Chương 317: Undeniable adversary

"Yes! YES! YESSSS! GLORY TO DESTRUCTION!" Tread of Ruin - at least that was how he had named himself after entering Destruction's service - ignored the dust and rubble that covered him as well as fell into his mouth as he yelled out his adoration. It had been expensive, consuming precious essences and awakening stones, but this… This would forever be worth it.

The vortex ravener towered above the remains of the neighborhood beneath which they had enacted the summoning, furious winds bellowing pure hunger as its mere presence started devouring the world. Several of his fellow adherents had already been consumed by the detonation of its appearance or by its passing - martyrs to sacred Destruction - and Tread of Ruin did not know if the other ritual sites which they were supposed to protect were even still intact. He didn't care either. This was always their purpose.

There was no building up, only tearing down. There was no haven, for Destruction would never be contained. While no true apocalypse beast, able to drown the world if given enough time, the vortex ravener would still grow from the weaker gold rank of its birth to something very potent indeed, consuming everything and everyone.

As long as it managed to gather enough momentum, it should be able to reduce the heart of this cursed kingdom to rubble, scorching the earth and possibly depleting enough of the mana present that it would be decades before the levels returned to normal. It would be glorious. It would be magnificent. It would be– His laughter stuck in his throat when Tread of Ruin suddenly noticed something change.

The buildings around the vortex ravener had suddenly shifted, looking as if covered by a thin sheen of water that shimmered like stars. And as the terrible monster's form passed by them, it was the water that was dragged into its whirling depths while somehow leaving the buildings unscathed.

And that accursed water not only kept appearing all around it at a terrifying pace, but even seemed to damage and destabilize the ravener as it was absorbed, which once more let out a furious roar of tearing winds as it was denied its due.

"No! Wait! Stop!" Tread of Ruin couldn't help but shout, scrambling out of the rubble with all the grace his rather damaged silver-ranked body could manage to get a better view. What was happening? Why was the ravener's advance halted? Then he saw it: a glittering comet of water that was headed straight for their magnificent summon.

Before he could truly comprehend the majesty of it all - one that for a brief moment even threatened his convictions that all should be destroyed - the front of the watery comet opened like a great set of fangs. This briefly revealed a breathtakingly beautiful dragon with crystal antlers inside before the maw of water - and whatever those glittering stars were - clamped down and tore a piece from the vortex ravener.

The summon fought back with blades and swirls of calamitous wind that ripped into this heathen interloper in turn. Even so, the ravenous advance was halted as destruction was turned upon itself, and Tread of Ruin was just about to launch what attacks he could towards the dragon when a mighty female voice - sophisticated and poised even in conflict - rang out over the capital.

"It is time. This young mistress calls upon any of the chosen who would curry her favor. Prove your worth to the kingdom and, more importantly, to me. Do this, perform with excellence, and earn your place by my side!" This truly made no sense at all, leaving Tread of Ruin dumbfounded. What– why? But then they rose from the Heavenly Stairway, over a dozen forms glowing with magic.

Draconians all, they let out mighty war cries of family, honor and - most of all - pure zealous dedication that seemed to rival even Tread of Ruin's own.

Others followed them that looked a lot like bodyguards and other guardians whose auras projected varying degrees of readiness for their young charge's sudden involvement in the conflict, but the fact remained that the vortex ravener soon found itself under ranged assault from many of the silver-rankers while others spread out into the surrounding areas to combat undead and excavate collapsed rubble for buried citizens.

Tread of Ruin could only stare as the draconian young masters entered the fray, only eventually snapping out of it as a red-scaled warrior with smoldering armor born aloft on draconic wings locked in on him.

"For the perfection of Young Mistress Glint!" Then the draconian charged, and Tread of Ruin learned - in a very lethal fashion - that it was not just deities that could give rise to the most passionate of fervor." Perfection of the Undeniable Adversary!"

As he had done at the beginning of every clash, duel or monster hunt in his life since becoming an iron-ranker, King of the Pure Firmament activated the power that was the first to awaken from his Nemesis confluence; the fulcrum upon which much of his path's great advantage stemmed from in combat. Single combat especially, but it had found use during all scales of conflict in which he had participated.

Since ascending to gold rank, the power now provided him four advantages against the target's inherent magical abilities. While the power so far could not take external factors such as equipment into consideration, an opponent's path was the center and foundation of their strength and the most important thing to consider when going into a clash. The King had received many different resistances to various elemental damages, additional ways to circumvent defenses or similar straight-forward and robust advantages.

