Sovereign of Flesh is level 53!
Two more dead.
More Ghostfire Simians tried to get in his way, but Felix activated his Mantle of the Long Night and the arctic blast of the Skill snuffed the fires from their fur. They fled before him, but did not live long enough to take more than a few steps. Felix charged through their flash frozen corpses, shattering those that brushed against his Body.
Mantle of the Long Night is level 41!
Mantle of the Long Night is level 42!
The Arcid drew itself up, just beyond its screen of Reforged bodyguards. "You-you cannot hope to win, Fiend! I"
"Shut up!"
The Sphere looked in alarm at the Shadow Whip that suddenly latched on to its stubby arm. Yanking hard, Felix flew through the last thirty feet, his talons outstretched. The Sphere hurled itself away, rolling through its allies before crashing through a nearby building. Yet Felix's Shadow Whip was still lodged in its tucked arms, and he came along for the ride.
They smashed through buildings like a wrecking ball and Felix pulled himself ever closer, shrugging off masonry as he smashed side to side.
"You are worthless! I do not know how you survived, but it shall not be for long!" The Sphere screamed as it rolled, it's deep voice rattling within it. Felix slammed through wall after wall, pushing his feet against brick or stone slab and being hauled through them time after time. "I will break you!"
"Get in line!" Felix snarled, spotting what he needed. He kicked off a crumbling wall and swung himself to the side, holding tight to his Shadow Whip. His feet hit a steel beam lodged in the earth, and he braced, hauling as hard as he could on the line. The Sphere slowed as Felix's muscles bulged and vein's stood in violet relief along his biceps and shoulders.
"RUAAAAAAAAGH!" Felix screamed, and with a burst of manic Strength he pulled the Sphere to the side, sending the Arcid rolling like a wrecking ball through his horde. "Is this the best your Father can do? Huh?" Felix shouted, so angry and hurt that he wasn't entirely sure of what he was saying. "You can't!"
Felix's words died as he saw the encampment, it's wallshis wallswere being overrun by iridescent Wretches he had not thought to see again. An abrupt lurch and pivot by the Arcid had his Shadow Whip snap, and Felix was sent sprawling as his own Strength fought against him. He hit the rubble hard, sending bricks and debris scattering in a wave that killed a few Simians itself.
Sphere stood up, rolling from the blood-strewn remains of its horde. So many were dead in their battle, and the Reforged had been left behind in their mad dash. Only the Wretches were nearby, and all of them were focused on taking down the encampment before them. He could see it limping toward Felix, its gun-metal gray armor cracked and dented along its left side.
"You...pathetic worm," it hissed, and it was the sound a steam engine venting. "Do you have any idea...what the Father will do...to this insignificant town? This den of mortal failings?" The Sphere shoved it's massive hand into a pile of mangled corpses and lifted a jagged piece of corrugated metal. It hefted the hunk of material. "He plans to elevate it! Free you all from your short, inconsequential destinies! To seize the throat of this Continent and force it to submit to his majesty!"
Felix pushed out of the rubble, watching the Arcid draw closer but also unable to peel his Perception from the Wretches assaulting his camp. They met stiff resistance atop the wall, but their scythe-like blades were savage. Explosions of vibrant energy and plumes of rock dust filled the air as the inscribed wards groaned under the attacks.
"You should worship him as a new god, yet you all fight! Why?" The Sphere kept advancing, and its eye-fires were bright with a fanaticism he'd seen one too many times on the Continent. "You are all prey struggling under the providence of predators in fine robes and refined language. Lambs meant for slaughter! Why do you care what hand holds the blade?!"
The Arcid didn't wait for a response, instead rushing at Felix with it's jagged spear of iron upraised. Felix felt the connections around him blaze in sudden sympathy, but he ignored it and ran. His Body shattered the rubble still around him, and the rusted iron spear screamed through the air just inches from his back.
Shadow Whip!
Shadow Whip!
The shadow Mana snagged onto another beam and Felix hauled himself to first one side, then the other, dancing between the savage strikes of the Sphere's spear.
Wrack and Ruin!
Wrack and Ruin is level 43!
An oversized ball of green acid ate away ate the descending spear, devouring a chunk of its momentum as Felix punched the remaining iron out of the Arcid's astonished grip.
"What blade?" Felix asked, grabbing the Sphere's leg and letting his talons sink into its armor. The Arcid let out a wail of pain, too distracted to fight against the second punch Felix laid onto it's round gut. It hit like a gong, and the Sphere crashed into the earth.
"All of you talk the same way, zealots and gods and ancient hellbeasts. I'm sick of it." Felix let his core spin faster and faster, pushing at it as the stacked cores sparked against one another. He felt that the Essence within him had thinned slightly, and the pit at the center of it all ached. "People. Aren't. Prey!"
Each word was punctuated by another blow, unaltered by any Skill or technique. Simply rage and fear turned into violence. The Sphere's armor dented and cracked with each hit, until the sound of distressed metal was replaced by the solid thunks of an axe on wood as it's bulk collapsed.
"No, whatwhat are you? What ancient will animates you, creature?" The Sphere gasped and tried to escape Felix's grasp, but it was broken beyond remedy. It was only able to drag itself several feet at a time, too slow. "You aren'tAnalyze makes no sense. You can't be..."
"I've found it doesn't much matter," Felix whispered, and a wave of inexorable hunger swelled inside of him. "I'm me, and always will be."
He drove his clawed fist down into the Arcid's chest, watching the bastard's eye-fires flare in pain and surprise.
"And I'm coming for your dad," he hissed. "Ravenous Tithe!"