Chương 305: Fear

In the fading light of dusk over Heavenward, capital of Hua-Xi, the shadows grew longer and longer along with the setting sun. Given all of those growing pools and patches of darkness, one would think it impossible to distinguish one particular shadow from the others, and for most people in the world that would indeed be the case. But with enough preparations and magical power, impossible did not have the same finality as it perhaps should.

"Next!" one of the rather tired gate guards called, his bronze-ranked body unable to shield him from the tedium of a long and monotonous shift. At his words, the next person in the blessedly short remaining line to enter the city before nightfall stepped forward, but before the woman - some kind of courier from the looks of it - had the chance to state her business, a flashing light suddenly bathed the guard post and gate as a previously unseen ritual circle flared into being.

This dispelled or redirected most of the gathering shadows of the city street, with one exception; a single shadowy thread that lingered even beneath the bright illumination now seeming caught inside the glowing lines like a squirming centipede in the beak of a hungry bird.

"What the–" The guards and those waiting in line barely had the time to stumble back before cloaked and masked figures suddenly appeared all around the ritual circle, and as all of them except one radiated the faint aura of a silver-ranker, everyone present also knew much better than to intervene. Even as the shadowy line was starting to break free from the ritual trap, one of the hooded people bent down and touched a stone to the glowing lines, rising and nodding a moment later.

"Site five." Then a torrent of water suddenly burst from the one masked person whose aura had remained completely impervious to any perception present so far, coiling around all of the masked people before they all winked out of existence, teleporting away and leaving only a very confused guard post and the fading lines of the ritual trap behind.

Seated inside a particularly dense forest a good distance north of the capital, Obsidian Crow Unseen on Skies of Night cocked his head as his perception projected into one of the few shadow threads that had managed to pierce the city defenses was suddenly cut off. This was particularly odd as the thread itself still lingered, seeming almost paralyzed beneath whatever had affected it on the other side even as Obsidian Crow tried to have it disperse.

He had not even had the time to rise from his position when lines of power suddenly appeared all around him in ever widening circles that he, based on the feedback of the suddenly churning mana of the area, suspected covered most - if not all - of the forest. The purpose of these sudden lines of flaring mana was at least clear: containment.

That was why Obsidian Crow was not as surprised when a crushing pillar of water suddenly crashed down on his position while needles and spears of crystallized toxins followed, piercing the conjured fluid before shattering into shrapnel.

"Using the same site more than once? Are you getting sloppy or simply impatient, Obsidian Crow?" a taunting voice rang out as a masked woman in tight fitting armor emerged from a nearby stream of water, her body moving in fluid motions to send compressed streams to cut off shadowy threads that shot towards her from all around the surrounding trees, Obsidian Crow having already moved out of the way of the attack through his shadows.

It had been in the nick of time though, as the short range teleport was slower and more sluggish than normal; like moving through water back when he was but a normal-ranker.

He suspected that the containment array now surrounding him was to blame, but that would have to be dealt with later as the more pressing issue of half a dozen other silver-rankers had also appeared along with the priestess of Discord - his long time foe, as he and the venom-wielder had clashed rather often during the early days after his family's expulsion from the capital.

Half a dozen silvers should not be too dangerous in and of themself, but having to focus on taking care of them while they harried his flanks or risked them setting up other vicious surprises was not a pleasant thought. Fortunately, a pulse of Obsidian Crow's aura revealed that he was not without reinforcements of his own. Hidden blades, corrosive webs and eerily accurate arrows suddenly flew in from other parts of the forest as more of the Tengu's descendants joined the fray, five to Discord's six.

But Obsidian Crow had to otherwise trust them to handle themselves, because after a few months of playing cat and mouse with his opponent, it seemed that the other gold-ranker had arrived with a decisive thirst for blood.

Moving erratically, she executed several short bursts of shifting into pressurized water that let her assault Obsidian Crow's new position from several angles at once, striking with more condensed toxins even as the now very hazardous water of her initial spell started lashing out with noxious tendrils. This was met with shifting razor threads of shadow as well as the red-masked assassin's curved blade and vicious claw.

