What are we even doing? All around is so much death. We swapped from the previous plane to a new one. This one is camouflaged to look like any other, but it is anything but. It is a far more durable plane, though no larger or more fancy in comfort or movement. It has all sorts of defences and resistances, designed with this sole purpose in mind. 7 individuals sit inside the aircraft. Myself, phoebe, the 4 other commanders, and the general. Well, 9 technically. Trista is flying the plane, and the Grand general sits in the seat beside her in the front, wearing a strange, smooth set of armor I’ve never seen the likes of before.
Silvery plate with flecks of green all over, smooth with no gaps to stab into, yet easy to move in. The helmet is a smooth plate, leaving him looking more like a nandroid than a human, yet he seems to be able to see just fine. 8 green floating plates of crystalline metal, layered with rune after rune form 2 wing-like shapes from his back. His arms have blades coming out of them, his soul weapon somehow forged into the armor itself.
I turn to Phoebe and reach out with a strand of mental mana, latching onto her mind. Instead of letting out a wave of mental mana to speak, I instead let my thoughts ride along the strand of mana linking our minds together.
‘What are we even doing?’ I say softly, not turning to look at her. My mask obscures my expression, but there is a slight tightness to my shoulders. ‘Are we really just… killing everyone?’
‘Pyro…’ Phoebe's voice comes from the link, reassuring and soft but as unsure as my own. She doesn't turn to look at me either, her face calm as the plane gets closer and closer to the tree. ‘I’m not the best person to be your moral instructor. I’ve done bad things for the sake of my tribe in the past. I imagine your hands aren't entirely clean either. But… I trust your decisions. Choose to do what you believe should be done. Don’t let this world so different from your own change you as a person. I believe in you.’
My shoulders stiffen slightly, and I fight the urge to sigh. Eventually, I just send the mental equivalent of a nod over the link.
‘Thanks.’ I say. ‘I’m going to regret this, aren't I?’
The barest hint of a smile touches her lips. ‘Everyone regrets something eventually. This’ll just be another thing to add to the list.’
<{(0)}>
“Grand general, sir, we are approaching what seems to be a large mass of darkness.” Trista says blankly, glancing over to the man sitting beside her. I perk up, then lean over to peer out the window. As she had said, in the path leading towards the tree, there is what seems to be a half-kilometer radius sphere of darkness, obscuring part of the central ring of the Great Tree City. Any constructs or people that fly or walk in either don’t come out, or come out mangled and mutilated, covered in bloody holes that eat at their fletch, aging them rapidly until they rust or rot away to nothing. I frown.
‘That’s tier 2.’ I say. ‘But the level of power is what you would expect of a tier 3.’ I frown. ‘Another other-worlder perhaps?’
“Possible.” General Aerolyn says, crossing her arms and frowning. “Can you and your slave deal with whoever is inside?”
‘Yes.’ I stand and stretch. Brennen doesn’t move from his seat, but speaks.
“Don’t waste time.” He says. “Be quick. And don’t take the slave with you. Send her to the other one.
‘Other one?’ I look out the window again, only to notice another domain a few kilometers off to the left of the dark patch. Within a blizzard of ice shards and freezing earth, a wyvern is smashing constructs and brawling with tier 1 and 2 soldiers with ease.
‘Phoebe?’ I turn to her. She looks to the fire, then to me. She nods.
The back of the plane opens up to allow exit, and we both hop out, one with wings of flesh, the other with wings of fire.
‘Don’t die.’ I say from a hundred meters away. My mental voice easily reaches her despite the distance. She simply nods. Then we both make out ways to the domains of unknown foes.
I make it to my domain first, after only a few seconds of flight, diving straight into the darkness without hesitation. I form a thin barrier of unattributed mana around myself to defend against any unforeseen attacks, and immediately begin work on my spell as I get closer. Well, to call it a spell is an overstatement. I’m simply making a hypercondensed ball of mana which I will blast out in the form of simple light to destroy the domain of darkness.
I’m forced to pause my work and form a small wall of mana to kick off of as a projectile hurtles at me from the darkness. I just barely manage to dodge the bolt of purple mana before it can impact me. I frown turning to where it came from, but I can’t see anyone. Or rather, that’s what they think. I raise a hand.
Fire bolt
The bolt of fire lances through the air directly at the location where I can see a line of death connected to. An unforeseen benefit of my mutation, but a welcome one. I hear a yelp and, for a moment, a recognizable figure is illuminated by the flames as the character dodges. A demidragon? It seems I’m not the only one. Actually, why did I ever think I was the only one? I’ve never seen other demidragons before, so I assumed that either they didn’t exist, or they were very rare. No books I could find had anything on them beyond some racist shit about stepping onto the path of destruction and murder, betraying humanity.
The demidragon, from what I could see from the brief glimpse, had black scales like mine, but purple eyes and wings instead of red like my own. He also had a spear. Or was it a pitchfork? I’m not sure, but knowing what type of weapon he wielded would be important.
