“It’s funny how easily perception skews with power. What would have been impossible a year ago becomes trivial now.”
“You planning to wreck the economy with rare monster parts?”
“Not intentionally.”
----------------------------------------
The venix did three more fly-by attacks that week, each lasting only a few seconds of contact. It tried to variably bite, claw, or disarm Jair and swiped at Eythron as an afterthought when the old man tried to interfere.
They didn't even get any more feathers, and the venix didn’t get any more of Jair’s body parts. It was incredibly assiduous in keeping itself out of Maelstrom's strike range, and always disappeared the moment Jair had his sword in hand.
"This bird is really starting to annoy me," Eythron grumbled.
"Is there anything that doesn't annoy you?"
Eythron silently considered the question as they started walking, and still hadn't answered by the time they found their original quarry four hours later.
The brobeg was asleep in the bog, half buried in the mud, body forming a small breathing island, wings sprawled to either side half-submerged so they looked more like moss-covered sticks than the lure of a deadly predator.
"About time," Eythron muttered, barely audible. He manifested his sword. "Ready when you are."
Jair took a running jump, holding himself up off the ground with Lift, and all but glided across the ground. Without gravity to pull him down, he chose the exact target he was aiming for—the brobeg's wing-joint—and dropped down directly on it soundlessly, Maelstrom point leading.
The brobeg woke with a gurgling roar, whipping its head around, wings flapping free of the mud as it reared up.
This close, the creature was one of the largest of its kind Jair had ever encountered. Its wings were easily three or four times as long as Jair was tall, and its body half that again in length. The forelegs were stubby and agile as always, rear legs thick and powerful for jumping, and body tapering back like a sandeel. It'd clearly eaten recently, body crammed with lumps of various sizes.
The brobeg slashed at him with a claw, as it flopped about ungainly on one good wing, the other pinned with the weight of Jair's body fully atop it and barely able to twitch with the damage he’d done.
The creature tried to snap its tongue out to grab him and either throw him aside or swallow him whole, but Eythron jumped forward to intercept. The tongue flicked nimbly aside, evading the blademaster's strike, but the brobeg's attack was ruined as it had to snap its tongue back inside its oversized mouth.
Jair sliced another few of its major wing tendons, leaving that limb completely helpless. This specimen had wings large enough to allow for actual flight, not just gliding.
It must have been the oldest brobeg Jair had heard of. No wonder it had evaded them for so long. It hadn't lived to be this size and strength without learning a thing or two about surviving.
Part of his mind insisted that this was the best opportunity he was ever going to get to add a very high quality monster soul to Maelstrom, but he couldn’t get over the way its essence looked and felt antithetical to what the sword was meant to be. It still made him vaguely uneasy every time he caught a glimpse of the yellow-green glow at the sword’s tip.
He played his part, damaging and distracting the giant frog-drake without hitting anything vital.
Eythron jumped into the fight with full focus and unflinching speed. His sword danced from hand to hand as he evaded and struck and evaded again, moving in flawless rhythm as he wore down their target.
Jair ducked the tongue again, slashing Maelstrom wildly at the flailing appendage, when a flicker of movement in his periphery shifted his focus. The venix dove at him so fast he barely had time to twist his hand up before it slammed into him.
Too sharp, too fast.
The venix’s jagged beak tore straight through Jair’s chest, shattering his ribcage and lodging itself against his spine.
Maelstrom was driven through the monstrous bird’s body up to the hilt.
Jair looked down at himself as the venix withdrew its bloody beak and hissed in triumph. Then he looked up at Eythron, still engaged with fighting the brobeg. Not that he could do anything either way. They’d already used his one emergency backup, and no healing they had available would be enough to handle this.
Jair wouldn’t be surviving this. Not this time. But he didn’t have to die alone.
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re not the only one who’s hard to kill.” Jair yanked Maelstrom up in a twisting arc that bisected the venix’s long neck vertically in half.
The monstrous bird immolated in green-black flame with an inner yellow glow, body turning almost instantly to ashes.
“See you next time around, then.” Breathing hard, as much as possible with one lung torn violently to shreds, Jair collapsed.
He could survive another few minutes if he further mutilated his manabody, but there was no point. He’d gotten as much as he could from this timeline.
He closed his eyes and focused inward to activate Temporal Reversion.
Golden light consumed the world.
It’d been months since he’d seen his inner temporal landscape, so its shape was new and unfamiliar. Two small ledges seemed to be forming, and one very large one far below that he recognized instinctively as the aftermath of Ryenzo’s rampage through the Institute. He had no desire to go back to that.
