Leviathan [https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczONxBVjeunfKSj_DLYX0oQ6ro4zrGJtzw41IDbl-CENBEQcKV3ntjotfHCctCDHfegHkbS84z4JXk5RBLxvhDs40PpL-LQi0gipD6sUutGr33TBXLyHTbFuVz5ofz3_5UlruYl7xvcxQQiiqmfdZ5Kt=w661-h992-s-no-gm?authuser=0]
As Phoenix registered the high Emerald Caste aura coming off the humongous creature, she turned to Rayna and complained, “I swear it’s this bloody curse.” She emphasized the point by gesturing to the mark on her chest currently covered by her murky grey Shifting Twilight armor.
“Curse?” a gruff accented voice said, and all three of them turned to see Captain Clisson staring at her angrily before striding up to yell down at her. “Yer leader didn’t mention one o’ yous bein’ cursed. Have ye doomed me and mine by comin’ aboard?”
“She’s not cursed, Captain,” Rayna retorted angrily, placing herself between the woman and them, “This is Phoenix Wayland. She’s marked as Chosen by eight gods. I would consider that the opposite of cursed.”
“Blessed by some means cursed by others,” the Captain said in a grave tone, “If the gods that ye be proud of are interested in her, then the dark ones that hide in the shadows be even more interested in her downfall. They will see us to a watery grave.”
“Aren’t you being a bit over dramatic?” the bard asked. Captain Clisson gave her a flat look and gestured to what Phoenix could only compare to a Kraken that was now raising its head, which made up the majority of its body, out of the water. Rayna’s stance became less defensive as she muttered, “Point taken.”
The roar the gargantuan creature gave at finding prey in its midst was ear-shattering as friend and foe alike winced with the pain at the sonar attack.
“Retreat!” both Captains called out at once, choosing survival over mutual destruction. Neither faction was equipped for the monstrous Emerald Caste threat that had apparently claimed these slightly higher-Caste waters as its domain.
Before much progress could be made to carry out the orders, however, the tentacles attacked, raining destruction and grasping whatever victims it could find from the deck of either ship. Their attacks were futile against the overpowered threat, and the best the adventurers could do was attempt to dodge and stay out of the way.
Phoenix managed to look up to see the massive mouth of the part-cephalopod open to display the largest set of teeth Phoenix had seen to date and she briefly wondered again why every monster seemed to always have terrifying teeth despite its more mundane counterpart not having any.
Then a shout from next to her made her refocus on those around her as Rayna yelled from her side, “Saiya! No!”
Phoenix followed her friend’s gaze to see that their healer was currently held in one of the tentacle’s clutches. She could make out the scream now as she saw Saiya’s tails glowing while she attempted to heal herself and escape.
Phoenix’s body was moving before anyone could call her back as she ran towards the edge of the ship, triggering the mana-replenishing effect of her tattoo, only to get intercepted by Dazien, “No, Phoenix! The Captain is about to—”
The ship rocked again as the lower-level Emerald Caster fired another round. This time, it was an array of glowing blue plasma spheres aimed at the large creature instead of the enemy ship, hitting a few of the tentacles holding people; only it wasn’t Saiya that got released as limbs were severed, and some of the crew splashed into the sea.
“She’s going to get eaten!” Phoenix yelled as she pushed off Dazien’s grip and pulled herself up on the rail before launching herself towards her teammate. Phoenix feared that she wasn’t fast enough as she watched in horror while Saiya tried to reach out towards her before getting released to fall into the hungry chasm leading towards the monster’s gut.
It felt like time slowed as adrenaline pumped through every fiber of Phoenix’s body, and she used her [Ruler of Relativity] on Saiya directly, pulling them toward one another.
“YOU JUMPED?! Why did you jump?!” Tala practically screeched in her mind, “You should have used the shiny one as an anchor! Are you trying to murder us again?!”
She knew Tala was right as soon as she collided in midair with Saiya and realized it wouldn’t be enough to save her. Taking Tala’s suggestion, she held Saiya’s arm tightly as she used her gravity ability again, this time pulling them toward the ship.
