Chapter 32 #2
The ground was still erupting around him from the hail of amber bombs, but Harald focused his intent on the giant lizard so that Abyssal Imperium caused the shadows to coalesce around the monster’s head and manifest a churning mass of blades that began flensing the scales and flesh from its skull.
He leaped, Chyron’s Scourge drawn back for a decapitating blow, when the lizard dragon roared in pain and detonated an attack.
A shockwave of purple burst out from the monster in all directions. A tsunami of force that cupped Harald in its palm and flung him back with such power that the world spun, then slammed up against him as he hit the floor, bounced, rolled, and fetched up against the base of the skull hill.
For a moment, he could only lie there, blinking, and then he forced himself upright. The lizard dragon was shaking its head, dislodging blades of void glass, its scales glowing as it actively healed.
Amber bombs rained down around him. His shadow-infused flesh hardened all around him to absorb the blasts, but it was too much—he was buffeted from one side to the other, slammed to his knees, rolled over.
The Aetherlight Circlet fought to protect him, but it could only deflect one out of every four or five blasts.
Harald growled, patience evaporating, and willed Abyssal Imperium to consume the hill.
The void shards which had already been passing slowly over the mutated skulls picked up speed even as the darkness came alive with carnivorous hunger.
The little lizard humanoids shrieked in panic as their bodies were caressed by abyssal blades, black blood gouting from slashes and cuts that began manifesting all over them.
The bombs ceased to fall.
Harald rose to his knees, surveyed the hill that reared above him.
The little lizards were quitting their fortress in droves, leaping off bone ledges and dropping from on high to avoid the blades. A number of them fell upon void shards and were cut in twain.
Blood was erupting in little pockets everywhere.
Shadowpaw leaped and pounced happily, crushing one little lizard body after another, but Harald wasn’t content.
He wanted this threat neutralized now.
Drawing deep on his five Thrones, he poured all his focus into Abyssal Imperium. The darkness within the hill came alive, and what few lizard monsters remained within died croaking in horror.
Those who’d fled to the ground were cut apart as the void shards flew over them, each wicked edge cutting through scales and armor with ease.
In moments, the lizard monsters were all dead, falling to the ground in quivering gobbets of flesh.
The abyss delights in your indifferent death-dealing.
You are become the void abattoir.
By the decree of the Fallen Angel, you are granted the next echelon of your destiny.
Abyssal Father 8
Active Ability Unlocked: Maw of the Starless Deep
Tear open a rift to the Abyss. This rift swallows spells, projectiles, and lesser creatures. Foes within its immediate vicinity are stunned, and any defensive enchantments are nullified until they regain their wits.
Passive Ability Unlocked: Dread Wellspring
The longer your enemies suffer within the shadow of your influence, the more powerful you become.
Each passing moment that your foes languish within Aura of the Aching Depths bestows a cumulative +2 to all your stats, with the cap being your number of Ascended Thrones.
Upon reaching the cap, your next Active Ability attack is augmented by the void.
“There,” hissed Harald, and cast a glance at his Servitors.
The Gauntlet Golem was fighting a strategic retreat, parrying and blocking huge gobbets of flung venom, but he was losing quickly—there were too many foes.
The Twilight General, however, was faring magnificently—his aerial bombardment of force punches were demolishing the snakes.
With a mental command, Harald ordered the General to reinforce the golem’s position, then turned back to the giant lizard dragon.
Its healing powers were phenomenal. Even as his companions ringed and assaulted it, the dragon kept healing faster than they could damage it. Even Kársek’s Khazadrok only temporarily knocked it back.
The urge to race in and help was overpowering.
Instead, Harald dropped to his knees, and consolidated Maw of the Starless Deep and Dread Wellspring into The Well of Starless Dominion.
The moment his last powers were consolidated, the abyss surged within him, relishing his success, and a new message appeared before his mind’s eye.
The abyss welcomes its champion into the dungeon.
By the decree of the Fallen Angel, you are granted the next echelon of your destiny.
Abyssal Father 9
Harald rose to his feet.
All sound seemed to have become distant.
Some four or five stone serpents were wending their way toward his companions from the south, their bodies partially pulped but still very much in the fight. The Twilight General had tipped the battle in favor of the Gauntlet Golem.
His companions, however, were barely keeping the lizard dragon at bay.
