Karp
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Diplomacy 101: Chapter 22
🕑 Added 2024-08-04 21:38:20 +0000 UTCVarrus watched on, as his companions attacked en masse.
Koren, mounted on his dragonhawk dive-bombed downward while Kith'ix was just about to stand up. He rolled to the side, midnight, dodging an umbra beam, then rolled back into position in an instant.
The dragonhawk knight then drove his magical lance deep into Kith'ix's left eye. A giant clawed hand pinched up at him, snagging his mount from its tail feathers just a foot short from crushing Koren.
Tumbling out of his saddle, Koren cried out at the demise of his companion.
Varrus reacted quickly, casting the Alteration spell, Drop Zone where Koren was about to fall, reducing any fall damage to zero.
However, Jan'alai swooped in, and picked Koren up with one of her talons. She blasted Kith'ix with a hot jet of green fire before carrying Koren away to safety.
Countless other Heroes dropped a rain of fireballs, and arcane bolts onto Kith'ix, but they hardly phased the Terror of the Shifting Sands.
Its purple blood ran down its chest, creating thick piles of sludge across the beach such that it was an environmental activist's nightmare.
From the pools of blood, sludge-like creatures would emerge, and attempt to drag the Elves down into the goop.
Varrus, Lady Liadran, Syra and a small handful of other Light users were forced to take their attention away from Kith'ix to deal with these Void spawns. Otherwise, the entire raiding party would be surrounded and killed by these mobs.
In the midst of blasting apart the voidlings, Varrus couldn't help but chuckle to himself. His group of Heroes made up what was basically a raid group, and these easily slain, yet dangerous piles of goop counted as trash mobs. What was next, Kith'ix having a second phase?
Varrus’ laughter at the seeming gamification of the Warcraft universe was suddenly cut short. He hoped above hope that there was no second phase to this fight!
Looking around, slightly panicked, Varrus calmed himself, and saw one of the more influential figures amongst the Heroes take action.
Astalor Bloodsworn then struck next. His spell was a giant, ethereal manacle made of purple energy. It bound itself to the leg that had been injured by Halduron, holding the beast in place.
“Aim for the gap in the knee! I cannot hold it for much longer!” Astalor grunted as he concentrated on his spell.
“Ĉĵóp Ŕỳæ Ĥķ!” Kith'ix screeched in an alien tongue, discombobulating everyone present.
It then directed each of its shoulder mounted crab legs towards Astalor.
Four umbra beams of pure corrupting energy blasted toward the magister a second later.
Lady Liadran, bearing a massive shield, stepped forward, and bore the brunt from one of the beams. The Light energy surrounding her buffering the attack, she was forced backward several feet, yet managed to redirect the beam towards the sky.
Rho'dan and the four other original Crossguard members bore their shields together, and likewise stopped a beam from striking Astalor.
Varrus intercepted the remaining two beams, easily blocking them due to his advanced Spell Power.
However, Kith'ix had an additional attack prepared! His fins around his face-although damaged due to cannon fire-were still an integral piece of the monster.
Rainbow colors flashed around the fins, then a thick solid umbra beam consumed all Light from the surroundings, and near instantly struck Varrus.
Roaring in denial and disbelief as his Greater Ward broke, reformed, then broke again all within a few seconds. His protective enchantment sprang up, protecting him for a second, then Varrus mashed to throw up a Greater Ward that held this time.
“Varrus!” Syra screamed in despair as she witnessed his near catastrophic death.
“Go! Attack the joint on the leg!” Varrus shouted.
In a split second, Syra looked at him like a panicked mother watching her baby drown, then figuratively transformed into a momma bear prepared to tear a car door off its hinges to get to her cubs.
She turned toward Kith'ix, and leapt toward its knee, leaving after images in her wake.
The jump took Syra nearly 50ft into the air.
Golden energy covered her form, making her so bright, all Varrus could see was a golden figure of almost pure mana.
Then suddenly, all that energy that was surrounding her body transferred to her sword. The blade which ordinarily stood twice as tall as Syra was now a weapon of pure Light energy. With this newfound power, the sword expanded in size not once not thrice, but up to ten times in size!
The massive blade of Light hummed with untold power. It buzzed so loud, it could be heard from Quel'Thalas.
Before this monumental weapon of the Light struck, Warrior's Flame triggered, and burned Kith'ix in the radiant energies of the Light from head to toe.
When that occurred, Varrus’ perk, Battle Cleric, triggered as a secondary side effect.
Battle Cleric - When Warrior's Flame blesses or curses a target, it also increases or reduces armor by 200 points and magic resistance by 25% for its duration.
Kith'ix roared in pain, and reached a clawed hand down in an attempt to stop Syra, but the hand was blasted back by a timely flame jet from Kael and his phoenix.
“Do it, Syra!” Varrus yelled.
Syra glanced back, flashing him a smile, then brought the sword down.
Kith'ix screamed in pain, yet the injury to Varrus’ ears never felt sweeter.
Syra backflipped away from its fall, landing next to Varrus drained of all mana, yet smiling like a puppy.
Varrus grabbed her by the waist, and smiled into her beauty.