I finally finish my little ball of mana. I coat it in some fire mana, noting how well it seems to work against dark mana. Before I can let it explode, however, another 4 bolts shoot at me. I end up having to waste the ball by throwing it in their direction to erase the bolts. The ball explodes and eliminates a chunk of the dark field, but not all of it as I hoped. However, the bolts seem unaffected. So not dark mana then? I shoot straight down to avoid the bolts. I suppress a hiss of pain as a bolt nicks my tail, the scales there aging and rotting rapidly. Some sort of rot magic? Is that death magic? No, death is black. What else could have such an affect on my flesh?
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
‘You’re strong.’ I say, my mental voice riding the mana in the air. I’m unsure if it reaches him. ‘But not strong enough to beat me.’ I raise both arms and fire explodes out in all directions. The hit to my mana pool from this makes me wince slightly, but it’s worth it. It disintegrates the dark field in an instant, leaving me and my foe flying in open air.
“Aw, shit.” The other demidragon says, frowning.
I take a moment to appraise the demidragon. Black hair, straight like mine. Light skin, almost vampiric in its paleness. Purple eyes with flecks of pink and black dancing within like a constellation.
‘All is fair in love and war.’ I say, a smile nearly touching my lips, hidden behind my mask.
“You’re strong for your rank.” He says. “I guess we will be fighting to the death, now, won’t we?” He points his trident at me. We are around 20 meters apart, yet it feels almost as if it were right up against my neck. “I’m Abhor. What’s your name? And why are you working with these people? You’re a dragon too, right?”
‘I am Pyro, and I- wait. Did you say too?’ I frown, pausing. ‘You’re a dragon?’
“Well, Demidragon, but I was born a dragon.” He says. “Wait, can humans become demis too? That would make more sense as to you being on their side then.” He frowned. “I won’t be going easy on you just because we are the same species, you know.”
‘It would be an insult to me if you did.’ I say, my sickles forming in my hands. 4 blades appear, floating around my body as if I were an atom. I point a blade at him.
‘I’m going to have to kill you now, Abhor. This isn’t personal.’
“It is for me.” Abhor shoots forward, then, as I raise my blades to block his attack, he casts a shadow bolt. I frown. He isn’t attacking me with his trident?
Then he vanishes. He vanishes… into the shadow bolt… flying right at me at the speed of a bullet.
I swing my blade down at the bold at it comes within range. My blade contacts the shadow bolt, then explodes on impact. Abhor appears in place of the bolt, thrusting his spear forward.
Penetrate the veil
The trident thrust forward. For but a moment I feel as if a trillion tridents had thrust into my body. My thin shield of mana did nothing to protect me from this strike as it pierces through my chest. Unluckily enough, it pierces towards my heart. Luckily, my ribcage is durable enough to stop it before it pierces into it. Unluckily, it shatters my ribs.
As he pulls his trident out of my flesh, I seize the moment, lashing forward with my sickles. Both my blades bite into his flesh, as the 4 others shoot towards him with the intent to tear his wings to shreds. He grits his teeth from the feeling of an z being carved into his chest, but manages to kick off of me, knocking me back, to dodge the flying blades, which I am not completely proficient in. At least one blade manages to stab into his leg, ripping a bloody line into the scaled leg before flying back to me.
As he steps back, I raise a hand to my chest, letting blood drip onto it, then raise my hand towards Abhor.
Death mana bolt
A bolt of black mana blasts out from my hand, stronger than normal due to to the death mana blood, flying straight at him. His eyes widen, and he raises his own hand.
Time mana bolt
Dark mana bolt
2 bolts shoot out of his hand at once, one after the other. The time mana bolt impacts my empowered attack first. The death mana consumes the bolt, but it seems to slow and is weakened by it. The dark mana bolt then impacts, consuming the death bolt, and itself in the process.
For a moment we stare at each other. I came out of this exchange worse off, but not by much. We each say nothing, just watching each other, as we wait for the other to break the tension.
<{(0)}>
I stand on top of a chunk of bark that sticks out of the tree slightly more than in other spots, allowing me to easily stand there with some space. In my hand is my axe as I watch a particular plane flying towards the tree. I am the end goal in all this. I know that. Whoever has come here wants to kill me specifically. Why? It’s rather obvious, actually. The amount of experience you gain from killing something is not based on their level, but rather the amount of Karma they have. And I have more karma than most other living beings, even some gods. And being a primordial grants a boost to the effectiveness of my karma. Yes, that makes my karma stronger to use a as an attack. But it also increases the experience gained from killing a primordial.
“All this for a few levels.” I mutter, watching the plane steadily approach the tree. My power is suppressed here. Not as badly as the other gods have it, but I still can not exert my full power at the moment.
