Adamant Blood

Everything happened fast.

Quark got to casting Protect at Mark's back and Mark flew upward, erecting shields of adamantium to stop any possible snipers that were out of range.

Three Speedster goblins faltered and the suited goblin almost tripped, but they caught themselves.

The rubber goblin landed on the ground with a crunch that hurt.

The Stone, Flame, and the Water Shapers all lost control of their element.

The weird talents all lost their capability.

A goblin wearing folds of white petals over his entire body, like a sphere, lost control of those petals. The goblin dropped to the ground and the petals lost their glow.

The last goblin was a weird one. It was just standing there, in the grasses, hunkering down far from everyone else. It might have been the last line of defense. But as far as Mark could tell its vector was internal, by a lot, and Mark hadn't turned him off at all. There was something still active inside of the goblin.

The goblins all complained.

Quark frantically made the Protect Sigildry behind Mark.

Mark wasn't going to advance on any of the goblins at all until that Protect was back up and running.

Some goblins started running when they saw Mark was protecting himself rather than advancing.

Mark found himself incredibly angry at that. They would run? Now? When they had come so far to try and kill him? To contain him? To attempt to use him as breeding stock? Did they think they'd Bite him and… and what!

And now they ran!

Fury came out of Mark's throat as he Called, "Die exhausted or rested. Your choice."

The Aethercall rumbled outward, slamming into every vector out there like a rising tide. Some of the goblins crashed to their knees, accepting the fate of the soon-to-be drowned. The suited goblin had gotten four steps away, but he slowed, stopped, and turned. He had pissed himself, but he looked up at Mark anyway. Other goblins screamed and ran in any direction they could, trying to hide. The Stone Shaper tried to dig into the ground and he had a good Body Power Level, good enough to dig deep, but not that deep. The other two Shapers screamed and ran to the side and then they zagged in another direction, everything looking scary to them.

The flower-petal-sphere goblin crawled away.

The goblin that Mark wasn't able to turn off—

Hive Mind goblin.

That's it. Hive Mind. He wasn't really here, so Mark couldn't turn him off. Mark still terrified him, though.

The Hive Mind goblin, through his absolute terror and Union-imposed Weakness, stood up on shaky knees, and said to Mark, "I… I speak for— green gods this is Biting tough." He composed himself, and shook off his fear. "I speak for Goblinhome. In the establishing of your settlement you have violated treaties with Goblinhome regarding corridors of access. We are bringing this to your attention so that you can rectify the issue—"

Protect went up, like a prismatic sheen that layered hexagons over Mark's senses, and the goblin's voice cut off.

Quark's voice was just fine, though, as he said, "Protect active."

"Ah, fuck you, goblins," Mark said, even while the Hive Mind goblin spoke insidiously. It had been doing some sort of magic, or mental shit, and Quark had killed that connection with the Protect. Mark said, "Keep it up, Quark."

Quark was already moving, saying, "I see the Protect already failing."

The prismatic hexagons were already crumbling.

Mark swept down and beheaded the still-speaking Hive Mind goblin, guessing that it had been Calling to enact its mental magics, considering Protect had killed the sound it was making to Mark's ears. Quark kept Signing for Protect at Mark's back.

The goblins didn't seem to care that Mark had just beheaded the speaker. Some of them were more of a 'yeah, that happens' kinda feeling to them, in addition to their ebbing fear. Mark's kaiju-ish Aethercall was wearing off fast.

The suited goblin spoke, "Kill us and be done with it."

Mark decided that standing still in the air was a very bad idea, so he kept moving and goblin eyes tracked him. The Stone Shaper goblin burrowed back up, now that the fear was gone, and he, too, tracked Mark as he moved around, looking at goblins, gauging the problem.

The goblins were going to try and work together to take him down but Mark didn't see how they could, when they were all shavallian'ed.

Some of the goblins were too far out of the center space, though, and Mark wanted them all together, so he hovered around the place fast, using caltrops to grab little green arms, to toss them a few tens of meters over to the stone circle. After the flower-sphere goblin hit his leg badly and broke it, the other goblins made sure to catch the falling ones.

The last two out-of-place goblins ran over to the stone circle, rather than be tossed.

