Brent Stinebaker
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II-56 Rematch (II)
🕑 Added 2025-01-24 18:52:06 +0000 UTCThere are many kinds of death one can experience, and the way one dies also matters immensely.
But my favorite to inflict in battle is the slow death. The bleeding death. The looming death. This is the foundation for your enemy to make mistakes, for a bleeding adversary often seeks a path of salvation, to live or strike back. All because of hope. Hope to survive. Hope to escape the shadow of death.
Hope to betray you at the last instant.
-Wei An Wei, The Realmbreaker
II-56
Rematch (II)
An ugly wound lined the Souldrinker’s body — a cleft separated by two edges of light and dark. For a frozen moment, Wei felt power surge from the monstrous being as the Dying Queen’s blood coursed through its spirit. But suddenly, it stopped, flow choked off as if a river dammed by falling boulders.
The Souldrinker staggered and let out a skull-splitting shriek, but from its voice was conveyed a call of pain.
Below, the Lifedrinkers continued to charge toward the shattering chasm of wood and crystalline frost — only to find themselves consumed by a wall of tumbling flames. An inferno animated by Essences of black and gold swallowed entire swarms of Bloodspawn. They came asunder in hissing gusts of steam and ash. Through the flames came other Skills and attacks. Every one of Wei’s disciples unleashed all they had against the adversary, and thus, what was meant to be a one-sided slaughter turned into a choked stalemate.
The young master flared his Proximal Aegis once more. As the wings of his Shell expanded to cover the battlefield, a ceiling to everyone’s Speed was put in place, and martial mastery became the deciding factor of the day.
Dashing across the sky, Wei came for his adversary again. The Souldrinker flapped its wings—channeled concussive blasts in his direction while summoning new Bloodspawn to stymie his approach. Three hundred-meter long limbs made from jagged fangs of rotten enamel and dripping blood came out to claw at Wei. Bulbous mosquitoesthe size of men burst out from these appendages as well, diving for the young master.
He didn’t bother altering his path.
As he cut with his scythe in one hand, he channeled his Celestial Flames from the Pale Fang he held in his other.
Walls of disintegrating Essence rippled through the approaching attacks. The massive limbs slammed hard against the brilliant fire as if it were a wall rather than a force. Despite this, the blood sustaining the limbs held. The Souldrinker channeled more blood across faster than it could be destroyed. The mosquito-like horrors enveloped Wei’s inferno a moment after, drinking his destructive Essence into themselves—sacrificing their spirits for the great cause of the Dying Queen.
One of the Souldrinker’s wing-portals flashed. A beam of fetid darkness gushed out like a corrosive stream, drowning away Wei’s light. Even with its Speed equalized, the Souldrinker was a terror to behold, with many times Wei’s Essence Level.
However, that didn’t mean it was particularly intelligent.
As the black fluids disfigured the surface of reality and left a rotting patch of space in existence, the Souldrinker beheld nothing left in the wake of its attack. Nothing at all. For a beat, it even assumed itself victorious.
Its assumption was corrected when a massive Lance of Annihilation burst out from its back. Searing ichor splattered through the air as it let out a wail of agony. Brutal gashes flickered into existence across its body, the cuts coming from the inside. A few seconds ago, a single crystalline shard blinked across two points in space and ended up within the Souldrinker’s Source-wound. From there, Wei continued his onslaught.
The massive body of the almighty Bloodspawn crashed through its lesser summons and plunged into the wall of flames projected by Agnesia. Behind that wall, the princess’s draconic avatar burned brighter than ever before, projecting every bit of power it could into the surrounding atmosphere. The rest of Wei’s disciples formed concentric battle formations around her. Fortifications created from unnatural slabs of ice reinforced with steaming alloys became their projections against the lances of blood and searing bile released by the Lifedrinkers and other inferior Bloodspawn. Ciphers connected each of the disciples, allowing their Aspects to work in tandem like arrays in motion, boosting their overall combat effectiveness.
And then the Bastard made himself known by sailing through the air on a pedestal of ashen ice. A pedestal it flew straight into the skull of the Souldrinker. A shockwave blasted through the air and tore a pocket into Agnesia’s flames. Wei cursed as he bounced inside the Souldrinker, still cutting, still channeling his Celestial Flames, still struggling to bring his adversary down. The Bastard let out a guttural cry as he hefted his greatsword high. Mourning’s voice joined his, and together, their Essences merged, igniting the blade with a Skill unlike any other.
“I am life,” the Bastard began, sinking a clawed gauntlet into the Souldrinker’s flesh.
