Unbound

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Four - 184

Or he would have, had the man not stopped mid-stride with a sudden stricken look upon his face. "What--No! No!" The man fell backward, not even looking at Felix, as if terrified of something he coudn't see.

Movement to Felix's left revealed Thangle, now fully visible but hiding beneath another wagon; his face was red and a vein clearly pulsed from his forehead. A group of miners were nearby, chained to the wagon and staring between the three of them with expressions that betrayed their fear. All of them were wearing elision collars.

With Thangle's help and beneath the miners' grim stares, Felix didn't waste another moment. He slashed out with his talons but they merely gouged the surface of the Initiate's armor. The awful, jagged sound of it snapped the man awake.

"Huh--How did--FIEND!"

Corrosive Strike!

Felix's taloned fist burst alive with green acid and took the still confused Initiate fully in the chest. The man tumbled backward, but in moments he had fetched back onto his armored feet.

"A cheap shot! Aided by...by illusions!" The swarthy man's face grew darker in his rage. "You should have killed me when your pet Gnome was in my head! Now you've only given me time to fight back!" Salazar crowed in triumph despite his dented breastplate. "Echo of the Divine Shell!"

The aura of golden light that had clung to him coalesced around the man, forming into overlapping panels of conjured armor. Felix groaned; he had seen this Skill before, and it had proven to be a pain in the ass. Salazar's body lifted up off the ground as a plate armored body formed completely around his own, simply scaled to one and a half times the size so that it seemed like he was suspended within a huge translucent set of armor.

Great. Felix snarled, showing off the row of jagged fangs that had filled his mouth. Last he'd faced this Skill, he'd been a lot weaker. Let's see how fast I can break it this time.

Unfettered Volition!

Influence of the Wisp!

Corrosive Strike!

Hoping to hold him still, Felix bathed the Initiate in wispfire. The blue-white flames flickered brightly for a moment before they failed to catch, so unfortunately the Initiate managed to evade his Corrosive Strike.

"Diurnal Reach!"

A volley of four hard light bolts shot out, but Felix snatched them from the air with a flaring of Ravenous Tithe, netting a chunk of ambient Mana with them. Before the Initiate's eyes stopped bugging out, Felix darted closer and landed a non-Skilled jab on his conjured armor.

A plate of shimmering Mana cracked under his blow, and shattered completely beneath Felix's second one. Gasping in fear, Salazar shuffled backward, out of Felix's immediate reach.

Before he turned around and ran.

Directly toward Thangle and the line of chained miners.

"No you don't," Felix snarled.

Rein of Vellus!

Lightning, almost like a tether, zapped forward and into the Initiate's back. Jolting with the impact and electricity, Felix hauled back on the man and yanked the Initiate off his feet and back into range.

"Immolation Charge!" Salazar cried out, and his conjured armor was bathed in a deluge of flames. "First Charge!"

A wave of fire exploded outward, washing over Felix and several nearby wagons, setting all of them ablaze. Including the ones holding the miners and Thangle.

"No!"

Status Condition: Burning

Thanks! Felix growled at the System, slapping at his burning clothes before he dove past the Initiate and flared one of his rarely used Skills.

Mantle of the Long Night!

Purple-white Mana poured from Felix's channels, hitting the superheated air and turning instantly to a visible mist as an arctic chill began to rotate around him. Like an icy hurricane, Felix dumped his Mana into the spell, increasing it's range and rotation, until a dire wind spiraled around his form and hit the wagons. The orange and purple-white Mana clashed against one another, sparking in a way he'd never seen before, perhaps due to his increased capacity for Manasight. Regardless, the ice Mana chilled the wagons enough to stifle the fire Mana.

"Thangle!" Felix couldn't sense the Gnome under the wagon, so he immediately ran to the miners. They were chained to the far side, and several had nasty burns on their arms and legs. Six miners, men and women both and ranging between the common Races Felix had encountered, none of them were uninjured. The aura of his Mantle smothered the little flames that clung to their clothes, but Felix had to turn it off or else risk hurting them. They pulled away from him in alarm, but couldn't move much due to their manacles and chains.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help," Felix assured them, but knew it was a losing battle. His face was a mess of dark scales and sharp, alien angles, not to mention a mouthful of prominent fangs. Felix knew his eyes were burning too, like tiny lanterns of blue light. He flexed his claws and saw them flinch, but it wasn't for them. A single slash sheared through their chains.

