The plateau shook as two weapon domains clashed, a battle of pure weaponized intent. Invisible blades repeatedly cut the stone and the air, for hundreds of meters around them creating a kill zone around them. The invisible blades kicked up a storm if violence, a storm that only grew as the avatar of dominion fought to keep the murderous haze from the pillars of anguish at bay.
Despite her efforts, that murderous haze was spreading across the plateau, killing everything in its path. Those monsters and people who hadn't already died were frantically running for their lives, desperate to avoid becoming collateral damage.
All except for one group, who was still in a protective circle around Bastion.
Noting the rapid spread of that deathly haze, Zee was forced to slit her focus and tap into the mantle, shielding her friends within a barrier of spiritual fire.
Extracting power from the avatar above made it falter, and the haze constricted. Her flaming domain pushed back the might of the pillars of anguish.
It was a delicate balance that could flip any moment, sending all of her friends to their graves. Zee obviously wanted to make sure that didn't happen, channeling a good portion of her power to forcefully keeping the avatar together.
Only four pillars remained after the first one crumbled, but they were still more than enough to slowly overpower her own bloodline talent. Not a good thing, considering her friends had chosen to stay. If the avatar was destroyed, there was no way her friends could survive in that murderous haze for long. Even now, the barrier she erected was being pressured on all sides, and would eventually crumbled.
It was quite distressing. They could have escaped, but chose to come save Bas instead. She appreciated that more than they could know, but now she had to worry about keeping them alive.
Keeping herself alive was tough enough.
Zee took a deep steadying breath, focusing back on her opponent. No time to be distracted. Luckily Elbious didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry to kill her, letting their domains clash, clearly confident in his victory.
Given he clearly had the edge in terms of bloodline talent, and weapon domain, Zee could understand his confidence. Defeating Elbious was not going to be easy.
If she went off what happened after she destroyed his body the first time, she would have to destroy his body four more times for victory. Attacking the pillars above directly was also an option, though she doubted Elbious would stand around and let her do that.
Their stalemate was finally broken as Elbious slammed the butt of his halberd into the stone and leapt forward. With the sublime grace that belied its hulking frame, Elbious swung his halberd at her neck. The swing was simple, yet filled her with a sense of impending doom.
Zee exhaled sharply, focusing on that sense of oneness with her blade. Much to her relief, that odd feeling suffusing her body once more. She was her sword. It was an extension of herself. Guided by sheer instinct, her swing a picture of perfection as she gently deflected the much larger pole arm.
The wide blade whooshed a hair's breadth from her face, the wind tunnel buffeting her silky red hair. Heart racing, she pivoted, twisting her blade. A step to one side and a swung, her sword darting in to cut off his lead arm. Elbious took a graceful step back, shifting his body and catching her blade on the haft of his pole arm.
He twisted his weapon and pulled, using the hook in the back to catch her weapon and pull her off balance. Zee staggered, agony shooting through her side as a carapace covered fist slammed her in the ribs.
She was thrown back, rolling several times. Coughing, Zee grimaced, pushing herself back to her feet. Surprisingly, Elbious didn't pursue, though that didn't make her feel any relief.
His weapon domain shrunk quickly gathering around the blade of his halberd. Grasping the haft in a two handed grip, he raised his weapon high and in a ruthless swing, swung at her.
A guillotine of pure destruction split the air, the ground parting as the invisible blade cut everything in its path. It wasn't a skill at all, but pure weapon intent made manifest.
It was fast, to fast to dodge, her only option to parry the blow. Acting on instinct, she mirroredwhat Elbious had just done. Gripping her weapon loosly, she gathered her weapon domain into her blade, and cut at the air.
A sharp whistle filled the air as an invisible blade of her own shot out, the two clashing mid air. Zee was thrown back once more, as a gale force wind of invisible cuts shot in every direction. It was destruction on a level that rivaled one of her finisher skills.
She didn't even have time to marvel at the destruction before a barrage of invisible cuts blasted through the clashing energies.
Zee gathered the elusive domain into her weapon, cutting at the air several times in rapid succession. Their attacks clashed, filling the air with a screeching howl as the air itself was cut.
The landscape between them was turned into an impassable deathtrap, everything cut by their clashing attacks.
It was utter devastation, though still not at the same level of carnage as the raging battle in the sky near the eternal throne. For a moment, the red haze of the pillars of anguish opened, split back an invisible blade.
