Dark Matter Ascension

Jace saw his allies come in for a landing on the weird kite object. Dark Energy Mine (Rank 1), Detonate, he thought as he removed all gravity from himself. Kicking off the tree, he ascended into the sky towards the swarm of enormous fish. They were bristling with electricity and acid dripped from their bodies as they flew after the kite – until they spotted Jace. Turning as one, they all headed toward him.

This is going to hurt. Ollie, can you pump my anger response?

Got you covered! His Wayfinder replied in his mind.

Jace felt his heart race faster and his vision narrowed as crackling red began to ooze out of him. Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Raging Cleave (Rank 10) [Echoing Cleave]. The crimson nebula crackled like a storm around him as an aura of radiant, cosmic rage seeped from him. An artificially triggered hatred through manipulation of his brain's chemicals. With a scream of hatred, he swung in a lopping, horizontal slash that expanded far beyond his blade's reach – a full fifty feet in distance.

The slice went through a cluster of the fish, but the follow-up strike did not hit any new targets. He could see them close, and braced himself for a midair collision when a golden barrier popped into existence around him. "I got you!" Priam shouted from below.

Jace grinned and reactivated Raging Cleave (Rank 10) and took another swipe, cutting through a swath of the flying creatures. Then, they slammed into him, negating his upward momentum and carrying him with them down to the ground. Using their bodies as a battering ram, they forced him into the ground so hard that it left an impact crater. And then they began to bite, and flail with oddly sharp fins.

Priam's barrier blocked the hits, but was beginning to crack. The acid dripping from them and the lightning arcing across them did not help in the slightest, and Jace activated his Steelstalker Sabaton's built-in-Skill. Steel Gale Stride. A flurry of crimson blades of air extended from his feet, and he kicked away at the fish surrounding him, creating a temporary web of cutting, slicing wind.

Greg came roaring in, slamming into the cluster of fish with his Beamblade, cutting through the fish horde as best he could. That drew some of their attention, and Jace was able to buy enough space with his kicks to get to his feet and deactivate his mine. Standing upright, he began carving away alongside Greg, slicing into the horde of fish.

"Incoming!" Dee shouted as her voice came from the side of the clearing. "Big turtle!"

Jace was practically blinded by the swarm of fish around him, but he could see the faint red glow around an enormous shape crashing through the forest growth. Trying to push his way through the swarm of biting fish, he was able to get clear, fired off his grapple line, and pulled himself to a high branch to get an overview of the battlefield.

Greg was still swarmed – cursing with each strike as he fought against the horde of fish. He was practically invincible, and Jace couldn't help but wonder if anything could take the man down. Priam's barrier was not even affecting the man, and yet he seemed to hardly tire despite his armor beginning to melt from the acid. Priam and Dee were both off to the side of the clearing, near some trees. She had her hands up and was forming a massive sphere of acid, while Priam was staring at the shape Jace saw with the red outline.

With an enormous crunch a series of trees were pushed over as a truly gigantic turtle came rushing into the clearing. It was easily thirty feet tall at the top of the shell, and just as long and wide. The shell's top was covered with bladed protrusions that looked like a wavy pattern, and streams of icy chill cascaded from each of the blades. Its head was huge – the size of a car – and the sharp beak on the end of the mouth darted forward. Dozens of fish were gulped in the single motion.

And almost as one, the swarm of fish fled – leaving a huffing Greg who turned to face the creature. He let out a battle cry and began swinging at the thing. It pulled its head back before spinning in a circle, pulling its legs in. A tornado of icy wind kicked up around it, and it slammed into Greg sending him flying across the clearing.

Jace jumped down to the clearing and took up a stance in front of the creature; sword pointed forward and legs coiled to jump away. "Dark Matter Dark (Rank 4) [Exploding]," he whispered. The nine darts of force flashed out, impacting the hide and detonating. Small chips of ice and a few of the bladed protrusions were cut off – but no lasting damage was dealt. Jace had to dive to his left and come up in a sprint from the dodge roll as the bladed shell spun after him.

"Incoming!" Dee shouted as an enormous explosion of acid slammed into the thing, and the acid was scattered by the rotation of the thing. The caustic spray was flung all over the surrounding trees, and they began to shed the bark that was impacted – as if aware that the acid would just continue to burn their branches.

"It didn't work!" Priam shouted.

"I noticed!" She said back, exasperated.

Jace kept running around the clearing, and when the spinning shell got close, he grappled himself to a tree to get more distance. "What's the plan here?"

Quinn's voice came over the comms, "The weak spot is where the head and tail are – but you need to get it to stop spinning."

How can I do that? Jace thought as he wracked his brain. Ollie, turn off the anger stuff. I need to think.

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On it! Ollie replied.

Jace felt Wrath's Embrace fade and he kept running and grappling as he led the thing on a seemingly endless chase. Greg had recovered and stood opposite the clearing from Dee and Priam. "What's the plan?" Greg shouted.

Dee planted her hands on the ground, "Demolisher's Devastation (Rank 40) [Eruption]!" The ground in the center of the clearing erupted skyward, blowing into a geyser of microscopic silicate particles and leaving behind a crater. "Get it in there!"

Jace cut a course for the bowl in the ground, running across as the turtle followed him in. Turning to face it, he threw his sword with a Dark Energy Mine (Rank 1) attached to the blade. Detonate, he thought.

The mine went off in a pulse of invisible energy and the turtle floated slightly above the ground, stuck in the bowl. Shards of frost began to fling from it in all directions, and Priam dodged behind a tree with Dee while Greg took the blows on his chest, heedless of the harm inflicted.

