The Fusionist Book 5 -- Chapter 60

Chapter 60

The next week and a half was a measure of patience and the frantic defense of his friends and the Strike Force, who became more and more adept at using their new Fusions that Larek provided.  He even spent some free time – which was strangely frequent as they had to wait for more monsters to arrive – adding Strengthen and Sharpen Edge Fusions to the Martials’ weapons, as well as Multi-Resistance Fusions to not only their armor but the robes of the Mages, so as to make them a little harder to kill. 

After a few days, with the help of his Pattern disc allowing him to scout around for incoming monster hordes, he even dropped hundreds of his original offensive Fusions in their path, which dramatically lessened their numbers by the time they arrived.  Ideally, he would’ve loved to kill them all from a distance with his Fusions, but something like his Shattering Acidic Occlusion Dome was only really useful for a few monsters at a time – unless he wanted it to explode when too many interacted with it, but he would rather not chance the explosion hurting anyone in the Faction at this point.  The first one exploding near the Slime was bad enough and he didn’t want a repeat.

He briefly thought about flying out and killing the monsters at a much greater distance, eliminating them before they could even become a threat, but he decided not to.  Why?  Because as he told Teena and the Strike Faction before, he didn’t want to do it all himself.  The Mages and Martials were more than capable of defending themselves with the help of their new Fusions, and he was inclined to let them.

Besides, he still had to wait for Verne to wake up, as his old roommate hadn’t regained consciousness the entire time.  His body reacted to water and food being shoved into his mouth, chewing and swallowing automatically, so he wasn’t in danger of his friend dying from starvation or dehydration, but it was getting to the point where he was ready to try and wake him up by placing the Expression of Free Will Fusion on his skull. 

Before he decided to go that route, something else momentous was happening.  As Larek scouted out further and further from the center of the Calamity, ranging over 100 miles away at one point, he came to the conclusion that there were no more monsters coming.  The last monster horde was a bunch of slow-walking fishmen, wielding tridents in their fins that looked deadly enough, but they didn’t seem to fare very well walking over land.

Rather than take them out himself, which he could easily do from above, he allowed them to arrive near the center Aperture.  As he set down near the Strike Faction, who were sitting around talking while they waited for the next assault, he found Teena.  “For at least 100 miles, there are no more monsters – just these ones that will arrive in the next hour or so.  I can only assume that they are the last.”

Shocked, she just stared at the Fusionist for a few seconds before she shook her head.  “Seriously?  We… did it?”

“Almost.  You just have a few more to kill and then we can close the Aperture… right?  That’s what all the notes we found at your compound in Warshdin said, at least.”

“That’s correct.  There were a few much smaller Apertures that were closed this same way in the past, which had taken over only a few subordinate Apertures, and there’s nothing to say that this situation won’t be the same.”

“But you don’t know for sure.”

She shook her head.  “Of course not.  No one has closed a Calamity of this size, after all.”

He supposed it made sense, as this wasn’t something easily done.

The deaths of the last monsters in the Calamity was relatively anticlimactic, because as soon as the trident-wielding fishmen were within range of the staves all the Mages and Martials were carrying, they were blasted by hundreds of flaming balls that tore through them like they were wet paper.  It took a couple of minutes for them all to come close enough to die, with none of the fishy monsters getting within 50 feet of the closest Martial up front, but eventually the final one fell to the ground dead.  As soon as it fell, there was a deep, hollow thwomp behind them all, and they turned to see the gigantic Aperture seemingly pulse where it had been relatively stable before.

“Attack the Aperture!  Now’s our chance to close it!” Teena screamed, and everyone – Larek and Nedira included – started to bombard the large spherical opening from afar.  A few seconds after they began, however, a Steel Slime emerged from the Aperture and fell to the ground, before starting to roll in the direction of the Strike Faction. 

“Reinforcements!  Larek, you’re in charge of eliminating them!” the de facto leader of the Faction yelled at him, and he got right on it.  He was using his own less-powerful version of the staves that the others were using, as he didn’t want to suck away all of the ambient Mana in the area; it proved to be more than enough obliterate the Slime, however. 

