Ellake
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Chapter 209 - Threat of Life
🕑 Added 2025-03-06 19:00:05 +0000 UTCNate watched as the tree Evindal rode shifted to catch his falling wife. Portos didn’t seem inclined to let up and rushed for the finishing blow, only to lunge through a rift that opened up in front of him. The other end of the rift was in the sky so Portos appeared in the air above and immediately began to fall. The man likely would’ve survived the impact with the ground, but Nate sensed Helen weaving mana already, wings of blood appearing on the back of her brother, carrying him towards the ground. Descending at the same time was Allais, wrapped in a serpent made of light. In the distance, Evindal had caught Aisling and was clearly healing her. Nate had expected it to be instant, but as his farsight sphere moved over the pair he realised why there was a delay. The Concepts of Light and Venom were seared into Aisling’s burnt flesh, his mentor bereft of hair and clothes, her skin a cracked red, leaking blood. Her eyes were closed, but Nate could sense the damage there, as well. Evindal’s own Concepts of Time and Life were fighting the damage. Fighting, and winning, but the progress was slow. The elf could save his wife, or he could come to their rescue but not both. Nate didn’t begrudge him his choice. He just hoped they could hold on.
Both sides stared at each other as the coiling snake made of light made landfall. The Golds on Allais’ side looked to be tired, but the seven left clearly still had fight left in them. Of the six Nate had sent into the skies, none had returned. Something Aisling did, no doubt. The Earth Mage and another were dead, courtesy of Jorge, and Frick had downed two himself, with Britt successfully handling one. So far, no one on their side had fallen, besides Aisling. But with Allais in the fight, and Evindal out of it, they were left to face down four Platinums. Four, against their one. Nate could tell that Kartier, Helen and Portos were all somewhat tired, but even tired, they might be more than enough to wash over them.
The pause held for a moment longer before Allais spoke.
“Surrender yourselves and I will spare you.”
Portos looked confused but a knowing smile crept onto Kartier’s red lips. Helen simply looked resigned.
Nate figured out Allais’s intentions quickly, “You’ll use Null to get his Father to agree with your version of events, but what about the rest of us?”
“I’ll keep the girl,” Allais explained, waving a hand at Britt, “to keep you behaving until King Bordain can take control of you. A Legendary Crafter will have uses in his new Kingdom. Everyone else? They’re just to keep you from fighting against what comes after. Perhaps I will keep Kiri with me so that I have my own leverage.”
The Golds’ eyes widened at the mention of a Legendary Class, but the Jamisons’ did not. Clearly Allais had shared her suspicions with them.
“As if I would ever let myself be imprisoned by you, you bitch!” cursed Kiri.
“No?” asked Allais, her voice as reptilian as the serpent in which she cloaked herself. “Then die.”
A lance of light launched from the coiled serpent’s mouth at Kiri’s head faster than Nate could follow. Kiri was already moving but not fast enough to avoid the beam of light. Right before it would’ve struck her, burning her side, a small flicker of another Concept appeared in Nate’s senses and he watched as the beam of light was suddenly flying back at Allais. The burning light struck the coiled serpent that surrounded Allais and, to Nate’s surprise, it hissed in a mixture of anger and pain.
“Is that a Familiar?” he sent quickly to Frick, getting a grunt of affirmation in response.
“Start it. Golds,” Nate sent again.
The flicker of a Concept grew until a mirror of ice stood before Kiri. From the reflected surface stepped Coralie, the short woman’s eyes shone with a fiery anger at odds with the ice crawling away from her feet as her Domain began to spread.
“You promised! You said you would spare her!” screamed Coralie, the battlefield quieting again for a moment as lines were redrawn.
Allais waved a dismissive hand at her daughter's statement, “She would have lived. As much as I dislike your choice of partner, I can at least admit that she doesn’t die easily. Now, come back over here. I ignored you fleeing the battle before, unwilling to fight your lover or her friends, but you will show your loyalty to everything I have worked to achieve for us.”
