Clarent flashed forwards as I charged into the midst of the ancients. A gout of sapphire fire burned against my skin as one of the ancients began to shift, taking on the shape of some sort of dragon. They all began to morph from the amorphous beings of thought into more tangible creatures. One took on the massive form of a four-armed humanoid, its back covered in thorns and spikes like a porcupine. The other took on the visage of a swarm of armored insects, their buzzing the sound a saw makes when ripping through metal. The last one mirrored me, its body a glossy black with six arms and in its hand its own version of Clarent, though its lightning was all white and silver instead of crimson.
I rolled across the ground to put out the fire; the false Clarent slashed down but Ares blocked it with my spear. The jaws of the dragon ancient snapped down but I was on the move again and stabbed my weapons into its throat as it snapped down. I roared, releasing Voice of the Chasm and blasting away the mirror copy of me and the swarm of insects. The spike-backed ancient swung down with its club. I blocked the attack by crossing my spear and gauntlet-sword. The ground cracked under my feet, small craters forming as the force of the strike pushed me into the black marble.
The tail of the dragon struck me from behind, staggering me forwards. I grunted in pain as spikes shot out of its tail and some type of venom or acid began to burn through my skin. The swarm shot back into the fight, the stingers and pincers of the insects biting and stabbing into me. My skin was beyond the hardness of diamond but these wasps seemed to just phase through my skin and their poison caused a maddening itch. I fully activated Wrathful Meditation and the pain of the acidic poison eating its way out of me disappeared.
The Void angels were the only reason I wasn’t already dead. They were dying by the second but they dove through the air, taking hits meant for me and slashed and cut into the flanks of the ancients whenever they got a chance. The ancients smashed the angels down to the ground, their souls rising up without their protective shells and fleeing the battlefield to stand and watch as the rest of their brethren continued to fight on beside me.
Lightning sparked from my fingers, going from insect to insect within the swarm. Some dropped out but there were millions within that mass and I couldn’t even see a noticeable drop in size. The mirror copy of me swung at me with its own Clarent, spear, gauntlet sword, and claws. The attacks from all the ancients came in from all directions and I could barely block half of them. Each one that hit did devastating damage to my body.
I lost half my torso when the dragon’s jaws closed on me and he ripped off half my chest along with the arms on that side of my body. I activated Void Shield immediately but was hit by all the mirror-copies weapons; they pierced through my skin and ribs. I couldn’t feel the pain but the damage did register as my hands grew weaker and had difficulty holding onto my sword. Everything looked just a little dimmer. I needed to cut the number of ancients down and a drawn-out fight was not in my favor here.
The spines from the spiked ancient shot into me with the force or slugs from a railgun. I was pinned to the ground and the dragon’s jaws descended on me. I ripped the spikes out, sacrificing a great deal of my flesh to do so but I rolled free in time. The swarm of insects began stabbing into me. I didn’t wave them off and instead breathed in as I opened up my soul.
Almost immediately the ancients sensed my exposed soul and cut into me. This pain I couldn’t block out, but I pushed past it as I bit down into the soul of the swarm ancient. While it had taken the form of a swarm of insects, it had one singular soul and I held onto that like a pit bull, not letting go no matter the blows that rained down on me. I funneled the energy into my soul. I didn’t need to raise my own strength and I needed a way to empower my vassals. If the angels could hold their ground better, there was a chance we could live through this.
I chose Phalanx Commander as the ability to improve. I pushed ability after ability into it but nothing hit until Piercing Charge collided and was sucked into it. The use of Piercing Charge inspired me and I selected Shield Wall next and pushed that in and it, too, was sucked in. The last of the ancient’s energy was drawn into the vortex and the ability stabilized.
Hero’s General: (Rank 50, Max Rank); You are not the leader of lesser men. All who follow you are made better by your presence, becoming great by serving in your benevolent shadow as you raise them all to be heroes. All followers within 2,000 ft of you gain the benefits of serving under you.
