The Path of Ascension

Chapter 269

Chapter 269

Quill looked out at Girang and let his mask smile back at the massive bear, even as mana stone dust fell around him from his rapid recharging of his mana pool. Off to the side, Soddus handed off the fighters he had been tending to and dove into the fray. Golden flames enveloped the Chimeras body, and when they faded, hed been replaced with a brilliant winged unicorn. He looked mostly normal, with white-silver fur, an ivory horn, and a golden mane, but the mane had a reddish tinge towards the tips, and a pair of brilliant scarlet wings twice as long as Quill was tall spread out like those of a pegasus.

Neither he nor Girang wore much in the way of overt armor, but Soddus was clad in some lightweight barding that shone intensely under Quills mana sight, glimmering with a tapestry of various enchantments. They didnt look as though they provided much protection, but looks could be very deceiving.

The Chimera skidded to a stop next to his teammate, returning to his humanoid form, wings spread to reveal a well-muscled but shirtless chest. With a twirl of his wrist, Soddus summoned a brass staff topped with a glass cylinder filled with a faintly green liquid, complete with a corresponding cylinder at the bottom filled with a red fluid.

As the two sides locked gazes for a long moment, there was a tension building, a question of who would strike first. In the end, it was almost a tie.

Almost.

Quill was powering his speed enhancements, and the moment he saw Girangs muscles begin to tense, he triggered a talisman and took to the air, leaving a trail of flames in the wake of his flying blade. Torch easily took over the resulting flame despite Soddus efforts to deprive her of them. Unlike with Seasidh, the chimera was ultimately a support healer who dabbled in flames, not a practiced pyromancer that was even close to match against Torchs speciality.

Those flames embraced the warrior as she leaped up, avoiding Girangs headlong charge by dashing up the bear-tigers back, just barely avoiding the spikes jutting from his spine. At the peak of her run, she thrust downwards, enhancing her spear-strike with flames and using the momentum provided to leap skyward. The attack left a small scorch mark on the chimeras hide, but that was already beginning to fade.

Quill took advantage of Girangs momentary distraction to activate an [Earth Lance] talisman, only to be completely stymied. Whatever Girang or Soddus was doing locked down the earth to a rare degree, and while Quill probably could overpower it, it would be inadvisably difficult.

Instead, he changed tactics. Scoop was already working her magic and slowly making the battlefield colder, and Quill took advantage of her [Frost] to further empower a [Hail] directed head-on for Girang.

It didnt slow the chimera too much, but it did leave enough ice on his fur that Scoops [Ice Manipulation] could take hold of him, growing a few chunks of ice into a swooping design of frost reaching towards the mans joints.

To say that they had it handled would do a disservice to their opponents, but Quill turned his attention instead to Soddus, his flying sword enabling him to close the distance in the blink of an eye. A pair of explosions served as cover, and a blast of energy aimed at the phoenixs chest forced him to pull into a dive, only to change back into his winged pegasus form and swoop back up with his horn alight with golden flames.

It was Quills turn to dodge, as the radiant fire swept through where he had been just a moment before, but instead of carrying on into the distance, it banked sharply and began to chase him down.

As Quill continued to dodge the chasing column of fire as it resolved into more and more of a serpentine appearance, he frowned as he realized the spell wasnt ending. Instead, Soddus continued his headlong charge, golden fire still pouring out of his horn and simply lengthening the golden snake. It was already dozens of meters long and showed no sign of slowing, but it was just faster than him and kept gaining ground.

Just before it was about to reach him, Quill stowed his flying sword and allowed his [Air Manipulation] to carry him on a stiff breeze, instantly changing his direction once, twice, and three times. His flying sword came back out, and he flew directly at Soddus as fast as he could, charging his shoulder with a set of attack spells on the way. In response, the phoenix changed shape once again, this time to a sparrow-sized phoenix right as Quill was about to barrel into his side.

Quill frowned and allowed his preparatory spells to dissipate, but didnt have enough time to properly ponder the latest development, as while the healer was no longer generating the fire-snake, neither had the spell vanished. He put on another burst of speed, kneeling close to his flying sword and flying in tight a corkscrew to avoid a small flock of summoned phoenixes that had joined his pursuit.

The fire-snake caught back up with him thanks to the loss of speed from his maneuvering, and Quill used a shield talisman to slow its advance just long enough for him to make it within range of Scoop and Torch. The formers constant [Dispelling Winds] tore the flock of phoenixes to shreds, and the latter seized control of the fire-snake with an acrobatic twirl. Quill could tell it was difficult for his partner, but she kept a tight grip on the attack long enough to slam it into Girangs headlong charge.

To the chimeras credit, it didnt stop his momentum, and Quill couldnt help but flinch as fur, then hide, and even a bit of muscle was burned away in the blink of an eye. In the next moment, it had been replaced by a wicked-looking set of bronze metal plates that gave the impression of an armored helm. Torch took the opportunity provided, siphoning off a bit of the golden flames to enhance her next attack, scoring a line along the bears shoulder as it passed her by. It scabbed over into bronze as well, but by then Quill needed to return his attention to Soddus.

