Bonded Summoner - Book 5. Chapter 16: Krillisk, Tanda, Bloodberri - Clash of Champions

Krillisk watched the greater rift portal, his allies spreading out in a large circle. The radius for where the Alliance Champions would exit once it was completed was somewhat large, making them unable to instantly launch a coordinated attack on them the moment they appeared.

However, it was small enough that they should be able to contain the enemy, or if they were lucky, strike them not long after the exit was complete.

Krillisk’s swarm of locusts surrounded the location, echoing the humming of his wings.

Nevara whined, “Your stupid bugs are annoying. Can’t you at least stop them for now? There’s got to be at least twenty minutes before–”

The portal shifted, becoming blue. The Alliance had won already? That seemed more than a little too fast. It was less than ten minutes since they began, and it would be five minutes before they were released.

The Enforcer looked on undaunted. “This is why we must slay them. Their special set of circumstances could lead to them affecting the War Trial.”

Nevara scoffed. “Ridiculous. They are just warriors of the First Tier. Few even make it to the Third.”

“They’ve already defeated six Champions in total with their party. We are to make sure they lose this world, so they don’t make a proper foothold in this Sector. We must destroy their potential.”

The Enforcer’s faceless gaze focused on Krillisk and Nevara, causing them both to shiver. “Your duty is perhaps the most important. The Summoner must die–he cannot escape. The penalty for failure will be immense; Greed and Apophis will not forgive your failure, so you better kill him or die trying. To your positions.”

Leaping, Krillisk landed nearly a hundred meters away, Nevara likely positioning himself near him, to lay her ambush for anyone that approaches him while having a long range.

His Swarm approached, enough locusts to blot out the sky. They filled the air and landed in the grass, millions of them just crowding the area in which the summoner and their allies could be dumped out of the portal.

His and their wings buzzing and legs scraping created a hypnotic droning, which would distract the enemy when they appeared. Their millions of minds connect to the Swarm in his own, their connection to countless worlds enhancing his mental power.

Eventually, the Alliance Champions appeared in the clearing, less than a hundred meters away–covered in flaming barriers. Just within Krillisk’s range. His buzzing wings and mental power of the Swarm pushed into their enemies, causing them to stumble as their force of will and sonic energy slammed into the targets.

The snake woman and the valkyrie grabbed their heads, the sound and mental attacks affecting them greatly. But the ravenwolf woman took to the sky filled with the auril of the beastkin, while the dragon woman flung flames at the incoming Scorpion Rider, who was barreling at the party.

It appeared Hestia’s Champion was working to call Hestia, while a grouping of powerful flames floating from the Valkyrie’s shield blocked a powerful attack from the Enforcer. The stone-like monster’s axes sent waves of black energy, an attack that would be devastating if it landed.

Nevara drew her bow filled with malicious energies. She had prepared a special arrow, which would powerfully curse the target she struck. Each of the Tartarus Champions weaved in their Divine Energy into their attacks, Krillisk’s call enhanced by his Swarm.

A javelin struck the Dark Elf with a small explosion of flames just as she released her empowered shot at the Summoner. This caused it to deviate heavily, just as a strange reptilian creature with a spear leaped toward Krillisk–a chameleon?

He worked to crush him with his mind, but the odd lizard disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared, retreating. While Krillisk wanted to chase after the creature, his task was paramount for their success.

The scripts and special magics from their stakes in the ground vibrated, their energies destabilizing the usage of Nordic Runes. Krillisk understood this Champion and the others relied heavily on these, and they were stacking the deck against them.

Focusing back on the enemy Champions, Krillisk attempted to slam his will into the Summoner–the sound and invasion of the swarm was not enough to do more than stagger him.

Krillisk was surprised to find that the summoner kept casting his spell. His will sloughed away from the summoner’s mind like water off a whale’s back.

Krillisk’s mental energy, too, just washed over the champion, causing Krillisk and the Swarm to be shocked. How was this possible? He had failed in his task!

The swarm buzzed in his own mind as he used his mental energy to disguise himself and move across the battlefield. The powerful droning sound shifted the minds of all those weak enough, changing their perception of reality.

However, a wave of powerful flames was summoned as the Goddess Hestia appeared, the Summoner using a special means to call a humanoid.

This alone was enough to shock Krillisk and the Swarm monitoring the fight. The resonance required to summon a human-like Divine in its complete visage at this Tier was unheard of.

