Warren let out a sigh, waving his hand and letting loose a barrage of light beams that struck down another massive portion of the swarm. Only for the hole that was opened to be filled once more by the rest of the swarm.
“This is getting pointless,” he muttered, the strain on his [Will] building up and slowly putting pressure on his soul. “The more I kill, the more that appear to take their place.”
The bodies of the dead drones faded into motes of Death mana, most of which lingered in the area, while the rest was washed away by the small amount of current that flowed around the nest. The damage to the nest now allowed the mana in the Spirit Path to move more freely.
He realized that he needed to move things in a different direction. With a wave of his hands, two massive broadswords took shape. With a roar that nearly stopped the swarm in its tracks, Warren’s figure seemed to turn into light, and a single beam of light cut through the swarm in an instant.
“I can’t afford to waste my [Willpower] on wiping out massive amounts of you at once. So, please keep as clumped together as possible, or else I won’t be able to rip you apart as quickly!”
For the moment, he avoided the Mythic level Spirits, deciding to cut through the countless others that were of lower Tiers. It was like fighting a cloud. His sheer aura was enough to kill anything that was merely adept or lower, but the Legends required a swing of his blade.
This went on for what felt like hours, but only to him. His perception of time had changed. The world seemingly moved in slow motion as he moved at a speed that was nearly imperceptible to others.
In actuality, the time it took for him to go from massive bombardments to rapid melee combat, was only a few minutes. He had hoped that this would’ve been enough time for Ezekiel and the others to take out the pseudo-Ancient at the center of the nest.
“You had better call me for help if you need it...” This was his greatest concern. That his son would be too stubborn to ask for help. Something that he was more than familiar with doing himself.
He spared a glance in the direction of the nest. The continental structure in the distance had not changed in position. Warren had tried to pull the swarm further away, but the moment he got outside a certain range, they began to retreat.
It had been difficult, keeping to a set distance, while maintaining a constant slaughter, but he had seemingly reached an equilibrium. One that was now shifting thanks to his changed tactics.
I can’t keep this up much longer. There’s just too fucking many of them! His jaw was clenched shut, and his muscles were tense, even as he swung his Radiant Constructs. I need assistance... I can’t continue to do this on my own...
With that in mind, he held out his hands. With a large flash of light, he disappeared from within the swarm. Arms crossed, he now stood outside the mass of drones.
“I haven’t done this before... but if my son could grant Mages who weren’t even Apprentices the ability to do this, then it shouldn't be impossible for me to do this either!”
With that declaration, the world slowed down for him, even more than before. To the point that the swarm seemed to stop moving. He opened his arms until there was a small space between his hands. Taking small portions of his soul, he held back the tiny winces he nearly made as he ripped them off. Six small orbs of light took shape in front of him.
Each one was imbued with a specific [Understanding]. One that he knew would change the flow of battle back into his favor once more.
The orbs of light reshaped themselves into small Spirits. All six were feline in shape but had distinct differences that kept them from being mistaken for one another. Horizontal stripes, vertical stripes, no stripes, six legs, two tails, four eyes.
“I have no names for you... not yet, but since all your consciousness’ haven’t taken form, I think that will be fine.” His attempt at making Spirits had been a partial success. Though, these were more in line with hyper-advanced constructs that had the potential to be Spirits, rather than true Spirits.
The only reason he had even been able to make them was due to the instinctive knowledge that Theo had given to him when he had been subsumed by his soul. Knowledge that all Spirits were born with. Something he never thought he would ever do.
Clearly, the world wasn’t content to let him remain as he was.
The pseudo-Spirits then retreated back into his body and became armor that kept their unique features as the motifs on his limbs, head, and torso.
He immediately felt a resonance between himself and the six [Understandings] that he had imbued into them. But he also realized that the chances of them ever obtaining a consciousness of their own were now non-existent. Just like with Theo his [Will] and soul had subsumed them.
This was now nothing more than a very complex, very powerful, support spell that would, hopefully, enhance his power while he fought.
“... Problems for a later date...” Though he tried to move past it, the destruction of the pseudo-Spirits that he had nearly formed still made a sense of guilt well up within him.
With a step forward, he reformed the constructs he had dispelled moments ago. This time, the strain on his soul was far less, and he could feel the magic in his newly formed armor was resonating with his soul. There was an eagerness that he could feel, a reflection of himself that was imprinted upon their creation.
“It’s not the same as the [Understandings] of Flame that my son told me about, but let’s see if this [Source of Light] will work as I desire!” With his [Understanding] altered by his [Logic] to impose a new [Rule], and passively evoked by his false Spirit Armor, Warren flashed forward.
