Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

A harrowing proclamation, one unchallenged as Jasper could hardly move his body while still gathering his breath.

"Shield–" Jasper called out to the automatically defending barricade.

It arrived in front of him at the exact moment a flash of heat swept towards his body. He could hardly react to it, finding the force behind it knocking him off his feet, sending him flying straight out of the glass entrance of the theater.

Before bouncing into the street, he managed to get himself on his feet.

"Hffff…!" Jasper breathed out sharply, once again feeling that tightness in his gut.

Though the shield definitely mitigated whatever attack had come his way, the burn marks left on his armor left him conflicted. He could feel his body aching beneath, still subject to the heat.

'Ain't a damn set of armor in the world that could protect against this guy, huh? Ah, well…' He considered.

While the Sun strolled out of the busted building with no haste, the knight relinquished his armor from his body. Helmet and all, the equipment was dismissed completely as his shoulder-length hair cascaded down.

"What's this? Giving up truly now?" The Sun asked with a perplexed look.

Jasper breathed out, sliding the light-blue sweater off his body, neatly folding it before carefully setting it down on the ground.

'Can't let this get burned now,' he thought, holding a small smile as he caressed the sweater before standing back up.

Without a single scrap of armor on him, his tanned body was left bare, exposed to the heat as the waves of warmth pushed around his long hair.

To his surprise, the flame-formed entity wasn't in a rush to exterminate him. For better or worse, the being seemed to express interest in playing with him.

'Armor won't work, so I'll go this route—' Jasper resolved.

["Purity"]

He bent his knees, bringing his sword back, squeezing the handle with both hands before–

With a burst of speed like that of a jet piercing through the sky, he raced across the asphalt, immediately closing the distance as he slashed at the blazing entity.

"Oh?--" The Sun remarked in surprise.

A massive gash split the street, carving through the entire block with a burst of wind and dust that blew in the cardinal direction. The sword had missed from directly contending with that fiery body, finding it to be a problematic situation for Jasper as he immediately flipped back, sliding away to place distance between himself and the Sun.

'Shit…I can feel that heat more than ever now when I get close. I want to swing, I want to commit to it, but–whenever I get within striking range, my body tells me to move away. It's like trying to keep your hand inside of a flame,' Jasper considered.

Amidst his quick thinking, the bare knight quickly ducked down as a solar whip lashed out over his head, cutting right through the building behind him. The Sun waved both arms, splitting the chains of burning energy into countless ropes, waving them around wildly in every direction without any aim.

They whipped around rapidly, cutting through the street, slicing right past abandoned vehicles, forcing the desperate knight to spring and slide, jumping up and moving like an acrobat.

["Purity: a skill that is often far too dangerous to use as a knight class user. It stacks physical buffs onto the wielder in proportion to the less amount of armor they are wearing. When completely unprotected, it grants its ultimate enhancement: "Hyper Knight." A complete evolution of all five senses,, warping the laws of physics as obeyed by physical limitations, elevating the strength and speed of the user to portions far beyond their current level.

However, since it requires foregoing one's armor, their most pivotal layer of protection, the loss of that defense is often seen as too much of a risk."]

There wasn't a single second that his feet could stay on the ground, having to immediately move as the onslaught of the Sun chased at his heels.

Without seeing the whips, he evaded them as they came from unseen angles. Through his heightened senses, he could feel the shifts in heat through the air, adjusting accordingly.

Enough dancing in the street, he ducked beneath one of the blazing tendrils before responding with a swing of his sword—

"Hrrr!"

Even from a block away, the quick, aggressive movement turned the air itself into an extension of his blade. The manifested strike cut through the concrete of the neighboring buildings, taking the width of the street as it collided with the target.

"Damn," Jasper mumbled.

—Of course, the dust was pushed away by a heat wave, disrupted by the booming laughter of the prideful entity.

"Yes! You command commendable strength, human! Yet, I am the Sun—the brightest, most magnificent of them all! Everything exists to be reunited with the Sun's embrace!" The living star proclaimed.

It felt hopeless; not a single scratch laid upon that elemental body. Arduous breaths left the young knight's lips, feeling the heat as sweat clung to his chiseled body.

'How do I—' He questioned.

Before a thought could be formed, he raised his arm as the wind suddenly lashed out, brushing through his hair.

"Arcana spotted!"

"Prepare to engage enemy!"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

—The voices that emitted as though spoken through intercoms echoed, bringing him to look up. A squadron of the giant, humanoid mechanical constructs were piloted in the air just above the desecrated block.

"Radegasts—? Wait, hey—watch out!" Jasper shouted, looking up at the flying pilots.

A bit of relief filled the knight only for a moment before he recognized what would happen. Each of the colossal units surrounded the blazing entity, though only a look of chaotic temptation was worn by the Sun.

Find your next read on empire

The Radegast units readied their weapons, preparing to engage in unison against the burning presence—

"Don't!—" Jasper shouted.

Just as the massive guns of the Radegasts were fired, a flash of burning light consumed the vision of the knight. It blew him off his feet like a split-second tornado, flipping him around before he caught himself, having to stab his sword into the asphalt beneath.

"Nnrgh!--"

It strained him to force his feet back down to the ground, feeling the scorching wind push against his body before he looked ahead. A rainfall of black-steel chunks dropped around him, finding the Sun at the center of it all, boasting with ear-filling laughter.

"Build these puny contraptions all you wish, but it doesn't change the fact I am inevitable!" The Sun declared, slamming his feet back down to the ground with a thunderous tremor.