Unstoppable Momentum: Those who have sworn themselves to you, or your created Prometheans, can teleport instantaneously to take the place of another allied member of the same formation. Movement speed of troops in this formation is multiplied x6. For the cost of 20 mana, 20 stamina, and 20 ethereal, you and your vassals gain a Charge attack where they move forwards in a 190 ft line dealing Major Piercing and Bludgeoning damage to all targets in your path with a x5 damage bonus on the final attack. When marching in formation, they can sync up their movements to adjacent formations, multiplying the speed bonus by a further x12.
All as One: Your followers deal an additional Severe damage to their attacks. Damage is spread out over your vassals. When one of your vassals takes damage, your other vassals near him take a percentage of the damage. The more of them that are close together the less damage each one individually takes. Your army has the ability to surge forwards 100ft, pushing back anything in their way and dealing Major Piercing and Bludgeoning damage x5 to anything that stands their ground in front of them.
Hold the Line: You have stood alone against superior numbers and terrors and have inspired others to stand even if they stand alone. Troops in your formation have a spectral increase to the reach of their range that can be toggled at will, increasing the reach by up to 20 ft. You and your vassals can create an invisible shield as long and wide as they are tall that lasts for 30 seconds, reducing the damage from any attack that strikes it by five damage stages and giving the wielder the *Immovable status for the duration. The size of the shield grows by 2 ft for every ally within 90 ft of each other. When the shield disappears, it explodes outwards dealing Major Piercing and Bludgeoning damage to any non-allied creature 60 ft in front of them, weakening them and increasing the damage they will take from the next attack by x3.
Final Rank Bonus: Your vassals gain a +1 to each attribute for every 10 vassals you have within the area of effect.
*Immovable: You cannot be moved from your location by physical force or spells.
Cast Time:
Passive
Cost:
30 ethereal per second
Each rank of this ability grants +2 Speed, +1 Toughness, and +1 Mind.
The swarm of insects blinked out of existence as the energy used to sustain it was gone, consumed by me. My body spasmed as my muscles writhed and my fast twitch muscles twisted and changed. My mind went black for a moment as the overload of attributes increasing overwhelmed me.
Congratulations! You have raised one of your Attributes beyond 250, the Exarch limit. Your body will now physiologically change to adjust to this increase to keep your Attributes from killing you.
Your body has adapted to move at speeds beyond what any physical being should be able to. When moving at your top speed, your body will convert from physical material to incorporeal spirit as your flesh goes into an extra-dimensional space within your soul.
Congratulations! You have raised one of your Attributes beyond 250, the Exarch limit. Your body will now physiologically change to adjust to this increase to keep your Attributes from killing you.
Your brain has adapted to allow you to think more clearly and faster. Your memories and all knowledge you hold is instead contained inside your spiritual soul so it is impossible for your memories to be altered by the passage of time, damage to your skull, or manipulation from outsider forces.
The mirror-copy of me swung its weapons at me but stumbled back as an invisible shield appeared in front of me. The sapphire fire burned against the shield and my arm blistered on the other side, but the fire didn’t pass it. An angel landed beside me, then another, and another. Raising their hands, the fire passed over the shields in a wave. Finally, the shields exploded outwards, and the ancients were blown back by the force of it.
The spiked ancient charged forwards, the first to recover from the blast.
Him, I directed the Void angels with the telepathy from my helm. Charge attack it, one after the other.
A Void angel shot forwards and slashed with its swords, hitting the ancient from twenty-five feet away from the spectral extended reach of its weapon. The fly-by attack was immediately followed up by another attack from a different angel, then another and another.
“World Forge,” I said, forming new bodies for the angels that had died at the start of the battle.
The lost souls rose from the earth, their throats screaming a war cry as they joined the chorus. The dragon and the mirror-copy moved back into the fight. They slashed out at the Void Angels, but their invisible shields flashed up and they froze midair instead of going flying. Swords began cutting into the dragon’s back as the angels began to harry it, no longer being destroyed in a single strike from the attacks that came their way. Even though they were all still Rank one, my ability granted them the strength they needed to stay in the fight long enough to inflict meaningful damage.
The mirror-copy of me was less effected by the changes to the Void angels. Its smaller size let it sidestep their attacks and it spun around their shields and stabbed forwards. Its strikes always maimed or outright destroyed the Void angels. What’s more, now that they knew I could recreate them, they didn’t let the lost souls go. Rather than slowly eat them over months and years, the ancient bit down and sucked them in, just as I had done to the ancients.
