Chapter Two Hundred and Nineteen – 219Influence of the Wisp!
Reign of Vellus!
The lashing claws around him froze, most of them Enthralled by his Skill as Felix exploded back toward the Arcids. He burst through the Revenants and redcloaks, Blade and bone slashing his way forward.
Before he even reached the edge of the madness, he saw a massive beam of Profane energy rip across the sky. It punched through the miasma and crossed the entire cavern almost instantly. Felix emerged from his violent cocoon in time to see the Broodmother, already hurt, get hit center mass.
The creature boiled, instantly sublimating into noxious steam before exploding outright.
Felix gawked, his weapons faltering. Yet before he could do more than pan back to the Arcids, the array pulsed once more, and released another wave of invisible force. This time, however, it passed him by without touching a hair on his head, but his Affinity and Perception howled as they were wrenched from his Body. Sense of his self vanished, and instead Felix rode that tsunami of profane energy, experiencing the deep defenses within the earth that broke before its onrush. Shadows and steel, masonry and enchanted stone, none of it was enough to stop the wave. It swept up and out, through the earth and jumbled, hidden passages deep beneath, through the sewers, and then up onto the streets of Haarwatch.
Into a city besieged.
Revenants bellowed in a hungry frenzy as they ripped through homes and businesses, maddened, he sensed, by the death of the Broodmother. He swept by them, pushing ever onward, ceaseless. Until he hit a shining mass at the edges of his floundering Perception, one that was equal parts red and gold and hummed with a staid potency.
The Wall.
Screams and shouts of a different sort dominated the air here, and Felix could feel them reverberate through the magic. Monsters crashed against the Wall, barely held back by the enchantments and the Guilder's own desperate efforts. Only Tin and Iron Ranks were left to fill the defensive construct, and he could feel the weakness of their Skills. The monsters shrugged off their attacks and kept coming. Some tried to climb the Wall, but the enchantments on it blasted them off. The Guilders thrummed with anxiety and fear, but it was dimmed by the protections of the orichalcum Wall.
Then the tidal wave of Profane energy found its way in. Like a sledgehammer hitting a bell, the Wall rang with a tone bent from true. Violet arcs of Mana fire tore through the interior of the structure, frying those unlucky enough to be within. The Wall's shine died as the sigils along its length burned out.
The Guilders panicked.
The loping monsters attacked again, and this time, their climb was not countered. The monsters swarmed the Walls.
The shrieking cry of a bird caught his ear, a warning in its tone. Pit?
"HUAUH!" Felix felt the air leave his lungs as something hit him hard. He was driven into the ground, shattering the roots and tiles and nearly losing grip on his weapons. Above him, the cylindrical fist of the Sphere pulled back while its tepid Spirit swirled in satisfaction.
Status Condition: Concussion (Mild)
"Fool! Do not abandon the ritual!" Skeleton shouted. She sounded far away.
"The ritual can hold itself," the Sphere hummed happily, hate in its movements. "Father will praise me if we remove you from the board." The big magic cyborg pulled back it's stubby fist.
Pit cried out again. Felix blinked up at the bastard and flared Sovereign of Flesh. Essence burned through him, ripping his channels even further, but he didn't stop.
Reign of Vellus!
Aimed below his feet, the counterforce sent him out of the way of the Sphere's immense blow. He tumbled backward, flexing Unfettered Volition and his Dexterity to regain his feet. He rolled several times before his enchanted boots found purchase.
"Come, Fiend! I wish to test your vaunted Strength!" The Sphere hummed again, far more aggressively. Felix crouched and did the only smart thing.
He ran.
"Halt! Return and face me!"
The Quest isn't over, he thought, flicking through his notifications. That strike killed the Broodmother, but it didn't end the Quest. Something else is up there
The howls of Revenants and Ghouls finally reached Felix, and he looked up to see thousands of them all racing toward him. Their Spirits were consumed by blood vengeance. For once it wasn't directed at him, but at the Arcids.