In a few heartbeats, three of their initial clashes tore every tree within twenty paces to shreds, and as the count of heartbeats reached a dozen, there was little vegetation at all left intact inside the innermost circle of the confining array.

Going on the offensive to retake some initiative, Obsidian Crow appeared behind his foe while his net of shadows formed a temporary dome over the whole devastated clearing which locked down the form of his water-shifting opponent momentarily and let one vicious claw strike slam the woman toward the ground. Instead of impacting, however, she exploded into a cloud of noxious vapors that started filling the inside of the dome leaving less and less room for Obsidian Crow to navigate.

"Do you think that I fear the shadows, old man?" a voice snarled from the mist's depths as razor sharp tendrils of water started flailing around to further churn the poisonous air.

"I need not walk beneath the sun as I strike down those who would stand in the way of my god. The unseen nooks of this world are our home as much as Discord always resides in the hearts of men." Her aura, already having clashed with Obsidian Crow's since her appearance, further intensified its pressure as Obsidian Crow was forced to push back with enough force that some of his own aura started leaking more uncontrolledly out into the landscape.

It would probably act as an oppressive force upon all of the silvers indiscriminately, but there was little to be done at the moment about that. The five members of his family were hand-picked for this particular venture after all, as they were but the first of two distractions brought to bear that day. And the second was Obsidian Crow himself.

"Without sun, there can be no shadows," he said, speaking for the first time since the beginning of the brief but intense clash as he was simply unable to refrain from the opportunity, all while his arms were a blur that sent out dark strikes to smother toxic blades of water before they could reach him even as the mere splatter had started eating away slightly at his armor and flesh.

"Thus, the light makes for something which your ilk seems to shun more than confrontation and the measuring of paths. A comrade in your time of need."

"Dissolve the Patterns of Power!" As Obsidian Crow finished speaking, the uppermost part of the dome had already started buckling inwards before a rippling surge of invisible force tore both the dome of shadows and the churning domain of toxic water to mere shreds of stray mana, only to reveal a glittering comet like a tide of jewels descending from the sky leaving only a rippling distortion in the array far behind it.

A graceful and resplendent serpentine body revealed itself to be not a celestial object ripped from the skies but a shimmering dragon with majestic crystal antlers who swatted aside stray toxic water with obvious contempt. And between those antlers crouched another figure clad in solid-looking armor of a metal that seemed a bit at odds with the world around it, tattoos already aglow as six spectral arms manifested behind him.

Cala had not thought that the sudden shattering of Obsidian Crow's shadowy dome - a power she had seen and experienced first-hand several times - would ever feel like a turn for the worse. With so much shadow on hand, the assassin became incredibly slippery in both offense and defense, but what was now suddenly descending from above was so beyond expectation that it could be a little other than a disaster.

"The Pathbreaker? How?" Cala thought, her gold-ranked mind allowing her to think and process this abrupt change of events in an instant.

"Intelligence indicated that he had left this kingdom. And he is a gold now? This changes things. I must inform the mistress at once." It had been problematic enough when they heard of the woman called Soul having advanced to gold rank, leading to Cala and her people being forced to dedicate resources to making sure that the fearsome martial artist remained up north in Convergence as they had planned this ambush as a chance to perhaps actually dispatch the troublesome Obsidian Crow.

But now it turned out that the guild had not one but two golds of their own. Retreat now her priority, Cala started shifting away in a watery burst of speed before the Pathbreaker could get close. The arrays would at least let her pass and– Her water-fueled motion suddenly broke apart in a violent detonation of mana before it could properly begin, leading to a brief stumble and - much worse - a few more moments for the Pathbreaker and his familiar to close the distance.

Cala had already noticed two of her boons winking out beneath the dispelling wave that the new arrival had employed, but there had apparently been something more left behind that the urgency of the situation had not let her properly get a sense of before acting. WWJS: Congratulations! Your power [Ripple of Cancellation] has reached Gold 0. [Ripple of Cancellation] has gained additional effects. - Ripple of Cancellation -"Dissolve the patterns of power" Spell. Cost: High mana. Cooldown: 30s.

