The enemy closed in around them. Redcloaks and godslaves swarmed from nearly every direction, but the Legion met their advance. Evie led the Risi and Nagafolk, stemming the relentless tide with surges of ice and water, while Yin wove above them all, raining dawnfire onto the backs of fleshy abominations and mithril-bound warriors. Frost and flame seared their enemies, but Evie’s unmistakable laugh was as sharp as her bladed chains.
A laugh that promised death before surrender. The horde would find no way through.
"Again!" Archie shouted, hands pressed against the barrier.
Laur was beside him, Chanting augmenting Archie's Primeval Drift. It did nothing however for the blood that ran down his arms nor the burned flesh that was once his fingers. "You can't keep this up, Archie!"
"I'm not leaving them. Again!"
The pain was impossible. It seared through his nerve endings with a heat so intense it felt like every molecule of his arms was freezing. Breath stuck in his lungs and his blood congealed in his veins, as the barrier rippled. Vibrations shot between him and the ward, too large and complex for him to master—-but he had to try.
The Chant spun through him, Laur’s buffs spiking the edge of his Drift. Still, it wasn’t enough. The Skill wouldn’t push past the complexities of the barrier—and it refused to level up to Master Tier, despite Archie’s furious push.
I just need to keep trying! I just—
A deep noise pushed at them, even through the barrier. It sounded like vast drums, followed by a thousand of its smaller kin, and the earth broke open. Explosions tore up the earth on the other side of the barrier and the immaculate walls of the Palace heaved like a tidal wave. High Tier stone and metal rolled into itself before it careened into the invisible barrier, riding high up its edge until masonry crashed down in deadly precipitation. The barrier rippled far more violently than anything Archie had ever managed, accosted by a thousand angrily colored flashes across its entire lower half. It flickered with a discordant yowl that tore through all of their Affinities and drove many Legionnaires to their knees.
It was weakened.
"Now, Laur! Boost me now!” Archie slammed his bloody hands into the bulging divide. “Primeval Drift!"
Laur’s humming Chant resumed through the verbalization of his buffs. "Wardsmith! Prism Deconstruction!"
His intonations sank into Archie's Body, accompanied by the intoxicating hum that slipped the Chanter’s lips. It cut into the discordance as if slicing with the grain—a force that Archie couldn't quite describe, but one which he could feel.
"There!" His hands slipped into the barrier and he wrenched wide, punching a single thin hole through. He hauled back harder, his Skill vibrating with every ounce of Mana he could provide. The untouchable barrier trembled, flashing into colors Archie couldn’t even see, as the fullness of its structure slipped into intangibility. A gap tore open, at least five feet tall and half that wide. "I have a hole!"
A blur of motion flashed by him so fast that all he could make out was a spear and sunset scales. Most surprisingly, a young swordsman tumbled after, plunging along headfirst into the chaos on the other side.
WARNING!
Your Health Has Dropped Below 10%!
"Hold it open for us!" Evie cried, tucking her chain around herself. She leapt forward, Loquis close behind, but Archie couldn’t hold it any longer. The barrier snapped out of his control, closing hard enough to blast the lot of them back several feet.
"Vess!" Evie shouted, forcing Loquis to grab her as she slashed her chain at the barrier. “Archie! Open this back up!”
Noticing much beyond that proved difficult. He knew he’d been thrown back, knew that he was injured thanks to more warning messages, but Archie couldn’t be bothered to check how mutilated his hands had become. He simply laid there in the dirt, staring up at the Bloodstorm as a single phrase echoed through him.
I did it.
Felix tensed, trying to decide how to move.
Above him, Ocalla seized the Chthonic Star. Her Will clashed with the gods as the Twins fought to hold the island in place. Ocalla screamed, veins protruding from her neck as she slowly moved the beam away from the chains, several of which had started to soften beneath the char.
The Divine pivoted, their rage focused entirely on the Hierophant.
You Dare Oppose Us? The Twins faded, their form encountering the splintered edge of their rift. That Star Is Meant To Free Us! It Is Not Meant For You!
The Hierophant adjusted her robes, breath heavy. "The situation has changed.”
Nothing Has Changed, Mortal!
Noctis and Yyero reached out for her, but a competing force batted their power aside, rising from the arrays that hadn't yet gone out.
"En’cridhe is failing.” Ocalla set her alabaster staff against the stone, and threads of gold spread from its bottom. They filtered into the sigaldry and the array strengthened enough that Felix felt its sting against his chest and belly. "Your presence grows thin, and I am not some fool with a Divine bargain. Do not presume to rule me."