"Go, take cover! We've got this!" Felix wanted to smile but kept his mouth as closed as possible.

"Running away, Fiend?! Expected of a coward! A craven swine!" The Initiate was running toward them, great stomping steps shaking the earth and his phantasmal armor still wreathed in flame.

"Go!" Felix shouting one last time at the miners, before he turned toward the glowing idiot. "Bring it on, douchebag!"

Unfettered Volition!

Corrosive Strike!

Zipping forward faster than the Initiate could manage, Felix met the man well before he reached the wagons. Dipping beneath the man's horizontal slash, Felix stomped outward at his conjured legs. He hit so hard Felix's boot exploded, shredding at the heel and half tearing from his foot. Still, Salazar grunted in surprise as a series of golden Mana panels shattered, sending him stumbling to the side. Felix pivoted out of the way, pushing his Agility, reorienting on the idiot's back.

Corrosive Strike!

Corrosive Strike!

Corrosive Strike!

Three rapid-fire punches shattered another section of the redcloak's glowing armor, and sent him sprawling onto the stones. The Initiate Divine Shell was falling apart, but still, Salazar grunted and slammed his hands to the earth. A voice like gravel tore at the air.

"Second Charge! Third Charge!"

Waves of flame flowed outward, but this time they were white hot. They swept over Felix faster than he could blink; there was little else but endure it. The Initiate flopped onto his back, panting and staring up in smug satisfaction. "Haha! Face the Light and burn, Sorcerer!"

Until the inferno simply...vanished.

Ravenous Tithe!

The fire swirled around Felix, unable to move past the powerful pressure he exerted upon its Mana. It rushed into him, like a damn reverse dragon, searing his mouth and throat as it went. Salazar looked at him with despair, his cheeks sunken and eyes dark.

"Is that it?" Felix asked with a rough voice, baring his teeth against the pain that screamed across his nerves. His clothes had all caught fire before he extinguished all the fire and his Health had dropped by nearly a quarter. "My turn then."

Felix gripped the man's conjured boots and heaved. With a screaming grunt, he lifted the Initiate bodily from the earth, rotated, and slammed the jerk face first into the flagstones.

*KRAAKK!*

"Uoouugh," the Initiate moaned, writhing only slightly. From this vantage, Felix could see the golden panels that had been shattered on his back. "You-you'll never--never get away..."

"You see me running?"

"Diurnal Reach!"

Four more bolts of light shot from the Initiate's hand, but not at Felix. The man hadn't even lifted his arm for the shot. Instead, they were sent back toward the wagons, faster than Felix could move to intercept. Toward the miners.

"No!"

Arrow of Perdition!

Felix slammed his open hand down toward the Initiate's exposed back and a crossbow bolt made of gold and blue light manifested in his grip. With a single, smooth motion, he stabbed it's length down into the man's lower back. The bolt sank into the redcloak's flesh, lodging itself directly into his core. With a flash of radiant gold, the armor around the Initiate evaporated back into Mana vapor. Salazar screamed in true, gut-wrenching pain as his strongest Skill was damaged directly.

Arrow of Perdition is level 14!

"You! Fucking! Asshole!" Reaching down, Felix took hold of the edges of the Initiate's breastplate. Screaming in effort, he tore it up and off the man, his voice almost as loud as the tortured sound of bending steel.

Salazar tried to roll away, even managed to draw the longsword at his hip and fumbled a seated swipe at Felix. It was fast enough that Felix couldn't dodge had he even wanted to, but Felix stayed on the man. The blade dug into Felix's shoulder, yet the poorly leveraged swing was unable to penetrate past the thickened plates. Felix backhanded the sword out of the Initiate's grip.

