Making Shit go boom
Akamori grit his teeth as talons and fangs raked the aether steel plating. Linked to the mech, he felt every injury, but for that weakness, he also could sense every strength of the mech. Piloting it did not differ from fighting in his own flesh. No skill gaps save his own against the adult dragon. He’d fought them before, but now that he thought about it, he couldn’t recall defeating them entirely on his own. He’d always had help.
“What’s the matter, little human? All alone with one to help you?” The dragon crooned playfully as a barbed tail slashed along the dragon mech’s torso, acid bubbling and hissing in the vacuum.
Boosting back to create some separation, Akamori couldn’t help himself. A small chuckle spilled loose that turned into a laugh. Confusion rippled across the dragon’s expression before melting into rage.
“You mock me?!”
Bahumet 0 shook its black and purple head. Void eyes flashing. “No. What you call a handicap, I consider a challenge. I know I’m going to beat you, wyrm. And when I do, I’m going to consume your magic.”
“HERESY!”
“Coming from a body jacking vulture like you? That’s rich. I’m going to smear your carcass across your command ship’s bridge, and drag your soul kicking and screaming back into the cycle.”
Akamori’s opponent roared. The metallic skin of Bahumet 0 thrummed from the attack as it magically resonated through the vacuum of space. A feat typically impossible, but rendered real by the sheer virtue of magic itself.
The dragon lunged at him, a viciously barbed tail thrust out to impale him. Bahumet 0 dodged with the grace of an Eryninan dancer on stage. The mechanical dragon acted quickly and seized the tail. Bone crunched and scales scuffed against metal flesh. Clamped between the mech’s arm and side. It wiggled lamely, trying to find something to puncture.
Akamori threw an open palm towards the stinger. Chitinous barbs snapped apart under the blunt force trauma of the mechanical draconic palm crashing into it. Limbs flailed and wings thrashed as the dragon tore at Akamori in the mechanical dragon mech with a renewed blood lust. It breathed a pallid cloud of woeful souls at him, but a series of ward rings deployed from a spell shield emitter mounted to his left arm. The attack blunted as it crashed into the shield, and the rings discolored, but blocked the attack.
Bahumet 0 spun, flaring out the blade like void wings to buy space to move, pooling energies amassing into a blob of raw magic that was being shaped by slowly rotating ritual rings. Sensing a very impending danger, the Sauridian dragon flapped its large tan wings several times, both hands weaving a series of runes to form several large ritual circles with soul and water in varying arrangements. All providing instructions for the spell. Akamori watched a three layered Dome of Aether. Raw magic given shape by the runes.
“Alright then. Let’s dance.” Akamori said within the cockpit and unleashed the spell. He didn’t craft it himself, instead he’d wove it with Bahumet’s guidance. He felt the subsumed consciousness bubble up from the depths of his soul, like it had been summoned. It briefly touched his own.
It is called GigaFlare.
“Little dramatic, don’t you think?”
You’re piloting a magic mechanical construct that reformed itself in my likeness. We are beyond such simple concepts as dramatic.
Akamori shrugged with a chuckle. “Fair nuff.” Then he fired.
The spell surged forth. It was a blinding colloid of light and magical energy, intensifying as it raced towards the dragon. The beast roared its fury, but it was too late. The spell exploded in a shower of sparks and energy that consumed the dragon in a brilliant white fire that licked at its wings and body, consuming it from within. Akamori shielded his eyes with one hand as he watched the creature’s death throes. He felt an intense satisfaction as he watched his enemy succumb to his attack.
When the light faded, ash floated aimlessly. All that remained was charred remains of what used to be an adult necromancer dragon. Bahumet 0 had done its job well and defeated its enemy with flying colors. Akamori patted the mech on the controls out of appreciation before setting off back to the main battle, having won another battle against the Sauridius in the war against darkness and despair.
Bahumet 0’s here swiveled to face the battle unfolding in space when he saw the Theferis ram into the Sauridian battleship like a massive spell spear. He watched with held breath as the kilometers long spear shaped ship plowed into the protective wards. The wards rippled and discolored as the Sauridian mages reapplied them several times until finally they collapse. Theferis crashed into the battleship sawing the vessel in two.
“Wow,” Akamori said.
A small fiery spell window opened in his peripheral vision. It displayed Morwen’s face with a grim scowl. “If you’re done playing with your food, we could use your help Lt.”
“Yes sir.”
Bahumet 0’s wings flared wide and void magic erupted from exhaust vanes, hurtling the dragon mech back into the fray. As he closed the gap several massive soul bolts streaked out to intercept him. The ships began to lend more fire at him now that he’d proven he was a threat. He batted a few away, but noticed the intense drain on his pool of aether.
“Anything else I can do with this defensively?”
Yes. Bahumet’s voice rumbled from the deep black of his soul. The dragon’s soul lashed up to him like a man chained to a post.
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Consume the magic. You are a demi god now. You are a child of the void. It is within your power.
“oh um...okay. How do I do that?”
