Chapter 211 - Ember Seeks Ash

CLANG!!

All the momentum and weight came crashing in full force as his feet skidded back, and he barely retained his posture. He winced, aware that without the blood infusion, he might've cracked a bone or two in this simple exchange.

Alas, he didn't have the time to worry about the physical aspect of this attack. Where the claw made contact with Duality, a pervasive gray aura latched onto its blades, and Vern noticed them getting…heavier?

No, he frowned. Not heavier.

He'd previously guessed on what fundamental fueled this attack, and this interaction only confirmed the validity of his assumptions.

It's preserving the state of my weapon! It was almost like the part of Duality that turned gray was being dragged back to their prior position before he was forced back. It was a surreal feeling, but the resistance and drag was real.

Skreee! the petrified screamed, clearly enraged at having its attack intercepted.

Vern focused up, shoving away all the implications of these entities being able to control preservation fundamental.

The white ring within his iris flared even brighter as he asserted his dominance of insights on Duality's blades. As much as this attack had influenced the subjective representation of the blades, they were manufactured to be more attuned to his structural manipulation on top of being coated with a layer of stability.

Instability, he switched them up. A purple sheen erupted under the gray dullness as he used the petrified's pause to wrest back his blades. The gray aura, with its source cut off, instantly found itself losing the tug of war on Duality's representation.

Vern took this chance to turn to Lucian and yelled, "Don't get hit by that claw. Not even in your phantom form."

Lucian turned away from his butchering with an incredulous expression only to suddenly pause as he saw the…afterimages?

That's what Duality's blade looked like after being affected by the claw. Even his great sword stopped pummeling the half-corpse as he blurted, "What the fuck is this?"

Vern didn't answer and kept retreating until the weird rubberbanding of his Duality stopped. Yet, his frown only deepened as he inspected the blades.

They felt…lesser? Not by much, but the blades were clearly chafed away to an extent.

I'm sure this didn't happen when I had the blade totally stabilized. That meant the brief shift to instability ended up with him permanently losing some of his duality to preservation.

Watching that imperfect edge cut deep. He hated it when his apparatus got damaged, much less his weapon that he relied so heavily on.

The irrational part of him wanted to jump the Petrified and slash it a thousand times for this. Fortunately, his self-control easily overpowered this impulsive urge.

I need to lean more into stability rather than instability here, he concluded after a quick mental reset.

He usually didn't lose much by going on offense with instability, but his rough estimation told him that if he hadn't coated his sword with stability, he might've lost over half of its edge in that single exchange.

So, I can't use offense as a defense here. Literally.

Well, that was a simple change to implement in his combat flow. Nodding to himself, he turned towards Lucian, who'd skewered the corpse on his greatsword while flying away to a balcony with his ropecaster.

This is good. With a burst, he bolted towards Lucian, yelling, "Leave the lesser blighted to me. Just distract around the boss until I finish it."

Lucian nodded and bound the blighted against the railing with some thread from his ropecaster that he promptly severed to accelerate and intercept the petrified who rushed towards its minion.

Exiting his phantom state, Lucian hurled himself towards the petrified who tried to swat him away like a fly with its glowing claw.

Lucian, however, launched a hook with his ropecaster in the opposite direction at the last moment, avoiding the slash while cutting open a big one of his own.

Yet, his smile lasted only for a second when he turned around to observe the outcome of his attack.

The wide gash was already closing back up, disappearing as if it never existed.

Vern observed the exchange as he performed another flurry of unstable slashes at the half-corpse that Lucian left for him. The blighted couldn't even fight back, and the anti-healing of his instability sealed the deal then and there.

When the last of its particles disintegrated, the petrified turned towards Vern and howled. He was unsure if it was a cry of rage, desperation, or frustration. Sadly, it didn't matter.

The petrified had something they needed. The blood, Vern whispered to himself. This reminded him that the goal wasn't to kill or end the adversary but to get its blood.

To be fair, we could retreat right after I get a sample. Except that would mean they would have to go up against an even tougher enemy later without even having grasped a proper method to handle these.

Who was to say that even purer source of the plague wasn't flanked by a pair of Petrified? Then, it would only become harder and harder for them to stay on equal footing.

This one, however, was isolated now, and while its claw was eery, it wasn't much if you didn't get hit by it.

On top of all that, running away wouldn't really make them respect us, he murmured as his eyes caught the silhouette of the Kingsmen group in the distance.

