Divine Apostasy Book 12 - Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Chunks of stone fell from the ceiling as something enormous moved outside.

Overlord, Ruwen said as he created a soul portal to the outside.

Overlord materialized in his Fallen Lord Minion, prepared for battle. Without a word he pulled on Ruwen’s Spirit core and a combination of Scarecrow Aspect clones, Sentry Minions and their Launch Minions appeared and immediately disappeared through the soul portal.

Ruwen extended his Mental Domain and an armored Uruziel and Sivart appeared next to Overlord. Now if their Minions were destroyed suddenly, they could return safely to Ruwen’s mind.

Overlord continued to channel Spirit as he kept communication tethers with all the Minions. A second later a hyper-realistic view of the area outside the mountain appeared before all of them.

Lir appeared in his own Minion next to Uruziel and she patted him on the back. Thanks Lir. Despite all my progress I can’t replicate your mastery in aggregating all the scout feeds. That picture is perfect.

Ruwen agreed. It looked better than seeing it with his own eyes. Lir nodded at Uruziel to acknowledge the compliment but didn’t speak. He didn’t like talking about how he could process and display so much information, and no one pushed the topic.

Sivart whistled as the guardian came into focus and the mass of leprechauns below cheered wildly.

“What is it?” Ruwen asked.

“Hard to tell,” Sivart replied, “but it’s big. Very big.”

Overlord created five more Sentry Minions and sent them through the portal with a Launch Minion.

“I’m going to send these Sentry’s much higher,” Overlord explained.

The leprechauns’ cheering increased as the mountain around them shook violently.

The new Sentry Minions activated, and the complete Guardian came into view.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Ruwen whispered.

The surrounding mountains had crumbled, and from the rubble a massive golem-like creature pushed itself up.

“How tall is that thing?” Ruwen asked. “In miles,” he quickly added, not wanting Lir to give him the answer down to the inch.

“Six point one miles,” Lir responded. “This approximation has a ninety-three percent confidence as the valley is covered by clouds.”

“It reminds me of those giants Fractal created in the Shattered Sun,” Ruwen said. “I’ve still only seen those few levels he showed me.”

Sadness and regret, amplified by Ruwen’s Sacral and Heart chakra hit him. Blapy had warned him that he needed to make time for Fractal and now that the Dungeon Keeper had awoken, Ruwen needed to visit him.

“Fractal is fine,” Lir said, likely detecting the sadness in Ruwen’s voice. “I communicate with him almost constantly on Grave. He is obsessed right now with taking what he learned from the dead gods’ souls and modifying the God Stone.”

Uruziel chimed in. “At least some of those negative feelings are coming from the leprechaun magic contaminating your chakras. It’s just one more reason to wrap this up and get back to Master Pine so you can fix them.”

Ruwen agreed with that wholeheartedly. He left the gems he’d collected in Inventory but readied his four Activated chakras as he shifted into Harmony. Lir shifted the view of the Guardian to a small display below the map as Ruwen focused on the celebrating leprechauns below.

The King had an intricate chakra network flowing between the gems lodged in his body. These artificial channels created a crude but functional system that allowed him to control chakra-like magic. Ruwen studied the configuration intently, and it triggered Identify.

Target: King Ferghus the Withered

Type: Fae Nobility

Description: A banished member of the Ceardai royal bloodline, self-proclaimed King Ferghus has nursed his hatred for his older brother and humans while trapped in the Material Realm. The recent influx of Spirit has restored some of his power, and he seeks vengeance on the family who forced him here.

Strengths: Leprechaun Manipulation Magic, Luck Theft, Gem Crafting

Weaknesses: Pride, Overconfidence, Iron

After reading the description, Ruwen had second thoughts on destroying the King. It seemed like sending the King back to the Creation Realm would be doing him a favor.

Ruwen resisted two of the King’s passive debuffs.

Luck Bane - Reduce luck by 90%.

Treasure’s Curse - Lose access to all luck-based abilities for 24 hours.

The third debuff Ruwen resisted as well, but the leprechaun magic in his Root and Sacral chakras partially connected with the King anyway.

Withered Crown - Absorb chakra energy from all sources within 1,000 feet.

Instead of trying to end the connection with Harmony, Ruwen studied this as well. He didn’t know much about how chakra magic functioned, and he planned on learning as much as possible. A connection existed between the King and all the leprechauns as well, but Ruwen didn’t know if it was a combat buff or the same chakra leeching magic that affected Ruwen.

"You plundered our secret knowledge," the King shouted, “and you will suffer for it.”

Green leprechaun magic erupted around the King’s embedded gems, and an aura formed around him. It churned for a second before the king shouted, “Chakra Purge” and snapped his arm outward.

A sickly green energy whip approached Ruwen and he didn’t defend against the attack for two reasons. One, he felt confident he could survive, and two, he didn’t know how.

The energy drain attack bypassed Ruwen’s Fortified body and struck directly against his chakras. They didn’t possess much energy as half remained Dormant and three had Activated within the past hour.

Pain lanced through Ruwen’s Root, Sacral, and Crown chakras as the King's synthetic system tried to worm into Ruwen’s. The response from his Root and Sacral were because of the leprechaun manipulation magic contaminating them, and his Crown reacted because of his immense mental energy reserves.

