The next morning...

 

“Your tools, your weapons, your vehicles, and your armor!” The Machine Lord announced as he walked towards the walls of a large city. “Even your very infrastructure will betray you!”

 

The Machine Lord was walking through a flattened forest towards large walls made of metal, bolted together. Large cannons that used mana as both the ammunition and propellant stood one by one in various fortified sections along the walls. The walls were over 500 feet(~152 Meters) and had various magical runes all carved into the wall by grandmasters. 

 

As the Machine Lord approached this giant wall, a similar scene to the area he was sealed was displayed. The man stood, pale and frail. He spread his boney exposed arms, his shirt and top had eroded. At his waist were scraps of black pants that barely covered his waist. Only a sink shoe was held on by the few straps that remained of the leather and part of the sole. The same effect that looked similar to steam began to fly out of him and create a large field that stretched 45 feet (~14M) away from him in every direction. 

 

Some of the cannons suddenly turned towards the man who was walking towards the wall, he had two golems at his side that were similar to the ones manning the wall. A large number of golems and a few men wearing enchanted armor could all be seen on the wall defending it. One of the men on the wall instantly recognized the man walking towards the wall, and he dropped the binoculars he was holding with horror.

 

“It’s the Machine Lord! Edgar Crowe has escaped his seal!” The man yelled in horror.

 

Most of the men on the wall hadn’t taken this scene seriously, after all, no one had ever torn down the Grand Tullens wall.

 

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Crackle! Tear! Pop!

 

Suddenly a horrific scene happened when the man got close to the wall.

 

“What’s happening, why is it falling apart?!” A soldier roared out in terror, as he raised his rifle to his shoulder and aimed at the shirtless man.

 

Boom!

 

A beam of blazing light fired from his rifle and passed through the Machine Lord’s chest, he didn’t even react. The wound was big enough that you could fit a pair of fingers inside of it, and it closed as soon as the bean passed through it. 

 

“What?!” A soldier roared out in panic as he also took aim and fired at the Machine Lord.

 

This beam was light blue, and it also tore a chunk out of him, this time it was his head, and it left a splatter mark across the ground with brain matter in it. Before his body even had time to wobble, they watched all the blood and gore vanish with the hole in his forehead. The Machine Lord proceeded to scratch a few pieces of ice off of his head in annoyance. A small beam of light passed from the shoulder of the Machine Lord to the golem next to him that looked like an electrical spark.

 

The golem reacted instantly by raising the gun attached to its left arm, this was a modified version of the same gun that was just fired at the Machine Lord.

 

Boop!

 

A purple ball of light exploded out of the barrel and grew larger and larger as if flew faster than the eye could track. This hit not only the man in the armor holding the rifle, gut the five golems next to him and a section of the wall they were standing on. 

 

“AAAAHHHH!” The man screamed as he collapsed in his armor.

 

Crunch!

 

All of the people on the wall looked on in horror as they saw the heavily armored man fall over, his armor starting to come apart. These heavy sheets of metal and plates crushed the man's bones, causing blood to come pouring out of the joints of the armor. The golems had also locked up, this lasted for several seconds before they seemed to wake back up. Parts from the metal walls below them began to snake and tendril up their metal bodies before they attached themselves to the golems, forming new weapons and appendages on the five golems.

 

[For the Machine Lord!] The golem said in a monotone voice before it turned its cannon onto its nearest enemy that was not hit with the purple light.

 

It then fired a blob of purple light at the golem, causing it to lock up in place. Below them, large plates of the wall were crumbling and falling apart as the Machine Lord continued to walk forward. Two large plates the size of a house's walls and thicker than a man’s arm swung open like doors for him and spilled out all kinds of cables and parts.

 

“Why aren’t the cannons on the walls targeting him?” One of the armored men yelled in horror.

 

“There is no mana going to them! The main conduit in the wall was destroyed!” Someone answered before a golem shot him with the purple light too. 

 

“Someone! Help M-” Crunch!

 

The man was interrupted from his cry by his armor crushing him to death. All of the pieces of the armor and weapons were making their way to the golems, repeating the same program the Machine Lord had created the first time. Below them, the wall had been fully breached, and a large hale sphere was created inside of the city wall. Across the Distance, a large city could be seen constructed of various tall buildings that stretched into the clouds. Vehicles that floated using a variety of runes and enchantments could be seen flying from building to building.

