338. The Second Planet (II)
Icebergs came barreling at him and went blinding bright, vaporizing mid-air with piercing hisses.
The Monkeys screeched and dashed back. But even those little moments stuck in Zane's Domain charred off clumps of fur, exposing raw flesh.
The Monkeys' own icy Tier 5 Domains raged out of them, wrestling against Zane's own—but those blue spheres could only dim the gold a little.
None could overcome him. Even ganging up, stacked atop one another.
That was the difference in Law, made plain for all to see.
They screamed at him, swerving around the edges of his Domain, trying to lob in more icebergs.
None of that ice survived Zane's power.
His head was still ringing a little, but the world had righted itself by then. He breathed heavily.
Beneath him—all around him—the icicle mountains were starting to melt.
But it wasn't an instant thing. It melted about as fast as sky-grade Spirit Steel would in his Domain... he sensed deeper, and felt Tier 6 Laws roiling beneath the surface of the ice, enforcing the cold.
This world was built of much sterner stuff than the last, it seemed.
The Monkeys were still hissing at him from the edge of his Domain.
He frowned, marshalled his strength, felt his Asura State burning through his body, felt those bloody tattoos starting to heat up...
He blasted straight for them.
An entire peak shattered beneath him as he blurred into motion.
But the Monkeys shrieked and scattered surprisingly fast. Swinging off the icicles, ping-ponging everywhere out of sight—Zane could move pretty darn fast now in a straight line. Maybe even faster than they could.
But it was quite easy for them to slingshot themselves out of the way with those spry tails, bouncing through this strange giant-icicle forest.
They soon regrouped and kept screeching at him, spittle flying, freezing mid-air—taking care to stay clear of his Domain.
A few kept lobbing icebergs at him, though none could get near him.
They seemed to be at a bit of an impasse.
He frowned at them.
The Monkeys looked to each other, then at Zane, and hissed, fangs bared.
Their throats started to light up again.
Grow alarmingly bright in the astral plane. Charging that soul attack.
He wouldn't let it complete.
He felt the color flowing between them in the astral plane, linking up, making a ring—
Growling, he stomped again and went after them. Throwing out his chains in a magnificent Solar Flare slash. They flung themselves off the icicles, scattering with shrill shrieks. His chains mowed down an icicle mountain range.
But he'd gotten what he wanted. He'd broken up that group soul attack.
But already they were regrouping again. Coming together, trying to ring him in, a herd of glaring crimson eyes, glistening fangs...
This was rather annoying.
The problem was these icicles. Zane came to a crash-landing on a high peak and looked around, wondering what to do.
As long as they could hide and swing off these things, he'd have trouble catching them. They could keep pot-shotting at him all the while.
The icicles were melting under the pressure of his Domain—but not fast enough for his liking. The Laws in the ice were strong in their own right, and the moment he left, new icicles froze up behind him...
He needed something more forceful.
He needed something that could break this world for good. Something that would stop those Monkeys in their tracks.
He knew a way.
It was a weapon he hadn't dusted off in a very long time.
He held out his hands. His chains flared into being.
And at their ends were a pair of massive onyx axe heads.
***
The Patriarch had stopped needling his son, at least for now, to Burnwater's relief. He just watched on. He seemed curious what Zane would do.
Haxorax's arms were still crossed. He'd recovered some of his composure. Now he was giving the scrying glass a glare that could freeze lakes.
"Zane can't catch them," said the Prince curtly. "But the Iceberg Monkeys can feed off their world forever. They'll whittle him soon enough—if he doesn't burn out chasing them first."
"That's a lot of man to whittle," chuckled the Patriarch. "It'll take a while! In the meantime, I have a feeling he'll find a way."
Haxorax opened his mouth to bite back, but Burnwater beat him to it.
"Master Noughtfire!" yelped Burnwater. "Say—do you have any thoughts to share on Zane's new Flare? It's quite something, isn't it?"
"Too early to say," said Noughtfire calmly, as though there were no tension in the room at all. "We've only seen a glimpse of what he's capable of so far."
They all watched as Zane unsheathed two massive axes.
"Truly?" said the Patriarch, cocking a brow. "The man's split an F-grade planet in two!"
"His Flare has remarkable destructive potential, true," said Noughtfire. "But that potential can only be realized when paired with an essence tank that can take full advantage of it."
In the scrying glass, the axes lit up with Flares.
"You all speak of him like he's spawned of the Creator himself!" snarled Haxorax. He couldn't seem to bring himself to sit quietly, listening to them all praising Zane. "Zane Walker is still only a man. He bleeds like all the rest—and he'll fall like all the rest!"
Burnwater just shook his head quietly.
