31. The Rift (X)

Raziel leaped behind a pillar.

A cloud of steam billowed in the ice pavilion. A thousand orange legs scrabbled against the ground as the [Lava Centipede] burrowed underground. The beast looked more like a leviathan than an insect. It carried the faint scent of rot, but nowhere near as much as the rat he’d fought earlier.

“Just great,” he bit out. “The moment I split from the alchemists, I ran into this guy.”

Even worse, the [Lava Centipede] was a fire path beast, but Raziel knew that its parts wouldn’t work well with the other alchemical ingredients he’d collected. This beast operated under a single-minded purpose: defend the nest!

The overgrown insect probably wouldn’t have even appeared if Raziel hadn’t foolishly run across its territory.

He slid out his knives, one in each hand, and channeled his mana into them. They glowed faintly red. “Come on,” he said quietly. The tremors in the ground stopped. Raziel backed away, realizing what was about to happen, readying his weapons.

The head of the centipede erupted from the ground, its mouth a spinning cavern of rows of serrated teeth. The intense red-hot heat of its chitinous armor melted the surrounding ice, causing steam to hiss around the beast. Steam partially obscured Raziel’s view of the beast, acting like a veil.

Raziel threw a charged blade into the soft spot under its neck. The blade bounced off the beast with a clink.

“...Nevermind.”

He didn’t even bother summoning Subtle and Sublime, both of whom were back to full health now. His theory had been correct. Channeling mana into his core node accelerated their healing.

Raziel sprinted to the next pillar over - just in time.

The [Lava Centipede] reared back and slammed its head in the spot Raziel had just left. Stone crumbled down from the ceiling, the beast screeching in agony. Raziel had a sudden idea. The centipede was clearly blind - it was an underground dweller, and had no need for the usual senses. Like its non-beast counterpart, it likely navigated the world based on vibrations. Or maybe mana.

Raziel flooded his second blade with mana, pulling so much from his body that the number on his soulpane began to steeply drop. He went until he had 30/100 Mana. The blade sparked violently red and emanated a sense of defiance and tenacity. Raziel aimed not for the centipede, but a spot in the pillar above the deep crack that the centipede had just created.

Even with his efforts, the blade didn’t sink into the pillar. Instead, a burst of his mana exploded on contact, and the blade clattered to the ground.

The [Lava Centipede] jerked. It began to mindlessly ram into the pillar's weak spot. A deep groan echoed. Everything came tumbling down. Giant slabs of stone crushed the centipede. The beast’s tail continued to slam around, but its body was pinned to the ground. Raziel resisted the urge to perform a victory dance. He couldn’t believe that worked. If only the [Lava Centipede] had gotten crushed to death.

Raziel stuck out the tip of his tongue at the beast. “Dumbass.”

Most beasts weren’t that smart.

Intelligence was the one advantage Raziel had over them, so he definitely needed to use it.

Raziel left the [Lava Centipede] futilely squirming around behind. He ventured to the molten hole it had burst out of.

Something that Raziel had figured out about the raid was that beasts of certain paths tended to congregate together. This pavilion was close to where the alchemist party had run into the [Icefire Griffin]. Now Raziel had run into a [Lava Centipede]. There should be other fire path beasts around here - ones with parts better suited for the [Mindtracker] Martial Card that he wanted to craft.

At this juncture in the Frozen Hall, the alchemists had gone east. From the trail of disturbed earth, it appeared that the centipede had been lurking on the western side but had rushed over upon hearing Raziel traverse its territory.

So he’d try going west.

The icy ecosystem melted into black orchards and steaming ponds of water. Raziel reached under his mask to wipe the sweat from his chin. He just needed to find one suitable fire path beast. It didn’t even have to be that strong. Then he could track down the wraith and get out of here. The blackened canopy looming overhead reminded him strongly of Bramblebog - in fact…

From several trees, he noticed translucent fruit nestled in the leaves. They looked identical to the spirit fruit that Raziel had eaten earlier, that one that had reforged his Body to an 8/10.

“Be careful, Brother Gowan!” said a distant voice. “Every single one of these Phantom Flesh Fruit is worth more than your own life!”

“I am!”

“Pluck the fruit by the stem! Don’t just carelessly grab it!”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

More [Diabolists]? Raziel grimaced, hurrying past them. A part of him wanted to linger and eavesdrop to see if they revealed anymore about the mysterious fruit that the wraith had given him, but he knew that was a stupid idea. Eventually, his luck would run out. One of these [Diabolists] were going to realize that he was a pretender walking around in their regalia.

He went in the direction of the heat source, his robes sopping with steam and sweat. He encountered several weak fire path beasts. A few steam (or mist?) path beasts too, but none of them fit his purposes.