Her golden flames washed over the massive area in all directions, many of the Tartarus Champions being shoved back by the powerful flames of the Goddess–and millions of his Swarm eradicated in but a moment. However, many from the surrounding area approached, ready to fill the sky once more.

Many of their prepared stakes even burned away. The Swarm guessed this was likely part of Hestia’s goal–but Tartarus’s preparations were significant, and the Nordic Runes would remain inhibited, many stakes placed further away in a special formation.

Until the last stake was removed, their Nordic runes would be reduced by more than half.

Unfortunately for Krillisk, he had to allow himself to be burned slightly by the wave of divine flames as he covered the enemy’s perception with his mental projection. Hestia’s flames burned deeply into his flesh, but he shoved his own Divine’s energy into the flames and extinguished them.

When he was using his legs and wings to produce the sounds to effect their minds, he could move very little. Leaping through the air would cause him to have to stop his assault, and the summoner could break free of his mental illusion.

Twisting the enemy’s minds using the hum of the Swarm, his manifestation of Greed built within his body.

His body grew and his features twisted. He became a larger locust man, ready to fight somewhat with malevolence powering his attacks, able to invade his enemy’s body in addition to its mind.

He was still weak in melee, but he had the hardiness of an insectoid.

Krillisk’s allies had been shoved back from the flames, and the Alliance Champions followed as they broke off into their own one on one fights.

The Scorpion Rider fought the Dragoness, and the Enforcer faced off against the powerful valkyrie which grew to meet his axes. The giant snake girl chased after the fiendish parasite, which drove various dinosaurs with its will.

With the power of the Swarm, Krillisk created a powerful zone. The droning hum of the Swarm trapped his target within, a field completely filled with locusts. The sky was blotted with so many locusts that the summoner wouldn’t even be able to see or breathe without a locust in the way.

Krillisk had now altered the perception field of the Summoner and his allies so that his allies could not come to assist, nor could he detect Krillisk. Victory was his!

The Summoner appeared to be casting some sort of spell. Redoubling his efforts, enhanced by his God, Krillisk slammed his mental and sonic energy of the locusts back into the Summoner, interrupting it.

Krillisk attempted to crush the Summoner’s mind with more focus, but then a snake-like creature wrapped around his throat and began to tighten and constrict around him.

Pain erupted in his neck and his compound eyes bulged as he was even burned around his throat. Shifting his attention to this strange creature, he still kept his mental projection active. He would remain invisible to all the enemies, including the foolish Summoner.

It appeared it was a creature of the void, making it a challenge for Krillisk to target its strange mind or body with the sonic attacks of the Swarm. The feeling the creature gave caused Krillisk’s eyes to narrow. It was just like the summoner.

He wrapped his claws around the beast, crushing it as it screamed but would not let go. Redoubling his efforts, Krillisk tried to slam his will into its mind as if a fist struck it deep within its brain, causing it to freeze and teleport away.

His attack appeared to be successful, but even against the weak creature, he could tell that its void-like nature made the attack significantly weaker.

When Krillisk looked up, he was shocked that the human was now approaching him, and was nearly on top of him. Overall, the fight was already not going great for his team. Their ambush was countered.

None of his allies had fallen, but if one of the Alliance wasn’t taken down soon, Tartarus would certainly suffer significant losses and have difficulty pushing for the final victory. Their odds were good, but none of them imagined they would win all of their fights.

They had faith their attacks on multiple fronts would be successful, but a push to crush Life’s Haven after Cascadia would be much easier with more Champions. Krillisk side stepped as he shifted the Champion’s perception.

As if moving himself around a turntable, the previous direction the Summoner moved was no longer good. Most likely, all the target could see, feel, or hear, was the droning buzz of the Swarm.

Krillisk could tell the man had difficulty thinking straight. He tried to form runes, but the inhibitors were plentiful, and thus the Nordic Runes fizzled. A gout of flame shot out, but Krillisk was able to counter that with a wave of mental energy with ease. It appeared the conclusion he came to was approaching him for melee or where he could land an attack was his best option.

Slamming his will into the Summoner, Krillisk was shocked at the man’s mental fortitude. The odd core had strengthened the man’s soul and thus his mind significantly, making it almost comparable to a mentalist’s.