I charged forwards, meeting the mirror-copy in direct combat. Our blades clashed as we struck and blocked in what must have seemed a choreographed scene to an outsider. The ancient had copied me, its body wreathed in black smoke; I didn’t know if it could copy the effects of my abilities, but it could apparently copy my skill in combat. I couldn’t land a hit on it, and neither could it on me as we canceled each other out. If it wasn’t for the Void angels, that standoff could have gone on indefinitely, but right now those angels were engaged with the other ancients.
The copy and I began to try and use other methods to break the stalemate. Scarlet lightning met silver lightning as we blasted each other. I roared using Voice of the Chasm and a roar answered me in return, the sound waves colliding with such force that the two of us were thrown apart. I stretched out my hand and gripped it around the throat with Telekinesis and felt an answering strangling hold around mine. A void angel struck the mirror-copy from behind and it staggered, the grip around me loosening as it lost focus. The angel was instantly killed and the soul devoured for transgressing the ancient, but another Void angel immediately took its place, sacrificing itself to buy me another moment of distraction.
I bit my tongue in frustration; this ancient was the hardest of them all to fight, but I couldn’t take it out first. I would have to accept the sacrifice of my vassals and let them pass into non-existence; I would not let their sacrifice be in vain. I charged the spiked ancient as it batted at the Void angels dive bombing it.
My attack took it from behind as I tackled it to the ground and began tearing into it like a wild animal. I sucked in the beings soul and it formed a violent ball of energy. Before I could even select an ability, the vortex sucked in one of its own. I watched as my Foresight ability was ripped free and absorbed into the twisting mass of energy where it began to mutate. I pushed my other perception abilities in and it sucked in Bestial Senses and Tremor Soles. I finished off the ancient, already beaten to scraps by the Void angels, and the ability stabilized.
Watcher from Beyond: (Rank 50, Max Rank); Your eyes extend from the Void to see what was, what is, and what is yet to come.
Limited Omniscience: You passively see up to 1 minute into the future and know all the different possibilities of what will happen to yourself and the space within 100 ft of you at all times. This ability is based on your Perception attribute; increasing it will increase the time you can see by one second per rank in Perception above 10. You can focus on one creature in your radius and begin to see all the possible futures for them. You have insight into predicting the next actions of creatures within your range. The more you observe them, the greater insight you will gain to foresee their future.
Oracle’s Dreams: You can see visions during your sleep that will lead you to objects or creatures that you seek. Just as you have learned to master the threads of fate through time, you also have learned to disguise yours; the ability for others with similar abilities to foresee your own actions through time and fate is blocked. You can focus on one creature and see the threads of fate around them and how tied they are or will be with you. You can willingly enter into a meditative trance to gain random visions of yours or one of your followers’ futures.
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All-seeing Gaze: You can sense the slightest of changes within 200 ft of you; a tremor in the ground, a rustle of fabric, the movement of the air being displaced, nothing escapes you. Your hearing, olfaction, and sight are magnified x50 at all times. Your opponent’s weak points are highlighted for you in your vision. At will, you can change to see in all other spectrums of light and see heat and cold. You can see, smell, and feel the presence of enchantments, spells, and other magic within a mile around you. Your vision is not obscured by smoke, mist, magical darkness, or illusions. You can see into and out of the Void and into the Ethereal realm at will.
Final Rank Bonus: Your eyes are the gateway to the soul, and your soul’s power is terrible and awe inspiring to behold. All who meet your gaze are filled with the need to flee from you or follow you.
Cast Time:
Passive
Cost:
30 ethereal per second
Each rank gives you +3 to your Perception attribute.
The spiked ancient was gone, leaving me with the two most dangerous of the four to fight, I couldn’t fight either of them right this second because I was blind as my eyes mutated again.
Congratulations! You have raised one of your Attributes beyond 250, the Exarch limit. Your body will now physiologically change to adjust to this increase to keep your Attributes from killing you.
Your eyes have gained the ability to see more that what is physical or even energy. You can pierce through the flesh to see the soul, to weigh the hearts of man, to see how stained they are by their deeds.