For things to go smoothly, he needed their cooperation. Having two people fighting was already working out well. He could only imagine how efficiently they could wrap these fights up if all ten of them fought together.

That's that, then. He'd made up his mind. Time to properly fight this thing.

Jumping over the little balcony, he leaned forward and—

Swoosh!

A blur sped across the distance as he beelined towards the Petrified, all its attention on Lucian, who weaved through its attack with his impressive control over the ropecaster. It was a sight to behold. It wasn't every day you saw a giant sword move as nimbly as this.

Instability, he whispered, envisioning a rending chaos on the edges of his blade. The purple sheen flared, and before the petrified could respond…

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Shwing!

Its body, riddled with rocky patches and a solid glass-like surface, splintered on contact with the blades as shards flew into the distance.

Skriii, a sharp yowl resounded in the air as the humanoid, with two purple gashes searing its body, swiveled towards Vern, a white glow in its fist.

Stability, Vern commanded, and the left blade turned pitch black. Hand over his head, he intercepted the fist with the blade, diverting the attack's momentum away from himself.

The white sheen latched onto the blade instantly as it grew weirdly heavy. Right in that moment…

"Hiyaaahh!!" Lucian yelled as he jumped down from the roof with his sword cocked behind him.

Vern took the chance to escape as his left blade dragged with blurry afterimages in the air on its path. He held strong onto stability, pushing away the preserving influence by reinforcing the thought constantly.

The petrified failed to swivel back in time as Lucian rammed his sword right into the purple gash on its shoulder—almost detaching it from the torso. Generally, it would heal right back up in no time, except the instability made it impossible.

Petrified didn't seem much better in terms of healing than lesser blighted when pitted against his instability.

Good one! he cheered as purple sparks crackled on his right blade. The left one wasn't out of preserving influence, but the right was completely untouched.

But he wasn't going to go back in just yet. He didn't have Lucian's ropecaster to bail him out at the last moment. I need to wait until my left blade is ready.

This situation would render most swordsmen useless in the downtime. Except, he had a trick up his sleeve.

One step! Two steps! Three!

Maintaining distance from petrified, he circled around it until he found the perfect angle.

With a clink, he sheathed the sword and closed one eye. He wasn't sure it helped when he could 'see' everything even then, but it at least helped him get in the headspace to envision.

And envision he did.

The sight of him flicking out his right blade as the unstable aura on its edge escaped the bounds of the metal. In a perfect world, he would supplement it with transformation fundamental for the transition of state followed by force to supercharge the movement itself.

Alas, he wasn't there. Not yet.

So he simply let out the breath he'd been holding, and right when the Petrified turned its back to him, he did it.

Zzwing!

Imagination met reality as his arms performed the practiced maneuver. A purple arc shot out of his blade, losing a chunk of its efficacy the moment it detached from its physical source.

Yet it was enough to finish what he'd previously started.

Eaghhh!! the petrified screamed as the radiating arc collided squarely with its dangling shoulder.

The moment it hit, the violet gash that had almost fizzled out against the preservational healing bolstered right back up.

Thump! Its glassy shoulder hit the ground, snapping off as the lilac fire burnt it raw. Vern knew it was no fire, but it sure looked like it.

Wait...

This gave him an idea.

What if…

Until now, he'd exacerbated instability by brute forcing it with more of the same thoughts, unraveling matter with sheer intent. The purple sparks gnawed at form, but he had never given them shape. Never directed them beyond chaos itself.

But what if he did?

I'll try.

Instead of a scattering of tiny purple sparks, he imagined cinders rising. Instead of a mere shapeless decay as his instability was lost to healing, he saw embers seeking the ash. And in place of the purple aura bolstering for a moment when rejuvenated, he saw the flames flicker and…

Eaghhh!!! The petrified screeched, and the sparks that had begun to fade after severing the shoulder suddenly blazed brighter.

Tiny licks of lilac flame erupted around its stump. Like a fire that denied its fate of fading, the tendrils came together, seeking each other's unraveling warmth as they ignited the body underneath it.

The petrified's stiff mouth somehow managed to portray a horrifying expression, and it turned around, bolting towards a mineral rock sitting in the warehouse.

The Kingsmen, watching this from afar, exchanged glances between themselves when Ruben gasped, "He'd been hiding his strength until now? That's far more potent than anything he's used until now!"

The humanoid entity with only one arm flailed around as the violet flame refused to be put out. it was made worse by Vern, who was starting new fires all over its body.

Another one from the group chimed in, "And who's to say that's the extent of his power?"

