Chapter Six Hundred And Fifty Seven – 657
The more Felix experimented, the more he discovered. Before when he would activate one of his shaping Skills, it would set his Shaping Array to rattling. They were so close to harmonizing that they shook, like feedback from a speaker. Dissonance. Now that he was paying attention however, Felix could tell that Astrum Ascendence inundated his core space. It coated his Array, and when Stone Shaping moved, it was a struck tuning fork.
Smooth. Resonant. So much so that it fought against his working, and only Felixs focused Intent was enough to keep the path from turning to crystal again.
When he paused the wet-to-dry pattern hed been maintaining, though, it changed entirely. Stone Shaping hummed at a strange new pitch, the little planet inside his core space whirling faster and faster. The vibration of it shifted, until it spooled outward, centrifugal force sending buzzing waveforms out into the black. Rings formed, like Saturn, and the Skill pulseda sprinters heartbeat.
Now, how will it do at drying out a new trail?
It took no more than a thought before Mana and Essence flowed from him in a flood. The soft, wet earth was seized by his Will and Intent, and before anyone noticed, the mud was gone.
For the next two hundred feet, the ground was as dry as sunbaked clay.
Tzfell jolted. What? Lord Autarch did you do this?
Felix rubbed his left palm, where the spell had ejected from his channels. I did. Trying out some new combinations.
It soundedodd, the Dwarven Chanter said.
Is this the crystal thing again? Evie asked from above. She was still in the trees, chain around her waist.
Yeah.
People nodded, shrugged, and moved on. After a moment, Tzfell did as well. What hed done was unremarkable, especially with the pattern hed been holding for the past few hours. To Felix, though, it was far more.
What was that? Pit asked.
Felix lifted his hands, now wreathed in dusty brown flame. A way forward.
The ground grew rockier ahead, which was just as well, as Felix had less and less attention to spare for drying out soggy weeds and muck.
He tested out all the Skills in his Shaping Array. Green Shaping, Storm Shaping, Ferric Shaping, Hand of Calamity, and Sovereign of Flesh. Green Shaping was fairly straightforward and, like its earthen counterpart, it bolstered the speed at which the Skill took root and reached his desired outcome. Winter-dead branches budded and old weeds were uprooted by fistfuls of bright green shoots, all with the subtlest of gestures from his Intent and Will.
Storm Shaping wasodd. Eddies of wind and sudden puffs of fog formed around him, filled with that ineffable charge of a lightning storm on the horizon. That, of all the others, drew the most attention from his friends. Concerned looks twice resulted in Vess coming to check on him, but Felix waved her off each time. In the end, he found the Skill extremely responsive as a shadow of his Intent sent a cushion of air to lift his arms from his sides.
Couldthis let me fly? Really fly, without Adamant Discord?
That would require further examination.
Ferric Shaping was improved by leaps and bounds. Before Felix could only form crude iron objects with the Skill, but now Astrum Ascendence pushed the very structure of it to new heights. Rough metal became smoother, polished even, until it resembled high steel. Voracious Eye confirmed it, too. With his enhancement, Felix could now form and control far stronger metal.
Hand of Calamity was far tricker to test. It promised a great deal of destruction from its very nature. Acid did not play well with others, as a general rule. The most he was willing to risk was forging physical objects, as he had with fire, stone, and ice before. Normally that was harder to do with Hand of Calamity thanks to acids liquid form. With Astrum Ascendence, it was as easy as picturing the shape in his Mind.
When it came time to test out his Sovereign of Flesh, however, Felix found it a great deal more complicated. Unsettling, even. Upon activation, he became intimately aware of his skin, scales, and muscle. With the faintest brush of his Will, his arms rippled, scales pulling free on spiraling tendons to reveal veins, blood, and a shining light
Eugh. He cut off both Skills. Thats god awful.
It was so intense, like flaying himself with a knife. Felix couldnt bear using them together for longer than a few seconds. The others though, hed actually made significant progress.
Green Shaping is level 95!
Storm Shaping is level 67!
Storm Shaping is level 77!