The unicorn hadnt been idle, and had returned to his humanoid form to cloak himself with a golden aura. The mans long red hair had likewise turned golden and was standing straight on end, as though blown by a strong wind from below. He swept his staff through space as the glow reached its apex, unleashing a barrage of projectiles at Quill. After he dodged the first few, Quill realized they werent even aimed at him, and were instead multiple buff spells aimed at Girang. After that, he intentionally sought to intercept the buffs only for them to actually be harmful.

The first one caused his shoulder to clench up, the second scored a dent in his armor, while the third momentarily blocked his ability to power any magical devices. [Lesser Regeneration] cleared up the first, the second didnt matter, and the third only lasted a few moments before he blew past whatever magical means was trying to stop his mana from leaving his body. Though, that was still long enough for his flying sword to tumble from the sky. Quill pulsed [Air Manipulation], staying airborne and recalling his sword to his hand in a single motion. It did interrupt his ability to intercept Soddus buffs though, not that he had been accomplishing much there, so he sent a [Fire Bolt] at the man.

It was aggravating how he couldnt tell how dangerous the projectiles were, or if they were meant to heal or harm, before they met their target. But that just meant he needed to keep Soddus firmly on the defensive, while Scoop and Torch took on Girang.

Fortunately, Scoop was able to intercept and strip many of Girangs buffs as they landed, but she couldnt stop them all. The tiger, currently with wisps of wind trailing by his side, was only getting faster and stronger the longer the battle went on.

Quill reactivated his flying sword, this time enhancing its flight with [Air Manipulation], and used a mobile [Mana Barrier] talisman as a shield, blocking almost all of Soddus projectiles, be they buffs or attacks. As the healer prepared to dodge, Quill activated a fairly powerful talisman and locked both of them within a cage made of solid lightning. Locking down space prevented teleportation, and Quill was finally able to score a solid hit on the phoenix as he rammed his flying sword straight through the mans bare chest.

Soddus had landed his own blow, and with a single massively-buffed strike with his staff, Quill was sent flying nearly into his own lightning barrier, and had to utilize a [Wind Burst] talisman to prevent just that. Despite the blade sticking out of his chest, Soddus merely smirked and went to pull out the sword. The smirk turned into a frown as the hilt came away from the blade, and Quill raised a [Bulwark] as the enchanted blade exploded, turning the world white for a moment.

***

Aplaid watched as Quills strike blew Soddus in half. It was an impressive maneuver, and it was rare that someone managed to reach melee range of the chimera within the first few exchanges. Despite neither of the boys bloodlines being particularly well-suited for speedy maneuvering, he possessed substantial skill in switching between his forms to avoid most engagements, and hed personally seen Soddus kite opponents two tiers stronger than him for an entire fight.

Soddus body was already regrowing, of course. The attack, while strong enough to destroy the cage Quill had trapped the two of them in, was far from sufficient to score any lasting damage on the chimera. It did send them each flying, and Girang pounced on Quill before he could return to harassing Soddus. He set up an entrapping arena of continental mana around them preventing either Torch or Quill from interfering with the regenerating healer.

Quill dodged Girangs first blow with almost absurd ease, casually backflipping over an attack he wasnt even facing and unloading a barrage of energy darts into the back of the Mountain Bears paw. Quill hadnt moved with nearly that much speed during the assassination attempt, and Aplaid couldnt help but wonder whether the Pather was pushing himself to an unsustainable degree now or if hed been holding back that much before.

It was frustrating to gauge the normal strength of alchemists, whose power came predominantly from the amount of time and funding they had between battles, and he was learning the same applied to talisman users. Aplaid couldnt tell whether Quill was utilizing stronger buffing talismans than before, or if he was closer to a blade mage, and was burning through resources to enhance his warriors physique.

If it were the latter, then this duo genuinely had the potential to be yet another set of Alphas for the Empire. It was unclear what Torch was hiding, but the appearance of Scoop had lead many to believe that the ice mage was simply another persona of Torchs; a permanently manifested clone of some form with sleight of hand involved in casting spells. Aplaid wasnt certain if he bought into that theory, but it did make a certain level of sense.

Regardless, the trio was very good. Too good. Between Waters, Light, Shadow, and now them, the Empire had clearly found some method of mass-producing Alphas. That changed things, and the Monster Collective would need to pick a side in the ensuing conflict.

Assuming, of course, it wasnt simply an illusion. If Girang and Soddus could crush them here and now, their story would end, and the balance of power could proceed as normal.

It would be far simpler in that case.

It might also be the time to pull down another Great Power who was getting too far ahead of the others.

***

Girangs tail whipped around at blistering speeds, sharpening the very air and light it passed through into deadly blades, a veritable blender of turbulence preventing any sort of easy dodge. Scoop came to Quills rescue, her own flurry of wind arcing over the mountain of muscle and metal to carry away the skill. It fought her, but she was still able to open a large enough passage that Quill could do the rest of the job, thanks to overpowered air and shadow defensive talismans absorbing those blades which sought to rend him to pieces.

