Chapter 50 - Massacre Part 5

Sticking his head past the open door, Lukas peered into the room, just to make sure it was empty. At this point, he was almost certain that no soldier inside the entire castle would willingly stand before him, but he didn’t want to take his chances this close to the end. It didn’t help that the energy field emitted by the wardstones — pure natural energy of the world — was causing interference with his Scanning abilities.

Scanning every corner with both anomaly and mundane senses, Lukas found the room barren save for the large Shikigami ritual circle in the center, drawn in the middle of the floor. The circle in question was massive, large enough to hold a Trial By Combat inside it with room to spare. He actually felt dwarfed standing near the giant thing.

As he stepped inside, he noticed the large rocky obelisks dug into the floor. There were five of them, each placed at the vertices, possibly representing each element — Elemental Constraint, according to Olfric. There was a sixth obelisk, cut exactly into the shape of a pentagon, and placed at the center. The Spiritual Constraint. The entire ritual circle was crafted out of Carquane, an alloy of silver and vatuatil that held —

“Oh, what’s this? An 83% efficiency in channeling natural energy?” Lukas muttered with a chuckle. “Looks like we've got something that’s way better at channeling natural energy than you, Blob.”

“MEAAAOW!” growled Blob, who was currently in the form of a bylestyr, carrying an injured Ultaf Shimizu under its elbow like a sack of potatoes.

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Lukas laughed, getting an in depth analysis of this alloy. Blob’s own efficiency at conducting natural energy was somewhere around 39%, but on the other hand, Carquane was absolutely shit at everything else.

It wasn’t good for storing energy.

It wasn’t good for storing spiritual data.

And it definitely couldn’t turn ‘alive’ like aqāru good.

It was, plain and simple, a superconductor, as far as Natural Energy was concerned, one that could hold the energy in it for… forty seconds at best, before the energy diffused out of it. That made it absolutely useful as a wardstone, but good for little else.

Though, in the right hands, by which he meant his own, it could become something else. Depending on how vulnerable it was to alteration.

Something to consider for the near-future.

The rest of the room was fairly simple. There was, as expected, the tiny rupture in the air right above the obelisk in the center, no doubt the Well through which the Shimizu were able to penetrate some borderland and harvest kami and other monsters. Even if he were to demolish the entire castle and destroy these wardstones, the rupture would still be there, but Mujin would be able to use it no longer.

In one stroke, everything he owned would be gone.

Just like that.

What was that if not plundering?

“GUH!” groaned Ultaf.

“Let me guess, you’re wondering if this is where you die, right?”

“GUH!”

His lips thinned. “Believe me after what you and your grandfather did, I’d like nothing better than to kill you with my bare hands. Squeeze your throat and all that. But I’m afraid I can’t.”

“GUH?”

“Oh no,” said Lukas. “Don’t think I’ll let you go either. But for someone like you, death is mercy. And I’m not feeling merciful to you right now. Not after what you and your kin did to Tanya, to Zuken, to all those people your beasts killed on that hill… to the svartalfars, to…. To your own soldiers. No, Ultaf Shimizu, granting you death means that you get to evade justice.” He looked at the broken man’s eyes. “You will suffer the same fate as your soldiers. Robbed of your will. You shall live, but like a puppet. You shall breathe, but only because I will it to be so. You—”

He paused, as the sounds of footsteps became louder and louder. The door opened, and Tanya and the rest stood there. Before he knew it, Tanya had crossed the distance between them, and caught him in a hug. Lukas might have squeaked in surprise, but the undignified sound was muffled by her mouth, suddenly glued to his own. The world vanished into irrelevance, and her lips tasted like victory.

When she pulled back, Lukas noticed how intense, and satisfied she looked, and at the same time, more hungry and dominant and alive than he had ever seen her, to the point that he was as aroused as he was intimidated.

“Someone’s going to get really lucky tonight,” she promised. As she said that, her eyes shone a brilliant white.

Olfric cleared his throat.

Tanya backed off, but not even Olfric and the other's presence could quell the emotion shining bright in her face. Lukas smirked and looked at Olfric and Elena, who both looked like they had seen several miles of bad road, and Zuken who looked like a frail, sleep-deprived man and not at all like the charismatic, formidable personality he was used to dealing with.

“Banksi,” said Lukas amiably. “They did a number on you, huh?”

“Killed my men, destroyed my house and kidnapped me here,” said Zuken with a tired grin. “I heard you had a harrowing experience yourself.”

Lukas laughed. “You could say that. But first, let me introduce you to our guest.”

“GUH!…”

“Hello, big brother,” said Tanya, her voice sharper than knives as she glared at him. “Heard you were looking for me.”

“GGGUH?” Tears were flowing down Ultaf’s cheeks. A pathetic sight.

“Eh… he’s having a little trouble speaking right now. I might have accidentally broken his neck bone.”

“GGGGUHHH!”

“... Right. Sorry. And his arms, legs, and his rib cage. Maybe a couple more.”

