Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Six - 196The club came whipping upward, hissing with thick purple-white steam. It hit the Ghoul straight in the chest, cutting off it's honking screech mid-syllable. Ice spread across it's scaled underbelly, and frozen chunks of its scales cracked. The thing was almost lifted off its feet, and the force of the blow sent Felix knee deep into the rubble beneath him.
"GRAAAUHHK!"
Wild Threnody is level 46!
Ack!
The Ghoul's retaliating blow came only seconds behind Felix's desperate dodge. A fist the size of a manhole cover smashed into and through the ground floor, taking his already compromised footing with it. His boots were enchanted to help with slick and rough terrain, but even they weren't quite a match for sinking into shifting debris.
Shadow Whip!
A thick tendril of blackened Mana shot outward from Felix's palm. It wrapped around the screeching head of the Ghoul. He yanked, hard, reversing his fall and sending him rocketing upward. The Femur of the Envoy had shrunk down as he slackened the Essence stream. He pushed more out of his channels, tearing at them. Lightning surged along its expanding length.
"HUAH!" The six-foot long club took the Ghoul in the chin, snapping its head up and driving it backward. Felix fell with it, riding its body down onto the rubble strewn floor. Quickly, he tried to twist the club for a second strike, but the putrid mouth breather got an arm up slammed Felix, center mass.
"GRAAAAEEEEEE!" Its lipless maw screeched in warning and challenge. Felix stood up nearly thirty feet away and dusted off his body. Instinctively his flesh had morphed into scales along his shoulders and spine, muting the impact. He could feel the Skill was so close to Tiering up, he was almost tempted to take a few more hits. But Felix had seen the people in the overturned wagon and heard the approach of more. He didn't have time to play around, and this Ghoul was more dangerous than he had expected. As he watched, the evolved Revenant sucked in great mouthfuls of breath that denuded the air of ambient Mana and that almost effervescent Primordial energy. It's wounds healed rapidly.
It's using the same technique as the Ravagers.
The same as him.
Shit.
Purple-white Mana vapor suddenly coalesced around the Ghoul's lower half, resolving into four ice-wrought chains that snaked from the ground. The Ghoul shattered them with a wild swing of its meaty, ape-like arm, but couldn't avoid the three silver spears that slammed into its shoulder and back. The Ghoul screamed in pain and rage, so loud that Felix felt a part of him echo with its fury, but it's cries turned to whimpering exclamation as the spears exploded. Wild whirlwinds of compressed air Mana blew chunks out of the Ghoul's flesh, enough to sever its arm entirely. The limb fell to the ground with a resounding crash.
Don't mess with Vess. Felix smiled, before he narrowed his eyes. The Ghoul was taking quick, panicked breaths, stripping the air once more. The arm didn't regrow, but the wound healed over. A second round of spears came at the abomination, but the big thing was smart. It was expecting the attack, and when they came close it bashed them out of the way. The beast's Strength was so high it drove them deep into a nearby building, where they exploded in a shower of debris and dust.
"Blood and ashes!" Vess' curse rang through the streets. A swirl of purple Mana vapor manifested around the Ghoul's face, but it merely breathed it in. Devouring the magic.
"That's not fair!" Thangle's voice was perhaps higher and more affronted than Vess'.
Then the fireballs arrived.
Technically they were Sparkbolts, a low level Mana Skill most fire mages were taught, but Atar had grown. Six of them impact the Ghoul's side nearly at the same time, and they burst into five-foot diameter explosions. Felix could see the man rushing forward with an enraged gleam in his eye, hand outstretched as more Sparkbolts formed. Atop his head his Crown of Ignis had flared brighter than ever, it's three prongs blazing as it floated there.
Yeah, those're definitely more red. That was concerning. Yet Felix's attention was drawn to the beast, who stumbled away from the fiery blasts. The burnt and cracked scales on its side did not heal nearly as fast, despite its frantic panting.
Reign of Vellus!
Unfettered Volition!
"Atar! Keep it up!" Felix shouted as he raced up the side of a nearby building. The two Skills, linked closer than ever before in his Bastion, seemed to thrum in concert. The blast of blue force sent him just high enough to land gently atop the ledge. Huh. He took off down the roof, getting back into melee. "Pit! The wagon, if you please!"