Adept Tier!You Gain:
+35 EVA+35 RES+40 INT
Ferric Shaping is level 72!
Ferric Shaping is level 76!
Adept Tier!
You Gain:
+25 WIL+25 INT+25 MIG
Hand of Calamity is level 82!
Imara gritted her teeth and tasted blood. You will not find victory here, Nightsworn.
One of the generals screamed at her, neck bulging with veins. Noctis curse you, Titan!
Your Queen is gone, general. A blade of light formed once more in her hands, and this time it grew until it was thirty feet long. Bow to the Reign of the Remnant King!
She swung.
Shadow was banished as the left flank of the Dwarves were utterly annihilated. Curses and whispered prayers were cut short, the very air in their lungs boiled away before their flesh was burnt into ash and greasy smoke.
You Have Killed An Elite Ironclad (x1338)!
XP Earned!
You Have Killed A Forge Knight (x129)!
XP Earned!
You Have Killed A Nightsworn General (x2)!
XP Earned!
Titan!
As her Skill burst apart, the last Nightsworn General blasted across the devastated terrain, shield and axe in hand. Imara met him, her bare hands catching the heaters spiked surface and the axes edge.
You cannot win, Dwarf, she growled.
I can still bloody you!
A mantle of shadow burst from the generals shoulders at the same time his mithril armor was surrounded by a spiraling shield of jagged stone. Frost snapped across Imaras hands, freezing them to his metal shield and axe, before stone ripped up across her breastplate. Imara hissed as sharp rocks cut lines across her cheek.
Instinctively, she reached for the Light within her breastand found it greatly diminished.
Breath of the Molten Servant!
From the generals bearded mouth, a stream of lava splashed up onto Imaras chest. She screamed, torn between external and internal agony. The emptiness at her center rang out, a twinkling star too far to bestow any true light.
Imara, however, had more than the Light to rely upon. Hands still frozen fast, she wretched both her arms wide while at the same time lashing outward with a single, powerful kick.
The generals eyes went wide and his arms ripped entirely from their sockets. He managed a single, outraged shriek before the melon of his torso was caught between her foot and the unrelenting ground.
You Have Killed A Nightsworn General!
XP Earned!
Imara tore her hands from the shield and axe, leaving skin and blood behind. She looked around. Her Inquisitors had rallied and were in the middle of routing the remains of the Dwarven army. Two hundred feet distant, blades of flame left behind smoldering beards and charred necks.
Imara stared at her bare hands, where her armors gauntlets still refused to grow back despite the holy enchantments inscribed upon the set. She had checked the sigils before; they were still intact, but they had nothing to draw upon. The emptiness had returned. A void where the Light once was.
Pathless? What is happening to me?
Yet her god did not answer.
Ever since that man had dared to attack her, her Light had beenflickering. To make matters worse, instead of dying as all others had, her foe had escaped.
She had mustered her surviving army to chase him down. The monstrous man and the Gnome
A surge of emotion welled up, rattling through the pit in her chesta desperate rage and trembling need that she found dizzying. Foreign. She fought it down, sacrificing blood from a tooth-split lip as her beleaguered Will pressed back. A buzzing filled her Mind, before all of it faded away.
Chosen. Bellar stepped up to her again. His armor was charred across the breastplate and the cooled remnants of stone clung to his greaves. The Red Shields army is broken. We are free to expand to the west and connect with our promised reinforcements. From there, we can head east toward the Hinterlord of
NO.
Imaras head jerked back, the stentorian voice drowning out Bellars words. Pathless? What is your Will?
head South. Seek The Dragon.
Chosen? Bellar leaned toward her, his face angled upward to peer beneath the curtain of her fallen hair. Wasis our god speaking to you?
He is. Imaras voice was raw, as if she had been screaming. We are to go south.
South? But the bulk of the Dwarven resistance lies there. Wed be trapped against the assembled might of at least three Hinterlords, and Red Shields forces were nearly too much for us!
We will collect your reinforcements first, Imara said, her Mind branching down a dozen strategic pathways. Then we go south. The Pathless Wills it.
Bellar swallowed hard, but nodded.