Allais stared at her daughter, cold anger burning in her eyes. Nate, however, let his focus drift slightly. Conceptual Insight was humming quietly as it picked up on changes taking place, both among his own allies and friends, and the arrival of Coralie. More than a few Golds had died already, releasing the processed mana from their Class Cores, to be absorbed by those battling them. Perhaps others couldn’t tell what was happening, but with his Skill to feel the nature of Concepts around him, he could tell that something had changed for both Britt and Null. Britt had always felt solid and reliable, like a pillar you could lean against. That feeling was shifting in real time. Instead of a pillar, she had begun to feel like a towering statue, immovable and resolute. He didn’t want to interfere with her veil but he did wonder for half a second if this was how Stalwart felt. That had been her potential Embodiment, he recalled, and he suspected that’s what was happening. Null and Britt had both been pushing themselves hard. More than that, they had lower-tier Classes which meant they levelled faster than he or Kiri. He just needed to make sure they had enough time to let them finish levelling up. They were going to need it if they were truly fighting four Platinums with only Luc to support them.
If Britt felt like a towering statue, the area around Null felt like undisturbed water in the middle of an ocean. The waves and swells of mana crashed into his small puddle and vanished, leaving not a ripple upon the surface. There was something more there, now. Previously, Null had always felt like an absence of mana, a hole in the tapestry of the world. Now, though, it was different. He wasn’t a void. Instead, he was the calm in the middle of the storm. Nate wasn’t sure what he had done, but the Concept felt deeper than before, laced with additional meaning.
Finally, there was Coralie herself. Her Concept wasn’t shifting, but he could tell she had already passed her second evolution, likely from glutting on the stores in the Guild vaults. Who knew how far Allais had been able to push her daughter with those supplies, but whatever it was, there was a new element to her. Perhaps that was how she had been able to deflect her mother’s attack. Embodiments for all three, Nate decided, strong enough for Conceptual Insight to acknowledge them and their impact upon the world. If Coralie had managed to push herself up a tier, then she now held a Legendary Class, and likely two Legendary Skills. Nate knew that was true for Null, since the swordsman had admitted he had evolved his primary Skill to Legendary, giving him control of his aura. It was the Embodiments that would matter, though. Embodiments were force multipliers and they now had three such individuals. Only Kiri and himself lagged behind, the price of their advanced tiers.
The tables had shifted with Aisling’s defeat and the sidelining of Evindal. Four Platinums and six Golds against one Platinum, four Golds, two Silvers and a Frick. The advantage had clearly been towards Allais and her followers. But, with Coralie’s intervention and the following momentary reprieve, the odds had shifted again, back in Nate’s favour. They still only had one Platinum, but now they had seven Golds. More importantly, instead of two Golds with Embodiments, they now had five. Of course, Nate had not been idle, or more specifically, Frick hadn’t been. The Earth Mage was dead and Allais was so caught up trying to turn her daughter back to her side, she must have forgotten to keep track of Frick. The new rune was finally formed and Nate almost wanted to turn off his sphere of awareness. He wouldn’t, but he wanted to, because he knew he was going to hate feeling what came next.
“Do it,” he sent to Frick.
The screaming match between mother and daughter was rudely interrupted as the ground beneath the enemy Golds collapsed. Two reacted fast enough to start to dodge, but instead felt themselves drawn against their will into the hole as the first step in the gravity portion of the rune seized them, dragging them into the black hole of collapsing dirt. Then the second part of the rune activated and the earth stopped resisting the pull of gravity and instead surged in with such crushing force that all that was left was a slight indent in the ground where the trap had activated. Earth, Gravity, Power and Time had come together, letting the rune alter its behaviour after the initial trigger, creating a collapsing pit trap that combined the power of gravity with the durability and force of earth. Nate felt through his sphere as the Golds were crushed, bones cracking, lungs collapsing, and blood soaking the dirt and sand. Two had survived inside the earth, their durability enough to resist the pulverizing forces, though unless they escaped soon they might suffocate.
Nate looked at Allais as her eyes flicked to him, filled with rage. He smiled at her, sadness evident in the twist of his lips. He didn’t like killing. He probably never would. But he liked people threatening those he cared about far less. She had forced his hand and now she was reaping the seeds of discontent she had sown.
Without another word, the battle was rejoined. Nate felt as daughter fought against mother, beams of light freezing in midair like burning white flames and being reflected in every direction. So many Concepts were present he couldn’t keep track of them all. Deverell and Britt fought to keep Portos at bay, whips of blood scoring against Britt’s projected armour and slicing through Deverell’s Tethered Arms as the pair were pushed back. Null and Kiri battled Kartier, the Platinum’s short sword flashing in quick arcs that felt like blood already dripping onto the sand. The pair still struggled to keep up with the bloodbound duelist and were taking small wounds as they gave ground. Kiri’s blood dripped freely. Her healing apparently slowed by the Concept Kartier was using. Null’s, however, seemed normal, his own Concept and Embodiment likely countering Kartier.
