Child of Aidon
patreon
SS [10] Monster Tide
🕑 Added 2025-07-10 00:06:47 +0000 UTCTanisha twisted, barely evading the beam of concentrated aether. Her armor split open across the stomach, and a sharp pain tore through her midsection as blood bubbled from the wound. She activated Arcane Shift, blinking backward in a shimmer of magic, but not fast enough.
Aurelius was already there. With a flash step, he intercepted the next blast, crystalline blade raised high. Primana clashed against aether in a thunderous collision, the beam splitting down the middle in a blinding flash. That was not something she knew he could do.
“Fuyumi!” Aurelius roared.
The ghostborn was already moving. She vaulted over the energy beam with supernatural grace, landing atop the massive metal feline. Her blade stabbed into its neck, it was shallow, but enough. The Shadowmaw's jaw slammed shut, the energy sputtering out with a crackling whine as it bucked her off.
Tanisha moved to get a better position as Aurelius vanished in a burst of speed. Tanisha conjured twin Voltaic Orbs, each one pulsing with blood-red lightning. Fuyumi somersaulted backward as claws the size of greatswords tore through the air, missing her by inches.
“Tanisha, get back!” Fuyumi shouted.
There was no time. The S-19 Shadowmaw vanished in an aetheric flash step, a skill it had not used until that very moment, and reappeared at Tanisha’s side, a blur of silver and menace.
Tanisha fired both orbs. The impact exploded in a thunderous detonation, sending her and the machine flying. She skidded across the ground, slamming into the wall of a nearby building. Her armor vented heat and static, and the helmet's HUD flickered and died. She dismissed it with a thought, ripping it free as she gasped for breath. It vanished into her inventory a moment later.
Aurelius appeared beside her in a streak of motion. “You alright?”
“I’m good,” she panted. “Go… help Fuyumi.”
As he turned and bolted, Tanisha looked out over the city of Helmforað. The scale of it still stunned her, even now, battle-scarred and bloodied. Towering buildings of glass and steel stretched impossibly high, walkways crisscrossing in the air like a woven web. This was no surface city, it was a labyrinthine miracle buried deep beneath the surface.
They’d arrived in the city weeks ago…or was it maybe months? Time was difficult to track in this lightless place. After nearly six months of wandering collapsed tunnels they were more than ready for an open space. They would prefer the surface world but that was currently being ripped apart by cosmic forces. They’d fought through nearly every S-series unit so far: humanoid, insectoid, and animal. But this… this was different.
The S-19 Shadowmaw wasn’t just a machine, at least not like she had come to understand them. It was a monster in all but creation. Seventeen feet tall at the shoulder, forty feet long not counting the tail. Unlike the others, it had its own internal power core, a reactor, Laxy had called it. That reactor made it faster, stronger, and capable of terrifyingly precise aetheric attacks.
Tanisha uncorked a potion and downed it. The healing process was not the most pleasant thing she had ever experienced. Her skin crackled as charred flesh sloughed away and new tissue knit itself together. She grit her teeth through the pain and forced herself to stand.
She saw fuyumi roll to the side as the Shadowmaw’s long bladed tail slammed down, gouging the pavement. Aurelius dashed in from the side, raising his newly reforged shield. the one Ivoi, Laxy’s sister, had fixed and enchanted to withstand aetheric force.
The beast’s claw crashed into the shield with a metallic roar. The force echoed as if an explosion just went off.
Aurelius absorbed the impact, spun around it with fluid precision, and slashed upward. His sword flared with primana. A burst of violent red flame born from pure killing intent exploded from the strike, catching the creature’s knee.
The Shadowmaw shrieked. It leapt vertically, slamming into the side of a building with claws sparking against metal, then bounded higher onto an overhead platform.
Tanisha blinked up after it with Arcane Shift, arriving in a shimmer just as it turned to attack again. She raised her hands.
Hydromancy surged in the form of water that burst from her palms, soaking the machine’s frame. Then came the follow-up: Electrokinesis. Crimson lightning danced across her arms and roared out, ripping through the water and into the Shadowmaw’s systems.
The metal titan convulsed, sparking and shrieking in distorted static. Tanisha didn’t stop, not until it was down or it made her.
