Shadow of Azazel [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczM2_t0rRzrGVF12ooL1nzZH3Av9HlYNjHcKpmHSMuLs8iJo3b_KpEsjyzCiEu_KMkLZq_OV9jJv6VjM8xlhOA5qYcxZ9qXNUxkk3PX2IqTgJMMJmd_56pnQaLycRfFn73XdyBbNn-Zbng4zJcmEdl5Q=w639-h958-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
“There’s something Emerald Caste! I’m stuck!” Phoenix managed to cry out before triggering her Transfiguration ability [Avatar of Bakunawa] and lifting an arm towards the descending Night Lurker and incanting the Bane that had killed the last Lurker she had to solo, “Gaze into the abyss!”
Class Ability: Call of the Abyss
Type: Spell (divine, void)
Cost: Moderate mana.
Cooldown: 1 minute.
Current Caste: Sapphire 1 (1%)
Crystal Effect: Inflicts [Weakened] and [Reflected Fate].
Sapphire Effect: Additionally inflicts [Mark of the Void]. When transfigured, you gain [Void Hunter].
* Weakened (bane, divine, void): Maximum health, mana, and stamina is reduced.
* Reflected Fate (bane, retribution, divine, void): For each attack made, take a low amount of damage in return. Damage taken is of the same type as the attack.
* Mark of the Void (bane, summon, divine, void, tracking): Summons a [Shadow of Azazel] that targets the bearer of this mark. If the bearer is killed, the mark will move to the nearest enemy in range. If the [Shadow of Azazel] is destroyed this bane is removed.
* Shadow of Azazel (summon, divine, void): A creature of the void that attempts to devour its target. If there is no [Mark of the Void] in range, this creature will be Banished.
* Void Hunter (boon, divine, void, tracking): You can sense the direction of your [Mark of the Void], and attacks done against them inflict additional Void damage.
The spell had bonded to her Predator Spirit Gem and had surprised her with the new effects. Tying into her other abilities had seemed to become a trend, and she wasn’t complaining about the added cohesion as she felt the [Void Hunter] Boon settle upon her.
The more disconcerting part of her ability was the [Shadow of Azazel] that seemed to launch itself from what looked like a tear in reality that appeared in the air between her and the monster. The summoned creature was a being of distorted shadows that had the vague shape of a satyr with inverted knees and ram horns but she couldn’t make out any depth to it. It was like a two-dimensional cartoon overlaid upon the world. The white scribbles for eyes and sharp teeth only added to the unreality of it.
Her summon crashed into the monster, proving it was indeed a physical being and not some hallucination on her part and saving her from being eaten as she struggled to escape. The ground was to her knees now, and she kept sinking despite her attempts to push away or pull herself towards a nearby tree.
To her utter bafflement, the tree was uprooted instead of the Emerald spell releasing its hold on her. She felt her despair rise as she looked back to her fiercely fighting summon to find another lurker jumping over them.
Tala’s blue and purple feathers peppered the beast with an attack that looked like a sparkling shotgun blast as the Familiar manifested to take advantage of the new ability unlocked by the Radiant Spirit Gem Paul had gifted her.
Class Ability: Wings of the Cosmos
Type: Familiar (ritual, summon, magical, covenant, dimension)
Cost: Severe mana and stamina.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Sapphire 1 (1%)
Crystal Effect: Summon a [Cosmic Phoenix] to serve as a Familiar.
Sapphire Effect: Your Familiar can use its feathers as a ranged attack, inflicting low Radiant damage.
Following up the ranged onslaught, Tala breathed [Star Fire] onto the second foe before engaging with silver beak and talons. Meanwhile, Phoenix poured more mana into her [Ruler of Relativity] in an effort to push away from the ground, quickly gaining on her waist.
She felt the domineering aura of her party leader, making her feel both protected and quicker as the Defender came into range, his newly upgraded ability helping him close the distance with Rayna moving alongside him.
Ability: Lead the Charge
Type: Special Attack (movement, magical, covenant)
Cost: Low stamina per second.
Cooldown: None.
Current Caste: Sapphire 1 (2%)
Crystal Effect: Focus on a target, greatly increasing your speed while moving in the target’s direction and gaining an instance of [Momentum] each second until your next attack.
Sapphire Effect: Increase the Agility attribute of all allies within your aura while this ability is active.
* Momentum (boon, magical, covenant, stacking): Your next attack will consume all instances of this Boon to inflict additional physical damage. Instances are lost quickly while not moving.
He crashed sword-first into the third lurker that had arrived to eat her from an angle that avoided the area that had entrapped her. Rayna meanwhile added her percussive attacks to the first that was battling her [Shadow of Azazel] still, both trying to tear into each other with tooth and claw.
“Phoenix, use your rope and toss it to me,” Uriel said from the far side of the muddy snow, away from the monsters currently engaged.
