The top of the command spire had a curved roof, upon which Xian and I both appeared. Far below us the Plate expanded outward so far that I couldn’t even estimate the distances, but I could estimate that the spire rose at least a half mile if not a full mile above it.

“Beautiful,” Xian declared, as he took in the view. At the far periphery of the Plate the glow of the Abyss cast upwards, varying between red, white, and orange light, while from above the immense horde of jellyfish looked like an ocean that churned between nothing and a hidden rainbow of colors, caught in the undulating movement of an impossibly vast tide.

Xian held his free hand up, and black chains formed from his palm and moved with a mind of their own. They flowed and took the shape of a large, menacing looking pair of black chain wings.

“You can fly.” I stated the obvious, as his four paws left the roof of the spire.

“You can’t? Then I suppose I shall be the one to kill the most of these creatures. Behold!”

Xian gripped Viper in both hands, shifted the immense sword to his side, and then swung at the on-coming swarm. Darkness blazed along his sword as it separated into fragments, each connected by the same black chains that formed his wings. Viper didn’t break apart into a singular blade connected by one row of chains, it broke into hundreds of jagged fragments connected by over twenty different lengths of chain.

Logic and reason told me everything about the attack shouldn’t work. No one could control the motion of those chains with a swing, but Xian controlled them with his mind, if the chain wings on his back were the same. The attack looked less like the impossible to use whip sword I’d heard disparaged by adventurers for years, and more like a net-sword, with every movement of blade and chain controlled perfectly by the Urmahlullu. Xian’s first immense slash killed hundreds of Jellyfish.

It didn’t even make a noticeable decrease in the tide that swarmed towards the Spire, but Xian finished the first slash and brought Viper up in an upward strike.

As ridiculous and beautiful as his method of fighting the Jellyfish was, I was out here to do the same thing. Delirium of Ruin wasn’t the same kind of weapon as Viper. Whoever Vine had been, if he fought like Xian did, he must have specialized in mass slaughter. My spear couldn’t kill hundreds in a single strike. I could throw the spear, resummon it, and repeat, but I didn’t think that would be effective.

I took a deep breath, and when I looked back up, Xian had moved to take the right flank. The darkness seemed to light up when roiling waves of greenish-red energy shot out of his sword. Not just from the tip, but from every fragment of Viper.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I growled, as he scornfully obliterated thousands of jellyfish in a single attack that he deployed in the midst of another attack that killed hundreds.

I felt outclassed. The worst part was, even Xian seemed to barely contain the wave of Void Jellyfish from reaching the Spire. If he couldn’t do it, what chance did I have?

“Fuck it,” I hissed and activated Galvanize. Bursts of the Ebon Gale manifest around me, as black lightning crackled from my scales and caressed me. The world slowed down. I lightly hopped into the air, and toyed with my own motion. I wouldn’t call it flying, even if it functionally sort of worked like flying. It was more like throwing myself as if I were a dart. I reached the Jellyfish wave before I had a full grasp on what I was doing, but a few quick thrusts of Delirium of Ruin proved I could easily kill the creatures, but the blare of Instincts of the Gossamyr warned me when I discovered the self-destruct attack of the Jellyfish worked even against a speedy opponent.

Or would have, if I didn’t see a new Vector pop up on the Jellyfish. I locked that one, and then transferred it to the jellyfish around it, and threw myself away from the swarm. I should have thrown myself further, faster, because the self-destruct attack was huge. I thought it might be like the on-death explosions Xian created, but the self-destruct destroyed a fifty-foot radius, including the Jellies own clutch mates. With this, I could catch up to Xian, or maybe even exceed his slaughter.

It was too bad I couldn’t use lightning to trigger the Jellies self-destruct.

“Analyzing,” Arx Maxima spoke into my head.

I nearly jumped back into the fight, expecting results might take a little bit, when Arx Maxima spoke again with nearly no delay.

“Self-Destruct Trigger analyzed and deployed to your Vector controls. It would pair best with Bedlam Bolt or Hysteria of the Ebon Gale,” Arx Maxima offered the suggestions on how to best use it.

Curious, I lifted my left hand, formed a bolt of lightning, added the Self-Destruct Trigger vector to my lightning via Create Vector, and launched the blast into the oncoming mass of Jellyfish. Explosions rapidly decimated the ranks of the jellyfish.

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“Please note: this ability will only detonate creatures with Self-Destruct abilities similar to those of the Void Jellyfish, creatures such as Bombs may require separate analysis.” Arx Maxima cautioned me, but I was too busy laughing and launching blast after blast of lightning and comparing the size of my flank to Xian’s. I still lagged behind.

How could I catch up to, or better yet, beat, Xian?

If I summoned Katrina, my lightning would become much more potent and be supported by Katrina itself.

“That course of action is unnecessary. The swarm is being recalled by the Astral Weaver. Allow any that retreat to do so, but any who remain or continue towards me should be obliterated.” Arx Maxima spoke into my mind again.