“I am death,” Mourning followed, extending tendrils of branches and vines to tether herself tight to the Bloodspawn.
“We are the thing betwixt,” they said together, as the visage of the Hound bearing a blade of verdant green formed over them, “and we are the wound between.”
As one, they cut, and they cut deeper than even bone. Wei let out a yelp as their blade peeled away everything just below his legs, barely missing his boots. His horror only doubled as he felt the absolute coldness radiating from the wounds, the stench of death comingling with the abundance of life to become something growing, something infectious. The Withering began to spread across the Souldrinker’s body, and Wei’s existing harm compounded with the new spiritual venom rotting the Bloodspawn away.
The young master cut again, and he felt an entire chunk of its Aspect of Speed come asunder. The Souldrinker was staggered now. Far slower than it was ever before, and with each passing second, what little capacity it had left was bleeding away from its myriad wounds. Now, Wei’s attention was on his rival outside. The Bastard was genuinely making a go of things. The young master hoped the Scion of Death would be incapacitated longer from his “resurrection” but that was too much to hope for.
With a sneer behind his helmet and fury in his blows, he sought to steal this kill from Wei, while the Souldrinker made to birth another version of itself just like its progenitors before.
Two races were taking place now. The first was with the Souldrinker — its death needed to be attained before it was fully replaced. The second was against the Bastard — there was no way Wei was allowing another man to call him a female dog.
As such, Wei felt himself unusually motivated to see this fight concluded. So he manifested two more Components from his Shell, and took a risk.
Source: [411/700]
His Source plunged precipitously. A weakness washed through his limbs as the very Essence that now composed his being found itself drawn into two limbs. The first was the Chainspear Arm that directed three attached blades through the mutilated insides of the Souldrinker. Wei carved and sliced and glided through the Bloodspawn’s body, using his new limb to pull himself along while dragging his scythe behind.
He tunneled through thick gristle, bubbling flesh, and fraying meat. As he felt ridges of bone and rib approach, he materialized in his right arm the Gauntlet of the Breaker, which he used akin to a sledgehammer. The massive body of the Souldrinker folded as he broke critical portions of its inner architecture. The monster curled and writhed, even as its bile and blood lashed out at Wei.
For a moment, he heard a cry from the Dying Queen, tasted an echo of her rage. But then she was distant, her presence muffled, as if barred from reaching him by a more dominant force.
On the outside, the Bastard swung again—a miss due to the aforementioned writhing. A growl of displeasure sounded from the man as he glared at the beast. Behind him, a wave of crescent blades manifested. But unlike before, they weren’t just shards of withering coldness. Now, shrubs and greenery were growing out from them, signs of life beginning to flourish.
Wei almost found himself distracted by their sheer novelty. It was as if beholding a shell of death holding a seed of life. The two cycled into each other, but never fully overlapped in a sense. Just observing it made his skull spin. Both his Enlightenment and Omniscience advanced with the insight.
Enlightenment > 57
Omniscience > 60
[34/100] Aspect Advancements to Core Ascension
“Focus!” The Shell snarled.
Wei did, and returned to the task at hand—only to notice most of the crescent projectiles were being launched into the wounds he made. They zipped into the openings along the Souldrinker’s body at Wei’s max speed due to his Proximal Aegis, but as they lacked any weight and made no noise passing through the air, they simply slipped under his attention until they were just about to impact.
They splashed into the open wounds of the Souldrinker like piercing missiles at first. The already opened flesh was ruined further as the withering frost doubled the corrosion of the Souldrinker’s spirit. But then the shell of death shattered, sending fragments darting through the insides of the Bloodspawn. Wei cursed and Essenceshifted into a Divine Wind state. He whistled out from one of many openings lining the Souldrinker just as the insides of the monster turned into a cage filled with slicing shards.
Then, life began to grow. Flowers. Branches. Vines. Wood. Leaves. Flesh. Life. Life unfettered and unchained began to consume the Souldrinker from within. Life began to consume the vile blood of the monster, converting its Essence into another. Suddenly, Wei understood the true insidiousness of the Bastard’s attack. This wasn’t just a blow that weakened the enemy, this was something that sapped their very spirit and rendered them unable to complete a new summoning.
It was impressive, and Wei would have complimented the other man for a blow well struck if only for one problem.