Krillisk’s mind was still superior, but it would take minutes for him to completely crush his will, even enhanced by his god. Thankfully, it appeared the summoner had blown almost all of his Divine Energy on summoning Hestia’s visage.

Despite an expression of anguish, the summoner continued his march toward Krillisk, even as he moved. Did the Summoner really know where he was? How? The void beast? His mental projection should even shift that.

He would not normally be able to coordinate the beast’s perception with his own. The summoner should barely know which way was up or down right now!

Even following a familiar bond, it would be a real challenge to compare where he was, let alone where the bond was in relation to himself.

The black void snake bit into Krillisk’s leg, pulling at him and nearly tripping him. Manifesting mental chains to capture the creature, it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. But the summoner was nearly upon him now.

As he got closer, Krillisk’s buzzing wings and mental force got even more powerful. The summoner’s spear approached Krillisk’s head in a stab, but he pushed powerfully with his mental energy and sonic energy to knock it away.

What shocked Krillisk was the Summoner’s body was hardly affected, only the spear in his hands. The spear was flung away, but the man frowned as he approached with his empty hand instead.

Krillisk now pushed even more heavily with his mental energy, creating a powerful telekinetic force strong enough to shatter a castle wall. He combined it with his god’s malevolence, the invisible energy merging with devouring darkness.

It engulfed the man, and the malevolence entered his body, as he was likely filled with horrible visions of death and terrible things. The summoner began to be pushed back by the combination of energies.

Some force within the man was fighting against the terrible darkness, but then the man breathed as runes burning red covered his body, and something shifted. The man’s body was then filled with powerful flames.

This man had some form of void powers far beyond what a human could possibly achieve, and it was dangerous.

Creatures of the void or its relatives were often capricious, having no measurable desires or focus. For a human man to carry a bloodline of the void, yet have so much potential for offspring, was not something Tartarus would allow continuing.

Then, the amount of Divine Flames within the man was excessive. The quality of the flames at this Tier were completely unheard of. Even a higher Tier Champion brought down to this level could have difficulty maintaining this level.

Krillisk sent out a wave of mental and malevolent energy one last time, which was met with a wave of flames emanating from the summoner. He lashed out with his clawed hand, his empowered insectoid frame swollen with power in an attempt to knock the smaller man away.

To Krillisk’s surprise, his wrist was gripped and twisted as he was pulled toward his enemy.

The summoner’s hand burned even more brightly with the flames, then reached Krillisk’s head despite all his efforts. The Swarm buzzed in his mind, railing at all the possibilities.

The gauntleted hand gripped tightly and crushed and burned his insectoid skull until it shattered easily, and Krillisk knew no more.

***

As the Greater Rift dumped Tanda to the ground, she spread her thornlash seeds and cast [Rampant Growth]. A terrible droning sound made it difficult to think, but her heart beating auril through her body gave her the ability to move.

With a leap and flap of her wings, she took to the air and began her [Cyclic Resonance].

An arrow sped toward Tanda, and she was just barely able to dodge the attack directly. It exploded near her, rocking her body and sending it through the air. Dark energies entered her, as Fhesiah’s torch filled her with healing energies.

Tanda fought the invading energy with auril even as she activated her new Technique: [Avenging Flames], she began burning life force and auril to enhance her strength, and purge the terrible energies from her body.

Firing her bow at the Apophis Champion in return shots, she set to harass the attacker and chase after her.

A wave of Hestia’s Divine Flames washed over everything, coming to Jake’s call. Hestia hadn’t drawn too much energy from [Energy Sharing], needing to save most of it for their respective fights. It pushed away the droning sound and forced the enemies to all back off for a brief moment, and her party got their plans.

Each would take on their opponent, and Jake would call them all for them to regroup if things weren’t looking good. Tanda was to chase after the archer, Fhesiah chased after the scorpion knight, and Bloodberri, Garuda, and Bree went after the controlled dinosaurs.

Ophelia had dashed at the massive dark warrior filled with evil tattoos immediately, and Bloodberri raged against the giant dinosaurs. There were strange parasites on their necks, a disgusting creature controlling them.

Still, after releasing the flames, Hestia joined Ophelia with facing the special entity called an Enforcer.

Tanda drew her bow and fired back at the dark elf, and she took to the air once again. Dinosaurs charged her as she leaped into the air, but Bree and the thornlash plants wrapped around several of them, whipping and cutting into the monsters.

