Chapter 44 - A Thousand Cuts

Aisling danced across the sky, the wind chasing her as it blew her out of the path of a fireball only for the flaming sphere to change directions, arching around to come back at her from behind. Throwing a sheet of water behind her to destroy the fireball, she heard the wind's words through Wind Reveals its Secrets. She floated downward without turning around as another fireball passed through where she had been. The fireball repeated the moves of the previous one, flying back towards her, the wind whispering of another already in flight. Rather than snuff them out again, she flew towards the one that had already passed her, moving to the side at the last moment, close enough to feel the waves of heat coming off the fireball.

As soon as the fireball had passed her, with the other flying towards her, she used the fact that the two fireballs broke her opponents line of sight and whipped up her spear. The wind whispered the position of Garnet and she launched a bolt of lightning. The white blast of energy went through the fireball coming towards her, breaking the spell's structure as the flaming sphere dissipated and an angry scream pierced the night.

Aisling watched through the haze of dispersing smoke as Garnet flexed an arm, blackened by lightning. Even as she gazed at the damage she could see the flesh begin to knit back together, pink skin showing beneath the torn and scorched black leather. The fight hadn’t been raging long and they were still testing each other. Aisling’s Primary Class was well known and in many ways, her claim to fame and power. Daughter of the Storm was an Epic Class and the namesake of her greatest Skill. But in battles at this level, all Classes mattered. Why? Because of Skill Synergy across your classes. With the right choices in Secondary and Tertiary classes, you could enhance Primary Class Skills to the next level. That is what her Daughter of the Storm Skill was…a Legendary Skill.

So why hadn’t she simply used her abilities to their full extent and ended this fight already? Because the wind had whispered something to her. Garnet was holding back. Not just a little. She was holding back a lot. But finally, she had some ideas about what it was Garnet was hiding. The way her arm had healed was almost certainly a regeneration type skill. A fire mage wouldn’t need regeneration unless their skills and spells could damage them. That left only two options, and Aisling was ready to find out which it was.

She could see Garnet, fiery wings flapping and keeping her aloft, preparing six large fireballs. Clearly she wasn’t yet ready to take this to the next level. Well, too bad. Aisling activated two Skills as she formed one of the spells she was well known for. Even Spells Grow came from her Tertiary Class, Growth Mage. Lightning Strikes Twice was a replicator Skill that, on its own, would use ambient mana to replicate a spell effect. When the two were combined, Aisling could make a spell replicate many times over for a fraction of the cost in mana. She smiled into the storm as the Lightning Tree spell took form between her and her opponent. The crackling filled the sky as it brightened under the hundreds of lightning bolts growing into the sky, branching out into the shape of a tall oak, the lightning aspected mana in the storm above feeding its growth. As it completed, the Lightning Tree stood over a hundred metres tall and Aisling made her move.

Flashing forward with Stormchild active, she was faster than normal, lightning fueling her movement while Daughter of the Storm caused the wind itself to assist her. A blur across the sky, the Lightning Tree began unleashing bolts in Garnet's direction. Let’s see if you can hold back now! In a blink she was before Garnet, her lightning encased spear darting forward towards her opponents heart. Through the eyeholes of Garnet's mask Aisling could see her reaction go from surprise to steel. The spear reached its target, a blast of lightning coming out the end, but Garnet was no longer there. In a flash of heat and flame she’d vanished. Only the whispers of the wind let her know that Garnet was diving down from above, flaming rapier extended.

Aisling didn’t move from her spot, a bolt of lightning flashing from her Lightning Tree hit her body and was expelled creating an electric ball explosion right as Garnet got too close. Another flash of flame and Garnet was gone, hovering now above her.

Aisling smirked up at the woman, “I knew you had more to show than the simple spells of a Fire Mage. It’s been a while since I saw it, but Fire Unity as a Concept, impressive, if not original.”

Garnet's muttered insult shouldn’t have been audible over the storm but the wind still whispered it to Aisling. So, she thought Aisling was a bitch. Well, she wasn’t wrong. But then, she wasn’t right either.

“You’re looking down on me! Just like he did! As if the Concept of the Storm is original? For that I am going to burn you till you scream for mercy!” Garnet raged.

