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Apostles of Continuity
Power less (IV)

Power less (IV)

The first wave of mindless undead were felled by all sorts of long ranged artillery. Arrows, spears, and huge ballistas decimated the undeads unlucky enough to be in range. The next wave met the triangular formation of the mercenaries with the Ultra leading the charge in a collision of steel and flesh.

Although he learnt about the physical prowess of brutes from the Mystikos, what Adam was witnessing put to shame superheroes like the sword and whip wielding goddess from themyscira.

An ordinary brute's strength was on par with the man of steel. Each cleave of their weapons bisecting undeads cleanly, rotten fluid and decayed entrails flying through the air. Each punch crushing failing bodies like dry twigs. Each step taking them out of the enemy's counter. Even outnumbered, the mercenaries put up a stable resistance.

The only Ultra available was performing at another level. Where his men had to get up close to deliver their verdict on the undeads. He merely had to slash his sword, cleaving multiple foes down like scything wheat. His main targets however were the lumbering giants and the occasional wolf unfortunate to obstruct his advance. A single slash was enough to finish them off.

'How powerful would a Mystikos be if this is the handiwork of only Brutes and an Ultra.' Adam pondered.

"Come, they won't be able to keep this up for long" Ikar beckoned, striding forward into the thick of the battle. The mercenaries parted their formation to let him pass.

Sighing, Adam joined him at the forefront, he brought his ability to bear, crushing the undeads like grapes. Around a kilometer radius, the undeads drop like flesh, heads crushed, the mercenaries stared wide-eyed at the destruction, for a moment there was silence on the battlefield, then more undeads rushed to fill in the void.

Even Ikar was stumped for a moment, then reaching into his dark robe, he took out a small amber crystal sealing a drop of blood speckled with gold at its center.

Adam felt his psychic senses pick up a strong disturbance beside him, turning to look, he spotted the amber crystal floating between Ikar's palm.

"Hold them away for a moment, will you? Might as well unleash a wide area of effect mystery if we are going to leave here fast." The Mystikos replied to his unspoken questions.

Adam gave a nod of consent, redoubling his head popping strategy.

The crystal floated up from between Ikar's palm until it came to rest a few inches opposite the middle of his brows. He tuned out the world, the fight happening all around him, reaching a state of Zen.

His eyes flared a blinding silver, illuminating the gloomy brought about by the energy keeping the undead running.

Although the mercenaries were able to keep the enemy contained, it wasn't without sacrifices, half their number were injured to varying degrees with one sporting a broken femur that jutted out of his leg in a coat of gore. Another had half his face melted away, one eyeball reduced to a mess of white fluid. Seven of them were dead, their bodies dismembered in the throng of mindless undead.

Adam surveyed the whole battlefield, taking note of the mercenaries position, they were already weary, barely driving the stronger undeads back. The captain and his vice were an exception though, back to back they fought, keeping each other's deficiencies in check and carving swathes of enemies down, Adam was surprised at their synergy but he noticed they'd soon be overwhelmed.

After making sure that whatever Ikan was up to wouldn't be interrupted, he took heavy steps forward. Each footfall was accompanied with a chorus of head pop, multiple foes dropping like flies. Whenever he walks past a mercenary, he would tell them to protect the Mystikos. A better offer than tussling with the undead horde. Especially now that their stamina was near their limits.

Soon, he approached the captain and his vice, helped them to finish off their battle and reiterated what he had been telling the rest of the mercenaries. Nodding in gratitude, captain Jarce and his vice retreated via the gore soaked path Adam left in his wake. The massive wave of undead surged forth to fill the void. Thrown projectiles leading their charge.

Closing his eyes, Adam reached a little deeper into his psychic stores, then he formed hundreds of telekinetic limbs that ended in sharp points. Like a loaded spring, he compressed the telekinetic limbs while filling them up with more psychic energy. The first projectile that got close to a meter of him shattered against an invisible barrier, then a torrent of them fell, shattering against his psychic shield.

The moment he opened his eyes, he released his hold on the coiled limbs and swept them out in a 180° radius in front of him. For a moment, the only visible thing for three kilometers was a dark reddish most, it hung in the air like fresh morning fog. Except it wasn't fog.

More than thirty thousand undeads and hundreds of giant wolves had been reduced to vapor. For the first time, the giant wolves gazes held fear in them. A fear of that tiny being with a line of blood running down one nostril to his lips. Painting a gruesome image in their soul. The undeads however were oblivious, they knew nothing more than to charge, to use their staggering numbers to overwhelm their enemies.

The desolate fiend for the first time showed a trace of expression, he clacked his teeth together in what could only be frustration.

The mercenaries on the other hand had expressions of awe and fear on their faces. A Mystikos high enough on a tier could unleash this same destruction. But it won't be as quiet or as inhumane. The suddenness of it made them see him as an agent of destruction.

Meanwhile Adam felt like he'd just run a marathon race, he brought his hand to swipe off the blood on his face. He had drawn a little too much this time. Although the Soul is strong, the body is weak.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

It was at this moment that he glanced back at Ikar, the amber crystal flashed brightly for a second, then it faded, leaving behind the blood.

Then Ikar started a low chant, his voice picking up tempo the further he chanted. The moment he finished the last of the chant, the blood drop had a layer shaved off it. Static built in the air and the clouds overhead darkened suddenly, thunder booming loud, torrent of lightning dancing within.

Ikar raised his hand as if to grasp the sky, then he clenched his fist, mouthing "Ruin's descent."