The Garuda cut into others, and a giant scorpion man covered in armor barreled toward a draconic-might-filled Fhesiah.

Jake had somehow disappeared to her senses aside from a faint glimmer in her Hearth, and while Tanda wanted to help, the Dark Elf had called her Divine.

Ominous energy filled the dark elf, a malicious black. Snakes sprouted around her body, and wrapped around the arrows in her quiver.

Powering up her attacks with her righteous flames, Tanda fired many arrows, one after the other at the Dark Elf; the Apophis Champion. The enemy had shifted to have features like a snake as well, and dashed rapidly around the battlefield.

She fired arrows at Tanda’s allies, and Tanda had difficulty trying to stop her with her own arrows. Thankfully, Bloodberri, Fhesiah, and Ophelia were ready for the Dark Elf’s attacks, and they began taking their fights away from the archer; her attacks blocked by their Sacrificial Barriers.

Tanda focused on separating her from being able to support the Tartarus Champions in attacking her sister wives and Jake.

The Apophis Champion was fast, and even as Tanda’s arrows struck the evil Champion, snakes leaped out and intercepted her attacks.

Tanda shifted her bow into her crescent moon halberd, and blitzed for the enemy. Throwing numerous seeds through the air and empowering them with her [Advanced Rampant Growth], a large net of vines encompassed the enemy dark elf, falling from above.

Her heart sung the song of battle, her cadence taking on a hymn of conviction. The black auril in her body took on a fiery quantity from her new Technique, as she used her superior reach to create an axe out of the crescent, and swung down at the dark elf.

But the dark elf was full of malevolence, and the snakes wrapped around her bow struck out as if alive. The dark elf’s bow became more like a staff, blocking Tanda’s attack even as the vines crawled up like the snakes on her body.

The vines were shredded by the evil snakes circling the dark elf, as she ignored Tanda’s druidic attack.

Tanda’s vines continued to grow and swipe and pierce toward the enemy, and Tanda followed in pursuit. She thrust and stabbed, twirling her spear and swinging with her bladed haft. The dark elf countered with an angry look, sending a wave of hissing snakes toward Tanda.

Tanda sliced easily through the snakes, and her fiery wolves–her cape flaps bit into the oncoming snakes. This allowed her to continue with her assault against the Dark Elf, never slowing her pursuit.

She wanted to help Jake, but keeping her enemy busy at the moment so that she couldn’t attack her allies was the best she could do at the moment.

Jake strangely hadn’t taken any damage yet, so she didn’t feel an urge to rush to his aid. Not only that, but she knew all Jake had to do was use [Call Summon] and she could join him. This was why she had followed the Dark Elf into the woods, as she had chased after Bloodberri and Fhesiah.

Tanda continued following the Dark Elf, each attack cutting into the snakes and wearing down the malevolence of the Apophis Champion. Her face was a mask of rage, snake scales interspersed throughout her skin.

The golden energy from Tanda’s resonance grew, her family facing each of their battles. Sensing Jake’s battle, she was shocked at the type of fight he was experiencing.

The two’s minds almost disappeared from her ability to think about, the droning buzzing from the locusts growing higher and higher.

Only her Hearth connection to Jake, her enchanted Hearthvines burning brightly within her, kept her comprised of their fight.

The evil locust man assaulted Jake with a mixture of malevolence and his mental attack, and Tanda and her clan-wives worked hard to counter it through their powerful link.

The five of them pushed purifying flames within their Hearth into him, as he reached and grabbed onto the Greed Champion and took on Resonance with Tanda, taking on the state of the Avenger.

Tanda smiled. One Champion was already down. It was time for their counterattack.

***

Being struck by the mental attack, both Blood and Berri had a hard time thinking straight.

Berri spotted the disgusting spider-bug creature the moment they exited the Greater Rift in the distance. She nearly shouted with glee when Fhesiah took on that enemy instead, her slight delay in responding leaving her without the choice herself.

Blood and Berri took off after the army of dinosaurs, fighting through them as they seemed well-suited to the fight.

A strange creature was driving them, they could sense. But they could not yet see it.

[I can’t believe you were actually technically correct, dear sister–a Scorpion is in fact an arachnid. Our runes are inhibited, it appears those stakes in the ground are the cause? We must defeat the parasites controlling the auril beasts.]

Berri and Blood began their dance, flooding their body with holy light and dark. Swirling it around as they shifted their body, they surged at the oncoming tainted dinosaurs.