Immediately the sky bloomed with fire as it began to roll forward like a wave, as though the sky was an ocean. Finally, it was time to go all out. With that thought, the storm above finally broke, rain beginning to fall. Aisling laughed as the water started to fall all around her. For what was a storm, without a master?

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

Nate and Kiri moved in perfect sync. The Twins, who Nate had finally learned were named Galen and Roland- due to Torian yelling instructions at them - kept trying to tie Kiri up long enough for Torian to get past her. But so far that had failed time and again as they forced Nate and Kiri back. Galen dashed forward again, shield in front trying to rush Kiri. Roland came from the other side, sword swinging at a cross angle. A pincer attack that would’ve pinned Kiri down, or forced her to evade and thus expose Nate.

Torian charged from behind the twins, glowing red with his Raging skill, preparing to take advantage of their plan. Instead Nate dropped the earth from beneath Galen’s foot, making him stumble, his shield bash veering too far to the left. At the same time, he created a barrier angled on an upward slant between Kiri and Roland, forcing his sword up and over her head as she crouched. The final move was another barrier, catching Torian’s axe before it had even begun to swing, pulling the large man off his feet using his own strength against him.

Kiri capitalised on their openings, daggers flashing out, tinged with darkness as she opened a few more wounds on the twins before disengaging. They’d been constantly pushed back, bleeding their opponents every step of the way. That wasn’t to say Kiri hadn’t taken a few injuries. Grazes and gashes mostly, all healed up by the occasional Life Drain from Nate as he sapped their opponents to heal his friend.

“Death by a thousand cuts?” Kiri asked with a grin, blood on her teeth.

“Bitch, this is nothin! As soon as tha mage runs outta mana, ya both dead!” Torian yelled at them as he hefted his axe and the trio rushed at them again, this time with Torian leading the charge.

Nate faked a drop in the earth in front of Torian, pretending to have moved too soon. The berserker jumped over the gap only to hit a barrier above him, right along his neck. Unfortunately, Nate couldn’t make the edge of the barriers sharp enough or strong enough to cut his opponents, as the barriers would collapse under the force of the impact. However making them thick like a log of wood was more than enough to arrest any forward movement.

As Torian went down with a groan, Kiri feinted at Roland before Nate pulled the earth out from beneath Galen, allowing her to get in three more strikes before they were forced back again. The twins each now bleeding from over a dozen small wounds while Torian looked unharmed, his Class clearly incorporating some form of regeneration. The Berserker however looked absolutely furious at their continued failures. Torian wasn’t wrong though. Nate would eventually run out of mana, though he did have his last few mana gems if they got desperate. But if the plan played out, it wouldn’t come to that.

They were almost beneath the trees now and they had been guiding the fight in a very specific direction. Another two exchanges and they should be at the right location. As they prepared to engage again, the night sky lit up as a tree made of crackling lightning grew in seconds to touch the storm hanging above. Barely a moment later and a rolling wave of fire turned night to day, sweeping over their heads.

The level of power on display made him want to curl up in a ball and hide. His barriers would be nothing before the amount of mana and might on display. Kiri glanced at him and in her eyes he didn’t see fear. He saw a thirst. A need to become like the ones that fought in the sky above them. It was enough, for now. They dove back into the fight, barriers flickering at the last second to deflect blows, earth shifting up and down to catch feet and legs, the occasional burst of light to blind someone right before an attack, and a constant drain on their enemies' lifeforce being fed to Kiri. All the while Kiri made them bleed for every inch of ground their enemies gained, daggers flashing at every mistake and misstep, the twins and Torian unable to match her speed and agility. It was enough to keep them fighting and they’d finally backed far enough into the trees.

Nate nodded to Kiri and she immediately jumped back, using Archer’s Step and pretended like she was trying to gain height. At the same time, Nate started running up his barrier steps again. Torian took the bait, launching himself at Nate with whatever his jumping Skill was. They’d planned this during their trek out into the forest as they pursued the kidnappers. Nate had one chance with his Acidic Projectile Wand to end Torian and they couldn’t afford for him to miss, which meant the Berserker needed to be locked down. They had expected he might have one or two Skills for getting out of a Barrier cage. Using something like his ice prison, or alternatively, an earthen one, would shield the Berserker from the acid. No, they needed him immobile but accessible.

