Chapter 248 - Regalia

Kiri moved like an awkward hunting hawk through the skies. A beam of light shot at her and she activated Shadow of the Soul, creating a shadow of herself to take the blast. The impact lit up the sky between her and her target and with a burst of Soul Energy she teleported to where she sensed it was. Striking down at the empty space before her, she expended a unit of Divine Energy, tripling her Soul Slayer’s Aspect strength bonus. The empty air screamed in response as blood flew free and the bird appeared for a moment before vanishing again in a burst of light. But not before leaving Kiri a present. Another three points of Divine Energy vanished as Kiri tripled her Soul Imbuement for a moment, making her durable enough to weather the explosion of light so bright it burned away the clouds.

While she could endure the explosion, she couldn’t arrest her momentum, and unlike Nate she couldn’t redirect energy when she teleported. Using Soul Shift, she appeared in the forest nearby, the full force of her descent still present. Trees were blown away as Kiri’s body created a crater where she appeared. Within that crater, Kiri stood unharmed, the Divine Energy imbuement bonus remaining. She had another twenty-five seconds to work with it and her step blew the crater even deeper as she launched herself like a speeding comet back into the sky. The two birds she faced were both Lesser Divines, and she was pretty sure they were a mated pair as the two worked in tandem.

One was dive-bombing Nate, its beak glinting metal in the midday sun. The other Kiri could sense was preparing another Divine Energy empowered light beam to shoot at Nate from a separate angle. Kiri grit her teeth in anger as she realised the two buzzards had intentionally set up their attack so she could only defend against one of them. Or so they thought. Stupid birds didn’t know who the fuck they were messing with! No one touched her brother! Divine Energy came and went and then there were two of her. It felt like her mind split and she realised she would be limited to how many different ways she could focus and was instantly thankful for investing in her Intellect Stat.

The Soul Twin version of her vanished, appearing between the Light-bird and Nate as the beam fired. The original her Soul Shifted on top of the divine Metal-bird mid-dive and with another expenditure of Divine Energy, she made her Tethered Arms truly physical. Wrapping the bird's wings up in a dozen arms, she redirected the bird off the side of the cliff, aiming for the octopus that was hanging onto the rocks and firing blasts of something that looked like ink at the Depths Walkers below. The shining metal beak, imbued with Divine Energy, punched a hole through the side of the octopus, ripping off two of its arms in the process as blue blood flowed freely. The bird screamed in fury as it and Kiri dived at breakneck speed towards the water and she felt it expend more Divine Energy, hardening its body to that of metal as they were about to impact the water.

Right before impact, Kiri Soul Shifted, using her momentum to appear above where she sensed the Light-wielding bird was. The bird responded instantly, vanishing in a flash of light as Kiri sensed that it had once more used Divine Energy to evade her. As for her Soul Twin, it lay on the cliff face, dissipating into soul energy as the Divine Energy light attack had punched through even her prodigious defense. Kiri, unable to arrest her momentum using the bird, Soul Shifted straight back into her crater in the forest, forcing the hole deeper, before vanishing again to appear next to Nate. The two birds appeared above, circling together, and Kiri suspected they were contemplating whether it was worth it to continue. Nate wasn’t done yet, but he would be soon. The moment he was, their numbers advantage would disappear. Then they were well and truly fucked. The question was whether they were willing to continue throwing their own Divine Energy away with no guarantee they would see a return.

Kiri bared her teeth in a predatory smile as her many tethered arms arrayed themselves around her, shielding Nate and pointing blades at the birds.

“Come get it!” she screamed.

*************

Frick was everywhere. Literally. He fought on eight different fronts and every single part of him was laughing. The battle was pure chaos, filled with blood, fear, anger, despair and more. Of that chaos, he drank, and with every sip, the horde grew. Each blue goblin might be notably weaker than his singular form, but that didn’t matter when there were so many of him! Even his enemies' victories fueled him. With every goblin they killed, their viciousness and the blood that flowed fueled more of him. The first pack that had come to investigate had died, but they had been replaced with more and more beasts as the jungles beyond Pinoreth came alive.