Raziel slowly spun in a circle - he could feel that he was right next to the source, but he couldn't see it.

What if this was the entrance to a Fire Hall full of fire path beasts?

How could he access it?

Raziel increased the mana flow to his forehead node, and his Manasight strengthened. In the darkness, he saw a faint orange door form where two trees bowed into each other. The door pulsed with constrained heat.

He went over to the hidden door. Raziel put his hand out to open the door, but hesitated, feeling the fire path mana.

The flavor of it.

This wasn’t a Fire Hall, but the lair of a single beast.

And its mana was… perfect. Strong. Inquisitive. Most of the fire path beasts he’d run into had been seething with anger. There wasn’t much emotion to this mana. It was playful. But it still held an edge - a warning - telling Raziel not to get too close unless he was alright with getting burned.

This mana was incredibly developed. This beast wouldn’t be like the [Lava Centipede] - it would be magnitudes more powerful and intelligent.

What were the chances that it was hibernating? Or injured?

Raziel pushed open the invisible door, the outline of it shimmering orange.

The chamber was just as large as the library from earlier. Except, there was nothing in it but a large golden cage hanging from the ceiling.

Inside the cage was a large bird with feathers of glorious scarlet and gold flames.

[Phoenix]

“Huh? Who set you up to this?” the bird looked over Raziel haughtily. “Tell your mother I’m not coming back.”

The beast could speak coherently? Directly into Raziel’s mind?

Its level was definitely high.

Raziel froze at the threshold, wondering if he should find another fire path beast that was a little less powerful. Way less powerful. He shook his head minutely. There was just no time. What were the chances that he’d run into another fire path beast with mental abilities?

He took one step forward, and the room lit up in fiery glyphs. They covered every inch of the walls.

“Ho?” the bird craned his neck forward. “You aren’t one of mine. Then why have you come to seek me out, Raziel? You’re just an infant.”

Raziel touched his face faintly, feeling the cold iron of the mask still over it. “How do you know my name?” he demanded. Not only had he never met this [Phoenix] before, but he’d given up his face, his voice, his Facade to come down to the Spirit World. He felt a chill. Was the beast somehow rifling through his mind without him noticing?

“Names are kind of my thing,” said the [Phoenix]. In a twist of flames, the bird transformed into a man. His hair was a mane of scarlet flame, and his fingers were tipped in golden talons. Cunning eyes of liquid gold. He had a face that artists could never capture with paints alone - his features shifted lightly in the light, scintillating, appearing like one face for a second, and a slightly different face the next.

An alchemist?

A demon?

“I’m Samyaza.” The man leaned his elbows against the bars of the cage. [Phoenix] still hovered over his head. “Did you mean to seek me out, or was it by accident?”

“Both,” admitted Raziel. “Can I have one of your feathers?”

He figured there wasn't any harm in asking. And the [Phoenix], no matter what he said, was locked in a cage.

The man fell down dramatically in shock. “What? You mean you only came here to try and get some alchemical ingredients out of me?” He snickered, voice deepening. “Well, at least you’re upfront about it. Oh do I hate small talk.” The man plucked one of the scarlet feathers flowing from his head, casually holding it out through the bars of the cage. “Here you go, kid. Come and get it.”

Raziel paused, looking worriedly at the glyphs flaming on the walls. The chamber was lit up like the bowels of hell itself.

“No pressure.” Samyaza waved the feather lightly. “Take your time.”

“Are you trying to kill me?” asked Raziel.

“Not trying, no.”

Swish Swish ~

Swish ~

Raziel distinctly felt like a cat being teased with a string of yarn right now.

“Oh, here, I forgot you mortals are so puny…” Samyaza pinched the feather’s shaft and the fiery power emanating from it quieted several degrees. Raziel couldn’t even feel its power from his distance anymore.

“I wasn’t talking about the feather,” said Raziel, though the gesture had been necessary. This [Phoenix] was obviously several magnitudes more powerful than that [Shiverplume Roc].

“Then what’s the problem?”

Raziel made a prickly expression. “All the glyphs?”

“Ohh… right, right, right…” Samyaza looked up at the ceiling as though in intense thought, tickling his chin with the tip of the feather. “I suppose I can suppress them. But it’s not as easy as pinching off one of my feathers. It’s a huge pain. I’ll need something in return for it to be worth the effort.”

A deal. That had been within Raziel's expectations.

Samyaza hummed. “Well, there’s not much one can take from a mortal. How about you give me your name? That’s pretty fair.”

“You know my name.”

“I want to have it.” Samyaza’s gold eyes darkened to bronze. He smiled kindly. “You won’t miss it much, Raziel. I’ll even give you a new one. Promise.”