Soul Nexus: A Fantasy Tower Ascension LitRPG

The stack of papers in front of him wasn’t getting smaller. Commander Xantoxu groaned as he rubbed the insides of his eyes, careful not to poke his eyes with his claws. The poor lion beastman hadn’t slept much in the last couple of days. And last night was the worst.

Another female lion beast woman walked into his room with another small stack and placed them on his desk. “You look rough. Are things going that poorly with the war?”

Xantoxu let out a heavy sigh. “The undead have been more restless ever since those reports of the strange human started.” He picked up the papers and looked at the papers Linetta had brought. “More undead are attacking the other camps. They’ve been getting stronger somehow. They’re angry. We’ve lost three forts and haven’t been able to take any in return.”

Linetta frowned. “It looks like those two girls have only poked the hornets’ nests and made things worse for us. The undead are retaliating because of them. They avoid all the defenses and return with more undead following them. It’s like they are sabotaging us.”

The commander dropped the papers and pushed himself away from the desk. The longer he looked at the papers, the blurrier his vision got. “I’ve got to get some sleep. Hopefully, things will quiet down now that those two have been detained for the last two days.”

Linetta gasped. “What?”

Xantoxu raised his hand. “Don’t worry. They’ve been appraised of what their actions have caused, and they sounded genuinely remorseful. They even said that they’ll help fight in the next defense and help out any way they can.”

The woman let out a sigh of relief as she placed her hand on her chest. “Oh, good. From the reports I’ve received, they’re more skilled than most of the adventurers who line up to aid in the defenses.”

Xantoxu raised his arms as he arched his back to stretch it. “We tried to recruit them earlier, but the panther woman refused us. The human seemed to defer to her opinion. The fact that they attack the undead’s camps repeatedly with just the two of them shows how skilled they are.”

He rolled his shoulders. “I just want one day with no fighting so I can get some sleep. So please, don’t wake me unless we are under attack.”

The moment the words left his lips, in barged a rabbit beastman. He took a few deep breaths as he stood in attention. “Sir, we’re under attack.”

So many words ran through the commander’s mind, none of them suitable for decent conversation. Eventually, he settled on one word. “Where?”

The messenger swallowed audibly. “At the gate where the adventurers come from.”

Both lion beastman blinked repeatedly. Xantoxu broke the silence. “Explain.”

The messenger nodded. “A slime and a pale woman wielding a very long sword and using blood magic are devastating everything around them. The woman is killing any of our troops, attempting to quell the fighting and absorb their blood, while the slime is using magic and consuming anything that’s not a person.”

A whimper left the commander. “Why? How could things get any worse?”

Another lynx beastman stumbled in. “Undead attacking from the north.”

A tear formed in the corner of the lion beastman’s eye. “I give up.” He threw his hands up and marched out of the office. “It’s not worth it anymore. We’re evacuating. Let the undead deal with the two going at it. Ignore them and get everyone out to the Griffon Keep.”

Everyone waited a few seconds before acknowledging his orders.

The two combatants circled each other warily. Killa’s form rippled and shifted, and her eyes locked on her opponent. She prepared to defend herself against Nyx’s relentless assault. Nyx grinned as she twirled the sword in her grip. The pair instantly recognized each other the moment they were next to one another, and Killa started trying to kill the vampire.

Nyx lunged forward, her blade slicing through the air. Killa dodged by morphing her body, contorting to avoid the strike. In retaliation, she unleashed a burst of magical energy, sending waves of red tentacles crashing towards Nyx.

The vampire responded by jumping over the spell and swinging her sword downwards at the slime. Killa flattened her body to avoid the weapon. Normally, she didn’t fear conventional weapons like a sword. However, that sword was laced with magic that could destroy her on a cellular level.

Another soldier ran up to slash at the vampire’s back as she landed. Nyx leaned forward below the blade, spun, and raised her blade in an upper-cut slash. The soldier fell apart as both halves split from one another into a shower of blood that was pulled to the deadly blade. The blood seemed to be absorbed by the sword.

Killa sprang into action, launching a barrage of magical blue tentacles towards the vampire. Nyx dodged and weaved between the incoming spells, her sword still dripping with blood.

