Chương 544: BECMI Chapter 543 – Feasting Under the Stars

"And all its friends?" Empress Sif inquired likewise, eyeing the creature with a certain hunger of her own.

"It has friends? I see some kibbles for the Land. Appetizers for the main course that has presented itself to make a fine dish for the Land." The screaming and shouting on the other side of the Barrier there died off, and the Starspawn there turned multiple pools like dead white shadows in the inky winds of its being upon him.

"What? You think because you can survive in bloody space you think this planet can't eat you like a guppy?" The clouds overhead began to rumble like bells again, jerking monstrous heads up in fear as the edge of those stars were still held back by the wall of turgid energies in front of us.

"You think Leng is big? Leng is a miniscule pissant of an edge realm watched over by a cowering insane clown that realized a very, very long time ago that if he didn't hide his little co-opted realm Outside Creation that Creation was going to eat it like a snack and burn him for starfuel." The Eternals there looked highly amused at that, and quite relaxed, waiting to see how he was going to deal with this situation. It wasn't the first Starspawn we'd met, of Hastur or otherwise.

The Starspawn looked particularly incensed at that, since the King of Yellow was supposedly an Avatar of Hastur, meaning Aelryinth had just insulted its father. Ael waved his hand dismissively. Argent sparks trailed from his fingers. The Barrier directly in front of us instantly broke and shattered in a hundred-meter radius, cracking and flaring with Argent light, and then blew apart in a soundless stroke of Argent that lashed into the sky and back into the distance many, many miles.

We could all hear the distant scream as the feedback from disrupting it hit its controller so far back there, but the rest of the Dome still held up above. Only, right in front of us was a Starspawn of Hastur and a whole bunch of Leng abominations of real power, looking totally shocked at how casually Aelryinth had ripped away the Barrier between him and them. Then the five delayed Pyroclasms of Thunder went off as he snapped his fingers.

Primal, Arcane, and Divine energies were a deadly combo, with no resistances or immunities to defend against them. The area they covered was still not as immense as those Jaws had been, merely a thousand-foot radius. But with all them damn Kickers. One wave, sweeping over them, setting them on so many kinds of Fire, lashing at them with Disruption, Dreadfire, vivus, Holy energies, and a whole lot of beyond-Elemental damage they couldn't shrug off… and which didn't harm any of us a bit.

Again, again, again, and again. Five times in about one second. There was a pulsing of chronal energy, but Mortus Dius' Orb was a Temporal-Energized Black Star Sapphire, just like Dread's, and the attempt to freeze or revert time failed instantly. The things before us stumbled. They were driven back. They staggered as the disparate energies ravaged mind and body in their slamming waves.

Limbs came up ablaze, each crashing wave of Kickers building on the ones before, covering them in writhing pyres of Elemental doom as they were propelled back, back from us, dying with every step! Ah, he was concerned about the magic being Turned or Countered. Detonating it upon himself meant neither could happen, thus he was using Pyroclasm. He didn't care if they Saved to resist it, although most actually didn't. One point of damage was all that was needed for the Kickers to activate, and that is what they did.

The Heavens rang, and the three short-term Call Lightnings came down with the sound of the mauls of Titans striking holy golden temple bells upon that Starspawn, the Thunderbolts girt in so much Consecrated Moonfire and other powers that it blinded all the troops watching from the distance… or at least the ones that didn't have Devasight. Then Ael clenched his hand, released his grip upon the Barrier, and it rebuilt itself in one heartbeat between us and them. The Starspawn blew apart like oxygen feeding a fire.

Everything in front of us went completely white, but nothing came expanding out in our direction, even as the Barrier went from cloudy yellow to crystalline white from the force of the vivus smashing into it and being sent out to the sides and back into those clustered at and around the protecting field. There was another of those distant mental screams, and abruptly the whole warding Dome of it in front of us evaporated, but by then it was much too late.

Vivic mists higher than a man churned in front of us, and also from canyon wall to wall within the Maw of Malice, extending far out into the distance before us. Overhead, the split in the sky lunged forward, like a gator grabbing at a meal. The foul mists and clouds of Leng, its unclean sky, vanished as if a bite was taken out of it, reaching deep into the territory of Leng.

"That is rather impressive, Master Aelryinth," Emperor Thor judged as he contemplated the fine show, and then fell silent as suddenly the mists there were all sucked down and away, vwhoop, gone, leaving only the brightly stained white stone behind, and a sensation of something immense moving underneath us.

"And without Eternal Magic, it would seem?" he finally added in a level voice, clucking his tongue once in appreciation. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"V+4+1 is my current limit, although I've a decent working Caster Level for most spells," Ael replied calmly.

"Do we need to press ahead, or no?" he asked calmly. ============== Please, press ahead with not giving agglomerators what they steal. Novel Bind and other sites are scraping my stories (and others!) without permission again. If you're not reading (or hearing) this on Royal Road, you're helping pay a thief. Please read it in its original home, it's still free! You get the foreword and afterword, author comments, and answers to people with questions!

I have not given permission for this story to be copied by a bot and posted ANYWHERE ELSE. ============="The answer is yes, but no," Thor answered him.