“It’s too strong,” she complained, a headache already beginning to form from her over usage of mana getting eaten up trying to overpower the Emerald spell while also maintaining the blackhole she had left behind, “I ripped up a tree trying to pull myself out.”
“There has to be some way to get you out,” Uriel replied with a pensive expression, “You won’t suffocate, but you’ll eventually starve to death if this swallows you. Is it dealing damage, too?”
“I don’t think so. I’m not hurt, just stuck.”
“Can you portal out?” Saiya asked while moving to Uriel’s side. Snowbelle had joined Tala in the task of at least distracting the second lurker.
“You have forsaken my rule and thus forfeit your freedom!” Phoenix heard Dazien call out, and a cage appeared around the third as he moved to assist Rayna in focusing down the first.
She triggered her tattoo to grant a burst of mana and attempted to conjure the portal directly in front of her with the destination appearing behind her best friend. She reached a clawed hand through and felt Uriel grab hold of the whole arm, pulling with all of his Crystal Caste Strength.
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Saiya grabbed on next, and Phoenix thought her arm might rip off before the mud around her waist would release her.
“Hey, I’m going to try [Supernova] and see if that can destroy the ground enough to disrupt this zone,” she told the others over the mental chat, “Be prepared for a fall.”
“Go for it,” Dazien replied.
Before she could do so, she first had to down a mana potion and trigger her [Starlight Qi] into a glitter bomb that replenished all of their stamina and mana.
“As this star begins to dim, a final burst of light. As my life begins to wane, a final shout of triumph. In a supernova sacrifice, I offer the hope of victory,” she incanted, letting the entirety of her mana be consumed as it burst from her, tearing through monster and landscape alike.
She hadn’t used the ability since hitting Sapphire, and the amount of devastation was impressive; the Destroyer would be proud.
Phoenix was relieved that her assumption had been correct, and displacing the anchoring land around the spell seemed to be enough to unravel its hold on her as the mud collapsed around her. On her hands and knees in the filth, she looked around to try and get her bearings while trying her best not to fully collapse in her exhaustion.
The lurker that Rayna, Dazien, and her summoned shadow had been on was dead and turning to Sapphire ash from her aura looting it, and she instantly regretted forgetting to mark it with [Nemesis] in her panicked retreat. She remedied that the next moment on the caged lurker only moments before the trio had moved to execute that one.
Then Phoenix ran out of mana. She had been expecting the recoil of her transformation to be what killed her. Instead, the trickle she had been feeding her blackhole took the last vestiges that remained as she blacked out while vaguely wondering if the recoil still might end her without her noticing.
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Uriel was grateful that the magic of his earrings was in full effect as he saw Phoenix collapse in the mud. It helped keep him calm when he was fairly certain he would be panicking otherwise.
“She’s fine,” Dazien informed them, his [Noble Subjects] passive letting the party leader know the general status of those that had accepted it, “Mana drained and likely only a sliver of life but alive. Let’s focus these last two down and get her back to Vallinsarvi.”
He refocused on the enemy and cast his single target [Frost Touched] and [Plague Bearer] abilities on them. The earrings wouldn’t let him feel annoyed by the fact that they were continually resisted by the high-level Sapphires.
The movement of Saiya going toward the downed Supporter drew his attention enough that he noticed the shadow in the trees just soon enough to grab the Healer. He yanked her back towards him and the edge of the crater they were in right as the fourth Night Lurker launched itself towards the center of it, where Phoenix lay helpless.
Uriel knew something was wrong as he felt his chest begin to heave at the sight of the shadowy beast tearing into his friend’s body. A loud cracking noise and a sting of pain on his ear let him know one of the ear cuffs had broken at the overexertion of its power.
Blood was mingling with the mud, and inky black curls were quickly returning to crimson as the massive maw crunched down on Phoenix’s unconscious skull. Her aura vanished from his senses, and his entire body tensed at the knowledge that she had died again.
“Hey! Focus on me!” Saiya said in his ear, placing a furred hand on either side of his face to look at her instead of his friend getting eaten. “Dazien! Rayna!” she yelled out before dragging his face closer to hers and saying mentally in a more soothing tone, “Hey, it’s okay. Calm down and just listen to my voice. Phoenix is fine. She’ll be waiting for us back at the World Tree.”
He slowly nodded but couldn’t get his jaw to unclench to answer her as a simmering rage threatened to strangle him. Then she explained aloud, “One of your earrings broke, and I can feel your anger leaking. You need to breathe, Uriel.”
When he didn’t immediately respond, she firmly commanded him, “Now, breathe!”
Uriel took a deep breath at the order. Then another. Slowly tuning out the sounds of gnashing monster teeth, the strikes of a metal sword and gem-encrusted fists, and barks from the Familiar still remaining in the air.
The smell of blood filling his senses didn’t help, but that was something he was used to, and it was cut by the scent of fresh snow and evergreens.