"You're the follower of a god of Light! Where's your mercy? Where's the compassion!?" Felix screamed at the man. His anger felt raw and torn open, a wound he'd been ignoring for way too long. "All you want to do is take and kill! What the fuck is wrong with you people!"

He tore more of the man's armor, flinging him bodily as a pauldron came away in his grip. The Initiate limped into a roll, coming back to his feet with something resembling grace. Blood streamed down his face where the ground had broken his cheekbone and nose, but the hate expressed there was enough to give even Felix pause.

"You demonic cretin," Salazar spat. His eyes were bloodshot, but his gaze was level. "We seek Strength. Order. Above all, we seek Purity and Truth. Your lies of mercy fall on ears deaf to your influence! The Pathless preserves me against your selfish evil!"

"Shut!"

Corrosive Strike!

"Up!"

Corrosive Strike!

Felix screamed as each fist made contact, the second punching through the remnants of his armor. His entire fist broke through the man's chest with a sound like a meaty firecracker. Felix flexed his claws and tore his way out, shredding the Initiate's internal organs all the way down to the man's navel. His emotions were a riot of hate and disgust and rage, so much rage, more than he'd even felt before. He felt like his entire body was burning up, his scales itching fiercely and his core spinning like a mad top of impossible flame.

You Killed SalazarKorith Astandes, An Initiate of the Inviolate Order!

XP Earned!

He wanted to rip and tear and rend and devour this stain of a human being. To do the same to all of them, hunt them all down and end their Order with tooth and claw. He could--

Peace.

He could taste the man's blood already, so close to his mouth. To his maw--

Peace, Felix! Brilliant light subsumed his vision, resolving into dark feathers that wrapped across his face and chest. A horse-sized head leaned onto his shoulder and gently pressed him back. Peace.

Pit's soothing trills washed against Felix, hitching his breath. He wanted to push past the dark pinions before him, but...he breathed. Once, twice. Still, his instincts told him to tear them all apart, like a warning.

"Forged Calm," Thangle's high pitched voice said from nearby.

Purple Mana swirled around Felix's face, and he felt Thangle push down on his riled up emotions. Felix welcomed it, but even if he hadn't, he wasn't sure if he would have been able to muscle past Thangle's Skill. His emotions flatlined, dampened into a grey neutrality. Not quite apathy and a bit blander than contentment. Complacency.

Felix opened his eyes and saw Thangle standing nearby, his hand still outstretched. Sweat poured down the Gnome's face and into his beard.

"Thanks," Felix said. "I-I think I'm good, now."

"You sure? Because that was rather frightening," Thangle said as he peered at him. "You aren't feeling any more...bloody urges?"

Under Thangle's spell, Felix managed a smile and let his transformation fall away as he stood. Scales were reabsorbed by his body and his fangs fell out of his mouth as they were replaced by his normal, flat teeth. Thangle blanched at the sight and took a single step away from the fangs as they turned to wisps of smoke upon the ground.

"I'll be fine, I think," he said as Pit's big head came to snuggle against his own. "Where're the others?"

"The effects will wear off in a bit, but until then you'll feel a bit," Thangle made a wobbling motion with the flat of his hand. "Odd."

Felix felt fine, really. He display showed the icon of a steady, winding river and claimed he was under the effects of Forged Calm for the next five minutes. It felt kinda nice, really. He hadn't realized how volatile his emotions had become, but now that it was flatlined for him, he could see the weirdness of it all. Pit walking at his side helped too.

The others were close by, which was readily evidenced by the wreckage of the other half of the work yard. Divots were blown out of the flagstones and huge, serpentine gouges were torn up from the wood and stone buildings around. Felix was surprised he hadn't noticed it all during his fight, but the tall wagons had blocked his line of sight and must have been muffling some of the sounds. Evie and Vess were both standing among eight surviving Acolytes, all of them unconscious on the ground and wrapped in manacles.

"You certainly made a lot of noise," Vess commented as Felix, Pit, and Thangle turned the corner. "Is the Initiate take care of?"

"Yes," Felix said, his voice hitching slightly. "There are too many Acolytes here. Did we miscount?"

