Akamori watched from the bottom corner of his eye as the plunger pushed forward and the vial of gold and silver fluid pressed into the armor. A warm tingling sensation billowed out all over him as the damage to the armor stitched itself back whole. Filled in by glowing lines of golden energy that radiated motes of light aether. Portions where the armor gouged away simply regrew back, filled in as the armor became whole again.
That was only the first effect he noticed. His entire body suffused with a warm tingling glow. The all too familiar sensations of combat fatigue faded away. His magic reserves replenished instantly. Time slowed down to a near halt for him. The undead horde advanced inexorably slower. Even the dragon necromancer on the opposite side of him moved slower. He was aware of time on a whole different scale now. There was also something different, something present in his awareness. A muted awareness that resonated a little more clearly now. Like the tingling sensation you get when a foot or hand had fallen asleep and then woke back up.
Akamori rolled his neck, popping the stiffness free. He wanted to test just how extensively he’d awakened under this potion. Testing his full strength, he flexed his aura, and a rippling pulse billowed away from him like a wave, sending his hair beating around him wildling. He closed his eyes and sucked in a slow, measured breath. His enhanced awareness could absorb everything that was thrown at it. He had the time to burn.
Ahead and to the right of his own battle, he noticed Sala had engaged Ominek in a Greater Primal form. The slave warrior had finally broken free of his own chains. Good, he mused to himself. They could deal with the dread lord and tie Ominek up long enough for him to finish the mission. Without looking at them, he knew Amara was studying the talisman as Sirsir laid down fire to cover her back. The bolts of light energy streaming by him moved so slowly he felt like he could reach out and nudge them away. To test it, he traced a finger along one as it moved by slowly. He felt the crackle and sizzle of magic on his fingertips, resonating lightly with the magic he’d ingested.
He could read Amara’s thoughts. Frustration and worry permeated her mind as she desperately sought to understand the talisman enough to destroy it. She could see the deeply entrenched wards and shields protecting it, but lacked the power to break it. Akamori alone right now possessed the ability next to perhaps Sala. But Sala had his own fight to win. This task would fall to Akamori. His sword thrummed eagerly in his grip, and he looked up to study the undead horde. Fodder before his sword.
He exhaled the breath he’d been holding and crouched low, slowly. All of his limbs felt so amped and charged up with energy. Beyond that, he could see his path ahead clearly. The moves most necessary to accomplish his will. Action economy with time economy. He could see the way forward, but more than that, he could instinctively feel the resonant confirmation within himself. He knew to trust what he saw, even though he wasn’t sure how or why that confidence was there.
His legs twitched, and he was suddenly in front of the undead amassed before them. Heads flew skyward, hurled upwards by a wide and powerful slash of his blade. He twisted and pulled away from a lunging hand before it could seize his shoulder, then flicked his blade, projecting an air slash that cleaved through everything in front of him. Corpses were only just peeling apart from the second slash, everything moving in surreal slow motion compared to him.
He surged forward, skewering several heads on the blade, then flicked it, twisting necks apart and tossing skulls at the ground to clean the blade. He blinked forward, spinning at waist height, bisecting everything around him effortlessly, before he appeared next to another group. This dance of destruction repeated until he’d found his way at the rear of the undead an instant after beginning his attack. He glanced down at his hand, flexing it several times. His face scrunched in disapproval. They felt inadequate to test his power against right now. Something deep down knew that he was only a shade of himself, and even this was too much for the standard fare grunts his enemies hurled at him. His eyes looked up, and draconic slits narrowed on the necromancer. A ghost of a smile crested his lips.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
An instant later, he’d crossed the battlefield in a peel of thunder, as he and the necromancer’s blades sang against each other in a flurry of blows that echoed out across the landscape. Ominek and Sala punctuated the clash with the roars as the two giants battled each other. As he and the necromancer battled, he knew he was commanding the flow of the fight, but also aware that this lead was fading with each passing instant. He needed to end this fight, and swiftly. He fought on, studying the flow of movements and odds as he did.
