Chapter 314 - Predator or Prey

Nate could sense the tenseness in his comrades as they waited on the slopes of the volcano. Off in the distance, beyond the jungle of the southern continent, their enemies were gathering. Nate could see that seven teams had already arrived, their groups delineated by faction. His Conceptual Sight roved over the teams, identifying the factions, and where possible the Seeds involved. There were three from the Dynasty of the Heavenly Serpent, easily identifiable by the elves in their midst. One team contained no one he recognised but the other two were led by Seeds that he was familiar with. 

Kalin Silverscale who he had met at the restaurant back on Serpent’s Wing. A not so chance encounter if Nate was any judge of the elf's characteristics. A glance at the leaderboard told Nate that Kalin still clung on to fourth place. The other team was led by the Seed Kole Darkscale. Fifth place on the Leaderboard and the hybrid crafter that Nate had beaten in the World Reaping entry competition. Kole appeared true to his name, with dark scales on the back of his hand.

The next team Nate could only recognise by their outfits. The male leader was a pale skinned humanoid but the dark-plated armour that looked like you might find in a futuristic society made their allegiance clear. Flux Industries, and if Nate was to venture an educated and informed guess, the individual he was looking at was Sel’kin Might, seventh on the Leaderboard. Nate relayed the news to Kiri and Captain Borin, describing the individual in detail.

“That’s Sel’kin alright,” replied Borin, a fierce glare directed at the tree line as though his gaze could see through the trees. For all Nate knew, he could, but he doubted it.

“You don’t like Sel’kin?” asked Kiri, picking up on the simmering anger from the Golden Tide Captain.

“He’s Flux Industries' favourite assassin in the Lesser Divine tier, and the personal Disciple of Chairman Kalim. When I saw he was being deployed into this World Reaping I assumed he was here to collect a few bounties. He’s done so before to the Golden Tide. I lost a friend to him in the previous World Reaping on Flamefield Seven.”

Nate looked confused.

“An Eternium world.”

“I’m sorry about your friend,” offered Nate calmly.

“Thank you, but today, he will be avenged. I’ll engage Flux Industries and Sel’kin,” stated Borin vehemently.

Nate nodded, “As we agreed then. The information you provided says that someone needs to interfere with him and you seem best suited to the task.”

While waiting Borin had been a font of information on the possible Seed-tier opponents they might face. Sel’kin had come up and though Nate had seen the anger at the time as he described the Flux Industries assassin, he hadn’t pressed to know the details. Interrupting Borin while he painted a picture of their opponents and the abilities they possessed just wasn’t a good idea.

From Borin’s own words, Sel’kin was basically a sniper. That was how Nate had the man framed in his head. Sel’kin would find an ideal location, set up with a High-Grade, possibly Peak-Grade artifact, which then would funnel his Skills into a high-velocity, penetrating projectile. The man was over four kilometres away and the expectation was that he wouldn’t leave that area. He’d just seek the elevation necessary to take shots at what was bound to be a brawl. Kiri would be fine, but Nate wasn’t sure how his barrier would fare under such a shot. But more importantly, it sounded like the shots could theoretically instantly kill some of the less strong members, including Borin’s own team.

“You off then?” asked Kiri.

Borin nodded. “We’ll get close enough to them that we can intercept before Sel’kin gets settled. Let me know when they start moving.”

Borin tapped the communication stone he had given Nate for emphasis.

“Good hunting,” offered Nate.

As Borin and his team left, Nate surveyed the other teams present. The hobgoblin was surprisingly tall. Even amongst a race that was apparently naturally statuesque, Drim Hall towered over his fellow members of The Eternium. Where the Dynasty teams had been grouped closely but still spread out, as though they didn’t trust each other, The Eternium team members were all huddled close. Nine of them meant that there were at least two teams present and Nate didn’t recognise any others from the description even if he could taste their Concepts through his Conceptual Sight. 

