Unbound

Chapter Eight Hundred And Seventy Nine – 879

Atar fell back as Flame screeched in pain. The Urge’s wingspan thinned until the incandescent white of his feathers faded to a pale grey.

atar!

Obsidian cracked all around the mage, revealing a carmine light that poured forth like blood from a wound. Atar stumbled again, catching himself against the thickened braid of fire before him. The Pillar sputtered and flared between his grasp.

Flame fell to the ground, landing heavily on his thin bird legs. this cannot hold! bolster the weave!

"I'm trying!” Atar shoved his hands forward, gray skin flaking away to reveal the glassy black stone beneath. “Help me!”

Alister’s only warning was the sharp ping of stressed metal before it snapped.

Gears flew free, housing cracked and pistons crashing to a standstill as shafts bent beyond their tolerances. Alister dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding the jet of liquid force Mana that gouged through the marble and copper flooring.

“No, no, no!” Alister threw his Will against the breaking, forcing the metal shut with the power of his visualized Intent—but it wasn’t enough.

The entire contraption beneath his core spun wild, tilting on its axis no matter how he tried to correct it. It was spiraling out of his control.

The Skill sounded through Alister, a clanking spin of distant gears as something sparked far above him. A sweeping structure of force constructs erupted from around Alister, shielding him from the second cylinder to burst. The translucent walls and towers rose, propping the broken remnants back into position.

The machine groaned, but it held.

Alister wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his sleeve. "I'm not done yet."

The armor before Harn twisted beneath his hands, bending out of true despite his Strength and focus.

The Greaves turned molten at the edges, softening where the silver metal crumpled. The armored Tasset dropped a full stride, buckling the structure all the further. Harn leaped forward, seizing the molten edges beneath hands of solid steel.

The armor groaned, but he had no words, letting the movement of his Body speak instead. Crystalline hammers materialized in his hands, striking down at the Greaves with a furious precision. Their impact flared with silver fire and a song that rang out into the cavernous undercroft.

Black chains slipped, shedding frost upon her as they fell. Sharp-edged thunder tore through ice and the roar of falling water.

Links burst, black metal shrapnel flung in all directions.

Cursing, Evie leaped for them.

Sound shook Archie’s tower, sending ash spiraling outward in waves.

“Fucking hell!” He staggered to the side, the ground pitching beneath him. “What’s Felix doing out there?”

His bell core rang in ceaseless alarm, and Archie hadn’t a clue how to stop it. He licked his lips, holding a hand to his head as he thought. What can I do? The sound’s gonna rip me apart—!

The cables he’d painstakingly woven kicked out of their anchors, metal whipping outward in savage arcs. He gasped, phasing through the cords before they tore him in half. The walls bore the brunt instead, the cables digging deep lines into the stone.

The bells above went wild, and the pressure crushed him to his knees.

“Shit!”

The Beetle faltered, stumbling in the fields and driving horrible furrows into the earth. Trees were crushed, and the statues around Beef groaned. Deep, glowing cracks crazed their surfaces, and several tipped forward on their pedestals. Hallow ran for them, propping them up with her crystalline hands.

“Beef, you need to visualize supports here—”

A sharp retort cracked above the din. Beef spun in horror as one of the Beetle’s legs buckled.

“Forget that Hallow!” Beef leaped off the side of his manor, landing with a grunt on the creaking appendage. “Help me!”

He slammed his thick fists into the two pieces of chitin, holding them together through sheer Strength alone.

“Get back up, Beetle!” he pulled, shoulders straining. “Hallow! Please!”

Light splintered between Vess’ fingers, rising in the hurricane that raged across the chasm. She leaned forward, hands held tight around her Pillar even as stone, root, and light itself was snatched free.

Dawn slipped the bounds of the weave as scales and crystalline horns melded into Dragons. They roared into the furious winds, baring their teeth at Vess and regarding her with mad eyes.

“Enemy!” they raged, before leaping for her throat.

"Go! Advance to the next station!" Darius Reed shouted. He picked up a wounded Legionnaire and set them on their feet. "Keep moving!"

A shadowbeast thundered down the street, plowing for the group of civilians he and his Legion were protecting.

"No, you don't! Wind Blade!"

A blazing slash of white-green air Mana burst forth, severing its throat. The heavy beast collapsed to the earth, skidding upon its own slickened shadows before crumpling in a smelly heap at his feet.

The civilians stared in mute amazement and no small amount of horror.

