Ad Astra

Savage Awakening 459. Victory

Added 2025-05-05 01:30:01 +0000 UTC

Zane woke to a familiar warmth in his chest. A taste of sweetness—he opened his eyes.

It was Reina, feeding him some kind of elixir.

The sunlight hit her face just so. “You’re awake—” was all she got out.

He kissed her fiercely, and she gasped. The elixir slipped from her fingers, clattered to the floor.

“You’re here,” he breathed. “I… saw that thing hit you.”

“I think the World Tree shielded me, somehow…” she hesitated. “If you hadn’t gotten up, maybe it would’ve been different. But… you did.”

His heart was still pounding—he still remembered how she looked when he went out. But she seemed fine now. Pleased, even—a little flushed.

“How long was I out?”

“Just three days.”

He sat up, threw off the covers. He still felt sore, a dull ache deep in his soul. Just his soul.

His body felt incredible.

He was in his king bed, back in their skyscraper. All the way back at headquarters.

This was Earth—home. Still there.

He looked out where the sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. He could make out banners and arches over the streets, the sounds of cheering, flowers gently cascading… everything seemed full of gentle color.

The last few hours were coming to him. Though it still felt like a dream. He’d been in too much pain that last hour—everything felt tinged with it, vague.

All he remembered was being furious.

And then hitting that thing. Over and over and over again—

He looked to Reina again, who was watching him closely, looking curious.

His brow furrowed. “You’re hurt.”

Now that he looked closer, she had a pale, thin mark just under her eye; it’d been half-hidden in the light. But he felt it in her soul, too.

She blinked as he touched her face. “It’s just a scar—I don’t even feel it anymore.”

He thought back to that Creation bone. Still remembered the feeling of it laying into him. Wrecking him.

He’d paid all that damage back, and more. But still…

He clenched his jaw. “I shouldn't have let it get to you.”

“You didn’t,” she told him, baffled. “I saw what you did to it. That was… really something else.”

He was quiet for a moment.

“Zane.” She took his hands earnestly. “We did it, we won.”

“I know.”

Though he was having trouble processing that, even now.

All that work. All that blood… at least this first leg of it—was over.

She pursed her lips—“Something’s still bothering you.”

Just the sound of it hitting her.

It still made rage flare, like an old wound throbbing.

She’d needed him—and he couldn’t even lift a finger—it could’ve killed her.

“You’re still thinking you should’ve been stronger,” she said. “Right?”

He blinked wonderingly at her.

“It’s just such a ‘you’ thing to think.” She gave him a playful look. “Zane… you’ve got a big heart. But you can be such a dummy sometimes.”

“Hey,” he protested.

“You fought almost a full day straight,” she said. “Going in and out of Limit Breaker so many times—you went into that final battle exhausted, and you still beat the best they could offer… they’re already calling it one of the most legendary feats that’s ever been done.”

She poked him in the chest.

“So don’t tell me you could’ve done more.”

“…Alright,” he said at last.

“Also,” she continued. “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but this ‘Zane’ you’re not happy with is my man. And I won’t have you talking down his performance like that.”

That got a smile out of him. “Alright, I get it.”

“You did exactly what I knew you’d do,” Reina said proudly. She said it like she was concluding the final argument to an open-and-shut case.

Having decided she won the argument, she snuggled into him.

He was, at least, satisfied with how it ended. How he finished that thing.

He still wasn’t satisfied with how he’d done, though.

The simple matter was he’d gone up against their best, and it’d destroyed him. It’d put a scar on Reina.

He could not accept that.

It meant he wasn’t strong enough to keep his word.

And this was just the beginning—if the Monsters kept coming…

Next time, things would go differently. He’d make sure of it.

“Actually,” said Reina, biting her lip. “If anything… you shouldn’t have had to take all that on in the first place. If I figured out how to draw from the World Tree a little earlier…”

Then she looked up at him, saw the look on his face. “What?”

“Let’s make a deal.”

She blinked.

“If I can’t beat myself up for how I did—you damned sure can’t beat yourself up either.”

The kinds of things she could come up with, under pressure, on the fly… it didn’t even make sense to him. He told her so.

It seemed the right thing to say—they spent the next few hours leveling.

It turned out to be a pleasant day.

Level up!

Essence Level 553 -> 554

It was also how he’d found out that final battle had netted him eight levels.

Not a bad haul, all told.

***

They headed out to an early dinner after that—a picnic on an island way out in the Pacific. It seemed to be becoming something of a tradition.

Evan and Avery both barreled in.

They crash-landed on the beach. Evan was fine—Avery was smoking slightly. Chomper was Chomper.

