Shova, 10th, 10,391
Fuck around and find out. Six whispered.
Charles observed Six standing at the front of their army. Observing an incoming group of over 100 bandits and deserters.
Six has been frayed recently and was now muttering to himself. He’d been working too hard on improving the town. Grinding himself down like wheat in a mill, Kynairos protect him.
Edna’s hunters had caught wind of these Bandits a few day ago, and they had tracked them coming ever closer to Mountain’s End along the river,
The hunters had to watch them murder migrants for simple trinkets, it was clear they were a scourge.
They were coming for Mountain’s End. Coming to pillage and loot… and worse.
Edna reported one of her hunters dying when an analyze check went poorly. Alerting the bandit to the hunter and their location. They chased the hunter down before killing them. They shouted defiance into the forest and told us they were coming.
There was no choice but conflict so Charles had decided to intercept them.
He left Keegan and most of the imperials back. For defence and as a reserve force. Just in case of any unforeseen circumstances. He left Kali behind as he didn’t want to risk their most proficient healer in a forward position.
Instead, Charles called Six in and the lord had put everything aside no questions. Charles knew of Six’s healing capabilities and had him make several life golems that would be controlled by low level but fast scouts and hunters. Between Six and the mobile healing golems They would be able to provide sustain and assistance but be able to retreat from danger easily
Six would also be the tip of the spear. Charles respected that.
Six had changed so much and Charles could see why the man had been so reluctant to help.
Because he gave himself to the goal, to the people.
Charles received the signal and quietly began his war ritual. A mass casting of Stone Skin to protect their people in the coming battle
He grasped hands with the coven using the skill Six had bequeathed to his enchanters.
Then drew upon the power of his class and activated his technique.
***
Tavi stood behind Six. The hulking fighter was something of a reassuring presence even if he was muttering to himself. Repeating that coarse saying over and over again.
Her father had one very similar.
To test is to know.
She had been tested, she now knew and she felt herself wanting.
Tavi saw similarities between herself and Six. Lost and fearful of the reality they endured.
But he moved forward, relentlessly.
Why couldn’t she do that? She had almost given up, losing everything like she had, but there he was, an ignorant bumpkin. Gathering power and confidence at a ludicrous speed.
It was inspiring
She couldn’t stand behind her protectors anymore.
She had to struggle too.
***
Six waited and listened. His anger leaking out in his quiet mantra, he shut himself up. His heart thumped deep in his chest as the marching column of fuckheads drew closer. The anticipation for the coming battle growing and concentrating into a physiological response..
They were arrayed behind the trees and crouched behind berms or camouflage that Six had quickly grown. His soldiers were ready. Tavi and Oppo stood behind him. Charles even further back oversaw the battle. They were well hidden, the forest was their home and they had come to be comfortable within it.
A few of his casters had cast Peaceful Enjoyment to dampen and reduce any chance of sound alerting the interlopers. All they had to do was wait.
They heard the trudging and the odd curse echo and mix in with the sounds of the forest. The clanking of the bandits weapons and armor cut through it all though. Foolish to think they could continue unopposed but the morale must be high for them to be so unguarded and brazen.
So happy to sow pain, to take that which was not theirs, they had gathered and decided to hurt.
Six’s mind seethed.
Do unto others as they do unto you.
That was, of course, wrong; the actual quote was, “do unto others as you would have done to you.”
Yet he lived by both. He held both in his mind as equal truths, his own little doublethink.
If they didn’t want violence or terror, they wouldn’t create it.
Six breathed and pulled himself back from the internal ravenings.
Of course, there could be unwilling sheep amongst the wolves of that pack. People pressed into service.
Empathy had no place here. Six was tired, and they had already killed one of his. Surrender was not to be offered first.
Just violence.
It was time. The bandit column had marched close enough.
“Kill!” Six bellowed and threw himself forward. Unleashing Poh Doh, the giant lumbering golem rising from beneath the earth and moving forth like a wave.
His avalanche fell in beside, the beating steps of their charge thudded in his ears. Low thunder, like a rockslide and he was the rolling stone that brought all behind.
Looks of surprise passed across the bandits faces ever so briefly before the strongest of them took on stances of defiance.
Six smiled a snarl of validation. They stood strong but he would break them.
Analyze revealed little, beyond most were low level. Ones or twos, some were even level zero.
Six began buffing himself.
Zephyr’s Embrace, wind picked up around him, aiding his movement and agitating the air. He flowed ever so slightly better.