I sigh. I frown as I hear my own voice. It lacks to resonance of a divine being of which it should contain. I had almost forgot how my voice sounded before…
I shove those thoughts to the side. Unimportant distractions. What is important right now is protecting my people. Me being down there wouldn’t help enough to justify it. Over 60 gods are down there, protecting the citizens. I am needed here. They want the tree. My tree. The tree bound to my very soul. I will not allow it.
“Come.” I say softly, my voice reaching the plane below. “Come to die.”
<{(0)}>
“Is it ready?”
“Almost ready, ma’am.” The runesmith says, bowing to Trista. Many miles away, her duplicate body flies a plane into peril, while her true body completes the task her Grand General has assigned to her. She stands in front of the creature. The abomination meant to kill a primordial. The Grand General is not naive enough to believe he could beat Aftermath himself in a fight, even with his general and all his commanders at his side. Not even with the field suppressing his powers.
“How much more time?” She demands of the nearest runesmith, adjusting a plate on the front right leg of their weapon.
“A few minutes. 4 at minimum, 7 at most.” The smith, a tall and muscular woman wearing goggles, says, then turns back to her work. A woman who knows how much to say and when Trista would stop caring. A clever one. She would climb the ranks well with such an attitude.
“Aftermath.” She mutters. She raises a hand up to brush a finger along the cold steel of the structure. “The second most powerful being to ever exist. You think you can stand against us?”
She turns away, looking up to the steel roof, layered with concealment arrays to hide the door’s existence from the outside world. 37 years, this project has taken. 37 years well spent, in her not-so-humble opinion. They had sent it out on a test run some years back, to the ocean on a battleship, in order to test its capabilities. How unfortunate that it missed its target and warped the city miles away.
“Project 23PHY-R. Your time to shine has come.” She smiles. “As has all of ours.”
“It is ready, lady Trista.” The head runesmith says. She turns to the man and nods. With a single pulse of mana into a circuit in the floor, the roof began to open up.
“Today…” She says, staring up at the steel abomination before her. “Today we kill another primordial.”
Name:Snowstorm
Level:50/150
Age:16
Titles:Frostbreaker, knowledgeer, study master, FREEZE, Tier 2 evolution, Humanify, magic prodigy
Strength:150
Durability:150
Speed:150
Stamina:150
Intelligence:172.5
Essence:1,009
Class:Frostbane boxer(Epic)
Soul weapon:Frostbane gauntlets
Species:Frostwing demi-wyvern
Skills: Heat vision(low)Uncommon, Greater enhanced intelligence(medium)Rare, Enhanced knowledge intake(medium)Uncommon, cold resistance(high)Rare, photographic memory(Medium)Rare, swimming(low)Common, split thought(Low)Rare, body temperature reduction(Medium)Uncommon, ice mana manipulation(medium)Rare, Mind magic affinity(Medium)Uncommon, heat shift foundation(Low)Uncommon
Techniques:Swimming(D), Mana manipulation(C), Mind mana manipulation(D), Ice mana manipulation(C), Mana claws(C), Ice spear(C), Iceout(D), Icicle hail(D), Mind bridge(D), Ice mana barrier(C), Heat shift(D), Mana bolt(D), Mana sense(D), Mind mana manipulation(D), Illusion mana manipulation(E)
Mutations: Knowledge intake stomach(B), Multi-Mind system(A)
Spells: Freeze water(Lesser), Frostfield(Lesser), coldsnap(Lesser), amnesia(Lesser), Frost spikes(Lesser)
...
Name:Abhor
Level:57/150
Age:16
Titles:Timebreaker, Barterer, adaptable, Tier 2 evolution, Humanify, TIME, Legendary progenitor
Strength:150
Durability:150
Speed:150
Stamina:172.5
Intelligence:150
Essence: 58,000
Class:Eternal darkness
Soul weapon:Eternal darkness
Timewarp demi-dragon[2/5]
Skills: Greater Enhanced stamina(High)Rare, Bartering(low)Common, Heat resistance(Low)Uncommon, Breath of time(Low)Rare, Voice of the word(High)Rare, [LOCKED](?)Unknown, Illusion mana manipulation(Medium)Rare, Shadow warp foundation(Low)Uncommon, Demishift(low)Rare, Eternal pierce(low)Rare, Throughout time[Species max]Legendary, Eye of the
forbidden(High)Epic+, Greater shadow manipulation(High)Epic
Techniques:Mana manipulation(C), Time manipulation(E), Dark Mana defense(C), Potential(???), Calm(C), Overload(C), Confusion(C), Illusion mana manipulation(C), Shadow warp(C), dark magic claw strike(E), Legendary proficiency(B), Invisibility(C), Illusion mirror(E), false strike(D), Lesser illusionary sight glasses(D), Dark mana manipulation(B), Dark trident(C), Mana sense(D)
Mutations: Abyssal eyes(A), Time transmuted skeletal structure(A)
Spells: Rot of time(Lesser), rewind heal(Lesser), Darkzone(lesser)