Several dozen chips or cracks in the wall provided potential handholds if he could get to them.
In the instant he absorbed all this information he was already starting to fall backwards. He reached out and snatched at the wall, trying to catch hold of anything.
His hand found a lumpy spot in the ghostly golden cliffside and clung to it, but the stone crumbled under his fingers before he could pull himself through.
He fell, but it had slowed him enough. There was a crack off to one side, practically the same height as the bump. Twisting his ghostly form, he slammed his hand into it, wrenching his body to a halt.
For a moment he scrabbled to get a solid grip, then tugged himself through the timefall and out into reality.
The venix swooped down at him with an angry screech and he dropped to the ground to evade. Eythron swung his sword at it, barely snagging the monster’s tail. Three feathers slid free and drifted down in the monster’s wake as it flew away.
“This bird is really starting to annoy me,” Eythron grumbled, and started walking.
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Jair rubbed at his chest, phantom slickness taking a moment to dissipate as his mind caught up with the reality. “Yeah. Me too.”
It took him a moment to orient, but he smiled when he did.
Four hours ago. Perfect. That was as close to an immediate redo as he’d ever get.
He jogged to catch up, then caught Eythron's sleeve and pointed off to their right a bit. “That way. It circled around.”
Eythron’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What happened?”
“Venix got me. It joined in midway through fighting the brobeg.”
“Huh. And that was all? This tiny flash and you’re back here, old universe deleted?”
“Yep. Easy as stew.”
Eythron scoffed. “Stew isn’t easy.”
“Sure it is. You want something complicated? Try making a stuffed cheesebread turnover. Three stages for the bread, another three for the filling, one for the cheese, and two more for assembly.”
“Sounds excessive. Throw everything in a pot, it’ll be just as nutritious.”
“Easy, like a stew?”
“Stew is a specific form. What you’re talking about is a soup.”
“I hope you know the rest of the world doesn’t adhere to your personal definitions.”
Eythron grunted. “I’d be annoyed if it did. What right does the world have to my knowledge?”
“And yet you expect the rest of the world to share their knowledge with you.” He pulled out Maelstrom to inspect.
─ Maelstrom
─ Type: Ascended Soulsword (3rd Form)
─ Rank: Legendary (Integrity: 20%)
─ Abilities: Darkflame (Inactive, Integration: 50%)
Imbued with the pure energy of Mount Sanctum and the lifeblood of its creator, this blade has transcended its humble origins and become a weapon of limitless *****?
After ****?, this blade now contains traces of darkflame, has taken on the ****?, and ***? and will **? once accumulated in sufficient quantity.
─ Class Requirement: Mageblade
─ Bound to Jair Welburne
A few of its descriptions had clarified, slightly, but they still remained largely vague apart from Darkflame. “It’s got an ability now. Or the start of one, at least.”
Eythron looked over and wordlessly held out a hand.
Jair passed him Maelstrom.
“Inactive darkflame, huh. 50%. So you just need to kill the thing twice more?”
“So it seems.” The integrity percentage gained from killing the second venix had jumped dramatically, much more than taking it out the first time. Either this was a stronger venix, Maelstrom was better able to absorb from a monster it was familiar with, or the monster's soul was destabilizing even across timelines and making it easier to steal pieces.
“Good luck with that.” Eythron snorted and handed Maelstrom back. “I doubt the thing’ll come anywhere near you after what you did to it the first couple times.”
Jair considered the status as they walked. “Darkflame isn’t a standard ability.”
“Never heard of it, myself.”
“Me either.”
But where the brobeg influence had intensely bothered Jair, everything about the venix fire felt right. It fitted itself in among Maelstrom’s torn soul like it belonged there, retaining its distinctive nature while remaining respectful of its host’s.
Even without knowing Darkfire’s actual usage, he knew he wanted to complete it.
They spent another three hours traversing the jungle before Jair held up a hand for quiet. “It’s through there, asleep in the swamp.”
Eythron nodded and summoned his sword, then signed that he was ready.
Jair jumped forward, Lift allowing him to glide across the ground soundlessly. He dropped down onto the brobeg’s wing, stabbing deep into the muscle and drawing a jagged slash across the membrane.
The monster woke with an angry gurgle, whipping its head around as it reared up. It was bloated and round on the front with a broad mouth, like a frog with claws for arms, tapering off to a snakelike lower body, its slick hide patterned in browns and vibrant yellow-greens.
Easily twice Jair’s height and three or four times as long, with wings stretching far enough to brush the trees on either side when fully extended, this brobeg was a true patriarch of its territory.