His blades once more cut through the swarm, which began to move in his perception once more, since he had retracted the magic keeping him sped up.
This time, when his blades cut through the drones, he couldn’t help but smile. They grew brighter, while the Death mana released by the dead drone’s remains was nearly nonexistent. Instead, it flashed brightly, and a small explosion of light was emitted that seared the armor of the drones closest to it.
“[Propagation of Light]” A new spell, one that Warren knew was only possible thanks to his experience as a host for Radiant Chaos.
It used his [Understanding] of Radiance, and the fact that all light needed a source of energy to take form. At least, it did in the natural world. Mana warped things, and allowed a Mage, or Spirit, to manipulate certain things regarding their elements.
In this case, Warren had tried to do as his son had first figured out and had briefly taught him. He had imposed his own [Rules] into his [Understanding] of how light was formed from a source.
By splitting up portions of his soul with this specific [Understanding] imbued in them, he could now focus entirely on warping them and causing them to change how they affected his magic.
In particular, he could now stack and twist them, so they acted in a similar manner to the corruption that he had experienced for ten years. His light was now corruptive and would cause other mana sources that didn’t have a strong enough [Will] to explode into beams of Radiant energy.
It was useless on anything that was Mythic or higher. Even the false Mythical drones, that relied on power more than [Truth], would be too difficult for him to convert with this magic. But it was enough to more quickly take out the lesser drones.
“Let’s see how you like this one!” Elated at the fact that his new magic had worked, Warren dashed outside of the swarm once more.
This time, he pushed his [Will] and soul as far as he dared to, while remaining strong enough to save Ezekiel if necessary, and released another rain of Radiant lasers. Each one was infused with the [Propagation of Light] that he had just created.
This time, the explosions of light didn’t simply happen once, then fade away. Instead, it turned into a wave of explosions, as each and every drone was turned into its own bomb.
The amount of drones that he destroyed this time was nearly ten times greater than the last time he had used this spell, and he could finally see an actual drop in the numbers within the swarm.
The cloud had shrunk, just a little bit, but this had come at a cost. Cracks appeared on the fake Spirit Armor that he was wearing. The [Understanding] that he had imbued in them had been pushed beyond its limits by his warped [Logic].
He couldn’t help but lament the fact that Ezekiel would have certainly done a better job at creating a supplemental source for his [Understandings] to aid him. That, or the aid from Theo would have made such a thing unnecessary.
Shaking his head, he pulled himself back to the present. The time that the explosions had taken to spread through and past the swarm had been more than he had expected. Yet, he knew that he would need to charge right back in once more.
Reforming his constructs, he prepared to enter the swarm once again. He stopped, however, when he noticed that they had all turned away from him. His temporary confusion only lasted a moment, however, because he could tell exactly where they were going.
“Ancients, dammit all!” he growled before turning into a streak of light, cutting through the swarm to get to the other side. His back was now toward the nest, and he could tell that the remains of the swarm that were within were no longer moving to reinforce the swarm outside.
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That didn’t matter, however, since the majority of the swarm would be back at the nest within a few minutes at most. He thought about simply diving into the nest, but if they got trapped, it would be impossible for him to get them out.
Especially since he was starting to feel tired, and the swarm was still incredibly large.
“Ezekiel! What’s happening? The swarm is headed back to the nest. Have you killed the queen?”
There was silence for several seconds. He was just about to charge into the nest when there was finally a reply.
“I need you to crack open the nest. We can’t take the queen down while the death mana miasma is lingering. She’s basically immortal otherwise. If you can’t do it, I’ll [Jump] us out of here, and we can retreat to fight another day. But it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to damage them as greatly as we did today if we do.” Ezekiel’s voice sounded strained, and Warren could tell that he was talking while fighting.
Warren was now at an impasse. He could charge in and try to kill the ruler, but even with his strength, it was possible that he wouldn’t be able to get to the center with enough power left to kill her quickly. While at the same time, he knew that if he could break open the nest, then it was possible to not only get to the center faster, but also help his son finish the fight.
But only if he could, and he didn’t know how.
“... How would I break open the nest? That would take more energy than rushing inside.” For the moment, he would let Ezekiel explain himself.
“You just need to make enough cracks that the flow can break it open. Go to the opposite side of the nest, where the pressure will be greatest. There won’t be any openings on that side, they would need to be in areas where the flow was slowed, or else the nest would be ripped apart.” Ezekiel’s words made sense to Warren, and he could see where this was going. “When you get there, you just need to make a big enough explosion to form a hole that will connect to one of the internal tunnels. From there, the pressure from the partially blocked current will rip through the nest, probably causing it to shatter.”
