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182 - Mirroring [Cherno]

Yao walked downstairs, with Krahe following.

“This seal will have the secondary benefit of further compressing the voidkey’s energies,” Yao said on the way down. She proceeded to collapse onto a sofa, and, in a manner strangely similar to Razem, any sense of transcendence vanished from her. It even felt as if she had aged by decades in an instant.  “It may slow the stabilization process, however. Now… Please go. I am exhausted, and if you and the voidkey were to remain he...

181 - ATOMICA REFULGENT [Cherno]

Krahe continued:

“Capacitor charge at 80% projected capacity. 90%. 100%. 110%. 120%. Capacitor charge stable at 124% of projected capacity. Preparing laser pump array for connection. Connection successful. Initiating ignition. Capacitor discharge… Successful.”

The revolutions intensified, as did the reaction. Anathema began leaking out, coalescing around the shell’s exterior, granting it the appearance of a blood-red star. The room was bathed in red light. It even occasion...

180 - Transmutation [Cherno]

Yao proceeded to carry out a feverish series of hand-signs and gestures that incorporated her whole body, taking a few methodical steps, each ringing out with a loud CLACK. With each sign, the rotational speed of the talisman rings grew, each at a different rate, as did the intensity of their glow. Soon the room was bathed in blinding light and a loud thrumming sound. It lasted, by Krahe’s reckoning, for nine seconds, at which point it flickered out and died in an instant. When her sight re...

336 - Once More, Into the Mouth of Hell [Sturmblitz]

"You have been visibly improving week over week, so you cannot be called a failure in general terms. If you feel you are stuck in your specific cultivation method, given how unorthodox it is, we would first need to determine if it is a problem with you or the method," Makhus proposed.

"He's soft," Lydia piped up.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Makhus asked.

"The boy is practicing a cultivation method invented by and for hardened killers. Soldiers. What have you killed? Some infant ...

Lydia Artwork [Sturmblitz]

179 - Charcoal Games Pt. 4 [Cherno]

Krahe’s brief bout of reminiscence was broken by Yao’s voice.

“This is… Not ‘anthrocite’,” the talisman mistress said without looking away from the hand for so much as a second. The tone of her voice and the expression on her face spoke of a mixture of surprise, mild confusion, concern, and slight excitement. In short, she knew what the hand really was made of, and it was probably above anthrocite in value.

“Any clue what it is?” Krahe prodded.

Yao...

178 - Charcoal Games Pt. 3 [Cherno]

As quickly as it had begun, it ceased. With a sound somewhere between a wheezing inhalation, the scraping of glass, and the creak of a bone being slowly bent to breaking, the unlight was drawn back into Yao’s left eye socket, once more sealed away.

“It certainly matches your description, for better or for worse. I cannot guess what form it will take upon its evolution, but I shall gain a deeper understanding given some time to examine it more thoroughly,” Yao said. She turned to K...

335 - Interlude Pt. 3 - Bayonet-eater [Sturmblitz]

Overpowering the creature was easier said than done - they were monstrously strong for their small size, and belched flame at every opportunity. Their scales raised from their bodies to make them seem larger, and to make them spiky, thus unpleasant to eat. However, this scale-raising behavior also caused them to tangle themselves even more once caught in a net, and opened plenty of gaps for Lucian to shove the tracker-spike into. Once it was done, Makhus drew his sword and joined Lydia in the...

177 - Charcoal Games Pt. 2 [Cherno]

"Alright, fine, enough games," Krahe sighed, and decided to just spill everything about the Hexkey. As it was, both it and the anthrocite hand were utterly useless to her. "To start with, I know the superior counterpart to human charcoal under the name 'anthrocite'. Secondly, I found what I believe to be an inheritance from the Human Charcoal Cults. The first part is a cursed voidkey that promises it will evolve at some ill-defined point, claiming that it will 'evolve once Anthrocite Transmut...

176 - Charcoal Games [Cherno]

Reaching out with her left hand, several papers split off from Yao's arm and wrapped around the chunk, bringing it closer to her. She silently inspected it for a few moments, subjecting it to four separate talisman-based tests. Twice, the paper's patterns changed colour, and twice more, it burned on contact with the stone - the first time was instant, like flash paper, and the second slowly blackened the paper as if the charcoal piece was just a hot ember. After contemplating for a further mi...

175 - A Reminder of Scale [Cherno]

The only thing left to do was to write a message and send Yao's communication talisman back to its owner. It was a relatively simple process, if laborious due to the talisman's ravenous appetite for thauma. The message was simple, informing the talisman mistress of Krahe's intent to visit and requesting confirmation that she could do so without taking as much of a risk as Casus had done. Half an hour later, when she walked out back to check, she found a camouflaged talisman hovering in the ex...

