The Perfect Run

By the time Ryan reached Ischia Island, the area had already turned into a warzone.

The Mechron submarine had made landfall before Ryan arrived, unleashing a motley crew of cured Meta-Gang members, Geniuses outfitted with advanced power armors, and berserk Pandas on Ischia Island’s shores. They were welcomed by inactive turrets, Augusti gunners on the walls, and a horde of zombies buried beneath the beach.

Ryan had never seen Mercury in the flesh, only through skulls he used as intermediaries. According to Livia, the old Olympian could infuse corpses with necromantic energy and pilot undead from afar. With Geist out of the picture, the Augusti had decided to raise all his victims: bloated corpses left to drown beneath the waves, skeletons cleaned of all traces of flesh, and the diseased remains of the island’s test subjects. A yellow glow illuminated their eyes.

And who better to lead the legion of the dead than the god of war Mars himself?

Still, this army faced powerful opposition. Vladimir had transformed into a metallic version of himself, and landed first on the shore alongside the The steel man absorbed Mars’ swords and spears into his body while stomping on any corpse foolish enough to get in his way, quickly growing from three meters tall to four. Suicidal undead tried to climb on his legs with explosive belts, but the quickly swept them off. The valiant bear tossed the kamikaze bombers into the sea where they exploded in fiery blasts.

Mars, after quickly realizing that most of his weapons wouldn’t affect Vladimir, switched from spears and swords to Genius-made weapons. A rain of Vulcan-made bombs fell on the iron giant, each with enough power to damage even Wyvern.

All of them turned to sand in a violet flash, while explosions rocked the Bliss fortress’ foundations.

Mars flinched in surprise, while a blonde woman stepped over the submarine and joined the fray. Acid Rain followed Vladimir and the on foot, and immediately worked to counter Mars’ power. Since she could switch items with those of equivalent mass with a wider radius than the Olympian, she completely neutralized his arsenal.

To his credit Mars tried. Bombs fell by the dozens, only to explode amidst his undead troops; he launched a gas trunk at Vladimir’s face, but it turned to sand midair; he even prepared to fight the giant in close combat with a thermal lance, but it transformed into a severed zombie’s arm within his hands.

In the end, the dreaded warrior that put Ryan and Felix on the run one loop ago could only retreat as a steel giant ran after him. “This is the Bay of Pigs all over again!” Vladimir snarled, as he fruitlessly attempted to catch the wily Olympian. The giant proved no better at the task than abolishing private property, his hands grabbing only sand.

Ryan couldn’t help but smile beneath his helmet, as the scene reminded him of an old Looney Toons cartoon; though he doubted Mars would have Bugs Bunny’s luck. And indeed, when the Olympian attempted to fly away by unleashing pressurized air, Acid Rain switched it with seawater. The helpless Mars stumbled on the ground and was immediately mauled by the

Livia had been correct. Genome powers were a rock-paper-scissors game.

It didn’t matter how powerful you were, someone out there had the exact ability to counter yours. Through intelligence gathered over multiple loops, Ryan had arrayed the perfect match-ups against the so-called Olympians.

Not that the normies in their employ fared better. Shortie had bubbled a dozen gunners, while a trail of explosions on the beach followed Felix as he blew up undead left and right. The Doll provided suppression fire with a Red Flux minigun, her own Mechron-made power armor shrugging off bullets.

Worse, Vulcan’s security system had failed to activate and intercept the invaders. At first Ryan thought his own Geniuses had done it… before noticing multiple Augusti trapped inside their own power armors, unable to move.

“Livia, you cheeky little spider, that’s who you called!” Ryan couldn’t help but laugh. Still, he wondered how Vulcan had the time to sabotage the defenses. Since the power armor she had created suffered from the same problems as the turrets, the courier assumed his ex-girlfriend had put a killswitch inside her creations since their inception. Insurance in case the Augusti leadership turned against her.

And she had cashed in.

Still, though the attackers were clearing out the beach, the defenders on the fortress’ walls held their ground. Having expected an assault by Dynamis, they had reinforced the ancient castle with anti-air defenses and heavy artillery. Once their allies on the ground were defeated and the risk of friendly fire reduced, they started dropping shells on the beach. Though their projectiles couldn’t hold off Vladimir’s advance—and in fact only fueled his growth—the others had to take cover or run behind the giant.

Some of the Killer Seven were among the defenders, with Vamp and Night Terror using rocket launchers, Sparrow unleashing deadly volleys of lasers from her hands, and Mortimer disdaining the heavy artillery for a subtle but deadly sniper rifle.

Ryan circled the fortress from above, trying to locate the more dangerous Cancel and Pluto. Some Augusti gunners noticed him and tried to shoot him down with anti-air cannons, but the courier froze time and retaliated with shockwaves. Cannons exploded one after another, sending defenders tumbling down the walls.

While he cleared out the anti-air defense perimeter, Ryan noticed a familiar red blur moving around the beach, pushing his allies out of harm’s way whenever projectiles threatened to hit them.

