Rune Seeker - Chapter 99: Holding Nothing Back

“Tell us what you need,” Seena said, flashing around on the Crystal Skates to stay mobile while she lashed out with Cinder+ and Flame Gouts at the spherical constructs.

Hiral held off on answering immediately, instead focusing on dodging more of the energy beams and taking stock of the battlefield around him.

Vorinal remained at the top of the tower, his lower half still trapped and the fifteen-foot shield completely surrounding him. His muscles were slowly inflating as he pulled in solar energy that wasn’t getting drained off, and the ocean of power floating above him grew thicker by a few percent every minute or so. More pressing was the building strength in the Fallen’s right hand, which gave off the same feeling as that destructive column of raw energy he’d thrown at Hiral earlier.

He’s building up another blast. By the pace it was growing, and the power Hiral had felt before, they had around thirty seconds until it was fully charged again.

Noted.

Next, in a tight formation around the tip of the tower, at least thirty of the C-Rank Mobile Spheres hovered protectively while also raining death on Hiral’s party and the distant Shapers. Speaking of them, both sides—insurgents and their prisoners—fought a three-sided battle. Many of the Shapers had decided to put aside their differences against the new enemy, but just as many didn’t seem to be able to let go of old grudges.

As for his party, the other five were spread around him dealing with nearly fifty more of the odd constructs. Maybe they were limitless, or maybe this was all the Fallen could call, but somehow Hiral doubted dealing just with those present would be the end of it. For his plan to work, the numbers would definitely need to be thinned. Checking his Party Interface, Hiral was relieved to see his friends were in surprisingly good shape.

Left had continuously used his Waters of Frey to wash away the more serious wounds incurred from the constructs, though the double was by far the lowest on solar energy. At most, he had enough for just a few more tattoos. That was all Hiral needed.

Finally, the wildcards in the skies above. The largest shapes slicing through the falling rain had gone to join the battle against the storm dragon, but Hiral’s sharp eyes spotted far more than that. Much smaller shapes left small tunnels in the raging storm as they approached the island and swarmed above. Oddly, they didn’t charge straight at the people in view, but instead pulled up short and then swam away.

Why? The answer came with the next diving squid, as the moment it reached the Fallen’s ocean of floating power, it flinched and sped away. Whatever Vorinal was doing, the squids didn’t seem to like it very much for the moment.

Good enough.

With all the pieces in place, Hiral finalized the plan in his mind, then darted to the side and cleaved a sphere in two, bringing Killing Spree+ to 11 stacks.

“Okay, don’t use any cooldowns unless I tell you,” Hiral said, dodging another pair of blasts. “Time left on Eloquently Enraged?”

“Came off cooldown a minute ago,” Seena said.

“Good—everybody use it,” Hiral said, first activating Double Trouble+ then his own Eloquently Enraged.

As before, the PIM showing through his Second-Skin of Ur’Thul flared to life. Bright yellow light gushed out, and then a second copy of the double helix tracing his skin seem to float off and rotate around his body. Constantly moving, the runic script followed him as he dodged and attacked, always staying just inches away from him.

With his vastly increased attributes, he mowed through the closest spheres like they were standing still. Three nearby spikes of energy told him the others had also used the powerful cooldowns, with columns of sickly green venom, roaring flames, and crackling lightning shooting to the sky to crash into the clouds.

Hiral cut through one more sphere as something tickled the edge of his newly enhanced Atn. High above, where the columns had reached and the storm dragon fought, two new silhouettes appeared within the clouds. Eight segmented legs and eyes that seemed to melt reality just by looking at them adorned a sleek, carapaced body. Fangs glowed fiercely as the city-sized spider sprang towards the largest squid.

And Seeyela’s sponsor wasn’t alone, massive, flaming wings spreading on the horizon. Whether the other Primals were actually there or not—or if they were just projections from the sisters’ abilities—Hiral felt additional buffs wash over him.

You have been buffed by Aura of the Void-Venom Empress.

All attacks made by those benefitting from the Aura inflict additional Void damage, benefit from an additional +10% chance to critically hit, do +25% additional critical hit damage, and can score critical hits on entities or objects normally immune to critical damage.

Note: Void damage ignores resistances and some defenses, while leaving behind a destructive energy.

Hiral took note of the notification—A powerful offensive aura!—and looked at the second.

You have been buffed by Aura of The Mother of Flame.

All those benefitting from the Aura gain potent regeneration, moderate damage reduction, and attacks inflict additional Fire damage.

Simpler description, but no less powerful. Regeneration for everybody plus damage reduction? Yes, please!

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And it wasn’t just Hiral who noted the powerful buffs, as Vorinal quickly summoned even more of the mobile spheres.

With Hiral’s new, higher Atn, he could feel some of the Fallen’s workings with the solar energy. Vorinal was actually using the island’s energy to summon the adds, instead of his own personal reservoir. That, he seemed to be focusing on restoring himself and powering the raw-energy attack he was still preparing.

“Target Vorinal,” Hiral said instead of explaining things to the party. The less he said, the less the Fallen could overhear. And if he didn’t actually know what each ability did, all he’d be able to do was react.

“On it,” Seena said, skating through an obstacle course of energy-blasting drones to close the distance on the tower. Without the raw-energy attack prepared—and the buffed aura from her sponsor—she snuck in while only taking minor wounds.