"Dunno. They must've arrived later with that guy," Evie jutted her chin toward what was left of a man with an Initiate's sword. He had been stabbed into the second story of a workshop, and then parts of that story had been blown up. Felix spotted pieces of him here and there. "They put up a fight, but the Acolytes couldn't do much. Still, Vess didn't want us killin' a bunch of folks if we could help it so," she gestured to the tied up Order members. They looked secure enough that they wouldn't be going anywhere even if they were awake.

"We can try them for crimes against the city at a later date," Vess stated, her tone one that allowed no argument. "We shall jail them for now."

"Where though?" Evie asked, exasperated, as if they'd already had this conversation.

Vess opened her mouth to answer when the air was split by the sound of muffled explosions and terrified screams. Felix whirled on the sound. It was coming from the mine shaft.

"Come," he ordered, before taking off like a shot.

The flagstones cracked beneath each step as his weight slammed into the earth, each stride hurling him forward faster and faster. Pit and Evie were close behind, while Vess and Thangle were no doubt on their way. He couldn't be concerned with waiting on them, and for once Felix was aware this wasn't an emotional response. Forged Calm was still in effect. It felt like simple logic, especially considering the narrow space of the mine shaft.

"Pit, stay out here or converge?" Felix asked, and received a disbelieving snort in response before the tenku disappeared into white light that jolted into Felix's chest. "Evie, we go in hard. Stop the redcloaks however we can, save the miners, and get Rory out. Good?"

"Sure. Kill the redcloaks, something, something, then done," Evie grinned, her legs whipping faster than his own. "My kinda plan!"

Sovereign of Flesh!

Pain bathed him as everything twisted and crunched within his body, but Felix didn't stop running. Unfettered Volition didn't even let him stumble as his skin blackened and swelled into matte-black scales. Sans boots, his feet were clawed, elongated ever so slightly enough that his tread actually improved.

They hit the tunnel quickly. About ten feet tall and fifteen feet wide, it wasn't the smallest of fits, but neither of them would have a lot of room to maneuver. Despite the torches that were lit along the walls, they needed a second to adjust to the dimmer light. Even Manasight wasn't immune to the weakness of eyesight, at least not at their stage of advancement.

Which is perhaps why they didn't see the trap until they were nearly on top of it.

"Look out!" Felix cried out and threw himself up and over a section of stone that abruptly radiated brilliant orange mana vapor. A wall of fire erupted to fill the entire space like a curtain was drawn up from the floor. Evie dropped to all fours and increased her mass, slowing herself down considerably and stopping before she hit. Felix, on the other hand, burst straight through it.

The Song of Absolution is level 56!

And right into a wall of white-enameled steel.

"RRAAAAHH!" Acolytes shouted as they thrust toward Felix's tumbling form, a hedge of spears all gunning for his guts. Felix tucked his body tight and fired off Reign of Vellus.

Like a goddamn cannon going off, the Acolytes directly in front of him were smashed into red paste by the force of the Skill. Yet the reciprocating force launched Felix in the opposite direction. Back through the fire, again. The only difference was that this time he was ready for it.

Ravenous Tithe!

The fire burned him for only a moment as he came into contact with the Mana, claimed it, and let it flow once more into his throat. Scalding his insides for good measure as the Mana tore through his channels.

Evie ducked as Felix flew by again, swearing, but lashed out with her chain. "Bindings of the White Waste! Scorpion's Tail!"

Felix rolled to a stop some thirty feet back, and though he reclaimed his feet easily it was annoying. Now he had to get back there. Except when he looked, he saw Evie making short work of the spear-wielding Acolytes arrayed against her. Purple-white ice Mana filled the tunnel, binding half of the combatants while the rest contended with the unpredictable length of her spiked chain.

The Acolytes were defending a split in the cavern. To the left was a well lit path that angled downward, while to the right the shaft had been overrun by rubble. Clearly that was where the miners had sealed themselves in. But the rubble was shifted and sparks of light kept erupted from a gap in the stones.

Angry shouts and pained screams emanated from that gap.