And above the horde, atop the rise in terrain where the mangled Broodmother laid, was the biggest goddamn Scale he'd seen yet.
There it is! The last chance he had was the claim Authority before the Arcids turned the whole city into a slaughter house.
Reign of Vellus!
Reign of Vellus!
Dual cast, the kinetic blast sent Felix flying above the horde as it approached and he unfurled his borrowed wings. He soared into the air, nimbly twisting from a Ghoul's grasp. He kept using Reign of Vellus despite his Spirit's injury and the state of his channels. They were raw and weeping. He didn't stop. Everything went into speed, every ounce of his Will and Endurance. He assigned his seven free points into Agility.
All the while, he heard the cruel laughter of the Sphere as it crushed the horde to paste.
It took less than thirty seconds to reach the Broodmother's corpse, and he made a bee line for the Scale. A mass of redcloaks had bunched around the beast's corpse, and three tall figures were approaching the Scale on foot.
"Stop!"
The redcloaks opened fire. Bolts of intense light seared across his body, forcing him to tuck his wings and drop. He landed with a crash, tearing up flesh and stone beneath him. Only the enchantment on his boots let him keep his feet, so slick was the earth. The Inquisitors spun, turned on him with massive blades of flame.
"Fiend," DuFont hissed. She hefted his hooked blade in her hand, the bronze metal pristine despite the ichor that covered everything else. "You're younger than I expected."
Behind him, the giant orb had started giving chase. The Sphere had tucked it's limbs in and rolled through the Revenants and Inquisition like a steamroller. Bodies and bones and claws burst into sprays of ichor and Human blood, but the monster didn't stop.
"You can't touch it. It's...it's concentrated Essence. The same stuff in the air that's burning at you." Felix nodded at the red patches he could see on the elderly Inquisitors. They scowled at him, not moving their weapons. "It will kill you."
"Unlikely, boy," Daur said. "We are Tempered with the greatest of Bodies known to our Empire. We'll not fall to paltry tricks and monster spawn."
"They're Primordials," Felix blurted, and all three of the Inquisitors froze as if they'd spotted a deadly viper in their midst. "Nascent, but Primordials just the same."
"Impossible," Rutger scoffed, but the quiver in his jowls and Spirit betrayed his unease. "No Primordial has been seen outside the Seas in a thousand years. You lie."
"My Analyze calls them Manawarped, but their Type is hidden," DuFont said, flicking her eyes across the battlefield and then Felix. He felt the amulet around his neck heat up. He'd almost forgotten about its veiling enchantment. "And it calls you Human...but that's not right either, is it Felix Nevarre?"
"I'm as Human as they come, DuFont." Felix bared his teeth, grown into sharp fangs by his Skill. "But we're running out of time. The Arcids are coming and they've already disabled the Wall with their ritual. You have to let me take the last Scale; only my Skill can remove the threat."
"How convenient!" Rutger lunged forward, his sword describing a flawless arc.
Reign of Vellus!
A blast of kinetic lightning threw the sword wide, and Felix booted the man in the chest. The Inquisitor was tough, however. His boasting of a strong Body wasn't all air; he was thrown by the kick, but he never lost his feet or weapon. Then Daur was on him, swinging for his head.
Felix brought his Blade up, deflecting the blow. The shock of it vibrated through his arms and into his chest, and he saw his Health drop by ten percent. "Listen to me!"
"And hand you the Authority over this Territory?" DuFont laughed, and her sword came back up. "You think us fools?"
"That Wall is pure orichalcum!" Daur screamed, weaving his long blade around Felix's own. "It isn't falling to some overgrown golems!" He thrust, shoving Felix's weapon aside and opening the Nym up for the kill. "And we will not fall to you!"
Felix's other hand came around, the club rapidly expanding as he brought it across the old zealot's neck and shoulder. Daur was committed to the attack and tried to turn into the strike, but was too slow. The Femur hit him with a sound that reminded him of a car crash, steel bending beneath the metal club like softened clay.