"Right? His expression is so relaxed. Heck, it's almost like he's playing with his prey. The pair of blighted that would've needed three of us each to kill were dealt by him like they were nothing, much less this big one."

One of the women in the group turned towards Haytham, "Captain, are you sure about what you said? This feels like too big of a variable. Did your...benefactor not consider this?"

Haytham turned and stared at the speaker until she was squirming in her spot.

In this stalemate, Ruben interjected with a confused look, "Benefactor? What benefactor?"

An eerie silence descended on the group as everyone pretended to look away. Except their ears were more attentive than ever.

Haytham, however, chose to ignore Ruben, only responding to the woman, "It does not matter. We should focus on the plan and get purer blood."

Then, he turned to the group, "If that means working together with these filthy Observers, then so be it."

Ruben let out a "Huhh?" of puzzlement, but the one standing next to him put a hand on his shoulder while giving him a stern look.

The young-looking Ruben shut up. While the chain of events was confusing, he'd gotten what he wanted—working with these fellow Observers who were probably more singular than him to save the city.

Captain had painted them to be terrible people before the excursion, but he found those assumptions challenged every step of the way.

Now, it seemed the captain himself had a biased opinion, which he'd decided to step back from.

It wasn't a smooth journey, but the captain seemed to have arrived at the right conclusion.

Skriieei!!!! Ruben looked back up, only to realize the fight was almost over. That man with dual swords was a demon.

Deep purple flame that distorted the very air blazed with every one of his attacks as he managed to magically come out totally unharmed from the petrified's retaliation. Ruben noticed the weird aura on his weapon, but it failed to cause any serious harm to it.

Just what is that weapon made of? he wondered.

.

.

.

Vern slashed a few times, but instead of pushing his advantage, he stepped back and observed the effects of his attacks.

A bit better.

This petrified turned out to be an excellent experimentation subject. He'd started off being scared of it, but as long as he avoided the overly telegraphed preservation attack, this guy wasn't any better than the blighted.

Instead, he found something amazing. The tug of war between his instability and its healing gave him a method to quantify the effectiveness of different visualizations for instability.

Hmm, thinking of instability entirely as fire is better than nothing, but it doesn't bring out the maximum potential either.

This was the conclusion of his repeated testing. I should dial it back a little. He was trying to find the perfect balance between thinking of Instability as fire versus a formless agent of chaos.

Well, it's not exactly chaos either. That image would be better suited for dissolution.

He tweaked the mental image one by one, and fortunately, even Lucian stopped interfering after realizing what he was doing.

"Scary bastard," he'd said, and Vern shooed him away with a wave of his hand. He was internalizing new insights, and focus was of utmost priority.

After all, the octant that housed insights of structure in his thought space was already extremely saturated. He couldn't improve anymore by simply finding more related insights.

No. He had to instead reach a higher understanding of his existing insights to progress.

Or just move on to the next shade. Alas, he hadn't made any headway in locating the resonance catalysts as of yet.

Hopefully, I can find something important on the mission to exchange for a more suitable item back at the Vigil.

However, he soon shook his head.

That wasn't important right now. He had to find a balance in terms of visualization to maximize the effect of his instability.

He zeroed in on the violet flames. Well, they weren't really flames at all. They just looked like it. The jittery purple aura that was previously unshaped now flowed like fuel being burnt.

Hmm, thinking of it as a proper flame makes it lose some of that chaos and unpredictability—along with its damage. I need it to be a little wilder.

He willed it, and with that, patchy spots appeared in between these flames, and instead of always pointing upwards like a real fire, it began acting unnaturally.

Vern took away one such quality of a real flame after another until—

Yep! This is the maxima. He was sure that tweaking this even a bit more in either direction would yield worse results.

He understood that this might just be a local maxima and that he was probably very far from a perfect answer, but that was fine. Landing on the global maxima in this situation would mean achieving the best possible method to envision instability.

Yeah, nobody's got time to find that.

So he finally stopped testing and burst forth. With the vermin in his left palm, he cut open another gash in the petrified. Purple liquidy flame stuck itself into the gash, freely consuming its flesh, but Vern practiced his precision, allowing some of the blood to trickle through.

The vermin greedily absorbed it all, growing larger in size as it began buzzing again. Putting it back in the case, Vern only smiled for a second when an unexpected voice entered his ears.

It wasn't Lucian, but rather one of those Kingsmen. Sprinting in his direction, the Observer Kingsmen yelled, "Get out of here!"