I blinked as my vision came back to me and I could see once again. The dragon had smashed half a dozen angels to the ground and maimed a few hundred more of them. I charged forwards, ducking down and bringing up my invisible shield as it blasted me with a torrent of fire.
“Look out!” Ares warned me, but it was already too late.
I stood up and tried to turn around, but a massive fist struck me. The mirror-copy had grown in size like I could with Blood of Kronos. I didn’t know how far its mirroring effects went, but they did seem fairly accurate in what they could glean from me. Its hand grabbed me around the neck and chest and began to squeeze as it slammed me against the ground again and again.
Bones snapped and broke, my vision went red and dim, and I could feel shattered bones dig into my heart and organs and splinter into my muscles. I had to activate Void Shield, but I was still trapped in the titanic grip as it continued to smash me down. I struggled to break free, but my strength was equal to my copies, and I couldn’t push past my own limits. I tried to swell in size but some sort of energy field held my current size in place.
The ancient bit into my soul. I tried to use that opportunity to draw in its energy, but this one was smarter. It didn’t take long bites, but instead quick snaps that were never long enough for me to get a grip on its energy and reverse the flow. I could feel my soul weakening, not just my body, and a feeling of dark lethargy overcame me. My body, mind, and soul all began to slip away. The angels rushed in to help me but my copy swatted them out of the air or ignored their attacks as I continued to drift farther and farther towards nothingness.
A woman’s scream cut the air; it rang through the Void piercing through the chaos of battle and cutting through my soul. The sound was full of pain but not the agony of battle. Guinevere, my daughter… I had to fight for them. I roared and activated Void Shield again. I pushed and got just a little bit of space then activated Phantom Form. I’d avoided doing that in the Void due to how every creature here did Soul damage, but the time for that restriction was gone.
My own body grew in size as I matched my copy and we clashed together again.
--
Guinevere heaved out a breath and screamed again. She’d held it in but the more real the world around her grew, the more the pain intensified. She sucked in another breath, reaching down as she slid back along the blankets and fur to crouch. She could feel her daughter moving as she pushed again and again.
“Come on,” she said, her voice strained with pain. “Your father needs us.”
She pushed again, screaming again, the sound echoing through the temple around her. She pushed and screamed and heard an echoing roar from down the mountain. Sucking in a deep breath, she pushed and screamed a final time, and a soft scream answered her. Guinevere collapsed to the ground. She reached down and picked up the wet and red baby as she bawled her lungs out.
“It’s ok, it’s ok,” Guinevere cooed as she rocked her back and forth, wiping her face clean. She took the cleansing cloth Mordred had left with her and wiped herself and her baby clean in an instant. She gently blew into her daughter’s face as she slowly calmed and relaxed into her mother’s arms.
--
A soft cry joined the screams and my heart skipped a beat as I realized what it meant. I still felt weakened from the attack on my soul, but I had a new source of strength now. Void angels dove at my copy, slashing it from behind. I extended my hand, gripping it with Telekinesis in its distraction and holding it still as I charged forwards.
I drove Clarent forwards and into its chest. My soul bit into it and its soul bit back, our bodies and souls locked in combat again equally matched. But the angels tipped the scales in my favor. I gained ground little by little, drawing its energy into my soul and making it mine.
I chose Telekinesis and funneled the energy into it. I took in more and more of its energy, the ancient lashing out spiritually and physically, its attacks with the desperate fervor and violence of an animal caught in a trap. My other abilities were rejected until Chain Lighting was selected and absorbed by the vortex of energy. I tried my other abilities, Voice of the Chasm and Helheim’s Scream, but they weren’t accepted. Then I tried Dying Star and it was absorbed right away. I tore into the final remnant of the mirror-copies soul and drained the last vestiges of the divine energy it contained and the vast well of spiritual power that formed it. The ancient disappeared and the ability stabilized.
Abyssal Magic: (Rank 50); You have discovered there is very little difference if any between spells and abilities. By using the power of the Void, you have merged the power of thought, storm, and the stars themselves to enable you to warp the energy from your body into a variety of effects. The maximum range of this ability is 2,000 ft.
