A torrent of emerald fire engulfed the top of the hill. Tilting his wings Exar’kun angled to the last two remaining capture points. Arrows pinged off his scales, but he didn’t even turn to look at meager ants that tried to distract him. A defiant roar tore from his throat shaking the land around him as he dove towards the second to last fortification.
The champions stationed their foolishly tried to defend it instead of running. They thought themselves special, better because some god had given them a blessing and a few abilities and trinkets. They all burned in the end, the shield domes, warding spells, and other effects ended, and they screamed as his breath ravaged them, stealing the air from their lungs. When it was done only charred skeletons would remain, if even that.
His mother had died to protect her nest. Of all his siblings only, he had survived the blighted energy that had poisoned their nest. And he had not only survived the poison, he had taken it, made it his own. The monsters changed by the fallen star had tried to kill him as a weak hatching as he struggled to survive but he had bested them too.
He had been given a chance to serve a god but had rejected it, he would never be the slave of any creature. The Warlord had his respect, his loyalty too perhaps, but not his obedience. He would do as was necessary to thrive and gain power.
---
Mira watched the dragon approaching. She knew that dragon, she had studied how to take it down for over a year only to have the chance taken away from her by the Warlord. He must have dominated it somehow and now it was here, which meant so was he. Pushing aside thoughts of revenge she yanked Lancelot off the wall.
“We need to run,” she said.
“But we need to defend the capture point,” Lancelot said.
“We’ve already lost it,” Mira replied pulling him after her.
She yelled for the other champions on guard to follow her, but they didn’t listen. She didn’t waste any more breath on them. There was nothing she could do for them, she needed to gather a full party to hunt down the Warlord and remove him from the Event.
“Where are we going?” Lancelot asked, running beside her.
“Back to the spawn point to get Torvin and some more people,” Mira said. “The Warlord is out there somewhere, and I mean to find him.”
---
Guinevere approached the Eastern Spawn point on foot. The defenses had been reinforced since she last visited but not by much. Walls weren’t that effective against gifted who could jump over fifty feet into the air or had access to abilities like flight or teleportation. She raced forward, she would have to rely on being a higher-ranking tier than her enemies and trust in her attributes and abilities.
Mordred was doing the same thing on the other side of the battle-grounds, she had argued against him going there and risking running into Arthur again, but he had insisted. She had agreed after he convinced her she knew the layout of this side already.
She still wasn’t fully convinced. There were many on that side who hated Mordred and hatred was a powerful motivator. She couldn’t worry about him now, but she also couldn’t stop worrying. She knew it was pointless and illogical, he couldn’t even die permanently here. But when she’d watched him die and looked down at his lifeless body it had felt like her world had ended.
“I won’t let it happen again,” she promised herself, knowing she couldn’t stop it if it did.
Leaping to the top of the wall she gripped the edge with her fingers, summersaulting, and landing on her feet on the parapet. Her sword flashed out parrying a spear to the face and reposting opening him up from neck to sternum. She needed to be fast, there was no time for drawn out fights, no room for error.
“Curse Crown,” Guinevere said summoning the flaming halo above her as well as the specters under her command. “Kill as many as you can,” she commanded them.
Guinevere focused on a large central building, heavily fortified, it was the most likely place they would have their standard. Dropping to the ground she held out her hands.
“Void Beam,” she said.
Void Beam (Rank 20, Max Rank): Channeling the utter oblivion of the void you create a beam from your hand 15ft wide and 120ft long dealing Extreme Void damage and Major Curse damage to any creature struck by it. The void beam persists for as long as you continue to channel it and will follow the direction of your hand.
Your void beam pierces through three layers of damage reduction before calculating its damage.
Max Rank Bonus: Creatures killed by this ability create a void vortex pulling in other creatures in a twenty-foot radius around them.
Cost:
3 mana per second.
Cast Time:
Instantaneous
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Upgrade this ability to increase the range, width, and damage of the beam. Each rank of this ability increases your Mind attribute by 1.
She had spent a few hours last night in a haze as she took the pain suppressors necessary to upgrade abilities. Mordred might be able to do it sober, but she couldn’t. She had focused on increasing its range as well as reducing the mana cost necessary to maintain it.
Sweeping her hand back and forth she engulfed emerging Champions in the black energy as she strode forward. Reaching the castle doors, she was knocked back as tall woman emerged. Standing nearly eight feet tall the woman wore plate armor made of wood with freshly growing leaves like fur trim. Antlers swept back from her forehead and long fiery orange hair swept back in wild tangle.
Shasmi, Champion of Ontera, Gifted- humanoid/ruminn, Hero, Rank: 410
Ontera was the god of Beasts and Nature. Guinevere took a step back surveying her opponent, while she was hero rank it was barely. The minimum rank you could reach Hero at was four-hundred-and-eight. Shasmi carried a one-handed axe and shield.
“I have heard of you Inara,” Shasmi said.
It took Guinevere a minute to remember that was the false name her description showed.