After dodging the spells, Nyx closed the distance between them, her blade arcing towards Killa. The slime reacted swiftly by erecting a yellow tentacle barrier; the sword bouncing harmlessly off the wall.

Seizing the opportunity, Killa countered with a surge of magical energy, conjuring a swirling vortex of teal tentacles that circled Nyx. Bolts of electricity arced between the tentacles. The vampire leaped and twisted in mid-air, narrowly leaving the ring of arching electricity.

Nyx pulled one hand from her blade, and with it, tendrils of blood poured from the red runes on her sword. Three bloody spears manifested. Nyx waved her hand, and the spears arced upwards to strike Killa from above. As they fell, Nyx charged around the electrified ring of tentacles.

Killa lunged forward to dodge the spears as she dragged her hand along the ground. Rocks and dirt intertwined with the tan tentacles digging through the ground. Before the vampire could swing her sword, the slime uppercut a huge eruption of rocks into the vampire.

Nyx raised her arms to defend herself as the rocks pummeled her. But as she went flying, her spears landed behind the slime, and she detonated them. Three waves of bloody needles showered the slime, tearing into her gelatinous body and shredding parts of her. Nyx hit the ground and could feel the pain of several broken bones in her arms.

The two paused as their wounds healed. The entire time, both of them stared daggers at each other. Killa noticed that nobody else came across their fight. For that, she was grateful that more innocents weren’t killed.

Both fighters knew that killing the other was going to be a battle of attrition, as each of them was extremely difficult to kill. But as they finished healing at the same time, Killa prepared another spell for when the vampire charged again.

Killa conjured a whirlwind of azure tentacles that spiraled towards Nyx like a raging twister. The vampire countered with a swift flourish and a series of slashes from her blood-soaked sword. The whirlwind dissipated as a trail of blood flowed behind it.

Killa dodged and weaved through Nyx’s onslaught, her body contorting and shifting to evade each strike. In response, she launched a volley of blue tentacles, each one crackling with energy as they streaked forward.

Nyx’s face twisted into a feral grin, and she danced amidst the chaos, avoiding each magical attack by mere inches. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned tendrils of blood from the runes on her blade, shaping them into razor-sharp knives that shot towards Killa. But Killa erected a shimmering barrier of yellow tentacles, catching Nyx’s bloody magic completely. The knives shattered against her magic shield.

Killa unleashed a torrent of jagged rocks and debris from below the vampire, sending them hurtling around Nyx with devastating force. The vampire, caught off guard by the sudden onslaught, couldn’t dodge every projectile. Once the first one hit her, many more soon followed afterwards. More projectiles rained down upon her, pinning her to the ground.

With a sickening crunch, Nyx was sent sprawling to the ground, her body battered and broken from the relentless assault. But even as her bones knit themselves back together, her eyes blazed a bright red as mana surged through her.

Blood covered Nyx as the last attack earned her several cuts. Killa summoned a ring of writhing purple tentacles from the ground around her.

With a sudden burst of speed, Nyx lunged forward, her blade and body moving far faster as the blood on her skin glowed. Killa’s tentacles reacted instantly, trying to grapple the vampire. But Nyx’s sword slashed through the magical constructs effortlessly, as her entire body was a blur.

Killa’s tentacles whipped through the air, striking out at the vampire, but they were always two seconds too slow. Nyx caught up to the slime, and her blade removed a chunk off her shoulder. After the first strike, she slashed even faster than before. With every strike, she drew upon the power of her blood magic, channeling its energy into each blow, forcing blood from inside her body out through her pores. Her blood was so hot, it steamed off her. Killa stumbled backwards, unable to keep up with the sudden burst of speed.

The wild frenzy forced Killa on the defensive. She didn’t have time to cast a spell, and every third attack would clip her despite her best efforts. Nyx stood over the slime as her body struggled to retain its shape. She raised the sword over her head with both hands. Killa turned off her vision as the blade dropped.

But it never touched her. Instead, there was a rapid pounding before a loud, sickening snap sounded as Nyx was kicked in the back. Killa looked to see Rina standing over her with a bewildered look.

“Killa? You’re alive?” Rina asked.