A piercing screech came from the cloud sky above. Warm confirmation washed across their bond. Felix re-sheathed the shrunken club at his waist and considered his options. The Ghoul was strong, but it was hurt. He'd been avoiding Zara's Chanter method of Skill activation, especially in the heat of combat, but as the Sparkbolts flew he had a moment. Alright Zara. Let's do it your way.
Intent. Affinity. Guide and Listen. Felix let his senses delved into his core without actualizing himself there, instead grabbing hold of his Mana with his Intent and sending it spiralling along his channels. At the same time, Felix felt for the Skill's pattern, the unique vibrations that had been imprinted on his Spirit. Tediously, laboriously, he traced it out. Still running along the ledge, Felix strained and lifted his right arm.
"Reign of Vellus!"
A weak puff of blue light emitted from his hand, followed by a weak stutter of static electricity. Felix's breath wooshed out of him all at once. "Well, that's embarrassing."
The Ghoul, meanwhile, had climbed the building and was headed right for him. Just like all the other Revenants. He shouted out again. "Vess! If you please!"
From a street over, another spear hurtled at him, this one made of yellowed bone. Felix caught it out of the air, skipping slightly so it didn't slip from his grip. It was a tooth, nearly eight feet long, fashioned somehow into an ungainly and huge blade.
Name: Blade of the Fang
Type: Weapon (Enchanted)
Lore: Taken from the consumed flesh of the Ravager King, this is a trophy and weapon all in one. Profane Sigaldry has left its mark, but far deeper are the ties to the Primordials. It requires Essence to function.
Durable VII - Profane Sigaldry has engendered an etheric durability in the fang.
Self-Repair X - Profane Sigaldry heals the bone like flesh, over time.
Hungry Edge - Fueled by Essence, the edge is preternaturally sharp.
Felix spun the lance-like blade and grasped the four foot long handle.
"Round three."
Pit dropped from the sky.
The wind screamed in his tufted ears as the city below rushed to meet him. His wings were tucked, his head held in line with his spine, and his legs pulled up. Aided by memories of another, nearly forgotten life, among the fog-shrouded trees.
Flight is level 24!
Pit's wings opened with a snap and the thunderous roar of displaced winds. He landed on the cobbles, only slightly heavily. The overturned wagon was to his right. Two of the large land chickens were tangled in their leather leashes, bodies broken by the wagon's fall. Beyond that, a number of living creatures were huddled in the remains, one of which was suspiciously still. Pit poked his head over the edge of the wagon.
"AHHHHH!" Screamed a tiny green Goblin. His nose was large and pointy, as were his ears, teeth and chin. greasy hair stuck wildly from his head, and he clutched another sleeping Goblin in his arms. "Chimera! A Night damned monster!"
Pit let out a confused coo, but the Goblin simply screamed all the harder. Pit slowly blinked before taking catalogue of everyone else within. Three Goblins, four Hobgoblins, two Dwarves, a Gnome, and a single Human. There were others, but they had all died. Pit's coos turned softer, sadder. These creatures had died needlessly.
The approaching thunder of a fleet of land chickens tore around the nearest corner. Pit cut his crooning short and fixed them with a glare. Red-Whites. Pit hated them, almost as much as his Companion did.
"Ho! A chimera!"
"Monster in the city!"
"Open fire, men!" Cried the Red-White in the lead. His white armor hid his face, but Pit could feel the man's Spirit pulse with fear and loathing. A rain of golden Mana followed, forcing Pit to lift a wing to block what he could. Their power stung, and Pit could feel it chipping away at his Health. But he couldn't move: those attacks would cut right through the wooden wagon and the people huddling within.
Frost Spear!
Frost Spear!
Frost Spear!
Within his chest, astride his grown bond, a fog-strewn forest stood silent and majestic. Dark creatures roared within, but Pit focused on a massive tree in the center of the forest that was matched by a burning sun far above. Stars burnt in the sky, radiant bodies that spun in circles and ringing faintly with a beautiful Felix-music. He tore a leaf off his Great Tree and split it once, twice, three times and felt the fog spin around another, shorter conifer covered in snow. The power surged upward, through the sky and into the serpentine pathways that held his forest separate from the world.