Current rank: Gold 0 Effect - Iron: Release an expanding wave of magic-canceling energy. Creatures or objects hit by the wave will have one random beneficial magical effect canceled. If that effect came from a magical ability, the ability will be unavailable to activate again for a short duration. If multiple targets have the same kind of magical effect active, there is a higher chance that it will be the one which is canceled. Magical projectiles hit by the wave will be negated.

Projectiles of a higher rank might not be entirely negated. Effect - Bronze: Attempt to dispel two additional beneficial magical effects. Effect - Silver: The spell may instead be released as a spherical burst with lower maximum range. When using this mode, the caster may pay additional mana to exclude an individual from its effect. The cost ramps up with each additional creature excluded. Effect - Gold: The expanding wave mode of the spell may now exclude allies as per the silver-ranked effect.

Enemies affected by either form of this spell will be inflicted with an instance of [Lingering Ripples]. [Lingering Ripples] (Magic, affliction): The next time the afflicted attempts to use a special attack, spell or other similar ability with a mana cost, the activated ability is disrupted and the afflicted suffers moderate disruptive force damage. This affliction then ends. Particularly powerful abilities or abilities of a higher rank may not be entirely disrupted, but instead weakened.

What made the situation even worse was the distinct sensation of the Inescapable affliction that pushed down on Cala a moment later, rendering her chances of using her power-resetting magical tattoo and teleporting away all but none. But having trained most of her life beneath Mistress Sessante, Cala would not let herself be overwhelmed so easily either.

One power of her potent essence devoured plenty of her mana - even more than usual, which was worrisome but not critical - to let Cala conjure a massive cloud of corrosive toxin that she pushed outward in a directed wave against her now dual opponents. The potent essence helped her further condense and shape it to a degree that most golds with any sense would do their utmost to avoid it.

Unfortunately, both the Pathbreaker and Obsidian Crow had sense enough to change direction and go around for a pincer attack, but it gave Cala the moment she needed to act. Not in the way she had hoped during this ambush-turned-disaster, as it brought her great shame that warred with the desperation to survive inside her. But such discordant emotions were also a tribute to her god, and for the sake of the cause and her continued life, it would be something that Cala would suffer through.

Thus, she activated the token that her mistress had given her, knowing it to be her only chance to turn the tables. Throughout their whole meeting, Ametrine had wondered why Altessia had insisted on this particular day, time and - most of all - length of this particular gathering of theirs. They were both efficient women and usually stayed away from one another during their daily preparations and workings.

The other gold-ranker across the table from her was also fiendishly hard to read even for someone with Ametrine's skills, but she did believe that she found certain small hints of the self-appointed first among equals of their undertaking being nervous.

Not fretting, but merely on edge as if waiting for something, and Ametrine had starting pondering on how to inquire further when Altessia suddenly froze, producing a small token that had started glowing with a fierce light, as well as an aura connection that felt both close and far away at the same time. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Portal. Now. This position." The abrupt order came an instant later, as Altessia all but shoved the token into Ametrine's hand. This gave her an even better sense of the thing and confirmed that it was indeed some kind of beacon, giving rise to many questions. One which she could not help but ask right away.

"Why?"

"Cala is making a strike against Obsidian Crow. That is her emergency beacon. Something has gone wrong."

"What? why were we not informed–""Portal, sister. Now. And ready yourself for battle," Altessia snapped, her illusory garments falling away to reveal an armor like liquid metal that clung to her form with exquisite precision.

"You know I am no combatant."

"But you are a gold-ranker, and thus not useless. Losing one of our golds would be critical. Do what you can. Portal. Now!" The last word was punctuated by the lash of an aura that somewhat rattled Ametrine's spirit, and she had to admit that Altessia also had a point. They did not have enough gold-rankers in the whole church to just throw them away without consequence, and even less here in Hua-Xi unless they counted their allies.