But it wasn’t the last Slime to emerge from the Aperture as they slowly shrunk it down in size, as they kept appearing after every 5 seconds or so.  It wasn’t as fast as when an Aperture re-opened to populate its territory, such as what he’d experienced at his very first Aperture sighting with the Greater Trizards, but it was much faster than the reinforcements from the other Apertures.  And not only Steel Slimes appeared, but their evolved versions plopped out of the opening to the world of Corruption, as after every tenth Steel Slime was a Rainbow Slime; after every ten Rainbow Slimes that were sighted was a Crystal Slime.  Thankfully, they were easy enough for Larek to dispose of using his powerful staff by blasting the latter apart, but he began to get worried when he saw his ninth Crystal Slime and the Aperture had only shrunk approximately halfway.

“We’re going to have to speed this up!” he shouted at Teena from above, where he had been keeping watch for and eliminating new arrivals as soon as they showed up. 

“How?  We’re already giving it all we’ve got.”

“Have the Martials attack with their weapons and their Battle Arts,” he suggested, after taking out yet another Steel Slime that emerged from the Aperture.  “I’ll build a platform for them to reach it.”  That was the major problem with such a large Aperture, because it floated just a little too far off the ground to easily reach it from below with a weapon.  They could jump and hit it, but that would be too slow.

As Larek employed his Pattern Manipulation to assemble a platform made of his Pattern underneath the spherical Aperture, which essentially consisted of a large rectangular box that they could jump up on and then swing away without any further difficulty, he heard Teena direct the Martials to hand over their staves to the Mages, who were now dual-wielding them and unleashing their projectiles upon the Aperture.  They normally couldn’t do such a thing – or at least do it well – because they didn’t have the strength and skill to aim them properly without both hands on a single staff, but since they barely had to aim at the enormous Aperture, they were able to accomplish this without too many difficulties.

The difference in the Aperture’s rate of shrinkage was obvious from the second that the Martials started their offense, doubling or even tripling it in some cases.  Even though Larek had built the platform on the opposite side of where all the reinforcements were coming from, the biggest problem with the Martials being that close was that as soon as another Slime appeared, they inevitably moved toward them immediately.  That wasn’t that big of a deal with the Steel and even the Rainbow Slimes, but it wasn’t long until a Crystal Slime appeared – and was almost immediately too close to the Martials for Larek to utilize his usual method of blasting them apart with his staff. 

Thankfully, Teena saw the same problem and called the Martials to temporarily retreat.  They did so just in time as the Crystal Slime moved toward them, and Larek did his best to keep the blast radius to a minimum while he tore chunks off the monster over the course of a minute.  He’d also had to kill more Steel Slimes and a Rainbow Slime while he was doing that, but they were simple in comparison to the Crystal version. 

Eventually, though, he was done with it and the Martials resumed their attack up close, but it was only a matter of time before disaster struck.  That last Crystal Slime was the tenth one he’d seen, and if it followed the same pattern, then it was entirely possible that the next evolved Slime to come out in place of the Crystal Slime would be another Emperor Slime.

He had absolutely no desire to fight one of those things again.

The minutes flew by as they continued to shrink the Aperture, until it was only 50 feet in diameter.  He was starting to believe that even if the Emperor Slime were to come, it wouldn’t fit out of the opening…

…but he was proven wrong a minute later as it had shrunk even further, to about 45 feet in diameter, as a dark bulge began to press out of the Aperture, as if it was trying to squeeze out of the too-small opening.  Unfortunately, being a Slime meant it was quite flexible and would probably succeed in pushing through, as was evidenced by the fact that it quickly extended outward at least 5 feet and it was growing.

“Everyone back!  I’m going to see if I can close it faster!” Larek yelled, and he flew up above the Aperture, aiming for an area behind where the Strike Faction continued to bombard the opening from afar.  Thankfully, the much-faster Martials actually picked up the slower Mages and raced away from the area, giving them the much-needed space to avoid being damaged by what Larek was about to do.

He launched two Maginitude 12 blasts in quick succession from his area, feeling the ambient Mana deplete drastically from the Effect’s usages, but he wasn’t done.  The Emperor Slime was already 10 feet out of the opening, even though it had shrunk another five feet from the blasts, and Larek moved to another area with his Pattern disc, before launching another Mag 12 blast at it.  He continued to strafe around the edges of the still-shrinking Aperture, seeking out enough ambient Mana to fuel his blasts, and it continued to shrink rapidly.

But the massive Slime was also flowing out much faster, as if the squeeze was helping it somehow.  He didn’t give up despite the ever-growing presence of the Emperor Slime, and with one more blast that drained the last of the available Mana in the area, the Aperture flickered and then abruptly shrunk down to an average-sized one when it was closed, leaving it only a foot across.  There was an immediate loosening of the pressure that he had gotten accustomed to ever since he entered the Calamity, like a weight was taken off not only his shoulders but his mind, as the Aperture finally closed.