Luc stood in the back and Nate could feel tiny rifts springing into existence as the Arcane Riftwalker attempted to disrupt their enemies. Conceptual Insight was enough for Nate to sense how Helen was once more empowering her siblings, the Blood Magic that connected them functioning across multiple spectrums, enhancing aspects of Kartier and Portos. An arrow flew out of nowhere, hazy even to Nate’s senses, punching a hole through Portos’s shoulder. The wound was closing before the arrow had even landed on the other side. Nate teleported, appearing near Helen and released a pulse from his Mana Release trinket. The impact was minimal and he could feel as Helen’s spells flexed before regaining their shape within the cocoon of blood that protected the Blood Mage.
Nate’s reserve was still less than half full, but his Conceptual Automated Existence was far less reliant on his own Mana Reserve than other Skills could be. Reaching into his Runic Gallery, he grabbed the remains of the Hundred Year Flower of a Faebloom Elm. When he had been gifted the Legendary flower, it had displayed twenty-three petals. At Evindal’s direction he had eaten one per day, absorbing their energies as the flowers' natural life affinity influenced his own Mana Reserve. The flower had thirteen petals left—more than half—and he did consider if he was throwing away his chance at a Legendary Life Class by using it. But, he was willing to take that risk if it meant saving his friends. He just lamented that he didn’t have any processed mana with which to empower the Golem. As the flower twisted, taking on a form consistent with that of a blooming flower, Nate used his Intent to alter and empower two Subconcepts. Life had many meanings, many interpretations. When he had gazed upon it the first time, he had touched upon the Divine as he interpreted the core meaning this flower took upon itself from Life. Propagation. It had many meanings as well, but the flower leaned towards breeding and spreading. Nate empowered that aspect of the creation. The second was something that he felt more keenly when he used Life. Life was change. Not necessarily growth, because change was not always good; in fact, it could be deleterious. Change could result in devolution or even death. Change itself, Nate suspected, was a higher Concept, but there was an aspect of it endemic to life. With his Intent, he twisted the beautiful flower, turning it towards mutation. The Skill finished flowing and the animated Golem of Life formed. Nate was forced away as he felt the effect the existence had upon reality. In the barren soil around the creature, thousands of tiny flowers grew, sprouting up in a cacophony of shapes and colours, only to wither and die as they collapsed under the weight of uncontrolled mutation.
The warped flower of Life lunged at Helen Jamison and Nate watched as her shield of blood shifted. Parts of it grew bright red and felt like they were pillars of reality, undeniable. Other portions burned or froze as the nature of the blood itself mutated. A section around the mage’s head blackened as flesh grew and then decomposed in real time, revealing the woman beneath. A second later an arrow lanced through the hole, straight through the woman's head. The shield collapsed and the Platinum fell to the sand, dead before she hit the ground.
Kartier and Portos screamed in anguish but it was Allais who reacted. Nate felt the light bathe his barrier before he could react. He sensed it burning through his shield like some kind of venom as it ate away at his protections. Trying to teleport failed as he felt the light around him eating away at his connection to everything else. Panicking, he reached for his Spatial Release trinket in the hope that it would let him reconnect with his surroundings and move, when the light around him froze solid. A moment later the frozen light cracked, along with his barrier, the bracer entirely drained. Coralie stood between him and Allais.
“Stupid girl,” growled Allais. “You would deny me, for him?”
“He is her brother,” Coralie whispered, her back straight even as she looked like she wanted to crumble.
“Then she can pay for his crime!”
Kartier shifted, blocking Null as a lance of light passed straight through Kiri’s chest, disintegrating it.
Kiri fell, and as she did so, Nate felt it as reality twisted, a smile blooming on his face because it wasn’t him that was calling on something higher. Something Divine.
Comments
Evan Cathey
The power scaling issue has been a problem since the start. If you remember way back to the start legendaries were supposed to be really rare with only nobility and like one or two other people achieving it, rare enough that they can make their own country. Now there is already a significant handful in the fic. It's actually a common problem I tend to forcefully ignore in a lot of stories because most authors do this. It happens because they need their starting characters to be special so you are invested but then runs into the problem of it not making sense for them to struggle against anyone, and struggle makes the story. So they have to change the power scaling but it's too much work to go back and edit every chapter to reflect that. In this case it can sort of make sense if you look at it as the side characters jumping up to the level Nate and Kiri were at several chapters back and gaining a buff that they don't have yet in their embodiments which are supposed to be massive bonuses if used right. Null and Britt are supposed to be far better than the average gold already. So their oponents can still probably sweep them away but first they have to feel out their new skills and powers and how to get around it.