"Keep moving! You! Bring the civilians inside. The rest of you, get those packages up the stairs!"

The Legionnaires rushed by, carrying pieces of complicated metal inscribed with more sigaldry than Darius could ever hope to understand. He followed them up, passing by the huddling civilians as the Blades took up guard positions around the tower. It was one of many Fiendstone towers throughout the city, built only recently at Lord Knacht’s request. A move that bordered on prescient.

Smart man, for a mage.

Here, the metal pieces were brought together and set upon a base that was swiftly bolted to the ground by members of the Bone Legion. "Assemble it," Darius ordered, gazing out at the city.

Monstrosities had leapt above the wall, and more were crowding the skies. While the Legion struggled at the walls, pushing them back in some spots, they had been overrun in the east. Darius gritted his teeth at the losses he was sure they’d suffered, but not all had gone awry.

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At first, Darius mistook their aerial saviors for Felix and his strange powers, but then they dove closer, and he saw with mounting horror their true, draconic nature. Glowing bright blue as if lit up from within, they were led by the enormous tenku with brutal effectiveness.

I can’t believe what I’m seeing. He stared out at the storm-dark sky, his heart clenching in uncertain relief. Dragons, coming to our defense.

They were small, mere Hatchlings, but they glowed with a magic Darius didn’t understand. Their claws and breath weapons were murder upon the enemy, and shadowbeasts dropped from the sky like rain…but plenty more poured out of the storm.

He spun back to the Legionnaires. "Is it ready?"

"Two more moments, sir." There was a quick click and a rising hum as pieces of inscription connected to one another. The entire structure bloomed with bright blue Mana.

"It's ready!"

"Perfect," he said. "Out of my way."

Darius seized the weapon’s handles, taking it up as it pivoted on the smooth gears the forge had designed. It ratcheted to the side, aiming at the monsters in the sky now chasing down the Hatchlings.

"Array ready, sir," an Arclight said from his side.

No Dragon is saving my ass without a fight. "Impetus Salvo," he intoned, sending his Mana coursing through his palms and into the weapon’s handles.

The ballista sang, a piece of its sigaldry opening up across the weapon’s center. Blue force Mana swirled through the chambers, humming as it flowed through the arcanite that made it before rapidly launching from the barrel at the end. Five quick bolts of kinetic force blasted forth into the sky like blue flashes. They shot right over the Hatchlings, tearing through shadowbeast after shadowbeast.

“Direct hit!” a soldier cheered.

The dark creatures sizzled into nothing as the blue force bolts hit them, their forms unable to withstand the weapon’s might. Again and again, Darius activated the array, firing bolts in clusters of five, tearing apart the enemy.

"The Domain cores are holding, sir."

"Good," he said, breathing heavily. The weapon didn’t need his Mana except to activate the array, but it weighed heavily on his Spirit. "Now, we make sure the others are up—”

As if answering his unspoken words, around the towers around the city lit up with blue light. Kinetic force blasted from them as Impetus Salvo was activated from six different angles. The force artillery fired off into the horde, clearing the sky as Pit and the Hatchlings flew low.

“Yes!” Darius shouted, his Adept voice louder than the cannons and the thunder beyond. "Kill them all!”

Isla rushed to the balcony of the Chanter's academy, looking out over the wasteland and the half-built residential areas around her. Shadowbeasts and Fungal Horrors swarmed the streets, flowing over the walls atop the ever rising waves.

"Fah! Blight and damnation," she cursed. "Chanters! Chanters! Follow my lead!"

The diminutive Sorcerer lifted her arms, rings glinting in the crimson lightning as illusions rose to her call. A wave of gold and orange rolled forward, sparking through the humming song she sang. It overlaid the buildings and the very earth, until all shone a brilliant golden. The shadowbeasts cried out, covering their eyes as their matter weakened and their flesh turned translucent.

"Fire now!" Isla commanded.

The Chanters, fledgling though they were, lifted their arms, firing off elemental blasts of fire, ice, earth, and even shadow. Backed by a swell of the Grand Harmony, they tore through the accumulated beasts. The Fungal Horrors were worse, but those spun as the streets were blasted into pieces around them. The fetid monstrosities charged the manor.

Isla sneered at them. "No, you don't. Mazed Mind!"

A new song was taken up from her core space, rising from the soles of her feet through her throat into a crescendo. The earth twisted around them, bending the streets they charged down into labyrinthine corridors. The Fungal Horrors and the taller, clawed Abominations spun, confused, their sightless eyes unable to figure out a way through.