Mark flew around the circle now, rising and falling in a random-ish pattern, adamantium shields up and solid and spinning, covering him from every direction as much as could be done. A sniper would have to get very, very lucky to hit him like this, and Protect was up and running again, thanks to Quark, so there was no direct-attack magic aiming his way—

The Protect went up around Mark, and it was already failing.

Something out there was targeting Mark with something.

He knew it.

Mark felt the flower-shield goblin start to regain his Powers a little, so he hit them all with a dose of Entropy/Energy again, killing any resurgence, before switching back to Adamant/Ethereal. On an inspiration, he added in some meaning to Adamant/Ethereal that he had never tried before.

Adamant truth-seeking, and Ethereal inability-to-resist.

If it worked at all, Mark would find out.

Another Protect went up and it faded into the background. Whatever had been targeting him decided to back off, for now. Soon, the Protect faded, hiding into the background.

Mark regarded the goblins. "I would know the names of the Hive Mind goblin and whoever is in charge now that he is gone. Is it you, Flame Goblin? Are you in charge now?"

Mark was misdirecting them completely. The suited goblin had been waiting on the platform. Everyone else had been beside the platform, or further outside. The suited one was next in line, obviously.

But Flame Shaper Goblin got a really proud aspect to his vector when Mark looked at him and called on him.

Everyone else got pissed off to a varying degree. The other Shaper goblins were most-pissed. The flower-shield goblin was stunned into disbelief, and he thought Mark an idiot. Three of the speedsters were offended on behalf of the suit-wearing goblin.

Suit-goblin was quiet.

Flame Goblin proudly stood tall, saying, "I am Flamey! The brightest goblin! If you give up now I will be sure to go easy on you!"

Flower Shield Goblin scoffed, which caused every goblin there to wince, except for Suited Goblin.

Mark rapidly categorized the goblins here with Hive Mind at the top, with all of the Shapers working under him, Flower and Suit seconds, with the Speedsters working under Suit, and the last goblin, Rubber, was disregarded. No one cared for or thought about Rubber Goblin. That made sense. He was a new addition to Goblinhome, there in the last month since Mark had purged the goblins away from the settlement. Maybe Rubber was coordinating under Flower? Mark checked their vectors.

… No.

Flower was here on his own. Rubber was now trying to unify with the Shapers. He was trying to get in with Hive Mind, but Hive Mind was gone.

Mark asked, "What was your plan on getting me out of here under your control?"

"Bite you here!" Flamey said. "Run with the body and get you—"

Suit goblin slipped his sword across Flamey's neck, decapitating him with a clean, soft movement. The body hit the floor. The head rolled, blinking a bit, taking a few seconds to die.

Suit simply said, "Quiet."

The Shapers hated Suit for saying that, for killing Flamey, but the Speedsters were proud.

Flower and Rubber both realized that they were all going to die.

Flower simply sat down and closed his eyes.

Rubber panicked, trying to run.

Mark picked Rubber up by the legs and slammed him on to the ground near the others until Rubber stopped moving so much, as he asked, "What was your plan for getting away?"

"Not all of us would have gotten away," Suit said.

That sounded like goblins, for sure.

But it was a total lie.

Someone without Unionsense would have missed the lie.

With closed eyes, waiting for the end, Flower spoke, "He knows you lied. He knew we had plans. Stop talking if you want to leave him in the dark."

Suit frowned. He did not behead Flower.

Mark asked, "Suit, Flower, and the dead Hive Mind. I would know the names of the leaders, and why you were out here."

Flower said, "I'm Greeplox. The suit is Old Slave. The one you killed is BiggestBaddest." And then he opened his eyes, and stared at Mark, "And you are being given up by your Empire to fulfill a bargain which we could not maintain. So we're doing it this way: Sit down, accept the Bite, and I will help you come out of it with most of your mind intact. It will be like when archmages become dragons, but you will become a goblin, instead."

Greeplox wasn't lying.

… or at least Greeplox truly believed he could do that. The other goblins seemed to believe he could do that, too.

"… Well… Setting that offer far to the side... Got any names of traitors for me?" Mark asked.

