Icarus Awakens

The plan was falling apart. Zolyra cursed the Tyrant for their impatience but there was nothing to be done about them now. At least their forces still fought, with the dusker Berserker taking command of those formerly under Ashier's guidance. What concerned her most was the appearance of the true elites.

As she had expected, they'd been deployed at the worst possible time. Aurus' unwitting defenders were too entrenched in the civil war to meaningfully repel what they'd see as a monster attack. If Zozar had been foolish enough to include them from the beginning it was likely the city's counter-siege weapons would've been split between the two groups. Those her side controlled still did so, but in a less coordinated and decidedly desperate way.

Remove Zozar from the field and Zolyra might have been able to contest this group with the spells she had active. Numbers were always the counter to higher levels, but she was a formidable six of her own right. The only other mortal turned monster that got close to that was Ashier's pet dragon which had now gone rampant, though thankfully it seemed his only interest was escaping. If anyone else of the former Sojourn was that powerful they might be able to pressure her into a last stand similar to Ashier's attempt at regicide.

Zolyra's blood froze as the moment after she had that thought, one appeared. A level 6 monster trailing the others, headed her way. A truewyrm, a young one, but a species seen as superior to dragons despite the faint relation. The last iridium scroll eased its way out of her armor as she saw what was undoubtedly the last nail in her coffin falling.

Then, for no discernible reason, the monster broke off from its dive to pursue a different target.

…

The time for vengeance was at hand. Claire Elsemar had not expected it to be this soon, had not expected to do what she had done, but in the end only one thing mattered. It wasn't the war between the mortals and monsters, she didn't care which side was right in the end. When the Sojourn had explained that she could either join the Spiritualists or die she had surprised them by accepting without any shock at all, though only after they clarified that her nemesis wasn't loyal to them. Not anymore, at least.

Her only intent was to kill Rorshawd, and she had to give it to the old god in the mountain, it had given her the means to destroy him. Most had only been given a form one level above their mortal body when communing with the deity, the rest of the power generated from this process supposedly speeding the reawakening of it. But not Claire. No, when her soul had been within its grasp it had recognized the hatred she burned with. Saw her potential, and given her a form to match.

And as promised, as Fated, when Claire descended upon Aurus she found her quarry attempting to flee like the coward he was. She ignored the pink dragon a hair larger than herself and was satisfied when she was ignored in turn. What came after she killed Rorshawd she couldn't say. Claire couldn't imagine her life past that point, though her future had been permanently changed either way.

The red dragon she chased noticed and turned his head while beating his wings harder. "Stay back! I fought against my will. I am not your enemy."

"Parduc."

The dragon blinked, wondering if he'd misheard. "What?"

Claire continued to gain on the dragon, though she withheld her powers for now. "My brother. You will die for taking him from me!"

Alarmed, Rorshawd spun in the air to get a better look at her and flinched when he accurately read that he was outmatched. She prepared to strike, but something in the way the dragon looked at her gave Claire so much pause that he had a chance to beg. "You're not a gestalt. Wait, Thormundz? You're new to the Spiritualists. They lie, they all lie!" He exclaimed, voice rising as he apparently thought he'd seized on a good argument. "I was left broken and to die at the hands of your so-called Lord. We are only pawns to them. If you aren't a gestalt then you aren't tied to Zozar. You can leave, with me." His voice turned toward the end, and through instincts that were still unfamiliar Claire felt the glands around her fangs release venom. "We have already been given as much reward as we can expect. Take it, and leave them their war. Forget everything and everyone from your mortal life, they don't matter now. Only power does, or so I thought." In what he must have assumed was an endearing way, Rorshawd made a fatal mistake. "I have to admit, you are the first creature I've come across since my evolution that I have found… pleasing to behold. Perhaps I could help show you the advantages of our new form?"

Claire's eyes burned, and while Rorshawd immediately realized his mistake, it was too late to stop her from charging.

…

"Back off! Back off and reset our formation!" Evalyn yelled, disbelief and excitement plain in her voice. While Daniel had stacked Elemental Onslaught to a significant degree, he didn't risk a followup attack and dove back to the ground. All the while he was expecting a sharp pain to bite into his back, but it didn't come.

Instead, the razor stomper shrieked as purple energy visibly streaked across its body from the two points of impact. The more flexible limbs dug into the chest where he'd struck, but it was already too late. Daniel passed the hybrid form over the Hunter and re-identified the monster.

Corrupted Razor Stomper - (4, ~Converted~, Forced Transmutation)

"We got it, class removed!" he confirmed. His hands moved quickly to retrieve his blast bow, being mindful to load a magazine with alternating elemental damage. Hunter also decreased their Empathic Link to its lowest state while the team reoriented. The heightened coordination would be less meaningful if Daniel was going back to his ranged role, and the presence of Shuni was continuing to be a strain when their emotions were open to each other.

"Cutters one through four, box formation on my target, free engage." Evalyn gestured to the razor stomper, and the four drones that had been pursuing maulers in the background swerved to the large monster now twitching slightly. "Let's back off, burn mana, and end this. Daniel, any idea what that is?"

Now with only one shield layer between him and the projections around the core, Daniel was able to cleanly identify the one she was talking about.

Arcadian Gazer - (Astral Projection: Grade 5)

The projection at first appeared similar to when he'd seen it last, a floating orb of the scale-like flesh projections had with one eye, but it began to turn to reveal a second one had opened on the opposite side. It still hadn't made any aggressive movements, however. "If it's what I'm thinking it is we'll have to worry about beam attacks. Clean up out here and then drop the shield?"

"Yeah." She paused her song, making Alex stumble as she was still playing, and shot a Songbolt before changing to the one buffing ranged attacks. "Thanks. This was insanely risky, but I guess I shouldn't underestimate us."

"Not out of the woods y-" Daniel cut off as Sigron ran over and put a hand on his chest.

"Sorry," he said to Daniel's raised eyebrow. "Should have sooner. No time." Daniel gasped slightly as one of the Knight's bond hands flew into him, and he felt the necrotic energy fade. He'd heard Khiat describe what had happened in the armory when her curses and poison had been cleared, but rather than a flashback, he felt a warmth begin to build in his chest that pushed out the invading energy. His mind did return to each of the three on the team he felt closest to, but he otherwise stayed in the moment. "Better?"

"You're definitely still in the running for the weirdest bond," Daniel joked, before the timer on Elemental Onslaught and a corruption circle appearing from below spurred him into motion. The projections that had spawned randomly around the room in cages were beginning to congregate, and they'd been buffed as far as they could go. The impalers had already started throwing two javelins at once and did so at increased speed now, limbs blurring, while the caster's spells had gained improved range and diameter. The stalkers had joined the other projections in gaining corruption damage on their attacks, while the maulers seemed to be healing extremely quickly now if the result of Shuni hitting one with a dagger was anything to judge by.

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He would've been extremely worried if not for the discovery that Imbue Astral could work as a corruption cleanse. That last burst left Daniel now surging with mana, so much that he was slightly worried about it throwing the pattern of his abilities off. They were in the last stretch, and it would take something extreme from the gazer to turn the tide once they freed it.

Turning his blast bow on the razor stomper now deleting Padri's drones, he chambered an explosive lightning round, charged it with Scatter Shot, and used activated Snap Shot as he pulled the trigger. Despite it lacking the extra punch from Power Shot, the trance heightening his elemental damage synergized with Evalyn's song and Scatter Shot to produce a sizable chain of explosions that knocked the large monster back slightly. The monster had tried to intercept the attack with an attempted red slash, but as he'd hoped it couldn't use any of its powers anymore.

It still came out of the attack mostly unscathed, reminding Daniel of his explosive ammunition's shortcomings when it came to armored targets. The durability of a typical level 4 monster's hide could be counted as 'armored' for the sake of his enchanted munitions, especially when the primary damage was dealt to the hardened blades. He could have taken the time to swap out magazines to regular ammunition, but why do things the boring way when you were overcharged with mana?

"Flash Craft!" A frostfang bullet appeared in the receiver, only to be fired after Scatter Shot was applied to it. The corrupted monster blocked this as well, but the spectral copies appeared as lines of damage rather than wide explosions and bit into its hide. With that it stopped swatting at the two remaining cutters and began to stomp toward him.

"Daniel, do you need help?" Evalyn asked, catching the shift.

The Artificer considered everything, from his mana surplus to the Accompanied song buffing his shots, and smiled. "Nah, I got this. The rest of you should keep knocking down projections." He Jumped away toward the edges of the room and then into the gap between the cages and the wall, the razor stomper still following him. Before they'd needed the cover, but now it only hurt him. With the gentle rise in the floor it also kept him screened from most other attacks, allowing him to solely deal with the level 4.

Daniel activated his boots but kept low to the ground, propelling himself backward along the wall while firing all the while. He continuously cycled Flash Craft, Scatter Shot, and Snap Shot, managing a faster rate of fire than if he had to manually reload the weapon. While the razor stomper did initially gain on him, one of his frostfang bullets lucked out and inflicted freeze. A cold blue spread across its body, dramatically slowing its movement. This only lasted ten or so seconds, the baseline endurance of the monster fighting the effect, but the stream of ever more powerful elemental attacks kept coming. Even his projectile speed and power was enhanced, the trance power affecting the initial explosion that propelled the shot. It may have led to a catastrophic failure if the fire energy breached the receiver, but Daniel was saved by both wisely removing the loaded magazine, and his foresight in using andorite to toughen that part of the blast bow to level 3.

Eventually his shots began to pierce all the way through, and by that point the razor stomper was riddled with holes. It had lived through more pain than any biological creature had a right too, but it was at the level where such fortitude was to be expected. Daniel broke his steady rhythm to charge a Power Shot, giving it as much time as Elemental Onslaught's refresh limit would allow before sending a crackling bullet toward the razor stomper's chest.

The initial impact left a hole bigger than his fist, and then the rain of secondary projectiles eroded what vitality it had left away. The monster fell to its knees, the shattered remnants of its sharpened limbs scraping the floor as it died. Daniel's eyes panned around the room for another target he could abuse to keep the elemental train chugging, though the closest one died as soon as he laid eyes on it by a headshot Khiat accomplished by curving the arrow around an entire cage. Then he had another idea and Flash Crafted a phasing round into the chamber.

…

Astral corruption was beyond the understanding of mortals and monsters. It was the curse of this world, the manifestation of bitter hatred and old sin that infested the Arcadian and fueled the Crest. Yet there was Balance in it, a concept that those aware of the fundamental laws sometimes misunderstood. It was not equality, nor justice, it was simply Balance, and there were many ways it could manifest. In the uncontrolled environment of the Arcadian it did so in a simple way; the power it was allowed to defend itself with was proportional to the souls of those intruding on its territory, as well as the amount of corruption present in one location.

As one might assume, the main power core of the Arcadian contained the more than any other place in the vessel. It wasn't just the size of the rift but another, darker reason. Against most the number of defenders and defenses in place would assure the corruption would never be removed. But for an Artificer and the team with him, who were now close to fully banishing all active traces of it.

One final obstacle remained. An arcadian gazer, a high quality astral projection that Wingcraft normally wouldn't have faced were it not for the initial presence of the level 4 monster with the remnants of a level 3 soul. Should Zolyra and five others her level have braved this gauntlet they would not have been faced with thousands of lesser projections but those with forms and abilities far more devastating.

Like the gazer. Its two main eyes now held multiple means of destruction and corruption thanks to the empowerment of the rift it was tethered to. From a wide beam that could rapidly corrode the mana structure of anything caught within it, to smaller lances of petrification, the gazer would give any who bore witness to it pause. Were it not for shield initially intended to protect it until it was at the height of its power, it would have been unleashed on the intruding mortals already. There was no impatience, or patience, or desire for the wardens to drop the shield prematurely. The gazer's mind, if it could be called that, was foreign but relatively simple, and all it knew was that its abilities were useless until it had direct line of sight.

Then the first terrible impact hit it. The projectile had been relatively small, but the magic within magnified the injury. Far more severe was an elemental presence that wracked the gazer's body with lightning. It swiveled to face the threat, only for an ice-infused attack to strike it seconds later. Another fell, then another, and by the time the gazer considered to attack the wardens it was too late.

As soon as the gazer was broken a gray bird infiltrated the secondary shield domes surrounding the wardens one by one, brutally exhausting her mana as she silenced them one by one. Some corruption invaded her form thanks to the beams projected from the hands of each warden, but the mortals were beyond worrying about that.

The final shield dropped, leaving a handful of projections and corrupted avianoids surrounding a large device in the center. While most engaged the projections, Daniel had rotated to Khiat's side and began Flash Crafting stunning arrows that the archer used to expertly knock down those who could be saved. What was meant to be the most difficult challenge they would face in cleansing the rift became a rout instead. The last projection fell, and a titanic burst of mana was released, straining the uncorrupted mana structures present.

Daniel quickly reached the rift, placing his hand upon it. With that done, the beating heart of an ancient vessel, one that had been constricted by the mistakes of the past for longer than some gods had lived, glowed with new color as it was cleansed.

You have accomplished Feat: Slay Monsters.

This has unlocked potential for growth. 5 Advancement Potential have been awarded. You may assign them with Function: Settings in addition to expending potential through normal methods.

Arcadian Security Alert

>Corruption at Main Power Core node fully purged.

>Total remaining corruption: 65.5%

>Warning! Several incompletely purged nodes remain. Immediate attention is required to prevent node relapse.

>Closest affected node: Tower Hanger Control Room

>Processing…

>Action successful. Path routed to nearest incompletely purged node.

…

Arcadian Security Alert

>CRITICAL ALERT!

>System analysis has determined that the main source of astral corruption has been removed.

>Nodes incompletely purged of astral corruption will now be fully cleansed if all power cores feeding them are fully cleansed.

>The following nodes have been fully purged due to this interaction:

>Lower Aft Maintenance Tunnels

>Lower Arboretum

>Lower Storage Bay 2

>Lower Hanger Control Room

>Marking remaining corrupted power cores on detected mapping feature.

>Marking corrupted system nodes eligible for automatic cleansing on detected mapping feature.

…

Arcadian Administrative Alert

>Teleportation gates at five nodes have been activated. Further power consumption noted.

>Processing…

>Critical Warning! Arcadian power supply critical. Rainbow drive inoperable. Main power core online, estimating power reserves at 89%.

>Current nodes active: 13

…

Arcadian Security Alert

>Sufficient power restored to Aft Starboard Ventral Battery.

>Ventral cannons online.

>Warning! Command and control functions unavailable due to ongoing corruption of critical nodes.

>Weapon systems currently locked.

…

Arcadian Administrative Alert

>Power has been restored to a ventral cannon battery. Access is currently restricted.

>As acting administrator, you may override protocol to enable manual control.

>Override Aft Starboard Ventral Battery cannons?

Yes/No