T. A. Star
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46 - Next Move
🕑 Added 2024-07-23 00:00:02 +0000 UTC
Everin was surprisingly enjoying his time with the Royal Knight, who had moved into a room at the Ducal Palace for the time being. Veldrix had an odd sort of patience about them that he had come to appreciate as he had shown them around the city during their free moments together.
The Ruby Caster was unusually observant, submissive, and polite but had a subtle kind of humor. All of which he assumed had been refined during their time at the royal court. He could also tell that they had their own interests outside of simply following orders and executing people.
That latter point was what had made Everin so wary at first. The threat of execution was often the strongest tool of oppression, and he wasn’t sure how to reconcile his distaste for that fact with the person sitting across from him eating a delicious meal. By all accounts, Veldrix Thevaris should have been his enemy, not his dinner companion.
“So, to summarize, you joined Rebel’s clergy at the age of fifteen in a fit of teenage rebellion?” the garnet gemite asked him with a smirk.
“Well, if you want to ignore a thing called nuance, I guess that’s accurate,” Everin admitted, “But from what I’ve seen of other parents since then, mine were exceptionally authoritarian.”
“Thus, your dedication to a higher authority in order to rid the world of all mortal authorities?”
“I like to think of it more as requisitioning authority back into the personal hands of the people who had it taken from them.”
“A thief stealing from thieves?”
He laughed, “Better to steal from thieves than from the innocent, in my opinion,” then took a sip of wine that was definitely not strong enough as he asked cautiously, “Do you ever worry that the person you’re about to execute wasn’t a thief but an innocent?”
Veldrix observed him carefully for a moment before answering, “No. I’m not going to worry about something I’ll likely never have an answer for. I’ve decided to trust the people who determine whether or not someone deserves to meet me at their end. I do my job in the hopes that one less criminal is terrorizing the innocent.”
Everin was about to ask how the knight knew they could blindly trust those judges when Veldrix suddenly stood, glancing in various directions.
“What is it?”
“I hear screaming and sense monsters.”
“Where? Which direction?” he asked, standing up as well. His own Emerald senses could reach far but they didn’t span an entire city quite yet. They were located in the nicer part of the inner city’s entertainment district and could likely respond quickly no matter what the answer was.
The gemite frowned, “Northeast, east, south, southwest, and west.”
Everin grimaced, silently retracting his last thought. This had to be sabotage, and they couldn’t be in multiple places at once. “The AOA is in the southwest, and the OOM is in the northeast; those should have plenty of Casters available to respond.”
“The International District is to the south,” Veldrix recalled, “I’ll go there first as they’re less likely to have proper protection. Then I’ll make my way west.”
“I’ll go east first, then, and make my way north,” Everin agreed, tossing a few Crystal Mana Bits on the table before they left.
“Meet back near here for dessert?” the knight asked with a subtle smile.
The Avatar snorted a laugh, “Sure. I might know of a good place.”
Phoenix wasn’t sure if she was grateful for the fact that the monsters were both Sapphire Caste and capable of flight, but it did force her to use her abilities in ways that she normally didn’t prefer. The first challenge being to hold herself back from trying to stab the things in melee range.
Dazien had already chosen a large intersection to plant his [King’s Banner] at, creating a zone of increased regeneration and Fortitude. The ground itself glittered like gold paint had been spilled over the affected area. After activating his [Rallying Cry] with “Charge!” to increase the group’s Agility, he began trying to pin down the enemy.
After using [To the Dungeon] to construct a magically reinforced steel cage around one of the giant crimson wasps, he used [Call of Fealty] on another, the ability recently unlocked once more by bonding to Paul’s gifted Resolve Spirit Gem.
Ability: Call of Fealty
Type: Spell (taunt, magical, covenant)
Cost: High mana.
Cooldown: 2 minutes.
Current Caste: Sapphire 1 (1%)
Crystal Effect: Inflict a target with [Hesitation] if they do not halt their momentum, and [Insolence] if they do not kneel before you, within 5 seconds.
Sapphire Effect: Cooldown resets if the target dies and you gain an instance of [Weight of Presence]. If the target attacks you during the 5-second countdown, they gain an instance of [King’s Reprisal].
Hesitation (bane, magical, covenant, stacking): Agility is decreased.