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"First Prince Doomo," Greeplox answered. "Goblins aren't traitors. We would have your back forever, Black King."

Greeplox wasn't lying, as far as he knew… or else he was a great liar. Maybe he was. Seemed like the type. He certainly wasn't telling the whole truth. Mark had no idea how he felt about that answer, though. 'Some kinda way'? A little furious? Yeah, probably. He'd feel more later when he wasn't in a danger zone, and he'd be a fool to take the word of a goblin for anything except an attempt to Bite him.

Rubber whispered to the other goblins, "He gonna kill us?"

"Yes," Greeplox said. "Focus your mind on connecting to the Green and you might survive the Dark to return to us one day."

One of the speedsters whispered, "What did he do to us? I can't Move."

Old Slave watched Mark. He had been watching Mark the whole time. He softly answered his subordinate, "Something that he should not have been able to do. I want him even more."

They spoke very quietly, their vectors still focused on Mark, as Mark floated around the zone. Mark let them talk to each other. He had other concerns right now.

Quark was here, and he had made a Protect, but he was still softly blinking a message in the corner of Mark's vision.

'No reception.'

"Quark?" Mark softly asked the air to the side. He said nothing beyond that.

The goblins whipped their attention back to Mark.

Quark spoke in Mark's ears only, "I am trying to connect but nothing is working. There is a jamming signal somewhere out there. I had a moment of connection right after we resolved into the area, and then it was gone. I am sorry, sir. I will keep trying."

Mark didn't blame Quark for the lack of connection.

This was a setup.

Mark had to move out of the area right fucking now, if possible.

Mark asked, "Anyone want to volunteer to give us more answers? The rest of you are dying, of course."

Greeplox said, "Pick who you want. Strip them of their fangs and burn the sockets with shavallian and they will not recover the ability to Bite." Greeplox lifted up his chin. "I am ready."

Old Slave hated Greeplox at that moment.

Rubber exclaimed, "Not my fangs!"

Mark picked Old Slave and Rubber as interrogation subjects.

He swept adamantium through the rest, chopping them into fine pieces, while he cut the clothes off of Old Slave, discarded the goblin's sword, and cut off the necklace and anklets that Rubber was wearing. He wrapped both of the chosen goblins into a fine-mesh adamantium sphere, with a solid lower half. Both of the cages were thin adamantium shells, with a few small holes in the bottom for air vents and whatever.

And then Mark took to the sky, flying fast and far.

The delta of the Shine spread out below him in every direction, ribbons of muddy brown winding through diamond-shaped islands and scattered trees. Cloudy horizons lay in every direction, all white and fluffy and towering to the auroras directly overhead. To the west lay a big island in the middle of the thickest muddy ribbon. That island was easily 50 meters taller than the flat land in every direction, and it had no trees on it at all.

That island was the mud elemental that Mark was supposed to clear away.

It had been there for 4 years, and it could stand to be there for another 4. Mark would get to it later.

For now, Mark flew fast toward the north.

If he followed the Shrine for an hour, he'd get pretty darn close to the settlement. Hopefully he bypassed the communications block before then.

"How's it going, Quark?"

Quark said, "We are leaving the jamming area, but it is a lot larger than it should be. I estimate another few minutes. You should consider flying in a direction that is not the most obvious one to fly. Whatever was triggering the Protect is likely still out there."

Mark instantly veered off to the right. "Good thinking… Another Protect, please."

"On it, sir."

- -

Addavein looked on from far, far away, seeing more than most, and less than some.

Some people, like Second Princess Walaria Aluatha, were located in central Crytalis, right near the ITLKR Crystal, watching it all unfold from multiple screens. Addavein had patched in to those screens through an old agreement with Domal'Takala's eponymous guardian. The Caretakers had been chopping at Addavein's ingress into Crytalis for almost a year now, but Addavein still knew Domal, and he could still get in when he needed.

But Walaria would notice him if he looked at her directly.

So Addavein watched terrified controllers of the ITLKR crystal, instead, while Walaria's voice was offscreen, rumbling and promising death.

"So it's some new kind of jamming, then?" Walaria asked, "Or an old, powerful kind of jamming?"