The tail itself slammed into the ground, pinned there by a magnetic trap hed left where hed been standing, and Quill took the opportunity it opened to dart underneath the monstrous chimera, a potent blast of solid radiance striking the tigers underside in perfect unison with Torchs attack. The two combined to pierce deeply into their foes hide, and the barrier he was sustaining flickered.

Scoop rushed to escape the arena Girang had trapped them in, and it closed just slow enough for her to properly split off. Off to the side, Soddus was most of the way through regrowing his legs, bone and muscle knitting together like a particularly bloody braid. Scoop flew to try and interfere with the healers recovery, but wasnt able to fully stop the unicorn from firing off a few spells to empower and heal Girang, the buffs passing straight through the latters shield as though it wasnt even there.

One of those buffs struck Girang just as Torch wrenched her spear out of his hide, but instead of closing the wound directly, it suffused the blood that spilled from the injury as it instantly clotted and hardened into a golden patch of armor. The chimera was utterly covered in those metallic scabs, ranging from nearly-black to radiant white in color, and half of them were covered in spikes to make it that much harder to score a proper hit on him. Still, it was the other half which Soddus had empowered, his spells forming a temporary enchantment unique to each former wound.

Then, Girang vanished.

Quills incoming fireblast passed straight through where the hulking chimera had been standing mere moments earlier, and he quickly repositioned to stand back-to-back with Torch. So far, as his spells and spiritual senses could discern, he was suddenly in the middle of a solid sphere of iron, no sign of Girang anywhere.

Quills senses werent fully obscured, and he sensed danger incoming with just enough time to throw up a force barrier. Instead of being minced, he and Torch went flying at breakneck speed, their spherical shield bouncing off their entrapping cage like a pinball. Girang remained invisible, but a few more strikes came from the unseen chimera, sending them careening through their personal arena at ludicrous speeds. There was no discernable pattern, but Quill was getting slightly better at predicting the attacks just before they landed.

Right before one was about to strike them, he overloaded his shield, turning it into a blast of energy, relocating himself and Torch to either side of the menacing claw and forcing Girang back into visibility.

A well-timed healing spell from Soddus meant the wound was already forming into a metal scab, wickedly sharp and incredibly tough. But at least Scoop was keeping the healer busy enough that it wasnt also enchanted.

An enormous wave of ice, stone, and metal swept out from Quills latest talisman, and while Girang was barely slowed by the cold and tore through the stone and metal like paper, it gave Quill plenty of material to work with as he took over Scoops role, restraining Girang as much as possible while Torch charged up a massive blow. Flames swirled in her wake as she ran at a blistering speed, gathering momentum and fire, until she crashed down upon the chimera with a full [Tidal Wave] of pure fire.

The resulting collision knocked most of Girangs metal scabs clean off his wiry hide, but that barely even slowed the chimera down. Instead of plates of armor, they became flying projectiles under his mental control, intelligent shrapnel that sought to tear him and Torch to shreds. It took most of their concentration to simply dodge the maelstrom of scrap metal, but with the shards separated from Girangs body, they had lost much of their innate durability, to the point where Quill could manage to destroy them with a lucky hit.

Soddus spells were still coming, but Scoop had gotten proficient at blocking them. Unfortunately, Soddus seemed to be compensating by making what buffs did land that much more potent, and with each spell, Girang got just that much stronger and that much faster. Any traces of slowness or fatigue were completely washed away.

They werent winning.

But they werent losing.

Girang and Soddus may have been unstoppable, but they couldnt keep this up forever. But he, Torch, and Scoop could. He was Endless, and he would prove it.

He saw an opening and took it, a [Lightning Torrent] flooding Girang and inflicting the chimera with a few muscle spasms. Torch brought her own expertise to bear, her spear slamming halfway into the tigers shoulder. She withdrew her spear a moment later, and before the wound had a chance to seal up, Quill unleashed a full-power [Cracked Mana Spear] into the injury.

Girang roared, and charged directly at Quill, heedless of the beam tearing into his flesh. Fur burned and blood flowed, metal plates threatening to scab over yet being obliterated before they could properly manifest. It was boiled off at first, then what few chips appeared were blown off by an unseen wind, then stayed in place. The coagulating mass of metal scabs grew more and more, connecting into a solid pauldron of metal against which Quills ultimate attack was doing little more than polishing.

Quill couldnt help but smile beneath his mask. His attack may have been nullified but Girang had dropped the arena skill hed trapped them in as a result. He pulled a war hammer from storage and leaped into the air alongside Torch, joining Scoop in her battle against Soddus.

***

Torch jetted through the air, flames shooting from her flying anklets while she aided her maneuverability with [Blood Manipulation].

In an ideal case, she wouldnt need to push that hard, but they needed to take out Soddus. The mans buffs made Girang utterly unstoppable, and it was only thanks to Scoops countermagic efforts that theyd done as well as they had. But they hadnt even pushed the duo to utilize their biggest cards, and she absolutely did not want to have to beat Girang twice. Once was proving hard enough.

She landed lightly on the ground and charged at Soddus, raising her spear and shield until that was all the unicorn could see of her. Scoop had managed to ground the chimera, and he was currently in the form of a normal unicorn, brandishing his horn like a sword as he engaged Scoops [Polar Ray] elemental, an iridescent black hummingbird.