Insolence (bane, magical, covenant, stacking): Magical resistance is decreased.
Weight of Presence (boon, magical, covenant, stacking): Increased effect of Taunt abilities. Each successful Taunt consumes a stack of this Boon.
King’s Reprisal (bane, retribution, magical, covenant): Attacks dealt by you also deal a small percentage of Retributive damage to yourself.
Phoenix always found the sight of monsters kneeling to be extremely odd but not all of them bothered to follow the rules of the taunt, choosing the punishing Bane to continue their attack instead.
Uriel and Rayna were already at work dealing as much damage in as little time as possible while trying to avoid collateral damage. This greatly hindered Uriel’s contributions by limiting him to his single target [Frost Touched] and [Plague Bearer] spells but those still helped greatly, the former even protecting the citizens as it slowed their attackers when it managed to latch onto the higher Caste enemy.
Saiya was also busy right away, healing the injured Mundane people fleeing for their lives. With Snowbelle being her only source of damage, the Familiar was helping to both protect her and intercept any attackers as it flew through the air after them while casting acidic spheres of water that slowly ate away at the monsters’ wings.
Tala and Rex had also joined the fight as aerial interceptors with fire-breathing attacks and winged gusts maneuvering the Blood Haze Bees back towards the Banner’s central location.
Phoenix found her most useful spot to be standing in the middle of it all, spreading her aura as far as possible while trying to use Dazien as an immovable wall against which to pull monsters closer to them. Not for her to stab but for Dazien and Rayna to obliterate with sword and fist.
The biggest difference in how she used her abilities, though, was once again with her [Lunar Dream]. Instead of trying to distract the fliers in the already ensuing chaos, she made fireworks, signaling others in the district or on the walls for help. These weren’t just pretty fireworks, though; they were neon signs in the sky clearly saying, “Sapphire Monsters Here! Swarm of Blood Haze Bees! Alarms Down!”
It was only a few minutes after that when the reinforcements arrived, the most impressive one being a newly ascended Emerald Caster named Karl, who Phoenix later learned normally worked as a security guard for a local Mana Bit Farm.
Avatar Everin Starlark also arrived on the scene around the same time and was just as useful –being a Healer who made sure they all lived– but wasn’t as visually impressive as the cinderen Volcano Guardian turning the vampiric wasps into melted globs of molten rock.
“Were the glowing sky signs yours or Dazien’s idea?” the Spirit Advocate asked her once the last of the monsters in the area was dead.
“Why would you assume it was one of us?” the Defender asked.
“Oh, come on now,” Everin said with a cheeky grin, “Bright and showy? Glittering like amethyst starlight? It was definitely one of you.”
“It was supposed to be that bright Arcane blue color, but I think the blood moon is tinting it,” Phoenix grumbled.
“I’m not sure that’s how magic works,” the rainbow voxen replied, “I don’t think it cares about the rules of nature. Anyway, there are more monsters to the north so I’m off. You five get back to wherever it is you were supposed to be.”
“We’re stuck on the wall till the end of the blood moon,” Rayna grumbled, then perked up as she locked her vulpine eyes on the Emerald Caster, “Perhaps if you join our party, they’ll let us–”
“We’ll talk later, but I’ve already tried to convince the AOA to bend their rules,” Everin informed, “They’re not exactly enthusiastic about letting your party specifically get annihilated by an Emerald monster, oh shining Princess and Prince of the Sacred City.”
“Wait, what?” Dazien asked in surprise, just as Phoenix exclaimed in turn.
“Who told the public about that nickname?!”
“Sir, we’ve received a signal from our allies within the northeastern quadrant that are near the newly awakened World Tree,” Asyamil said as she entered his office.
“Did the ship finally send a reply?” Roimeldor asked as he looked over a floating hologram model of the planet being shown outside one of the nearby windows.
“No, these were the other allies that were in the city where we failed to detonate the Reality Rift. They triggered our spawning rituals in an attempt to warn us.”
“How many?”
“Five, sir. Like we feared might occur.”
The Commander of the Soul Reapers cursed as he turned to look out the window at the mostly blue planet that was tinted red where its larger moon currently shone. Five spawns in the city meant someone at the fifth Caste had arrived. It was a crude warning system but something they could pick up from a distance and also let them know there were contacts still available.