Wrath of Ouranos: Lightning erupts from your hands and targets a creature within range, dealing Severe Lightning and Void damage, then jumps to another creature within half of that range, then another creature within half of that range, and so on until it cannot reach any other creature. Targets killed outright by this do not consume any range of the next jump. Target’s pain is magnified x10 and they are stunned for 10 seconds on a failed Endurance test. The lightning ignores allied targets within its range.
Force of Will: You can interact with a number of objects (either physical, energy, or thought) equal to your Spirit attribute x your Perception attribute x 10. The weight of each object cannot exceed your Mind attribute x Power attribute x 10. Objects move at a speed equal to your Perception attribute x 10 ft per second and deal Severe damage on impact. You can crush not just the body, but the very soul of a creature. You can grasp as many creatures as objects (although, if their strength of will or body is strong enough, they can break free) and crush them, dealing Severe Bludgeoning and Soul damage per second. This ability can create objects made of pure soul that deal Soul damage on contact. Soul blades can ‘think’ on their own and will home in on the creature who is the greater threat.
Endless Eclipse: You create a Void Star that takes the form of an orb of pure darkness surrounded by a nimbus of white, silver light. Non-allied creatures within range who look upon the Star-of-the-Void take Major Holy, Void, and Soul damage each second while within its range of effect. The eclipse inflicts Blindness* and Terror* on all non-allied creatures and grants Blessed* to all allied creatures within range. The Star sucks in all light, casting its affected area into total darkness making it almost impossible to see into from the outside. All Void based abilities are more effective while the Void Star is active.
Final Rank Bonus: Your enchantments and spells are empowered by the void. You can no longer use mana to cast spells, but all your spells will now be compatible with ethereal.
Cast Time:
Instantaneous
Cost:
45 ethereal per effect per second
Each rank of this ability provides 1 Mind and 2 Spirit to your attributes.
My soul burned and expanded, I could feel everything I was become…more. I was more real, the ground was more real. The portal had stabilized the mountain with the influx of reality, but now, it wasn’t just more real, it was real and physical as the mortal world.
Congratulations! You have raised one of your Attributes beyond 250, the Exarch limit. Your body will now physiologically change to adjust to this increase to keep your Attributes from killing you.
Your soul has mutated and bonded to your creation. The realm you have created is now a part of you and bound to your fate. Just as you are a being of pure-soul and pure-reality, so too is this place, allowing those of spirit to live beside those of flesh.
The last ancient, the dragon, looked at what had happened to its three companions and tried to flee, but I wasn’t having it.
I raised my hand and a black orb appeared above the mountain. I pushed more and more ethereal into it. I felt something strain in my soul but I pushed past the limitations the ability wanted to place on itself.
“World Forge,” I said.
I used the effects of the other ability to stabilize the black sun, crystalizing the energy as it grew larger and larger. The area was both lit by the silver light and also cast into darkness. The dragon roared in agony as the silver light reached it. Its scales and flesh began to smoke. The angels harried the dragon and it crashed into the ground where it continued to burn under the light of the Void star.
Striding forwards, I drove my fist into the dragon and began to draw out its energy. It roared in agony but the angels landed across its body, stabbing their swords into it and pinning it to the ground. The energy sucked in Voice of the Chasm so I pushed Helheim’s Scream and Rampaged towards it since they were both similar abilities to it. The vortex of mutating energy accepted both abilities and demanded more and more of the dragon’s life force. I fed it more of the energy and it stabilized once it had consumed it all and the dragon vanished from existence.
Voice of Tartarus: (Rank 50, Max Rank); Your voice carries the finality of death, your tone the somber tenor of the grave. You can project your voice to be heard perfectly in a 500 ft radius as it carries the effects of this ability.
Scream of the Damned: At will, you call upon all the lost souls of the Void, letting the screams of their panic and despair be heard all around you. Targets who fail a Spirit check within the range of the effect have the damage they deal reduced by 5 damage stages for 20 seconds and they are inflicted with the *Absolute Fear, *Desolation, *Damnation, and *Cosmic Dread conditions for one minute. Creatures in the area of this effect also take Major Soul damage. Enemies afflicted with fear by this ability have their reality distorted, seeing everything around them as a nightmare and you a creature out of a fevered dream.