“What were you aiming for!” The young master said, channeling jets of flame out from his heels. He hovered in the air, pointing his spear at the Bastard who barely registered his presence. “You could have hit me.”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were blind and slow. I’ll be sure to ask your fucking permission next time before I do anything,” the Bastard growled, hefting his blade high. A loud crash sounded thereafter as the Souldrinker struck the ground again. The world tremored, and a carpet of fire swept over the Souldrinker’s body. Agnesia’s doing, no doubt.
A moment of silence followed. Only for a Lifedrinker to break it by charging at Wei. He pointed a finger and a bolt of Divine Lightning leaped out from his glaive tip and smote it from the sky. Silence returned. But the Bastard suddenly found himself more willing to talk.
“So. You gonna go for the fucker?”
“I might.”
“Then what’s the wait?”
Wei twirled his glaive and snorted. “I want you to move first. Then I want to pass you before finishing this.”
“Oh. It’s like that.” the Bastard let out a low, growling chuckle. “You’re a right rascal, kid.”
“And you don’t know how to aim.”
“Brother…” Mourning said. “Let us be done with this. The enemy remains wounded, but not dead.”
Mourning’s chiding affected Wei as well. He turned his attention to the Souldrinker to notice it was entirely immolated now, but still struggling, still crawling toward Agnesia and the rest of his disciples, who were now firing their Skills through an outward-facing force barrier created by a network of Ciphers.
“Alright,” the Bastard said. “Rolling his shoulder. I just want you to know… you asked for this.”
A surge of Essence pulsed through the Scion of Death. The pedestal beneath him began to tremble with power. But instead of shooting straight down to finish the fight, he unleashed a cone of frost at Wei.
If only the young master hadn’t foreseen the dirty trick thanks to this Dilation Echo.
Wei drew his captive assassin out of his Inventory as he cut at the same time. The lich that tried to kill him days ago was immediately encased in frost, making it seem like someone was frozen. Meanwhile, their body shielded Wei’s just enough for him to cut. The Bastard was fast. Quick enough that his Skill was hard to dodge at close range. But Wei wasn’t just a quick hand; he was learning to be cunning as well.
As the Bastard blasted down, Wei cut once with his scythe as he pulled the lich back into his Inventory — only to emerge right behind the Bastard. Instead of attacking the man, Wei slapped a contract on the man’s back. Just one of the lesser lawsuits he kept from the Hearted Realm of Greed.
At the sudden thud against his armor, the Bastard turned in disbelief, coming helmet to face with Wei’s grin. “The fuc—”
The contact combusted and formed a portal as a legion of rabid, drug-addled weasels with a taste of human flesh flooded out and spilled over his body. The Bastard let out a cry of surprise as they began nibbling at his joints, clinging to his helmet, clawing his floating platform. Wei gave them a hand by kicking the pedestal until it was slightly off course. Slightly. Well, directly toward the ground.
As the Bastard tumbled and twisted away from the path, Wei went forth to finish his adversary with glaive and scythe in hand and no one to stop him. No one aside from a whipping branch.
The young master dodged the strike—only for a gust of pheromones to make him choke from the sheer stink. A loud crack sounded through the air as Mourning herself sailed out from the rising cloud of dust left by the Bastard. She was on a collision course with the Souldrinker. Wei couldn’t allow this.
The young master cut again. He blinked over the Souldrinker and crashed against its burning form. Immediately, his flesh combusted and began to cook. His Source dropped, but it mattered little. He just needed to deliver a final stab to finish the creature off. He thrust. A mushroom cap burst out from beneath him, soaking the blow. Life Essence resonated beneath his feet as he felt himself spited.
Mourning was but meters away from the Souldrinker’s skull. Wei cursed and dove in front of her. “No! What are you doing! Aside!”
Wei didn’t listen. He forced her to come to a halt just as he materialized his scythe again. Only for Mourning to call his bluff in return as she charged at the Harvester.
“Wait! No!” Wei cried. He dismissed his Source-made Skill as to avoid damaging Mourning, but the damnable sword just kept going. Yet, an inch before she impacted, he caught her, stopped her, and then swung her like she was his blade, burying her deep in the Souldrinker’s skull.
The monster let out a final shriek of agony as blood and flames spewed over Wei and Mourning. Yet, as he held her, he felt a soothing balm of healing pass through his entire being. From her also came a looming sense of awkwardness and discomfort at what just happened.
“Release me,” she demanded.
Wei did. “I suppose this means I—”
A chunk of frozen wolverine crashed into the side of his head, sending him toppling head over ass.
Class Level > 87
Wasn’t victory glorious.
Comments
Truck69kun
TFTC
Nattor
I ship it
Mimic
He HAS to hold it over the bastards head that he used his sister