She squeezed back, and began to breathe heavily from the intense mana expenditure.
Varrus wordlessly handed her a Mana Stone, and patted her on the back.
“Thank you Syra for everything.” Varrus said softly.
“Of course my love. I would never abandon you.” Syra sweetly smiled, then pinched his arm sharply with her nails.
“Now don't you ever risk yourself like that again.” Syra hissed.
Varrus laughed off the pain, and distracted his wife with another kiss to the lips.
She rolled her eyes at him, and Varrus knew she wouldn't be letting this go anytime soon, but it's not like he could promise her that he wouldn't risk his life going forward, right?
He was a central figure with high combat power. So what if he couldn't make giant swords of light, or jump higher than Michael Jordan? She hadn't seen his Master tier Destruction spells yet. That'd show her.
Besides, the cthulu-like monstrosity had been brought to its knees! The risk was well worth it!
While Kith'ix was down one leg severed at the knee, Kael’Thas took this opportunity to unleash a grand spell.
His phoenix companion, Al'ar grew in size at a rapid rate, building, and building so much, he seemed unstoppable. Then, when the mana inside the phoenix began to grow unstable, he shrank in size to being no larger than a small, household dog.
Al'ar had absorbed copious amounts of holy Light from the sun, and was shaking with uncontrolled power.
“Remember the Sunwell!” Kael’Thas shouted as he released Al'ar from his embrace.
Flying at a speed that would put an intercontinental missile to shame, Al'ar dove beak first into the center of Kith'ix's chest, easily piercing the-at this point-broken and cracked chitin armor.
A beat later, and Kith'ix's chest burst open in flame, gore, and barbecued flesh.
Kith'ix staggered, almost completely collapsing. Holding himself up with his claws, the cthulhu inspired being repeatedly slammed his giant claws on the beach towards Kael and everyone else in an attempt to squash them.
The lobster creature moved in an insane frenzy like a cornered beast. It was uncaring for the countless cannon shots, uncaring for the enchanted arrows to its side, uncaring for the mages and golems pounding away at its flesh, and uncaring for the copious amounts of blood flowing into the sea.
It. Wanted. Kael’Thas. DEAD.
The earth shook, cliffs collapsed, and sheer pandemonium swept through the Elven Heroes as mind churning waves of madness spread from each and every impact of Kith'ixs’ claws.
Unable to sit back and watch his friend be smashed to pieces, Varrus, no longer the target of the umbra beams, protected himself from the vile hallucinations due to his Warriors Flame covering his body. Now, while Kith'ix was distracted and on the verge of death, was the time to finally cast his Master level Destruction spells!
And what better spell to use, than the titular spell that the mod list of spells was named after?
Apocalypse!
Apocalypse: Target is assaulted by elemental entities that appear nearby and cast x4 damage Flames, Frostbite and Sparks spells. Lasts 10 seconds.
When he cast this spell, almost a dozen perks triggered at the same time, however, the three most notable ones were the level 100 perks: Absolute Power, Cataclysm, and Glacial Prison.
Absolute Power - Aiming a Sparks, Lightning Bolt, Chain Lightning, Thunderbolt or Lightning Storm spell directly at a target will magnetically levitate them in front of you for 6 seconds, reducing magic resistance by 25%. This effect has a 45 second cooldown.
Cataclysm - Fire spells that hit targets affected by burning ground explode for 20% of their current Health (max. 250 damage), blasting them into the air and reducing magic resistance by 25% for 6 seconds. This effect has a 45 second cooldown.
Glacial Prison - Frost spells immobilize (non-essential) targets in a block of ice for 6 seconds, reducing magic resistance by 25%. This effect has a 120 second cooldown, but killing a victim affected by Glacial Prison or Hypothermia immediately ends the cooldown.
Kith'ix, so caught up in its rampage, didn't even know what had hit him when jets of elemental energy completely surrounded him on all sides.
The sky shook as a near endless stream of frost, fire, and electricity: froze, fried, and zapped all at once.
Kith'ix's claws froze midair for a second, before cracking under his might.
“Ĥì ĤOʻ ĎV Ņə!” Kith'ix screeched, turning toward Varrus.
The creature slammed a fist down at Varrus, only to have the colossal-severely weakened structure-to be parried to the side by Syra.
Her sword, magnified and coated in Light once again, cut the claw off from the joint in its elbow, having it collapse with a thunk onto the beach.
Kith'ix roared as the power of Cataclysm kicked in, and his entire outer shell began to cook from blue to red, just like a boiling lobster.
Then the massive Sparks spell from Apocalypse stunlocked Kith'ix in place, rendering him immobile.
At this point, the entirety of the remaining Elven forces unloaded everything they had.
Kael conjured a firestorm, baking Kith'ix's remaining arm into a dried husk.
Jan'alai breathed fire along the joint in Kith'ix's other knee, forcing him to collapse.
Then everyone else struck at the head and body until Kith'ix until they were out of Mana Stones.
Varrus raised his hands for one last spell: Forbidden Sun.
Forbidden Sun: Giant ball of elemental fire that deals 100 points of damage in a wide area on impact. Targets struck lose 200 points of Fire Resist for 4 seconds.
