akasoindustries

314 - Clash of Wills Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

He tried to move, to simply evade these clumsy thoughtforms rather than waste effort and precious real-time milliseconds subduing them, but found his legs ensnared, monstrous serpents made of iron sand wrapped around them, biting his thighs.

At that moment, he felt her presence, and the next moment, saw her thoughtform. It was identical to her real appearance, lacking even an iota of self-perception-induced changes. That alone was proof in Third's mind that he was dealing with an equal....

146 - Visored Man [Cherno]

The whole room gave off a markedly more refined feeling than the rest of the gambling house, from the dark wood floor to the walls and furniture. It was… Still nothing much compared to a church safehouse.

There was only one man at the table, whom Casus presumed to be his contact. He appraised him, and it stuck without an iota of resistance. The man was a Lv. 17 Occultist. His attribute scores were nothing special, and he didn’t bother trying to dig further. What grabbed his attentio...

313 - Clash of Wills [Sturmblitz]

Without a moment’s wait, she anchored herself in place and prepared to fire. She instantly felt an immense pressure fall upon her, Third's fiery gaze piercing her. Just as with the Hemomancer, it felt as if her blood was being pulled from her body. Zelsys flooded her blood with metallum, reinforcing her veins to the extreme, raising her blood pressure to explosive levels. Veins, like overpressurized pipes, bulged out under her skin, showing even on her right arm. With a mighty flex of muscl...

312 - Apotheosis in the Garden of Flesh Pt. 3 [Sturmblitz]

As lightning surged through Zero’s cabling, the tank’s engine howled and its pile bunkers took on a white glow. With an exertion of his will, Strake made yet another lever work itself. Thruster-vents opened up along Zero’s chassis; four on the backs of its legs, and a giant twin-chamber one straight out of the engine. A recent upgrade owing to a collaboration between Willowdale’s Iron Riders branch office and a certain unnamed wizard.

In a great burst of blue-white flame, the mu...

311 - Apotheosis in the Garden of Flesh Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

The boy looked out through the shattered, half-barricaded windows, and saw corpses in robes of various colours - from black, to blue, and a few red. Hatred and anger bubbled up within him, and he knew that he wished to be like these Hellhounds, or perhaps to join the Newman Sect, if it meant he would be able to ensure scum like this would not walk free again.

The child had died, for all intents and purposes. His breath and heartbeat had halted. The churn of chemistry and spirit joining ...

145 - Black Magnum [Cherno]

Casus hadn’t visited this area of Audunpoint before. Besides the fact it was obviously infested by a far-above-average ratio of gangsters, he also couldn’t help but notice that building. The one with blocked-out windows and evoy lingering about the entrance. It screamed trouble.

He knew he was all but begging for trouble by coming here. That was, after all, why he had gone so far as to don a disguise that concealed his nature as a Banisher.  However, a man in subtle full-body a...

144 - Lost Sun Killer Myth: Tracking Down the Suspect's Residence [Cherno]

For the next few days, Krahe dedicated a portion of her time to stalking Sorayah. Barzai made it a trivial matter, as she could be quite far removed from her target for limited periods of time… And Sorayah became somewhat careless when Krahe stopped coming to the Society after the attack.

It didn’t take long to track down where she lived, and somewhat to Krahe’s disappointment in her quarry, there seemed to be no third or fourth locations. On the third day, at a time when she knew...

IRL Bullshit Arc: 2.5 Day Internet Outage

Fuckery continues

There was scheduled powerline maintenance on Wed that was supposed to go for a few hours, but they fucked up the internet line and further repairs had to be conducted yesterday and today. Since I couldn't expect it I had no way to get mobile data ahead of time to compensate. Internet JUST NOW came back on.

By God, normal posting continues TODAY or I will have an aneurysm

310 - Apotheosis in the Garden of Flesh [Sturmblitz]

The tormented cries of thousands, a unified scream, blasted out from the city center, and Zelsys didn’t just hear them, she felt them. Both Carnifex and her own right arm resonated at the sound, in the same exact tones given off by the Skinless One’s Token when she had used it as a hammer.

A wave of crimson light washed over the whole city. Each and every survivor counted among the enemy’s number suddenly sprung up with renewed vigor, their auras blazing thrice as brightly as they...

