A Shadow Looms Ever Closer, Part 3
Dammit. Dammit!
I sank down low on the floor.
My fists were clenched so tight that I ended drawing blood with my nails.
Mei's guttural screams behind me raged as her fight with the dual-wielder continued.
"Com—der. Are—kay?"
Luke's voice fizzled over the communirune. Parts of his speech cut in and out.
I spun around looking for him.
Could he see me in this sad state?
"Luke? I can barely understand you."
"Airi— Hello? —iris!?"
"Can you hear me? Luke?"
What was going on with these things?
I tapped the runestone, switching it off and back on.
"Hey, Luke, can you hear me now?"
"—is go—on up th—"
Something was interfering with our ability to talk over the runes. Surely it had to do with one black-clad swordswoman in close proximity.
I glanced at the display showing her basic stats.
Her MAGICKA levels had dropped pretty dramatically, and were still draining even though she wasn't actively casting any spells.
So this shadowy mist had to be some kind of passive spell that needed magicka to sustain itself.
The shadows had receded noticeably as well.
Fighting two experienced waystriders had to take an extreme level of focus on her part. Perhaps the structure of the spell was degrading in her mind.
Wait… can I appraise the mist?
- - - - - - - - - - - - {INSPECTION} - - - - - - - - - - - -
[SUPPRESSING SHADOWS]: [School: Void]
Thick fog and mist surround a large area, dampening the effects of other magicks.
Requires the caster to maintain a low level mental sigil.
» SPELL STATUS: DISSIPATING
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If we keep pushing on the caster, we could break out of this mess.
Dampening magick… What a cheap trick.
Now I understood why my attack had been able to be split by her weapons.
But now with the power of that area effect being reduced I had a chance to assist in the fight.
Two streaks of golden flame scorched the stones of the gatehouse rooftop—Hikita had managed to cleave my bolt of magick by striking with both of her swords braced together.
Taking advantage of the minor distraction, both rangers jumped at our attacker. She managed to fend them off, though only just barely. As Mei and Tomin disengaged, the swordswoman's last vestiges of strength waned and she buckled to her knee.
Mei flanked me on the left. Wildly trying to catch her breath after the multi-swing combination strike she had just unleashed with Tomin—who had fallen back to my right.
The overtaxed ranger looked much worse off when compared to Mei. His status bar flashed frantically in the corner of my vision, his once mighty stamina bar now down to double digits.
"Give it… up… you bitch."
Mei's voice weakly cursed the woman in between gasps.
"I see through… your heart… conceited, pursue not… a foe… far retreated…"
Hikita's words were just as strained as Mei's.
If we could manage to bring one more strong offensive attack to bear, we may be able to take her down.
Before I had the chance to do anything the mists began to coalesce towards the void-caster.
Her otherworldly blue eyes faded away, obscured by the haze.
"You're not… getting away!"
Mei threw her short blade at where the woman had just been, followed by the clatter of steel hitting stone.
The dense mists dispersed—the fight was over.
"Paaah!"
I reached out to Mei, grabbing her shoulder.
"She's gone. Take a moment to rest. We need to find out what's going on down below."
With her nod as acknowledgment I started to reach out to Luke, but was interrupted.
The splintering noise of a door being force open was followed by a party of divisionals clamoring their way up the stairwell.
Their leader motioned a halt once they saw us.
"You just missed the fight."
"Our apologies, Commander. There was some sort of spell sealing the door closed."
"…"
That woman pulled all the stops, huh.
"Please assist the waystriders. The man across the way was severely injured, and Tomin needs to recuperate."
"I'm staying… right here."
Mei's voice wheezed through a strained breath.
"You need to rest. Our reinforcements can guard me while you regain your stamina."
She sighed and relaxed onto her back.
"Fiiine. Still not leaving though."
With a light chuckle I left them to their efforts.
I attempted to open the channel with Luke once more.
"Luke, can you hear me?"
"Airis!? Why in the Aether weren't you responding?"
"Oh bless the Light! Airis, we feared the worst."
Hailey's frantic panic, followed by Luke's cry of relief jumbled together in my ears.
"We're fine up here. There was some sort of interference from the void-mage, but she has been pushed back for now. What's your status? This fog hasn't fully cleared yet, I can't see you."
"Hard pressed. Julius is struggling to maintain his barrier. We may be overrun in the next few minutes."
"The cavalry charge is almost ready!"
Hanna's voice chirped in over the rune waves.
The battle ahead of the gates had devolved into quite the situation.
Hailey was leading a small group of healers to keep our force in the fight, but they were starting to succumb to feedback and magicka drain.
Hanna rounded up a contingent of knights with riding training to form a cavalry unit and was preparing to counterattack.
Her intent was to force distance between the bandits and Julius' group and allow them to fall back to the city.
All the while, Mei and I had been out of communication due to the effect of SUPPRESSING SHADOWS.
The party that had broken down the door had been sent up once Rias and her escort had made it to the checkpoint building. Hanna tried to contact me over communirune but couldn't get through.
Hikita must have placed the seal on the door after Mei had burst her way through and disrupted the fight.
"Keep the enemy busy while I prepare something. If the knights can interrupt the defensive casters that would be even better."
"You got it, Commander!"
Hanna's voice trailed off from the runic connection, but I could still make her yelling out as it was carried up from the gatehouse by the winds.