She saw that there were at least seven combatants now, their battle creating spatial tears for dozens of miles. The thing that really drew her attention through the haze was amidst those spatial tears. Even from here she could sense the immense spatial fluctuations as vortex of incredible proportion began to form.
It looked almost like a wormhole was trying to form, though the haze covered the sky once more before she could make anything out for certain. Zee didn't know what kind of maniac would try to open a wormhole in these kinds of conditions, but they were probably crazy.
Where they were, they were not her top priority, as Elbious made his move.
"Your use of that sword domain isn't bad!" Elbious shouted. "Sadly, I have bigger fish to fry. As a show of my respect, I will grant you death with a true weapon domain!"
His proclamation was more than a bit alarming.
Elbious flapped his long leathery wings, shooting up nearly a hundred meters in an instant, his long spiked legs dangling below him. The air around trembled as he cocked back his arms, his halberd gleaming dangerously. His body released a terrifying silvery haze, and the air shuddering as space itself around him began to unravel.
Elbious swung with all of his might, an attack that annihilated everything in its path. A wave of pure sword intent, spanning hundred of meters wide and tall descended. That simple swing made the fury of the heavens look like a gentle storm in comparison.
It seemed like all of reality was cut as utter destruction descended.
She had really given it everything she had back there. One last hurrah before she was wiped from the face of the universe.
As if to slap her in the face, her apocalyptic rage skill was forcibly deactivated. Her core was on the brink of collapse, and any more would kill her before that blade did.
Soul Burn could also not be used again, as her pathways were already pushed far beyond their limits. Weakness washed over her, and she fell on one knee. Time seemed to slow down as she stared upward watching her death approach.
Strangely, she wasn't too upset when witnessing her own end. Her biggest regret was that she had cost the lives of her friends. If only she had been stronger, if only she hadn't dragged them to this place and their deaths.
She had given everything she had to save them, but there was not much left to give. All she had left was her sword, the one thing that hadn't failed her yet. Zee felt as weak as a baby bird, her core, and channels on the brink of collapse as she pushed back to her feet.
Blood leaked from a gash in her side, and her robes were scorched, her skin cracked from heavenly wrath. She truly looked pitiful standing there. All she could do was swing her sword one last time, go out on her feet, defiant until the end.
After all, she could have been a farmer, but she had chosen the life of a combat cultivator instead.
The thought made her smile, as her sword let off a silvery haze.
At Least she still had her sword domain. As master anton always said, when your skills failed, your sword never would. Zee gripped the hilt of her sword in both hands, cutting upward, met her end with a shout of defiance.
Elbious watched on as his attack wiped out everything for hundreds of meters in every direction. That human's resolve at the end was truly commendable. She had the grit and battle instincts of a blood gorger, something he rarely saw in humans.
It was a shame to kill her, but this was a distraction he didn't need. She pushed him farther than expected, giving one surprise after another. Too bad she was already injured after had forming her core.
Her defeat was soured by her being injured, but he couldn't leave such a dangerous human to grow stronger. Forming a weapons domain at her stage was incredibly impressive. None of his own offspring had done something so incredible. That human truly was little monster who needed to be strangled in its nest before it could grown up.
His attack left a huge crater in the rock, a crater that was slowly revealed as his weapon domain dissipated.
His four bug like eyes open wide as they traced the new chasm he had just formed.
At the centre of the chasm was a small spec of rock still sticking upwards, with a lone human standing atop it. She was covered in blood, swaying on her feet as she glared defiantly at him.
It was truly a commendable last stand, though meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Elbious cocked back his arms, grudgingly admitting she put up a good fight. One final attack finish her off. At this point, a gentle breeze might knock her over.
Just as he was about to perform the coup de grace, there was loud cracking sound.
Elbious staggered mid air as the link to three of his pillars were cut. He whirled mid air, just as three out of four of the pillars of anguish were ripped to pieces.
Before he could even wonder what the pit just happened, a gargantuan figure appeared from nowhere. A towering golden apparition, with six arms and three heads appeared, the air shuddering from its mere presence. One of its six arms shot out, grasping the crumbling ball of fire conjured by the girl below.
Instead of being snuffed out, the ball of spiritual fire swelled in size, growing to hundreds of meters large in moments. Before Elbious could even react, that orb of fire slammed into his last remaining pillar. The ball of fire exploded, reducing his pillar to charred rubble in moments.
Eblious glowered up at the towering golden statue looming over him.