The Shadowmaw locked on to her, its jaw yawning open. Gold-white aether began to gather at its throat, forming a blinding orb of condensed destruction. Tanisha didn’t hesitate, she bolted, vanishing with an Arcane Shift and reappearing inside the skeletal husk of a nearby office building.
The beam followed. The creature had an uncanny ability to track teleporting foes. She kept running pushing her body, Chain Breaker’s Mantle, and what remained of her suit to the limit.
The beam followed her as it sliced through the air behind her, vaporizing furniture and walls as she ran, her boots skidding on debris-strewn tile. She blinked again, teleporting through a shattered stairwell just as the building shook with violent impact. The creature didn’t slow. It lunged after her, venting raw aether as it tore through the floor like a beast possessed. Even with the injured hind leg, it was faster than her. The only reason she stayed ahead was her teleportation, flashing from one ruined room to the next, refusing to be cornered.
She dove through a broken window, Arcane Shifting again just as its steel jaws snapped shut where she’d been. She landed hard on a skywalk connecting to the next tower. Behind her, the Shadowmaw charged another blast.
A streak of white cut through the gloom of the city outside. Fuyumi the ghostborn speared the creature in the throat mid-charge, ice erupting from the wound. The beam fired wide, scorching a distant tower and missing Tanisha by inches.
The Shadowmaw roared and jerked free of the building, crashing through the skywalk. Vents along its flanks hissed as aether erupted in a defensive burst. Fuyumi was flung away, her body tumbling as blood sprayed from her mouth. But the attack had worked, ice laced through its neck, nearly severing the head.
Tanisha jumped to another skywalk as the one she was standing on collapsed with the Shadowmaw’s weight. The massive machine crashed down onto the lower street, crumpling metal and shattering pavement. Tanisha ran over to Fuyumi who had landed hard on the same platform.
“Fuyumi!” She called. “Are you okay?”
Fuyumi knelt clutching her ribs. Her aura flickered. “It used aether as a barrier… like a flare of force. Got me mid-cast.” She winced but accepted the potion Tanisha offered. “Go. I’ll catch up.”
Tanisha nodded and turned toward the edge. Down below, Aurelius was holding the thing’s attention, flashing in and out of range, never lingering long enough to give it a clean hit. His blade glowed, but even he wasn’t willing to gamble on a frontal assault. Not alone.
Tanisha drew in a long breath.
The air crackled around her as she summoned her bardiche, not the physical weapon, but a construct of living lightning. Energy roared into form in her grip, a crimson arc of humming power. She steadied her breath. Focused. Let the storm settle into control. Then she jumped.
Arcane Shift propelled her through space, placing her right at the creature’s rear leg, the opposite one Aurelius had already crippled. She didn’t wait. She swung down with everything she had. The bardiche sliced into the joint like a hot blade through metal, and for an instant the entire limb pulsed with crimson lightning. The creature howled in synthesized pain.
She attempted to flee to a safe distance but its tail was faster than she expected. It lashed out, the flat of the bladed appendage striking her side and sending her flying. She flipped through the air, vision spinning, blood trailing behind her. She shunted again mid-air, Blinking to a safe stretch of open road, but her velocity still sent her tumbling down the asphalt.
It didn’t matter. She’d opened the gap.
Aurelius surged forward. He dodged a bite, ducked under the flailing jaws, and with a burst of speed stabbed upward into the throat of the mechanical monster. His primana erupted, fire-like and violent. The Shadowmaw's head drooped, barely held together by frozen metal and strained circuitry.
Then came Fuyumi. She fell from above like a comet of silver and ice. Her sword ignited the air with frost as it cleaved through the final threads of metal, wires and synthetic muscle. The creature's head snapped free but before it could fall, ice surged up, suspending both it and the body in a frozen, weightless stillness.
There was only a single moment of silence then Tanisha and Aurelius moved. There was no hesitation.
They struck opposite sides of the beast in unison. Lightning and primana roared through their weapons, slashing deep into the Shadowmaw’s core. Sparks exploded. Metal shrieked. Whatever arcane heart powered the S-19 died beneath the force of their blades.