But as he activated it upon entering battle with the Sentinel of the Gates - who had come for his love and the plots she had apparently woven to a much greater extent than he had ever imagined - he found that the response from his power was perhaps one of the oddest ones he had ever received. Increased disrupting force damage to his attacks was simple enough, as the King had heard of the barriers the man employed, as was the general increase to his own speed, but after that things got a lot more specific.

His conjured equipment and boons receiving increased resistance to dispelling effects was definitely a first, and even more was the ability to use his health instead of mana whenever he preferred. Given the self-healing of his flesh essence, this was an excellent addition, but the King could not help but wonder what his opponent's path was all about if this was what the nemesis confluence felt that he needed to prevail. But in the end, a clash would let him sort that out.

Armor now conjured around him and mirror-sword in hand, King of the Pure Firmament leapt into action as he started circling the Sentinel, rounding much of the throne room and sending out a series of sword slashes that seemed to remain frozen in the air - a power of his omen essence - only to soon shoot towards his foe in the middle of the throne room floor.

The gleaming arcs made for great opening attacks to sound out his opponent's defenses, and if his foe was staggered enough they might make it easier to land a crippling blow early. Few - if any - gold-ranked fights were that quick, but perhaps it would leave him time to go after Ametrine sooner rather than–" Dissolve the Patterns of Power!"

The King's first proof of the wisdom of his nemesis confluence came early as a nearly invisible ripple shot out from the Sentinel and washed over half of the throne room in short order. The silvery slashes were dissolved, and as the wave reached the King himself he could feel his armor and blade warping for a moment even though they held fast. His array did too - thank the heavens - though the King noticed the dispelling wave left some cracks in the gathered swords.

If the Sentinel could so easily have removed one of his most potent assets, things would quickly have taken a turn for the worse. But the Nemesis prevailed, and part of the King's mind exulted in being taken aback as he changed trajectory and headed straight for his foe even as the younger man started sending out a rippling stream of some kind of projected attacks.

There were surprises to challenge himself with here, momentarily blunting the edge of his swirling thoughts of the revelation of Ametrine's divine allegiances. He had held himself back for so long, not properly continuing on his path in order to enjoy the comforts and social power which the position of monarch afforded. Helping her build her network, and Ametrine then using it to keep them in power even though he had longed to once more take up hunts and strive towards the heavens again…

He shoved it from his mind once more as he started to close in on the Sentinel, the thrill of battle drowning the confusion and budding regrets. He was still a bit ahead of this young upstart on the progression through gold rank; faster, stronger. And his path was that of the nemesis, his blade cutting through a raised barrier before it met a chiming staff in an impact that sent a pulse that threatened to shatter his mirror-sword while devouring some of his mana. An interesting path indeed, but not enough."

Fleeting Omen of Harmful Potential" A cascade of slashes followed, mirror-sword flaring in bright arcs and thrusts as the King let his omen power start veiling his motions. Several illusions started weaving around him to show his foe the potential strikes and actions that might come, the gold-ranked power leaving the option for the King to switch places with any of them for an additional cost of mana. Or at least he would have, had not the attention of four swirling vortices kept him in place.

And to his additional surprise, the illusory assault did not have the immediate impact he was used to as the many-armed defense of the Sentinel of the Gates managed to interpose fine weapons of white jade whose glowing outlines held firm even when the King struck with great force through his Adaptable Spectrum Strike, another power of the nemesis confluence that let him pick from a plethora of effects when activating the attack to tailor his offense even better.

So far, each of the combatants had only suffered nicks and glancing blows, but a few probing exchanges later, the King had had enough.

With a sudden shift of momentum that cracked the fine tiles of the throne room beneath his feet, he used his superior speed to circulate faster than the Sentinel's barriers could follow, batting aside an interposing weapon with one armored hand - and noticing that his conjured armor started cracking at the touch with some concern - as his blade traced a glowing arc that cut through the armored side of his opponent.

The Sentinel had incredibly fine armor of a make that the King was all too familiar with, but it was not enough. Scarlet blood trailed his sword in an arc that spread out across the floor like a dramatic flourish of a calligrapher's brush. But that was also when he noticed an icy sensation in his own shoulder, somehow only now registering that there was some kind of blade which had pierced straight through his armor and flesh with barely any resistance, spilling no blood yet still claiming a prize of mana.