"Well? Are you going to just stay hidden, or are you going to show yourself?" Elbious shouted.
Without barely a ripple on the world river, a human appeared from thin air.
By human standards, he looked old and frail, like he might keel over at any moment. Elbious knew his frail appearance was just a farce.
After all, he knew exactly who this was.
"Jenalovia Al Farsaic.. Did you come for that rematch? Don't you remember the last time we fought. You ran back home with your wings between your legs," Elbious taunted, his tone not showing any of the nervousness he felt. Fighting this old man was going to be quite difficult after having his bloodline talent crushed while he was distracted. He shouldn't have got cocky like that.
When left unguarded like that, they were to vulnerable to attack..
His train of thought was derailed as the old man actually cracked a half smile.
"That was a longtime ago, Elbious. And as I recall, it was you and your two brothers against me.. I don't see them here now. But maybe I should return the favor. A three on one," His words were like a command. Elbious half turned as space twisted behind him, to figures appearing next to the girl.
He cursed himself inwardly for getting distracted.
"So what if you brought your dogs along?" Elbious claimed.
Vision blurred from pain, Zee took deep, wincing breaths, each one sending fiery pain through her side. She was forced to lean on her sword to stay upright, swaying on her feet. She still didn't know how she survived Elbiouses' all out attack. One thing was for sure though, she didn't survive through her own power. No, that true weapon domain would have wiped her from existence, sword domain or not. The moment before that attack struck, a single piece of paper had fallen from the sky, and the attack simply passed around it.
Her head swam as she staggered forwards, the ancient yellow piece of paper having lodged itself into the ground. It looked as frail as paper should be, but its edge echoed with the memory of a hair raising aura.
As she drew closer, the piece of paper simply turned to dust. Probably for the best, as she had the feeling that if she touched that page, she would have but cut in two.
Zee turned from the page, back up to the sky, where that golden giant and the emperor were still facing Elbious. Instead of fighting, they were having what seemed to be an amiable conversation. It was quite the turn of events. She thought she was done for, but the cavalry had arrived.
A twist of space next to her prompted her to turn. At first she thought it was going to be that crazy old lady who was probably the one who saved her, but she was surprised.
It wasn't Raina's mother who appeared, but Julian. He stepped from a hole in a space right next to her, his straw brown hair tied back with a black strip of leather.
His aura felt different than usual, giving off the thick stench of taboo. Sensing his cursed aura gave her the chills. He was clearly marked by the heavens as a heretic now, a punishment, probably from his mission into blood gorger territory.
There were other small changes as well. His hair now had the first streaks of gray at the temples, a few more worry lines engraved into his otherwise grizzled face. He still looked to be in his late thirties, but somehow felt much older than before. Despite the changes, it was definitely Julian.
Zee blinked in confusion.
"Grandpa? What are you doing here? I thought you were leading a secret mission into blood gorger territory?" Zee asked.
He cracked a half smile, his eyes turning up where Elbious hovered in the sky.
"We did. Gave those bugs an ass kicking they won't soon forget," Julian said.
"I take it you came here to try to claim the eternal throne?" Zee asked tiredly.
"Something like that," Julian said.
"I thought we already talked about this. The throne is mine," said a familiar voice.
The shadows gathered, and a wizened old man appeared. He no longer bore his imperial robes, but instead wore exquisitely crafted leather armor with intricate gold stitching that formed arrays into the armor.. Two long, curved daggers were sheathed at his hips, each made of that obsidian alloy that Julians sword was made from.
Julian let out a sheepish laugh at the emperor's comment. "I was just joking of course, your eminence. As we agreed before, the eternal throne is yours once we claim it," Julian said with a half bow.
Body aching, Zee bowed as well, a hard gesture while so injured.
The emperor snorted in derision, tossing a glare up at Elbious..
"Good to see my little heir is still alive. Would have been a pain to find a new replacement if you died," the emperor said.
Zee bit back a sharp reply, cut off by Elbious.
"There you are, nice of you all to show yourself," Elbious said, his tone confident despite being outnumbered two to one.
"You seem quite confident, Elbious. Julian, what do you think, are you and your pet up to take this oversized bug down?" Farsaic asked.
"I'm not a pet, old man," came a feminine voice.
As if she had always been there, Sendredie appeared from thin air, her pitch black staff held tightly at her side. She was slightly shorter than Julian, in dark red combat robes, her extremely short hair dyed yellow for some reason.