Eighth on the Leaderboard, Drim felt like a pool of water to erase all life. Destruction was rife in the hobgoblins aura and Nate wondered if he might know the source of such a Path. After all, one of the True Divines of The Eternium had apparently studied at the feet of Ankh’Aris. Was Drim a disciple of that traitor to the Calikex? He didn’t know and while Ankh might have cared, Nate didn’t. This entire plan was only necessary because if he did nothing they would run him down and swamp him with numbers. That was how all second evolution Divines met their end, or so he had heard. Caught between a task he had to complete and the attention that doing so had drawn to him was frustrating. But he was well and truly past shying away from doing the things he had to do. They came looking for a fight and he was gearing up to give them one.

As for their plan, it was already in place. Wulfgar would lead Jak, Fili and Gwen to deal with one of the non-Seed teams. Frick was flying solo, literally, the Solaris acting as both gunship and Undefeated Horde deployment. Captain Borin would deal with Sel’kin, taking Flux Industries out of the mix. The second Golden Tide team was rushing to arrive in time, but Borin assured them that Sergeant Glick would arrive in time to pick up a second non-Seed team. Between them they would handle three teams, plus whatever Frick could manage. 

That still left Nate to face Kalin Silverscale, Kole Darkscale, Drim Hall and at least three other teams if they had managed to gather the nine that Head Merchant Wu To’sama claimed. Six teams on his own and three Seeds. He hoped his preparations were up to the task, because he’d be doing so on his own. If Perenthia arrived, and Nate was sure she would, it wouldn’t be Nate she faced. Trying to deal with the probability manipulating blademaster while activating his hundreds of runes scattered throughout the volcanic mountain would be almost impossible. That, and Kiri had been insistent.

“You sure about this?” he asked.

“We’re about to find out,” answered Kiri, nodding her head off to the side.

Out of the tree line marched Perenthia, short, pink hair blowing in the sulphurous breeze. She remained the most aesthetically perfect being Nate had ever laid eyes on, and he felt nothing but revulsion at the obsessed look in her eyes as she bee-lined for him with her two cloaked bodyguards in tow.

“Couldn’t sense her?” asked Kiri.

“I did scan that side in case they were trying to flank us. Somehow I missed her.”

“Me too. Damn but her Skill is as big a cheat as yours.”

Nate rolled his eyes but couldn’t prevent a smile forming, “Says the immortal warrior that just took a multi-day bath in the heart of a volcano enhanced by a Peak-Grade artifact. Pot, meet kettle.”

Kiri just grinned cheekily, and he appreciated the effort she was making to try and cheer him up. She knew how uncomfortable Perenthia made him. Perenthia, who quickly ate up the distance between them and planted himself in front of Nate with only ten metres separating them. This close, he could feel her blade like a cut in reality, the Concept of Severing so overpowering that he was surprised the paint of his Regalia wasn’t rippling with each breath of wind.

“I’ve come to save you,” breathed Perenthia. “You ran away last time and that was wrong, but you were just confused. You thought I was trying to hurt you but I would never hurt you. I’d hurt everyone and everything that tried to mar your beauty! I’d murder the world if it was what you wanted!”

Kiri snorted. “Were you always this crazy or did something happen to leave you this cracked?”

Nate sensed the bodyguard stiffen in the background as Perenthia’s facial expression transformed from obsessed to violently insane.

“You! You’re keeping him from me! Using him for your own wicked ends! Once I have cut you away from him he’ll be free and he’ll see that I am all he needs. Why won’t you just DIE!”

Nate felt a huge blast of mana and Divine Energy emanate out of Perenthia and immediately vanish as though spent. Then Kiri exploded. Blood went everywhere as his sister spontaneously combusted. Gwen’s anguished scream echoed down the mountain from behind them as Perenthia’s insane smile twisted back to one of adoration.

“There, she’s gone now. Now we can be together without interference. Forever and ever and ever.”

Nate just shook his head sadly. “She’s not gone and I am not going anywhere with you.”

Kiri reformed before Nate had even finished talking and she casually reached up to brush a little blood from where it sizzled quietly on her armour. The bodyguards stiffened again but it was Perenthia who kept Nate’s attention.

“It wasn’t wrong…” she whispered, the sound filled with frustration, before looking back at Nate. “Just…just…be with me!”

For the second time mana and Divine Energy blasted out of Perenthia and Nate found himself standing on a white sand beach. In the distance, a pale blue sun was slowly setting, casting the placid ocean in lurid greens. Beside him stood Perenthia, though she looked different. Felt different. Like a cutout doll rather than a person.