The body slumped. The city of Helmforað, still dark and half in ruin, was quiet again—for now.
Everyone backed up from the S-19 just in case there were any more surprises. They had learned their lesson from the S-13 Spine, which was a snake-like robot that exploded into thousands of toxic blades when it was close to death. Or the S-06 Stiletto which broke apart from a big wasp like drone into hundreds of bird sized ones once the main form was damaged beyond a certain threshold. This was the first of the Larger units they fought so they didn’t know what to expect.
After a minute they backed up further to a position they could continue to see the large construct and have time to react should it do anything sneaky.
“We should go back to Ivoi,” Aurelius said. “I think we earned a break.”
“I don’t have a map anymore.” Tanisha said as she took her destroyed helm from her inventory. “It was damaged and no longer works. We’d have to try and find our way there and deal with any hostiles we come across.”
Aurelius nodded. “We haven’t come down to this level in a long time. But he hasn't seen anything come to investigate the commotion.”
“I think I remember the way we cleared.” Fuyumi said, though her voice was strained. “The Shadowmaw led us on a bit of a chase. But If we go around to the other side of the building, I can get us there.”
“Are you two good to move now or should we wait a bit longer?” Aurelius asked.
Tanisha still felt the burn along her stomach though her skin had already been replaced. Had that beam hit her head on she would have died. It wasn’t the closest she had come to death but it was pretty damn close. Fuyumi still had blood in her teeth from the aether burst the creature used on her. Taking another potion health wouldn’t be wise while the first was still working through the system.
The two women decided they could keep going. They didn’t trust resting anywhere in the city but in Ivoi’s chamber. They found that it was the only place that could be locked down from possible Silhouettes or other S Series attempting to assassinate them in their sleep. That was a lesson they only had to learn once. When they were ambushed in a rest area much like the one in the upper floors. Apparently these units can and will open doors.
They didn’t know why Ivoi’s room was different. Maybe she locked the door or it was some other programming that protected the G series like Laxy and Ivoi and that included their rooms. Regardless That would be their destination.
The city was quiet aside from the metal footsteps of different units patrolling in the distance. They made sure to have cleared out the area around the S-19 before engaging. Aurelius and Fuyumi were adamant about not boxing themselves in against an army and a unit we knew painfully little about.
“It is about time Aurelius prepares to break through to the next realm.” Fuyumi said.
“What? Already congratulations!” Tanisha said.
“Normally the condensing of a realm takes longer.” Aurelius said. “But we have had the privilege of constantly fighting and training for the past year. I hope my family is doing alright out there.”
“They are in The Force Isles right?” Tanisha asked.
“That is where we were supposed to meet up.” Aurelius said. “This escort mission wasn’t supposed to take a year and a half though. The mana hurricane shouldn’t stretch out that far but monster manifestations will be increased throughout the region.”
“Most of those monsters will stay within the hurricane as it will keep them alive longer inside such a mana dance place.” Fuyumi said, her voice went from strained to nauseous. “Those outside of the hurricane would be drawn to it as well. Outside of the Chaos Lands I suspect most places are experiencing the fewest monster attacks in recent history.”
Tanisha looped an arm under hers, “Are you sure we shouldn’t stop?”
“Yes, I think my stomach was damaged in the fight and the potion is finally working on that part of me.” Fuyumi said.
“What happens when we stop the mana hurricane?” Aurelius said. “All those new monster manifestations and the old ones that are now awake will begin to venture out again. We are going to unleash a monster tide on the world when this is all over.”
Tanisha hadn’t thought about that. From what she knows about monsters is they feed on magic and those created during a mana hurricane would be stronger than those normally manifested during mana storms. So when the hurricane ends they will go feral much faster when the ambient mana lowers back to normal.
That’s not good.
“This isn’t the first mana hurricane,” Tanisha said. “I am sure Mesha is preparing for when the hurricane ends.”
“I hope so,” Aurelius said.
Comments
Child of Aidon
THere are a couple of things I saw after they were posted I am going to go back through them tonight. After I do one more chapter!
Blanc
Thanks for the chapter. mana dance place -> mana dense place?