However, whilst he was within the midst of casting this grand spell, an arrow made of pure concentrated Arcane whizzed through the air, not at Kith;ix, but straight at Varrus’ back!
Ears twitching, Varrus heard the attack basically as soon as it struck
“Varrus!” Syra screeched.
“My Lord!” Rho’dan standing a step away yelled, as he pressed forward to interpose himself between Varrus and the assassination attempt.
Everything happened so fast, it was over in an instant.
Rho’dan moved just enough to push Varrus so that his heart was not pierced, however, the bolt of pure mana still struck him. It tore through Varrus’ Ebony Flesh like a pen through paper, and grinded away his protection enchantment. By the time it broke through those two defenses, the magical arrow had spent the majority of its energy, and failed to pierce his flesh. However, while the bolt of pure Arcane power was unable to penetrate his shoulder, it did not mean that it had spent all of its energy. The arrow head spinned like a drill, then exploded on Varrus’ scapula.
The burning pain sent Varrus tumbling a step forward, and scorched his back black with burnt and mutilated flesh.
Varrus gasped from the pain, and stubbornly kept his hands raised, going through the motions to complete his spell!
He heard shouts and such all around him, but they were merely like the buzz of an insect in his ears.
Eyes going bloodshot, Varrus finished the motion, and brought down the final death knell upon the demigod.
.
Conjuring a giant orb of death similar to when Frieza destroyed planet Vegeta, Varrus brought down the hot ball of fire upon Kith'ix's barely twitching form, and completely obliterated any possible remnants from the face of Azeroth. The sweet ping of a Soul Gem being added to his inventory was all the confirmation Varrus needed to know of his victory before he allowed himself to collapse in pain.
Coughing, and feeling his vision begin to turn to black, Varrus felt someone hold him up, and prevent him from falling to his knees.
Delirious in pain, Varrus barely scrolled through the Skyrim UI menu, and equipped Fast Healing. Raising his hands, it only took a second to release the first spell. Radiant Light energy cascaded over his form, and the wounds across his back quickly recovered. Blackened, ash-like gray skin gave way to the healthy orangish tan that High Elves were known for.
“Varrus!” Syra said with a mixture of fear, anger, and relief.
Tears spooled down his wife’s face in a never ending torrent as she gripped him in one hand, and scanned the battlefield murderously, pointing her giant buster sword at every other Elf present.
“What happened? Was it some final attack from the beast?” Varrus said, trying to stand on his own, only for his wife’s embrace to tighten, and refusing to let go.
“It would appear that in our moment of triumph, you were the subject of an assassination attempt, my Lord.” Rho’dan said in a grim tone, his eyes searched Varrus for any additional wounds, before he too scanned the Elven forces, attempting to spot the would-be killer.
Kael touched down on his phoenix, and ran up to Varrus.
Stopping just out of range of the tip of Syra’s buster sword, he scowled at her, then peered deeply at Varrus.
“By the Sunwell, you’re okay.” Kael forcefully exhaled.
His moment of relief however, was broken by the fierce cheering and celebration roaring over the horizon. The Elven army had returned, and all their cheer and jubilation was directed at the Prince.
“We will discuss this later. I promise you, these traitors shall pay for this.” Kael hissed under his breath, and nodded towards Varrus before turning to address the jubilant army.
“For Silvermoon, for Quel'Thalas!” Kael cheered.
“For Silvermoon, for Quel'Thalas!” The assembled Heroes cheered alongside him.
Varrus wasn’t as concerned about the assassination attempt as his wife was. He was a public figure, and he had a loooot of baggage thanks to his father, and playboy past. Helios was proof of the animosity that the common Elf had towards him. No, he would have time to investigate later, what mattered most to Varrus now was rebuilding Silvermoon, and getting his people back on track to greatness.
Besides, after this mass battle, he was flush with Soul Gems. Currently, most of his gear was fueled by Common or Greater Soul Gems, and not a single Grand Soul Gem enchanted his gear at all. The assassin would be in for a rude awakening should they choose to try and kill him the same way twice. The protection enchantment would be more than tripled the next time he found the time to enchant his gear.
He also was never in any true danger. Unless an attack instantly and completely obliterated him, Varrus had two get out of jail free perks. They were:
Sacred Guardian - Emanate a 20 foot aura of protection. Any living allies within range who fall below 30% Health are automatically healed 150 points. This effect has a 30 second cooldown per target.
&
Emergency Teleport - When you fall below 15% Health due to combat damage, you briefly turn invulnerable and teleport back to the location where you entered combat.
So in the event that death was a real possibility, he had two options that would rescue him at the last possible moment.
It’s not like those close to him were aware of this though, and they sported looks of concern. In fact, Syra had yet to release him from her grasp.
Catching a troubled expression mixed with a knowing smile from Syra, it would seem, however, his plans for enchanting his gear could wait.
‘Well. The survival of his race was on the line. It wouldn't hurt to factor in his wife's wants and needs into his grand plan.’ Varrus thought to himself as he returned to her a wild smile of his own.