“I can’t say the same for you,” Guinevere said. “My apologies.”
“They are not needed,” the woman said she had a thick accent to her words. “I roam the wilds alone pushing back the excess of man and chaos my name will not be one many have heard.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll let me pass without a fight?” Guinevere asked.
“No,” Shasmi said.
“So be it,” Guinevere said.
The two woman clashed. The champion was powerful, but it quickly became evident she didn’t have the years of training as Guinevere.
“Twisting thorns,” Shasmi said realizing she wouldn’t win with her weapons alone.
Guinevere leapt clear of the ground kicking off Shasmi’s shield to propel herself higher into the air.
“Winter’s Touch,” she said.
When her sword hit fire burst forth clinging to the woman’s wooden armor. While Guinevere’s ice abilities might have been ineffective against this type of armor the enchantments switching it to fire made a huge difference. Shasmi stumbled backwards off balance as she tried to put out the fire across her chest. Guinevere waded through the thorns ripping into her skin and dealt the final blow driving her sword up to the hilt through her chest. Yanking it out she was greeted by the notification for rank points.
205 rank points gained.
Dismissing the notification Guinevere received another.
Titania’s Wings (Rank 1): Glorious like a stained-glass window, the wings of the Summer Queen on the Lady of Winter. While this ability is active a pair of ethereal wings appear on your back granting you a fly speed equal to your movement speed. The wings are made of light and are invulnerable to all damage types.
Cost:
2 mana per second.
Cast Time:
Instantaneous
Upgrade this ability to increase the utility of your wings. Each rank up increases your Spirit and Speed by one.
The thorns disappeared with Shasmi’s death and Guinevere rushed into the fortress. She had even less time now, running past all the room she did a quick search finding the Standard chained to the wall in the armory. Her sword slashed out as she used Winter’s Touch to weaken the chains and rip it free. Turning, she rushed to the fort’s entrance.
“Titania’s Wings,” she said taking to the air.
Guinevere flew over the walls and out onto the plains. An arrow hit her in the back sending her careening through the air. Another arrow hit her, and she dove low to the ground. She smacked against a wall that appeared in front of her. A massive crystal dome had formed around them, it was around two-hundred yards in diameter. Another arrow buzzed towards her, but Guinevere deflected it with her sword turning to meet her captors.
---
Mira crested the hill and loosed another arrow at the woman who had stolen her faction’s standard. She deflected her arrow and turned to face her. She had scarlet hair and eyes that narrowed when they focused on her. Mira analyzed her with one of her abilities that let her telescope her vision. She never stopped moving rushing closer to the woman as she loosed arrow after arrow.
Inara the Dark Valkyrie, Gifted; Humanoid/human*, Hero, Rank: 465
“So, you’re here,” Inara said when there was only a few dozen yards between them.
Lancelot slid into position in front of Mira, his shield raised to guard her.
“Do I know you?” Mira asked.
“No,” the woman said. “No, I don’t suppose you do.”
She shot forward fiery wings like a butterfly emerging from her back letting her glide across the ground. Lancelot blocked the first and second attack with his shield but was quickly falling back under the fury of her assault.
She muttered some activation phrase for an ability and her sword cut a thin line on the back of his knee as she slid past. Lancelot spasmed and fell despite the minor cut, his body contorted in pain. Mira loosed another arrow that split into a hundred more. Raising her arms, Inara protected the lower half of her face as the arrows pinged off her armor leaving barely a scratch.
She surged forward again, and Mira prepared a heavy shot. The woman disappeared a fiery explosion knocking Lancelot back as he tried to interpose himself between her. The woman appeared next to another champion wielding a heavy maul. Her sword came out from his chest as she stabbed him in the back and jerked her sword free.
For a minute the stranger’s face was replaced with that of Jamis’. Mira screamed loosing arrow after arrow at the woman. A swarm of falcons descended from the air swooping at the woman’s head. She rolled and ducked a feathery shower following her as she slashed at the never-ending swarm of hawks and falcons. Lancelot lunged forward tackling the woman to the ground.
He smashed the hilt of his sword down towards her face like a hammer, but the woman twisted and threw him off her. She sprang to her feet muttering a new ability, she opened her mouth, and a torrent of fire escaped her lips like the breath of a dragon.
The swarm of hawks was incinerated. She disappeared again, appearing next to the mage of the group this time. He did a better job surviving, managing to block her first stab to his back, but she caught him with a backhand and drove her sword through his chest. The mirror dome trapping her ended, unwilling to let her escape Mira dove forward dropping her bow pulling one of her arrows free. She jumped onto the other woman’s back using the arrow like a punch dagger to stab into the woman’s neck. The woman’s skin was like marble and though Mira cut into her skin it wasn’t deep enough to be mortal wounds.
The woman threw her off, but Mira rushed in again. The sword flashed out faster than she could even follow. Looking down Mira saw where the sword had carved through the leather of her armor from shoulder to sternum. She collapsed as her lifeblood pumped out onto the ground watching as Inara fled to the east before her vision turned black.