Pure unbridled fury mixed with an overwhelming feeling of primal fury tore through the entire mining area as Tunde stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. Stepping into the final room that led straight to what was the underground base level of the destroyed stronghold had seen him face down another Corespawn, this one however, carried the raw presence of a being so powerful that he forced his body to keep moving and not freeze at a spot. Cycling his Ethra continuously, Tunde watched as the black feline-looking Corespawn drew himself to his full height from where it crouched, breathing heavily, glancing back at him with glowing yellow eyes.
An early-tiered adept, Tunde could feel it, the raw power of a recently advanced ranker or in this case, Corespawn filling the air with its raw strength. Instinct warned him that moving an inch would see the creature springing from where it was, inky black wisps of aura oozing from the body of the Corespawn. It stared at its paw-like hands topped with razor-sharp claws that Tunde wanted no contact with. His words hooked in his mouth, swallowing nervously as the feline turned to him completely.
“You are the one that killed Kurl and Uslog, correct?” it asked, its voice as deep as it was deadly to the ears.
Tunde squeezed his fists together, crouching as he slowly took a stance, sweat beading his forehead. To take on an adept on equal footing was madness, yet, the need to retreat tasted like ash in his mouth, not when he had come this far.
“I know no Uslog” he responded.
The feline with glowing yellow eyes nodded, whiskers twitching.
“Then there’s an adept after all,” he said.
Cracking his neck, the feline pointed one clawed finger at him.
“Then Kurl died by your hands, correct?” he said again.
Resonance filled his body, steadily draining what was slowly amounting to the last of his rift energy swirling within his body, Tunde was aware that he was on his last spree of resonance-based attacks, considering all he had been doing was relying on it and the relic blade form. He couldn’t pull out the weapon, doing that would drain what was left of the rift energy within his body and leave him at its mercy as it drained his Ethra as well.
“I had no choice, I- “Tunde said, freezing as his eyes widened.
Inky blackness covered the entire area, wiping everything around him away in perpetual darkness, the feeling of his feet on the ground the only assurance that he was still where he had stood last. Ethra sight shone in the darkness, revealing nothing but darkness and the outline of the Corespawn that began calmly walking towards him.
“Interesting, you can see me,” the Corespawn said, Tunde adjusting to every move he made.
“What makes a disciple like you so special, that you could bring down a Terahudon, Kurl was the strongest of his kind” the Corespawn continued.
Tunde tested the shadows, throwing one punch out as the Corespawn easily sidestepped the attack, a loud explosion tearing across the room. The next second, the Corespawn was behind him, grabbing him by the shoulders as sharp claws tore into his arm, Tunde screamed before he was flung into a wall, cracking it as he slid to the ground. This was a dominion technique, turning everything around to the affinity of the ranker, like overlaying a simple space around them in their mini realm or reality of some sort. Tunde had not paid much attention to that technique, it being the realm of adepts and above and now he was paying for it.
Ethra sight struggled to pick out the shape of the Corespawn even as he kicked Tunde again into another wall.
“Uslog, Kurl, my kin, you insignificant worm and your adept killed them all, perhaps I should present your severed head to your adept” the Corespawn mused.
Struggling to his feet as he winced, wiping the liquid on his lips that he was sure was blood, Tunde spoke.
“He doesn’t care much for me, I assure you,” he said.
“Then your death will be in vain” the Corespawn growled as he moved.
Lightning struck the area, shattering the dominion technique.
The sharp burst of light stung his eyes, and his nose filled with the ozone-like smell of rain as Tunde slammed backwards with the raw force of the discharge. Shielding his face too late, he blinked away the after-effects to see rubble around them, the room’s earthen ceiling blown away completely, revealing the burning sunlight on the underground area. Tunde struggled from the rubbles, coughing as he wiped sand dust from his face to see the Corespawn staring at a figure standing upon a single pillar of rock that had somehow escaped the destruction wrought by the lightning bolt.
Elder Moros, one of the three great adepts and powers of the Verdan clan stared down at both Tunde and the Corespawn with disgust in his eyes, then again, that was his most used expression so Tunde didn’t find it odd.
“Vermin that belong to the wastelands should stay in the wastelands,” he said.
Tunde had a suspicious feeling that he was also referring to him, seeing the disappointment in the eyes of the elder at his existence after that bolt of lightning was all the evidence he needed that the elder had known he was within the dominion of the Corespawn.
