Hiro flinched as a bullet shattered the back window of the car.
“Is anyone hit?” he asked, ducking down as he turned to check on Jason and Vermillion in the back. Vermillion was rubbing the back of his head, looking disgruntled. In spite of the sudden chaos, Hiro was startled to se...
2020-08-14 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post“So, that’s the long and the short of it,” Jason said. “The EOA buy you out. Generously. I know it’s heavy-handed of me to take control of your affairs like this, but this is the only safe way out. It also means I can avoid killing a bunch of people.”
Jason and Hiro were in Hir...
2020-08-13 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t recognise the auras,” Jason said.
“Engineers of Ascension,” Vermillion said. “Their alchemically-enhanced foot soldiers. This may not go well.”
“I can live with that,” Jason said. “Sooner or later, I’ll have to make an example of someone.”
“It isn’t...
2020-08-12 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostVermillion and Jason paused their conversation as the waitress brought their food, along with wine.
“Magic has always been a difficult and esoteric thing,” Vermillion explained after the waitress left, while Jason nibbled appreciatively at the food. “Some five centuries ago, a new...
2020-08-11 23:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostDays went past as Jason fell into a routine. In the mornings he would do strength training with the equipment in the townhouse, which was barely adequate for his bronze-rank might at maximum weight. Then he would ride to Rushcutters Bay Park to do some running along the waterfront.
H...
2020-08-10 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostI've just added some new tiers, and I want to be clear on one point: there is no extra content gated behind these tiers. Silver rank continues to be the final extra content point; the higher tiers are for people who want to further support the story.
I will, from time to time, be inviting i...
2020-08-10 00:00:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason was standing on the edge of the roof, atop a tall building in the Sydney CBD. Shade was beside him as they looked toward an adjacent building. To normal sight it was unremarkable, but to magic senses the building was lit up like a giant candle. The top floor was a dancing flame of ov...
2020-08-07 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostHiro returned home to the apartment building he owned. His penthouse floor was only accessible by his private elevator or through the regular elevator by using an access key. He walked straight to the bar and poured himself a stiff drink. It had been a strange night.
The entertainmen...
2020-08-06 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostTaika was driving HiroÂ’s large town car, with Hiro and Jason in the back.
“The advantage of being on the legitimate side of the business is that I can be more conspicuous about enjoying the fruits of my labour,” Hiro said. “The man we’re going to see doesn’t live in a penthouse...
2020-08-05 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post“How’d it go?” Taika asked as he drove Jason through the city. They were in one of the cars Hiro kept in a pool for his staff, a luxurious town car Taika had picked for the roomy interior.
“There are some hoops to jump through in legally coming back from the dead,” Jason said. Â...
2020-08-04 23:05:59 +0000 UTC View PostAnnabeth Tilden was woken by her phone.
“Damn it, Anna.”
So was her wife. Annabeth snatched the phone off the night stand and stumbled into bathroom, closing the door before turning on the light and answering.
“What?” she answered grumpily.
“Boss, I was going over the...
2020-08-04 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason let Shade drive through the dark and the rain. The dark did not obscure his vision, but he trusted Shade more than himself to drive safely in the wet. He also didnÂ’t want to drive distracted; his visit home had left him contemplative and sober.
“We should do this trip again w...
2020-08-03 23:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostIn the otherworldly floating gazebo, Jason was reunited with his familiars. While he was pleased to see them, the revelation that Shade had known the nature of the World-Phoenix token was startling.
“How long have you known what token could do?” Jason asked.
“Several thousan...
2020-08-03 23:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostJason went back to the chair he had left by the broken window and sat down. The cool, clean air coming in as the rain continued to hammer down was a stark improvement over what had been sealed away in the old hospital. Before he made a move, he needed to go through the system messages that...
2020-07-31 23:06:00 +0000 UTC View PostJason regained consciousness surrounded by a fiery, transcendent energy, which immediately vanished and dropped him to the floor. The feel of cold tile on his body told him that he was naked, which he quickly confirmed by pushing himself into a sitting position and doing a quick visual ins...