Jace deflected the ice shards as they arced his direction, batting them away. "We need to get it to stop spinning!"

Greg shook his head, "No we don't!" he ran forward, held out the Beamblade so that the superheated cutting edge was poking into the shell. Almost instantly, the blade was ripped from his hands and went sailing away from his grip. "Well, shit."

I wonder if it's like a Skill? Jace raised his hand and whispered, "Void Counter (Rank 10)." The icy portion of the shell launching projectiles faded, but the spin was still going on.

"Jace, I have an idea!" Dee shouted. "Use that Void Removal thingy to get rid of the centrifugal force affecting it!"

Can I do that? Jace asked in his mind.

Well, you can remove and suppress an effect. Perhaps the rules of physics count? Ollie replied.

"Worth a try. Void Removal (Rank 9)." In forty-five feet around him, Jace willed that centrifugal force be removed.

The turtle stopped spinning instantaneously, and the head looked at Jace with what he could only describe as a confused expression. The head was glowing golden, and Jace knew it was the weak spot highlighted by Quinn's Skill. He stabbed forward, eliciting a roar of pain as he cut into the eye. It snapped its head forward and bit him – the beak clamping down on his leg and crushing the armor and the limb underneath.

Jace almost blacked out from the sudden onset of pain, but the fact that this thing was that fast despite being a goddamned turtle made him angry. "Wrath's Embrace (Rank 10) [Focused], Dark Matter Mending (Rank 4) [Vampiric]." The world exploded crimson around him once more, and with his now-held-in-place position, he was able to hack away with abandon. All pain was gone, and all he had was a hatred for the stupid turtle that was clamping down on his constantly mending leg.

He heard Greg and his curses as he was hacking away at it and heard Dee's shouts as she kept firing off blasts at the thing. Jace just chopped into it over and over as it began to shake him about like a chew toy. A soothing feeling washed over him as Priam's healing Skill went off, and his barrier popped almost instantly. "Die already!" Jace screamed out. He focused on his foot as the origin point and thought, Dark Matter Dart (Rank 4) [Exploding]. The projectiles fired, and he felt the explosions reverberate through the creature.

It threw him and Jace used his grapple line to pull himself to a tree rather than go flying into the canopy and the skies above. The NICIF drew on his energy to repair the armor, and the Dark Matter Mending had fully healed him, but he was running low. The Primal Hide's stockpile of energy refilled his reservoir.

The turtle flared with a bright, blue light and burning icicles formed all around the exterior of its body. "Ollie, what's the most valuable part?"

The shell, the Wayfinder replied.

Jace pointed his sword at the head, "Void Beam (Rank 2) [Limited Range]." The beam of white-grey energy lanced out and completely obliterated the thing's head. It collapsed to the ground, and the ice faded from its body as it lay slain. He let Wrath's Embrace fade, jumped down, and inspected the corpse. "It's large," he stated bluntly.

Greg walked over to him, his armor gouged and covered with acid burns – but the man himself looked in perfect health. "Annoying bugger." A trace of his British-Scottish border accent flickered through his voice as he spoke.

Priam and Dee joined the duo. "What now?" Dee asked.

Jace saw a diagram appear in his HUD as Quinn's voice came over the comms. "Now comes the messy part – disassembly."

The next few hours were spent breaking the turtle creature down. The meat was practically useless according to Quinn, but the shell was extremely valuable. By the time night began to set, the group were finished, had put the materials into Jace's TPSB, and were laying back for a moment of rest.

Quinn had told them about the beautiful night skies of Harkon Secundus, and they chose to take a moment to see the beauty of other worlds – something that Jace had not really thought of doing, but now that she mentioned it he longed for it. To see the night sky. Earth's sky was polluted by light on all but the darkest of nights when a blackout occurred, which happened once in his life.

Velenar Prime had some gorgeous night skies, but Nihilethelea was naught but swirling silver and gold. Poltor Six was an ice ball hurtling through space – so the blur of the sky overhead was all he had seen. This world was supposed to have something marvelous to see.

Night fully enveloped the world, and almost immediately the entire forest lit up around them with a subtle, green glow. It was not a harsh light that polluted the skies above; instead, the green glow was almost akin to a border around his vision, coloring the overall scene above. And what a sight it was; a tapestry of enormous stars that were all manner of multitudinous emeralds in the sky above. Sapphire stars that interweaved with the gentle dance of celestial bodies in their orbits. Ruby orbs that burned with the fire of ancient forges from a bygone era.

It was truly awe-inspiring, and Jace couldn't help but think, I need to bring Shhiv here to see this. And Chroma, once we get her back. This…it's almost indescribable.

We'll get Chroma back soon enough! Ollie replied.

True, Jace thought back. Soon. Once we sell some of this stuff, and Quinn gets the rest sold off, we should have a lot of Stardust to use on levels. And now we have a plan in place. He sighed with content.

Priam pointed up to the sky above, "Anyone else see that weird shape up there?"

"I don't," Dee replied. "Nothing but the mountains slowly moving in the sky over that way," she pointed over to her left.

Jace spotted a glimmer in the skies above, and then saw the outline of limning blue against the backdrop of the skies. "Not something we have to worry about," he stated. "Just something that lives here."

"A phoenix," Quinn replied, following up with, "I'm watching through your Celestial Observer."

"Flaming bird?" Greg asked.

"Correct," Quinn replied. "On this world, seeing them is considered good fortune."

Maybe we are due for some luck, Jace thought as he kept staring into the endless expanse above.