The Corespawn turned to the elder, a roar tearing from his throat as he unleashed his aura, inky blackness almost similar to Tunde’s raged out, billowing around him as it lashed out at Elder Moros. The elder snorted, his body immediately wreathed in lightning and blue-looking aura, his eyes lighting up as well as the skies above him darkened, the rumblings of thunder echoing from above.
Raw aura clashed with each other, Tunde digging his feet into the ground as both adepts seemed to rip the area around them, flashing towards each other in tectonic blasts of raw Ethra as they clashed. The blade rings of elder Moros flowed around him, whipping towards the Corespawn from different angles at the same time, only for the graceful feline movements of the Corespawn see to him dodge the majority of the weapon’s hits, his large form somehow getting past the blades with lithe steps. Tunde’s Ethra sight stung whenever he stared too long at the adept and tier 3 spawn, their techniques flashing to life with powerful Ethra techniques, marvelling at the speed with which they flung said techniques at each other.
Elder Moros’s imbuement technique turned him into an avatar of lightning, body crackling with his lightning affinity like a human beacon of a storm, his lightning Ethra imbued into his blade rings as well. lighting lashed continuously at the elusive form of the Corespawn and coming from the sizzling in the air, it seemed to be connecting intermittently. Tunde shook his head, feeling what was left of his rift energy meld with his body, leaving him with his Ethra itself, he scrambled towards the spot where the rift entrance had been, staring at the inscriptions as he recalled his Ethra sight, staring at the slowly vanishing remains of the Ethra that had been used.
“undeath,” he thought grimly.
Whipping his gaze back to where elder Moros had retreated in pain after what looked to be a powerful clash, retreating a good distance from the Corespawn as both parties looked terrible, he turned his gaze to the Corespawn and the wracking lines of undeath Ethra that seemed to be gradually fusing with the inky black Ethra of the Corespawn who grew larger, more savage as well.
“Undeath Ethra!” Tunde shouted at the elder occurring to him that the elder would know that already.
And it occurred to him, too late however, that all he had done was just give away his position to a foe he simply couldn’t face head on, the Corespawn whipped his head towards him as he cursed.
Tunde was off his feet, leaping with his imbued body as he made a mad dash in the opposite direction of the creature as it roared, swiping one claw infused with undeath and shadow Ethra at him. The attack manifested in claw marks in the air, the projection technique tearing towards him with an unearthly shriek as he gathered resonance into vengeance, clashing with the attack. It tore into him with the ferocity of the feline creature that sent it, smashing him into the ground as pain blossomed all over him, getting to his feet, he rapidly healed, just not in time for the creature to grab him the moment it appeared in his front.
“For Kurl!” it raged, attempting to rip him in two.
Elder Moros came from above, a lance of lightning along with his blade rings, the creature’s tail clashing with the attack as it threw Tunde aside. Groaning, head ringing and a deep gash at the side of his face that slowly began to heal, he watched as hundreds of flying rift creatures, red-skinned as their skin burned under the sunlight and baleful red eyes with a mouth full of teeth filed to a razor's edge came at him. He was on his feet despite his injuries, an elixir of healing down his throat as he caught the first one with an imbued punch, the tier 2 creature exploding in a sucking noise of red blood and Ethra, its essence sizzling away, leaving behind a little core.
He was on the offensive, dodging attacks of sharp red claws and beaks, tearing through them with his fists as vengeance doubled his power, allowing him to hit with the strength of a proper mid-tiered disciple. Gaining a little breathing space, he glanced behind him to see Elder Moros tearing into the Corespawn just as much as it did to him, both of them sporting deadly-looking injuries that logically would have dropped any disciple but healing just as rapidly as they delivered them on each other, except the Corespawn healed faster. The elder panted softly, his wounds leaking green liquid with blood as his body fought against the invasive undeath Ethra, hampering his attacks.
Tunde wondered why the elder hadn’t used his dominion as well, with the amount of lightning he had at his disposal he could blow up the entire area. He glanced at the one hand the elder now cradled, rings clashing with the Corespawn who tried to surround the elder with his shadow Ethra that seemed to allow him to hop from one spot to another.
