Path of the Deathless (Book 2 Completed)

212 (II)

Pacify

Parts of Andra's skull surfaced. And every time they did, another loud explosion of cracking bone followed. A jet of ruined brain matter squirted along the ceiling of the anchor.

Shiv stared with disgust and disbelief. She had a long javelin in her hands, needle-thin and impossibly sharp. She pushed hard, driving the tip deeper into Shiv's Vitae. A creeping trail of frost spread out from the point of penetration, expanding like a rash.

The Deathless focused his Shapeless Tides, and they crashed against the expanding coldness. But then, Andra's cryoclone twisted past her, bringing down an axe shaped from ice magic as well. As it fell, Shiv swung his frying pan upward. He had to sacrifice some of his tides to do so. Every action he performed, every feat of force, was an interplay of his vectors and his kinesiology. And though he managed to parry the cut, his Frictionless Vector causing the anchor to be hewed clean through to his left, he didn't have enough resources to stop the javelin from sinking in deeper.

Frictionless Vector 88 > 92

"I know not what tricks you have, Deathless," Andra said. Her words were slightly slurred, and she kept blinking. Leftover brain damage, Shiv blearily realized. That was probably the only reason he was still fully alive.

His thoughts and movements were slowed. He was half-frozen over. He couldn't even keep track of Urri's wild, flailing movements anymore. Meanwhile, Andra and her clone were doing their best to hold him in place. The Jotun herself struggled to control her movements and command her clone at the same time. But even so, the advantage was theirs. Andra held Shiv against the wall. She snapped her javelin and speared him with another.

The cryoclone channeled blasts and scything blades of ice magic that curved in from the side. Worse, the mana they radiated out from themselves was crawling into him as well. A crusted layer of dense black ice coated his Vitae, and he found himself succumbing, without and within.

He triggered his temporal shell once more. The campus' wards didn't hit him this time, but Andra was like an inferno of time, burning his Chronomancy field away. Even so, it didn't do it that fast. Shiv had a second before his partially regenerated shell was dissolved.

And during that time, he wrapped what remained of his biomass around Andra's face, arms, and legs. He would have gone for his newest corpse as well, but then the temporal wards erupting from Urri's body struck him, and the little bit of time he had turned into practically none at all.

Even so, he did manage to do something. The Jotun flinched back with a muffled cry of surprise. Instead of trying to fight the ice, Shiv wrapped a thin string of white and red around her midsection. Bits of his body crackled and broke as he forced himself through the stilling frost. But he managed, and with a burst of force further fueled by his rage, he flung Andra into her cryoclone.

This proved to be a mistake. As Andra and her cryoclone met, a burst of power erupted from them. The air grew twice as cold, then thrice. The Jotun slammed a foot down on the ground, and the insides of the anchor froze over immediately. The walls around Shiv turned dense with thick layers of frost. And instead of trying to rip the biomass free from her body, she started freezing it instead. As she did, it turned brittle, and with a flex of limbs and a brief pull at her face, Shiv's dirty trick turned into naught but shards of glinting gore.

Godsdamn it, Shiv hissed internally.

The Jotun was a problem, and then Urri appeared behind her. The Vulteg looked more furious than ever. He clenched the mangled remains of Shiv's flesh cocoon in his right hand, and he nearly threw himself at him again.

Shiv had bought himself enough time to trigger Non-Sequitur once more, but as he did, he only suffered a blast of pain creeping through his body. It was like he was pinned in place, like his mana wouldn't—the javelin, the ice. Of course he couldn't use his Magical Skills. They were frozen as well, and his Unique Skill required his soul to be fluid too.

The Jotun let out a breath, and it billowed forth like waves of steam, masking the room in a haze. The outline of an ice-shaped dragon manifested behind her, and he felt the temperature inside the anchor drop to the point where even the air particles seemed to freeze.

But instead of panicking, her breath inspired him. He still had another skill to use, one he couldn't rely on against adversaries with superior Awareness—or Harlock in particular. As Urri and Andra moved, seeking to finish Shiv, a swelling tide of blackness erupted out from him as he called upon his Creeping Void.

Immediately, the difference between the two Legendary Pathbearers made itself known. Urri blinked across space and drove a fist into Shiv. A good section of the Deathless shattered, and death loomed ever closer. But Andra flinched back. Andra hesitated. She was the more cautious of the two. And that was what spared him. That and her lacking Awareness.

"What is this trickery?" she cried aloud.

Urri, meanwhile, threw fist after fist in the direction of Shiv. But that was an apt description. In the direction. He'd already shattered Shiv, and now that he couldn't see where he was, he was simply pounding against Andra's ice lining the insides of the anchor.

The Creeping Void 115 > 117

Come on! Shiv cried internally. He gathered his power and drew on both his desperation and what few Overflow Tides he managed to amass. The remainder of him snapped free from the wall with a crackling noise, and then he leaped sluggishly through the air, using Urri's vitality signature as his guide. He touched the Vulteg and immediately started draining from the brute's being.

Once more, the insides of the anchor came alive with lifeforce, but Shiv had more left to offer. Urri blinked and swung another fist at Shiv. He missed dramatically, and then Shiv wrapped his growing Vitae around the Vulteg, draining from him once more.