The emperor scowled at the woman, an expression that mirrored on the mad witches face as they glared at each other.
"It's about time you caught up. Why am i even paying you when i have to do all the work. There is only one pillar left, maybe you should make yourself useful. Go destroy it," Farsaic waved.
Sendredie snorted in derision.
"Don't order me around old man. I'm not one of your servants. And I'm late because my ship was severely damaged after going through Julian's shawdy wormhole. If I didn't stabilize the reactors, my girl would have blown up," Sendredie retorted.
"Your ship! You stole that ship from me? It took a decade, and billions of ether crystals worth of rare materials to build that one-of-a-kind ship. Then you had the balls to pilfer my wine cellars. I should give you a thrashing for that," Farsaic said heatedly.
Sendredie cracked a half smile, looking down her crooked nose at the emperor.
"What can I say, your cellars have good wine. And i was in need of a ship. In the future, If you didn't want your prized stealth ship stolen, maybe you should have guarded it better," Sendredie said.
The emperor glowered daggers at her, and she returned the look, the air rippling between them.
Julian let out a long weary sigh.
"You two argue like an old married couple. Maybe I should see if Elbious is willing to kill me quickly. At least I won't have you two bickering anymore if I'm dead," Julian said.
The mad witch directed her scowl at Julian. "I would rather marry an undead lizard with the plague than marry that stubborn old goat," Sendredie said.
"Not even a lizard would marry a thieving harlot like you," the emperor restored.
Julian let out another weary sigh, his expression saying it all. For his part, Elbious hovered above, seeming content to watch them bicker.
"So, what's the plan? Are you three just going to stand around all day and let the others claim the prize?" Zee asked.
Julian nodded. "Zee is right. Things are getting pretty hectic up there, we should make a plan," Julian said.
Sendredie gripped her adamantine staff in one hand, a smile spreading across her face. "What plan? It's a simple smash and grab. All we have to do is kill this big guy, and break into that castle before anyone else. Seems straight forward enough. I'm going in, don't slow me down old man," Sendredie said, disappearing in a gust of wind.
The emperor scowled, "Hey, get back here!" Farsaic said, vanishing as well.
Zee raised an eyebrow at her grandfather. "Those two seem like quite the handful?" Zee said.
Julian let out a bemused laugh. "That is the understatement of the century. I swear, having both of them together is more of a hindrance than help," Julian said.
Zee glanced up, just as Sendredie, and the emperor appeared, attacking Elbious from either side.
She was just in time to see Sendredie activate an all too familiar skill. A crescent moon appeared from nowhere, spreading its domineering aura far and wide.
"Elbious is quite the opponent, but with all three of you, he's done for," Zee said.
"He is the blood gorger Oligark. Before we arrived I watched some of your battles with him. You did well, but he was hardly using his inner world at all to fight you. Even with his bloodline talent destroyed people who make it to peak Celestial grade are incredibly difficult to kill," Julian said.
"No kidding. Hard to believe just how much more powerful one rank can be," Zee said.
Julian laughed softly. He reached inside his combat robes and tossed a small vial to her. It had to pills inside, each releasing incredibly soothing waves of energy.
"Take these. Aside from healing your body, they will help to mend the damage you did to your core, and hasten the repair of your pathways," Julian said.
"Thanks," Zee said, catching the vial, giving her grandpa a smile.
"No problem. You and the others should really leave this place. You will just be putting yourself, and the rest of us, in danger if you stay," Julian said, his words punctuated by an explosion of darkness that rocked the sky.
"Thanks for conjuring that spatial barrier up there. Those shockwaves are scary," Zee said.
Julian smiled."No problem. Now go get your friends and leave. We are not the only ones arriving late, and there are doubtless a few more combatants in the area biding their time. The battle for the eternal throne will only get more hectic from here," Julian said.
Zee nodded, stuffing the pills into her mouth. The effect was immediate, her overdrawn body soaking up the calming waves of healing energies. The bleeding cuts across her body mended at a speed visible to the naked eye, her pathways and core much slower to heal.
She wouldn't be able to exhibit even a fraction of her full power, but flight should be possible.
"I guess I'll get going," Zee said, her feet leaving the ground as she channeled a trickle of power through her pathways. Even with just a trickle, it hurt like hell, her pathways protesting.
She paused mid air above the chasm, turning to face Julian.
"Grandpa?"
"Ya?" Julian asked, his body language tense as he stared up at the battle above.