"The Pyramids have to finish going up to finish the Seal. Then we have to go up there and break the Ring of Black Pyramids, one of the functions of which is that Barrier you so impolitely manhandled. We have to proceed through Leng, crack each of the Rings they've built, and once we do, Leng will lose its hold on Nown and be ejected back to the Far Realms of Dream where it belongs."

"I see. Forgive my presumption, but are you fighting a war to improve the newbs and holding back yourselves, or do you want to accomplish this fight faster? I admit to not being impressed by your defensive efforts back there, based on the power radiating all from all of you. I'm feeling Nulls and Sources at post-50, and Overmagi with Caster Levels the same as mine!"

"Dealing large AoE effects is impressive, but has not been sustainable," Empress Sif responded to his comment firmly.

"We can employ fusion warheads to the same function, and frequently do to send a message. But Leng is effectively infinite and regenerating as far as we are concerned, and never seems to run out of more bodies to throw at us. Such have always been temporary matters."

"How many Pyramids need to go up, and are your Overmagi working on them?" he asked easily.

"Nine more. Forty-steppers. I oversee them," I informed him smoothly.

"Some of the Overmagi work on them. We don't have a practical method to get that level of Shaping Stone early. We have to super-boost a Ring or Rod to Nine and Twenty to get a viable amount of stone and speed, or have someone using Eternal Magic and a full Dawnbreaking Spell with higher Valences to do the same. This world is not so friendly with the metamagic and options as your own, Ael."

"I see. Can all the Overmagi here use Perpetual Spell, and out of a XII Valence or higher?" he asked easily. It was a pretty specific question.

"All but the very newest still working on their foundation," I answered for everyone.

"As you might imagine, there is a lot of Karma to be made here, so foundations firm up relentlessly, but we are still restricted by One a Day."

"Ah, of course. But a walking Perpetual Spell Pyroclasm with Sacred Spell, Purified Spell, and Consecrate Spell is possible?" he asked calmly. There were nearly a hundred Eternal mages present, all looking at one another, considering the scenario. Even if the only damage was Topped -out Kicker damage, as long as it kept repeating…" Burning Spell for Burn damage would basically double the damage for +1 Valence," I agreed with that, since the Kickers would also activate on the Burn damage.

"We could simply walk forward and annihilate armies, with the warriors making sure nothing unduly powerful makes it to us in time. Purified Spell would make sure none of our own would be affected. We would simply need to layer on the Kickers and we will wear down everything they throw at us." It was a ridiculously good tactic, if it worked!

"I note your Shards on the approach appeared somewhat lackluster?" he asked me sympathetically. Given my Level, they should have been as or more powerful than his own." Perpetual Spell here does not make the spell a Cantrip, it makes it a Spell-like ability." He understood instantly.

"You lose all Metamagic Efficiencies, meaning only higher Valences can boost the spell appreciably. Chained, Sacred, Consecrated?" he inquired professionally.

"I have XX, so also Sanctified, Blessed, Banespell, and Burning. It as not as broken as yours is, but it does the job, particularly if Spellwarped." I could hit several hundred targets, or concentrate on two dozen of them, swapping between boosting the Kickers or Boosting the main spell, depending if I was using it as a scattered-shots or a Spellwarped Ray.

"Got it," he nodded in understanding.

"Would moving that impressive Castle up here to command the entry to the canyon be more or less vulnerable?" He pointed up at the bite taken out of the sky.

"Should be able to solidify that in position, and as you know, when the stars are wrong for them…" Everyone looked up.

"That's… a very good point," Emperor Thor conceded.

"We've got the defenses up at the other Maws, wedging this into their Seal should concentrate attention here. Set it up in the middle and bombardment from the sides of the Maw should be ineffectual." He eyed Aelryinth again.

"I am Thor, Emperor of Imperial Brightmoor, and this is my Empress, Sif." Ael's expression was only amused.

"You're not the first Ranthas I've met, Your Imperial Majesty," Aelryinth replied politely.

"I have no attitude about my role, I'm here to help. What can I aid you with?" Thor looked between Aelryinth and me, decided to keep things I had told him a few thousand years ago quiet.

"How are you at making Pyramids? The faster we can do that, the faster we can end this war we've been fighting for almost three thousand years." Letting him know that he really was a newcomer here.

"I'm very good with Pyramids, although I'll probably need a primer on the Rune Structures that are needed here." He pointed ahead, and side to side.

"Will you need help getting a proper wall up here? I can probably put one a hundred feet high and fifty feet thick across the entire gap in an hour or so?" I just clucked my tongue for his attention.

"Grandmaster of Cryptomancy, Master Rune of Stone. Gain total control of stone in a radius of one foot per Caster Level for one round per Level. Extend SLA. Usable four times a week," I informed him. He just pursed his lips, did the math, and leaned right to left without turning his head.

"So the question is only if you can make it across the mouth of the canyon fast enough, and since you're going to leave a gap in the middle… just buff your speed and you are set. Obviously, an hour is much too long to take for a wall of this level of importance!" he just laughed at being shown up.

"How would you do it?" I had to ask him, curious.

"Shugenja Levels. Ask a favor of the spirit of the continent, using Shape Stone to form a miniature example for it to raise up. Could take anywhere from a minute to an hour, depending on how much I can harmonize with it." I eyed the Worldflames dancing in the Aura around his head.

"I don't think that would be much of an issue," I consoled him.