The monster’s appearance took them all by surprise. Elder Veylie and Folend had taken several steps back from the Abyss Rent, and even Kervantes had gone fully still.
At least Rieren had seen its kind before, though that offered scant comfort.
The Aetherian had a somewhat humanoid form in its proportions. A roundish head, a thin torso attached to appropriate-sized limbs that functioned as singular pairs of arms and legs. But instead of flesh or skin or anything of that sort, its body was constructed of the cosmos.
Its whole figure was a deep void, a darkness even more absolute than the lightless black of the Abyss Rents. But the entire shape of it was littered with dozens upon dozens of tiny stars. They coagulated at the centre of its body and its limbs to form a skeleton of light, with more twinkling dots spreading outwards in random.
A great majority of them had gathered in its head as though to signify its brightness, with more shining blindingly at places like its shoulders, knees, and fingernails. Rieren had to look at spots where it was darker to prevent her eyes from hurting at the brilliance.
“Ah,” it said, its voice a deep bass that seemed to echo throughout the chamber. “Cultivators. This explains my current form.”
“Begone, Aetherian,” the Elder said. “You are not welcome here.”
She had recovered from her initial surprise, which was a great feat in and of itself for the aura that the Aetherian was exerting was heavy. Even at her distance, Rieren’s shoulders felt as though there was something hanging just above them, threatening to push her down onto the ground.
The Aetherian regarded them all with care. “It would seem I was summoned into the wrong chamber. How tragic.”
“If you have no business here,” Rieren said. “Then return whence you came.”
The Aetherian looked at her directly. She tried to keep meeting its gaze, but the stars in its head were too bright, and she was forced to avert her gaze.
“Oh, I know you,” it said.
Her heart skipped a beat. “What do you mean, Aetherian?”
“You are the one who gave poor Arc-Sent such trouble. Do you not recall, youngling? The one you freed, then fought upon the corpse of the Anachron.”
Rieren didn’t know the exact specifics of how the various Aetherians were connected to one another. The Aether, the realm that the eponymous Aetherians inhabited, held far fewer of those monsters than the how the Abyss was filled with Abyssals. They didn’t have the same inclination to reproduce in mass numbers as their darker counterparts did.
What she did know, however, was that the Aetherians prided themselves on their individuality. Creatures who gave themselves unique names and disparaged the classification that others tried to impress upon them. Not that they didn’t have different ranks and races among them.
For instance, Rieren recognized that the current Aetherian she was facing was an Amorphic Nebula. They were either C- or B-Grade Aetherians in general, often as powerful as the kind she had faced before. Not always, though. That was what Rieren was counting on.
“I recall the battle,” she said. “And I recall the way the Aetherian fled.”
The Nebula standing before them only shook its head from side to side, sending its starry radiance swishing this way and that. “Silly tricks that I do not believe you have access to here. Though, I suppose you could gain them again. But I am aware of it, and I will not fall for it. Instead, I will put you in your place for thinking that you can stand against the likes of us.”
Clearly the Aetherian had every intention of starting some kind of battle, but it seemed the Elder had other ideas. While it was distracted talking to Rieren, she had summoned a storm of black thorns to immediately attack the Aetherian. The Elder was taking no chances whatsoever.
It wasn’t as effective as any of them would have liked. The thorny vine shot through the Aetherian’s cosmic body. There was no sign of any blood, and the monster didn’t even look harmed or startled in any way. Rieren lowered her face. Just as she remembered. C-Grade Nebula couldn’t be damaged easily with physical attacks.
Before the Elder could retract her thorns, the monster counterattacked. Multiple tiny stars burst out of the monster’s body and shot at the black spikes, exploding upon immediate contact. Where the thorns were eradicated, the starry void flowed in to refill the monster’s wounds.
The blowback from the detonation was enough to throw the Elder back as well. She was experienced and strong enough to maintain her footing, but now, the Aetherian was aware that it had been attacked. It turned to face the Elder, a spear of rippling, golden light materializing in its other hand.
“Ah, so you intend to begin,” it said. “I have no quarrel with you, thorny one. I only seek to redress the girl’s implications. However, since it appears that you share the same misconception, I shall have to address your temerity as well.”
Elder Veylie stood firm. “Cease speaking and attack, then. I do not have time to waste bandying words with the likes of you.”
If that was supposed to antagonize the Aetherian, the monster gave no sign of it. Instead, it raised its spear high, light at the tip spiralling out to form a spinning discus.
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“Watch out!” Rieren warned at the same time that the monster threw it at the Elder.
She was fast enough to dodge it with ease, but the discus wasn’t a simple projectile. It twisted around in the air, changing its direction as though it was tracking the Elder’s motion. A relentless hunter pursuing its foe until death.
Rieren didn’t see what the Elder did in response. Instead, with the monster’s back turned towards her, she attacked.
Of course, direct physical attacks weren’t going to be helpful here. Not unless they were accompanied by things that could actually damage the Aetherian. So, as she approached, Rieren summoned her Domain, a stormy ocean materializing around her.
The water alerted the Aetherian. It whirled around at her approach, raising its spear high again.
But Rieren was too fast. She reached it before the light could compress into another discus. As she swung her sword at it, she activated Tidal Summons so that a wave materialized just behind her blade to follow the arc she cut through the air.
Of course, the Aetherian had its starry response to count on. Or so it thought. As the stars burst out of its body, there wasn’t much space they had to shoot, so they immediately began to explode.
