necariin
patreon
Chapter 914
🕑 Added 2025-04-09 15:06:25 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
*
*
*
*
Felix marshaled his Will and Intent before thrusting his Affinity against the sounding strings of the Sonata of Dominance. He took command of water and air and the boiling clouds stilled for several hundred feet above him, their bloody coloration draining only slightly. With a cry of effort, Felix shoved them away. The Bloodstorm didn't stop so much as split, revealing an unbroken blue beyond it.
The lightning faded, the storm quieting for a single, breathless beat—before the breach was filled with monsters.
Pestilent Abominations congealed against the blue, soaking up the bloody downpour like thirsty plants, expanding into something Felix had never seen. Massive armor-plated beasts formed, their mushroom heads wide and spotted with jellied poison while they soaring on wretched, rotten wings.
Winged shadowbeasts spawned in the dim light between the Fungal Titans, but they were sleek where the Titans were sloppy, resembling nothing more than gargantuan birds. Thunder crashed with every flap of their wings, drawing out the crimson lightning from the Bloodstorm.
Fungal Titans and Shadowrath Scourges. Master Tier godslaves. Felix swallowed. Shit.
The Bloodstorm itself reignited, its sanguine saturation returning to the clouds alongside furious gales. The air crackled, filled with a thousand bolts of crimson lightning that tore through his Legion and ships with impunity.
Divinity filled the area around the Shining Palace, so thick that it coiled against his skin and burned his Spirit. Below, the parks twisted, the rot infesting them as the mansions crumbled into nests of shadow. Felix turned, half expecting the Vessels to manifest, and yet they still were absent. He had expected some form of their resistance, but there had been nothing so far.
Where the hell are they? He wanted to be relieved, but their absence was too eerie. What were they planning?
Pit dove through the body of a Shadowrath Scourge, his Mantle and Talons of Tumult tearing through its slick flesh. Felix lit fire as they passed within it, scorching what remained of its insides to ash.
You Have Killed A Shadowrath Scourge!
XP Earned!
He twisted in the saddle, looking back to the barrier and the Shining Palace beyond. Felix narrowed his eyes, Perception flaring.
Atop En'Cridhe, the Hierophant was beginning something. He could see the Unbound. Tied to columns at the base of tall, cracked statues, their limbs were draped in chains and their faces were muzzled. As he watched, sigils began to ignite across the tower's top, following the sway of the Hierophant's pure white staff.
Perhaps the reason the gods hadn’t yet shown their faces was because they weren’t needed. The barrier was too complete to bypass.
Fuck that. Back to the barrier, Pit! Now!
His Companion didn't need to be told twice. Rebounding off of dead godslaves falling limply to the earth, Pit sped through the rising wind. In seconds they crossed hundreds of feet, and Felix let loose with everything he could.
Sonata of Dominance!
Astrum Ascendance!
Multicast!
Wild Threnody!
Affinity and Intent scouring his center, Felix took up his Inheritor’s Will and slashed. Every element he was capable of shaping burst from him, traveling across the hooked curve of his sword and shooting forth as an arc of prismatic glory. Multiplied through his Skills, shaped by his Intent, guided by his Affinity, the arc was empowered beyond its initial form. Like water hardening into ice, the shaping solidified, honed into a razor’s edge of boiling potential.
It hit the barrier.
An explosion rocked the thing, sending deep ripples across the invisible surface. Rainbow reflections gleamed off its upset geometry, and a cloud of vapor streamed back across the battlefield. It enveloped several godslaves, obliterating them instantly before it petered out—and left the barrier untouched.
Nothing. Not a single crack or tear.
It did, however, draw monstrosities to him. The Fungal Titans screeched wordlessly from above whiel the Scourges attacked from below. Pit flashed with his Mantle, lightning arcing off his four wings as his talons and beak did their bloody work.
Pit’s Talon of Tumult is level 105!
Pit’s Maelstrom’s Maw is level 101!
Pit tore them to shreds, evading their ambush with another burst of incomparable speed. Felix gritted his teeth, hunkered down in the saddle as he tried to find his way through the barrier. Adamant Discord lit his world up in blue lines of connection as he sought out the source, but there was no hint of it. Monsters died all around him as Scylla and the other Chimera made it through, ripping into their foes while dodging the strikes of the Bloodstorm above.
The situation wasn't changing, though. The enemy fleet had not yet been broken, the godslaves were infinite, and he couldn't reach the Hierophant.