I frowned. Had the Astral Weaver sensed I was on the verge of calling Katrina? Or had Xian and I destroyed so many of its bits that we were deemed to annoying to eat? Was the big creature out there in the darkness, invisible to the naked eye, watching and planning revenge? For all that its horde was easy to defeat, the creature itself had more power than Amaranthine. I didn’t know if Corvusol or Arx Maxima could beat the thing, so it was probably best not to antagonize it.

Ten minutes later, Xian and I were warped back into the spire by Arx Maxima.

“I wonder how many I managed to kill?” I asked the open air.

“You slew 13,310. Good job, Herald.” Arx Maxima praised me.

“Excellent job, brother.” Xian clapped my shoulder happy for my large kill count.

“How many did Xian get?” I asked, while half hoping I came somewhere close.

“24,273.” Arx Maxima answered.

Xian didn’t even puff up his chest. Even his smile didn’t change. He knew he was an avatar of destruction upon the battlefield, and no numbers or kills would change that. I wanted to have that kind of confidence in myself.

“You will get there, brother.” Xian said with total faith in me. Faith that made me feel bad for so desperately wanting to have done better than him.

“Your control over Viper is amazing. How long have you been wielding it?” Chrys interjected.

“I acquired Viper and the armor nearly ninety years ago. For the first decade I couldn’t even properly control its chain mode, despite them being my second concept.” Xian’s quiet confidence and humility felt like a dagger to my heart. How could he be so… together? It was both infuriating and commendable.

“Is it rude to ask how old you are?” Chrys asked.

“I have walked the Gossamyr for one hundred and ten years. How old are you, Lady Chrys?” Xian’s feline eyes focused upon the Gneissling as if he were waiting for confirmation on a theory.

“I spent 143 years in the land of Subterra before meeting Emery and Arx Maxima,” Chrys said.

I blinked a few times.

“Holy shit, you’re ancient!” Claire shouted. “Err. I mean, wow. You’re very uhh.. sorry.”

“That’s not that old,” Miyuki said with a glare for Claire. “Although, it is nice to know that some of you are my elders. I was beginning to feel old, thanks to these teenagers.”

“For a Gneissling I am exceptionally young,” Chrys clarified.

“Rocks are old. Got it.” Remy teased Chrys, and both laughed.

Somehow, the room had divided itself into the young and the old. Which meant Amaranthine, Claire, and I faced off against Xian, Remy, Miyuki, Chrys, and Arx Maxima.

“Age is a number, one with little meaning and scant consistency,” Amaranthine lightly murmured. It was the first time I had ever heard her sound even slightly defensive.

“An unusual perspective from someone immune to the ravages of time,” Miyuki said. Her green eyes seemed to re-examine Amaranthine, as if seeing her in a different light. I wondered, could her sense of truth pierce things like intuiting what someone’s age was?

“The Astral Weaver has departed my sensor range. Please return to your efforts to prepare for the assault on Havenstone.” Arx Maxima doused the conversation with a reminder of what we needed to be doing.

Our group broke apart once more, and then it was Amaranthine and I left alone. As lone as two people with crystals floating over their shoulders could be.

“Now what?” I asked Amaranthine.

A fine red eyebrow arched at me, deflecting the question back to me wordlessly.

I felt giddy. I didn’t come close to beating Xian, but the effects of my vector powers had proven greater than I had ever hoped. If I could keep analyzing effects and adding, I could do so much more than spear things or hit them with lightning. I could contribute, meaningfully, to almost any scenario. I could defend Arx Maxima, maybe even become strong enough to defend Amaranthine.

Saving Etienne might even be a realistic goal, despite the power of Mithras and his legions of followers, their Castles, and mist denying true world.

Amaranthine must have seen the hope growing in my expression, because a simple little smile crossed her lips, and she leaned up to whisper against the side of my head near my ears.

“I believe you were going to give me a tour of your quarters,” Amaranthine coyly whispered. My scales tingled where her warm breath touched, and all the pent-up sexual frustration from the day reasserted itself on my body. It felt like a thousand-pound weight of pure sexual tension dropped onto me, and seeped into my body. Her fragrance of roses was all I could smell, and the warmth of her skin against my scales might as well have been fire, for how hyper-sensitive to it I grew.

“Quit canoodling like peasants, you both have training to do.” Corvusol didn’t mince words, his distaste for our flirting on full display.

“Crudely put, but true. Amaranthine, your expertise in combat abilities would be a boon to Corvusol in helping Remy and Chrys advance, while Emery and I must visit the Vaults. You have yet to claim the bounty you unlocked with Wealth of the Enclave.” Arx Maxima said in her best firm, motherly tone.

I watched as the desire, seduction, and interest in Amaranthine’s expression faded away, to be replaced by a cold and cruel look. I wanted to shout at Arx Maxima, but it really felt like the world was determined to keep me and Amaranthine away from my quarters. If it wasn’t jellyfish and monsters, it was Arx Maxima and Corvusol.

I felt like an old sock being ripped apart by two dogs.

“Later then,” Amaranthine said and strode out of the room. I really hated the word later.