A whip-like tentacle wrapped around her leg, halting her in midair and almost ripping Saiya from her grasp at the sudden trajectory change. Phoenix felt lucky that her leg itself hadn’t been ripped off from the force and could only assume her Sapphire Fortitude had kept the limb attached.
Saiya was dangling from her hand now, staring back up at her with wide, fearful eyes.
Phoenix looked back to the ship that offered them safety and saw Dazien jumping onto Rex’s back, quickly lifting off into the air to chase after them. There was some sort of magic adhesive keeping her stuck to the underside of the tentacles, making her struggles futile against the Caste difference. Saiya wasn’t trapped, though, and Phoenix made the split decision to try and get her to safety.
Using all her Strength, she swung Saiya forward and then used [Ruler of Relativity] to push the Healer away from her and in the direction of Dazien. “Catch her!” she called out over the network just as the monster shoved her into its mouth before releasing her. Apparently, this time, it didn’t want to chance the free fall time stealing away its meal.
With her allies out of sight and the maw beginning to close once the tentacle retreated, she began chanting the only spell she thought might be enough to punch a hole in the monster to free herself from the inevitable end. “As this star begins to dim, a final burst of light.”
“Phoenix? What are you doing?” Tala asked, but she wanted to roll her eyes as she ignored the Familiar. She was obviously casting her [Supernova] and trying her best not to get eaten.
“As my life begins to wane, a final shout of triumph. In a supernova sacrifice—”
She barely registered Dazien’s voice yelling through the mental chat, “Phoenix! Stop! Don’t blast the shi—”
“—I offer the hope of victory,” she finished as the maw closed around her, sending her into utter darkness.
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Class Ability: Supernova
Type: Execute (recoil, divine, elemental, magical, arcane, fire, light, radiant)
Cost: Severe health, mana, and stamina.
Cooldown: 6 hours.
Crystal Effect: Create an explosion of magic centered on you, inflicting Arcane, Fire, and Light damage to nearby enemies and the surrounding environment. Enemies within and near the blast are inflicted with [Burning]. When this effect ends, you are temporarily unable to cast Spells. Damage is scaled based on the amount of health missing from the target.
Sapphire Effect: Additionally inflicts Radiant damage, and enemies within and near the blast are inflicted with [Celestial Radiation]. Can be infused with a high amount of [Starlight Qi] to additionally grant allies [Deferred Judgment].
* Burning (bane, elemental, fire): Inflicts ongoing Fire damage.
* Celestial Radiation (bane, divine, radiant): Inflicts ongoing low Radiant damage for a short duration.
* Deferred Judgment (boon, divine, time): Absorbs all incoming damage and Banes for a moderate duration before slowly releasing their effects upon the intended target.
There was a single moment of silence as the mana tore from her in an explosion of power. She hung in the air between the monster’s teeth and its throat, but she hadn’t expected the monster to open its mouth again and let her ability rip into the other ships—both caught in the blast and suffering for it.
Apparently, after all the damage the low Emerald shield around the ship had already taken, her divine attack was enough to shatter what little remained of them, as a shower of brilliant blue fragments littered the air like shards of falling glass before vanishing.
That was definitely not what she had meant to accomplish, but she was glad that she had empowered the ability with the extra [Starlight Qi], the main goal being to attempt to prevent her own death. As she saw the ability wash over her party members and the crew of the ship, they all began glowing with a pale pink light that appeared over their bodies like a shroud, and she knew they were receiving her [Deferred Judgment] Boon, granted by the Judgment Spirit Gem that had bonded to the ability.
As the monster roared and flailed at the unexpected pain, she landed on its weird greenish tongue before getting violently spit out. The rush of gross saliva and hot breath it had managed to unceremoniously launch her with had her gagging in disgust, and she was actually grateful for a moment to land in the water that would wash it away.
As her head breached the surface of the water for a moment —her limbs desperately trying to figure out how swimming worked as fast as they could— the ominous sound of groaning wooden beams pulled her attention back to the ship her friends were all on.
