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95 - Hate Beyond Hate

No sooner did she turn her eyes to the cathedral’s door that there came an earth-shaking impact, followed by a scream that resounded clear-as-day even through the hair-thin gap which had just opened in those doors.

Like the clarion call of a trumpet, it contained only a singular note. Hate. Hate beyond hate, a hateful flame brighter and purer than any human soul could conceive of. Acting upon instinct, she stilled the purification process at the Sixth Step. Once more ...

94 - Burning Fuse Pt. 2

“...Your Divinity, the Courier has returned,” a eunuch official relayed to the Divine Emperor.

Raising an eyebrow in genuine, if minimal surprise, the man-god replied: “Oh? Send him in.”

The little man walked into the throne room and kowtowed as appropriate. Not in a mood to wait for the whole sequence to be through, he commanded: “Stand. Did you fulfill your task?”

“Yes, your Divinity. I would not have returned if I had failed, for I would have died in the att...

93 - Burning Fuse

A/N: Taking the weekend off, next chapter on Monday, 31st October. No reason, just feel like I need a bit of a mental refresh.

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Resentment for that incomplete draconic form washed over him; resentment towards the Gu for failing to give proper form to his perfect designs. Nevertheless, he could not deny the Gu’s efforts in their pragmatic simplicity.

He had to admit that the tail was a ...

92 - Purity of Hatred Pt. 2

As for the Deterrence Fields, the guardians of that place simply didn’t pay him any mind, just as they hadn’t paid any mind to other travelers. The Armor of Pure Purpose, though it was undoubtedly an artifact of incredibly advanced arcane machinery, did not give off the sort of essentia signature that would provoke the automata into acting. Finding the gutted wrecks of those infernal machines of theirs proved to him that he was on the right path, and more importantly, provided something f...

91 - Purity of Hatred

Vic reabsorbed his construct and they continued on their way, walking through the great flower-filled cavern at a leisurely pace as they took in the scenery, with Zefaris taking at least a half-dozen photographs as they went. The closer to the cathedral they got, the more its larger-than-life scale came into perspective, its doors and windows an order of magnitude larger than anything built by and for real people. Even its staircase had steps of a size beyond any practicality, with multiple s...

90 - Agartha Pt. 9 - Godchild Infanticide

It was blinding, impossibly so, shining down as though the sun itself. The only thing most of them could make out was the twisted, vaguely bulbous shape, affixed to the cave ceiling by a black rod. A snaking, serpent-like tendril shot off from the main mass, wrapped around the rod, and it, too, shone with a blinding brightness. Two smaller rods protruded from the mass. Liquid flame poured from the rods’ ends, flowing down into the cathedral’s tower and proliferating from there.

Only...

89 - Agartha Pt. 8 - Gatemaker

The pool of blood shuddered, waves lapping at its edge as the walkway retracted and the outermost ring began revolving, suspended in thin air. It passed through the liquid as if it weren’t even there, causing no disturbance. Then came the middle, and the inner ring; somehow their motion wrapped the avatar in its own chains, an impossible quantity of blood flowing outward from it and filling in the rings’ grooves.

It was at this point that the diamond-shaped idol at the upper platfor...

88 - Agartha Pt. 7 - Avatar of Sacrifice

A/N: Sorry for the delays. Been moving stuff around a bunch in editing.
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A horseshoe-shaped double stairway led up to an elevated platform at the chamber’s back, where knelt a blackstone statue of the skinless thing from earlier, its stakes and chains rendered in brass and silver respectively. It held its hands up and in them floated a strange artifact of brass and blackstone; it was a spindly dia...

87 - Agartha Pt. 6 - Shifting Labyrinth

Just as Aeshador had promised, two particularly large molemen arrived at the settlement after the second day of their stay. They were in good spirits, and it quickly became evident why when they explained that a direct passage through to the next region of Agartha had opened up for the first time in months.

Satisfied with this making up the rest of his perceived debt, he instructed the scouts to share directions to the passage alongside a partial map that would suffice to get them where...

86 - Agartha Pt. 5 - Duplex

The moleman turned his beady little eyes towards Jorfr.

“Ask me fer summin’. Within reason. Food an’ lodgin’ fer the night, a chunk o’ metalbug carapace, summin’ like that.”

Exchanging brief looks with his compatriots, it didn’t take the northman to make his choice: “We would use your holy hall for a rite.”

“Aite, but y’better be sure you know yer shit. Don’t want another fuckin’ repeat of last time, heavy-ass motherfucker…”

“It was no...

85 - Agartha Pt. 4 - Deep Dwellers

Despite the dwellers’ diminutive size, the ceilings of this dwelling were surprisingly forgiving.

“I’m tellin’ ya we can’t fuckin’ go diggin’ shit up while the Dungeon Core’s throwin’ a fuckin’ temper tantrum rearrangin’ rooms an’ shit! Y’forget what happened last time?!” the surly little voice grumbled. “That’s not to mention that half-statue motherfucker that’s been showin’ up through the monitoring glyphs down in Sector Fifteen since the elf came �...

84 - Agartha Pt. 3 - Seventeen Tons

A/N: Sorry for the no-warning break in posting, had another hay fever flareup yesterday and passed out for twelve hours trying to sleep it off. At least it worked.

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“I decided that I had to take down the Emperor because his lackeys came after me, yours is as good a reason as mine. But uh… How does your membership in my sect influence your clan?”