That didnt stop the healer from also firing off a lance of golden light at her and Quill, but she intercepted the one aimed at her with her shield, allowing its mana to feed the force field around her. As cover, she summoned a small wave of fire, and when Soddus tried to rip control of it away from her, she didnt contest it.

The phoenix tripped over his own [Fire Manipulation], the flames stuttering a nearly-imperceptible amount, and Torch finished her true attack.

The ground rippled around her, and she fired off an [Earth Lance] of actual stone. Soddus wasnt able to dodge quite fast enough, and the attack took him in the flank before he transformed back into his miniature phoenix form, escaping the worst of the attack. He immediately needed to flee from the [Polar Ray] hummingbird, now far larger than him, but didnt make it very far before Scoops [Headwind] threw him to the ground once again. He landed in a roll, returning to his humanoid form, and wreathed his wings in flame, wrapping them around himself for protection.

Scoops elemental finally connected, and the hummingbirds beak stabbed into Soddus wing and drank deeply, draining away speed and forming a thin film of frost over the chimeras body.

Then, it exploded, the frost faded away, and Soddus threw himself backwards to avoid Quills questing warhammer as it closed in on his head.

Winding herself up with a spin, Torch threw her spear at where she knew the healer would land after his dodge completed, pushing herself to the absolute limit. She had Quills Concept, Scoops buffs, and so many enhancement potions in her system that she could taste colors all contributing to pushing herself beyond what the human body could truly take.

The wood of the spear creaked as she threw it, as the weapon was much more of a mages staff innately than a warriors spear. She was glad that Scoop was working on parting the air in front of it, because she needed her Concept dedicated to simply enhancing its durability. Unfortunately, halfway through its flight, Scoop needed to refocus to avoid a projectile from Girang, and the effect was immediately obvious. The space in front of the spear burst into plasma from compressive heating, as it was going far faster than the speed of sound, but that only fed the flames around the weapon. It struck Soddus like a meteor, taking off a huge chunk of his shoulder and most of a wing before shooting off into the distance, leaving the flesh it tore off behind.

Shed hoped to blow the mans chest entirely to shreds with that shot, but Soddus had managed to just barely dodge that outcome. Unlike the last time, theyd landed a solid blow on him, and a cocoon of golden light spilled from Soddus wounds. It burst into white flames and unveiled a brand-new, physically perfect shoulder and wing once again, just in time to block an overhead attack from Quill.

The resulting shockwave drove Soddus calf-deep into the ground, and Quill rebounded back into the sky, where Girang pounced upon him. Scoops incoming gust of wind separated the two fighters enough that Quill could leverage his warhammer once again, but Girang magically tethered the two of them together and charged away from Soddus.

Soddus conjured a pair of silver-flame doves and sent them fluttering towards the entwined duo, but Scoop flew in to divert them into the ground, where they exploded into twisting coils of solid smoke that began to hunt her down.

That gave Torch enough time to close the distance to Soddus, withdrawing a spare spear from her storage. By the time Soddus had a chance to intercept her, she was already too close for a spell.

Instead, he wreathed his staff in a red aura and slammed it down on her head, but Torch already had her shield raised to block the blow, her spear striking the center of his chest.

Her left arm protested as she felt fractures running through her bones, but the shield had blocked a large portion of the armor piercing enchantments of the staff, reinforcing her bubble shield more with the absorbed mana. She held her bones in place with [Blood Manipulation], and even set some of her [Lifeblood Manipulation] to start knitting it back together.

Soddus tried to dodge her spear, but it was far too late for that.

The spear splintered under the force of the attack, its enchantments giving way in an explosion of mana, but that didnt stop her and she pushed what remained of the haft clean through Soddus torso, forcing the man to stagger back.

He skittered back from her with half her spear sticking out of his chest, which he grabbed and removed with a casual air, the wound slowly closing as she watched. This is more rough than my usual foreplay. I

Torch ignored the man, opting to instead continue knitting her bones up and calling her normal spear back to hand, [Return Weapon] reaching to wherever it had landed and teleporting it to where it belonged. Without a wasted moment, she continued her pursuit of the healer, forcing him to cut out mid-banter.

Soddus rolled out of the way, keeping one hand pressed against his newest wound and snapping his staff with the other while a dozen spells flew from its end. Half were instantly torn to shreds by Scoops [Dispelling Wind], half again were blown off-course and exploded against the ground, and one was blocked by a [Mana Barrier] from Quill. But the final two landed on Girang and rippled red and blue light across the mountain of fur and metal. It washed away a patch of frost and closed up the last injury Quill had made, replacing it with a white scab of metal that radiated honor. Scoop joined Torchs side a moment later, and her winds kept Soddus stuck on the ground while Torch struck with her spear again and again.

Each attack only lasted for a few moments, but they still drained his mana, as Soddus didnt have Quills Concept to keep him at nearly full mana. Instead, he was burning through mana stones like dry grass, casting dozens of skills per second. No doubt, the phoenix thought this must have been their final push, a ploy of desperation before they collapsed from exhaustion

But they were just getting started.