Felix flared his Unfettered Volition, blasting past Evie and releasing a spread out version of Reign of Vellus. Strands of lightning burst outward in an arc, pushing back at the Acolytes as Felix's own momentum carried him forward. They were hurled back, some falling to the ground while others were steamrolled.

"Don't worry about it! I got this!" Evie snarked at his back.

Then he was through the rubble. Within it was far darker; someone had extinguished the torches here. Felix pulsed his Manasight enough to pick out three dozen figures struggling in the darkness; all of them seemed to have glowing green eyes. A common vision Skill called Night Eye. Everyone was converged on one spot, where a single man in white armor and a red cloak fought them all to a standstill.

The old man.

Without warning, the Initiate's long sword burst aflame, and nearly every single miner recoiled in pain.

They were the first to die.

Like a whirlwind, the old Initiate tore through his opponents. The flame on his sword sketched dazzling shapes in the near dark of the tunnel, brilliant feints and last second parries. Pickaxes and hammers were turned aside, easy as breathing, only the Initiate intense stare and streaming mustaches indicating he was putting in any effort at all.

What level is his sword mastery? Not even Harn moved with such deadly grace. Yet the thought didn't panic Felix, it merely made him curious. Let's find out!

Unfettered Volition!

Influence of the Wisp!

Stone Shaping!

Rushing forward as blue-white fire limned him, Felix bore down on the old man. Similar flames flickered around the Initiate as well, long enough that Felix felt the vestiges of furious satisfaction tingle at the edges of his Mind. At the same time, he dual cast Stone Shaping as a precaution, yanking the section of stone beneath the Initiate's feet up in an effort to foul up his balance. Frozen in place, the shaping merely toppled the man to the side, where he would have hit the earth had Felix not been there to land an unarmed slash on him.

His talons struck sparks off the Initiate's immaculate armor, similar to the last one he'd fought. But before the old man could hit the ground, he'd somehow escaped from the enthralling effect of Influence of the Wisp and swept his leg out. Pivoting seamlessly, the talented Initiate turned his fall into a spinning lunge, and brought his newly flaming sword to bear against Felix.

It all happened too fast to stop his second blow; Felix had already committed. So when the sword came across his right arm, it sheared off one of his bone spikes and dug a bloody furrow in his dark scales. Felix twisted, too late, and was met with a simple palm strike at the center of his chest.

It hit him with all the force of a jackhammer.

Felix was thrown bodily back into the rubble half-clogging the tunnel. Rock exploded outward, tumbling down to pummel him as his body was partially lodged in the wall.

Status Condition: Forged Calm

Duration: 1 Second

The icon of a winding river flickered and disappeared, the effect of Thangle's spell gone at last, and Felix felt a sudden and terrifying welling of emotions. Horror, fear, rage, and hate burst fully formed into his chest, and coupled with the adrenaline and battle lust that had begun to dominate Felix's Mind, not even Pit's calming ministrations from within his Spirit were enough.

Arm bloodied, spine probably bruised, Felix didn't think or plan. He rushed back in.

It wasn't the smartest thing he had done recently.

The old man wove through Felix's furious assault, impossible to hit while simultaneously landing his own slashes against Felix's thighs and shoulders and hip. The burning brand left clean, bloody wounds where it struck, and though nothing was worse than glancing, it infuriated Felix. The flood of emotion overwhelmed him as he unleashed his power on the Initiate before him.

Influence of the Wisp!

Arrow of Perdition!

Reign of Vellus!

Blue-white fire flickered to life again, but this time the Initiate resisted the enthralling status condition and instead pressed the attack. The flaming sword hit Felix with the flat of the blade, knocking the conjured Arrow of Perdition out of his hand and rendering it into wasted Mana vapor as it vanished. The blast of kinetic lightning, however, connected.

The old man caught it on his sword and, with a twist, sent the spell hurtling into the ceiling.

What the fuck?

"Impressive abilities, for one so young," the greybeard said as he reset himself. "But you will find that age provides it's own Temper. Now, come."

He described an elegant figure eight with his burning blade.

"Again."