Looking down at Makera as if he could see the city that was causing him nothing but headaches, he asked, “Have you already informed Metyadur? He’s the next one in the queue for solo reaping a Hollyhock.”
“Not yet,” his second-in-command replied, “I wanted to verify our next steps with you on this matter, considering the unexpected presence of this new World Tree.”
“I admit I want to keep that target safe from collateral,” Roimeldor confided, “A World Tree with the power to cleanse Corruption would be an enormous boon to our new homeworld. A fresh start with that as a foundation would be incredible for our people.”
“We’ll need time and resources to study it and determine if it can be transplanted or its seeds harvested without becoming Corrupted like the others we’ve attempted in the past.”
“I know, but I don’t believe the locals are going to be generous in granting that access, and I’m not sure how long we’ll be staying in this reality. However, it will likely be much longer than we initially intended considering we have yet to resolve the issue on Erythros. I’m not going to leave any of our people behind.”
“We know, sir, but you, of all people, know that we can be patient. The locals will crumble in time. While we might have our setbacks with needing to start back at the beginning when we reconstruct our bodies, we still don’t truly lose anyone. The same can’t be said for the locals.”
“Speaking of the locals and reconstruction.” The commander pivoted both in topic and position as he moved to sit at his desk, “There were a few souls that stood out to me as potential recruits from some of the recent reapings.”
“Interesting Titles, Classes, or Natural Talents?” she asked as she moved to his side to view the list he was bringing up on a glass tablet.
“A little of each. This one in particular caught my eye as having potential, though,” he said, tapping on one of the rows to bring up the more detailed readout.
“Beloved Cultivator?” she read aloud, “I’m not familiar with that Class. A [Summon Disposition] is uncommon but not rare. What’s this [Prodigy] talent give?”
“They can bond to Aspects earlier than normal and increase their Caste at a greatly accelerated rate.”
“That would be extremely useful for us with the reconstruction process,” Asyamil admitted as she continued reading, “Got the [Martyr] Title, but that’s also not that uncommon for many of the Casters that fight back. Wait… they already have the [Lost Soul 19] Title? I don’t think I’ve seen anyone who’s gone through the process that many times. Do you think…”
“I do, but we won’t know for sure unless we go ahead with reconstruction and introduce them to the Soul Garden,” he replied with a sad sigh, “That’s actually the main reason I’m considering this one so strongly without having prior knowledge of their life here.”
“Well, we have time to consider and reap more in the meantime,” his second said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, “There’s nothing forcing us to leave soon. It will take a few decades, I believe, for that Primordial to reach the other planet, but then another few millennia or so until the Primordials finish their battle to remake this reality and return to their slumber. Plenty of time to come up with solutions. Now, about that Hollyhock awaiting us…”
“Right. What’s the zone up to now with the World Tree still working?”
“Low Ivy,” she informed, “Still a bit early to send in a Dreadnaught with Metyadur. Plus, you know he won’t like going in blind even if he does like the challenges of combat.”
“How soon are we looking at?”
“I think another half-month Makera time will get us to the minimum for the Dreadnaught to fly in. That will also give us enough time to load it up with the Ritual Cages and ideally get more information.”
“How much time do we have remaining on this blood moon? It will slow down our reaping if they spread out again, and we don’t have the monster surplus assisting.”
“Unfortunately, only about two more months. If we put enough pressure on them, however, they may think it safer in their cities. We will want to work fast, though, so they don’t have time to mount a proper defense at the new Caste level. That’s the entire point of using the Reality Seeds, after all.”
“I’m aware. Just keep me informed of when they begin engaging. I want eyes in the sky this time to catch any more peculiarities that may arise.”
“Yes, sir,” Asyamil replied, turning to leave but pausing before she reached the door, “Let me know when you decide to reconstruct that Beloved Cultivator. I’d like to join you both on the walk through the Soul Garden.”
The orange-haired elf looked back towards him with a smile, “It’s always exciting to see when they finally get reunited with a Soul Mate.”
Comments
T. A. Star
lol, it belonged to Simmon Teras. He mentions it in Ch. 22 of Book 3, so I don't blame anyone who doesn't instantly remember that little tidbit XD
Siddharth Patel
Okay I honestly have no idea who had the beloved cultivator class. I think it was someone phoenix's edge but I'm coming up with a blank.