“...Accidentally?” asked Elena, bewildered. “How do you accidentally do something like that?”

It was Lukas’s turn to look sheepish. “I uh… I just wanted to break the bones on his arms and legs to be frank. You know, just in case he wasn’t stupid enough to try anything. I guess I underestimated how weak he is and might have squeezed a bit too hard.”

“And somehow you broke every bone in his body?”

“... I might have squeezed really, really hard.”

No one in the room looked like they believed his excuse. Sighing, he said. “Look, he won’t die of those injuries. But it will take him days to heal from them, even with healing spells. And he won’t be able to speak until then.”

Tanya snorted. “Nothing he doesn’t deserve.” She looked at Lukas. “I’m guessing the plan’s still the same, right?”

“More or less,” he shrugged. “Say, Ultaf, think your grandfather will mind terribly if I total his castle?”

“GUH?!!!”

“Right. Got it.”

“He really can’t understand him, can he?” asked Olfric, looking at everyone flustered.

“Who cares?” muttered Elena. “I just want to be done with this.”

“Yeah…” Olfric murmured, looking no less flustered. “You know, it’s not even four hours, and half the time was spent at the entrance.”

“What’s your point?” asked Tanya, curious.

“Four hours…” the aquamancer repeated. “We just infiltrated into one of the most well-defended fortresses in the entire Empire, massacred their entire army, freed Zuken, captured their Lord, and are about to destroy the fortress and get away with it clean. And all of it in less than four hours.”

He tiredly rubbed his head, looking at Lukas for answers.

“And?” Lukas asked.

“It was a well-planned smash and grab,” Tanya nodded, though now that Olfric had pointed it out, she seemed a little disturbed. “In and out.”

“But that’s just not the way this kind of thing goes!” Olfric shook his head furiously. “It’s just! This is the fortress of a Warlord! It just went so well! Too well! How often do you do this kind of thing, Aguilar?”

“Actually, it was my first,” Lukas admitted with a shrug. He really wasn’t able to see what the big deal was. They had planned for everything, and they got lucky that none of the Shimizu soldiers could overpower him, and that Ultaf was an obnoxious and arrogant son of a bitch.

“It was a very impressive victory,” Tanya agreed. “I can’t wait to see how Mujin reacts to it.”

“Probably by bombing the Desert,” Elena quipped.

“GUH?” Ultaf added his two bits.

“I’d have said experience matters,” said Zuken. “But clearly you don’t need it.”

“Whatever…” said Lukas. Now that the adrenaline rush was leaving him, he was beginning to feel the aftereffects of the constant exhaustion. His powers had grown, yes, but he had channeled way too much lifeforce through his body and the effect was starting to show. Acting as a direct conduit to all that Natural Energy through the ley line hadn’t helped matters either.

No, he told himself. Just one last thing left.

“Elena,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Can you do it, now?”

“Here?” she asked, surprised.

“If possible, yes.”

The changeling shrugged, and walked up to Ultaf, who was still being carried like a sack of potatoes. She looked at him hesitantly, and then back at Lukas.

“Do you really think this is… I mean, Joey has never—”

“He’s a nightmare. He can manage. And trust me, nobody’s killing him.”

Elena bit her lip. “I’ve never let him out like this before.”

“Our entire plan hinges on this, Elena,” Lukas stressed. “You have to do this.”

She scowled. “Trust you to come up with the most vulgar requests, Aguilar. Fine, but after all this is done, you’re going to owe me a favor.”

“What?” Tanya interrupted. “What for?”

“Fine,” said Lukas absently. He just wanted to be done now. Hit the bed. And prepare for Mujin’s reaction. In that order.

“Okay….”

“What are you going to do to him?” asked Zuken.

“Give him a taste of his own medicine,” said Lukas, and absently raised a hand, erecting a circular stone wall around them. There was after all, no need for the others to be exposed to the nightmare again. He grabbed Ultaf’s head and lifted it up until he was eye-level with Elena.

“Alright,” said Lukas, “now open your mind. Say ‘Ah’.”

Elena rolled her eyes, and muttered something under her breath. The next thing he knew, a familiar, alien energy exploded out of her mouth, and rushed into Ultaf’s own. The former aeromancer spasmed and squeaked and groaned in agony, but Lukas kept holding him by his hair without care. Finally, Ultaf let out a small grunt, and fell unconscious.

He dropped the walls right after.

“It’s done,” said Elena in a small voice.

“Elena, what did you do?” asked Zuken.

“What Ultaf Shimizu deserved,” said Lukas coldly. “Nothing more, nothing less. Now all that’s left is for me to destroy this castle, and we can be on our merry way.”

“Erm, Lukas,” asked Olfric. “Exactly how are you planning to destroy the castle? I doubt anything short of a Level-4 attack will be enough.” He paused. “Unless you’re a…”

“No,” He shook his head. “Not a Level-4. Not yet. But throwing power at something is not the only way to destroy it.”