Quill broke free from fighting Girang and blasted a hole through Soddus back, and Torch tried to capitalize on the opportunity that afforded to spear the mans neck, but a flying shard of metal intercepted her attack. A second one nearly tore through her side, and she had to teleport away from Soddus to avoid it.

A blast of fire forced Scoop to step back, and Soddus changed back into his phoenix form, darting off to meet Girang. Scoop knocked him from the sky, but not before the bird landed on Girangs uppermost spike. A wave of fire engulfed the bear-tiger, and he roared in triumph.

Torch cursed. There went what little damage they had managed to deal to the chimera. Still, she refused to allow the maneuver to go unpunished. Soddus leaped off his partner and returned to his winged horse form, galloping away from the main melee.

Quill engaged Girang, blocking the chimeras ferocious tail, and the ground exploded under her feet as she drove forward shield-first. She slid under Girangs mountainous form, and she sensed Scoop dispel an attempt at trapping the three of them within an arena with the bear. From there, Torch wreathed herself and her shield in flames as she closed the distance to Soddus.

Her spear paired with a [Wind Lance] to take off Soddus equine jaw, and he recoiled back into his humanoid shape, still missing the lower third of his face. He sacrificed an arm to get a bit more room and free himself the ice-ribbons Scoop had bound him in.

If Torch had access to her blood magic, she could have pulled him back in to dish out more damage, but instead, she just pulled a slab of stone out of the ground and slammed it into him. Soddus flew into the ground with an explosion of flame, but instead of a phoenix's revival, he bathed himself in sunlight that seemed to empower him as it traveled into his horn.

Scoop took a blast of the glowing silvery flames that carved right through her shields and cut through her chest, but still managed to drop an ice golem right behind Soddus in the perfect position to crush the healer.

Expecting the golem to block Soddus in, Torch dove in with her spear leading the charge, but the moment the golem formed, it fell apart in a spray of light.

Soddus turned and barely managed to resist being impaled, but lost a large chunk of his chest in the maneuver. Unicorn flesh mended itself in moments, but the healing was slowing down, especially as Scoop managed to push far enough to start dispelling his healing spells.

Just as she was gathering flames to force Soddus into his phoenix form, where she had the beginnings of a trap planned, Torch felt a burst of familiar power behind her.

***

Side-stepping a pair of swipes, Quill brought the war hammer up and around to catch Girang in the arm, cracking metal spikes and bone alike. He kicked Girang in the knee, but the bear started to glow silver and exploded in speed, even as bands of wind started to try and slow him down.

Scoop's [Headwind] elemental held back the first swipe long enough for Quill to dodge it, but he was too slow to react to the kick and was sent flying.

Quill wrapped the winds around him, pulling his flight to a halt with [Air Manipulation] and setting him back on the ground.

Growling, Quill lifted his war hammer, and with an explosion of air and earth, launched himself at Girangs back. The bear must not have expected Quill to take the broken ribs so well, because he seemed genuinely caught off guard as Quill came back into the fight, and his counter-block was haphazard at best.

Girang took a heavy blow to the back, which Quill could tell broke bones. But the bear had heavily modified his body, and instead of collapsing, he turned and chomped down at Quill.

He met the bite with his warhammer, but instead of breaking fangs and sending blood flying, the chimeras mouth full of teeth tore into the hammers head like it was soft fruit, destroying the weapon and practically swallowing the resultant detonation. Quill started in surprise. He knew just how hard hed swung, just how powerful those enchantments were, and he had not expected that.

Had Girang enhanced the durability of his teeth?

The chimera had known what Stygian Gossamer was, and Quill supposed it wasnt the craziest idea for anyone who fought with their body to make their weapons invincible, but it still caught him by surprise. But, given how his hammer had been torn through like soft cheese, it clearly was effective. That didnt mean he was one to be outdone.

Flexing his physical boosting skills, Matt did something he rarely needed to do, and had been unable to do until recently. He activated reserve skills and Lizs potions. [Mana Strength], [Flexibility], and their ilk had been out of his reach for decades, but now he had mana to spare. It wasnt as bad as it could have been, but it still reduced his MPS by the same amount of mana hed reserved. So, locking ten thousand mana into [Embody Colossus] meant he was regenerating ten thousand fewer mana each second.

But when he had a million to use, ten thousand was nothing.

He triggered an armband, and a potion flooded his system. He called on his Concept, and repulsive force surrounded him like a second skin. [Brawlers Gauntlet] wreathed his fist in power, and he charged.

Each source of strength didnt stack perfectly, but they combined well enough that his punch drove into Girangs body,

There was a moment of calm as the fist landed, and Matt felt the battlefield sharpen for a moment as he saw Soddus flared with light, fighting off Scoop and Torch in a desperate bid to help his partner.

For that brief moment, he was the center of the battlefield, and it was delicious.

Everything revolved around him.