"Don't die," Zee said.
He let out a mirthful laugh. "Wouldn't dream of it, kiddo. You should probably give that second pill to Bastion, he looks like he needs it. See you on the other side," Julian said, space twisting as he vanished into thin air.
Zee only spared the small island at the centre of the huge chasm one final glance before flying off, Julians words urging her to go faster.
She had the will, but her overdrawn pathways were not in a state that would allow for much quicker flight than a mortal's run.
If any of those monsters was still around to fight her, she would have been a sitting duck. Thankfully, they had all fled, or been killed.
Or most had, off to one side, she could swear she saw a lizard if all things. With blood leaking from atop its head, it pulled itself from a deep crater its large wings.
Like a drunken willow jack, it almost immediately crashed back into the ground several times as it tried to take off. Zee was anxious about getting to But couldn't go any faster than her overtaxed pathways would let her. So, despite her haste to save bas, was forced to slowly float over the chasm, the bottom to far below to see. It was just a pit of darkness, and her only way to distract herself was to watching that lizard try time and time again to take off.
Eventually it succeeded, and took off, its flight incredibly unsteady as it flew in a random direction. What a strange creature. All thoughts of that lizard were pushed away as her friends came into view.
She ignored their calls as she lit amongst them, pulling the vial Julian gave her from her tattered tunic.
"Here give this to him, it's a peak quality D grade healing pill," Zee said, offering it to Taylor.
Their healer, who looked gaunt from expanding so much of his reserves nodded quickly.
He took the pill, but instead of stuffing it into Bastion's mouth, he pulled out a mortar and pestle, crushing the pill into powder. With practiced hands, he dumped the power into a vial filled with water, and quickly mixed it.
Then, Taylor tilted back Bastion's head, pouring the liquid into his mouth. Bastion was unconscious, so Taylor immediately closed his mouth for him, keeping it closed until he swallowed.
"Will he be okay?" Zee asked, anxiously.
"That's hard to say. His odds of survival are certainly better now that I gave him that concoction. I can fix his body, but his core and pathways are severely damaged. Whatever that creature did, it purposely targeted his core. I'm not skilled enough to fix something like a cultivator's core, especially one based on weird concepts like momentum. Anything I do might cause more damage that help," Taylor said regretfully.
Zee grimaced, glancing at the others for support.
Based on their forlorn expressions, none of them had any ideas on how to fix the problem.
"If you can't fix him, who can?" Zee asked.
Taylor grimaced, his expression falling.
"I uh. It would have to be someone at the Celestial grade. I doubt we will find some who can fix this kind of damage back in the cube," Taylor said.
"So, we have to return to Lorocos? But that could be almost a year. He doesn't have that long!" Zee shouted.
"Zee, stop shouting. You need to calm down, Taylor is doing his best," Allison said, his voice cutting through Zee's frantic thoughts.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Bas is dying. How am I supposed to be calm," Zee said.
A heavy gauntlet hand rested on her shoulder, as calming waves entered her mind.
"Get your shit together. Freaking out won't help anyone," Dern said, his tone biting.
Zee took a deep calming breath, her racing heart threatening to burst from her chest. She glanced between each of her friends, then back to Dern, noticing that each of them was just as concerned as she was.
None of them was taking this lightly, which combined with Dern's firm grip on her shoulder, helped steady her.
"Okay, I'm good. Any ideas? How do we keep him alive long enough to return to Lorocos?" Zee asked.
Taylor placed a cool rag on Bastion's forehead.
"I don't think returning to the capitol is strictly necessary. The healers aboard The Fist may be able to stabilize his condition," Taylor offered.
"Well, why didn't you say so sooner? Let's get our asses in gear. Where is the drop ship?" Zee asked.
They all shared an uncertain glance with each other.
"You lost it?" Zee asked.
Yukna adjusted her glasses higher on her nose, tucking a lock of mousy brown hair behind one ear. "We were looking for you, and Kur Zul led us to that cave. We left the ship back in that spiritual forest," Yukna said.
Malden's ears twitched in annoyance. "Where is that untrustworthy ghost, anyway? He needs a thrashing after getting us lost for years in those tunnels," Malden said.
Zee shrugged, looking down at Bastion, whose chest was slowly rising and falling, his aura unsteady.
"I don't know where Zul is, but I have an idea on how we can find the ship," Zee let out a sharp whistle. "Urza, come!" Zee called.