As for the Emperor Slime, the opening snapped shut on it when only half of it had emerged, and it just so happened to cut it in half in the exact spot where the Core was located, killing it instantly.  As black goo flooded the area, Larek looked up to see the Strike Faction cheering from where they were standing hundreds of feet away.  He sighed in relief, knowing that they had succeeded, but what really proved that the Calamity was finally closed was seeing the landscape change before his eyes.  Past the original territory of the Steel Slime Aperture, which extended for about a half mile in diameter, the obsidian ground broke apart and faded as its hold on the environment disappeared.  It was replaced by bare dirt and the sight of dead trees and grass, but what was once organically devastated could rise again. 

They had done it.  The northwestern Calamity was no more.

                    *

  “He’s still not waking up,” Nedira told him after ensuring that there was no more danger around and after Larek had survived the enthusiastic congratulations and thank you’s that he received after the Calamity was closed.  Many shaken hands and hugs were given out, even from those who originally didn’t want to work with him, and he took it all with a little embarrassment as they looked on him with something akin to worship in their gazes.  He’d done his best to eliminate whatever bit of Dominion magic he might have been influencing them with, but after working with them for the last week and a half in intense battle situations, some of it had evidently bled through.  While he appreciated that they weren’t out for his blood anymore, the opposite wasn’t exactly something he was comfortable with, either.

“I was really hoping that closing the Calamity would somehow jolt him awake,” Larek said, kneeling by his friend’s side.  Unfortunately, it seemed as thought that wasn’t to be, as his former roommate was still unconscious; he looked peaceful, at least, but nothing seemed to wake him up.

Nedira was silent for a few moments before she blurted out, “I think you should do it.”

“Really?  But the risks involved—”

“Can’t be any worse than keeping him in this state for who knows how long.  He might be taking food and drink, but this coma-like state can’t be good for his mind or his body.  You already said there is no more loose connections to that spell he used, so I think this is probably the only thing that we can do.”

That was true; Larek had already checked using his Magical Detection Skill to see if there was anything obvious keeping him in that state, but he found nothing.  He didn’t dare to delve into his mind to see if there was something there, because he didn’t want to alert the nascent Dominion magic set by Chinli, thereby starting something he wasn’t immediately prepared to fight back against.

But now there wasn’t much choice.  Well, there technically was the choice to leave him like he was, but it seemed that both of them would rather try to do something rather than let their friend linger like this with no end in sight.  Besides, as selfish as it was, they still needed to know where Nedira’s brother was located, as that would dictate their next destination.  To find that out, they needed Verne to wake up.

“Alright, but get ready in case he wakes up and the Dominion magic inside his head causes him to blindly attack anyone nearby.”

She just nodded as the Fusionist got to work.  In what felt like no time, he’d put together the formation for the Expression of Free Will +10 Fusion, the same one that Nedira had on her own skull.  After his experience with moving completed Fusions during the battle with the Emperor Slime, he found that it was easy enough to create it separate from his friend’s body and then transport it to where he wanted it when he was ready.  When the last of the Mana needed for the Fusion filtered through the formation and it thrummed with power, he cautiously brought it near his former roommate, intending to have it pass through his scalp and fuse right into his skull, but when it got within a few inches of his skin, Verne’s eyes abruptly flew open and he screamed, before flailing about. 

Nedira was prepared, thankfully, and had thrown herself on top of him, keeping his arms and legs pinned to the ground as best as she could, while Verne attempted to throw her off.  “Hurry!  I can’t hold him!”

A spell pattern somehow started to slowly assemble itself in front of Nedira’s face, which Larek thought looked similar to the Ancient Protector spell he’d used before, but it was twisted in some way he couldn’t explain.  Knowing that it could be catastrophic if he allowed the young man to complete it, he used both his hands to hold Verne’s head down and still while he mentally slipped the Fusion into place, allowing it to finish completely with a familiar click.

If they thought he had freaked out before, once the Fusion went to work eliminating any trace of Dominion magic in his mind, it was nothing compared to the spasming and flailing he underwent afterwards.  Thankfully, the spell pattern he had been assembling broke apart and faded away, but his spasms were so great that Nedira was flung away, thankfully unhurt, and Larek waved her away rather than risk jumping on top of the young man again.