And most of the latter were also something kept in check through their local lead in golds. Thus, Ametrine swiftly rose and put on her porcelain mask while shifting the enchantments of her clothes to change their color, style as well as changing them into a cut that would be easier to move in. Her garments were not made for combat, but they would have to do with the limited time she had to prepare… Well, anything. Focusing on the aura beacon, Ametrine then conjured her portal; a shimmering disc of vibrant smoke.

Altessia dove through with a screech of discordant metal after having masked her face with an all enclosing helmet, and Ametrine followed a moment later. The comfort of their hidden sanctum was abruptly changed to a small but intense battleground, and the sheer intensity of the impressions and clashing spirits threatened to overwhelm Ametrine's senses for a moment as she took in the scene. A devastated woodland with enclosing formations whose inner layers were crumbling from the magical violence.

Altessia's metal-clad form tearing into a mess of cutting shadows and flensing darkness that could only be Obsidian Crow. A majestic and beautiful serpentine dragon circling the skies while seeming to recently have joined battle with a shifting and distorting coil of destructive energies and a suit of rapidly reconfiguring living armor which Ametrine recognized as Altessia's two familiars. And, in the most concerning development, the familiar form of the Pathbreaker doing battle with Cala on even terms. Even.

Meaning that he too was now a gold-ranker. Even as she started acting in support of her two fellow priestesses by covering the battlefield in a persistent haze of shimmering smoke whose illusions would start to play tricks on their opponents while allowing her to channel some of her other essence powers, Ametrine also had plenty of time to lament not agreeing to the proposals of her fellow council members to have the Pathbreaker assassinated while at a much more vulnerable rank.

He had been a most useful instrument in taking Ametrine's vengeance upon Black Wood Mask, but this… This complication was probably not worth the satisfaction. Nevertheless, their cause was at risk, and Ametrine would dedicate the few combat powers she had to the task; a few means to cause her smoke to turn directly hazardous in various ways, some personal defenses and a potent execution effect gifted to her through an awakening stone from her god.

While the latter required her to actually touch the target, it led to a spectacular disintegration as the body of the target was turned upon itself by the discordant energies. Still, given her two more combat-oriented companions, Ametrine suspected that her role would be mostly to act in support, staying obscured next to the portal to keep open their line of retreat.

This suited Ametrine perfectly, as her foreign sisters had quite readily assumed command upon their arrival as well as taking quite a lot of glory upon themselves for the successes in recent years. It was time for them to - as the commoners liked to say - put their money where their mouths were. Part of Kite had to admit that the experience of plunging into combat as a gold-ranker was something quite spectacular.

He had already gotten quite a few tastes of such conflict through his sparring with Soul as well as a shorter trip to take the task group up on their offer to use their trainers and facilities to properly get a sense of his new capabilities. From his pure speed to his increased strength and reaction time, Kite's whole being simply felt more potent. This was further driven home by the sheer scale and scope of how much his essence powers had increased. Ripple of Cancellation was a good example.

While the effect added to the power upon its ascension to gold was a very nice addition that Kite still wanted to test out in several scenarios, it was the much larger area the spell could cover that really drove home that he had reached the next realm. It was through the grace of this improvement that his plunge into the shadowy dome of Obsidian Crow became such a brief one, as his spell was enough to rip the domain apart while simultaneously excluding the assassin himself from the effects.

This was all agreed upon beforehand, of course, and as the lone gold-ranked priestess of Discord had her first escape attempt disrupted by the lingering affliction, Kite suddenly found himself given ample time to close in even when Glint had to swerve around the expanding cloud of potent toxins that the woman put up as a defense. A spray of glittering water accompanied Glint's sudden turn as she made a quick loop around the hazard and once more shot forward in a burst of misty spray.

Making an empowered leap from Glint's head, Kite was propelled further with even greater velocity as he used his armored form to bear the priestess to the ground with enough force to create a small crater as dirt and remnant plant matter was sent flying.

The woman unfortunately proved as slippery as Obsidian Crow had described when they had planned out this trap, once more managing to briefly turn into water as she quickly flowed away to gain some distance while both leaving behind fumes of toxic mist that Kite felt starting to burn into his body and throwing a small token off to the side where it stopped against the shuddering force wall of the strained array.