Have the mech devour the magic. It will intuit the process by your will. You need only want to do it. The mech will process it as an intermediary.
“How do you know?”
Because I trained an entire pack of riders and named them my Black Wolves.
“That actually sounds kind of cool.” Akamori said with a grin. He flew straight at the next attack he could find, and the mechanical dragon fed on the magic like it was consuming livestock in space. What surprised Akamori was that the mech then fed him the magic through the connection in the control matrix. Large amounts of soul magic poured into him, creating a new pool of magic in his soul’s core next to all the other magic stored. He repeated the process until the enemy mages stopped hurling spells at him.
“Damn, looks like they caught on.”
He quickly checked himself.
Soul Magic Infusion.
Gained 3 AP
Gained Soul Bolt
Gained Manipulate Soul Magic.
Akamori’s hands shook as he gripped the controls of the massive mecha dragon, its void magic infused wings thrumming with power. He knew that this machine was his only hope for survival against the enemy fleet, but at what cost? As he rocketed towards the formation, weak bolt spells bounced off the scales harmlessly. The dragon’s eyes glowed an eerie violet as it absorbed and disintegrated each attack. Akamori gritted his teeth, bracing for impact as the nearest enemy ship loomed larger.
Mythril Steel hull plating screamed and groaned as the multi ton mecha dragon smashed into the Sauridius Cruiser at maximum speed like a magic drill bit. With its mechanical head firmly embedded into the hull of the ship, the jaw flapped down, and he began feeding the magic to fire off another Gigaflare attack. Fire, Light, and Void magic all roiled together and mixed in various sized colloids of magic in Bahumet 0’s gaping maw. Once the pooling magic hit its peak, he fired. Various rune circle framed the spell, and the blast lanced out into the depths of the ship.
On the other side of the hull, a beam of star hot magic that consumed everything like void fire melted its way clean of the ship and punched out into the black of space. Debris sparkled and glittered as it drifted free of the exit wound like metallic blood. Lights flickered sporadically across the ship as the spell drive sputtered. Listing to the side, the Cruiser’s spell cannons drifted off azimuth of the Theferis. He watched a few of the legendary spell ships main turrets swivel to face the cruiser. The muzzles glowed as it prepared to attack.
“Time to go.” Akamori stated.
He yanked Bahumet’s head free of the ship’s hull like a raptor tugging its head out of a fresh kill. Taking wing just as the Theferis fired, a rear facing scry screen showed him the points the attacks struck. Hull plates buckling and flaking off under the assault. Something about this felt wrong. It was a strong showing, but they didn’t out match these forces that badly.
He didn’t sense Ominek here. It had his finger prints all over it, but it lacked his finesse. He wove two disintegrate spells with the mechanical talons of the mech, and fired them off into two fighters that deployed from another cruiser. Bahumet spun in a roll and Akamori let out a whooping call.
“What I would have given to have one of these during Hidros!”
“You an me both, sir.” Sirsir said.
A flurry of spell bolts crashed into the mecha dragon’s flank, throwing Akamori into a nausea inducing tumble. Another salvo of pallid green and spikes of rock slammed into the mech. He focused his senses outward, scanning for his attacker. There! A Sauridian missile cruiser. He watched as missile tube caps snapped open with sparks, revealing a waiting salvo of warheads and a few spell turrets pointed at him. All magic and menace, the cruiser fired.
Theferis did what it could to thin out the swarm of offending missiles and spells, but the sheer numbers of it forced Akamori on the defensive, throwing out two protective wards, and solo casting a teleport spell with the other hand. His weaving wasn’t as artful or elegant the way Amara’s was. But his runes were serviceable enough to function.
That’s because all magic is will. You do not need pretty runes. Only functional runes. Your will supplies the instructions. Thanaton growled.
It unsettled him that he often learned more about magic from his weapon than he did from any teacher. Something about that relationship felt odd.
The hammer fell as the storm of missiles and spells crashed into his wards. Peppering them as they rapidly discolored and collapsed. Just in time for his teleport to take hold. On the opposite side of the battlespace a circular hole carved itself into the realm of reality and vomited the draconic mech. Frost glinting off its metallic skin.
The main guns of the Theferis opened up, belting void and fire magic at startling levels into the enemy ships. Punching holes clean through the offending craft. Akamori again paused to marvel at the sheer destructive force of the ship, and how easy it was to get lost in the display of power. It was like the old fireworks shows he used to watch with his family back home on Hoshun. If he was going to end this conflict, he’d need something big and flashy.
You have the magic. All you lack is the will.
“I’m no god.” He paused, realizing just how closely he was flirting with the border between a demi god and true god.
Not yet.
Magic is two things. Energy and will manifest. That is true of all magic, but especially divine magic. You possess both items. Now you have a desired outcome. Simply provide the magic, and will the result. The rest will see to itself. Bahumet’s voice rumbled in his mind.
Akamori took a deep breath, wiping sweat from his brow before nodding. “Ok. Let’s make some shit go boom.”