Even looking straight at it, the King could barely discern what pierced him, whatever magic at play even having hidden the Sentinel's movements somewhat. Still, he knew that he had gotten the better of the exchange and leapt back while dodging retaliatory beams of force from the Sentinel's familiar before using his blade to reflect one back towards the odd creature of symbols and hidden meanings, tearing a hole through its shifting form.

Landing upon the dais of the throne, King of the Pure Firmament took stock once more even as he started dodging and deflecting projected strikes that tore splintering chunks out of the furniture behind him while sending out his own mirror-scythes to counter. It looked like this might not be a quick bout after all, at least from how his opponent still made a steady advance towards him even with blood running down the side of his armor.

A blessing and a curse, given the King's emotional turmoil, but also one he would have to overcome if he was to get more answers and make sure Ametrine was safe. It was time to awaken his slumbering focus after all these years, and let this clash be the first step of King of the Pure Firmament's return to his climb towards the heavens.

Even through his gold-ranked recovery, a healing charge from Sage and the recovery provided by his War-Seeds, Kite still felt the wound at his side closing slower than it should, no doubt courtesy of some kind of affliction left by the King's blade. This was not uncommon when facing a foe with the omen essence, but not a promising start to what had turned out to be a clash with not only the most individually powerful foe Kite had ever faced but the monarch of his own kingdom.

Once, this might have shaken Kite's resolve to his very core, but after his ascent to gold rank and the trust he had found in himself, his path and his allies, Kite only felt a slight tremor in his spirit through his combat meditation as he once more met the King blade to staff, each blow sending eerie chimes echoing throughout the ever more broken throne room as discharged powers on the scale of gold rank had left their marks.

He was being pushed back by most of them, barely hanging on thanks to his mantle and the experience which had tempered a level of reaction speed that even his stern former mentor Ryker had found admirable the last time they had met. And even that last exchange when the King had landed a solid hit had not been a complete victory for the other man, thanks to a certain loan from honored Gleam that was an old companion reborn. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent.

Report any appearances on Amazon. WWJS: [Item] The Veiled One's Judgment Sword Gold rank - epic [Effect] Shrouded in enchantments to evade notice. Attacks and special attacks made with this weapon are significantly harder to notice and pinpoint for creatures of similar or lower rank, unless one possesses extraordinary aura senses. [Effect] Enemies struck with this weapon are afflicted with [Veiled Mind's Eye].

[Effect] Wielder's aura is shrouded, making it more difficult for enemies to glean the wielder's intent, especially in combat. [Effect] The special attacks of the wielder deals slightly more damage the longer the target has been afflicted by [Veiled Mind's Eye]. [Veiled Mind's Eye] (Affliction, Curse) - Causes the afflicted to become less capable of gauging their own internal reserves and cooldowns. And what a rebirth it had been.

According to Gleam's notes when Kite had retrieved the unseen blade from the golden armoire, she had worked on keeping the core of the niche weapon's enchantments while scaling them up to work with gold rank materials. The exception had been that the parts not resonating with Kite's path had been cut away, and all the remaining potential used to instead help the subtle weapon become both a tool to initiate a fight, as well as to end it.

It was this new sword - now seemingly having received a straighter blade better suited for thrusting, though it was hard to tell - that had allowed Kite to score a proper hit in return on the King, and the irony of using the reworked spoils taken from the first Discord priest Kite had met to fight the guardian of a high priestess of the very same deity was not lost on Kite.

But given that the other two weapons currently on loan to him from Gleam were both tools of area damage, he would use this one to the full extent of his abilities. Even if those abilities were frantically working to keep him from losing enough control over the clash that it might lead to a spiral into his demise. King of the Pure Firmament had gradually become more and more relentless in his assault as he seemed to be starting to feel how Kite's path worked to drain him of his power.

Each slight blow Kite landed ripped his mana from his body, as did Kite's defenses as blade met barrier or Pattern-Shattering Counter tried to rip the magic from his strikes as well as trying - and still failing - to shatter the mirror-like sword. And as of late, even when the King started cleansing the lingering effects of Kite's afflictions, it cost him more than he might have expected. WWJS: Congratulations! Your power [Spiritual Reprisal] has reached Gold 0. [Spiritual Reprisal] has gained additional effects.

