blazing, shouting figure came within reach of him, the steel object he clutched firmly burst into a flash of blinding light. A force poured out from its core, devastating and without prejudice; the soil was dissolved to atoms, each flower cast to nothingness as though the very state of matter was rejected.

It wasn't a violent, abrasive reaction; a quiet wave that stretched through the forest of flowers. Everything touched within the reach of the bomb was silently and swiftly torn away at the atomic level.

Not even the Sun itself could maintain its form, washed away like a breath to the flame of a candle.

["I just want the world to go back to being a place where you can drink with your friends and eat good food, laughing without a care."]