The statues on En’Cridhe began to glow. They were running out of time.
He'd fought to keep those thoughts contained, but they shook through him unbidden now, setting his hand to shake on the hilt of his blade. It was only a single moment of uncertainty, but it sent a fissure through his middle like cold lightning. The sound of stone grinding against itself, echoing up from his abyss.
The Challenger's Sea surged, gray swells breaking against the rocky monoliths, and from deep within, a familiar voice rumbled at him.
Strengthen Me, Scion. Accept Me, And Your Enemies Will Not Survive.
“I don't need their death, I need to save the others!"
One Will Accomplish The Other. We Have Learned Our Lesson. A Cardinal Beast Does Not Leave Its Foes Alive. The waters surged. The Barrier Can Be Broken.
"How?" Felix demanded.
The Answer Lies Within You. Within Us.
Unable to resist, Felix peered down into his core space as Pit wove through the skies. His attention drifted to the dark abyss, then through it, to the Challenger's Sea that still lay upon his Spirit. Upthrust stones pierced the surface of the raging waters. All but three of them had shattered. He searched the sea, and soon found the blue-white eyes of the creature trapped just beneath the waves.
Ignore that wretch! The Grim commanded, and Felix jerked back to awareness. All around him was chaos, with Pit flying them through titanic foes with a savage grace. Lend me your Authority!
A twinge accompanied the Grim's request. It didn't originate from the nature spirit, who, by all accounts, was still in Gharion next to the Abundance Anima. Instead, it came from somewhere far closer. It swirled within him, pinching at his Authority—like someone knocking on a door.
The Shadowgate? No. That's inaccessible and broken. Then what?
Mortal! Your Authority!
He'd given enough trust to the Grim Nightshade. A little more wouldn't ruin them. "Take what you need.”
As soon as the words left his lips, Felix found himself crushed and squeezed in new, unholy ways. His Authority bashed against the monumental presence that emanated from the center of Amaranth, as the Hierophant's Authority opposed him directly. Whether she was consciously moving it or not, it formed the basis of her power. Felix paled. It was like staring at a wave a thousand feet tall and twice as thick, and it was about to collapse on top of him.
You are not alone.
And from the spirit came a wild power. The song of greenery surged within him. Mile distant, the Aestus Autus Anima expanded and unfurled new limbs riddled with crimson leaves that shone above the press of Amaranth's horizon. Felix’s Authority expanded and deepened, forged by the wild song into something new—a sword, gleaming with potency, set against the Hierophant. Her Authority was pervasive and heavier than a mountain, all but smothering the city in its pressure. He could not shatter what the Hierophant had spent centuries building.
But he found a gap. Felix pressed hard, stabbing through the breach.
There! Look to the skies!
All at once, the godslaves around him were sent reeling by an incredible blast of concentrated wind and lightning. Tens of thousands of them all at once were sundered.
Felix looked up. The world had split open, and there, in the blue gap he’d created in the storm, his Authority had rent the sky. Beyond was a vast landscape of stars, interrupted by nine gleaming Manaships. They poured through the rent, their hulls sleek and organic and their sails shimmering with stormclouds of Mana vapor. At their head, standing astride the flagship’s prow, was a familiar figure that blazed with a red-gold light.
"Get off our Continent!" Mervin howled.
Arrays lit up across all nine ships and a swirling mass of tidal water crashed onto the enemy fleet, sending ten thousand enemies reeling.
Then the cannons started to fire.
*
*
*
Kellis Faer coughed up blood. It sizzled as it hit the floor, golden sparks igniting along the edges of crimson and black bile. He wiped his mouth, hand trembling with the effort—but refused to let his gaze flinch away from his work. Inquisitors and Paladins were dead all around him. They were charred to nearly nothing, their broken armor the only remnants of what were once powerful warriors.
Three of the High Guard lay collapsed on the marble floors nearby, the holes bored through their breastplates and helmets still gleaming gold with heat and light.
They gave you no choice. Kellis pushed himself to his feet—it took far more effort than before. There was blood on his robes, and a weakness stole through his limbs like an afternoon shadow. He had been an old man even before he managed to reach Adept, and now he was far more ancient than his natural lifespan should allow.
The Light grows.
Unbidden, his Mind called up old memories of a childhood in one of the Pathless' first orphanages. He remembered what the Pathless was once upon a time. A beacon in the dark for those who had nothing but monsters to face. A source of strength. Order.