The Twins screamed wordlessly, their opposing voices intermingling. High and low discoradance that tore at Felix’s Affinity. We Must Be Free! Else Your People Will All Perish!
"The Divine always lie. No, I will keep them safe. Besides, none of you are of use to me free.”
The Hierophant gestured and golden threads sprouted from among the statues, launching forward to seize the floating island in their woven grasp.
Felix ignored them all. Instead, he focused on his Bonds. The slack was there with the Bond of Enmity, but it wasn't much. He couldn’t reach his sword where it floated several feet away, nor make any real moves. Distracted or not, the gods would notice. The slack was barely enough to reach toward the Bonds themselves as they crushed against his core space—enough to interfere, if he were fast and lucky.
He pushed his Will toward the crimson Bonds, but they burned him, spiking through his Aspects and straight into his significance. He wheezed, the pain cutting beyond flesh, as if he’s grabbed a knife by the blade with his soul.
You Cannot Cut Free Your Hatred, Scion.
Felix tensed, but his panic faded when he realized the Divine had noticed his movements. Instead, the voice rose from the depths of himself. The Beast was speaking.
It Winds Through Your Aspects Like An Invasive Vine. Alone You Cannot Uproot It. I Can. The voice was deep, but there were teeth at its edge. Free Me. Let Us Unite.
I'm not going to lose myself to you, Beast. Felix was nearly blind to the goings-on around him for all that the gods hurled power overhead. He refocused on the Bonds inside of him. If his hate could be used against him, then—his heartbeat sped up and a chill alarm rippled across his Spirit. Bonds can be used against me just as easily as I use them against others…everything has connections.
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He angled his head, looking up at the chains. The Star had been redirected by the Hierophant’s threads, but already several enormous links had begun to soften. They weren’t ready to break, but there was a weakness there.
If they can strengthen Bonds, then so can I.
He had enough slack to use one Skill before they’d notice…he just had to make it count.
Adamant Discord!
There was no lightning or faint blue lines turned to steel, he focused entirely on the Ouranic Bindings above. The golden chains crackled where they’d been softened by the Chthonic Star, and Felix felt it all. A depth beyond his understanding of normal connections or even Links…but he didn’t need to understand them for this. His Skill resonated with the chains, multiplying through their vibrations as his power was added to them. He flexed his Will and shaped his Intent, holding Adamant Discord against the Bindings’ structure. More than that, he pressed his power toward their purpose. These were the chains that held the gods to their prison realms, and they needed strengthening.
The chains creaked, and blue-white electricity sparked off of them. It was not enough.
She Violates Our Agreement! The Twins’ voices thundered across the tower. Obey The Bargain, Titan! Destroy The Hierophant!
As if finally given leave to act, Gabby leapt up, shredding the light construct around herself and tackling the Hierophant in the same moment. They smashed through other light constructs, their blows wild against their powerful Bodies, scattering golden threads in all directions. The Inheritor’s Will was set free, clattering to the slanted ground and skidding toward the fallen edge.
The Chthonic Star twisted as they fell, drawn by Ocalla's distracted Will. The beam sliced down into its own island, dropping it a dozen feet as it spun, before searing into En’Cridhe itself. Sigaldry, stone, and statue were sundered, before the Hierophant righted the weapon once more, twisting it into the distance.
She seethed at Gabby. "You dare touch me?"
His sister attacked again, her fist crashing into the Hierophant's armored chest. The array around them burst with the impact, exploding upward in sparks of golden light as the ritual surrounding the Kobolds and Sylphaen was sundered.
Our Vessels! Noctis’ shadows thickened across the tower, but were blasted apart by the burst of golden light.
"Oops," Gabby said, her expression flat.
"They'll kill you once you dispose of me," Ocalla hissed at her.
"I know."
The Hierophant breathed a laugh and swung her alabaster staff. It smashed the Titan to the ground, slicing through the arm she raised in defense. Gabby fell back, clutching at her sudden wound as blood gushed through her fingers.
The Hierophant gathered golden light around herself like a cloak and crown. "I will not let the Divine have the pleasure. You will not survive me, betrayer."
She lifted her arm, but was inundated by gleaming dawnfire.
With a roar, Yin descended onto the tower, two people riding on his back. They leaped off as he landed with a liquid grace, weapons in hand. Felix started. It was Vess…and Mervin?
"Dragoon and Dragon.” The Hierophant slashed her staff and the wind blasted away the dawnfire. “Just how did you get in here?"
"Your barrier's not as good as you think.” Yin tossed his mane as smoke billowed from his nostrils. "Slice her throat, Dragoon. I tire of her words."
Vess shot forward, glaive leading the way.