Avery was testing a new form of transportation, apparently. She had a lightly used trebuchet she said could be repurposed.

“It’s a work in progress,” she admitted.

Evan had baked him some get-well-soon cookies.

“We saved Earth once and for all!” he beamed. “…Again!”

Evan still really wanted to help out at the end there when Zane was up against the Slayer—but even trying his best, the soul pressure had been too much to overcome.

“That’s alright.” Zane gave the boy a comforting head pat. “You don’t have to fight every fight.”

Some things were just his to take on. He was comfortable with that.

“I knew you were gonna figure it out,” said Evan happily. He hesitated. “It did get a little scary in the middle though…”

“Not gonna lie, big fella,” said Avery, plopping down next to them. “I got kinda nervous there. But then I thought—eh! Reina’s there. He’s gonna pull it out.”

“‘Cause Miss Reina can heal him really well?” Evan guessed.

“Well, there’s that, but also—if she’s there, he always gets at least a 2x power boost at some point,” said Avery, nodding wisely. “Even if it’s a really tough Monster. He just goes ‘rahhhh!’ and then he smashes it.”

“I… sure.”

Reina seemed pleased by this observation.

After dinner, they went for a game of Pictionary on the sands.

***

When they got back later that night, Reina put on the World Ranker Network broadcast. It showed celebrations all over Earth—great feasts on every continent. One split screen showed the Valguard Shieldbearers up in Norway—it featured several upturned log tables, Vikings drinking and wrestling and drinking horn-to-horn. Lots of dancing around roaring fires.

There were fireworks all over the Japanese and Korean Factions too. Other scenes showed drinking over the British Isles—scenes of dancing around great bonfires in Eze’s Factions too… lots of drinking and dancing and cheering.

A few extremely high-powered football games were breaking out over Central America—some top Ranker had fashioned a football that could take planet-shattering kicks. Top World Rankers were kicking across several hundred miles-wide nets.

“It feels like the first time in years everyone’s finally been able to unwind,” said Becca, beaming, a garland of flowers on her head. “Maybe since all this started…”

“Next Wave won’t be for a hundred years!” said Tyler. He stifled a burp.

“Tyler,” said Becca, frowning.

“Sorry—I, uh, might be slightly intoxicated—my apologies, folks. Reina said we’ve beaten those Monsters into a pretty bad retreat, haven’t we?”

Becca shot him a look—but she couldn’t bring herself to be too mad. It was that kind of day. “That’s right,” she said, grinning. “I had a chance to interview her just yesterday at the second World Ranker Summit! She gave a Zane update up-front—I know lots of folks are worrying about how he’s been doing. Let me set your minds at ease, folks. Zane was already known for his vitality, but the body upgrade he just got boosted it even more! He’s way ahead of schedule. I’m told he could wake any day now.”

“That’s a relief… big guy’s sure earned a rest.”

“Mhm! Speaking of, here’s more from that press conference—”

The scene cut.

Now it showed Reina standing before a herd of flashing lights, all dolled up—looking quite regal.

She beamed as she took questions.

“Now it’s been a few days—what’s next for you, Miss?”

“I’ll be heading back to the World Tree soon, after Zane wakes,” she said. “There’s still much to do to prep for the final battle—for the Faction, and for myself. I’m really heartened by the bravery and resilience we showed. It’s just a matter of building on it.”

Another reporter spoke up. “And do we know more about what’s coming? Not to rush you or anything—I know it’s only been a few days…”

“It’s a fair question,” said Reina. “It’s definitely important to be prepared. In a hundred years this Chaos Cycle will reach its absolute peak, meaning every dungeon, even the Superdungeon, will break loose. Its most ancient Monsters, and its greatest evil, will break free. We’ll be facing our greatest threat—but you can bet we’ll be ready when it comes. It just means we’ve got time now to hunker down and train.”

She said it with confidence.

“Miss Reina! More on Zane—do we know his plans after this?”

“That’s up to him,” she said. “But knowing Zane…he won’t stop until he feels he’s gotten the job done. That’s just how he is.”

She knew him too well.

***

There was one more thing on his mind.

Most of that day, he rested. Let himself recover. Looked over the celebrations in the streets, and felt his heart full. Just let it be a day of satisfaction.

This place was his—and he’d defended it.

But that night he found himself in their training rooms, deep underground. Whitewashed plush walls, rated to take explosions made by Gods.

There he pulled up his Credits Log.

Rewards dispensing…

Individual Ranking: #19 True God

+10 Credits

Friend of the System Tier II applied. Adjusting…

10 x 2 = +20 Credits

He grinned.

Then—

Final Challenge reward calculating…

Evaluating achievement…