“With you inside!” Warren’s willingness to go through with this plan was disappearing.
“That’s why you need to save us.”
That statement made him pause once more.
“When the nest starts to self-destruct from the mana current, you need to turn into light, and race toward the openings that lead to the center and save us. Can you do it?”
For Warren, he felt a sense of urgency and pride well up within him. Urgency, because he wanted to get his son out of there as fast as possible, and pride due to the fact that his son had proven, this time to him, that the power of a Peak Mythical being hadn't gotten to his head.
“I can do it. How long can you hold out?” Warren was already moving before Ezekiel answered. In an instant he was already at the edge were the larger openings were.
The ones that allowed a controlled flow to enter the nest at a steady and negligible rate.
“Five minutes. I’ve collapsed the tunnels leading into the center of the nest, so that should be how long it takes for the drones to dig through. After that, I’m getting us out of here, and will let you know where we are. You should have free reign to do what you need to, since this time, we’ll be the ones playing bait.” Without another word, the connection cut out, and there was nothing but silence from Warren’s Com-Slate.
But he didn’t worry about that. Instead, he worried about the fact that he had just reached the edge between the calm and rapid flows of mana. It shot off into the distance due to how the nest was shaped in order to divert the flow. The force ended up being so great that he was nearly pinned to the nest from the mana that was pushing against him.
For a moment, he lost his footing and was nearly swept away into the diverted flow. Surrounding himself in barriers of light, he forced himself back to his starting position at the edge.
He could no longer fly at his fastest speed, but he needed to get far enough over to make a crack close to the center of this side of the nest. Only then would the flow be enough to break it in half. With that said, he flew as fast as he could. But he would be cutting it close.
Pushing those thoughts aside, he made his way forward. His body grew to the maximum size that he could maintain, and he reached the places where the pressure seemed the greatest.
Focusing his [Will] to make one massive Radiant construct sword, filled with the most destructive forces he could bring about via his [Understandings], [Logic], and [Rules], he stabbed it down into the nest, releasing the pent-up energy in one go.
Even with the flow of mana pressing down on him, the force from the explosion pushed him back, and the shockwave forced the earth beneath him to crumble.
Then, he found himself dragged into the nest, even as it was ripped apart all around him.
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Things were going poorly for Ezekiel. He knew that he needed to do enough damage to the ruler of the nest to ensure that she couldn’t get out of this alive, but as the miasma slowly regained its previous quantity, he realized that this would be far more difficult than he had expected.
Throwing himself back, he avoided a spray of venomous ooze that melted the stone behind him.
With a flex of his mana, he darted over to Headren’s side once more. The miasma was slightly thinner around the skeleton, since he was forcefully canceling it out with his own [Will].
A deadly scythe shaped limb struck down on them, but Ezekiel deflected it with a partially angled [Void Pane]. The force of the blow was deflected enough for Headren to get out of the way.
“How are you doing? Is there anything you can do to wrestle control of this miasma from the queen?” His question made Headren growl. Even as his Spirit, now hidden within his ribcage, worked on repairing several of his broken bones.
“If there was, do you honestly think that we’d still be dealing with it? It’s taking nearly everything I have just to keep for myself, and the amount that I can access at once is far less than what she can!” The skeleton waved to the side, where Ezekiel could see several gouges rapidly healing.
Much of the miasma that had originally been cleared in the initial strike had been used, but a steady flow was continuing to pour in. Worse yet, he knew that his father would soon realize what was happening. There was no possible way that the queen hadn’t alerted her defenders.
Even now, the few defenders that were originally outside the chamber, hidden in different parts of the nest, were slowly moving in. Ezekiel knew that he couldn’t let that happen any longer.
“I’m going to take a risk. We need to stop this place from filling up with more death mana.” With that said, he [Jumped] toward the closest opening into the chamber.
Stabbing his hand into the rock wall, he sent a [Shockwave] that was [Enhanced] and [Warped] to make as much of the tunnel collapse as possible. He continued this for each of the other tunnels as well.
Within seconds, he had successfully cut off all access to the chamber. The only way out would be for him to use the beacons for a [Jump]. For the drones, it would take them several minutes to get through. Giving something of a reprieve. Though not much, since the queen took the opportunity made by his absence to eat the weaker Spirits that had managed to enter.
In those few seconds, the queen successfully healed herself of all injuries, and there was still miasma within the room. The only change was that no more was coming in.
Just then, a message came through from his father. His Com-Slate buzzed, and he forced himself to slow down to the point that he could listen to what it was saying.