It was a stalemate, but Tunde could see that the elder would have more trouble on his hands seeing as what remained of the Corespawn forces and rift creatures were edging closer to their position despite tearing at each other as well, drawn by the Ethra techniques filled with power the two adepts threw continuously at each other. His body still healing, the undeath Ethra in the attack of the Corespawn that had almost ripped him in two now consumed by the relic, Tunde got to his feet aware of a few discoveries.
It took longer for regular rankers to heal from invasive Ethras like undeath, he hated to think of what would have happened had the Corespawn caught up to Isolde of Draven, speaking of which, he hadn’t seen them around the elder as well. Terror gripped his heart anew that they had died, a distinct possibility, but with no signs of them and elder Moros tearing into his surroundings with bolt after bolt of lightning, even shaping them into almost life-like shapes all to hold back the Corespawn whose body bore charred marks from the attacks of the elder.
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He gathered his Ethra, shooting towards the creatures that were descending as he crashed into them, fists and legs kicking around, tearing them to pieces with his raw imbuement technique, saving his resonance for stronger foes. He was a one-man gore-producing ranker, his body covered in the life liquid of the rift creatures as it burned away rapidly, stinging a little. Slowly, he immersed himself into the battle, Ethra sight picking out those closest to him and in turn the elder.
He couldn't care less if the elder was irritated with his presence, gathering the stones he had in his void ring and imbuing them with resonance as he fired them sporadically around, the projection techniques tearing into the creatures both rift and spawns, ending them just as quickly. Turning to the elder, he watched as the Corespawn began to mutate, eyes wide, the elder stumbling backwards as the Corespawn grew bigger and bigger like he was reacting badly to something within his form.
“You betrayed me!” he managed to croak out.
And then exploded a terrible release of shadow and undeath Ethra that ate at the area around them, disastrous as elder Moros shouted, dragging his useable hand in a gesture as the skies above flashed before a torrent of lightning rained down in a cocoon of pure power, shielding the elder and to Tunde’s surprise, himself included from the attack. He felt the malevolence in the air, he knew he should be dead again, another lucky escape from the outstretched hands of death that ever reached for him.
When he opened his eyes, he stared at the form of the elder standing, and the bone blade that protruded from his back. Eyes wide, he scrambled to his feet, even ignoring the destroyed landscape around them, getting up, he scrambled from behind the elder to stare at the abomination that had been the Corespawn.
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In the distance, a fourth rift had opened up discreetly, a bit further into clan Verdan territory, on a little patch of dry brown grass overlooking the mines. The area had once served as a base of operations for the clan during its early rise before being abandoned, left as a sort of memorial for the founding members of the clan that had been buried there. It also had over time accumulated enough death Ethra, Ethra that had been tainted by undeath the moment the incursion had opened up.
It served as enough conduit for adept Kenji of the revenants to step out, staring and feeling the pure undeath Ethra coming from the recently turned Necroshade, a mindless creature of undeath, whose only aim was to consume life and keep propagating the Ethra of undeath. Kenji frowned, arms folded as he turned his gaze towards the direction of the incoming forces of clan Verdan and the lord whose presence he could feel.
Despite hiding his aura and presence, he knew it was only a matter of time before the lord found him, and he wasn’t about to waste his rare lord-tiered defensive constructs on a losing battle. If only the high lord had listened to him, now he would enjoy the feeling of his plans slowly growing to fruition, but first, he had to find out just who that disciple was.
The only seekers left were those of the infuriating members of the cult of Astradriel, and they were continents away, besides, the presence of that weapon was opposite of the balance seekers, so who or where did that disciple get a weapon that gave off the same inquisitive yet deadly nature akin to the weapons of Astradriel’s rankers?.
His spirit screaming at him was the only warning he got as Kenji turned, his broad sword in hand filled with undeath Ethra, clashing with the attack that fluttered his robes, eyes wide at the figure in front of him.
“An actual adept of undeath?, do my eyes deceive me?” a figure said as he landed nimbly.
Kenji wondered silently how such power had managed to sneak up on him, eyes flicking to the feet of the figure. Not a silence path, seeing as how he wore footwear, and yet, he pointed his sword at the blindfolded figure.
“It was foolishness to attempt facing me on your own, adept rank or not,” he said.
The blindfolded man smiled, waving one hand at him.
“Really?, now I'm curious” he responded as he flicked a finger.