Rieren grinned ferociously as she completed her slash, sending a powerful wave following its arc to slam into the Aetherian. At the same time, she threw herself back, using Fray Passage to boost her motion as the half-dozen stars burst. The explosion rocked the chamber, but Rieren’s skill took her far enough quickly to ensure she wasn’t hurt.
When she stood again, she found the Aetherian had been pierced by several of the Elder’s thorns. Of course, a regular attack wouldn’t have any better effect than the Elder’s first attempt. But there was a key difference this time.
Rieren had thrown water into the mix.
When a Nebula was physically injured, its form normally reconstructed itself rather rapidly if there was nothing blocking the wounds. However, the explosion that had damaged the monster had also caused the wave of water she had flung at it to fly every which way. Much of the water had lodged itself into the various wounds upon the monster.
And now, Elder Veylie’s thorns had done the same. Her attacks were ceaseless. Vines shot in with furious abandon, apparently intent on piercing through the Aetherian’s entire body. It seemed the Elder had come to the conclusion that the monster couldn’t fix itself if it was entirely broken.
Rieren’s eyes caught a small patch of fire near the Elder. The stretch of smoking and burning dark spikes indicated where she had physically blocked the discus of light.
Of course, the Aetherian wasn’t about to let that happen so easily. It tried to throw out more stars, more detonations rocking in quick succession all over its body. Fortunately, the Elder’s strength far superseded the Aetherian’s. Even as several of the thorny vines were blown apart, even more replaced the destroyed ones.
Worse for the monster, all those explosions were far too close to it. They were tearing apart its own body, allowing the thorns to grow and dig deeper through it.
“Considering its appearance,” Kervantes commented, apparently happy to stand as a spectator. “That was far easier than I was expecting.”
“It is not over until that thing falls dead,” Rieren said.
“Of course, of course. But it seems your superior has it in hand. Only a matter of time until it ceases its futile struggle.”
Rieren wasn’t mollified. It was too easy. The Aetherian should have given them greater trouble. Of course, it was likely a mere C-Grade, and the Elder was more than strong enough to deal with monsters of that level. Even Rieren could have found a way to take it down by herself.
But the Aetherians individualistic nature was well-earned. They tended to be stronger than most Abyssals of the same Grade. So why—
“Of course,” Rieren muttered, turning towards the Abyss Rent. “Kervantes, we need to secure the Abyss Rent. It is stalling.”
“Ah,” the Ceramic Automaton said.
The automaton didn’t sound particularly alarmed, but as Rieren ran towards the Abyss Rent, she had to remind herself that Kervantes couldn’t express his emotions in the same way that people could. He was following her fast enough, suggesting that he was consternated.
But they weren’t fast enough. Rieren’s intention had been to cultivate the Abyss Rent away while the Elder kept the Aetherian occupied. Unfortunately, the rent flared before they could even begin. Rieren and Kervantes came to a halt, the rest of them in the chamber all turning to face it, fright cutting through them like a bolt of lightning.
Before they could react, another Aetherian materialized out.
“This is getting out of hand,” Elder Veylie growled. “Now there are two of them.”
“Brethren!” the downed monster shouted. “You arrive just in time.”
“Of course, I do,” the new Aetherian said, its voice holding the exact calibre as its supposed brother.
Rieren wasted no time attacking. If those two reached each other, they’d be in too much unnecessary trouble.
But it seemed the new Aetherian was prepared for it. As soon as Rieren took her first step, a galaxy worth of those tiny stars burst out of the monster’s body and shot towards her. Too many. Far too many.
Rieren was forced to check her run and lower her profile so as not to be hit by any of those detonating comets. Those that still would have struck here weren’t too difficult to block. A regular deflect with her blade would have blown her to minuscule bits, but she used Earthfell Blade to slam away the explosion.
The redirection caused the explosion’s pathway to shift to her left. Several of the shooting stars were struck by the redirected explosion’s shockwave, causing them to detonate. Rieren was forced down by the impact, though she was safe enough from any harm.
But that was enough for the new Aetherian to take advantage of the situation. Kervantes had been thrown back and Rieren couldn’t even see what had become of Folend. With nothing blocking its path, the second Aetherian rushed towards its fallen comrade.
The Elder tried to stop it with another storm of thorny dark vines, but it reacted quickly to that too. A discus materialized in its hand, and it held it like a shield against its other side, spinning all the while. All the thorns and vines were destroyed as soon as they came into contact with the rapidly rotating circle of light.
That included the ones keeping the first Aetherian pinned to the ground. With a quick swipe, the discus freed the other Aetherian.
“Shall we reveal the truth upon their mortal shoulders?” the first asked.
The second expanded the discus some more, keeping it as a shield between them and the Elder, whose thorns could not find a way past it. “It is the only reason I have come this far.”
Then the monsters joined together to become one.
Rieren couldn’t help but stare. She had faced a few Nebula before, but she had never seen them do that. She had to admit that it was certainly a sight to behold.
The stars withing each of the Aetherians slowly shimmered out of them, then began twirling around, faster and faster until they were nearly obscured by several blinding rings of light. Within the revolving radiance, the cosmic darkness of each creature flowed together as though they were liquid.
When the entire transformation finished, the new monster standing before them looked much like the individual ones that made it up. The only difference was that it had several starry wings protruding out of its back and a halo of light around its glittering head.
And it was also half again as tall as it had been before.
“Come then,” it said, its voice ringing twice over as though both Aetherians making up the whole were speaking at once. “Let us discover the truth together!”