Flesh and metal fur pulped against the pugilist's skill, and Matt followed it up with another two quick strikes. Each blow of the Tier 26 skill bypassed most physical defenses, and Matt had seen Tier 23 monsters outright explode from the force of similar attacks. If the chimeras magical defenses had been any less potent than his physical, that could have been the end of the fight then and there. Though if that had been the case, the fight would have ended long ago.

He was going in for another flurry of blows when the ground flexed and tried to swallow him whole.

Grinning, Matt threw 200,000 mana into [Earth Manipulation] and commanded the ground to still.

It did.

Landing another punch, Girang finally was knocked off his paws, and Matt jumped after him, landing yet another blow before getting grabbed by the bear's claws and brought up to Girangs mouth like a chew toy.

Wounds were closing, Soddus fought desperately to keep his partner in fighting condition, and Matt simply laughed as Girang loomed over him, invincible fangs trying to rip his head off.

Just as Girang chomped down on Matt, he stuck his invulnerable left hand in the bear's mouth and cast [Cracked Mana Spear] at the maximum mana per second it could handle. And 150,000 MPS was a lot of mana for a skill that was clearing rifts with a tenth of that mana cost.

The beam of mana slammed into the back of Girangs mouth, and Matt smiled as the bear tried to bite through his left hand to stop the skill. Matt watched with satisfaction as Girang realized that Matt would not be bowed, would not be broken. He stood, resolute in the literal mouth of adversity. Power coursed through Matts body, and he redoubled the force his Concept was putting out.

Slowly, steadily, the jaws of death were forced open as mana leaked out revealing a charred mess within the bears mouth. The teeth and most of the mouth were still immaculate, but a moment later the back of the bear's head blew off as a beam of mana escaped the confines of his body leaving only a charred mess where the bears brain should have been.

That he wasnt already dead surprised Matt. Either the tiger had specifically enhanced his brain with a treasure comparable in strength to Stygian Gossamer, or hed reworked his entire nervous system to move or redistribute his brain elsewhere throughout his body. Either way, Matt was impressed. He didnt even know how one could accomplish the former, and the latter was so difficult as to be widely considered not worth the effort. Or Soddus was preventing the death in some way.

But brain or no, no body could handle the sheer destructive power he was putting out. Girang would die, it was only a question of how long he would last. His life was in Matts hand.

A blast of hot air washed over Matt, but he stood undaunted. As the gust turned into a hurricane, he stood strong. Then the hurricane turned into a winged horse wreathed in prismatic flames barreling into him, and he was thrown to the side. Soddus attack faded and Matt leaped back into the fray alongside a newly-arrived Torch and Scoop, but it was already too late. Girang was aflame, and the fires coalesced into plates of brass, iron, gold, and more.

The healer had arrived.

Most infuriatingly, Matt hadnt even properly killed Girang. While he had no doubt that the bears healing cooldown would be immense, a phoenixs revival didnt care about that sort of thing. Given how Girangs wounds had been healed and his body had been augmented with a new suit of armor, he would need to practically or outright kill Girang twice more still.

Matt summoned a short sword and shield from storage, swinging his blade at Soddus, but the phoenix teleported away right before the blow landed. It clanged off Girangs armor-plated hide instead, sending out a clang of shrapnel where he struck.

Matts [AI] lit up with warnings. Poison, apparently. He couldnt feel it, nor tell where it had come from but he poured mana into [Lesser Regeneration] to combat it. He cycled through his manipulation skills to try and find it, and barely caught a glimpse of a dozen miniscule shards of metal embedded in his heart. Even that was tricky to see, as his [Metal Manipulation] didnt seem to see it as properly metal.

For a fifteen-foot-tall mountain of metal and muscle, Girang clearly knew how to be sneaky.

[Cracked Mana Spear] returned, but Girangs armored form simply deflected it away. Even when he maneuvered himself to shoot it back into the chimeras face, it was reflected straight back at him thanks to the metal plates covering his body.

That was annoying.

His [AI] blared him again about poison, and Matt upped how much mana he was putting into [Lesser Regeneration].

If there was one good thing about Girangs new armor-plated form, it was far less mobile than before. He was still blisteringly fast for his size, but it was practically leisurely compared to what Matt had been dealing with. He could see attacks coming well in advance, and quite easily dodge them. A forest of metal spikes erupted from the ground around them, and Matt frowned. They were spaced too close together for Girangs hulking form to fit between them. Was he planning on changing form to something smaller?

Then the chimera vanished again.

Matt felt the next attack coming and dodged, only to be struck from behind, in a space not large enough for Girang to properly fit. His armor stood up to the attack, but sustained heavy gashes, and Matt was sent flying into one of the blades sticking up from the ground. He blocked the worst of it with his hand, but it still dented the front of his armor.

His [AI] warned him about poison again, and Matt directed more mana to [Lesser Regeneration] trying to get ahead of whatever was on those shards.

Then power built up from another impossible angle and Matt began to dodge. Then the attack manifested. [Wrath of Eclavorn] was a skill found only in a few Monster Collective rifts and named after their first Ascender. It was a breath-based attack with impressive homing capabilities and a truly devastating explosion. It was to [Fireball] what a volcano was to a candle, and it only grew in power the longer it flew.