 

David watched in horror as the number of creations following the Machine Lord grew and grew. Just as he stepped on the other side of the wall David felt himself get lightly shaken. This caused the scene around him of the large grasslands to melt away into nothing.

 

-

 

David opened his eyes to see the blonde woman pushing his shoulder lightly, her face was still expressionless. David looked at her and nodded, and began to wipe the sleep out of his face. Suddenly seeing her kneeled before him, confusion appeared on his face. David looked her over and saw that she was still really skinny, and she seemed to have issues moving around. Looking into her eyes a light was present that hadn’t been there before.

 

“You seem to be doing better this morning, Princess.” He told her.

 

David stretched, as he stood up. Looking on the counter of the table, he walked over and grabbed the magic stone that belonged to the Ghoul. He grabbed it and rolled it around in his palm before he clutched it tightly. A Blackish light came out of the stone and lightly entered his arm, this caused David to wince in pain and he lost his grip on the magic stone dropping it onto the ground.

 

“Damnit! That hurts so much worse than I expected!” David said as he shook his hand to get it to loosen up.

 

The mana’s properties in the magic stone would change depending on the type of creature it came from, and undead mana gave this horrible itching pain when it was absorbed. This process had to be done gradually and incrementally. If you took in too much mana at once from a source that wasn’t your own, like another magic stone, too much could cause the pressure to rise too high. If that happened then you risked the stone breaking, or worse, exploding. That would result in the person becoming crippled.

 

I think I can use it 5 more times, but I will need quite a few more if I want to enter the second layer.

 

Time was the best method of growth, but that was only possible as long as the world was already safe. Monsters were able to grow much faster than humans ever could. They also had higher limits, that was because humans weren’t capable of growing bodies big enough to support a magic stone past High-tier. Many humans got trapped somewhere due to their body's limits, this happened when growing the magic stone any further would cause severe damage to the body. Many people had died on the path to gaining more power through a larger magical stone. Increasing layers always runs the risk of causing damage to the body.

 

David turned and looked at the blonde woman who was standing shakily. On the counter was a can of soup that was opened as well as a plastic spoon. David smiled at her as he walked over and began to eat it, after a few moments she came over and gave him a bottle of water.

 

“Don’t push yourself too much, you nearly died of starvation.” David reminded her, but she pointed to the corner of the fire pit.

 

David looked over and saw a pile of wrappers and empty water bottles.

 

“Nevermind, it looks like you have already eaten,” David said, as he also finished his breakfast.

 

David tossed his empty can into the center of the pit as he walked over to his supplies. His backpack consisted of a metal frame he made from a chair that was made at 90 degrees. He then stacked three toolboxes on this frame and bungee corded them to it to make a segmented backpack. Nylon straps held it on his shoulders that could be snapped off using clips, the whole thing was rugged enough to survive many falls and everything inside was padded. This contained his tools, his medicines, and food and water. His blanket wrapped around the toolboxes and a tarp went around it forming a bag.

 

The Princess had also been given a bag, although hers was an actual duffel bag David had found picking locks in the breakroom. What she carried was extra food and water, her bedding, and some clothes? David wasn’t too sure what all she had put inside of it after he had gone to sleep. Reaching down he used some leather belts to begin securing a brace to his arm. The baton had been modified with a firing pin in the bottom, and a blank that was filled with gunpowder was secured inside of the collapsible part of the baton, and a stiff spring was installed to keep it from being able to fully compress. A spike made of bone from the Butcher Ghoul had been attached as an end cap, it was one of the pieces that hadn’t burned in the fire, and David shaped it using a file.

 

This whole device was hidden inside of a bracer made of sheet metal. A lever in the back would push the contraption forward so that the baton could compress and fire the blank, turning it into a battering ram. The recoil would be intense but it was necessary to kill monsters or undead that were at the level of the Butcher Ghoul. The other weapon he crafted used the steel protector that covered one of the lights in the hallway, David had turned this into a mace. He had broken the glass out of it and installed a metal plate. This plate was a piece of round metal bent into a cone, with silver solder melted into carvings he had made into the metal.