Vitaemancy 121 > 123

With the final burst of life force, Shiv resurrected, and this time he didn't fight alone. "Orcs!" he called aloud. "Time to scratch that godsdamn itch! Bring out the bracelet too!" Shiv cut out his Creeping Void right after.

And the reinforcements hiding within his cape responded without any hesitation. As they emerged, Shiv saw they were crusted with frost as well. A section of Tequila's face looked bruised, probably from how fast Shiv was moving around. Then there was Helix, who seemed utterly unbothered.

Waves of twisting Biomancy extended out from behind the orc, and they formed the shape of wings designed in the orc's namesake. Around his arm, however, was a construct of glistening golden Dimensionality, and Helix punched forward, flinging it free from his body. A second thereafter, the ring activated, and from inside came a new shape, a new Pathbearer entering the battlefield.

A chain of Veilpiercers struck both Urri and Andra. The Vulteg shrugged the missile off, but the Jotun let out a cry of annoyance. Maybe she was weaker in terms of Toughness, but that didn't help if she could regenerate.

Shiv needed to destroy her body entirely, probably crush her soul to make sure that she stayed dead.

"You will be still!" Andra cried aloud. She held out a hand, and the bracelet briefly began to freeze. Adam's Chronomantic form lagged in the air as well, and Shiv felt his stomach drop as he hoped his friend wouldn't be affected.

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But that was when Shiv noticed Adam was wearing his Legendary armor once more, and he was also using a new bow, one that looked far too large for him. As Adam's golden form plunged back into the bracelet's center, the orcs attacked.

Tequila was the first to strike, his wands flaring bright and hot as bolts of Dynamacy impacted both Jotun and Vulteg. They didn't do any damage either, but the bolts didn't fade. Instead, they stuck to the Legendary Pathbearers' bodies and immediately began pulling them upward. The bolts shivered and pulsed with power, and the gravity clinging to the escaped convicts was inverted.

Urri pawed at the bolt, but then let out a very uncharacteristic cry as a swarm of stinging insects crawled into his mouth and pried at the corners of his eye and ears. At the same time, Helix flapped another one of his wings, and it spiraled through the air, slamming into Andra's chest. She froze a portion of his Biomancy field in response. The orc winced, but then shattered that wing without any hesitation. It turned into a spray of ichor, and instead of freezing, it boiled hot. He sustained himself using his Biomancy, and he grew brighter with power as he generated more insects from his depths.

Whistling blades tore past Shiv's head. They glistened like stars in the night sky, falling to strike dead those who oppose the magnificence of darkness. Shiv didn't know where Whisper was, and that made him smile. The orc's Stealth Skill was a nightmare. With the automaton prisoner disabled, it was likely no one could easily contend with Whisper via their Awareness.

So long as Shiv kept both the Vulteg and the Jotun busy, they could win this. The Deathless launched himself forward. He slammed shoulder-first into Andra's chest, and then threw her against the walls of ice she'd created. Her cold constantly lashed at him, but his Shapeless Tides flowed faster, keeping him from being consumed. His inertial sheath rumbled and barked with incredible force; his bones rattled and fissured. But he didn't detonate, not with the orcs nearby, and especially because he needed the speed advantage.

Andra was fast. She moved through the air like there was no resistance at all. She formed a javelin in her hand and swung it down, trying to pin him beneath her. She had half a meter of height on him, a bit short compared to most orcs, but even so, it gave her a reach advantage.

One that didn't matter once Shiv left context.

He slammed into her again, picking her up by her back just as the top part of her javelin clipped his vitality decoy. It began to freeze, but it wasn't destroyed entirely. Shiv felt a chill wash through his core. There was still a connection between him and his decoy, and he guessed part of her magic was spilling over.

But he didn't have time to worry about that. He had a prisoner to disable. He buried his frying pan in the base of her neck before she could rise. A wet snap of gristle and parting tendon was his reward, but her vertebrae were made of harder stuff.

Shiv stomped down with his boot, trying to drive his pan all the way through. But then her cryoclone burst free from her body, sending Shiv stumbling. The clone cleaved and cut blindly, summoning javelins, axes, and whips. Tequila let out a cry of alarm and then blinked forward ahead into time, barely avoiding the blow.

Another one of her cuts struck Urri in the back, but the Vulteg was such a defensive powerhouse that he didn't even notice.

Finally, Helix dealt with the blow his way as well, dissipating into a swarm of strange-looking creatures. They resembled winged reptiles, and they flew through the air without any fear of the ice at all.

As this continued, Adam reappeared from the corner of the room, slipping out of the bracelet before he fired another few shots. One of them clipped the cryo-clone at the ankle, and it stumbled. That gave them just long enough for more reinforcements to arrive. The many rifts opened in the room were tunnels, tunnels connecting this anchor to a certain coliseum hidden underground.

This had been Plan B. If Shiv couldn't talk the prisoners down, then they were going to meet them with overwhelming force.