If it missed him, it would almost certainly strike Scoop and Torch.

Matt moved back into its path, hand raised.

***

Viralira looked down at Seasadh, letting the girl see it. She and her team were bitter at their double loss, but seeing Quill going toe to toe with Girang, who had just defeated her, had reawakened her fighting spirit.

Good.

An Inheritor needed to be able to rise above a loss and grow from it.

She was also pleased with the fact that with each engagement, Quill was showing more of his abilities, but even Viralira was growing worried seeing just how versatile the mage was.

It proved that the Empire's claims of being able to produce Legends faster than ever had some weight. She could feel it in her bones that Sovereign Saint Aoife needed to handle this carefully. The Empire was on the rise, and they needed to get off the fence.

Clenching her fist, she contemplated killing Quill, Torch, and Scoop right there, but it was nothing but a passing thought. Embroiling the Clans in a war, at the least, was the height of folly, and she didnt live this long by making impulsive decisions. Striking while the iron was hot was the first lesson she had internalized, and that certainly wasnt now.

Additionally, she would die from the dragon and the cat who watched over the children, but that was of a lesser concern. Death was an old friend, one she had sent many customers, but when she finally met them in person, she hoped to make it worthwhile.

Instead, this was a learning experience. Seasadh, does it hurt? You were defeated and unable to force this out of Quill. Are you angry? Sad?

The womans mace flared for a moment but simmered down as Seasadh controlled herself. If I was Tier 20, I

Viralira cut the girl off with a raised hand. For all that Seasadh was an ideal Inheritor, her pride burned as brightly as her flames, and was even less easily subdued.

Dont give me that. Viralira watched the girl and her team flush and only once she was sure the girl would actually reflect did she continue. The three of them are younger than you, and fresh Tier 20s. If you thought breaking through would have changed anything, you would have done so in the middle of the fight. Do not delude yourself to salvage your pride. That right there is the power of a true Legend, before they receive the riches and abundance you have been swaddled in for your whole life. When they hold nothing back, they can nearly match the pinnacle product of millennia of effort. If you want to do something, don't complain, work harder. Earn all that you have been given so you can become their equals, because as you are right now, you are still hot iron able to be shaped. Your tempering has yet to occur, and you still may forge yourself into the kind of power which may match our own Legends. I hope this can open your eyes to why we force you to struggle. When you meet real monsters, you need to be able to equal them, or you will simply be like dross to be scooped off and discarded.

Seeing Stjolna started to glow with heat and light that pulsed in tune with Seasadhs heartbeats, Viralira stopped talking and turned back to the fight.

The Star had awoken from her complacency, and now it was just up to Seasadh to see how hot she could burn.

***

It took a half-dozen skills to weaken it, from [Diffusion Shield], [Dispelling Wind], to [Bulwark], and twice that in talismans, but Matts Concept and invincible fist managed to deflect the attack into the ground. It demolished the forest of blades and forced Matt to burn yet another talisman to shield himself from the explosion, and sent him flying.

He crashed into a mountain range, and skidded to a stop in the middle of a lake of magma.

With a flex of [Earth Manipulation] and [Lava Manipulation], the mountain range exploded and rubble flew everywhere, but Matt didnt have the time to do more than react, as Girang had followed him and was bearing down on him.

Withdrawing a war axe, Matt slammed the edge of the blade into Girangs claws as he swiped at Matt. Unlike last time, Girang didnt stand and brawl, but instead twisted and whipped a nigh-invisible tail at Matt. Whatever enchantment the bear was using was effective, as Matt didnt notice the wrong eddies of air currents until it was too late to do anything but slightly dodge.

As the metal tail passed through his chest, he spat out a mouthful of blood and fought past the searing pain that accompanied the blow. At least his [AI] reported that the poison that had been affecting him seemed to have subsided somewhat, and Matt wasted no time in redirecting some of that mana to his other buffs. He dodged a barrage of metal shards and closed the distance to Girang.

Letting out a matching roar of rage and pain, Matt reached out and grabbed the fifteen-foot-tall bear and lifted him off the ground before slamming him back into it.

Girang hit the rubble of the mountain Matt had been sent into with an explosion of dirt that leveled the adjoining next two mountains.

Matt pulled Griang back up by the nape of his neck and prepared to slam him into the next mountain when his [AI] screamed a warning sent by Scoops AI. Soddus had thrown a bolt of glowing flames at him, and trusting her judgment, he jumped to the side, not willing to take the attack head-on. That gave Girang all the time he needed to recover, and the bear cut a deep wound into Matts shoulder, giving himself the moment he needed to get free and slash a wound deep into Matts chest, sending him back into the half-drained lake.

Coming back out of the water, Matt did his best impersonation of Duke Waters and took the lake with him, letting the water crash over Girang and trying to both restrain him and crush his incredibly hard body. A feat he quickly learned was futile, but a burst of flame from behind him brought his spiritual perception to the place where Soddus, Torch, and Scoop were fighting.

He felt a trill of triumph as Torch skewered Soddus from head to tail, her spear driven through the back of his equine head and back into his own body. Clearly, Soddus attack at him had come at a cost and Torch wasnt one to let a mistake like that slide. Then fires ignited around him, and Soddus began undergoing the unmistakable process of phoenix revival.

