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61 - Wodan and Hedan

Within this sanctum he doffed his disguise, which constituted a heavy rope necklace strung with over a dozen entirely different, carved gemstone talismans. In so doing he shed a many-layered cognitive filter illusion; a more elegant solution to physical self-alteration, he found. Going this far would have been unnecessary otherwise, had it not been for Zefaris Newman; throughout the conversation, there had been several moments when he swore she saw right through him, and by the end, it was ob...

60 - Antediluvian

Vic held his necklace out, albeit hesitantly. As the Man in White leaned in over the pot to look, Zel could see him stick his hand in the boiling liquid without so much as a twitch, resting it against the bottom of the pot, his sleeve mere centimeters from being soaked. He drew in a shallow breath and an eerie glow overcame his eyes as he stared into the gemstone; then, a moment later, it was gone and he returned to his seat, only holding out his completely unscalded hand in the rain to wash ...

59 - Another White-robed Stranger

A/N: I'm going back to shorter daily chapters. The bidaily schedule just doesn't work for me, I need a daily rhythm to stay consistently productive. 

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Upon Zel’s return to her compatriots, she took a moment to patch the hole she’d shot into her cloak; it wasn’t pretty, given her total lack of experience in such a craft, but it would hold. They moved on.

A violent rainstorm pic...

58 - Into the Gaullam

“A-affirmative,” the Captain nodded, slipping into the guard post, dragging the younger soldier along as he did. Zef heard him protesting that he couldn’t conscionably go against explicit orders, even arguing that the Doppelsoldat badge didn’t mean anything anymore if they were the Sage of Fog’s agents, due to the Sage’s disappearance and subsequent condemnation for innumerable supposed and ridiculous war crimes. The kid was desperately inundated in post-war anti-Ikesian propagand...

57 - Doppelsoldat

It was a huge, gnarled cherry tree atop a hill in the middle of a forest, split down the middle by the scars of numerous lightning strikes, but standing defiant and seemingly in perpetual bloom, with its many leaves and blossoms displaying lightning-like vein patterns, as if the tree had learned to feed on lightning. One could feel the electric tension in the air around it.

Here they recharged their steeds’ fuel cells; they had backups, of course, but they were for emergencies. Zelsys...

56 - Winter Peach Brandy

A/N: First half of chapter has some sexual content.

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Jorfr’s assumption proved to be correct. The two lovebirds had followed the nearby stream to a jutting-out rock formation, and atop this outlook they would release their stress upon one another. Atop the cliff was a small lookout post, a modest lean-to shelter surrounded by an equally modest barrier against wildlife: A circle of iron shavings mixed...

55 - Limited Blade Works

A/N: Added a short bit at the end of the merchant scene. 

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The shop was set up in a repurposed jail, with four cells in total. It was a place of organized chaos, with tables, barrels, and crates all stacked high with weapons of all qualities. Crates of bullets, lead stock, bullet molds were at the back next to shelves similarly stacked with various firearms, while gunpowder was securely lock...

54 - The New Era of Cultivation Begins

A/N: I had a chapter ready yesterday, but I didn't like how it was turning out so I ended up rewriting the whole thing.
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The would-be assassin plunged the claws into her own chest just as the edges of her face began to fray, sputtering out one last utterance.

“Now… The New Era… Of Cultivation begins.”

She mouthed a trigger word and slender quills of jade erupted from the assassin...

Prologue Pt. Final - Borea Awaits

“The Sevenfold Seal is undone; the clock resumes. It won't be long before the vessel fails and the Blade Spirit’s own strength rips it apart,” she said, turning to her comrades.A/N: New prologue done, forward progress resumes as normal from now on.

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Zefaris fell asleep a few minutes into the ride back to Willowdale, leaning up against Zel’s back with her arms wrapped around her waist a...

Prologue Pt. 4 - Ankylodragon

“That thing has killed more molemen than humans at this point…” she thought. A shrill shriek came from the Ankylodragon’s direction, and before she landed again, she saw the moleman that was likely commanding the creature. He carried a glistening, iron shortsword, his diminutive form was draped in animal skins and jewelry.

Ever so briefly their eyes met, and Zelsys saw the spark of thought behind those beady little staring-orbs of his. He wildly gestured upwards at her,...

Prologue Pt. 3 - The Chapter Where She Turns Molemen Into Greasy Stains

A/N: Alright, I concede, I completely failed to fit the prologue into three parts, the battle just kinda got away from me and completely outgrew my predictions. It's gonna be more like five parts.

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Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Zefaris prepared for a sharp turn as they approached the Deep Dweller backline, their force scattered and thinned out from this direction...

Prologue Pt. 2 - Newman Sect Expeditionary Squad One

A/N: As I expected, the prologue will definitely three parts.

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Zel picked the book up on her way out, flipping the page; the next one detailed the Ankylodragon. As she skimmed it, Zefaris caught up, leaning in.

“Mind if I-” she began, but Zel had already handed it over before she could finish.

“Be my guest,” she uttered, reaching to her back and pulling out her own White Marbl...

