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309 - Chrome Skull Viper [Sturmblitz]
🕑 Added 2023-10-09 02:07:39 +0000 UTCA/N: Expanded the first third of the chapter, specifically the third paragraph.
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The aura-beast came in and out of existence the way a territorial viper came in and out of hiding. It snapped at one of the Knifedancer’s blades, only to vanish and instantaneously appear at the other side of Zelsys to do the same against blades from that same pincer attack. Even less than a Thundergod, it was not truly a being in any sense of the word, but a pure manifestation of the the Truth of Fangs, writ large in Fulgur and Metallum. The first issue Zelsys could discern was the fact it ate up much of the spare Fulgur output she had been using to pepper her enemies with lightning-beads, but she felt it a small price to pay. No, it was the fairly substantial draw on her aura that was the real problem… One to be solved later. It was just another tool to use as needed in most circumstances, and to employ liberally when the situation called for the full, widely varied repertoire of violence at her disposition.
She took advantage of the storm-snake’s behavior right away. Feinting a mighty strike against Friedrich, she managed to get ahold of the Hemomancer and dragged him in.
The serpent entwined its victim and tore out his throat, returning with the prize of a hunk of flesh, still suffused by aura. In a single bite, the lightning-beast made both vanish, and in turn, Zel’s aura grew by a small increment. The Viper then bit off its victim's head, leaving behind only the Hemomancer's charred robes. Zelsys felt an influx of replenishment as his aura was subsumed into her own, flares of crimson light rushing through the Viper as it broke down and transmuted the Hemomancer's aura into her own. She immediately felt excited for the prospect of what this aspect of the aura-beast could achieve; even without other expenditure-reducing factors, she could devour the aura of her opponents to bolster her own. At first she had thought it to be no more than a manifestation of the “Territorial Aggression” aspect of the Truth of Fangs, but she saw that it also included the aspect of “Consumption”.
Given the beast’s serpentine form and metallic skull, there was only one appropriate name for it.
WITHOUT THOUGHT OR MERCY
STRIKING WITH THE SPEED OF FURY
SAVAGE SERPENT, LASHING TYRANT
CHROME SKULL VIPER
It was not merely the lightning which had been changed. Being her own it reacted the most readily and so gave the most impressive result, but the Chrome Skull Viper was not the sole deterrent in this newborn defensive perimeter.
Wherever the Viper wasn’t, savage maws of myriad variations struck out from empty air, the stone underfoot and the metal of the lamps. The world itself acknowledged her territorial claim and moved to enforce it.
ABSOLUTE VIOLENCE SIGN
DEVOURING ANY AND ALL INVADERS
FORMLESS DESTROYER SCRIPTURE: VOLUME ONE
GEHEIMNIS: TERRITORIAL EXCLUSION ZONE
Friedrich rushed right back in without hesitation. Why he chose this tactic in the stead of his shockwave attack, Zelsys couldn’t tell. His aura had been gradually waning the whole time since he stabbed himself, so she guessed it might be a matter of wanting to make what he has left last as long as possible.
Zelsys, with the intention to get him away from herself, struck out at him with a low, forward-step left punch, due to her right hand being presently occupied with countering the Knifedancer’s incessant, admittedly impressive assaults. It could be accurately said that the sky above Zelsys and Friedrich was swarming with blades, Carnifex lashing back and forth like a great serpent, stirred into these giant motions by a combination of Zel’s arm movements and pure intent. By comparison, the Knifedancer’s wild gesturing appeared downright wasteful, but where his motions were light and near-effortless, bursts of light erupted from Zel’s back and shoulder muscles with every swing, and her arm’s metallized surface creaked under the strain.
In the brief moment this bought her, she worked Thundercannon’s bolt with one of her braids. Dense white fog erupted forth from its vent, the shell tumbling out, only to bounce off the ground and fly to her back, where it vanished. Another shell took its place, marked with warning seals. It was noticeably heavier than all her other shells - nearly twice as heavy, in fact. With the force of destiny, Zelsys slammed Thundercannon’s breech forward and locked it into battery. At the moment it was sealed, so was Friedrich’s fate.
Before she could brace herself, let alone fire, something happened. A familiar reverberation flowed out from the great cathedral’s belfry. It was the bell being struck, of course, but there was something else in its sound. An unearthly, divine frequency. She clearly wasn’t the only one to feel it, because both Freidrich and the Knifedancer turned to look at it, as if unable to stop themselves, a purely reflexive reaction. Neither of them actually stopped fighting her, but there was nonetheless a disturbance in their focus, and Zelsys exploited it by shredding the Knifedancer apart with one of the Fang Rippers she had been using to counter his flying knives. It merely happened to be the closest to him, and so she had it suicide-charge into him, exploding into shrapnel just as it went through him. There wasn’t a corpse so much as there was a light shower of faintly iridescent gore and bone fragments.
The swarm of flying knives continued blindly attacking despite their master’s death… But with him gone, defending against them became an order of magnitude easier, and Zelsys guessed they wouldn’t continue on like this for long. She was right, though not in the way she thought.
Friedrich, a hole through his stomach, retreated closer to the Cathedral Square, and Zelsys followed. She pushed forward until he moved to stop her, noticing him reaching for the knife in his heart, twisting it in deeper. Then, as he performed the preparatory motions of his Dambreaker Cannon, his aura flared up once again. He’d done this before. The time between how often he could perform this technique had been widening after each use. Despite this, and despite the fact he had been continuously growing weaker in all areas, Friedrich was still a real opponent. At this point she was certain she could win, but who knew how much time she still had to finish out the fight? She couldn't afford to waste another minute.
At that moment she flared her aura, smashing Carnifex into the ground. As she raised her arm to aim Thundercannon at Friedrich, all six of her braids came awake, whipping forward - not to bind Friedrich, but to embed themselves into the ground as anchors.
Before she could fire, however, another ring echoed out from the cathedral belfry. The frequency was even stronger, and Friedrich froze in place.
A third ring of the bell came right after.