The First Prince of Dragons still simply didn't get it.
Though Burnwater had a feeling he would quite soon.
***
The skill shone clear in Zane's mind's eye.
This one wouldn't be as simple as applying Solar Flare to an old Stormfire skill, he felt. The way fires and Flares moved were too different.
The principle was the same. But when he moved now, he knew he would be making something new. It was uncharted territory.
The Monkeys at the edges of his Domain had stopped lobbing icebergs—they'd even stopped running. They'd started dancing around, leering at him. Pointing at him—some were screeching a hideous laughter.
A few showed their rears at him. Tiptoed close to the edge of his powers, then sped away...
They thought they were safe—safe enough to mock him.
It was quite bird-like behavior, Zane thought.
He wasn't convinced.
A Solar Flare burst into being, licking the edges of his axes. So bright they seemed like twin sunrises cresting the horizon after the darkest of nights; revelations of white and gold. And as they concentrated on that slick razor edge, growing denser and denser, a deafening rumbling poured into the world.
The Monkeys looked over, puzzled. But that was all. Most kept making faces at him, sneering.
Zane raised his axes and gave them a strong pull.
And slowly, they began to spin, carving through the air.
One revolution.
The first was always slow. A crackling, groaning effort. But it sent a new wind rushing at the surface of the planet, an ominous wind, streaks of gold shot through with Destruction white.
Whatever blizzard currents it found, it obliterated.
He whipped the chains around once more, setting his jaw, putting more and more force into it.
Two revolutions.
Heat blossomed on the surface of Planet Two. Washing over the peaks, making all those icicle tips gleam brilliant gold. Wrestling with the blizzard currents—turning them back, blasting higher and higher...
By now the Monkeys seemed to have clocked something strange was happening. They weren't making faces anymore, but they were still screeching, pointing. It seemed they weren't sure what was going on. But they could tell it was no good.
Zane kept up the pressure.
And the revolutions grew wider. Blowing outward, slowly gaining the scope of a true Solar Flare... the shapes he'd seen when he broke through—the swirling lights in that pocket dimension—shone clear in his mind.
He pulled harder, putting his entire back into it, pouring in massive mechanical energy with each revolution. A juggernaut centrifugal force was starting to build, starting to bear down on him as the storm picked up speed...
A force of nature was entering the world. And his body was its anchor.
Zane gritted his teeth, eyes fixed firmly on the enemy.
Three revolutions.
By now the icicles were melting so fast they were turning to rivers, rushing skyward, vaporizing on the spot.
All the Monkeys were shrieking now, lobbing in iceberg after iceberg; their eyes cracked; they swung every which way; a sudden urgency had taken hold of them.
A few just stared at him, like they were wondering just how long he could keep this up. Staring up at that huge column of heat and light blasting through the air, wondering how much he could possibly have left.
He was just getting started.
The Asura markings on his chest became raging rivers of bloody light—they shone down his back, his arms as the muscles there bulged with power, as he began pulling to his absolute maximum—
Zane roared.
Four.
Two golden arcs raced through the air, cleaving icicle mountains in two without a hitch.
The winds had reached true hurricane speeds now, spewing enormous showers of sparks as they did, changing the very weather. The icy blue skies were shattering, going to searing gold—gold ripping open the clouds, gold melting proud plateaus of ice.
The temperature was skyrocketing by the second.
There wasn't a single Monkey laughing anymore.
Most were clinging to their perches, shrieking, just trying to hold on.
Zane saw them, narrowed his eyes.
And ripped the next revolution with ferocious intensity.
And then the winds were undeniable.
It swept over peaks near and far and broke them right off their bases, even as his axes swept through, shattering, vaporizing any icicle they touched.
Monkey after Monkey went flying, shrieking, eyes bulging, trying to claw their way back to solid ground—but there was none to be found anymore.
Zane had annihilated everything.
An axe stroke lopped the first of those massive beasts clean down the middle. An instant later, the halves vaporized, blazing white as they did. It gaped at its vanishing form, tried thrashing, getting away from the light. But it was no use. It gave one last shriek and became yet more fuel.
Six revolutions.
There was so much strain on Zane his whole body was trembling, muscles stretched nearly to their limits—he let out a strangled sound.
And emptied the tank then and there. Gave it all to the storm.
And essence rushed out of him in a great torrent. He could feel it expanding to swallow up vast tracts of land—from space, it'd seem like a golden super-hurricane widening at a breathtaking pace, blanketing the planet's surface.
𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕖𝕧𝕠𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕕!
ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖 ℂ𝕪𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕖 [ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖 (ℍ)] -> ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕊𝕠𝕝𝕒𝕣 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞 [𝕄𝕪𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕔+ (ℍ)]