Manifest War: The Weapons Within

Varric looked over at Von Melrose’s unconscious body and then back towards Azhane, thinking heavily about his next move. He then began to hold both of his arms upwards, palms facing the sky.

Large red and white runic symbols appeared around him in a circle, surrounding his entire area. A massive burst of Core Energy built up as the ground beneath him shook vigorously, crumbling the already devastated terrain.

Varric’s power grew to incredible levels, showcasing just how formidable of a Calamity Class Vesta he was. His rings shined brightly and suddenly a pillar of fire welled up from his body, fully engulfing him. The flaming pillar shot upwards into the sky and transformed into a massive red and white phoenix.

Its entire body was a glowing pure white, looking absolutely beautiful to the naked eye. The bird sparkled as its red flames reflected against it. Cinders of fire danced in the air as the creature flapped its large wings, fully covered in deep red flames. It screeched loudly, letting out an ear piercing and high-pitched rhythm.

Azhane stared it down as the phoenix rose higher into the sky, knocking away her onslaught of swords with ease. Then with immense speed, the bird flew directly towards her. Its all white body was completely covered in the deep red flames, increasing the air temperature to absurd levels.

Despite all of the swords and weapons attacking it, the phoenix continued its pursuit, not stopping until it hit its target. It glowed brightly as it got closer and closer, the heat becoming hotter and hotter.

The phoenix collided with Azhane and a massive, fiery explosion occurred in the sky. Fire rained down in spectacular fashion, looking as though a volcano had violently erupted all the magma from within. The sky was filled with thick, black smoke and Varric emerged from it all.

He slowly floated down to the ground below, breathing heavily and completely out of Core Energy. He patted out a small flame on his pants leg and removed his burnt up trench coat, feeling that it wasn’t even worth wearing anymore.

“Did I get her? It’s been a few years since I’ve used that skill. Luckily we’re inside some other dimension, otherwise that would’ve destroyed everything within twenty miles at least.” Varric muttered under his breath, looking upward at the smoke filled sky and the falling balls of fire everywhere. As he continued to look up, the smoke slowly started to lift and what he saw made his stomach drop.

Azhane floated above with a second black gauntlet covering her and providing protection. It had taken considerable damage from the fiery blast, but Azhane remained completely unscathed. The gauntlet moved off to the side to show Azhane’s face.

She looked incredibly agitated by his attack, angered that she had to reveal this aspect of her Manifest to someone else. Varric’s jaw dropped as he was at a loss for words, having no idea how this woman survived an attack that could level multiple cities in one shot.

“T-There’s just no way…” As soon as these words exited his mouth, he felt something sharp hit his chest. A blade had pierced him straight through, missing all vital organs as it lodged itself deep in his chest. Varric screamed out in pain as the blade lifted him off the ground and up towards Azhane. It paused in front of her, allowing Azhane to float over and look him face to face.

“If you were capable of all this, why did you even waste your time fighting us normally before? Is this some kind of game to you?” Varric asked with a heavy grimace.

“I had hoped I could defeat you two without resorting to this, but I was wrong..” She replied, now beginning to look and sound like her usual self again.

“Tsk, lame.. So what now toots? Gonna kill us?” He asked, preparing himself for the end.

“No, you idiots aren’t worth killing. However, try something like this again and I won’t be so merciful..” She glared at Varric with her piercing red eyes and in that same instance, the blade tossed him straight to the ground. He crashed into the same crater as Von and laid on top of him fully unconscious.

Her two Calamity Class foes were soundly defeated, having depleted their Core Energy pool and losing the will to continue fighting. Azhane floated down to the ground and once she landed, the three found themselves back on the battlefield in southern Volaire. She looked over at the two unconscious bodies on the floor and sighed, feeling exhausted from such a long fight.

Although they were only gone for thirty seconds in the real world, Von and Varric had endured the plain of nothingness for thirty minutes. This was the longest anyone had ever survived inside of Azhane’s Manifest. Up until this point, she had never had to fight for such an extensive period of time.

She stepped forward a bit and then aimed her right palm up to the sky. Azhane fired off a massive Black hole orb into the clouds above, making sure it could be seen from miles away. She was signaling to the others to begin their operation as she had completed her mission. Azhane exhaustedly lowered her arm and then in that same moment, she felt a massive jolt in her head.

Azhane collapsed to the ground and suddenly, multiple purple chains emerged from her Manifest and wrapped around her body. They squeezed incredibly tightly before fading away as her Manifest dematerialized itself. She rolled over onto her back and struggled to keep her eyes open as copious amounts of Core Energy left her body. However, just as she was going in and out of consciousness, Azhane heard a muffled voice calling her from a short distance away.

“Your Majesty. Your Majesty!!” She squinted through her blurred vision and saw Graymoor sprinting towards her. Graymoor arrived at the scene and he quickly crouched down, picking up the Queen gently. He lifted her up into his arms, like a prince carrying his princess, making sure she was fully comfortable.

Her battered body looked small and frail in his large frame as he carried her towards his horse. Azhane snuggled her head into his shoulder as she looked up at Graymoor’s face.

“Thank.. You.. Go to.. Castle…” She said with an extremely weakened and exhausted voice. She gently caressed the side of his face as he looked down at her, giving Azhane a determined nod.

“Of course, Your Majesty! Rest now, I will take it from here.” He replied with great care, not wasting any time to get her to safety. He placed her onto his horse as he quickly got on behind her, keeping Azhane’s body close to his. They set off at a breakneck speed and Azhane fell deep asleep.

During Azhane’s fearsome battle against Von and Varric, Zalthia and her unit were making their way to the enemy's backline. As they snuck around the Lumen and Arista militaries, they stopped briefly to discuss their plans further. Zalthia walked over to Caleb, handing him a black cloak and a simple mouth cover.

“What is this for?” He asked with curiosity.

“You’re the crown prince of another nation. The last thing we need are people recognizing your face and thinking Melspire is assisting us in this war. It would cause a multitude of issues for your father.” Zalthia responded with a serious tone. Caleb nodded as he fully understood what she meant, taking the attire from her and putting it on.

“Alright, Carmen and Caleb you’re with me. We'll divide and conquer the groups at this camp alongside our remaining forces. Defeat as many of their soldiers as possible, hold nothing back. Sarah, I need you and the other archers in our group to head to that ridge over there. Stay hidden within the trees and provide us with cover fire. We’re going to hit them from all angles and we’re going to hit them hard, cause as much chaos as possible so we can halt their advance.” Zalthia looked at her group to confirm that everyone was ready, taking note of their hearty nods.

“Let’s give 'em hell!” She thrust her fist into the air and everyone in the group gave Zalthia a loud cry before heading off to their respective positions. Caleb and Carmen began their walk to the left side of the base while Zalthia stepped towards the right, pulling out her Manifest in the process. The eerie power permeating from the scythe sent chills down her group's spines as they got closer to the camp.

Shortly after, some guards sitting down at the entrance noticed someone slowly approaching their location. They couldn't quite make out who it was until they focused and squinted their eyes. Her features came into view as they saw Zalthia’s silver hair flowing in the wind and her red eyes glaring into their souls. The large demonic looking scythe in her hands felt beyond dangerous and the guards quickly stood up with expressions filled with fear.

“Zalthia of One has appeared!!!” One of the guards yelled out, hoping to get the attention of the others within their camp. A horn blared loudly in the distance as hundreds of soldiers began to mobilize, quickly taking their positions at the rear. However, before they could even start to prepare for combat, Zalthia dashed towards the mob of soldiers with blinding speed.

She mightily swung her Manifest at them and the blade cleaved through their bodies with ease. Limbs and blood flew everywhere as she made quick and effortless work of the weaker forces of the enemy's backline.

She continued her gruesome assault and just as she leapt out to create some space between them, Zalthia split into ten other copies of herself. All of her clones donned the same dangerous looking Manifest and they each assumed a different pose with the weapon, showing incredible coordination. They all rushed in different directions of the massive group of soldiers and caused even more carnage, slicing and dicing anyone in their path. Zalthia twirled Mind Reaper around in her hands before joining in on the fun again.

“Woah, your sister is amazing!” Caleb said with an amazed expression, gushing over Zalthia’s immense level of skill.

“Yeah, she is. There’s a reason why she’s the leader of the Six. But hey, we need to focus on our half!” Carmen replied, pushing back an enemy soldier with her gravity manipulation. Caleb nodded as he swiped at another soldier with his Manifest, knocking him to the ground with great force.

The duo rushed in and easily handled these soldiers, having no issue at all forcing them away. While the size of the backline was quite large, it was mostly composed of weaker soldiers from Lumen and Arista. They were essentially the reserve unit in case they needed more bodies to throw at the enemy. Their top fighters were all on the front lines, forging a path forward.

The goal of Zalthia’s group was to cause as much damage as possible so Lumen and Arista would be forced to stop their advance and send reinforcements from the front line to assist.

Caleb weaved and dodged their coordinated attacks, firing off ice shards of his own to dispatch anyone that got too close. He saw someone approaching Carmen from behind and Caleb quickly aimed his Manifest at the ground. The icy blue rapier glowed as multiple pillars of ice flew up from the dirt below.

The soldier was flung into the air with incredible speed and power. Carmen quickly turned around and smiled at Caleb, thanking him for the assist. He nodded as he dashed over towards her, so they could stand back-to-back.

Carmen aimed her Manifest upwards, thrusting it into the sky. Suddenly the sky shifted dark as an eclipse began to occur over the sun. The air grew colder and moments later the surrounding soldiers were hammered by an incredible amount of gravitational force. They dropped to their knees and flattened out like dominoes as the gravity field grew larger and larger.

Once she finished her ability, Caleb quickly summoned forth more ice shards and fired them off into the crowds of kneeling soldiers. Carmen followed suit, shooting black needles in all directions from her Manifest.

Off in the distance they saw massive explosions happening. Soldiers were sent flying off in multiple directions, getting dispatched left and right. Sarah and a large number of other long range Vestas were firing their skills from afar, giving everyone support. This assault continued for quite awhile and even though the battle was going well for them, Carmen noticed that the fight was taking a bit too long.