“Mr. Wave?” Ryan shouted from above, his voice echoing over the battlefield. “You were supposed to destroy the Mechron bases!”

“God asked things of Mr. Wave too once,” the Genome replied, as he quickly pushed Felix to the side before one of Mortimer’s bullets could blow his head off. “And Mr. Wave replied ‘say please!’”

The man said it with so much style that Ryan couldn’t hold his blasphemy against him.

Once word of the Carnival’s presence reached Lightning Butt, however…

The appearance of two new figures on the main wall, right above Narcinia’s flower garden, caught Ryan’s attention. They emerged from a reinforced door, the first with the same cheery smile always plastered on her face, the second with a furious scowl.

“Matty, Cruella and her Dalmatian at twelve o’clock high,” Ryan said through the communicator, as the two killers joined Mortimer, Vamp, and Night Terror. No one answered, so the courier guessed the silent assassin was already in position.

“Sweet, I don’t know where to start,” Cancel shouted over the song of bullets, raising a bazooka towards the beach alongside her comrades while wearing riot gear.

Unlike her subordinate, Pluto didn’t bother with body armor. She didn’t need it, or so she thought. “Traitors first,” the Augusti underboss hissed while glaring at Felix. Already, Ryan noticed the sand below the kitten’s feet shifting in strange and dangerous ways. “I should have killed him long—”

She didn’t finish her sentence, as a tranquilizer dart hit her in the neck, and another hit Cancel right below the helmet. The latter instantly turned her bazooka at the attack’s source while Mortimer did the same with his sniper’s rifle, but saw nothing.

Pluto hastily tried to remove the dart, but her hands fumbled before they even reached her neck. The Augusti Underboss who had nearly killed Ryan in the past, and successfully murdered countless others, stumbled and collapsed. Night Terror dropped his cannon to catch his superior in his arms, but Pluto had already fallen into a catatonic state.

Though Ryan knew tranquilizers usually took minutes to affect their target, the Alchemo-made anesthetic spread through the Genomes’ bloodstream and nerves in seconds. The courier had seen Pluto’s power in action enough times not to take any risk with her. She had to be dealt with swiftly with no chance to activate her death curse. Cancel, who was just as dangerous, fell unconscious on the wall’s bricks.

An invisible assassin had taken out Pluto and Cancel before they could even enter the game, and brought a partner.

When Shroud became visible on the walls right behind the Killer Seven with a glass-coated tranquilizer gun in his hands, so did his lucky charm. Ryan had to admit that her glass armor fit her like a glove, especially when she removed her helmet and let her golden hair flow.

“Fortuna?” Vamp choked while drawing a handgun and pointing it at the couple. Mortimer and Night Terror exchanged a glance. “You’re working with them?”

“I am,” Lady Luck replied with a determined frown. After receiving Alchemo’s memory treatment, she had remembered how the Killer Seven had tried to murder her brother in the previous loop… and she didn’t forgive. “Morty, Richie, don’t make this hard.”

Mortimer immediately dropped his sniper rifle, to Vamp’s dismay. “Mortimer, you coward!”

“They’ve got a living luck charm and K.O.’ed our power-canceller,” he said with utter defeatism, before falling to his knees with his hands behind his head. “Poor ol’ Mortimer ain’t rolling the dice.”

Vamp snarled and tried to open fire at the duo, only to slip on a brick. She barely had the time to scream before she stumbled over the wall and fell on the sand below, head-first.

“See?” Mortimer asked with a shrug. “It’s quicker this way.”

Night Terror glanced at the unconscious Pluto, then at Shroud’s tranquilizer gun. “I surrender,” he said meekly. The sun was still up, and so he couldn’t use his power.

too, just in case. Only Sparrow remained, and she was too busy trying to keep the giant Vladimir away from the walls with suppression

them,” Ryan said while landing on the walls and blasting the nearest reinforced doors with shockwaves. A faint mist slipped inside the fortress, almost

my sister is inside and they confiscated

did take an oath of celibacy.” That, and Fortuna’s power

Mortimer at gunpoint.

my friend,” Ryan replied, before stepping through the blasted doors and into the fortress. “I have a guardian

would probably

and Fortuna vanishing behind him. All guards had moved outside to defend the perimeter, so nobody dared to stop

None but the voices.

did the armor’s sensors pick up a sound. The words existed only in the courier’s head. “Despoiling this holy ground

hauling you out of here?” Ryan remembered the fortress’ plans from his previous visit, and suspected that the priest awaited him in

Wrath of God. I already sent word to

Arc,” the courier said before smashing through a blast door blocking his path with shockwaves. The steel doors fell on the ground with a loud noise, though

courier suddenly realized something was wrong with the architecture, though he couldn’t put his finger on what. The

God, yet you have turned away from It.” Bacchus’ voice sounded

world turning purple. The darkness in front of him vanished, a wall of dented steel standing up where the blast door should have been. The real blast door had been to his left,

left, dispelling the illusion. “She is a

Ryan snickered before continuing his progress. Lamps in the ceiling flickered, and shadows shifted all around

see that even my salvation cannot reach you now.” Bacchus’ voice let out a sigh, and the blast door magically reformed behind Ryan. “But all sins are forgiven in death. Once I have peeled away your mind to