Mervin slid to Felix’s side, his sword poised to hack at the bindings around him. “I’ll free you, sir!”
“No!” Felix jerked his chin toward the Unbound. "Save them first!"
To his credit, Mervin didn't hesitate. He altered course, heading for Ondine.
Felix strained against his Bonds, pushing against the hate that surrounded his core space. It seared him back. There was slack enough to push himself upward a couple of inches, but no more. The Bonds would not budge.
Mere feet away, Vess, Yin, and Gabby fought furiously against the Hierophant. The three of them were no pushovers, but the Hierophant gave them no chances to wield their Skills. She blurred through them, ignoring the slash of claw, spear, and light-conjured blade, to strike the red-gold scales that coated Vess' midsection. Felix felt weakness leech into him as it powered their defenses, but the scales shattered beneath the Hierophant's second attack.
Vess’ elbow bent and snapped like a gunshot. She fell back, biting off her scream.
Ocalla sighed. “Pathetic.”
Gabby rushed in, her conjured greatsword sweeping in a horizontal slice—only to be thrown back by a simple gesture. Threads of gold stretched her limbs taut between two columns, binding her as effectively as any spider.
Felix's skin burned, an immutable hatred reigniting within him. Not at the gods, but at the Hierophant and her casual cruelty. He shoved upward…and to his surprise, was able to stand.
The Bonds loosened? He tried to step away, but his legs and feet were still stuck fast. How? What’s changed now?
“Still trapped?” The Hierophant gave him a sad smile. “A pity. You could have stopped this.”
Golden threads seized the remnants of the floating island, now fallen to En’cridhe’s tilted edge. She gestured, and the mass of it rotated, the Chthonic Star’s beam rekindling into a sweeping arc…directly toward Vess.
"No!" Felix lurched forward, but fell, unable to do more than bend his knees.
The Hierophant’s smile twisted into something wicked. The beam sliced down.
"For the Fiend!"
Mervin leapt across the angled tower, directly over Felix’s head, as lightning trailed behind him. His fists were clenched around the handle of a hooked blade, its bronze blade gleaming with red-gold radiance as he fell.
“Mervin!”
The sword's first glyph burned in the blade, diverting the Star’s eradicating beam in way that only that powerful artifact could manage. The light burst, slicing through statue and tower alike in uncontrolled arcs as the Legion Captain fell forward, red-gold scales forming around his body. He landed and thrust in the same motion, lodging the hooked edge directly into the Star’s spinning innards.
The Chthonic Star exploded.
A wash of nameless, colorless potency washed across En’cridhe. Red-gold scales shattered, and proud, glowing eyes met Felix’s own before they were subsumed in white. The leading edge bashed into Felix, nearly bowling him over as it burned his Garment down to rags. He ignored the pain, hunting instead for the center, where the Star still sat, no longer spinning but unbroken.
The Inheritor’s Will was stuck upright in its center…but Mervin was gone.
The Hierophant growled something in a dialect Felix didn’t recognize. She pushed back to her feet, leaning heavily on her staff. “Born idiots, interfering where they do not belong!”
Vess and Yin struggled back to their feet. They were both bleeding, and Vess’ arm was bent the wrong way, but they helped each other up. Gabby was captured, struggling vainly against her bindings, and the three Unbound were still stuck fast.
Bonds Give Us Strength.
The Beast rumbled like distant thunder, far louder than the surging Bloodstorm. Felix felt it as the Bonds shifted, his hate for Ocalla Marzul burning brighter than anything else. En’cridhe spat and sparked all around him. The array was truly weakened now, no longer holding him but by the barest of threads. He twisted in place, rising to his fullest height.
Empyrean Embrace!
His hunger snapped against the Bonds but could not sever them.
Use Them, Scion! Unite With Me, And I Will Show You How.
No. I have a better option.
He could reach the pouch at his side now. He plunged a hand within, withdrawing the faceted object he had resting within. Mana congealed around his position, storming in swirling clouds above him.
Beware! Vellus’ voice was a crackling wail. Watch His Hands, My Love!
The gods spun toward Felix. The Bonds flared, but the Enmity between them had become too relaxed. It couldn’t stop Felix’s arm from clutching the object to his chest.
Titan! Noctis reached out her shadow. The threads of gold froze and snapped, dropping Gabby back to her feet. Stop Him!
Dark power flooded her, forcing her forward. Felix focused entirely upon the object against his chest. Its power all but spilled over its angular lip, filled to the brim by a familiar source.
Significance Processed!
Authority Recognized!
The Empyrean Regalia’s Cooldown Has Been Reset!
Felix opened his mouth, and the Wellspring Chalice sang.