Two blue goblins charged a Dark Ligan, wielding a dead Deathtouch Emerald Snake like a whip. The Legendary Snake might be dead, but its venom glands still worked perfectly well and the cat-like beast swung a paw at the dead snake to try and knock it away. Its success was short-lived as five goblins jumped from the tree above, wielding a second Deathtouch Emerald Snake. Three of the goblins were obliterated instantly but not before the other two managed to slam the snake's fangs into the unprotected hindquarter of the Dark Ligan over and over again. As the venom took root and the Dark Ligan's muscles started seizing up, more Fricks charged forth hacking and stabbing in a bloody fury using weapons of metal, bone, and even dead Fricks, splitting into even more Fricks as they did so. Drinking deep of the growing sense of despair, fear and death was like nectar to the Frick bees. The horde grew and Frick’s laughter filled the battlefield as he pulled mana from his Master to fuel his growth.

Standing separate from the horde of fodder, the Frick Shamans worked together, using Nate’s Skills to create simple runes to empower the horde and inhibit the beasts. Behind the Shamans, standing taller than all other Fricks, clad in makeshift metal that had been ripped from the ground and shaped into armour, stood Chieftan Frick of the Blue Goblin Horde. In his eyes, was a glint of madness as he watched his minions turn this battlefield into a bloody mess.

“The Undefeated Horde!” he howled and the Horde howled back!

*************

Nate smiled as the second grand runic array was completed. Two grand runic arrays, both incorporating Divine Sigils, bound to a Divine Artifact in the form of an Unending Black Pearl, embedded with the Concepts of Barrier, Space, Open and Close. All that remained now to complete his work was to give the grand runic arrays the Divine material through which it would all work. The paint around him sloshed, the colours refusing to merge even as they had become a tapestry rather than islands of hue.

Forty-nine units of Divine Energy remained. Roughly a quarter of what he expected he would need. Pulling out the gifts from the Depths Walker Temple, and with utter focus, he began searching for new Concepts within the depths of the materials before him. Drifting in and out of awareness, he found them, one after another. Sigils he didn’t know, but Concepts he could feel resonating within the pieces of bone, shell, coral and nacre. Bone was the first, then Current, a relative of Flow. A pearl that was such a deep Blue that he felt the Concept within the idea of the colour itself. Tides, Embrace, Symbiosis, Echo and Call. The Concepts kept flowing and with every one, Divine Energy entered him, a feeling of ecstasy as he realised he was reaching a point where he would struggle to contain it all. So he let it out.

The paint surrounding him rippled like the ocean itself as it became more than just a powerful liquid enhanced with impurities to give it hue. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered what would happen if he could add the Sigils for colour itself to the various paints, but that was for a future time. For now, all his focus bent towards turning the paint into a Divine Artifact, a pillar of Reality representing the very idea of paint, a medium for his art.

As the Divine Energy drained away he could sense the battle around him reaching a crescendo. His actions had apparently reinvigorated the various creatures' desires for his blood, or he supposed, his Divine Energy, and like a cacophony of baying hounds, they attacked. Three Kiris flashed around him, protecting him. Beyond her was a horde of goblins and Nate wondered what Frick had done. Mana flowed into Nate’s reserve and exited just as quickly, the lion's share being taken by his Familiar for who knew what.

With the last of his mental focuses, he continued to look through the gifts of the Depths Walkers’ Temple. He needed a few more Concepts, a few more pieces of Divine Energy, and then it would be complete. Then he would finish his grand creation.

*************

Kiri quietly cursed Nate. The birds had been ready to leave. She’d seen it in the way they moved and their reluctance to re-engage. They’d decided the prize wasn’t worth the cost. And then he had gone and started pulling in so much Divine Energy that she was surprised there wasn’t an even bigger horde charging them. She had been forced to expend Divine Energy to raise her Soul Sanctuary of the Everborn to over level one hundred, just to get the Divine effect that let her create Soul Twins instantly from Divine Energy. There were currently three of her roaming the battlefield. Two in the sky, trying to keep the birds away while the last stood in front of Nate in case of a sneak attack. 

Even with all the Divine Energy she was expending, she had gotten plenty back from the first two Lesser Divines she had killed. The carcasses of those two birds lay nearby, and while neither had held much Divine Energy, it had at least been enough to offset some of the costs she was now bearing. Her brother owed her for this. The thought flickered through her mind and was discarded like the trash it was. Nate was family and she would’ve spent all her Divine Energy if that was what he needed. With a vicious smile she prepared to create another Soul Twin and then finish off those fucking birds!