Phoenix saw the ship begin to fracture a moment before a falling tentacle caused the whole thing to break in half in a devastating shower of splintered wood and broken enchantments. Her mouth fell open in horror at the sight and the fear that her friends would momentarily be killed in the dark and stormy waters.
It was then, as she was caught in a large wave that pushed her back under the surface with her mana almost completely drained, that she realized why Dazien had been telling her to stop. She couldn’t tell which way was up as she was surrounded by an inky darkness suffusing the waters, and something was making the new [Deferred Judgment] shield around her flicker with pink light. Once the shield fell, and she still hadn’t managed to break the surface of the black water, she suddenly realized that the flashes of light had been the shield absorbing numerous Banes coming from the water itself.
As all those deferred Banes were inflicted upon her all at once, Phoenix realized she had made a terrible mistake as unconsciousness claimed her.
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Lukas Lumeris was already hating how this day was turning out.
After noticing the Storm Pirates directly in their line of attack and realizing the pirates had an Emerald Caste Captain who was likely better suited for combat at sea than they were, he had tried to strike a deal with them instead of battling it out. Offering his own assistance to take down their mutual target, he had agreed to leave the two “divine items” to them while he would get the “rare gem” that they seemed less enthusiastic about.
He got the impression that they were expecting actual treasure instead of understanding that many gods spoke in riddles to save on the amount of Aetherius they had to expend, but their misunderstanding would likely work in his favor at the moment. While they were busy searching the ship for loot, he could leave with his prisoners. And if they did manage to realize the two Chosen aboard were the divine pieces, he cared more about the gemite to ensure that Valtessa wouldn’t toss him back into the sea when he arrived in Serenydi.
Getting less than half of the treasure was the best of the worst things that would happen to him over the next few hours it seemed.
When they both finally spotted their target through the storm the pirates conjured, he had been hoping his luck had improved.
When a trio of meteors appeared in the sky to rain destruction upon them, he realized his hope was in vain.
It slowed them down to try to heal their injured while putting out the flames that had spread across the deck and ripped through their sails. Luckily, he had managed to resist the Bane that was making their lower Caste crew see quadruple of everything and had them practically tripping over themselves.
Aside from the pain and annoyance, Lukas feared that the hindrance would encourage the pirates to ignore their deal and attempt to make off with his treasure.
He was actually pleased to see them faring so badly against their mutual enemy as their own ship soon became alight with flames and littered with frost. He actually grinned when one of their masts was utterly destroyed by some kind of Arcane attack from the enemy ship. They wouldn’t be sailing away with his treasure any time soon with that amount of damage.
Alas, when his luck seemed to be rising, the world had to remind him that he was indeed not a lucky man. The high Emerald Caste ocean monstrosity was definitely not part of their plans. He wasn’t even entirely sure if it was an actual monster or just a very old aval that lived in these parts, but either way, it was insanely poor timing for it to arrive in their midst.
Lukas yelled at the captain of their own vessel to keep its distance for now. None of them were prepared for a thing of that size, and he could only hope that they would be able to fish out their treasure once the pirates, kraken, and target were all done fighting each other.
That didn’t happen immediately, but it wasn’t very long before their target’s vessel was sundered in half by an odd explosion followed by a flailing tentacle. It was utter chaos at that point, and he vaguely wondered if his own god was to blame for the mess… he was certainly benefiting from it either way.
It was widely known that deities couldn’t touch physical reality, but they could manipulate ambient mana. They normally did so to create Aspects or Spirit Gems for their followers, but once in a while, they had been known to create monsters. How expensive that was on the grand scale of the divine balance, he had no idea about, but it was a possibility nonetheless.
It wasn’t too much longer after that when the storm around them started to die down, and Lukas took that as a sign that, despite their target ship being destroyed, the pirates hadn’t fared much better, and Captain Stormbeard was now dead. He noticed a plethora of people and debris scattered in the waves, and for just a moment, saw a man with long, shiny, purple hair riding through the air atop the back of some kind of golden, winged lion before falling back into the sea from a massive tentacle knocking them out of the air and away from the fighting.
If they moved quickly, perhaps he would be lucky after all.