He flexed his hands, not bothering to suppress his grimace. They were cracked like parched earth, the flesh charred between rivers of crimson. Unlike the Twins and their sense of twisted Justice, it mattered not whether one was a servant of Order or a pawn of Chaos.
The Light burns.
"W-why?" The last High Guard's voice was a broken whisper. His body was slumped against the warded door, and his limbs shook as he tried to stand. Tried…and failed. “You will die.”
“All must, one day." Kellis straightened his spine. "I would do so with my conscience clear."
"F-fool."
"Perhaps. Or perhaps I am simply tired."
The High Guard died, the last syllables of hate unspoken on his lips.
"Yes," Kellis nodded heavily. "Tired."
During their short but eventful fight, an errant blast by a pair of the man's associates had ruined a portion of its wards. The High Guard's combined might had proved enough to foil at least a layer to its protections. Useful, but unnecessary—the Hierei didn't need assistance. He stepped closer, pulling a wardkey from within his robes and waving it a few spans ahead of the orichalcum lock. Bright sigils manifested around it, projected along purple and silver Mana vapor that spun as a combination settled into place. The door itself filled with muffled clicks and clangs until a single pressurized thunk set the hinges swinging inward. The wards flickered once and faded.
Power filled the room inside, enough to flatten a lesser Tier as it sped through the open doorway. Hurt as he was, it still stung against his senses, but no more than that. What was inside struck him far harder.
The control node. The power's sting was cut with cool relief. Bright skies, I was right.
The Shining Palace had several towers around its structure. Seven were arranged in a circle, each one meant for the Hierei once they'd been filled before the others had perished. During the turbulent early years of the Hierocracy. Within each tower there were control nodes that accessed their personal defenses, among other things. Though no one admitted it, the primary structure of the palace had been designed by the Nym. That meant a profusion of incredibly advanced safety measures, one that the Hierophant had leveraged to her advantage.
The Hierei used the towers to lodge their Orders and secure their very treasures “liberated” from the Territories they ruled. Arrays, information, and a thousand small conveniences made possible by the Golden Empire.
Most importantly, however, they provided wards.
Here, in all its glory, was the node to affect En’Cridhe itself.
Blood dripping from his hands, Kellis stumbled up the polished marble steps just inside the doorway. Gold was inlaid into the white stone, echoing the sleek sculptures that dominated the chamber on the right and left sides. Twenty-span figures in flowing robes carved from pure gold and bearing severe expressions across inhumanly perfect features, their blank eyes stared at him with an Authority Kellis could feel in his bones. It grew with every step he took until the man trembled before the node itself.
Made of iridescent Mana crystal, it shimmered across the spectrum with even the slightest of movements, reacting to his proximity. The sides were ridged with crystalline columns and the surface was angled toward him and jagged, featuring the chisel-edged tips of hundreds of Mana crystals. Kellis waved his hand over it.
Authority Recognized.
Be Welcome, Hierei Faer.
Sigaldry formed across the surface as if light painted them between the faceted edges of each vertical crystal. Kellis parsed the display easily enough and wove his fingers across it in an irregular pattern.
"Let the Grand Harmony sing once again," he muttered.
They lit up, each one a different hue, until a rainbow spread up onto the ceiling. A single hexagon formed in the center of the node, blinking slowly. Kellis hesitated, hand just shy of touching its perimeter.
Will I survive this? He took a fortifying breath. Blood gurgled in his chest. He had a pierced lung for certain. Did it matter?
Kellis closed his eyes. "Give me strength, Pathless, for this last moment."
"No."
He jerked as a spike of solid golden light lanced through his neck.
"You disappoint me, Kellis. All these years as a spy, and you hesitate." A hauntingly familiar voice clucked her tongue, but there was no one present. "Just know that your final act was pointless."
Ocalla.
The spike retracted. Kellis's body fell, his limbs no longer under his command.
The control node sparked, various sigils suddenly powering down as Mana was pulled from them. Primastic light faded and changed as the sigils altered their configuration. A voice echoed across the chamber. It was loud, but tinny, as if Kellis were hearing it from a long distance away.
Authority Acknowledged, Hierophant.
Barrier Deactivated Remotely.
Wh-what? His thoughts swirled into fragments before stilling. Darkness came to snuff the light, and Kellis drifted, a single sentence ushering him away.
"Let it begin."
Comments
David
Yeah well they rushed this fight.
Kyle Hunter
The trap is sprung!
Kevin Boyer
Felix and co. just can't win, can they?
kinglemur
Hmmmm interesting