His people followed behind and into the lesser of the bandits who struggled to adapt to the ambush like their stronger fellows, they would be the easy pickings for his people. Fodder, chaff, food for their growth.
Six could focus on the people who meant something.
Force Shell, and a scintillating mosaic of reality fractures coruscated across his body.
He charged through the makeshift army of already dead men, chainsaw screaming and hissing its anger. He activated his chest plate’s Spiral Exertion enchantment and abrupt, violent rotational acceleration sent everyone sprawling within 10 meters, prone. Helpless.
Strength of the Oak, branches and vines burst forth from the joints of his fullplate and wrapped his body in a verdant exosuit, providing stability and strength.
Each sweep of his saw's cutting arc sprayed great splashes of crimson across everything present.
Six, the enemy, the world.
All coloured a darker shade of red.
Vital Surge, and his body pushed itself to live. His heart pounded but he had never felt stronger. Each and every cell of his body was pulling in the same direction.
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Triumph surged alongside his buff complex, there would be no stopping him now.
The wanton destruction of fodder didn’t last long before someone capable stood before Six, stopping the descent of his blade with theirs.
It was a human woman, who held two daggers. She looked scared but pushed in slicing and stabbing at Six, trying to find a gap. He analyzed her.
Churli
Human
Level 9
Someone a bit more developed.
Her daggers skittered off the Six’s force shield as he tried to strike her down but she was slippery and contorted away from the screaming saw, only to lunge in and attempt to cut him again.
Force Shell was an additional 90 HP at this point and she had barely done 20 damage to it.
Six threw elbows and dropped slashes. She dodged it all and came slinking up with a handful of something, then blew it into his face.
It burned his eyes and lungs. A debuff popped up, Poisoned1. Six could see his health decline felt pain, “fuck this,” he growled, right before he had a bad feeling in his gut and leapt as a flaming arrow exploded where he just was. Shrapnel and fire flying from the impact site.
An archer from afar was knocking another arrow and it lit aflame as the man sighted it. Six threw out a Stone Spear and although it disrupted the attack, the archer dashed away, almost a blur, with some sort of maneuver avoiding the attack.
The woman returned with her blades but this time Six was ready and released a Earth Wave, the tremendous force stopping her in her tracks and interfering with her perfect balance, putting her off foot.
His last Spiral Exertion tore her sideways and made her helpless.
Precise Strike
Six slashed down and tore through her, bisecting the woman. There was no kill notification so he activated Double Strike and cut through the perpendicular plane.
Four chunks of meat hit the ground.
Six moved again and with the grace of Zephyr’s Embrace he managed to avoid the archer’s bomb, then another.
It didn’t matter though.
“Corruption of Xymok!” Hissed a dark robed vrill and a slight purple tinge shaded reality shot forward from the vrill’s chest. The projectile bent light towards it and evoked a feeling so ominous Six’s mind blanked for a minute.
It passed through Six’s Force Shell and invaded his body and Six’s mind began to melt. The trees loomed, perfect and unknowable in their fractal nature. His enemies towered, faces distorted. Voices began whispering as dribbles of reality rained in his peripherals.
It was kinda like a bad trip, one Six would ride past the peak and coast through through sheer grit.
Mind’s Edge was active and that boosted the effects of Mindfullness, giving him essentially an additional 80% mental resistance. He could fight through this but it was something that needed to be dealt with immediately. So Six took off sprinting towards the spellcaster.
Even through the mental attack Six could read the fear exuding from his new target.
The vrill shot out a mana dart and Six caught it with his Gauntlet of Stilling Control, shattering the magical force in his fist.
The archer shot another bomb and Six intercepted it with a carefully placed Stone Wall.
More Stone Walls to cut off the archer’s line of fire and Six filled the gaps between the old growth trees.
The only flying bandit was a little halfling man who had conjured himself a pair of air wings, shooting down at his men with a carefree attitude. Now he aimed his bow at Six.
Tumbo
Halfling
Level 12
How the fuck did he do that? Six’s Unbound Comprehension was failing him, no matter.
He wasn’t here to learn. He was here to teach.
The mage threw out another mana dart and Six slapped it into pieces.
He tried to cast another one but a volley of blood darts from Lump bit into the man and caused him to flinch and miscast.
Akat Tsuli
Vrill
Level 9
The flying halfling looked like a demonic cherub and while Six dodged most of the pot shots he took it was still all too much.
Then Six was there, standing before a beast, a monster, something he couldn’t comprehend.