There! He saw a chance and angled reality in the direction he wanted. Executing moves and parries that would position the necromancer right where he wanted. As the battle unfolded around them, the moment of action drew closer. He disarmed the necromancer, batting his sword aside easily. Then spun and kicked the necromancer up into the air. At the apex of his rise, Ominek’s massive jaws inhaled the necromancer. The gigantic dragon crashed into a rock wall nearby and roared as it scrabbled back to continue battling Sala. He’d timed his attack so that the dread lord would inhale the smaller dragon effortlessly.
He strode towards Amara and the Sergeant who simply dropped his heavy machine gun with a stunned look.
“Akamori?”
He was faintly aware she’d questioned him, “are you ok” inscribed on her features. But time was running out. He stepped forward and seized the talisman. He sucked in a deep breath and squeezed. The runes in the shields and wards protecting the talisman discolored, and the magic whined as he exerted the last of his Demi-god like strength. The shell of the talisman cracked and then exploded in a violent burst of released magic that billowed out.
He staggered as the last of the potion wore off, feeling the pressing weight of time and limited awareness seep back into him. He felt diminished, less than he had been. Amara reached out to stabilize him. He gave her a reassuring nod.
“I’m good. We need to do something about this spell they were working with while Sala has Ominek busy.”
Amara turned, shaking her head, unsure. “I know little about what they were trying to do, but you crippled the spell by destroying that talisman. It had a tremendous amount of soul energy that was necessary for part of the spell.”
“Isn’t that part of what they used to shackle people?”
She nodded absently, and he knew she was chewing on a thought as she muttered silently to herself, working through the problem in her head. Akamori was only loosely familiar with all the magic and what they did. He just stuck to chopping stuff up and using magic to help with doing that. She’d always been the superior academic.
Golden magic flashed in her eye, the Eye of Maetraya spell triggered. She studied the spell as she continued to talk herself through the spell and a hypothesis.
“I can’t stop it. It’s too far along. You crippled the shackling aspect. The rest of it seems to lean pretty heavy on mind magic.”
That seemed odd. Akamori's knowledge of spells came up lacking, but he knew that mind magic was like a reality altering thing. He saw little how that would apply to a wellspring. He gave her a helpless shrug.
“Let’s pull the trigger then? Whatever happens, it won’t be stuck loyal to them, at least.”
“That’s a big gamble to take,” she said. Her expression was uncertain.
“It’s the best we have. We’ll just have to hope it’s enough. Do it.”
She nodded, and turned to the spell, weaving several light signs to finish the spell and feed it the triggering energy. The runes gathered, and the magic swelled, billowing from the talismans until they cracked apart and blew away in the unfelt wind. The magic swirled around the glowing runes, coalescing into a rod of energy that jabbed down into the earth. For a moment, nothing happened, and Akamori hoped that was for the best. He clapped his hands, “Welp, mission accom-”
The earth trembled and quaked. He cursed silently at having spoken too soon as the spell crushed his hope under the rock. A crack split the earth at their feet and traced a path all the way up the nearby mountain. The air rumbled with thunder, and the eye of the storm rippled violently.
“I really hope this doesn’t bite us in the ass.” Akamori muttered.
The mountain exploded in a storm of rock and dust, and a pair of massive draconic wings unfurled. A tail emerged, swishing aside the dust cloud and a massive silver and blue dragon’s head pressed out of the dust cloud, sky-blue eyes narrowing on all those present.
“My father will judge you. Should he find your existence wanting, I will devour you.”
The voice was loud and thundered in his head soundlessly. It was so powerful he could have sworn his head split open as he fell to his knees, clutching at his ears, trying to shield them from the powerful dragon's words. Because an ear shattering voice and exploding ground wasn't ominous enough.
A brilliant flash of white, and all sense of awareness vanished.