Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

As the prototype suit was ready, he took the first step into the zone ruled by the Moon. It was a slow, intentional stride, fearing being turned into a crushed can with a single movement.

—Nothing.

Placing himself on the other side of that gravitational wall, all he felt was a slight pressure against his body, though nothing too intense.

[Adjusting to gravity vicinity.]

The monotone, female voice played within his helmet as he could feel the pressure shifting, lessening on his body.

'It doesn't even feel like I'm standing under anything different now,' he thought.

To his surprise, the ominous figure in the center of the crater didn't launch an attack against him. It simply stood there, like a pale bark tree in the night, looking his way, though he was unsure if it watched him.

When it came to engaging with one of the "Major Arcana", he knew it wasn't something to approach lightly.

'Right now, I can't risk going in without—' He thought.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

[Hostile activity detected — rapidly approaching position.]

Before he could finish a thought, he found his entire body itching in anticipation of what came right for him.

It resembled a fist, no—a fist made of hundreds, soaring right towards him like a giant blob of snow-white knuckles.

["Multi-Task"] ["Phantom Flow"]

He slid with mobility he wasn't used to, moving with agility that surprised him as he slipped between the parade of fists.

In the depths of it, he maneuvered his body like an acrobat, using the sliding momentum to evade the countless knuckles. The pressure exuding from each of the separating fists collided with the wind and crushed ground, slamming like minuscule meteors.

'—Like father, like children, I suppose—so the Moon can manipulate its body, too. Seems more on the extreme end, though,' he observed, sliding back as he drifted to the right, avoiding a massive fist that soared by.

As he caught his footing, he set his sight forward again—

All of the split fists converged into one large enough to flatten a building.

["Spring Foot"]

—Dashing to the right, he found himself already clear of the hand's path many times over. It caught him off guard, finding even his skills seemingly amplified by the suit's capabilities.

Shoving his foot down against the flattened gravel, he forced himself to a skirting stop as he spun around–

As he brought himself to face the entity, his vision was consumed by something completely perplexing; it was as though the sky itself had shifted, contorting in that gravitational territory.

The air felt heavier, weighing down on him like a suffocating rain; a sky of the bare cosmos, filled by an outside look at the Earth itself–oceans, continents, and all.

In the center of the warping scenery was the entity itself–

"The Moon."

Brought such a sight, standing before the pale, silent being, it began to settle in just what kind of force it was that he contested. He sprinted right for the pale-skinned figure, though found it raising its arms to intercept any idea he had of approaching it.

[Incoming gravitational anomaly detected. Allocating power of suit to adjust.]

The folds in the prototype tightened, humming with a display of energy as he raised his arms, protecting himself for whatever it was that was coming his way. Like a disastrous gust of wind, tearing through the land, he felt the anomalous force push against his body.

'This is…gravity?1' He questioned, feeling the immense pressure slam against the exterior of the suit.

Though it swept him off his feet, he caught himself, adjusting to the dynamic, ever-shifting flow before landing on his feet. It felt as though a barbell rested on his shoulders as he tried to stand straight, taking some effort as he flicked his knuckles against the ground for support.

[Gravitational levels adjusted.]

'If I didn't have this suit, would I have died–? That's a stupid question…I would've been dead the moment I set foot in this crater,' he realized, looking at the graveyard of flattened Radegasts, vehicles, and entire buildings around.

Again, he chose to try closing the distance, erupting with a quick dash towards the entity that had yet to move from its same position. If the suit could handle the gravitational attacks, he only needed to worry about the offense, or rather–

"Ah–?"

A chill ran up his body as he came within no more than ten meters of the glistening entity.

"--"

A hollow whisper issued from the hole through its head, like some kind of unintelligible whisper meant for his ears. All he could focus on was the subtle, yet damning movement of its left hand, flicking downward.

The moment that motion was made–

[Incoming gravitational anomaly detected–///]

He found himself slammed into the ground, crushing against the gravel as it dug multiple meters deeper in an instant. The pressure against his back made it impossible to move, as though submerged beneath the weight of the entire ocean.

[///–Allocating power of suit to adjust. Functionality temporarily redacted. Mobility temporarily reduced.]

It didn't even feel possible to move so much as the tip of his finger. There wasn't enough time; as the suit began its adjustment process, he could feel the abnormal gravity attempting to flatten him into a pancake.

["Orcish Boost"] ["Hydrostatic Pressure"] ["Supercharge"]

Everything he had was used, everything to propel his body upward in a single, sharp motion as he pushed his palms against the ground. He rejected the gravity, mitigated by the suit's defensive capabilities as he forced himself back to his feet.

[Gravitational levels adjusted.]

'…It's going to be tough getting close. This thing—it's like fighting a nightmare-difficulty zoner,' he thought.

He sprang from one spot to another, covering miles of distance in seconds, keeping up his pace, not stopping for a moment as he bounced all around the hostile entity.

'Close the distance. Find an opening, and strike–finish it in a single strike,' he instructed himself, dashing across the cratered territory, sprinting a hundred meters in a moment, never moving his vision from the entity.

Going behind it, he sprang for its back, readying his dagger to strike with everything he had before–

VRRRRRRR

An intense hum filled his ears as vibrations shuddered across his body. A shadow cast itself over his body as he glanced up, finding what the source of the blaring presence was–

Only a few meters above him, giving him no space to move, was a perfect sphere of a rock born from space; a meteor, crashing down. It wasn't there a moment prior, yet somehow, the gargantuan space rock was right there as if simply materializing out of thin air.

[Incoming projectile.]

"Yeah, I can see that!" He responded to the artificial intelligence.

It was a split second from impact, leaving him only one avenue of escaping the path of destruction.

["Shadow Realm"]

He sank into the ground, letting his entire body slip into the puddle of darkness just as the moon-shaped rock collided with the ground.

A chill ran over his body, feeling as though he just avoided death by a hair as he waited in the darkness for a moment. He took a few breaths to settle his mind, focusing himself before hopping out of the private realm—

[Incoming hostile attack.]

There wasn't a moment to react as his feet landed on the ground, immediately looking up to find the pale entity up close and personal.

He was face-to-face, or rather, staring into that single hole that existed on the featureless head of the Moon. Its hand was coming to his chest, mere inches away from direct contact.

Panic raced through his mind in that split-second, feeling an immense fear of that hand meeting him. Experience tales with empire

["Impervious—"]

[<<Disruption>>]

"Ngh—?!"

As he attempted to make himself briefly invincible, nothing came of it as the space-bound hand made contact. Frost encased his skin; he could feel the touch of the entity beyond the suit he wore, like that of making contact with a heartless glacier, far too large to be shattered.

A sensation rippled through his body, an aggressive force that sent minuscule, agonizing shock waves through his blood. The waves washed over his bones, scraping at his very foundation; the pressure was felt around his skull, aching his brain as warm blood was squeezed from every orifice of his body.

There was no adjusting to the contact in that moment, only attempting to endure it–

"Pyuh–!" He spat out, vomiting blood right into his helmet as it flooded inside.

It threw him back harshly, though that felt like a kindness, no longer having to be touched by that supernatural force. Against the gravel, he landed, coming to a stop only by the abrasiveness of the ground.

[Breathing pattern disrupted. Opening helmet to release fluid.]

As the steel around his head retracted momentarily, he gasped as the blood that attempted to suffocate him poured out. He glanced down, seeing the abundance of crimson fluid dribbling down his chin as he picked himself up, or at least tried to, nearly falling back over.

'What was that…? It touched me—it felt like my entire body got twisted from within. I used Impervious…It disrupted it? Is that even possible?' He considered.