But he knew he couldn’t trust his own mind.
So he trusted his saw.
He swung for the creature and his weapon was halted by a purple barrier, the monster had divine protection.
But Six rejected all gods. He held the saw there, full throttle and it bucked a bit but he managed to find the sweet spot to set his saw’s dogs against. The monster before him screamed, his saw screamed, Six was screaming.
He reached out and brushed the shield, willing his gauntlet to still this magic.
The barrier blew away like dust.
The chainsaw continued along its arc and dug deep into the monster’s face and it almost deflated as it died. The mental attack ceased immediately and at Six’s feet was the mangled remains of the vrill mage.
Six’s back was hit with an explosion and it sent him tumbling through the air, his force shell shattered and a prophetic vital shield exploding to soak the damage.
An arrow punched through the meat of his arm, not enough damage to trigger a vital shield. It stung but the pain was an afterthought. The flying archer was a problem but the dash archer was big damage.
Six knew he wouldn’t be able to close the distance with the way the archer dashed around so stashed his saw and withdrew the Wand of Mana Spear, then he began to work his way around the battlefield. Smashing the weak or perforating them with, while positioning his standing stone walls to block the archer.
Again Zephyr's Embrace proved crucial as it made him that much faster and its turbulence ruined arrow flight.
The archer dashed up, appearing in an instant almost floating above all the stone walls that blocked his shot and, activating a maneuver, unleashed a volley of explosive arrows towards Six.
A bloodcast Force Wave sent the barrage tumbling around him, exploding in the tight melees all around.
Both fighters grimaced at the collateral damage but their fight wasn’t done.
The destruction brought more attention Six’s way as a muscle bound woman performed a barbarian leap and aimed to crush Six with her landing. “Prepare to DIE!” she yelled.
Six leapt away, trying to open up a sightline between him and the archer as he soaked the odd falling arrow and dodged the swings of the jagged monster teeth the barbarian lady used as weapons.
It wasn’t just that though, the woman bellowed an incantation, “Spirit Animals!”
Ethereal animals leapt from the woman’s chest, there was a weird monkey thing, a giant toad, and what Six recognized as a bristlehound.
They joined their master in the hunt for the enchanter smashing, snapping, and chasing. It was too much and Six couldn’t only dodge and deflect all of it, so he chopped down at the closest spirit with his free hand and activated Still. The weird monkey thing broke down into glowing mist, no longer a threat.
It may be a spirit but it was still here by magic and his gauntlet broke its hold on reality, sending it back into the barbarian woman.
When the spirit reentered her, there was a change, the woman took on traits of her summon. Her muscles bulged even more, canines extended, and a coarse layer of fur extruded from her skin.
“Fuck,” grunted Six as he rounded the corner of a stone wall and was but ten feet away from the explosive archer. The man had an arrow nocked and ready.
Six cast Stone Spear and at the same time fed a little mana into the wand, sending a force spear hurtling forth.
The archer released his arrow and turned into a blur. Appearing right where Six had predicted, the mana spear blasting into the man’s legs and nearly amputating one completely off. He screamed and his body failed him, collapsing to the ground.
Six took the arrow straight to the chest, the explosion rocking him backwards and blowing through the last two of his golden Vital Shields, sending him sliding across the battlefield. Six rolled onto his hands and knees before using the last little bit of sliding momentum to stand him up right as the barbarian woman and her spirits closed with him.
Deep within Six’s mind something clicked a little further along and he felt close to a new level of magical understanding.
He couldn’t spare any attention to the thought as the barbarian led with a powerful forward thrust.
She was more powerful now that she embodied her spirit, Six had to decide whether one powerful opponent was more trouble than a three on one.
Six traded the wand back for his chainsaw and tried to fend the woman off.
She growled and caught his saw on one of her weapons, she resisted the pull of the chain and sparks flew. Her other weapon came around and smashed into the side of his chainsaw bar. She screamed, “Sunder!”
And his saw bent in half, mangled. No way the chain could run on that.
He returned it to his spatial and lifted his gauntleted fists, stopping his retreat and wading in much to the barbarian’s glee. She dropped her salvaged weapons and cracked her knuckles, taking a boxing posture.
They traded blows and between each exchange Six Stilled a spirit.
He exorcized the bristlehound and the woman’s fur turned into vicious quills, her eyes shifting to a deep yellow.
He dissipated the frog and she gained its ridged hide and poisonous slime covered every part of her.
Then it was just him versus her.