The sound of his father’s voice was a surprisingly welcome distraction, and he let Shine direct his magic for a moment while he thought.
We need to get him in here. I hate to say it, but we’re not going to be able to kill that thing. Only your dad has the necessary fire power. Shine’s words made Ezekiel flinch, but he didn’t dispute them.
Instead, he thought about what he could do, looking around, and realizing that he knew what they needed to do. So, he told his father what needed to be done, and how best to crack open the nest.
Once he had finished explaining, and Warren had accepted the plan, he focused on getting back to Headren, who had just taken a heavy blow.
“Full defense. Ready yourself for something big.” Ezekiel tackled Headren out of the way as he said this. All while surrounding them all with the strongest barriers that he could make.
From there, he just focused on keeping them all moving, and not taking any hits that were too much for his barriers to handle. Then, he counted down, focusing on the time limit he had given his father.
“What are you doing!? It’s going to recover even more at this rate!” Headren struggled in Ezekiel’s grip, but the Void Hunter ignored it as best he could.
The moment that his countdown was up, he would be taking them out of there. Reaching out to the invisible connections he had to the Construct Artifacts he had created, he readied himself.
Just a few more seconds. However, his count never reached zero.
Instead, the entire nest shook, and the queen paused. She seemed to be confused and looked around at something neither Ezekiel nor Headren could see.
Then, after a couple of seconds, the massive arachnid Wild Spirit shrieked in fear and anger, before immediately clawing at the walls as frantically as she could.
Ezekiel couldn’t help it, he smirked at the fright in the Wild Spirit. But that smile was wiped from his face when the second shudder ran through the nest.
Then the third, the fourth, the fifth, and so on.
What he knew could only be chunks of the nest breaking off continued to shake the nest. He couldn’t tell what was going on outside in detail, but the queen continued to get more and more frantic.
Finally, after several seconds, a massive shockwave filled the chamber as it was broken open by an immense rush of mana. With that in mind, he barely had the time to figure out how to reinforce his barriers, even as Headren froze, his struggles having slowed once the third shockwave had passed through the chamber previously.
Then, the flow of mana made contact, and they were thrown back and forth, hitting wall after wall, breaking barrier after barrier from the force that was pushing them through broken tunnels.
All around them, the nest was slowly coming apart. The mana being channeled through the giant structure was a maelstrom of destructive energy. Behind him, Ezekiel could see giant rocks impacting against the equally gigantic body of the arachnid Spirit.
Its flesh was ripped apart by the broken structures, but that wasn’t what he focused on. Instead, the entirety of his attention was pointed toward the blinking light that was flying directly toward them.
In moments, it grew closer and brighter. Then, just as it had reached the massive spider, an enormous sword was formed from the golden Radiant energy that Warren had under his control.
“By the Ancient Spirits...” Headren’s awe filled voice rattled in Ezekiel’s ears, even while their bodies were rattled from the impacts against the various debris.
With a final swing, the sword cleaved through the pseudo-Ancient Spirit. It wasn’t a clean cut, and for a moment, the blade became stuck. Then, with an angry roar, not unlike a lion, the blade was pushed forward, until it finally did what it was created to do.
Cleaving the pseudo-Ancient in two and ensuring that it died with barely a whimper. However, that wasn’t enough, and Warren sliced through it a hundred times more, in an instant. The world temporarily filled with a series of flashing lights, and the comparatively few drones that hadn’t died when the nest broke apart suddenly stopped struggling.
The viciously flowing mana quickly tore them apart, and their mana was integrated back into the flow of mana running through the Spirit Paths.
“Dad!” Ezekiel’s yell grabbed his father’s attention, and he turned toward them.
A beam of light took shape, and just as the final barrier that Ezekiel was maintaining fell, he was wrapped up in his father’s arms. A shield of light covered all of them, but it lacked the oppressive feeling of a true Ancient’s power.
Ezekiel could tell that his father was drained. To the point where the young Ancient was barely holding on. Had the battle taken any longer than that, or if he had been forced to fight off more drones on the way here, Ezekiel knew that there was a very high chance that his father’s attack wouldn’t have been successful.
It was only because the swarm had been successfully diverted, and partially destroyed, that the opportunity to take the shot had been made.
Now that the threat was gone, Ezekiel allowed himself to relax, and with a weak chuckle, he slowly began to laugh. Headren and Warren looked confused at first, but he explained it in two words.
“We won!”
With that said, the floodgates opened, and even though it was taking them almost everything to keep themselves from being ripped apart in the current, Warren and Headren slowly began to laugh as well. They had won, and no one would be taking that victory away from them.