- Spiritual reprisal (Karma) - Special ability. Cost: None. Cooldown: None. Current rank: Gold 0 Effect - Iron: Any creature striking you or one of your barriers will suffer one instance of [Unstable flow]. Effect - Bronze: You may choose to consume all available stacks of [Unstable flow] at once, increasing the effect of the attack further the more stacks that are consumed. Stacks above a certain amount start giving diminishing returns.

Effect - Silver: Each stack of [Unstable Flow] on a creature causes it to deal less damage to magical barriers, with diminishing returns after a certain limit. Effect - Gold: Whenever a stack of [Unstable Flow] is consumed or cleansed from an enemy, it will also consume additional mana before disappearing. [Unstable flow] (affliction, magic, stacking): Increases the effect of one of your special attacks, consuming one instance of this affliction" Dissolve the Patterns of Power!"

Ripple of Cancellation washed over the room and sword array again, but the King's armor and weapon still held, as did the gathered swords. Over the blitzing exchanges where shockwaves and stray projected attacks had kept ripping the throne room to pieces, the number in the array had gradually started dwindling, but far from at a pace that would have the man run out anytime soon.

"How?" Kite thought even as the tiles cracked beneath him upon blocking another mighty swing from the monarch's blade that impacted his staff with a mighty echoing chime.

"By Warrior, how is he bearing it?" Even a gold-ranker with their mighty reserves should have started noticing the mana drain Kite subjected them to, and while the King had definitely started taking care to avoid what he could, sword strikes bearing omens of imminent loss and death kept raining down on Kite. He could see the boons of renewal that the monarch kept reapplying to himself even through Kite making steady progress at dispelling them. Why?

Kite kept striking the man's mana with everything he had, his best option to handle essence-users by far as well as what had let him contend with more powerful foes before as they burned through their own ability to stay in the fight a lot faster than any one of them had expected. Why did he keep renewing the healing anyway?

Then even that small part of Kite's mind was forced back into the present as the back and forth of the melee had let the King - still firmly carrying the initiative - force Kite up the crescent of raised daises at the back of the throne room where the King's seat towered in the back and center.

The much more mobile warrior kept using experienced footwork to try to force Kite into positions where he could round Kite's barriers in bursts of speed or slice through an exposed one to land a hit, only kept at bay by the arms of Kite's mantle being more flexible in direction. Once at the top, the monarch then burned with power as he unleashed a flurry of attacks followed by a single unexpectedly powerful strike which consumed several of the swords of the array.

Kite just managed to get the bladed shield of his War-Seeds up in time and at the right angle because he stepped unexpectedly to one side and - thanks to Implacable Motion - straight through the throne, shattering the magnificent wooden seat into splinters with barely any resistance, counterattacking and managing to land a projected strike that dispelled the King's recovery boon yet again before Unhindered Reach of the Unified Path - the spear gifted Kite by his father - dropped into Kite's own hands and thrust out through his own barrier for the first time during the bout.

This took the King by enough surprise that the blow landed squarely, and Kite had already decided to make the strike count. One charge from Potential of Stolen Power caused the crackling blue energies of Chakra Implosion to go into overdrive as the speartip pierced armor and body, only for the mana charged flesh to detonate in upon itself in a much larger area than before.

Not only that, but the empowered mana-draining attack kept blooming out behind the King like a crackling blue wave that caused the magical lights in part of the room to wink out and sputter as the mana inside was devoured, a feature that - while not perhaps the most useful at the moment - was a consequence of the power reaching gold rank. WWJS: Congratulations! Your power [Potential of Stolen Power] has reached Gold 0. [Potential of Stolen Power] has gained additional effects.

- Potential of Stolen Power (Potency) Special ability. Cost: None. Cooldown: None. Current rank: Gold 0 Effect - Iron: Gather charges each time an effect is dispelled or mana is drained. Use accumulated charges to give a potent boost to an ability, partially changing its scope and/or effect. Effect - Bronze: Generate additional stacks when dispelling more powerful effects or draining more mana in a single instance.

Effect - Silver: If the boosted ability is a special attack or offensive spell, it receives the [Execute] trait, increasing damage dealt in proportion to the health already lost by the target. If the ability is a defensive or supportive spell or a special ability, it receives the [Counter-execute] trait, increasing its effect in proportion to health lost by the user.

Effect - Gold: The user may choose to massively increase the scope and/or size of the boosted ability, making it able to affect a much larger area, more targets or similar effect. The King's right arm momentarily lost a bit of function as his flesh imploded, but even so the man seemed unperturbed as he kicked off backwards, the leap easily carrying him up to one of the balconies usually reserved for guests of the court across the room from Kite.