It took another five minutes before Verne finally calmed down, collapsing on the bedroll he had been lying on while breathing hard.  His eyes finally seemed to focus on his surroundings, and he groaned as he held his hands up to his head and rubbed his temples.  “Ow.  What… what happened?” he finally asked, his voice hoarse and likely as dry as the Lowenthal desert.

“We don’t really know,” Nedira replied, coming up next to him and laying a hand on his arm in a comforting gesture.  “You were in a coma-like state ever since your Ancient Protector was seriously damaged by the Emperor Slime, and we didn’t know how else to wake you.”

“Nedira?  You’re still here?  Wait… did we kill that thing?”

She nodded when he looked up at her.  “Not only that, but we closed the Calamity.”

“What?  How?  Everything is a little fuzzy….”

Larek moved around from behind the young man so that Verne could see him.  “Hey there, roomie.” 

“Who—?  Larek?  Larek!  I can remember you now!  What… what happened?” 

“There’s a lot to explain, but the gist of it is that you’re now free of any influence by all Dominion magic.  I created a Fusion and stuck it inside your head,” Larek explained with a smirk. 

“You did what?  How is that even possible—ah, never mind.  Now that I’m remembering correctly, you do the impossible every day, don’t you?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying!” Nedira agreed with a chuckle. 

“I bet it was you that killed that impossibly enormous Slime, wasn’t it?”

Larek just shrugged, not wanting to relive the horrific events of being trapped inside of that monster. 

“What’s more important right now is that you’re alright.  Did anything happen to your Pattern Cohesion or something else that might explain why you were in that coma-like state?” Nedira asked. 

“Let me check… no, I don’t see anything different.  I have no idea.”

Larek sighed in relief.  He was really hoping that his friend hadn’t been permanently affected by what had happened to his Ancient Protector.  “That’s good to hear.  Now, there’s an even more important question that we need the answer to.  Nedira tried to ask you before, but you fell into your coma before that could happen.”  He paused for a moment before continuing.  “Do you know where Norde is?”

Verne paused for a moment before he nodded.  “That’s right.  I remember you asking me about that before.  Anyway, the last time I heard from him, he was working for the Strike Faction down at the southeastern Calamity.  A city called, hmm, Provenance?  Providence?  Something like that.”

Larek, of course, hadn’t heard of any place like that, but he was hoping that as long as they had a direction, they would eventually find it. 

“Thank you.  Now, let’s see about getting out of here before Teena remembers that I was supposed to teach her about Pattern Manipulation.”

“Are you trying to skip out on me?” came a voice behind him.  He knew who it was without turning around.

“Ah, bring her with us.  She isn’t needed here anymore, anyway, now that the Calamity is closed,” Verne said, looking behind Larek at what the Fusionist could only assume was Teena.  And there was a hint of a goofy smile on his face.  Huh.  Well, I guess that settles that.

“Fine.  Everyone get ready to leave, because we have places to see and people to find.  We’ll talk on the way,” he said, turning around to see Teena already had a pack on her back, as if she was ready to go.

“I’ve decided that I don’t really care for a leadership role, so I figured I would beg to come along with you.”

“He says you’re good, so no begging is necessary,” Larek said.

He looked at Verne, who was glancing around Teena as if looking for someone.  “Where’s your shadow?” his former roommate asked lightly.

A cloud fell over Teena’s face.  “Chardine didn’t make it.”

“I’m so sorry.  I know you two were close—”

“It’s fine.  Really, it is.  Char died doing what we set out to do, and without her sacrifice we might never have succeeded.”  She took a deep breath before looking Larek straight in his eyes.  “I’m ready to go anytime you are.”

“Me too,” Verne agreed.  Getting up on unsteady legs, he added, “Now, let’s go get the whole gang back together!”

Larek smiled even as he gathered his own stuff, before creating a Pattern box large enough to fit four people comfortably.  While he was looking forward to finding Norde, he was also hopeful that he would keep developing his strength, as his ultimate goal of rescuing his family was still at the forefront of his mind.  He’d already improved so much in their quest to rescue Verne, so he could only imagine what would happen when they went to find Nedira’s brother.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Larek said to his former roommate, as he lifted them all into the air and began flying toward the southeast.  What they would find there, he didn’t know, but it was sure to be dangerous with impossible odds of success.

In order to grow and get stronger, with the end goal of facing down the Gergasi who stole his family away from him, that was exactly what he was looking for.