JoBer
But her mother doesn't attack Coralie, Coralie blocks attacks ment for other people who Allais tries to kill
TerrestrialOverlord
Coz she's not, her mom wants to harvest why would she kill the crop before the time is ripe?
TerrestrialOverlord
Plot armor is on our side...stop complaining🤣😂
Secret Weapons
Based on her comment after the first attack she launched at Kiri, she knows Kiri can be reborn, or at least heal from almost anything... doubt she'll be that surprised.
Secret Weapons
nothing from his prep for this fight killed those Golds off. Him getting lucky, with Jorge sniping the Earth Mage did. Random chance. Only then could he effect the field. His "prep" for that was just strolling in assuming everyone would forget what he did in the only fight they've all seen him in, and he'd be able to do whatever he wanted... ie. no prep at all. Preparation for that would look like him having some sort of pre prepared and aligned material to help him wrestle control of the ground away from another mage, if they prepared for him trying that trick. He did none of that. His preparation sucked ass. Nothing to counter Allais' light. Nothing to enhance Luc's needles and poison to make them so effective, they'd work on anyone.... Just a couple blood blobs that seemed to do little and new armor for Britt. Awesome. What a master strategist.
Ellake
2nd evolution will be in this book (#4) and there is only another 3-4 weeks to go. You'll see next week I think where it's going.
Ellake
This is good feedback.
Secret Weapons
I wonder if he couldn't have used one of the Epic blood blobs and a handful of petals from the flower to combo together some sort of blood mutation golem that would be even stronger, as it would be blood specific? Instead he completely wastes his entire flower. I assume so that we'll have to wait even longer for him to evolve.
Secret Weapons
I feel like this fight really suffers from week to week reading and the chapter break occuring when it does. Last chapter they were getting their asses whooped, every Platinum they had was useless, or had already lost... end of chapter. Now, their weakest fighters suddenly become Golds and that translates to them kicking ass immediately? This entire fight has really thrown any and all power scaling that was previously done right out the window. I get that the chapter ends where it does from dramatic effect, but it ending there really highlights the disparity in power consistency as a result. Maybe including him gravity trapping the Golds in last chapter would've help that a bit at least, so they've started to turn to corner and its not so "we're doomed" to "we're shit kicking them" so immediately?
Kato68
The blood blops were epics and used against Epics
JoBer
It seems weird that the secondary characters that are all just golds are suddenly hyped that much and are able to stand up to 4 platinums, while the enemy golds are suddenly shit and dealt with in half a second. Like how can Coralie fight better against her mother than Aisling could... This whole fight plays jumprope with the power scaling and it doesn't make much sense to me
Kanyau
Probably not good enough material.
Scott
Now we just need a strategic reintroduction of the thought to be dead twins to totally break the other side.
Michael Hatfield
it kind of feels like he could have done something similar using only the blood blobs he made for this battle, instead of using the flower.
Evan Cathey
The golds didn't die from his preperation that was all done by him using a spell once the earth mage was dead. If Luc, a platinum, wasn't nerfed to uselessness by a potion that might as well have been named author fiat, the golds would have been dead long before this. Nate's actual preperation was three blood constructs that didn't do anything except float around.
Michael
You seem to have honed in on this opinion already, ignoring parts that would contradict it, such as the pit trap removing all enemy golds from the equation. Also, Nate being reluctant to use the flower doesn't mean it isn't part of his preparation.
Scion
He killed all the Golds bro with all that preparation if he did it your way and didn't prep the gold wouldn't be dead
Evan Cathey
So all that preperation and the only thing that makes any difference is him throwing away his flower? The only thing that mattered was something he didn't prepare. This continues to disappoint. I guess I'll just consider this chapter arc a wash and hope it improves next arc. The lesson here is that dramatic tension is not worth nerfing your characters. It's just flat out annoying.
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter. Time for Kiri to bring out the can of Whoop A$$ !!!
Zack
Coralie is gonna go ballistic on her mother, then Allais is gonna short circuit when Kiri comes back. This is gonna be good 😎
VioletSummit
Damn, ice girl making a strong comeback! Might even have a future after this, we'll see. The blood concept automatons have been pretty disappointing so far though.
David Adoram-Kershner
Oooh shit, let's go kiri!!