He looked at the wardstones. “These are made from Carquane, an alloy of 27.2% silver and 70.4% vatuatil, and some other trace elements. 83% efficient at channeling the Natural energy of the world and hence, very good for powering wards.  Practically a superconductor. On the other hand, it’s got only 4% efficiency at storing energy, so absolutely ridiculous as a battery.”

“And?” asked Tanya, curious.

“Interestingly, if you alter the vatuatil percentage down to 66%, and increase the silver past 29%, the conduction efficiency drops down from 83 to 69%, but the storage shoots up all the way to 47.2%. Fantastic, isn’t it?”

“Er… yeah,” said Olfric, looking confused. “But what’s that got to do with us?”

Elena and Tanya too were giving him bewildered looks. Only Zuken stared at him with undivided interest.

“Unfortunately, the increase in silver makes the alloy unstable. I estimate the entire thing will probably shatter within ten seconds at best. Tanya, are you paying attention?”

“Uh— yeah,” said Tanya, who looked like she was finally getting it.

“And can you alter them?” asked Zuken with interest. “I imagine you’d need to be a terramancer hyper specialized in mineral alteration to even try something like that.”

“Oh not necessarily,” said Lukas, smiling, and the Screen popped in front of his eyes.

Territory Creation Active

Altering material composition and functionality

Reducing Key limiters…

The wardstones around him were slowly morphing.

As was the ritual circle. Instead of the Asukan matrix that constrained power and let it out in controlled amounts, he altered it into Inanna’s pentagram — applying the principle of harmony to it. Too bad the stones would be shattering too quickly to even try achieving that.

Set.

Alloy Alteration complete

Blueprint saved and stored in Anomaly Database

Initiating Charge.

“Get them out quick,” he snapped. “I’m nearly done.”

That spurred Tanya into action. She grabbed Elena, and disappeared, as if vanishing past a wall he couldn’t see. She appeared a moment later behind a flabbergasted Zuken, and grabbed him, vanishing shortly after.

“I swear I’ll never get used to—” Olfric began, but he was grabbed away before he could finish.

Blob and Ultaf were next.

And then she reappeared, looking absolutely haggard.

“It…” she breathed. “It takes… a lot! Out of me…”

“You can do one more, right?”

“Yeah….” she panted. “Just give me a second.”

Lukas smiled. And right then, the Screen displayed another message.

Charging Complete

Reaching critical limits…

Full discharge in 10 seconds…

“NOW!”

Tanya gritted her teeth, and grabbed Lukas, and he felt something tugging every inch of his body, as he was pulled in every direction, before his feet touched ground again, and he found himself on the opposite mountain, with Solana and the rest of the yokai, Olfric, Elena and a gobsmacked Zuken Banksi staring at everyone in apprehension.

“Barriers up! QUICKLY!” He commanded.

“Six… five… four…” Lukas muttered, inwardly smiling at what was about to happen. Natural Energy was an absolute demon to control. Once you pulled it out of the World, or the Haze, or any other World-level entity, there was no hope of trying to put that genie back into the bottle. And even less hope of taming it in the first place.

He could only hope that Solana’s barriers would hold back the impact.

“Three…”

So he didn’t bother to control it. He was betting on the idea of the energy being unleashed to the sky and back. It wasn’t about harnessing the power, it was about dissipating it all at once in one massive explosion. And with the wardstone chamber being connected to everything else, there was only one way in which the massive surge of energy could be liberated.

Meanwhile, layers upon layers of dense energy-fields and barriers were forming all around them.

“Two…”

A wave went through the air, and Lukas smiled at what was to come.

“One…”

BOOOM!!!!

The explosion of light that followed could have put a nuclear explosion to shame.

If left unobstructed, the dense, unfiltered energy would probably have shot upwards towards the heavens until the Carquane channeling it had disintegrated. But if there was something in its way…

Like the wardstones channeling it into the very walls of the castle. Into the layers and layers of wards placed to control and channel that energy. Dozens of enchantments, hundreds of defenses, all of them prepared to hold it in place.

An unstoppable force against an immovable object. The two titanic powers erupted against each other with such might that the entire mountain shook, the waves from the collision creating avalanches on surrounding mountains, the sonic boom nearly shattering everyone’s ear drums, as the castle — every pillar, every wall, every enchantment was blasted away in every direction in one cataclysmic detonation. Solana’s barriers held the shockwaves back, and even she had to grit her teeth and nearly dropped to a knee, despite being at least a mile away.

When the light and smoke died, the entire top of the mountain had vanished, leaving a vast crater in its place, with shattered stone blocks, no large than a small boulder, littered all around, and those were the most discernible pieces of the mighty fortress that stood there a moment ago.

The Screen flickered again.

Gathered +2,41,17,991 Soul Capacity

“And yet…” muttered Lukas, his eyes flickering to an intense shade of green as the pendant shone malevolently. “Far from complete.”