Kenji felt the power from the attack, felt the traces of a second affinity layered together as he imbued himself with his Ethra, his skin hardening from within, extra flesh saturating the one within him. It was so dense in fact that not even an imbued Ethra blade should have found purchase within him. Kenji felt his bones shake and ribs snap as he stared wide-eyed, eyes open before his blade came crashing down on the figure.
Except the figure wasn’t there, moving as he saw through Kenji’s movements who was astonished. This adept was at the peak of adept rank, able to layer two affinities on each other seamlessly even while not yet having a core.
“I wonder why you all call undeath an affinity, we both know it’s a concept, isn’t that right?” the figure said.
Kenji wiped his lips off his black blood, eyeing the figure, admittedly, he hadn’t taken the adept seriously, and he wasn’t about to, but he would save face as well.
“Who are you?” he asked calmly.
The adept moved again as Kenji smiled.
“Sound and vibration, quite the rare fusion of affinities” he added.
The figure smiled.
“Where are my manners? I am adept Joran of clan Verdan, you are?” he asked.
“Dead men don’t ask questions” Kenji replied as he raised one finger.
The air began to boil, Joran’s face paling as he slapped his hands together, the force of the sound Ethra layered with vibrations began tearing through the air in tiny explosions, ripping its way towards Kenji who nodded appreciatively. The issue with novel affinities such as what the Verdan clan’s adept showed here was the difficulty in defending them, yet, Kenji weathered the attacks like they were nothing, he was prepared now, and wouldn’t be caught off guard again.
Pushing his way through the invisible barrier between himself and Joran, he raised his blade again, actually imbuing it with undeath Ethra as the blade awakened, the tiny sentience he had been nurturing within it screaming to life. Joran stretched his hands out wide and then brought it down on the bare earth as Kenji’s instincts screamed at him to dodge the attack. He did, but his body still bore the aftereffects, his ears rupturing, his reinforced bones battling to prevent shattering as he used dominion.
Seizing control of the area with Joran within it, the very grounds became flesh pits that began to suck the elder into its fold, Kenji intent on either suffocating him or converting him to the path of a revenant, and yet, the adept smiled.
“Death amuses you?” Kenji asked.
“Not mine” Joran replied.
Every defensive construct on Kenji’s body activated from the mere proximity of the attack that came, his body whipping to the side as he tore open the rift again, pushing through before an aura seized his form in the air, half his body sheared away by the attack. Kenji cursed himself for being negligent, of course, the lord was coming, had he been so engrossed in his battle that he had failed to notice such a figure, again?.
The lord stared at him, frowning as with a snap, he shattered the dominion of Kenji, Joran vibrating rapidly as he phased his way out of the ground, dusting his robes lightly. Turning in the direction of the shattered stronghold, he spoke.
“Moros doesn’t look to be in a good state,” he said.
Kenji struggled in vain against the aura of the lord that held him in its vice-like grip.
“a revenant, on Bloodfire?” Alaric said.
Before Kenji could speak, he felt the presence of another lord, this time from the other side of the rift as he gave his smile.
“All would fall to the might of undeath,” he said as the presence grabbed him, dispelling the aura of the verdant lord who moved just as quickly.
Blade met a whip that flashed out of the rift, recoiling as it snapped against the attack of the clan lord, both weapons meeting just once but enough to shatter the entire area around them before Kenji was dragged straight through and to safety. The lord turned to look at Joran, the ships of the clan already visible in the distance behind him, the elder was gone, in the direction of Moros and his student.
Alaric raised one hand towards the ship as he sensed the adept of the clan preparing to disembark from where they were, bodies boiling with Ethra waiting to be unleashed before they paused. What had brought them to the mines had been the incursion, and it was closed, either by Moros or the disciple. Joran’s only job was clear, save Moros, this was still the mission of his student and while whatever that skeletal thing with etched revolting markings all over its body might be, it was still the disciple’s duty to kill it, tier 3 or not.
Besides, he had the lingering feeling that Joran would have it no other way, and he had to admit, he was curious as well. The spattered and torn bodies he could see from here were not the works of Moros, no, the lightning adept left nothing but charred ashes wherever he fought, this was like a mindless berserker had torn its way through the hordes of creatures with nothing but his bare hands, this was the work of the disciple.