In a burst of mana and healing that no doubt stemmed from his flesh essence, the King's body reknit itself and filled out that which was missing so fast that he didn't even lose a second of momentum. Several more of the swords of his array were consumed as his sword lit up with ominous light, the mana visible to Kite's magical perception as it was spent in vast quantities. But no, there was not only mana, as Kite's sharp eyes noted something else; small slivers of what seemed like the red of life force.

What was–" Unleash the Foreseen Calamity!" Then the King swung, his blade trailing light that seemed to carry the weight of prophesied calamity, and the light quickly extended so that the blade was extended far enough to cleave through one side of the inner wall of the throne room in a torrent of charred wood and shattered glass before it was upon Kite in an instant, only to be partially swallowed by a dark aperture that appeared to block out almost the whole of Kite's part of the room.

"Void!" Then the gate tore apart, but not before having exhausted the segment of the roiling energies that would have struck Kite. The King wasn't done there either, expertly turning his blade to strike again.

"Void!" And again.

"Void!" And again.

"Ohsweetheavens– Void!" WWJS: Congratulations! Your power [Gate of Nihility] has reached Gold 0. [Gate of Nihility] has gained additional effects. - Gate of Nihility (Void) -"Void" Spell. Cost: High mana. Cooldown: 1h. Current rank: Gold 0 Effect - Iron: Bring forth a short-lived wall of nothingness, up to five meters wide and three meters high. You have some control over the overall shape of the barrier. Any projectile or spell effect striking the wall is absorbed into the void and negated.

Any being that comes into contact with the wall suffers a high amount of damage as they are forcibly ejected from the barrier. Attacks of higher rank may not be entirely negated. The barrier cannot move once created and cannot be summoned into the space of any creature. Effect - Bronze: Gate exerts a pull on projectiles and other conjured or created magical effects in a wide area in front of it. Effect - Silver: You may increase the cost of the gate to very high mana in order to increase the pull of the aperture.

This will greatly increase its effects on enemy projectiles and effects, as well as their momentum, lowering the [Speed] attribute for nearby enemies while the power is in effect. Additionally, any projectile or other effect absorbed will replenish some of your mana, proportionate to the power of the absorbed effect. This effect will allow you to temporarily exceed your maximum mana pool. Stored excess mana will bleed off for one hour unless spent.

Effect - Gold: Any absorbed projectile, attack or object lowers the cooldown of this power depending on its potency and/or mana concentration. This can potentially reduce the cooldown to zero. Each swing of the calamitous special attack scoured part of the already beleaguered throne room to the point that Kite was wondering how much further the structural integrity of the building would hold up, but Gate of Nihility had saved enough around him that he was not yet forced to step up and into the air.

Ever since its ascension to gold rank, Kite had marveled at how his most powerful defensive measure was now a lot more readily available, as the more potent and numerous the attacks it negated were, the lesser the delay would be until it was available again. That whatever special attack the King had used had enabled him to use it back to back three times in a row was an omen in and of itself of just how potent that particular attack had been.

Still, those faint trails of life force among the King's mana lingered in Kite's mind. There was something there, perhaps part of why the man kept holding on so well even though Kite's frantic defense should have made much more of an impact by now. He didn't know how much longer he would need to hold on, or how much longer he could hold on, but there was no backing down now. The heart of Discord's plan might be here, and he needed to either find it himself or let his allies do so.

And to that the King was an obstacle and a willing collaborator that just couldn't be ignored. So as the King once more shot towards Kite from the other side of the room, Kite strode out into the air to meet him, tattoos alight and with a plan in mind. If the King could somehow use life force as mana - or at least mix it in somehow - it was time to see just how deep those wells were.

Injured in more places than he wanted to admit, Kite still urged his body onward, thrumming with the power of gold rank as he ignored the distracting signals from within. His own ambitions for the future of the kingdom would not allow him to do anything less than give his all.

"Wall!" That was how King of the Pure Firmament found his path through the throne room suddenly hampered, but not just by a mere wall of force. A rotating labyrinth of barriers spread throughout the throne room, all segments shifting constantly in all three dimensions as passages formed and vanished in a pattern that was as complicated as it was mesmerizing. And in the middle strode Kite, Pathbreaker, Sentinel of the Gates. Injured and harried, but not beaten. Not yet at least.