309 - Chrome Skull Viper [Sturmblitz]

A/N: Expanded the first third of the chapter, specifically the third paragraph.
__________________________________________________________________

The aura-beast came in and out of existence the way a territorial viper came in and out of hiding. It snapped at one of the Knifedancer’s blades, only to vanish and instantaneously appear at the other side of Zelsys to do the same against blades from that same pincer attack. Even less than a Thundergod, it was not truly a being in any se...

308 - Blood Implosion Holocaust Pt. 2 [Sturmblitz]

Zelsys could scarcely believe the deluge of power suddenly pouring out of her opponent… But she felt the Skinless One’s presence, and thus knew this to be a high-level sacrificial technique.

So it was that they clashed, and in their conflict shook the earth below and set the air ablaze. For the first time in this city, she met one who could meet the full brunt of her violence head-on.

Thunderclaps and explosions rang out, a maelstrom of lightning and flame. Friedrich set forth...

143 - BLACK HAND OF DESOLATION: DAEMON CORE [Cherno]

Krahe pushed and pushed, closing up the shell, until, at last, it wouldn’t enclose any further. She briefly thought Barzai was refusing again for some petulant reason, but the next moment, alien words pushed into her mind’s eye. Indistinct and formless, exuding not a linguistic meaning, but an altogether more primordial sort of truth. In that instant, she knew that they were the incan...

142 - Lost Sun Killer Myth: The Hand is Shown Pt. 2 [Cherno]

That smoke had to be some anathemist trick, but what fool would resort to the risks of anathemism to enhance a mere obscuring thaumaturgy? Then again, it clearly worked wonders. And those summoned walls were far too durable to be simple constructs. That had to be an artifact of some kind. That was what Beak told himself, hoping and praying they weren’t up against some insanely strong mid-ranker with a bottomless entropy tolerance. His cousin certainly hadn’t made it sound like that when s...

141 - Lost Sun Killer Myth: The Hand is Shown [Cherno]

They eventually “got her” in the loading/unloading area of a small warehouse, insofar as she led them to this place because the layout was advantageous to her and the warehouse, being out of use, would be an easy way to split them up or lose them if things went badly. It was an apparent dead end, but she had been around this area before, and knew that the “dead end” wall was just a thin divider separating this unloading area from one of the main roads.

Krahe waited for a short t...

140 - Lost Sun Killer Myth: The Human Charcoal Letters [Cherno]

“How much do you want for it?”

“Just take the damn thing. I couldn’t source a Gulf Key no matter what strings I pulled in any reasonable amount of time, so consider this the replacement. I still have people looking for one, they’re just a bitch to find. So long as the belt’s wick gets burnt in the process of getting revenge for my cousin, I’ll consider us even.”

“...How specific is that criteria? Should Viridaimon grind the assassin into paste, or is it alright i...

307 - Blood Implosion Holocaust [Sturmblitz]

Despite being acclimated to the presence of such a cultivator, despite having been trained to withstand such a person’s directed killing intent, Friedrich briefly locked gazes with that being and nearly fell to his knees.

He instantaneously realized why she had withstood the Dambreaker Cannon, and in that same realization, he also became aware of the fact he could not conceivably halt her without putting up his life.

Thus far, he had kept up with her thanks to t...

306 - Conqueror's Mantle Superseded: Kugelblitz Incarnation! [Sturmblitz][+Artwork]

“We are sacrificing mortals,” Friedrich corrected.

“Ah, I see. That does change things.”

“Yes, it does,” Friedrich agreed, a relieved smile creeping into his face. It was fake, of course. A mere courtesy.

“Don’t misunderstand. It makes your crimes that much worse. Even if I were to give you a pass on using human sacrifice to begin with, you are effectively sacrificing children because they won’t fight back.”

“I must disappoint you if you ...

Yazata Heptaxia, Inquisitor of the Inner Wheel [Cherno] [Artwork]

305 - Evolving on the Spot is Not Easy [Sturmblitz]

The Third Truthseeker stood atop the Eberheim Cathedral’s belfry, in his hand a brass sacrificial knife. He looked over the macabre implement, feeling its arcane power thrum in his hand. It had originally belonged to the previous Third Truthseeker, who had once forged it from a piece of some dead god of sacrifice. Third’s Predecessor had tried to hold it over his head that the blade, the Order’s strongest sacrificial implement, would shatter if he were to ever die. It was this that had ...