 

The difference between a rune and an enchantment was the difference between hand tools and power tools. This cone had an enchantment carved in for ‘Purging Flame’ this was a spell that was meant for offense. It produced a flame that would stick to its victims when they were lit on fire with it. A slot was carved into the pipe that a bolt ran through it that blocked a chain. The handle of the mace was 18 inches(~45CM) and the bolt worked to keep a chain that ran through the center tensed so that the head wouldn’t flail around. The chain was 24 inches(~60CM) long and the bolt worked to bend it in half and store it inside of the handle. This meant it could be used as a mace or a flail depending on the situation, a bolt that ran through the bottom worked to push the magic stone into position.

 

“Alright Princess, let’s go to the second floor.” David told her, as he grabbed the mace in one hand and the bladed club in the other.

 

For her, he had given her several knives made from Butcher’s blades. While she wouldn’t talk, she was surprisingly good at casting runes. He had taught her several; one was Creeping Chill, this one was really good for freezing body parts. Another was Dancing Jolt, this one caused a shock that was good for paralyzing targets. The last one was the same flame rune that was used on his mace. The only real difference between an enchantment and a rune was a power source.

 

She had a way better mana capacity than he did, it was at least two or three times what he was capable of. He was capable of performing a single Purging Flame rune, and then he would be empty and pass out. She was capable of casting three of them before she ran out of mana. The two of them put on their bags and began to make their way to the hallway, the room they went to had stairs that collapsed. Looking closely David saw something that interested him.

 

“Hey Princess, we need to be careful, I think this was done intentionally. It looks like explosives were used, I wonder if the hallway was collapsed the same way.” David looked back at the blonde woman who was following him.

 

David then looked up at the door that was stuck in the side of the wall. David hooked the club and mace to his beltline, then he pulled out a set of Butcher blade knives with wooden handles. He then reached up and slammed them firmly into the wall. They were able to pierce the concrete by inserting a bit of mana into the bones. David then grabbed another set, then placed a third into his mouth. He would climb up a bit, then use some mana to bury the blade into the wall, he did this to make a ladder up to the doorway. Reaching over David grabbed the door and jiggled the handle.

 

“They stuffed gum inside of the lock. I can’t even break it.” David said in annoyance.

 

David reached behind him from the knife handle he was standing on and grabbed another set of knives. He then placed them on the other side of the door and changed positions so he was next to the two hinges in the corner.

 

“Alright, move into the hallway.” He said as he called down to the princess.

 

Reaching into his beltline, he pulled out a tool he made for dealing with these kinds of situations. It was a spring with a heavy bolt and a shaft that was attached to a tap. David placed the tap under the metal hinge and pulled the spring back. Letting go the bolt went through the spring and smacked into the tap, forcing out the hinge and sending it flying.

 

Ting!

 

“And another.” David muttered.

 

Ting!

 

David shook his head as he reached up with a knife and began to walk the door out of its frame. Before long he let it drop below him into the small square room.

 

Crash! Bang!

 

David then grabbed his spiked club and sprang off the knife handle into the room that was sealed. What he saw was a long hallway that had many cubicles attached. The glass doors were all opened and it showed signs of being searched. All of the drawers were opened and the contents were spilled everywhere. The light was coming through the various windows that covered the walls of the offices.  

 

“Alright, Princess?” David called.

 

Grabbing the mace from his belt, he released the belt and lowered the mace head. The blonde woman walked up and grabbed it tightly, and David used his knees and back to lift her to the landing. Once her hands were able to grab the base of the landing, David reached down and pulled her up by the armpits. Even with her bag on, she was light and he was easily able to lift her. A big part of this was the mana he was absorbing, helping boost his physical strength.

 

“We need to be careful, I am going to move forward, I want you to cover my back.” He told her as he started to make his way down the hallway.

 

This room had been well looted, and at the end of the hallway was a bend, when he got to it he saw a metal door that he assumed was locked like the first. Looking out the window he could see a section of the military base. Walking corpses were everywhere among various vehicles. He saw Butcher Ghouls moving around the perimeter with different types of weapons, some had blades like a mantis, some had sword-like hands, and some had spikes growing out of their bodies.

 

“It is so much worse than I thought it was. We are surrounded.” David said unhappily. 

 

Walking over to the metal door he placed his hand on it and smiled when he realized it wasn’t locked. He began to turn the handle and suddenly stopped, he let out the breath he was holding and let the handle go like it was cold. Reaching into his pocket he took a puff off his inhaler.

“That was close!” He said.