Knowing this was the opportunity they were looking for, Matt prepared to finish off Girang, but the bear started to roar after seeing his teammate dying, and Matt felt the ripples of a greater power washing out from him as his roar went on and on growing in intensity with each passing moment. It was filled with anger and pain in equal measures, but most of all, there was an unwillingness that resonated with something inside Matt.

He wanted to absorb it and crush it, but the power grew too quickly, and even his crushing grip on the water was destroyed as Girang formed his Intent.

Cursing, Matt jumped back as the massive bear sprinted at them through the air; his usage of his Intent wasnt smooth or practiced, but with each step, his footing steadied, and his speed increased.

Matt, Torch, and Scoop threw their Concepts at the charging bear, but it was like shooting a fire hose at a bull, barely slowing him down and only making him angrier.

Scoop hit him with a combination of every debuffing skill she had, but they were broken one by one the moment they were applied. Matt was reaching for his sword and about to activate [Cracked Phantom Armor] so he could face the bear head to head, but stopped himself with a jolt.

For one, [Cracked Phantom Armor] wasnt even assured to stop a fully-formed, if fresh Intent. Secondly, that would certainly lead to his two identities being linked. It might have been a worthwhile trade if he was absolutely positive that it would result in winning the planet for the Empire, but that wasnt certain. Theyd need to kill Girang at least once more, and it had been hard enough to push Soddus alone to the point of resurrection. Theyd win this fight if it went long, but against someone who had been on their level before hed gotten an Intent, that was a big ask.

Resetting himself back into the Quill persona, Matt readjusted his priorities.

Quill grabbed Torch and Scoop with [Air Manipulation] and pulled them away from Girang, who stood over Soddus reviving body while he roared out a challenge to anyone who dared to try and stop him.

Trying to act like it was no big deal, Quill shrugged. With this latest development, we concede the match.

It wasnt just his body that hurt saying that, but the pain was temporary, and he had [Lesser Regeneration] pushed to its limit to stay standing.

He didnt miss the fact that both Viralira and Aplald were looking at the three of them instead of Girang, who had just created his Intent at Tier 20 at less than two thousand years old.

Lila slithered up behind the three of them, acting like a shield, one of her wings coming in between them and the other Tier 40s.

Quill can speak for the Empire in this matter. Though Id like to add my own personal congratulations for Girangs achievement and the Monster Collective as a whole for the new planet.

Quill didnt miss Seasadh, who, despite being off to the side, looked like she had just swallowed a sour grape, but she didnt refute Lilas claim of giving the planet away. With Soddus reviving and Girang getting an Intent mid-battle, there was no chance she would fare any better than Quill, Torch, and Scoop had, considering she had lost before Girang had formed his Intent.

Instead of complaining, she just nodded silently.

Quill knew the feeling. A mid-battle breakthrough was something for the legends and movies, not something that happened to your enemies just as you were winning. Quill was still tempted to do battle with the massive bear and see if maybe he could take him down despite the gap in Domain, but he knew that was his wounded pride speaking and not his rational side.

As Soddus got onto his feet, having to shove Girang off him thanks to the bears protective nature making him almost squat on the other man, Aplald sauntered forward. Well, well, well, it seems we win. And you two complained how we had no chance. That will teach you to underestimate the Chimera program and Monster Collective. We might be the youngest Great Power, but we cant be underestimated.

The Tier 40 bear didnt hide his perusal of Quill, Torch, and Scoop as he smiled, but Quill didnt know if he was trying to peer through their masks, was wondering just how much information Quill had revealed, or something different that he couldnt comprehend.

The staring only stopped when a small black house cat sauntered out of nowhere and jumped onto Quill's injured shoulder, tiny nails digging into his flesh and causing new flashes of pain.

Quill wasnt sure why, but seeing Luna made Aplald turn away. Either way, he was glad to see his manager, and the fact she wasnt yelling at them meant he hadnt fucked up too badly. It wouldnt be the first time Luna had publicly berated him while wounded. So, it wasnt the worst-case scenario.

That was good.

That fact didnt really comfort him or his pride. Mentally, he knew there was no shame in losing to an elite like Girang, but it did little to salve the ache.

It took another few hours of congratulations before the Empire and Clans were ready to leave, but Quill, Torch, and Scoop had a promise to visit the Clans once the war ended for a proper fight with Seasadh.

A similar promise was extracted from them by Soddus and Girang, the bear finally having calmed down enough to speak. Despite having the most serious injuries, he strutted around like a mother hen with his ducklings as the other members of the Monster Collective praised him for his achievement. But that hadnt stopped him from wanting to fight the three of them when they were all proper Tier 25s with Intents and the third Talent awakened.

That was an easy promise to make. For all that their fight had been deadly, Quill felt like he was one step closer to making his own Intent after experiencing such brutal fights.

Losing a fight might have been the beacon in the darkness to set him properly upon his path.

But first, they needed to leave, and if the cat on his shoulder was any indication, he wasnt out of trouble altogether.