A pulse of solar energy, and the Fallen lit up with a red outline. Not just Vorinal, either, but the whole tower and its roots extending deep underground. The whole thing—Fallen included—was being counted as a single entity by the ability. Hiral could clearly follow the tower’s base down to the crystal roots he’d come to repair, but that option had vanished with the Fallen awakening.

On to Plan B. B for breaking.

“Great,” Hiral barked. “Seena, hit the Fallen with as much fire as you can. Seeyela, clear out these spheres around us. Right, you’re with her. Left, give us The Pack and Furious Howl. Yanily, give me Turn Back the Clock with Shared Strength.” As he issued the orders, he also gave Seena a copy of Killing Spree+ through his own Shared Strength.

With him giving the instructions, Vorinal had turned most of the spheres’ attention on him, but his party members were already cutting through those numbers.

Right and Seeyela were a blur of motion, chopping apart or battering the spheres on the ground. Meanwhile, Seena’s volley of fireballs decimated the spheres next to the Fallen’s shield as collateral damage. All these kills jumped Hiral’s Killing Spree+ up to the maximum 25 stacks. Experience and solar energy restoration aside, the ability was now giving him a whopping +75% to all his attributes, which stacked nicely with his other buffs.

Almost ready.

A second later, Yanily got close enough to pass him Turn Back the Clock, and Hiral immediately used the ability, completely resetting all his cooldowns.

So overpowered…

“What now?” the spearman asked as he dodged away from the storm of energy beams chasing after the speeding Hiral.

“Skyfall that bastard with everything you’ve got,” Hiral said. “Seena, don’t let up.”

“Don’t get burned,” she told Yanily.

“Armor has fire resistance,” Yanily replied.

Though, looking at the inferno around the Fallen, Hiral had to wonder if there was enough fire resistance in the world to protect him from that. Hiral quickly squashed the stray thought—he needed to concentrate—and checked the charge on the Ring of Amin Thett. Thanks to the numerous small spheres, the powerful artifact was just about full. A few more—which Seeyela and Right were seeing to—and it would be ready.

Cutting left, right, left to dodge the few remaining beams lancing out for him, Hiral choked off the energy he’d been feeding the Emperor’s Greatsword. The weapon went inert in his hand, but he didn’t have time to sheath it, Yanily already coming down on the top of the Fallen’s sphere with a roaring Skyfall.

The concussive blast of the impact shredded the few remaining spheres within five hundred feet of the Fallen. The sphere itself seemed to bow under the force of the spearman’s strike—and the combined might of the Spear of Clouds—but it didn’t break. Lightning raked across the surface like hungry beasts looking for any opening, sparking and biting, further weakening the barrier.

“Seena, drills!” Hiral ordered while Yanily flipped off the top of the sphere. “Yanily, Chain Lightning+. Seeyela, just stab it! Left, give me the Banner of Courage.”

A golden dome of buffing energy appeared around Hiral at the same time the other three launched powerful strikes against the Fallen’s shield. The whole corner of the island shook under the ferocity of the blow, while cracks spread along the transparent shell around Vorinal.

Jerking his arm above his head, Hiral pushed his Rune of Energy into the ring at his back, and the S-Rank artifact followed his motion. Cascading arcs of powerful solar energy zapped from the edges of the ring to the rune searing the air in the middle. Time seemed to slow down as the rune collapsed in on itself, again and again, forming the powerful core of the Annihilation of Amin Thett.

Seeing what Hiral was doing—and likely feeling the building pressure from what was happening—Vorinal raised his right hand, fingers spread like a claw in Hiral’s direction. The Fallen’s own raw energy licked at his fingers as the two men locked eyes. Both raced to complete the preparations for their ultimate abilities, and the timers seemed to tick down like beating drums in Hiral’s ears.

Three seconds, and the Rune of Energy became a dense ball with a weight like a small moon. Vorinal’s hand arced plasma-like solar flares as he called more energy.

Two seconds, and the Ring of Amin Thett went dark as the last of the runic script around the edges fed its power into the ball at the center. Vorinal’s hand burst to life with a corona of energy like the sun itself.

One second, and Hiral snapped his arm down to release his death beam, screaming wordlessly as he did. Vorinal’s fingers jerked wide open, the Fallen simply smiling in response to Hiral’s challenge.

Everything stopped—the wind, the rain, the battle around them—as the two titanic beams released their terrifying power. The Annihilation of Amin Thett tore at reality as it passed, the sound like thousands of sheets of paper shredding all at once. The paused rain evaporated to mist in an instant, and then that mist simply ceased to exist, consumed by the voracious beam.

Opposite it, the raw energy from Vorinal’s attack came down like a hammer of pure, white light. Easily fifty feet wide, it dwarfed Hiral’s two-foot-wide beam, and made absolutely no sound. No, even that wasn’t true. It devoured sound. It devoured light. It devoured reality.

It was somehow many times stronger than the first attack the Fallen had used, and existed beyond any of Hiral’s expectations. Outside any of his calculations.

Where he’d thought he could release his attack first, or perhaps use the Annihilation of Amin Thettto punch through the Fallen’s attack, even Hiral’s beam was devoured.

Gone in an instant.

The destructive energy washed over Hiral the next second, and everything went white as all was destroyed.