“Good. That’s good, Uriel. Keep focusing on slowing your breathing while I go help the others.”
He nodded and, when he felt calmer, managed to refocus back on his party as Saiya cast her shield around them and helped replenish the others’ health and cooldowns. Phoenix was merely blue ashes now and he cursed his own shortcomings.
Uriel felt utterly useless at the moment. He was holding his whole party back by being Crystal Caste still. Fights like this weren’t even that useful because they weren’t a challenge; they were impossible. The only lesson he could learn from being so outclassed was the Rule of Caste. A lesson he had learned well long ago.
He needed to get stronger. He needed to quit being so afraid of what his powers might become so that he could gain the power he needed in order to help his friends survive. He needed to stop running away, not just from his friends but from himself.
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Phoenix Wayland has died.
Phoenix Wayland is no longer your Subject.
Dazien cursed as the message was received and he heard Saiya call out to him. He almost took a solid hit that turned into a glancing blow as his attention was drawn to his Healer, who was grabbing onto his partner like she was going to kiss him. It took him a moment longer to realize she was trying to keep him calm as Phoenix was being eaten.
“You have been weighed, measured, and found wanting,” he said, triggering his [Royal Executioner] in a flash of shifting rainbow light to finish the current Night Lurker before engaging with the one still feasting as he commanded Rayna, “Help Snowbelle with the other! It’s on its last leg already. Then come help me with the last!”
“I challenge your honor!” he called out next, taunting the last Lurker to focus on targeting him with his [Duelist] ability and then triggering both [Tyrannical Punishment] with his other antler to weaken the enemy and [Accelerating Strikes], leaving an increasing number of cuts in the monster’s shadowy natural armor as he attempted to whittle down the Lurker’s health pool.
Dazien was relieved when both Saiya and Rayna rejoined him not too much later, and they were able to burn down the last one without any more major incidents. While he focused on getting to Uriel’s side, Rayna happily went about looting the bodies that remained without Phoenix’s aura to do it for them.
“Are you alright?” he asked his partner quietly. Uriel nodded but still didn’t seem alright, so he added mentally, knowing better than to speak about Phoenix’s impossible talent out loud, even in the wilds, “I’m sure she’s alright and waiting for us. We’ll head back to Vallinsarvi and see if one of our new voxen friends upgrading the defenses can portal us back to the World Tree.”
“I—” Uriel hesitated, not looking him in the eyes as the larger man muttered, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he replied, glancing back at the ashes of his sister, “I don’t think it was even the fault of her being reckless this time.”
“If I was Sapphire, though—”
“You might have helped more, but I don’t think any of us could have saved Phoenix from that ambush attack,” he pointed out, then added in a silent aside, “I’m just glad you and Saiya remained safe. Neither of you would return to me from that.”
Saiya joined them at that moment and added her own concerns to the pile, “Phoenix said the spell was Emerald…”
His brow furrowed as he connected the dots, “All of these were Sapphire. Do you think she was mistaken?”
“Perhaps, did you get a good look at it with your perception?”
“No. I was too focused on the Lurkers. Do you think it was a trap?”
“It’s suspicious if it was… What Emerald monster casts a spell like that and doesn’t show itself? If not a monster, then we might be looking at an assassin, but the question then remains, why not attack directly or take the rest of us out?”
Dazien frowned, “Perhaps they’re simply content with knowing they accomplished killing the Saint.”
“If that’s the case, we need to let Patricia know sooner rather than later,” Saiya pointed out, and he knew she was right, much to his displeasure.
“I’m ready to leave the tundra already,” he muttered, moving to touch the last monster and loot it directly into his [Armory].
“Get anything good, King?” Rayna asked as she rejoined them, grinning wide with wagging tails.
“You look rather chipper for someone who just lost a comrade,” he said with a flat look.
“Well, we can’t all fall into a depression every time she goes and gets herself dead.”
Dazien took a step forward, invading Rayna’s personal space as he practically shouted, “She’s not dead! You know her talent teleports her away before that happens!”
At the bard’s confused and hurt look, he added over the communication network to the whole party, “If our suspicions are even possible, there may be an Emerald watching us. We can’t have them believing Phoenix can actually resurrect now that you’ve made it clear they didn’t succeed.”
“Even if she lives, we can all at least be considerate of the fact that the time till we can all see Paul again just increased,” he added out loud in a more subdued tone.
The tails halted wagging and furred ears drooped as the bard replied, “Right, sorry. I was just excited about the loot and that we were able to take those lurkers down. We still won.”
Dazien gave a sigh, “I know. Sorry to bring you down. This might have been a victory, but there was still loss, and we still have work to do. The first thing being to make sure Phoenix doesn’t beat herself up for being forced to retreat early again.”
Rayna groaned, “She’s totally going to do that, isn’t she?”
“She always does,” he replied, sharing her exasperation. He glanced towards Uriel and added, “Must be a Chosen thing.”