His aura expanding subtly in other directions but that of the fight, he senses the presence of two disciples hidden under some rocks that had been so carefully made to look like rubbles, nodding to himself. Smart, the two accomplices of Tunde, the disciple and student of Joran if he remembered, early-tier disciples had no business facing down that sort of madness the revenants had summoned, only insane rankers fought above their tiers. Then again, he glanced at where Joran had landed and stared at the look of cold fury and calculation in the eyes of Tunde.
Only the insane ones had the guts to advance, he should know.
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Tunde watched the elder draw his form away from the skeletal figure that somehow revolted him down to his very soul. Lightheaded with the urge to vomit roiling through him, he gathered his Ethra, cycling continuously as he struggled to get his bearing, staring at the creature completely. Where there was once black sleek flesh and charred hairs, nothing but decaying flesh and bones that glowed alight with green tiny writings all over its frame and a core that hummed within its chest cavity.
A rift core, judging by the energy that came from it, eating the Ethra around its surrounds as fast as the elder and Tunde could produce it. A half-skeletal, half-putrid feline creation stood before them, and the green light that shone from, the socket where baleful yellow eyes had once stared at them with cunning sharpness now revealed nothing but mindless insanity. Fingers on both hands now nothing but sharp bone looking to pierce and render flesh, a mouth filled with bone white canines that glowed at the tip with undeath Ethra, a talk sharp as well, its upper part a dark green as compared to the bone white of its lower half attached to its behind.
It gave a shrill scream again, a grating noise that ate at Tunde from the inside, making him shudder in revulsion as he sought to escape its surroundings. Elder Moros’s blades flashed around, clashing with the creature that moved with prenatural speed, faster than what it had displayed, earlier, so fast in fact, that Ethra sight struggled to track its movements. It went on the offensive before a sense of calm settled on the area, the creature crashing to his knees like an unseen pressure settled on it from on high.
Tunde could see it though, the rippling Ethra with no colours like reality around them suddenly became fluid as the creature’s head exploded violently, throwing Moros and him backwards with shock. Shaking his head, his sight dizzy, elder Joran was in his front, a wide smile on his face as he helped him to his feet.
“Up you go, that’s right,” he said with a chuckle.
“Tier 3” Tunde gasped, blinking rapidly.
“Not entirely, only with that rift core within its chest, worth a small fortune if you can get it,” the elder said.
“Get it?” Tunde asked, confused before realization dawned on him.
“it’s not dead?” he asked alarmed.
The bones rattled as they began to glow again, elder Joran chuckling.
“I wish, Necroshades are notoriously hard to kill, but you can do it, can’t you?” the elder asked.
“No!, it’s an undead thing!, tier 3!” Tunde whispered as he eyed the thing again.
Elder Joran frowned and stared at the creature that was beginning to rise as he flicked a finger, its legs shattering before falling to the ground again.
“Then you’re of no use to yourself and me, see to it, or you come back to the clan a failure, you don’t want that,” Joran said, picking up Moros who growled weakly at him.
“Besides, you fought your way through the entire hordes of rift and spawn creatures, if you want to advance, you take risks, and that,” Joran said, pointing at the creature.
“Is a risk, you have two options, student of mine, you either die, or it dies, choose wisely” he finished as he shot off into the distance.
Tunde watched the elder go and saw the large skyships of the clan in the distance and a figure that turned him white as a sheet of paper. The lord was around, and staring right at him, as well as Rhyn, who shook his head, popping open his void ring as the creature began to reassemble, swallowing elixirs and stuffing his mouth with tier 2 meats as well. He swallowed forcefully, staring down the creature as it began to rise back.
The elder placed unnecessary pressure on him, pressure a voice deep down reminded him was needed if he was to advance, he would face over and over, yet, he couldn’t help but think it was unfair. He chuckled at the thought, since when was that even a factor?, fairness?. Where was the fairness when his entire family had been killed?, the fairness when he had been left for dead, when he had fought for his life as a completely oblivious ranker within the wastelands?.
Where was the fairness when he was scheduled to fight a peak disciple a week or two from now?.
Feeling the assortment of elixirs and meat burn rapidly within his body, swelling him with Ethra that he cycled completely, a single drop not wasting as he sent the excess to his fists, priming resonance. He stared down the Necroshade as elder Joran called it, Ethra sight revealing the lines of Ethra that ran through its body.
“We have no options, you and I,” he said.
“I die, or you die, I apologize, but it isn’t my time just yet” he completed as he went all out against the creature.