Harald inhaled deeply, relishing the moment.
Then, in what felt like far too long, he invited the abyss to open within his chest once more, and activated the Well of Starless Dominion.
Vitality and stolen essence immediately began to flood into him.
The last vestiges were stolen from the dying little lizard humanoids who lay scattered about him like dolls torn apart by a child’s tantrum.
The southern snakes slowed as they slithered into the domain of Abyssal Imperium, their wounds leaking their power to him even as void shards began to cut them apart.
But it was the lizard dragon that Harald bent his focus on. Even as he began walking toward the giant monster, he felt the Well begin to siphon its essence from the numerous cuts that were even now trying to close.
The lizard dragon’s regenerative powers were truly formidable.
But now they were contested by the Well. Harald stared at the monster from under lowered brows, and drank.
Void shards swirled about the behemoth, slashing it open anew. Each cut increased the outflow of essence, which increased the power of the Well, which in turn fed both Harald and his Servitors fresh power.
Harald willed the darkness to consume the lizard dragon, and Abyssal Imperium responded. Dark blades appeared around the monster’s head once more, slashing and stabbing and whittling the skull down to the bone.
The monster roared, stomped its forelegs into the ground, and detonated again. His companions, who were too close, were flung off their feet once more, but the shockwave simply washed over Harald as he continued his approach.
The monster’s wounds were staying open longer. The void shards were cutting deeper, lacerating the monster in giant cross-hatching patterns. Such power. Harald began shunting most of it toward his golem and Twilight General.
The lizard dragon’s purple crystals were growing dull and ash gray. Its tail tip was barely an ember.
Still the Well drank. With each fresh cut, it drank deeper.
Which only increased its thirst. Had it been this hungry before?
This quick to ramp up? Harald didn’t think so.
His Thrones were blazing, and he could see the purple miasma flooding out from the countless cuts that overwhelmed the lizard dragon, floating through the air to sink into Harald’s chest.
The monster groaned and crashed down to one knee. Void shards continued to whittle it down. Its hide was now a morass of blood. Harald willed the darkness to continue consuming it. More power led to greater thirst, led to more wounds, which led to more bleeding of its essence.
Harald felt incandescent. Untouchable. He finally reached the lizard monster as its head sank trembling to the ground. Its tiny red eyes burned in horror and futile resistance.
There was no need for his blade now. Harald dismissed the Scourge. Reached out and put his hand on the dragon’s nose horn. Its visage was a mess of pulped flesh, bared bone, and mangled scales. Blades continued to work over its titanic body, endlessly dipping and cutting and tearing it apart.
The monster tried to surge upward. To resist. It let out a low moan and released a final pulse of energy, seeking to knock Harald back. Form of the Black Throne made it easy to ignore.
“Shh,” whispered Harald, and gently caressed the lizard dragon. “It’ll be over soon.”
The monster blinked once, twice, then closed its eyes. The amount of essence being stolen now was cataclysmic. More than at any stage before, even as the monster’s life force ebbed, pulsed once—then died.
The lizard monster fell to the side and slumped, going still.
Harald felt the monster’s essence attempt to flee, to return to the Fallen Angel, perhaps, but the Well of Starless Dominion was there, voracious, waiting, and snatched up the departing spirit before it could escape.
Harald felt a new presence blossom in his Cosmos, completing the fifth and final spot available.
Harald considered the mutilated monster, then dropped his hand and turned.
His companions were staring, wide eyed.
Beyond them, the Gauntlet Golem and Twilight General were massacring the remaining snakes, their natural Abilities hugely augmented by the Well.
“I hit Level 9,” said Harald, as if this explained everything. Which it should.
“Oh, good,” said Vic, tone bewildered. “I, ah, am trying to come up with something witty to say, but, ah…”
Nessa dismissed her blade. Sam’s Warden’s Pulse was healing an obviously broken arm. “How did you do that?”
“It’s a self-amplifying loop.” Harald didn’t like the way they were staring at him, but he couldn’t blame them, either. In as few words as possible, he tried to explain how it worked.
“The end result,” he said at last, “is my Servitors and myself growing more powerful with each passing moment.”
Kársek dismissed his rune hammer and drew out his tobacco pouch with a trembling hand. He considered the pouch—or perhaps how his hand was shivering—and then put the pouch away. “Effective.”