Various T-rexes, raptors, and other dinosaurs rushed toward Jake’s party, and the Garuda, Bree, and Bloodberri all moved in response.

Targeting the strange riders, Berri danced and sliced her tail, passing it over and piercing into the riders; keeping the dinosaurs unharmed.

Her spriggon friends had been making buddies with the dinosaurs even more lately. Thus, they were her friends, too. Plus, Jake and Tanda liked them.

Even Fhesiah and Ophelia–

Blood scoffed in her mind, [Following your thoughts is as painful as always. Do try to keep it to the important bits, and focus on that big one there!]

She was already doing it! Following Zhang Fei’s guidance, the two of them worked together to shift their energy around their body in synchronicity.

Blood took a lot of practice, but Berri just had to shooom, and zoooom as they moved; moving the holy light and dark together with her sister, in a fun dance.

The runes were inhibited currently, but filling them was still easy as always, as the maul was infused with holy energies.

A massive creature lurked, and Blood and Berri both could tell it was driving the parasites. It was large, and–

She sent her sister, “Dammit!”

Blood chuckled. [That thing is uglier than the scorpion man by far. It’s like a massive tentacled flea. Disgusting. We drew the short stick again.]

Berri was filled with rage. She bet Fhesiah knew that! No wonder she went after the spider guy!

Light and dark were released as she surged toward her final target. The creature then finished calling its goddess, releasing a devastating sickness into the air.

Waves of disease and decay echoed out in a wave, and despite Blood and Berri releasing waves of holy light and dark from their bodies, they were struck with the force of terrible illness.

Persisting to attack the enemy, Berri even shoved some of Tanda’s auril energy along with hers. Her heartbeats would disrupt the mana, but if you timed it just right, it was no problem at all!

The life energy suffused their body somewhat, counteracting the effects of the disease along with their [Purifying Flames].

While some creatures tried to get into their way, Blood wrenched away all obstacles with her [Telekinesis]. Her maul slammed into the malevolent aura unimpeded, the flea wailing in anger as it was washed over with holy light and dark light.

Knowing the creature was their primary enemy, they activated [Between Heaven and Hell]. The monster was covered in light and dark, a wave of holy energy emanating out from it, debuffing it as it screeched.

However, it then did something Berri hadn’t expected: it leaped away! It leaped so far beyond the trees that Blood and Berri both just hovered there, dumbfounded. That jerk!

Jake was fighting the mind bug man, and he too was invaded by malevolence. Blood and Berri sent their assistance, pushing back against the evil aura with their [Purifying Flames] through their bond.

When Jake won his battle, they smiled in victory. Surely, he would be here to help them soon enough.

Several dinosaurs leaped at them, the various creatures going for Bloodberri’s throat. But they danced left and right, emanating darkness, as Blood released [Absorb Strength].

Each swing of theirs crushed or smacked one of the strange insects off its carrier, and the Garuda and Bree both fought to cut through them. Each targeted the parasites, and as they were removed, the creatures were knocked to the ground, unmoving.

But the beasts of Highlands were tenacious. They had the energy of auril beating in their chests. The first creatures they had freed now woke up, joining to face their vicious enemy.

As if knowing the terrible creatures that caused their plight, they leaped into the air and attacked the evil passengers rather than the controlled dinosaurs.

Berri smiled and pointed, “Yeah! Get the bad guys! Get those nasty bugs on their necks!”

As if listening to her precise command, swipes of claws and bites of teeth cut into the parasites joined to their necks. Some dinosaurs died, but others survived to join the battle as Bloodberri danced through the hundreds of enemies coming for them.

The parasites were enhanced by a terrible aura, the power of the creatures being increased. Several of them slammed their claws into Bloodberri’s large body, but her blades sliced back into them.

Her snake body slithered like a spiral of death, the evil enemies searching for her doom. She continued to sway and dance, crushing the parasites with her maul.

Berri supposed the creatures would normally be powerful when added together. There were over a hundred of them, all swarming in their attack on herself and trying to bypass her to get at the rest of her family.

Individually, they were weak. However, just as she thought things were going well, the flea’s horrible aura of death reached her new allies. Many of the freed dinosaurs were enveloped, and started to zombify, as if covered in blight for minutes.

Berri groaned, as she retrieved her Epic Censer from her bracelet. What a pain in the ass.