Kite had already started moving in pursuit while part of his mind registered that the thrown object was no weapon, bomb or similar dangerous device, but something worse as he sensed what felt a lot like some kind of aura beacon activate.

Without breaking stride, a pair of white jade hatchets with their edges glowing gold appeared in the hands of two spectral arms before sending projected attacks carrying Void-Sunders-Firmament towards the token, which was promptly swallowed by the unfolding spatial ripples as it was torn to shreds.

But the damage was already done as a portal of shimmering smoke opened nearby an instant later, with an armored form emitting a discordant screech shooting out of the dimensional opening before it had even fully finished forming.

Kite managed to get a sense of the new arrival's gold-ranked aura - spirit reeking of towering vengeance and the sundering of unity - and only just managed to catch a glimpse of another form exiting the portal before the world was covered in more shimmering smoke similar to that of the portal.

Through his bond with Glint, Kite received mental images of two other familiars manifesting from the armored woman to engage the carp-turned-dragon, and he sent her a mental confirmation of her request to keep engaging the two and call for help if needed. He was not the only one who had been longing for a moment to truly test himself, after all.

"I am clashing with the new arrival. Keep going after the original target. We shall keep to the plan," Obsidian Crow's voice whispered in Kite's ear as he passed close to a stray shadow thread. Then, all of the few threads Kite could see inside the haze now covering the destroyed forest were retracted as Obsidian Crow condensed his power to take on the no doubt formidable new adversary.

While a battle could be ever-shifting, at least for this moment Kite was left with a singular goal as he resolutely moved to catch up to his target. While the haze was distracting, with shifting illusions that attempted to confound and mislead, Gaze of Adamance let Kite ignore most of it while also somewhat improving how far he could see.

That was why the priestess in front of him had barely reformed from her watery dash before three projected attacks converged upon her, one hitting her side before she could completely shift out of the way. And as this ripped mana from her form while the cracks of Chakra Implosion took their due, a second of Kite's ascended powers also joined the fray as unfurling spatial tears erupted from the point of impact to further rend and sunder.

But unlike before, they did not completely disappear afterwards, lingering as a small mote of dark void that soon enough bloomed again, as it would continue to do for some time. WWJS: Congratulations! Your power [Void-Sunders-Firmament] has reached Gold 0. [Void-Sunders-Firmament] has gained additional effects. - Void-Sunders-Firmament (Sundering) - Special attack. Cost: Moderate mana. Cooldown: 3s.

Current rank: Gold 0 Effect - Iron: Surround your melee weapon or unarmed attack with spatial tears, dealing moderate damage and resonating force damage. Can be used either as a wide, sweeping attack or as a more focused, directed attack. Effect - Bronze: Cooldown reduced to 3s. Suffuse the target's wounds with remnants of the void, inflicting the [Vitality-tear] affliction.

Effect - Silver: This attack partially bypasses areas of localized damage negation, turning complete negation into increased damage resistance, and inflicts the [Sundered meridians] affliction in that area. Very powerful effects or effects of a higher rank may not be entirely affected. Effect - Gold: The spatial tears left by this attack lingers, dealing ongoing damage to anyone in contact except the user.

If the original attack struck an enemy, the lingering spatial tear will remain anchored to their form, dealing ongoing damage and occasionally reapplying the [Vitality tear] and [Sundered Meridians] afflictions. [Vitality tear] (Affliction, wounding, magic): Negates a certain amount of healing before being consumed. [Sundered meridians] (Affliction, wounding, magic): Local mana flow is disrupted, decreasing effects that affect the location of damage.

Dealing more damage over time was nice and aligned with Kite's path, but the aspect of the ascended form of his most straightforward special attack that he was the most excited about was how it now kept reapplying the heal-devouring affliction over time. Kite had already noted how the mere passive regeneration of his foe was nothing to scoff at, making him hampering yet another form of recovery all the more efficient.

His excitement was short-lived however, as the priestess had the discipline to ignore the ongoing hazard and counterattack once Kite drew closer. Zigsagging forward between a series of projected attacks from Kite's shiny new arsenal, she produced another pair of toxic spikes that glowed with a sickly purple color as she started a rapid-fire assault with both wielded weapons and conjured projectiles while gliding around Kite on her jet of toxic water which in itself spread a different kind of poison into the air.

