Chapter 23 #4
Before his Gold-tier paw was neatly sheared through, earning an ear-screeching yowl of pain as the creature jerked back on three paws and one bleeding stump in stunned disbelief.
A heartbeat of confusion that was all Alex needed as he roared and plunged his midnight blade under the tiger’s massive jaw, filling its skull with thick bolts of furiously crackling black lightning that tore through the guardian’s body even as Alex was flung back with a spasming swipe, groaning as his skull smacked against a nearby trunk before he could even blink.
Shield of Wrath has torn free Gold-tier Tiger’s Paw!
You have successfully stabilized Shield of Wrath!
Shield of Wrath is now Rank 1!
Doom Strike! You have seized the Vor and critically struck your foe!
Vitality check successful! Backlash channeled into Prismatic Bones.
One Light Wound taken.
You have been struck by a Stunning Blow!
You have been sent flying!
Power Healing engaged.
Alex felt himself wavering in and out of consciousness, feeling like he was at risk of slipping into a sea of crushing blackness, his ears alive with the roaring thrum of an accretion disk now spinning with such force that space and time were visibly warping to his senses.
Frozen, horrified, knowing that he had to get up. He MUST get up, heart hammering with peril… and despair.
Slowly twisting around to see the inevitable…
a trick of perception. A cage comprised of a single spinning thread of silvery degenerate matter just large enough to fit an apple-sized singularity was suddenly a massive event horizon the size of the sun surrounded by a shrieking accretion disk and over one hundred fifty million souls.
Screaming and howling as epiphanies and revelations caused the accretion disk to spin faster and faster as countless doomed spirits slipped past the point of no return.
The sight filled him with such dread, fury, and despair.
He prayed it was naught but metaphor, even as his body trembled with newfound strength, his mind shuddering with flashes of insight—now so close to Rank 4 Divine Silver in such a shockingly short period of time that he couldn’t help but wonder if his ancient master had had a hand in it.
Or perhaps, it was about reclaiming the power that was his own.
Had always been his own.
Power that should never have been taken away.
Or perhaps… with the terrible bounty he had already claimed…
(No. It’s a dream. A metaphor. Nothing else!)
The terrible secret he and WiFu had shared with a bitter smile. Accepting the stricture of their enemies without dispute. Soul Cleave might be off the table, and his ability to devour souls would be a declaration of all-out war.
A stricture he was more than willing to accept.
What need did he have for Soul Stones, after all, when he had already claimed so many?
So many shockingly powerful enemy soldiers lost in a cataclysm he wondered if even the gods above truly understood, forced to surrender their secrets with every epiphany he made, every step he dared along the Path of Peril, every time he reforged himself anew in the crucible of conflict, pitting his life, his very existence against hostile assassins, Silver-tier wujen, and ascended beasts of Gold.
A beast that could even now be stumbling back to its ravished paws, those that remained, and be dragging itself to sup upon the helpless flesh of the stunned fool who had dared to challenge the beast in its domain.
“Get up, fool!”
A stunned fool who even now felt multiple presences swarming toward him…
Flooding his stunned chest with panic as he wheezed for breath and—
“No, Alex, don’t!”
Linnea’s desperate cry. His mind was momentarily stunned by flashes of the beautiful green-eyed girl’s panic as she looked down at him a heartbeat before he could lash out with a blade so filled with darkness that it was obvious yet another skill had ascended along Power’s Path, no matter the perils it promised.
Doom Strike is now Rank 5!
Adept-tier automatically chosen: Oblivion’s Kiss.
Your black lightning strikes with such fearsome intensity that even a Vitality-specced Gold-tier Spirit Beast will now have cause to fear your blows!
Backlash has increased! Even a successful Vitality save will result in a Medium Wound.
NOTE! Daring this ability outside of delves may raise flags!
Hidden perk. Your increasing mastery (and consumption) of your own darkness means that it’s far less likely to shatter priceless beast cores, should you successfully make your Vitality check. (Or maybe you were just lucky this time around?)
“No, Alex, don’t!”
Alex lurched to his feet with a cry, dizzy and disoriented and sure as hell not expecting to see a worried Lao Tei of all people gazing at him with such awe, such wonder… and what was that scent? Ah yes.
Fear.