Prologue Pt. 1 - Zelsys Newman, Sect Elder

A/N: The new prologue will likely have two, MAYBE three parts at most, not counting Pt. 00.
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Southern Ikesia

The Free City-state of Willowdale

Newman Family Sect Grounds

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Awoken by the pounding staccato of a fist upon her chamber doors. Worldly sensation flooded in - the cold spring air, ...

Prologue Pt. 00 - Distress Call

A/N: This won't make it onto the public release as I feel that it wouldn't serve well as the new readers' first experience, so I'm keeping it here.

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An armored convoy circled an encampment, separating the guards and drivers from the night’s encroachment. The gaps between campfires were lit up by crystals, scattered about and glowing milky-white. Sanger Family retainers stalked from roof to r...

53 - The Seed of Legend Taking Root Pt. 3

Why the infiltrator had committed suicide only became clear when she deigned to pry his jaw open, using her left hand as to avoid the filth of course. In the back of his throat was nestled a dead Black Rope worm.

“Note to self, Heartstopper Venom works on ancient Ankhezian bioweapons.”

Just as her investigation drew to a close, Zel saw Lydia walk into the front of the barn, only to recoil at the stench, though only briefly. Upon craning her neck and finding Zel squatt...

52 - The Seed of Legend Taking Root Pt. 2

A/N: Sorry for the significant delay. I kinda just felt like total shit today, the big depresso. After next chapter I'll be taking a break for a week to write a Zel-centric prologue for Sturmblitz Kunst because I'm not happy with how I started the fic and it'll bother me until I fix it.

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Truly, Lydia had distanced herself from anything to do with cultivation, even fleeing to the mountain-kingdoms...

51 - The Seed of Legend Taking Root Pt. 1

A part of her wished it could’ve just been empty bodies animated by parasites, or something akin to Pateirian control centipedes or the like. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end at the sheer wrongness of that thing, hearkening back to the ambulatory tumors she had fought moments after first emerging into the world; the Failures. They had been little more than congealed Viriditas and other essentia in the shapes of fleshy blobs with the odd face or limb. This human hydra was a who...

50 - Fort 57 and the Black Rope Infestation

A/N: Minor edits for atmosphere/pacing. Also next chapter will be out on Monday.

A/N 2: More minor edits, mainly to the conversation with the barman.

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Without further incident for the time being, the journey north continued. The closer to the Northern Capital the party came, the more dismal the conditions seemed to become. Soon they would reach the last towns before a vast swath of swamps a...

49 - Lake of Blood

“Wonder why they didn’t just start with smaller cartridges and scale them up, sounds like it would’ve been easier to make scale prototypes…” Victor pondered, picking up the pistol and fiddling with its mechanism.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she shrugged, folding her shotgun back in its holster. “Maybe it was easier to get cannons to production because artillery didn’t fall under the purview of gunsmithing guilds. Maybe it was that the existing machine-tools were b...

48 - We Fight the Night

Meanwhile, Victor spun his staff-spear from his back, having already prepared in advance just as Zefaris had. The rings about his staff’s head took on a green glow as wisps of Bonefire sprung into being around its head. He taunted the last survivor with a gesture, running over to the knight who had fallen after a single shot, standing over him. With his free hand he reached out, grasping the man’s ribcage and ripping out its constituent Ossum through the back in the form of bone spikes. E...

47 - The Ones that Got Away

The four senior cultivators witnessed the young man mouth something, but they heard nothing, and by some trickery of the manner in which the staff-spear moved across his face as he spun it in his hand, neither could any of them read his lips beyond one or two syllables - excepting Zefaris, that is. She, however, didn’t care to reveal the name, just as she hadn’t really bothered revealing the name of Tempesta.

Afterwards, there was not much time to waste - they had to leave town in o...

46 - Onbashira

It was at this point that Vic noticed something about her right arm: It was still bronze. The green oxide scales had been removed somehow, probably through a bath considering that both her and Zefaris were clean, but that metallic bronze sheen still persisted. It could just barely be made out against the hue of her skin if the light hit her arm at the right angle. She noticed him observing, commenting on it after she swallowed a mouthful.

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45 - Heretic's Daughter

“One more thing,” Zel kept pushing. “The end of the message, when they panicked. You didn’t translate that part.”

Red chuckled, and a grin worked its way onto her face.

“The more authoritative man - the Commissar - instantly recognized your face. He screamed that the Arches Outpost had been lost to “The Heretic’s Daughter” before cutting the line. I suspect that the soldier who failed to recognize you is being beaten as we speak.”

That noun: The Heretic. ...

44 - Black Mirror

A/N: Next chapter will be out on Monday, the 1st of August. I also removed a fragment from the end of the previous chapter, a remnant of an earlier draft where Red left right after the pill took effect.

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The horrific stench emitted by the congealed impurity being ejected from the knight-captain’s body superseded anything any of them had ever been exposed to, making the pungency of rotting bugmen ...

43 - Do Not Make Peace With Evil; Destroy It

A forward lunge, a twist of the torso, a whipping thrust motion of the arm, every single muscle involved having been meticulously prepped for full Thundercharger enhancement. The thunderclap resounded. Scales shattered, flesh tore, bones broke. A downward stroke, severing both the left arm and leg before smashing into the ground, ripping a channel through the stone on the return.

A STRIKE TO HUMBLE THE GENERALS OF DIVINITY

FORMLESS BUTCHER...