“What is this?” he asked quietly, though he already had his suspicions. The Concept of Probability was all around, along with a hint of Soul and Mana.

“You already know. This is a construct. It will fade in a moment. We are not really here. Only our minds are and when the construct breaks it will be as though no time has passed at all,” stated the pink haired elf in a robotic voice.

“How did you bypass my protections and why would you bring me here?”

“She used far more Divine Energy than she should have. Enough to overwhelm your defences for a moment and only because it was not an attack. As to why, this is the future she wishes for, even though it will not give her what she wants.”

“You keep saying ‘she’,” Nate noted.

“I am not Perenthia, not anymore. Once I was, we were, but now we are separate. And in the separating she became broken, like a mirror, shattered, pieces missing, never to be found.”

“What are you then?”

“I am her Nascent Mind. A part of her, forever embedded within a Skill to allow her to process the infinite possibilities.”

Nate looked down at the elf and wondered, was it possible? Could he fix her?

“Do you know what I am going to ask?”

“In this place, I do. And the answer is no. You are more than she realises, but her Father has tried. What has been shattered can never be properly put back together. How does one paint sanity? How would you make whole what you have never seen, known or experienced? She is beyond saving.”

Nate sighed.

“What about sending her away?”

“You are her obsession, the object that she believes she must have to attain her idealised life. To fill the hole in her that can never be filled because she is not whole. She will never stop seeking you out. She will attempt to kill anyone or anything she believes is keeping you from her.”

“The alternative is to kill her.”

“It is,” agreed Nascent Mind. “It is the only way to free yourself, and to free me. But you already know a little of the consequences for doing so. Her father, The Severing Blade, will kill you for it.”

“He’s a True Divine. He’ll have to wait till I reach the same strata,” suggested Nate.

“The Concept of Severing goes beyond what you believe is possible. It can temporarily sever the ties of Reciprocity. There is a cost he must pay for doing so, but it is not The System that exacts the price. He can kill you without losing access to The System.”

“No good choices,” stated Nate. “You already know my decision.”

“I do. The probabilities were always clear in how this would end. She just did not want to listen to what she did not want to hear. And so, we will die for the crime of lying to ourselves.”

Nate nodded. He wasn’t going to kill her himself, but he also wasn’t going to allow her to haunt his footsteps or threaten his family and friends. As the construct faded Nate found himself standing exactly where he had been before the blast of mana and Divine Energy. The volcano rumbled behind him as he glanced at Kiri.

“All yours.”

Then Kiri was moving. It had been a long time since Nate had seen someone as fast as Kiri but he didn’t feel an ounce of surprise as Perenthia managed to draw her blade and block the bladed fist Kiri threw at her. The ground beneath them exploded as the pair started duking it out across the base of the mountain. The two cloaked bodyguards gave chase but Nate left them alone. He had other problems to deal with.

“Incoming,” he called.

At his words the Solaris rose into the sky and Wulfgar, Jak, Fili and Gwen loped off down the mountain into the forest. The slopes were not where they, or anyone in their right mind, wanted to be.

Kalin exited the woods first, as though the silver-haired elf was leading an army. Behind him came elves, hobgoblins, humans and a single dwarf. Nate did a quick count and realised that there were now seven teams, with a fourth team from the Dynasty finally joining. No sign of Flux Industries but Borin would handle that.

“You know why we’re here. Let’s not mince words, Nathaniel. Accept your death and we’ll make it quick and merciful,” called out Kalin.

Nate noted how everyone was avoiding looking at the jungle as trees went flying as though put through a shredder. Nate wished he could watch Kiri fight but he didn’t have time. He had his own battle to handle. The one he had prepared for. It just needed the signal to get started.

Nate’s voice rang out over the intervening space.

“I’ve only got one thing to say to you and all the fools you’ve gathered to your cause, Kalin.”

“And what’s that?” asked Kalin smugly.

“Almighty Boom.”

The cannons activation scattered the dirty clouds as the Solaris fired on his command, the forest exploding into flames as Nate prepared to put an end to Kalin, to those he had brought with him, and to any chance that he would get less than first in the World Reaping. It was time to fight.