174 - Your Turn [Cherno]

There, in the depths of struggle and pain, he found an abiding and invincible will to move forward. For the briefest moment, he could swear someone was pulling him back to his feet and speaking encouragement in his ear. He couldn't make out most of the words, only an immense sense of pride, as well as agreement with the idea that he had no choice but to move forward as something new.

For a few moments, he was able to claw back true clarity of mind. As he leaned on the wall, drawing in s...

334 - Interlude Pt. 2 - Going Kite-hunting[Sturmblitz]

When he finally walked out into the courtyard, Lucian realized he hadn't even been told the most basic information in the rush. One moment he had been asleep, the next he was awake; Elder Makhus had waved some kind of smelling salts under his nose. Hell, he had barely been able to wash himself, and the sun wasn't even up yet.

"So what exactly was the cause for such a sudden expedition? And why am I to be a part of it?" he questioned as he walked up. It was just him, Elder Makhus, and......

333 - Interlude - Life at the Newman Sect [Sturmblitz]

A/N: This one's a bit shorter. Next one will be a bit longer. Dialogue flow reasons.

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"What's the point of demanding us to register separately? The Slayer's Guild and the Newman Sect might as well be the same entity. Same people, anyhow," a heavily-muscled young man complained as he strapped on a beaten-up, refurbished chest plate. A fresh decal on the left breast marked him as a trainee, not yet proven enough to have a ...

173 - The Daughters of Hope [Cherno]

"Beef," the raven demanded in a large black man's voice.

"I'll give you some if you give me that quote."

"Beef, twelve ounces," he reiterated.

"We have tortoise. You liked it better than beef."

The whole time, Casus watched on, his stoic visage admirably masking his mild bewilderment at the scene. That thing really wasn't a normal eidolon; not only did it eat, it even made demands of its master.

Nonetheless, the offer of tortoise steak convinced the crow...

172 - Spiritual Guidance [Cherno]

Ambrosius simply led Casus into the basement, where a miniature urban landscape of astonishing detail stretched across a table. In the span of a few minutes, he brought out boxes of miniatures and re-set the battle state as it was nearly a year ago when they had last spoken like this. The saint didn't say a word, simply playing his turn. Two of his thaumaturge units got a lucky strike in and cut down Casus' graft-beast. So it went for around three hours, finishing out that battle and beginnin...

171 - A Crisis of Faith [Cherno]

After dealing with the delivery and stashing most of her money away in the vent duct, she made her way to Sorayah's place, for multiple reasons. The main one - breaching her bedroom - turned out to be a bust. The ward-breaker, a Pilgrim Banisher with his horizontal eyes still closed, did his job and left right away like the meat-robot he was for the time being. Sorayah's bedroom was utterly normal. Yes, there were occult materials scattered about, but Krahe found nothing that stood out - cert...

170 - Taking Care of Business [Cherno]

A/N: The gunporn section was unnecessarily long but I wanted to keep it unaltered so slightly longer chapter

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Opening a box full of cash never got old. The paper wraps disintegrated the moment she tore them off, revealing a dark, wooden surface. Despite being wood, it was just as cold, just as firm and reflective as solid marble.

A brass insignia of the Seven Spokes stared back at her from the lid, which she lifted...

332 - EBERHEIM ARC PT. FINAL [Sturmblitz]

For three days and three nights, Zelsys watched over the Third Truthseeker as golden lightning hammered down on him.

For three days and three nights, she watched the man thrash against his restraints, screaming, ranting, monologuing.

She sat, only meters from the man, for she was the only only who could do so without being scoured out of existence by the occasional errant bolt. The first time she was struck, it felt like she was back atop the roof of that cabin again. Something th...

331 - EXPUNGEMENT PT. 2 [Sturmblitz]

Out of nowhere and unprompted, Bishamonten spoke: "WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED HERE SHALL LEAVE THIS LAND SEVERELY OUT OF BALANCE. THE LEYLINES SWELL WITH UNBIDDEN POWER. THE RESTLESS DEAD WAIT FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO COALESCE. UNTIL THIS IMBALANCE IS REDRESSED, THE WEATHER SHALL BE RUINOUSLY EXTREME, AND THE EARTH SHALL BEAR NO FRUIT. EVEN THIS AVATAR, AND THIS SPEAR, SHALL BECOME SOURCES OF RUIN, IF THEY ARE SIMPLY LEFT TO BE. THIS CANNOT STAND."

A heavy silence hung over them ...

169 - I've Eaten Worse [Cherno]

"What do you plan to do with him?" she gestured to the prisoner.