Lao Tie gazed at Alex with an odd mixture of hope and the look of a man who feared that a single misunderstood gesture or poorly considered phrase might elicit the wrath of a spirit beast every bit as mad as the tiger determined to kill them all.
And how awfully ironic would it be if that were the moment the spirit beast chose to kill his newest friend.
“Look out!” Alex wheezed, surprised by how rough and ragged his voice was. How filled with energy it was.
Blinking as he belatedly understood. Potency Mastery. Instinctively channeling so much of his potency toward mastering his skills even as his mana reserves shot up to full in just a handful of seconds, no dark beast core needed.
Because the Gold-tier titan he had fought that could have so easily cut his story tragically short…
“You killed it!” Lao Tie’s voice was filled with something close to awe as he stumbled forward, a trembling hand lifting to touch Alex’s bloody chin before he pulled it back with flushed cheeks.
“I’m sorry I… Do you want a healing tincture?
” He immediately handed it to Alex, which he numbly claimed but didn’t use. Because why would he?
He was already healed.
And Prismatic Fox Restoration Technique was now just a hairsbreadth away from Rank 10.
Just a nudge away.
Just like he was from Silver-tier Rank 4.
Shuddering with power, illumination… and the screams of all those who had been caught in the crossfire of raging gods so filled with bitter hate that they would destroy an entire world.
Alex choked back a sob, feeling such an odd mixture of triumph and awful regret as he gazed upon the fallen body of the massive spirit tiger still smoking from Black Lightning penetrating so deeply only because Soul Sight and a spirit beast’s weakness had synergized with Piercing Strike and Find Weakness to sense the fragile ridge of bone in the roof of the beast’s mouth to pierce with his blade.
He’d struck in the instant it had coughed surprise, as its fatal swipe had turned into the agony of a missing limb shorn off by an eight-element technique, before Black Qi Lightning—and how fucking deadly was that? —had blazed through its skull.
Black Qi Lightning that would now strike with a fearsome intensity that was utterly beyond the pale.
And he would be forced to channel that agony right back into his bones… without jolting himself so badly in the heat of combat that he himself was vulnerable to a finishing move.
Fuck.
Talk about double-edged skill evolutions!
For so many reasons, he’d have to be damned careful before using it in live combat, but at least it was a tool he could now use to absolutely wicked effect.
And the shield he had summoned forth in such a dazed epiphany that it had been like a dream…
He summoned forth his Shield of Wrath once more, smiling with relief to see that his epiphany was REAL!
Even if the heat radiating off it was enough to give him pause while outside the heat of combat, realizing that he had been healing himself even while using it.
And the startled cry and curse of his companions reminded his dazed self that he was most definitely not alone.
“Heaven’s mercy! You forged a shield of the elements!”
Alex tensed at Lao Tie’s awed look, fearing the repercussions, should word get out before he was ready.
“He’s terrified of you! Can you believe it?
He so clearly wants to marry the princess, but he doesn’t dare order your death.
He sees himself as upright and honorable, and besides, you already saved the men who normally handle his dirty work.
He prays you’re just as noble as in the storybooks, and he hopes you won’t kill him and claim Sunlay for yourself. ”
“Wait… he’s no Ruidian. We’re not node-linked! How do you even know any of this?”
Linnea grinned, speaking aloud. “I have no idea!”
Alex’s cheeks flushed even as he turned to face her, filled with heartfelt relief that he had NOT swung the terrible blade that had been glooming with such fearsome dark potency.
He quickly sheathed the weapon out of shame. Yet his exquisite hearing still picked up the words he heard.
Alex winced, sensing both his friends’ and Linnea’s discomfort even with their fire alignment, dispelled the odd hybrid shield that was, he feared, a far cry from offering the defensive capabilities of his Prismatic Shield, or even his Dark Storm Shield.
But as far as proof of concepts went… he shuddered as much from dizziness as wonder, realizing that he had just opened the door to so many possible paths to power, so many glorious epiphanies that were, for the moment, utterly beyond him as he stumbled on his feet, before being gently clasped by none other than Ya Ling, who gave him such a fond, gentle smile.
“Of course we came back, Alex. Lao Tie’s magical potion actually healed Wu Xien and Tang.
Even if he had to use up the entire priceless vial…
and a good portion of their armor is all but ruined.
Yet still, their weapons are sharp, and there was no way we were going to abandon you without trying to pull you free. ”
“But it was a Gold-tier monster.”