*************

Jin’Kahn screamed in victory as the Ascendant Inkbound Octopid fell from the cliff face. An Ascendant, and the Depths Walkers had brought it down. Elder Gan’Fan, who followed the Path of the Guardian, was dead. He had taken an Inkshot that had blotted out the sky and would’ve killed their Disciples, sacrificing himself in the process. Elder Kol’Harl, who followed the Path of the Hunter, had also fallen, thinking he had achieved victory and being lured into a trap by the Ascendant Octopid. Over half their Senior Disciples had also fallen in the battle, robbing the Depths Walkers of many talents. But between the creature of the deeps blood loss from Ascendant Kiri and the Ascendant bird she had harnessed, and the constant attacks from the Depths Walkers, they had killed the beast. 

A notification flickered in the corner of Jin’Kahn’s vision, likely an Achievement from The Guide. But that was not what she was focused on. The beast had died at their hands, but they had no way to absorb and retain the Divine Energy it released upon death. Instead, it had gone inwards, back into the beast, and the Orb it formed. And from that Orb Jin’Kahn sensed her Path forward. A beast of her own Path, her hair wriggled in anticipation. Now she just needed to convince the remaining Elders that the Orb should go to her, so that she could lead the Depths Walkers into an age of prosperity.

*************

Nate smiled as the last of the Divine Energy finally suffused the sea of paint around him and Reality answered. The colours of the ground, the plants, even Nate himself, shifted as though Reality was being repainted. With a flex of his Intent, Nate brought the Divine tier paint under his control, and absorbed it into the Unending Black Pearl hanging on his bare chest. As the paint vanished into the space within the pearl, he activated the two grand runic arrays. Finally, everything was done, and with it, only one Divine Energy remained within the reservoir inside his Class Core.

Before a notification could flash, Reality answered his Path. Twenty units of Divine Energy flowed back into him as he created both a Divine artifact in the form of the paint, and then a Divine item, in the form of his completed work. Standing, he looked at the damage he had wrought on the cliffs with his undertaking. The ground beneath him was barely holding on, and he realised that the only reason the entire cliff hadn’t broken away under the assaults was a group of Frick’s, dressed in copies of Nate’s old robe, working in tandem around a large runic array carved into the cliff itself, channelling the Concepts of Earth, Reinforcement, Durability and Shaping.

Beyond the cliffs, the city of Pinoreth was under siege from the jungle, with beasts coming in droves as they tried to breach the walls. Reciprocity whispered to Nate that he owed the Calikex for this, as they bled to defend their city, though the demand was small. His actions had drawn the beasts but the price was mostly around the damage Nate himself had done, like to the cliff. As for the Calikex, none were dead yet among the general populace, but the wounded defenders were starting to stack up. Nate wasn’t including the Depths Walkers as he felt no pull from Reciprocity towards them, likely due to the fact that they had initiated their own attack against the Lesser Divine beast from the deep.

Nate drew up the item notification as he prepared to act.

Regalia of the Conceptual Artist (Divine) (Growth)
Features: Conceptual Consumption (Divine), Spatial Paint Container (Divine), Adaptable Form (Divine), Paint Creation (Divine), Item Concealment (Divine), Innate Repair (Mythic), Self-Cleaning (Mythic)

Conceptual Consumption: This item can absorb the Concepts of any item fed to it up to the Divine-tier.
Current Concepts: N/A

Spatial Paint Container: This item can store up to one-thousand litres of Divine-tier Paint. This Paint can take on aspects of any Concept fed to the Regalia.
Current Stored Paint: 823L

Adaptable Form: The Divine Paint stored within this item can be adapted to any form the user desires. This form is reinforced and can contain any absorbed Concepts expressed in the form of runes within the structure.

Paint Creation: This item can produce Divine Paint over time. This amount can be grown by feeding Divine Energy or Divine Artifacts to the item.
Current rate of production: 1L/Day

Item Concealment: This item is runecrafted to conceal its nature from all identification. Enough Divine Energy may be capable of penetrating this Concealment.

Innate Repair: This item is runecrafted to repair itself over time using ambient mana. Feeding the item mana can accelerate this process.

Temperature Control: This item is runecrafted to protect against the basic elements and has built-in temperature controls.

Self-Cleaning: This item is runecrafted to clean itself, and to some extent, its wearer.

With a smile and a thought, Nate was clothed in a flowing blue and green robe. Then his bracer was gone, absorbed into the Divine Artifact as he fed it the elemental Concepts contained within along with Barrier. While the Concepts themselves weren’t yet Divine, as the item material was only Mythic, they would do for now. His robe rippled as he formed the same barrier within the robe and then his shield formed itself, perfectly sculpted to his body.

He had achieved his goal. Now, it was time to make sure no innocents died for his dream.