"I'm so sorry, Grand Highness!" said a terrified Conductor who was rapidly losing her composure with every passing second. Competent, yes; she wouldn't be there if she weren't competent. But she was still unable to do anything, and that rightly terrified her. "The target went to the new location, and we can't lock on to him at all."

"Bah!" Addavein said to himself, watching, "They better not blame me!"

Another crystal Conductor said, "Mark's crystal is still there! We're still picking up his signal! But the lock is untargetable! It's not an anti-resonance attack; we can cover those. It…" The guy gulped, and said words that would probably result in his death. "It almost looks like… the dragon is responsible for killing the resonance in the area."

"Knew it," Addavein said, scoffing. "Anything to get out of responsibility."

The terrified woman Conductor hissed/whispered, "Addavein did this?!"

"He destroyed a lot of crystals and he knows how!" said the male Conductor. "He has to be the reason we can get to Mark!"

"Bah! Come on now," Addavein said to himself, highly miffed. "I only destroyed the other ones because you guys were chasing me! Don't be stupid, 'cause I know you're not."

There was silence in the Conductor center.

Walaria Looked at the male Conductor. "Who approved your promotion to this position, Conductor Hioh?"

"There we go," Addavein said to himself, focused.

Conductor Hioh froze in fear. He almost lied. Instead, he softly said, "First Prince Doomo and Third Princess Kalimara, 25 years ago."

More silence in the Conductor center.

"Well then..." Addavein said, frowning. "You went and muddied the waters, huh. I suppose it was all you could do, really."

Walaria said, "You're relieved of duty, Conductor Hioh. Please leave the compound and prepare for an inquiry."

Conductor Hioh rose from his chair, bowed, and then left without another word.

"Soft approach?" Addavein said to himself.

Walaria told the other Conductor, "Reset ITLKR. Reboot the system. Kill all secondary connections. I want ITLKR punching into that no-go zone, Conductor."

"Yes Grand Highness!"

Addavein's connection frazzled.

"Bah," Addavein said, "I doubt a reset would work, but you do you."

Addavein checked on his other main set of images.

Mark was flying to the east, which was good. Not sure why the guy was carrying some goblins with him, but that was a rather impressive bit of Shavallian-Union keeping those goblins down. Someone had told him about that part of the Binding, huh? Or maybe Mark had been Mark, and he had figured it out.

Either way, those goblins were going to be big problems for someone in Aluatha, and that was part of the goblin plan, too. Secondary to just Biting Mark, for sure. But still a good plan. They were gearing up for Total War.

Addavein wondered if the humans would let him help them then.

At least Mark was avoiding the secondary line of attack.

To the north, 20 kilometers up the Shine, was a pair of snipers; one spotter, one shooter. They had some truly impressive guns on them. Void-tipped bullets, it seemed. The pair of them wore some truly impressive stealth armor, too, but Addavein had spotted them when they had triggered Mark's Protect, and then when they kept trying to get through his Protect to latch on with aiming magic.

Their voices were garbled by their stealth magics, but Addavein managed to hear a few different things.

"Target approximately 5,200 meters out, and still headed north. Advise."

"Is the Protect still active?"

"Shooter cannot get a lock; Protect is active. Target is carrying two goblins in cages. They are not Protected. We can kill the goblins."

A silent moment.

"Scrap the mission. Leave."

The sniper and spotter packed up and got into their hovervan, parked under some brush.

Addavein turned back toward Mark, watching him fly north with the two goblins in tow. Addavein hummed. "Is he out of his league yet? Yes, obviously. But it's a good growth opportunity, so… no big brother to the rescue. Not yet." He muttered, "The only reason he's being targeted is because of me, anyway, so getting closer is bad… So… Hmm."

Addavein hummed in thought.

"… It would be pretty rude to let him flail around, but…"

Addavein hummed in thought.

"… I can do a little."

Addavein looked around to see if he could find that dissenter goblin he had seen the other day… Hmm.

"Now where is— Ah! There you are. Not too far off, too. Only a few hundred kilometers. You could make it if you knew to make it. I just need to… hmm… a tiny nudge, so that no one knew I was even there. Yes. Let's do that— ah! And I can pass along some information to the settlement. Yes."