"I'll turn the body into the church, it should get back to any relatives he might have. The wormy fuck didn't even bother to change the face, and kept the original contractor ID. As for the worm... I'll debeak and swallow him whole. You've got an acid bath to look forward to, my friend."

The fear gripping the baneworm-host seemed to get to be too much, as his tendrils began writhing wildly. The body's eyes rolled int...

168 - Case Three Closed [Cherno]

Despite her deep and profound sorrow, she mustered the will to enter the building. The old lizard was in his home, and readily opened the door after she banged on it while announcing herself: "Open up, it's me!"

The lock turned and the door swung open, but Garvesh was nowhere near it.

"Close and lock the door. I'm in the bathroom. Come in, it's fine."

"Something happened," Krahe deadpanned as she did as he asked.

"You saw Imraal's cart out front. I took it out on the s...

167 - Abara Morph [Cherno]

As the flyman performed a simple grafting operation on himself out in the open, he spoke: "I almost pity you. You must think highly of Silberblut. It must be difficult to know you will never live up to what he was. To know you tarnish his legacy with this deluded impersonation. Perhaps I was wrong to fear you after all, if such a pale imitation is all you can manage."

His apathetic tone of voice was tinged by a smug sense of superiority, but also true, genuine pity.

"You like the ...

330 - EXPUNGEMENT PT. 1 [Sturmblitz]

She knew why he hadn't moved yet. He couldn't. His body could, but his soul wouldn't let him. The presence of the giant Oculus only meters from him, Bishamonten looming not far off, and Victor, somehow, still chanting. All together, Third couldn't exert his aura in any meaningful way, lest it be suppressed or altogether torn away from him.

Each time she struck him, it was her aura against his, her Truth against his, the weight of her existence against his. Zelsys was vividly aware that,...

329 - PURIFICATION [Sturmblitz]

The containment formation’s outermost ring finally gave out, but by then, the vast majority of Third's would-be suicide technique was spent. The burst of power that escaped was so small that Bishamonten's avatar drew it in without any apparent effort, leaving only a pitch-black, elongated corpse on the ground. Next to it, the giant Oculus formed of aura also stood, the bulk of its constituent aura now golden, with the veins in the shaft and the metallic components made of silvery-white, whi...

328 - KISHIN-SHURA-BISHAMONTEN [Sturmblitz]

"I AM THE GUARDIAN OF HEAVENLY TREASURES, THE PATRON OF RIGHTEOUS WARRIORS AND PUNISHER OF THOSE WITHOUT HONOR!" the Avatar continued to speak. It seemed as if, with each utterance, its presence became more real and less ethereal, as if introducing itself in this manner was part of the incarnation ritual.

The Avatar raised its right hand. Countless revenants were expelled from the mouth on its chest, forming into a spear at first. In its second hand, a khakkhara staff b...

166 - Something Wrong Pt. 3 [Cherno]

As he ripped himself free, he caught a glimpse of the source of that second attack. Just a flash, but it was unmistakable. A damascened membrane in the palm of Tsetse's hand. That was the reason for the weird fist, to cover it up. His thoughts ran rampage; had Tsetse devised that specifically to counter the Second Eye?

Tsetse, however, seemed amused, remarking: "Impressive. Very well. I am certain the question has been gnawing at you: Am I a war morph? An overgrafter? A simple ...

165 - Something Wrong Pt. 2 [Cherno]

He smelled it long before he reached the lab. The sweet smell of rotting meat, but not quite like the real thing, tinged with musky pungency and the sting of pheromones not intended for his nostrils. The stench only led him to rush even more, driving him to transform into Silberblut pre-emptively.

His fears were only further affirmed by the sounds of commotion as he sprinted through subterranean corridors lit only by old, flickering lamps. Three layers of black-iron doors had separated ...

164 - Something Wrong [Cherno]

That night, there was a brief light show in the sky just above the city. A swarm of glowing papers chasing after a deep-blue comet, each letting off a shining beam of light before disintegrating.

It ended with a dozen rays of light scattering into the sky all at once, and the body of their target - a willowy, unassuming man - plummeting onto a rooftop. He rolled off the side, smashing into a balcony railing on his way down, leaving it bent. Nothing else broke his fall save for the hard ...

163 - VS. Crescent Jezail Pt. 2 [Cherno]

Reload; a new talisman wrapped around his staff. An adjustment of his fingers on the haft, translating to subtle adjustments to the next shot's properties. The air still crackled with remnant energy as Jezail regained sight and recalculated trajectories. Jezail's mind ran far faster than any Normal's, apropos of his heavy cerebral grafts and a cocktail of elixirs he had taken beforehand. He got up and stalked over the rooftops, eventually jumping across the street to the next roof over.