With an unparalleled ferocity she riled up the unit, that their High-Commander needed them to be the lynch pin in our counteroffensive.
I zoned out their loud cheers and cries; taking myself down a pathway to gnosis.
My only attack magick was a simple holy spell. Reliable in battle against a single enemy, it hadn't caused any issues for me in the past.
But it was that single target limitation that tethered my offensive capabilities down.
The core sigil for HOLY BOLT was illuminated in front of me. It was a very simple spell, so much so that drawing the sigil out while casting to act as an anchor was hardly necessary unless you were using incredibly complex incantations.
That was about to change for my version.
Three new patterns flickered in addition to the core.
Unbound, Devastation, and Retribution.
I drew on my own rage and frustrations of the last month, pushing all of those volatile emotions into the formation of this spell.
The saintly gold, the hallmark of a Holy-class spell was now besmirched a sickly blood-orange.
Another orange glow had sprang to life as well. My wrist-bound rune flashed wildly with excitement to share its news.
» HOLY BOLT HAS BEEN MODIFIED, AND IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN UNINCORPORATED SPELL, CHAOS BOLT
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOU HAVE LEARNED A NEW SPELL:
» NEW OPERATION CLASS SPELL, CHAOS BOLT
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:
» CHAOS HAS INCREASED TO 38
» WILLPOWER HAS INCREASED TO 21
» DIVINITY HAS INCREASED TO 26
My new offensive spell was an operation-class attack, ranking two classes higher than its origin magick. In terms of power that meant it would far exceed my hopes of being able to counter multiple targets.
With my construction completed I turned my attention to the battle raging below.
Alright Goddess, let's see if my foes can stand against our power.
"Divine power which pulses with me, unleash my wrath to cull those who would align with the dark, Reckoning!"
The flood-gate to the well of power that bound Capricorn and I together rushed open.
The battlefield below was illuminated as if the morning sun had risen. Both forces hesitated in their battle to look at the source of such an oddity.
All along the battlements of Tolin's main gate, orbs of radiant crimson had manifested. Hidden beneath the shining light were jagged semi-solid crystalline projectiles of chaotic magicka.
Their blinding intensity made it impossible for anyone below to count the true number of readied missiles.
I had no way of knowing if anyone fighting could hear me but I spat the bitterness that had built up in me anyway.
"You now face the price of judgment for conflict against the Empire. May your Gods have mercy on your souls in the planes beyond the veil!"
Unbridled energy rained down upon the enemy forces. The crimson shards exploded after making contact with their targets, leaving them and their nearby allies with gaping wounds.
One of the enemy mages came to their senses in time to project a magickal barrier around a small unit of brigands.
But the first projectile to contact the barrier broke it, resulting in an ear-shattering shock wave. The force knocked the caster and everyone nearby to the ground.
A second and third shard that had been following close behind split into a hellish rain of fragmentation, inflicting hundreds of piercing wounds.
In a matter of seconds the bandit army that was threatening Tolin was reduced to a mess of bloody pin cushions.
Julius and his small force of defenders emerged from their bunker of shields, surrounded by crimson splinters and shards.
Most of the mounted knights had been jostled from their saddles. Even combat trained mounts had been spooked by the sudden catastrophic effects of the spell.
As I had expected, the wave of spell feedback crashed over me. But since I was prepared for it this time, I narrowly managed to avoid blacking out.
A guard caught me as I stumbled backwards.
Mei rushed over to support me, and with her help we slowly descended the stairwell.
-✵-
We left the Watch-Captain to handle the clean-up at the gate.
Hanna and Luke stayed with the refugees, including Nyle and Amelia, to finalize any administrative details and find them temporary lodging.
Mei continued on towards the Citadel; leaving Julius, Hailey, Rias, and I in the residential district.
We walked through the winding streets up to the larger manors in relative silence. The guards standing sentry greeted us as we finally reached our destination.
Julius set a pack he had been lugging around down close to the kitchen and about-faced to head up the stairs.
He paused mid-way up.
"Hey, Airis."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
I returned a quick smile and a nod, and he continued up to his room.
The clunk of his shield and weapon being placed down on a table echoed through the house. It was followed by the thud of him falling into bed.
Still in a daze, I stared at the bed centered in the main room that I had woken up in this morning.
"Do I have a bedroom, or do I have to sleep out in the open?"
Hailey chuckled and gently placed her hands on my back. She steered me down a hall, towards a room in the western wing that had three much nicer beds positioned along the far wall.
"You have a bed in the back, since you're finally out of your coma and don't need the guards to continue keeping tabs, you can sleep with me."
She giggled at her obvious playful phrasing, but I was too exhausted to react.
Rias tossed a pair of smallclothes at me, and showed me to the washroom so I could change and scrub myself quickly before bed.
I acknowledged the incessant blinking along my wrist and quickly reviewed before dismissing the notifications.
» YOU HAVE GAINED IN POWER, YOUR ATTRIBUTES HAVE INCREASED:
» AETHER HAS INCREASED TO 48
» WISDOM HAS INCREASED TO 35
» DEXTERITY REMAINS AT 41
» INGENUITY HAS INCREASED TO 46
» CHAOS HAS INCREASED TO 39
» WILLPOWER HAS INCREASED TO 24
» DIVINITY HAS INCREASED TO 28