304 - Evolution [Sturmblitz]

Rather than use a pseudo-core formed in her second stomach, this reaction was rooted within the Hammerforged Heart. With each heartbeat, she felt her insides shifting. The Primordial Self wished to do something drastic. The Thinking Self let it. Red-black sludge rushed out of her lungs with a single hacking cough, only to be consumed and digested the moment they reached her stomach. Her reserves of vitae, previously abundant and vast, dwindled to a puddle as her body tore itself apart and rem...

The business with my elderly relative ended up going for a day longer than expected. Normal posting should resume from now on.

303 - Anything Can Be My Fangs [Sturmblitz]

A/N: The business with my relative ended up going a day longer than anticipated. Posting should resume as normal from now on.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Some among Roderick’s forces yet lived, having avoided the attack or simply not having been among its targets… For a few seconds. The undulating lightning-bound chain of blades had retracted to its mistress to defend her once again, but by the time it did so, Roderi...

Taking care of an elderly relative again, until Tuesday (including Tuesday). Will try to post normally, but no guarantees.

139 - Mamon Knight Viridaimon [Cherno]

Garvesh was right in that removing her own voidkey wasn’t difficult, but it was an order of magnitude harder than Krahe had expected. It was a sickly, ticklish sensation, one which sent waves of shivers down her back with every centimeter. Once it was out, she felt a yawning emptiness that slowly closed up like biorepair gel rushing in to fill a wound. The Black Sun Coupler took in the key without issue, and the stamped readout around the slot shifted to form a dial with a handful of increm...

Liminal Coil Pinup [Cherno][Artwork]

138 - Garvesh's Ace of Spades [Cherno]

“You know I’ve never used one, right? I’m open to the idea of using one, but I won’t bet my life on something I can’t use properly.”

“Yeah, I know, I know. I’m not stupid. I have a good reason, let me get to it.”

After fiddling with the two cases’ holeless locks, he flipped the both of them open. The cases’ interiors were molded and velvet-lined to contain their contents and their contents alone, and were so densely warded it was tangible. It was not by way o...

137 - Re: Lost Sun Killer Myth [Cherno]

“Gashward?” the banisher questioned, setting down his book and following in her stead. “You truly did find a hole, I don’t actually know where that is. And yes, I would like stir-fry. Same as last time?”

“Spicier, but more or less the same. Found these mushrooms that have a texture and flavor sort of like pork, but also contain hot pepper oils,” she said, half-mindedly setting the burner to full blast. White flame erupted from the ring, and a small bubble gurgled up throug...

302 - Formless Destroyer Sutra One: Everything is Violence [Sturmblitz]

The Golden Brother’s killing technique was, most of all, very interesting. Zelsys had seen a move like that; one of Halxian’s. Regardless of whether there was a real connection or if it was simple coincidence, that move was an awe-inspiring display that would serve to grow Halxian’s techniques.

In that same sentiment, the triplets were monstrous. Stronger than anyone she had fought before Ubul, perhaps among the strongest in the country… And they were doomed. Doomed to be consum...

301 - 77-Tailed Death God [Sturmblitz]

Carnifex writhed and darted about at her command, its many-segmented mass encircling the enemy. It seamlessly formed into differing numbers of Fang Rippers between each lash, changing its length in awkward ways that forced the three siblings on the defensive. The opportunities began all but offering themselves to her, but Zelsys pulled back, allowing the Silver Sister just enough room to do something. She didn’t disappoint, gathering armament aura around her shield and forming a gi...

300 - Meanwhile, the Elder is Having Fun [Sturmblitz]

“I thought they would try to hide the weak points instead of so openly defending them,” Victor said.

“I do not think they had a choice with this one. Look - they were trying to shore it up when we interrupted them,” Zefaris said, pointing to a shredded corpse with what looked vaguely like the remains of painting supplies. A bottle of crimson-red paint spilled out across the cobbles, the puddle somehow remaining separate from the actual array pattern. “Come, help me break the b...