She was good. Applying pressure and whittling away at Six, finding the few gaps in his armor and exploiting her superior pugilism skill.
Six was loving it, though, even at a disadvantage he was managing to land a blow here and there, using his Deflect skill to turn the most brutal of attacks.
The woman was durable though, she wasn’t slowed by his strikes, in fact they seemed to invigorate her. She smiled and laughed as if the brutal sport was play.
She laughed until something loomed above her.
Poh Doh slammed its weighty paw across the back of her head, causing her eyes to unfocus for an instant.
Six launched his fist forward and drove it into her face.
She threw out another wild haymaker and Six Deflected it easily.
Poh Doh smashed down again and she fell to one knee.
Six’s front kick demolished her face and slammed her backwards to the earth.
She spun to her hands and knees but Poh Doh smashed down again, a deep crunch emanating from her back.
Her legs gave out but she didn’t stop fighting, dragging herself forward and growling at Six.
Six sighed, at the reality of it all. What was her name?
Raynair Tuttles
Human
Level 13
“Well fought, Raynair.”
Poh Doh lifted both fists and brought them down, crushing her head like a ripe melon.
Six a deep breath but that moment was taken by an arrow puncturing his armor and taking him in the back.
It was that fucking air user.
The flying halfling grinned and made a rude gesture before knocking another arrow.
Six grabbed a rock and had Pohdoh lift him up.
Six hurled the stone and activated Precise Strike sending the projectile straight at the little fucker who took the rock to the face and lost a bit of altitude.
Then Poh Doh threw him at the flyer, it wasn’t enough and the dizzy halfling chuckled as Six came a little too short. Until Six activated his Slypheon Greaves and used all six air jumps, surprising the flyer who tried to make distance too late.
Six grabbed the halfling and used his last Still to dispel the wings, dragging the halfling down in freefall.
Tumbo screamed and Six bore him into the earth, the impact breaking the flyer's little body and forcing its fluids from various orifices. Blood, piss, and shit, all leaving the corpse. The fall damage leaving Six at a precarious 61 HP remaining.
Six used his Ring of Quickened Minor Heal and placed another Vital Surge upon himself.
Then he examined the battlefield and found it firmly under their control, the final few fights being concluded.
Six saw Charles and Oppo, wounded but alive.
Then he saw Tavi in the middle of a fight, being pressed by a half-aelf spellblade.
Six ran across the battlefield in an effort to assist but halted just before interceding.
She had seen him coming and stopped him short. “NO!” she screamed. “Stay away!”
He could hear the need in her voice, the raw emotions that communicated she didn’t want his help. She didn’t want anyone's help.
She fought alone, air and fire golems orbiting her as the spell blade lashed her with a conjured waterwhip and slashed precisely with a longsword.
She was slowly backed up and chipped away at, piece by piece. She parried the brutal attacks and took the cuts and nics. Barely managing to weave an attack of her own in between her defensive maneuvers. He moved forward and bisected both golems with quick slashes.
There were more people of Mountain’s End gathering nearby, watching one of their leaders struggle for her life.
A soldier took a step forward and Six held out a hand. “Not until she allows it.” he commanded, ordering the man back.
Upon giving that order the spellblade lost focus for just a moment, giving Six the side eye. There was no hope there but a dark gleam that promised vengeance. The spellblade began to fight harder, gambling more and more.
Still, he returned three hits for every one she dealt.
The half-aelf smiled and Tavi began to project consternation.
Six was coiled, he was waiting for the instant Tavi asked for help. But it never came.
Then the moment where he lost hope.
The spellblade broke her guard with a powerful lash of water and took that opportunity to stab her deep through her gut. He smiled, and then screamed
Rebuke of Kynairos, Tavi’s spell engulfed the man with burning green flames. He screamed and stumbled back grabbing at his face.
Unleashed Muscle, Tavi grew to twice her normal size and grabbed the burnt little man, hurling him against a tree. His body crunching on impact.
Dragon Lance Advance! Tavi launched herself forward with her glaive, performing three brutal strikes in quick, near instant, succession. The last a brutal overhead swing that obliterated the man’s head entirely.
She collapsed to her knees and Six leapt forward, casting Imbue Life and Vital Surge, then pulling the sword out. Tavi coughed and shuddered a bit but she was going to make it. A grim satisfied expression on her face.
Thus the battle ended.
They had won but Six felt it too close. It wasn’t enough, what they accomplished. They needed to be stronger.
They needed more power.