The King’s magic felt twisted and corrupted compared to Ruwen’s own brief chakra experiences. The leprechaun magic sought to brutally squeeze his chakras, drain their energy, and feed that power back to the King.

A targeting overlay appeared in Ruwen’s vision.

Overlord explained. “That’s coming from the shed in Purgatory. Evidently that attack on your Crown chakra qualifies as a mental attack.”

Ruwen didn’t react to the pain in his Root and Sacral chakras and met the King’s gaze. “You’re not as lucky as you think.”

 Instead of aiming for the King’s chest, Ruwen expanded the target to include the entire chamber before releasing the reflected mental damage, now amplified by his mental defenses.

Ruwen didn’t add any Willpower or other magic to enhance the damage. He wanted to see the base result.

The King and the thousands of frenzied leprechauns covering the chamber floor didn’t sense the impending attack. Ruwen guessed the difference between his mind and theirs made it difficult to detect.

The reflected mental damage struck all the leprechauns at once. Ruwen had expected their heads to all explode like the psychic demons had done in the Infernal Realm. Instead, the destruction was more complete.

Where leprechauns had jumped in hateful glee, green smears appeared. Because they couldn’t die in the Material Realm, Ruwen’s reflected mental attack vaporized every connection inside their bodies. The leprechauns hadn’t even had time to split before the mental power had turned them into paste.

“Leprechaun jelly,” Overlord said.

The King’s eight gems glowed and the green paste around them writhed as the King tried to quickly reform.

“Guardian will arrive shortly,” Sivart said.

Ruwen wanted to take care of these leprechauns before facing the Guardian. Using a combination of Melt and his Architect Role he smoothed the walls and ceiling of the chamber. Then he whistled a complex tune that incorporated the quarter-tones.

The whistling echoed off the smooth walls, each tone a fatal bolt. Using Harmony Ruwen smoothed out chords and harmonies caused by air temperature differences, the natural stone vibrations, and the keening rising from the leprechaun jelly. With nothing left to distort his tune, the chamber quickly filled with the echoing sound of death.

The violent shaking increased along with the bone jarring sound of stone grinding against stone. Ruwen glanced at the outside display under his map. The Guardian had just ripped off the top half of mountain.

“Five seconds,” Sivart said.

Ruwen Blinked to the King’s half-formed body which remained largely unaffected by the whistling that had obliterated the others.

Severing the connections between the King’s embedded gems would be difficult. Harmony revealed the densely braided chords that locked them together and he knew from experience what a pain those were to unravel.

A thirty-foot Dragon Minion appeared to Ruwen’s left and Sivart vaulted onto its back. Overlord and Uruziel stood in their armored forms, staring up at the shaking ceiling.

Ruwen had about three seconds to finish this, and only one thing occurred to him.

The King stumbled as he tried to stand on his still forming feet.

“Plan B it is,” Ruwen told the King.

“What’s Plan B?” Overlord asked without taking his eyes off the ceiling. The grinding noise had returned as the Guardian tore another piece off the mountain.

Ruwen reached down with his right hand and grabbed the King. He brought the leprechaun up and locked gazes with the ruler.

“B is for boom,” Ruwen said.

The chamber’s ceiling disappeared as the Guardian swept it away revealing sunlight and blue sky. The King’s throne had shattered from the mental blast but the vault of Crown gems remained intact, and he swept it into his Void Band. When this was over, he’d retrieve the Clear Quartz of Wisdom from it.

The King strained against Ruwen’s grip, gaining strength every moment. The sky darkened as the Guardian leaned down to see what it had uncovered. A massive eyeball replaced the sky.

"I climbed Tír na nÓg," the King gasped, struggling to break free. "And I claimed a fragment from those holy slopes. You cannot defeat what I’ve become."

Reality around Ruwen twisted—gravity reversed, the air turned solid, and the floor became liquid. Whatever fragment the King wielded, it produced chaotic possibilities like anything could happen.

The Friction Treads effect on Ruwen’s new Boots of Rhythm anchored him to the current dimension despite the disorder. His Will, enhanced by the Solar Plexus chakra, pushed back against the bizarre attack, which brought a sense of normalcy back to the surroundings.

Ruwen quickly finished wrapping each of the King’s chakra gems in a cocoon of Harmony and threw the oversized leprechaun at the Guardian.

Half the King’s newly formed body disappeared as the air friction of the short flight burned his skin and muscle away. A loud crack shattered the sudden stillness as the King ripped the air with his passage.

Just before the King struck the Guardian’s dull eye, Ruwen activated each of the eight cocoons inside the leprechaun’s body. Each cocoon held a different set of bundled chords—frequencies specially tuned for the gem they surrounded.

When Ruwen had first seen the structure of the King’s synthetic chakras he’d known unraveling the network of gems would take considerable time. Time he didn’t have. Regardless of the complex packaging, the gems were still just gems, and his Prospecting and Alchemy skills provided all the information he required.

Like a mad jewel crafter, Ruwen split all eight of the King’s chakra gems at the same time.