Isla grinned. Her illusions were not only of sight, but of the Mind itself. Die confused.

Fire and ice ripped down those corridors, cleansing the earth of rot in rivers of elemental force. The Hatchlings followed, led by the tenku Pit, dropping crackling spears of ice upon their foes before bathing them in Dragon fire.

"Keep the pressure on!" Isla commanded as the Grand Harmony swelled among her students. "We will defend our home!"

Lightning crashed onto Felix once more, skittering Fiendforge from his grasp as Yyero clawed into his regenerating back.

Stay Down!

"Leave him alone!”

Pit flew on galeforce winds, wings tearing through the monstrosities around him as radiance poured off of his pinions. He slammed into Yyero, and the god fell back, overwhelmed by the tenku’s immense size. They smashed to the streets below.

“Talon of Tumult!”

The Vessel tore, shredding at the hips as Pit's Mantle of the Stormlord crashed through its Body. His crystalline talons raked open the Lion’s rotted guts, releasing a bloom of fungal growth.

Chimera. The Blighted god snarled before those growths formed into clawed arms that grappled with Pit's immense form. They shoved upward, hurling the tenku into the air through sheer, incredible strength.

My Love! Noctis screeched into the night. Destroy That Beast!

The Bloodstorm answered, and a wall of lightning crashed into the Bitter Sea. It surged into a forest of crimson bolts, branching into infinity before it twisted. A bolt as thick as a building speared off of it—

—straight into Pit’s back.

He fell, hurtling through nearby buildings like a wrecking ball.

"Pit!" Felix rose on a column of blue lightning. His arm was in bad shape, and his legs barely worked, but they were mending. He grasped onto the bonds ahead of him, but his hands were bloody and slick. The moment he moved forward, he found shadow and paw binding him in place.

Adamant Discord!

Empty Fowl and Rotted Lion unraveled as the lightning tore through their forms, but they didn’t move, let alone shy away. Their Spirits only conveyed a deep and abiding glee.

Go Ahead. Kill Our Vessels, Yyero purred. It Will Not Make A Difference.

Noctis’ shadows rippled. Watch, False King. Behold The Bloodstorm.

The storm intensified, raining crimson lightning in vast pillars upon the Sea. Waves surged over the land, through the forest to the west. The Bitter Sea ran riot, washing away Legionnaires and Chanters alike with each increasing swell.

Can Your People Not Swim? She twisted her empty face toward him, and in a flash of lightning he could almost see something deep within, a glimmer of foul light. What A Pity.

A massive wave rose in the distance, the Bitter Sea swelling until it was more than twice the height of the walls. Crimson lightning flashed behind it, wreathing the waters with crackling illumination and highlighting the silhouettes of hundreds of monstrosities within.

Then I Suppose Your Empire Will Drown.

Felix bared his teeth, flaring Sonata of Dominance. His Will cascaded onto the streets below, the Mana pouring from him turning to water as he snagged his people from the rushing flood. The Bitter Sea fought back, his control imperfect, but it was enough…until he reached the monstrous wave itself.

His Will encountered it…and floundered.

Something stopped him.

A piercing bellow tore through the dark storm. At the top of the oncoming wave, a dark monstrosity flashed from within, bigger than all the rest.

What? Noctis spun back toward the sea.

Yyero's eyes widened. No! She’s Dead!

Tentacles burst from the wave, releasing a Dissonant burr upon the air that set Felix's teeth on edge. Those tentacles were barbed and massive, and they ripped through the shadowbeasts as it burst free of the wave's surface. Thousands of orange eyes atop a malformed monstrosity glimmered with an accumulated rage and hatred that could not be matched by any mortal.

The wave halted.

Water receded from the city, pulled in great gouts as if by an invisible hand. It coursed along the wall, between bewildered Legionnaires, a strange tide that pulled the monster corpses into its relentless rush. All of it flowed back and around the abomination's form.

Felix laughed, a mad cackle that lifted out of his bones.

Barbed tentacles lashing, the Blood Beast screeched, and Dissonance ripped through the city. Shadowbeasts and fungal monstrosities were ripped asunder, those closest rendered into nothing but paste.

The gods reeled back, their forms wavering, tearing under the onslaught of the noise itself.

An Ally Approaches!

The Dread Rallies To Its Master's Call.