Felix embraced the beast within, pushing himself further and faster. Diving and twisting among the unfocused attack of the Arcid, he ran atop undulating vines and kicked across patches of thorns that crushed an entire squad of redcloaks. Abyssal Skein flared, harder and harder to maintain, but Felix pressed onward. He sped up the crest of a massive vine and threw himself higher than ever. He soared through the air, above a field of light and flame as the Inquisition brought all they had left to bear. Toward the screaming, enraged Skeleton Arcid that was covered in a shield of woven vines.
Mid-air, Felix pushed his Mana through his channels and out into his weapons. Golden-blue vapor clung to his bone and Blade, each crackling with liquid-seeming lightning. Abyssal Skein flickered and dropped, unable to hold out any longer.
Arrow of Perdition is level 32!
Arrow of Perdition is level 33!
Arrow of Perdition is level 34!
Wild Threnody is level 51!
Felix brought both weapons down as he dropped, slicing through the woven shield like it was paper. He met the Arcid's hand as she tried to slap him away, and Felix felt the thrill of her fear.
*KRAKOOOM!*
Like a bomb went off, the interior of the vine dome exploded outward in a tsunami of golden-azure flames. The Arcid was thrown backward, nearly off the wall itself. Felix, however, hit the ground hard enough to send up a series of volatile eruptions from the bulwark. The material bulged and flexed under the force of his landing, and he slowly rose to his feet, bone and Blade held aloft.
"We end this now, Arcid!" Felix shouted. He cast his Perception back, into the Sunrise Quarter where his friends had chased DuFont. I don't have time for you anymore.
Make An Entrance is level 44!
Make An Entrance is level 45!
The notification surprised Felix, and he blinked as it appeared in a swirl of System-born harmony.
Due To Your Increasing Expertise, Make An Entrance has Evolved!
Make An Entrance (Uncommon) has become Manifestation of the Coronach (Epic)!
Level Has Been Maintained!
Manifestation of the Coronach (Epic), level 45You are more than what you have done. You are all the things people whisper in the light...and in the dark. Harness the lamentations of your enemies and the exultation of your allies. Has a chance of inflicting an instance of Rallying Cry on allies or A Crisis of Faith on enemies. Chance increases with level, effect of Rallying Cry and A Crisis of Faith increase with Tier.
Felix grinned, then outright laughed. Apparently the System had a very loose definition of what "allies" meant, because suddenly the redcloaks facing the Arcid were inundated with a sourceless light. Felix felt their Spirit's swell with an influx of System energy, a rousing chorus to his ears.
Enemy of my enemy, huh?
The Arcid slowly regained its feet, and Felix could feel it's emotions surge wildly. Rage and pain and hate and fear chased each other in frenzied circles. Its parrying arm had been blasted into little more than scrap metal. There was no talking, no clever jibes or hateful threats. Skeleton screeched in primal fury and green-gold Mana erupted from every part of her artificial body. The beanstalk she'd ridden here spread, sprouting violently in all directions.
"DIURNAL REACH!"
A chorus unified voices screamed to the heavens as Felix's vision was inundated with golden hued Mana. Light bolts streamed overhead, enough to banish the night entirely, and though they were individually weak there were thousands of them.
Unfettered Volition!
Wild Threnody!
Felix's scaled body lit up with vibrant cyan light, the whorls upon his flesh igniting as he blurred forward. If nothing else, his new helmet protected him from the winds moving so fast created. It was a short distance, no more than forty feet, allowing him to go all out on his Agility. Time seemed to slow as he raced forward. Light streamed, liquid as the radiance along both of his weapons, Arrow of Perdition channeled once again. Sounds stretched strangely, the Arcid's howls turned into high pitched shrieks while the redcloaks became an army of basso lunged beasts.
Then he was there, meeting the downward blow of Skeleton with his two massive weapons. Before the sound had resembled a bomb going off, but Felix realized he had no idea what he was talking about. Their collision now dwarfed that by an order of magnitude, green-gold Mana meeting golden-blue until everything simply became light.
One moment Felix was swinging his Fang and Femur, and the next he was twenty feet away, half buried in the metal and stone of DuFont's conjured bulwark. His hands were empty, but his weapons were near enough to hand, if partially buried. Felix's Health blinked at him, down now to less than half, while his Stamina and Mana were likewise blunted. But that was nothing compared to what was around him.
The wall was devastated and dun, it's enchanted light gone out completely while a savaged hole the size of the mansions nearby was torn through it from the top down. There were no redcloaks to be seen, only the bent and broken form of the Arcid at the edge of the collapse. Felix stood, and though he ached he was whole.
Wrack and Ruin!
Wrack and Ruin!
Two oversized orbs of acid shot outward at the Arcid, and both hit a hidden nest of vines. Felix grimaced beneath his helm.
Wrack and Ruin!
Wrack and Ruin!
Wrack and Ruin!
Wrack and Ruin!
Wrack and Ruin is level 44!
Wrack and Ruin is level 45!
Felix spent his Mana as fast as it regenerated, sending a veritable tide of acid at the prone construct. Tendril after tendril of greenery intercepted his attacks, until the last one. The ball of acid hit the Arcid straight in its chest, and Skeleton screamed.
"Finally," Felix panted. He sped toward her, weapons upraised, dodging the wholly expected sneak attack of vines. His Blade cut through them with contemptuous ease, and then Felix was there, kicking the Arcid in the chest. Skeleton fell backward even further, spitting up a dark ichor. She fixed him with a baleful eye.
"Do...your worst, Fiend," she said and fear rippled across her Spirit.
"You don't deserve my pity," Felix grated out. He was getting tired. "But for what has been done to you, you have it anyway." He lifted his two melee weapons, remnants of her "Father's" own work.
"We...do not want your pity," Skeleton coughed. Sudden triumph seared across her Spirit. "For we will win. Berserk Blood!"
Felix quickly tore out her throat, but was too slow to stop the words. He shouldn't have let her talk!
A pulse of power flitted outward along a barely visible connection, one that Felix could see stretched between the Arcid and the horde below. He tasted the power as it passed beyond his reach, and his stomach dropped. It tasted of blood and hate.
It tasted of Vellus and the Archon both.
The bellowing screams of monsters abruptly filled the air, each of their voices deepening and rattling with an awful, deadly promise. Then his own people began to cry out.
Oh no.