Nate watched as the Berserker sailed up towards him. Dropping the barrier beneath him, as well as his personal barrier, he used all three of his Barrier Runes to create a ceiling that Torian crashed into. The Berserker ricocheted off the Barrier ceiling towards the ground which was already opening up to swallow him as Frick activated the runes he’d replicated onto the trees. Frick used Nates Imbue Intent to control the size and shape until the pit was long enough and wide enough that the twins would need to run around or climb down into the earthen pit to cross. Due to the conservation of energy, Torian reached the ground before Nate did, face planting into the dirt in a pit a metre deep. Before he could get up, Nate had reached into his spatial storage and extracted his wand.

The tip of the wand glowed green as it began to activate, Torian not even managing to get to his knees before balls of acid started firing from the wand. The green balls of death started impacting the Berserker, driven by more mana than Nate could hold in his reserve, empowered by concepts imbued into the material and intents enhancing their corrosive nature. The screams were horrendous but Nate pushed through. This man had indulged in slavery and who knew what else, had tried to kidnap him, offering him up for the same fate, had taken his best friend's mother. He’d earned death, even if it was a horrible one, even if it made Nate sick to his stomach. The acid continued to fly and only a few seconds later all the mana stored in the wand had been expended.

Torian still stood, half his body melted as he was covered in the acidic substance. The Berserker was clearly trying to use a Skill, as there were bones visible beneath the acid and much of his stomach and chest was simply gone. Some kind of last stand ability perhaps. It wasn’t enough though and a few seconds later he collapsed, notifications going off in the corner of his vision as he felt the wave of processed mana hit him, being hungrily drunk by his Class Core.

He turned to see Kiri getting ready to fight Roland as he made his way around the pit, Galen on the other side. The two idiots had split up making this an easy fight to finish. Nate prepared to try and force Galen into the pit. He was unprepared for a short, pudgy woman stepping out from behind a tree, locking eyes with him. Before he could even form a barrier, she spoke three words.

“Sit and wait.”

Nate found himself unable to resist her command, sitting down on the grass beneath him as Torian’s corpse sizzled nearby, mesmerised by the brown eyes of the woman staring at him. He should just sit here and wait. After all, if she wanted something else she would tell him when the time came. His mind in a haze, he absently acknowledged that Kiri was leaping over towards him even as Galen closed on him, sword held out. Galen would arrive first. That much was clear. He just had to wait.

An earthen spike rose out of the ground and slammed through his hand. He screamed from the pain of a hole in his hand but it had broken whatever spell or skill he’d been under.

“You’re welcome, Boss Man!” Frick cackled.

Seeing Galen charge, he activated his Powerful Earth rune, nudging the ground beneath Galen's feet as he ran. The twin tumbled into the earthen pit, sliding through the acid that pooled in it. The fallen twin started screaming, trying to extract himself from the acid as it began melting whatever it touched. Nate spun up a barrier wall between himself and the woman with brown eyes as he stared her down, still sitting on the ground. Ember. His hand throbbed, though that didn’t stop him preparing to skewer her with a spike of earth as the woman's gaze turned furious and she whipped up a wand of her own.

“Soul Dissolution!” Ember shouted as a wisp of white left the tip of the wand moving straight towards him, the wand cracking in the process. He couldn’t move. All he could hope was his barrier would be enough. He watched in slow motion, as the unassuming orb of white energy flew unerringly towards him. Watched as it passed through his barrier, completely unimpeded, moments away from striking his chest. Watched with wide eyes as a body flew in front of his own, close enough to graze his hair. Watched as Kiri collapsed on the ground by his feet and began convulsing like she was having a seizure. His eyes flicked up to the woman, to Ember, her gaze going from satisfied to fearful as he stared at her. Her facial expression didn’t change as a spear of earth skewered her through her upper back, entering her brain and killing her instantly.

As Nate saw her die, he immediately dove to Kiri, trying to see what was wrong. She’d saved him and now she was shaking on the ground before him like she had epilepsy. He spared a glance back to check on the final twin only to see he was already dead, one of Kiri’s daggers buried in his eye. Looking back to Kiri, the storm above finally unleashed the rain it had been holding, water dripping down over the pair as Frick alighted on the ground next to them, joining him in checking over Kiri’s form.

“Boss man…I think she’s dying,” the Familiar whispered.