Gone exploded out from the portal, and she tore into Andra's body where Shiv stood beside. The goblin was so fast that the scene before Shiv resembled a blur more than anything else. It was like a small whirlwind of death and blood had suddenly manifested before him.

The goblin absolutely savaged the giant's flesh. Every bit of meat was peeled clean from Andra's bones. Despite this, despite countless nicks becoming thousands of nicks, becoming nothing but nicks, the bones endured. Gone was fast beyond fast, but ultimately, her lack of might and Andra's passable Toughness spared the Jotun a final end.

Shiv joined the fray once more. He brought his frying pan down but gasped as he struggled to move. Then he realized that he was bleeding vitality. Not only that, his decoy had shattered, and a wave of coldness was creeping out from his center. He was freezing over again.

Goddammit, Shiv repeated for the third time. He directed his tides inward, crushing the ice and forcing it back. If he didn't have Shapeless Tides, if someone didn't possess overwhelming Magical Resistance, he would have had his soul frozen entirely long ago. Andra's Cryomancy was a nightmare. It was a fatal affliction. Just a single nick would damn you to a quiet and still end.

But while he was stunned and struggling, he still had a few convicts of his own. Kura joined the fray, exploding out from one of the rifts and besieging Urri. She was an army unto herself, and though a few of her time clones burst apart in sprays of gold, she still had more. A lot more. The golden shadows swarmed out from the pathway as a legion, and their bladed limbs tore spraying pieces away from the Vulteg's Magical Resistance.

Just then, Adam appeared again, and he fired a particularly large Veilpiercer directly into the Vulteg's eye. Urri roared as it bounced off, and then, from within the dimensional rift, there came a wave of heat, and the magical ice in the room began to melt.

"Alriiight!" a loud voice echoed from all the rifts. It turned into a maniacal cackle of laughter, and from a pathway right next to Andra, a simmering incandescence began to flow, and the flickers of a distant flame grew closer and closer. Suddenly, the temperature spiked. Suddenly, there was a struggle as water started to rain down, as the ice turned fluid, and Candles entered the fray, rubbing his shoulders exaggeratedly. "Who left the fridge open?!"

A blast of Cryomancy exploded out from Andra's clone, but she did something else as well. She pointed a finger down at her original body, and a dense block of ice formed over her mangled form.

Shiv cursed as he swung his frying pan down. A moment too late, as he chipped a bit away from that ice, but then it began creeping over his pan. As he ripped it free, he barely dodged a lashing backhand from the cryo-clone. Gone struck the clone under the armpit like a cannonball, and then vanished before it could strike back. However, Shiv caught sight of the goblin staggering away, and she was rapidly slowing as she vanished down the length of a pathway.

The Deathless winced. Just being near Andra cost Gone her full potential. But that might not last.

As Candles fully emerged, he stood before Gone and summoned a column of fire by his side with a snap and a flourish of his arm. The column spread, igniting even the Jotun's ice itself. But then, undeterred, unbowed, the cryo-clone unleashed her powers as well. The ice magic she wielded was immense, and she ignored Shiv in favor of facing her nemesis, the opposite of her element.

That proved to be a mistake. The Deathless slammed himself into her again. His Shapeless Tides rattled and burst inside him as he felt the full power of her Cryomancy. She also felt his full power as well, and instead of her being frozen and him resisting, both of them were flung back. She slammed against the wall. Candles unleashed two fistfuls of fire by throwing sloppy jabs, and they burned holes entirely through her torso, at which the cryo-clone threw her head back and let out a piercing cry.

Shiv rolled over and shot to his feet once more. He reached out and seized the cryo-clone's ankles. Then he started to drain. There was a slight flicker of vitality there, just a bit, and it took little effort to sever.

The clone burst apart in a spray of red, and the ice sustaining it collapsed as well. But then, at the same time, the block of ice encasing Andra's original body exploded, and from within the Jotun rose once more. She was still half-flayed, and her neck hung at an awkward angle. But the tattoos lining her flesh glowed bright, and she was rapidly regenerating.

What's more, she felt more powerful than ever. It seemed that she had only severed her connection to the cryo-clone, and instead of that destroying her power, it reset it. She was mighty again, fused with her Cryomancy, and undaunted by the growing foes entering the fray.

Despite her injuries, she managed a vicious sneer. "I am Andra, Prophetess of the Dead Realms, and I will not be denied my freedom, not by the Republic's dogs, not by the Ascendants, and certainly not by you."

Her words echoed as if an emanation of her spirit, her mouth remaining utterly still. Her teeth were clenched tight, and her eyes blazed with power, but it wasn't Cryomancy. Instead, violet energy spilled free from her, and she drew back her javelin.

She launched it through the air, just as Shiv and Candles attacked at the same time. A veil of frost swirled around her. The Deathless crashed into it with his shoulder, but found himself struggling to break through. He managed a second later, as a jet stream of hyperheated plasma plowed past her wards. But it was too late. Too late to strike at Andra, who sank down into the ice around her. Too late to stop her from throwing her javelin as well.

It soared—then vanished in a burst of light. But still it sailed, aimed for someone or something Shiv couldn't see. A cold feeling erupted inside of him, and he prepared for one of his allies to fall.