Echoing Roar: A wild beast of chaos dwells within you. It wants nothing more than to be released, your roar its plea to be unleashed upon your enemies. You change your voice from a radius effect to a cone effect, dealing Severe Sonic damage to all creatures within the cone, and has Major chance to inflict the *Stun condition for 10 seconds. Your voice causes Moderate damage to structures and items within the cone of effect. The roar increases you and your allies damage against those enemies hit by the soundwave by a Severe amount for the next 20 seconds. The damage resistances of those caught in the blast radius are reduced by 20% for the duration of this ability and 4 random buffs are removed from them.
Speaker of the Dead: Your voice is not something mortals were meant to hear. You speak with the certainty of what is to come and the dead themselves answer your call, filling your enemies with fear as they hear your voice. Your words echo and reverberate in their minds. Your voice becomes deeper and more resonant and can be heard clearly even on the battlefield as it reverberates through the air. You can project your voice to be 200 dB louder. While you speak for the dead, you gain their favor; every kill you make while under the effect of this ability grants you a stack of *Momentum and your attacks have a 35% chance to deal double damage while this effect is active.
Final Rank Bonus: Your voice can restore those who have recently passed back to life. Your voice can call back souls to their body if they have died within the last minute, restoring their body back to life and healing Exarch level damage to their body.
*Absolute Fear: Target is unable to distinguish reality from phantoms, friend from foe, and are filled with the urge to flee or lash out at the creatures closest to them.
*Desolation: Target cannot regain mana or stamina for the duration.
*Damnation: Target cannot receive any healing for the duration.
*Momentum: Increases your Speed attribute by 5 for the next thirty seconds.
*Cosmic Dread: Target has difficulty looking at the source of their fear and their mind plays tricks on them, showing them their greatest nightmares.
Cast Time:
Instantaneous
Cost:
100 ethereal
Each rank of this ability grants +3 Spirit and +2 Power to your attributes.
My soul burned again and I fell to my knees as pure soul rending pain consumed me. My mind would have broken if it could have, but my mutations kept that from even being possible. Pushing up with my spear, I forced myself to my feet as my soul continued to burn.
Congratulations! You have raised one of your Attributes beyond 350, the Hierophant limit. Your body will now physiologically change to adjust to this increase to keep your Attributes from killing you. Warning, you are still in Exarch rank while raising an attribute beyond it.
Your soul can reach out beyond your body to those who have sworn oaths to you. You gain power from those connected to you, increasing how potent your ethereal is the more connections you have and those who “worship” you.
There was no time to worry about what being ‘worshiped’ meant. I took to the air, flying up the mountainside. The void star still hung in the air but I wasn’t even feeding it any more ethereal. It seemed to have reached some point where it was self-sufficient and continued to shine its nimbus of light out over the mountain city.
Guinevere was leaned back against the pile of furs; the baby was so small as she suckeled at her mother’s breast. I knelt down beside her and looked down, feeling at a loss of what to do. I was a warrior, a fighter I was meant to protect and destroy, but now…there were no threats, no enemies to destroy, and I felt at a loss of what to do with myself.
“Do you want to hold her?” Guinevere asked.
“Yes,” I said, feeling the words lodge in my throat.
My hands trembled as I took her from Guinevere. I hardly dared to hold her, afraid my great strength might somehow hurt her.
“We never picked out a name for her,” Guinevere said.
“Did you have one in mind?” I asked, running a finger over my daughter’s skin. She caught my finger with her hand, holding it with surprising strength. I could break free of course, but I let her hold my finger as I looked down at her angelic face, her eyes closed in peaceful sleep.
“I did,” Guinevere said. “But I’ve thought of a better one now: Aurora, she came with the dawn.”
I looked out over the silver light from the new sun.
“She did,” I agreed. “It’s a good name.”
Aurora’s eyes opened and I looked down into the black orbs flecked with brilliant silver and blue, like the night sky.
Aurora, Child of the Dawn; Gifted- humanoid/void-born, Mortal, Rank: 8