And Bacchus attacked.

beneath Ryan’s feet, making him stumble into a black abyss with fangs and teeth. The courier activated his jetpack, but a serpentine tongue caught his ankle

all in my head, Ryan thought, but his own brain wouldn’t

the fangs closed around his stomach and tore him in half, the pain felt

immediately activated his time-stop, and when the world turned purple, the courier stood inside a security checkpoint room with only

hadn’t even activated his

Night Terror in the past, Ryan had noticed that his time-stop briefly dispelled illusions. The courier suspected

blood swallowing Ryan and seeping into his armor. The courier instinctively held his breath, but the red liquid bypassed his lips and started filling his lungs. His vision blurred as he drowned into the red ocean, the laughter of Bloodstream resonating

Bacchus could inflict real damage through hallucinations. However, the priest didn’t have to harm the time-traveler, only to delay him. If Augustus fell on him while blinded by illusions,

but when the time-traveler fell the hole went on and on forever. A hideous alien cacophony erupted around

as the

Insanity.

or other mental illnesses, destroying the victim’s very identity. He peeled someone’s mind away like an onion, until nothing

Giulia Costa,” Ryan realized in horror, his voice somehow cutting through the alien cacophony. The courier had grown used to pain through centuries of time-looping, but a normal mind would have shattered under these

opened on his armor, to taunt him with ten thousand voices in one. “Some in the Holy Church believed that only through

choked, as tendril-whips sprung from the darkness and hit him in the chest and back. Though his armor should have stopped them, they flayed the skin beneath the steel. Their kiss felt

best you can do?” the courier said with

rise again, a holy maiden and a tool of the one true God,” Bacchus replied softly. “It took days for her to accept this divine grace, but

as soon I reach your hiding room!” Ryan activated his power again, finding himself

Mercury.

with illusions, allowing them to strike him by surprise. They’re trying to find a joint or weak point in the armor, Ryan thought, as he blasted the undead to pieces in the frozen time. They wouldn’t find one, but might

courier already felt mentally exhausted as if he had overslept. The repeated

the sheer headache, Ryan realized, as he tried to remember his current location inside the maze-like facility.

ran out, and the psychic assault

on a Christian cross overseeing Ischia Island. The Plushie was crucified to his left, a half-rotten Len to the

the spear’s tip twisted between his ribs. The illusion was so vivid that it fooled his nerves. “This world, this crooked

in between grunts of pain. He hoped using Bacchus’ real name would unsettle him and dispel the hallucination, but it only made the priest stab him harder. “She wrecked your mind when

with a blue, alien light peering out of the eyes. “She was a prophet, and

she’s dead.” Or

ghoulish mouth, Eva Fabre’s voice came out. “Does it matter if the carpenter dies, so long as the house stands?” The spear in his hands turned into an Elixir needle, oozing a blue oil from its tip. “The Lord of the Scriptures to whom I dedicated half my life was a lie, an illusion. There are no other gods

“A bright

he did.” The universe turned a blinding Yellow, the courier’s eyes burning from the light. “What

maybe your old God

were blue, their cores yellow. The courier noticed a hole in a glass ceiling above his head, and two undead with

quickly rose up and rushed out of the glass garden, punching the corpses out of his way. He had somehow made his way

had kept moving towards its destination like a sleepwalker, even if Bacchus

wouldn’t save Ryan from physical

equipped with submachine guns. The fossil dressed astonishingly well, wearing a cashmere back suit and a bowler hat, though he needed an ugly wooden cane to stand.

Mercury.

traveler to reality, the assembly lines turning into streams

Ryan thought fearfully, before suddenly remembering he had his armor on. Or at least, he knew he still had it, even if

him, the harder it became

faith wasn’t all that unshakable, wasn’t it?” The time-traveler taunted his tormentor. “Or maybe it

a whirlpool sucking Ryan’s very

idea crossing his mind. Bacchus believed himself the tool of a higher power, chosen to fulfill a purpose. There was an

no longer than a second, the blue spiral turned into the face of Andreas Torque, his eyes ablaze with madness

so Ryan delivered the coup-de-grace. “I guess you were too much of a

grabbed the courier’s throat and started choking the life out of him. The hands grew a body,

his visage twisted into an abomination with four eyes

into his skull to rip open his brain matter. And Bacchus kept ranting, his eyes dividing into a nightmarish kaleidoscope. “I can’t stand this reality!” he shrieked. “It’s all wrong! It’s all twisted and broken!

nothingness, and Ryan didn’t even need to stop

Bliss assembly line by a group of undead, two of them trying to remove his helmet with

the undead off him, and charged at

said as time resumed, Mercury’s eyes widening in

Genome dropped his cane and fell on his back, completely still. His undead collapsed

before almost stumbling from the mental pain. A Green Flux flash blinded him for a second, as the armor tried to heal him. It helped a lot with the exhaustion, but little with