“The rules surrounding that are un...

83 - Agartha Pt. 2 - Borean Politics

“The Primary and Secondary clans are also called the great clans or greater clans, though the term can refer to any clan that earns it in the popular consciousness.”

Taking a sip of Liquid Vigor, he continued.

“The classification and assigned spring of any given clan is determined personally by the Revenant King when he wakes up each seventy-seven years or so, which is the cycle of the Seven Suns Equinox. Don’t ask, I don’t know how it works, it’s just… Bam, seven su...

82 - Agartha Pt. 1

A/N: I'm not doing a bunch of fuckin cave crawl chapters lmao

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The first leg of our journey into the depths of the earth was best described as disappointingly uneventful. Days of trekking through one cave system gave way to another, nearly identical cave system; some were sprawling while others were just about wide enough to walk through, some went on without turns for hundreds of meters while others t...

81 - Deterrence Fields Pt. 5

While Zel tended towards a widely varied diet out of an inherent curiosity for flavors and her body’s ravenous demand for nutrition, Jorfr’s overwhelming preference for meat meant that most of his meal kits were dominated by big, hefty cuts or meat-adjacent foods, though Ozmir’s downright religious outlook on the culinary arts meant that they were nevertheless nutritionally complete as self-contained packages on the off-chance that he might not be able to eat more than once in a day. As...

80 - Deterrence Fields Pt. 4

It quickly became evident that both of the Sturmgandrs had been pushed too far. Dissatisfied but also altogether unsurprised, Zel grumbled: “Well, we could still ride them, but it would be a tremendously stupid thing to do. Let’s just settle down for now and I’ll get to taking them apart.”

And so, they did just that; lacking the local material to scavenge for a campfire, they instead made use of lightgems for visibility and a small, portable Ignis burner for cooking. Several hou...

79 - Deterrence Fields Pt. 3

One lung, one motorbike; she had to push herself to generate enough Fulgur to push both machines to maximum output, releasing bodily limiters and digging into her deeper reserves, but by the Dead Ones, it worked. Suddenly, the giant arms of the Deterrence Fields began coming alive, perhaps roused by the truly immense outpour of Fulgur constantly being emitted from Zelsys. With dexterity and speed entirely unbefitting their gargantuan size, they sprung into motion and smashed down on them, mis...

78 - Deterrence Fields Pt. 2

For a half-minute or so Victor sat still, focusing Viriditas in the eye of his staff as brambles grew out of it and bound the implement to his hand; Zefaris was dumbfounded by how utterly calm he remained in this situation, as if he had done this a dozen times before. Or, at least it seemed at a glance; she could see his heart beating out of his chest plain as day, and… Was the Antediluvian Gem glowing? It looked to be, but the glimmer vanished when Vic leaned forward and placed his staff j...

77 - Deterrence Fields Pt. 1

Preparations took less than a minute; Zefaris donned her mask with a fresh canister, while Victor settled himself in a backwards-facing position behind Jorfr and downed over a liter and a half of liquid to help ease his spellcasting; a full bottle of Liquid Vigor and a liter of water. Not entirely trusting of the redhead’s ability to hold on at the breakneck velocities they expected to reach, Zel tied him to Jorfr by stringing several belts together.

“Remember, these things are desi...

76 - Titan's Bane

A/N: I've fallen ill with a severe flareup of hay fever, and basically could barely function for most of the last two days. It's getting better now. This chap was delayed by a day as you can tell and 77 will probably be out tomorrow, though I hope to get back into the normal swing of things tomorrow.

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Zel couldn’t help but stop her sturmgandr as they emerged at the peak of Jorfr’s secret moun...

75 - Devil in the Shell Pt. 3

Drawing in a deep breath, the comms officer nodded, reaching for the talismanic knife. The Courier and the Commissar both evacuated the chamber with some reluctance, making their way to the ground floor.

There echoed a determined cry up the stairwell: “MAY HIS DIVINITY’S RULE EXTEND TO THE HEAVENS AND BEYOND!”

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Empyrean brilliance spilled forth from the comms officer’s b...

74 - Devil in the Shell Pt. 2

Before putting the second spindle in place, the Courier donned an Ikesian gas mask and a leather apron, both salvaged from the boiler room. With these new protections in place he hefted the spindle from its recess and brought it around the elemental’s back, a step-stool having already been placed here to make up for the striking height difference. This spindle was slotted between Von Wickten’s shoulder blades, into the middle dantian. Once more he was met by whipping tendrils of impurity ...

73 - Devil in the Shell

All at once, it came flooding back to the Courier, and he instinctively prised an immense, silver plate of armor from its silk-padded recess. It was lined from within by Itrian demon-sealing talismans, the shrines which produced them being one of the few traces of Itria whose continued existence His Divinity had allowed by integrating them into the Empire’s culture. Though the women who made these things were lifelong prisoners, they were at least granted lives equivalent to royalty; the Co...

72 - The Armor of Pure Purpose

Day 1

I was tasked with delivering the Armor of Pure Purpose yesterday; it is an artifact wrought by His Divinity the Emperor himself, or so I was told, as the only thing I received was a locked chest. His Divinity entrusted me with the knowledge of its purpose, at the least; a valuable ally to our goals in Ikesia has been condemned to a fate worse than death: Degeneration into a creature of congealed impurity. The Armor of Pure Pu...