Unfortunately for it, they’d come to end its supremacy.
Jair clung to the damaged wing with his construct hand, continuing to slice the membrane without regard for the monster’s movements.
The brobeg flapped its good wing rapidly, trying to take flight, but instead flopped over sideways, almost landing on Jair as his weight pinned the other wing to the ground.
It may have been caught off guard and half asleep, but it was far from helpless. Its tongue whipped out, snapping around toward the irritant on his back.
Jair slid off the creature’s back and sliced out at its tongue as it tried to knock him down.
Eythron jumped into the fight with flawless rhythm, sword dancing from hand to hand as he expertly struck and retreated before striking again, drawing the creature’s attention before it could commit to crushing Jair beneath its bulk or grab him in its claws.
The restriction of not dealing any fatal damage with Maelstrom limited Jair’s participation and his sword’s impact, but he couldn’t get over how wrong the brobeg essence in Maelstrom felt.
Eythron narrowly avoided a swipe of its foreclaws. Jair darted in from behind, flashing Protect as he hurled himself bodily against its tail to throw off its balance and give Eythron an opening.
Then the venix dove out of the fog. It must have been following them closely to have arrived so fast, but given its harassment throughout the day he wasn’t surprised.
The moment he sensed its movement, Jair hurled Maelstrom right where the monster bird was about to be and dropped flat to his stomach.
The venix was too big and moving too fast to stop. It twisted to avoid the blade severing its head, but still drove its shoulder straight into the spinning blade.
Glowing yellow blood hissed and splattered the ground, dripping from a deep gash across the venix’s side as it swooped by overhead.
Its claws snatched at the air just above Jair, but couldn’t quite reach him. The fixation on its target left it unable to correct its course.
The venix crashed into the brobeg’s back.
Eythron jumped back, just in time before the pair rolled over and over where he’d been standing.
The two colossal monsters did not appreciate each other’s company. The brobeg abruptly threw itself backwards into the air, landing atop the venix with a squelch.
The weight and thrashing of the fighting monsters knocked down several trees, which toppled with muted crashes, barely audible over the screeches and roaring of the two oversized creatures.
The venix shrieked and clawed, yellow and black flames searing into the brobeg’s bulbous side as it fought to get free.
Its head kept turning toward Jair, its true quarry, but the brobeg was having none of it.
The giant winged frog-eel croaked and rolled over, claws digging into the venix’s wing as its massive mouth opened. Its tongue was shortened and bleeding, but still long enough to wrap around the venix’s neck three or four times and yank the bird toward its hungry maw.
“I’m going to need to interrupt there,” Jair said, observing the fight. “I’m going in. Take care of the brobeg, I’ll get the venix.”
“You want to get in the middle of that?” Eythron asked, incredulous. “You really think—”
Jair didn’t wait to hear the rest. He was already running at the two giant monsters. He jumped and dove into the brobeg’s mouth with a quick application of Lift, Maelstrom extended, and stabbed straight into the venix’s eye as the brobeg yanked its top half inside.
The brobeg’s mouth clamped shut, trapping Jair and the venix’s head and shoulders. From the way it moved and his past experience, Jair expected its next move would be to tear the venix into a few more easily swallowed chunks, but he didn’t plan to give it the chance.
The glow of the venix’s one remaining yellow-green eye and its luminous dripping blood were enough to illuminate the cavernous interior of the brobeg, giving Jair plenty of targets.
“I’d normally say it’s just business, but you seem to be making this very personal,” he told the oversized bird as it tried to peck at him and he danced out of the way. “You’re about to be eaten and you still can’t think of anything but killing me? What did I ever do to you? Apart from kill you the one time, I suppose.”
The venix strained, trying to drag itself further in just so it could get at him, but the brobeg’s tight seal held it firmly in place.
Jair couldn’t use his spells in here, the brobeg’s antimagic nature absorbing away any external magic application, so their dance lasted several seconds as he tried to slip past the darting beak to strike a finishing blow with Maelstrom, while the venix struggled against its restraint.
“Eh, I needed another one anyway. I’ll be back.” Jair lunged, accepting the retaliatory strike. Maelstrom stabbed the venix through the other eye, and the monster’s beak tore out Jair’s throat and a good chunk of his upper body in the process. He followed up with a quick beheading, to which the venix responded by snapping shut its beak and all but severing Jair’s own head in return.
He held on long enough to verify it turned into ashes, which was only a few seconds but felt significantly longer due to the extreme strain he was putting on his manabody to hold himself vaguely together, then activated Temporal Reversion and dropped backwards into golden light.
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