To make matters worse, the venomous afflictions proved resistant to Sage's cleansing effect, with only a few instances disappearing with each charge Kite spent in rapid succession to clear them. Choosing to lean into another option, he instead kept renewing his own combined assault and defense with greater vigor, making measured strides like some many-armed indomitable golem as he fended off what attacks he could with weapons and shifting barriers.

Kite wanted to build up the glowing circle behind him to combat the venom after all, and that at least had its intended effect. Each strike and parry with the right timing added to the glow as what turned out to be a golden mandala gradually filled in, its lines becoming more complex with each addition while each strike that slipped by Kite's defenses - both intercepting weapons and deflecting armor - stole some of its glow.

The exchange continued for well over a minute while shockwaves from the clashing weapons kept sending debris flying in every direction, and the protracted intensity of the violence at least had another benefit to Kite as it let him start stacking up his borrowed inner flame from Dragonfly that was available through his Elevenfold Regalia. That, as well as other gifts from his companions that had now become available to him.

WWJS: [Item] Elevenfold Unity Regalia Heavy armor Gold rank - (Growth) Legendary Soulbound Eleven paths acted in unison, their direction forged in purpose shared. Eleven paths were tempered, their growing unity holding firm. Eleven paths stood victorious, bonded through trial and experience both. One fulcrum orbited by pieces ten, their unification bringing power no matter what might follow.

[Effect] At will, the wearer can sense the direction and rough indication of distance to each currently worn Elevenfold Unity Band. [Effect] At will, the wearer of the Regalia may have it change shape into an armband similar in shape to the Elevenfold Unity Bands. [Effect] The wearer and anyone wearing an Elevenfold Unity Band may choose to share the effects of a single boon or similar ongoing positive effect among the other wearers as long as they are within close enough proximity.

The shared effects are reduced, and any stacking effects shared suffer drastic diminishing returns. Only one such effect may be used by each among the Elevenfold Unity at a given time, and the cooldown for switching effects is 1 minute. The wearer of this regalia also suffers less reduction to the shared effects, and may receive them over any distance. [Effect] For an ongoing cost of moderate mana, the wearer may gain an ongoing increase to one attribute of their choice.

Once the wearer stops channeling this effect, it may not be used again for 1 hour. The ongoing cost of this effect is reduced for each member of the Elevenfold Unity within range. This effect has increased range for the wearer of the regalia. [Effect - Gold] All of the wearers of the Elevenfold Unity may choose to contribute to a communal pool of health that is accessible as a heal over time effect to each wearer within close enough range of the Elevenfold Regalia.

The wearer of the regalia may access this pool regardless of distance from the others. [Effect] Self repair, which may be further sped up by paying an ongoing mana cost. [Effect] Will adjust and adapt to fit the wearer if they change their physical form. Even though the mounting amount of toxins rampaged through Kite's body, their progress was slowly but surely drawing to a standstill as Kite's indomitable form seemed to merely shrug off the internal destruction with greater ease than should be possible.

With a donated pool of health that Dragonfly had managed to fill on her lonesome over enough time even though Will had also contributed somewhat, Kite had another steady stream of healing join that provided by his War-Seeds. This let him further keep mounting the pressure as he strode forward with a steady, seemingly unstoppable momentum while the priestess he was engaging had to resort to more and more evasive skirmish tactics in an attempt to wear down what simply refused to be eroded.

Kite did not know how long had passed when the shift happened. It was not a lapse of skill or misused power by his foe, who kept true to her path while keeping Kite from completely seizing the momentum and dictating the terms of the engagement. And it was not the potency of her toxins that suddenly waned, the afflictions still at war with Kite's rising regeneration.

But it was something Kite could glimpse in her eyes and motions, even though she perhaps thought it well-hidden; something that proved that this chance which he and Obsidian Crow had taken here might just prove worthwhile if they could keep pushing for just a little while longer. Fear.