2020-07-31 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostI decided that I've done everything I wanted to do with the interval chapters, so there won't be one this week. I did intend to do a chapter focused on the Bertinelli brothers, but I never came up with an idea that I really loved, and if I can't get any hot Bert action, then I'd rather have no Be...
2020-07-31 22:56:00 +0000 UTC View PostDawn was a celestine. She had a startling beauty of a diamond-ranker, with alabaster skin and ruby hair, perfectly matched with her eyes. Her flowing robes were off-white, accented with muted yellow and orange. She was at the top of a tower in the pocket city-universe of Interstice, in the...
2020-07-24 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostWhen Isabella Pantero heard the bell on the door to her bakery jingle, she came from out back to behind the glass counter.
“Mr Asano!” she exclaimed. “I was told that you died!”
He looked quite unlike his usual self, the confident grin replaced with a furtive expression dom...
2020-07-17 23:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostThe Adventure Society and the Magic Society had both sent people flooding into the astral space. For the Adventure Society, it was a precious chance to rapidly advance some of their more promising members. It was currently ideal for skilled bronze-rankers and even freshly ranked-up silvers...
2020-07-10 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostDS Adam Cosgrove was thirty one years old and looked like a detective from a TV show. He wasnÂ’t good looking enough for it to be an American show, but he had a dishevelled intelligence that was compelling enough for a middlingly successful British or Australian crime drama.
He was i...
2020-07-03 15:21:00 +0000 UTC View PostArabelle and Emir were talking as they made their way through the cloud palace.
“Are you sure about this?” Emir asked. “I like Sophie, but sheÂ’s a damaged girl, in more ways than one. IÂ’m not sure that sheÂ’s in a state right now where I want to entrust my granddaughter to her.Â...
2020-06-26 23:01:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Both the seal and the rank-restriction on the astral space aperture had been removed by JasonÂ’s team. Clive had turned the world engineers that were meant to invade their world into magical batteries that opened a passageway back to it. This not only allowed the team to escape, but opened th...
Asano was dead but that did not have to be the end. The astral space had no god of death to guide the soul into the astral; it would have to slowly drift into the ReaperÂ’s grasp on its own. That gave the Builder a window to act.
As it considered this, AsanoÂ’s combat robe vanished. A glow...
Clive led the way through the portal, followed by Neil and then the familiars. Belinda and Sophie were atop Onslow, Sophie still unconscious and Belinda not much better off. Humphrey had insisted on bringing up the rear, despite remaining on his feet only with the assistance of Stash, who ...
2020-06-05 23:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostHere was have the final post for volume 1. The first intermission chapter will go up on Friday (USA time).
2020-05-30 22:18:29 +0000 UTC View PostAs of June 1, some patrons (that don't already) will have an amount of sales tax on donations. Here is roughly what Patreon have told creators: Basically, laws have been passed that, varying by area, declare some kinds of Patreon (or other donation-based financial support system) rewards as produ...
2020-05-29 02:41:38 +0000 UTC View PostVolume 2 will begin on August 3 (USA time) for silver-rank and above patrons. Leading up to volume 2 will be weekly interval chapters, including epilogue content for volume 1 and lead-in content for volume 2.
New gold and diamond tiers will be added to coincide with volume 2, but these will...
2020-05-27 23:05:59 +0000 UTC View PostSophie was dashing through the camp like a spectre, swift, ghostly and untouchable. She ended up running along the inside of the wall and onto the top, sprinting along it to reach her maximum speed. With a double-enhanced HeroÂ’s Moment empowered every speed ability she had, even she felt ...
2020-05-27 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostOnce again, the teamÂ’s pinpoint timing salvaged a very poor situation from what would otherwise have been a total disaster. Sophie used the last of her strength to throw out a bloody fist, barely able to lift an arm from which half the muscle had been shredded. As she did, NeilÂ’s Bolster...
2020-05-26 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe walls of the encampment had become a prison to the monsters driven to panic by the BuilderÂ’s aura. They were stampeding with nowhere to stampede to, a wild crush that was catching up the cultists and the construct and converted that served them. It was somewhere between a juice press ...
2020-05-25 23:01:00 +0000 UTC View Post