Thunder seemed to echo the phrase and the clouds overhead turned a vibrant gold. For a moment, the sky was painted gold.

Like a starved beast, golden bolts of lightning each as thick as a basketball fell upon the host of undead army, a storm of lightning rampaged across plain 'Tumult', leaping from one body to another, sparing no undead. And they were instantly atomized, the wolves were not spared the lightning's insatiable hunger. They dropped in charred remains.

None were spared, none survived. Save for the area near the desolate fiend. The army became a meal to the golden lightning storm.

Where Adam's carnage was silent, like the quiet passage of the grim ripper, Ikar's enhanced mystery was accompanied with howls and whimpers of dreads.

'Impressive.'Adam thought, his eyes roaming the floating drop of gold speckled blood. The conclusion he came to was that it acted as an amplifier of sorts. And someone not capable can't wield that sort of power.

The Mystikos sure is mysterious.

The last of the storms gathered in the air above the desolate fiend, more lightning joining it from above the golden clouds until all the clouds had released their lightning charges, then the sky became cloudless. The lightning storm morphed from a massively dangerous swirl of static chaos into a single searing thick bolt of golden lightning. It hung in the air, it tip pointed at the fiend. The desolate fiend regarded the bolt with its eyeless socket, the flames in it blinked once.

Ikar then brought his clenched fist down hard. And the bolt descended.

A bright golden light filled the world and it was accompanied by an ear splitting loud blast of shockwave, it tore at the earth, gouging out a deep wide pit at the point of contact.

After the dust cleared, those still alive cheered, then they treated their injured.

Ikar looked paler than usual, reaching into the folds of his robe, he took out a stoppered glass vial of thick green liquid, downing it in one go. His countenance improving rapidly, his cheeks turned a rosy.

Releasing a barrier he had put in place to protect from the shockwave, Adam had an expression of genuine respect on his person. Then he casted his psychic senses over to the epicenter of the blast. What he saw made him freeze.

The desolate fiend was completely unharmed, even the coffin behind him was still in the same condition. The coffin bearers though weren't so lucky, the lightning didn't kill them, but the aftermath seems to have done the job, their corpse splintered from the resulting soundwave generated by the clash.

Although the plain around it had turned into an inverted bowl of dug out earth, five meters around it was in perfect condition.

As if realising someone was spying on it, it looked straight at Adam, then it takes.

"Pestsssss, ignorant pestsssss." It smoothly said, Taking a step forward in their direction, the coffin floated alongside it's tall frame, keeping pace with the creature.

"It isn't even scratched, not a bit." Adam told the Mystikos whose face scrunched up in disbelief.

Eyes still blazing silver, he glanced at the creature and his jaw hung open. Raw fear etched into his face.

"Half mythical." He stuttered in dread. "Only a being comparable to a half mythical creature can take that blast with no damage whatsoever. Even those at the peak of Royal would be close to death.

"What does the half mythical implies?" Adam asked.

"Half mythical is synonymous with divinity, close to the Fourth strata, almost a god"

He sucked in a deep breath, from historical books, works of fiction and the Bible. He knew what a god implies. A sort of absolute power comes with that title.

'I might die here.' It was now that he realised that the quest was not easy, the difficulty wasn't in the journey itself but on this plain. After all, he could safely reach his destination with proper caution and he thought he could run if the fight had gone sideways. But now, he knew it in his bones as surely it produced marrows that there was no running from this creature. Or was there?

Although he had been holding back because of his fragile body, the adversary was orders of magnitude stronger than what his full might can bring to bear.

With the lightning bolt as reference, he would be able to defend against it, and he would be out of juice for several minutes.

Turning to face Ikar, he found the Mystikos looking straight at him, hope in his gaze.

"I have a plan, it's risky, but executable." Ikar said, all his calculations hinged on this powerful stranger.

He showed Adam the drop of gold speckled blood " A drop of Ethroine blood, Mythical creatures at adulthood. Their effects amplifies what is." He paused to let his words sink in.

"I would be able to stall it if I use some of this, but it's kind does not fight alone, the coffin contains it's special undead pet. A living undead."

"That variable is a real issue."

"If we can stall them long enough, I possess a spatial crystal which can be used to greatly augmented a relocation mystery. But it will take a while to activate and bring us all out of here, that time will be fought for by us both."

"My question is can you stall the undead with this?" Ikar asked, holding out the drop of blood now split into two equal parts.

"Why can't we relocate now? it isn't here yet." Adam asked, baffled.

Shuddering with a self-deprecating laugh, Ikar cleared his doubt "As all creatures with divinity, the space around here for a few miles is locked down by its authority, but because it isn't a full mythical creature, a spatial crystal augmented relocation mystery can bypass it's lock. And that needs time."

Can he hold a creature at that level down, even for a bit? He'll soon find out. There is no hope of running anyway.

Grabbing one half of the blood, he nodded his head. " I will handle the undead."

Adam had considered it, from Ikar's hints and avoidance of dealing with the undead, the undead might actually surpass the desolate fiend in terms of pure destructive power. But it doesn't matter, after all the undead is a familiar for. He had taken a lesser variant of it down before, with the amplifier, maybe he could take this one down too.

Looking meaningfully at Adam, Ikar nodded in thanks. "I'll place a marker down on each person now. I have the time for that before it gets here."

He stressed the word 'marker' to placate Adam. Once marked, he would be relocated.

That, Adam could accept.