Sacrifice Mage

I took a deep, shuddering breath. It was still hard to believe that Starburst had failed so utterly against the Tyrant. I had boosts from Sacrifice, the Essence of the Tyrant itself, buffs from Rituals active, Aspects that I had meticulously overpowered by Sacrificing their casts. And yet, Starburst had still been overpowered by the monster’s returning beam.

It was a little humbling. And a little reminder not to get carried away by my pride.

The difference between an amped-up, Gold-ranked cultist and a Jade-ranked monster was just that great. Plus, I would be stupid to assume that my enemies couldn’t buff themselves in the same way I could. Even if it wasn’t to as huge a degree, just minor additions would be enough.

Which was why I needed to be a bit more tactical. Why I needed to follow Se-Vigilance’s lead, but not interfere directly in her fight against the Tyrant.

I needed an opening. That was when something like Starburst would work.

A part of me wanted to take the time to take stock of my options and find the optimal path to success. A much larger part of me wanted to look back and make sure Councillor Lassikhio’s efforts in holding back the tide of Steelblood Demons was still working.

The Tyrant wasn’t about to give us the light of day, though. Right. I needed to stop thinking it wasn’t constantly dangerous. It was Jade-ranked for crying out loud.

Se-Vigilance had rushed in to engage the monster, with me staying a little farther back. But our enemy came to us much faster. Little legs unfurled on its sides as it lowered its body, before it leaped sky-high with one, metal-shattering jump.

“Evade!” Se-Vigilance shouted.

I was already moving, of course. The problem was that the monster was still able to manoeuvre just enough in mid-air to swerve and correct its aim, heading straight for wherever I might have thought to dodge towards. Which meant I couldn’t just run.

Manifestation brought up dots of concentrated heat behind me, which I immediately unleashed into bursts of Flare. The explosions behind my back propelled me forward much faster than my legs alone could carry me. It was probably what saved me from getting outright crushed by the Tyrant’s incredible dive.

The explosion of its landing made the whole area shake terribly once again. I might have been far enough from the immediate blast radius, but the shockwave ripped out at sonic speed.

It was a little crazy to attempt, but I swung my mace in the vague general direction of the blast. Somehow, it worked. I was sent staggering back, barely managing to hold onto my feet. But the worst of that blast hadn’t affected me. I knew I’d have been sent flying if I had taken on that shockwave with my body, even if I had tried to raise my weight with Infusion.

I still couldn’t focus on countering, on finding an opening to finally beat that creature.

Another firestorm had erupted around the Tyrant. Se-Vigilance was doing her best to head it off with her feathers, but it was impossible. There was too much of whatever Aspect the monster commanded.

A swirling tornado of flames bright enough to make me squint if I looked head-on, countless little fiery meteors coming alive in the sky overhead, a wall of liquid fire flooding outwards to make it impossible to reach the creature directly. Why was this stupid Nether Vein monster so overpowered? It was starting to make the Bonestrider look tame.

I got busy defending myself. The best method I found was relying on Vital Mana.

There was no way I could rely on just Augmentations like Reverence Everlife and Empowered Deflection. There was just too much coming at me all at once.

Bolts of fire lanced across me, but I wasn’t burned since a chunk of the light I was shining down from above disappeared instead. When the flood of flames arrived, I could rush right through, allowing my casts of Gravity to sacrificially vanish instead.

Not that I needed to solely focus on protecting myself. I needed an opening, and Se-Vigilance was on hand to create one.

A blue aurora surrounded me before the Councillor appeared nearby. Flames snuffed out, heat disappeared. I could finally take a moment to stop and focus my Aspects for offence.

“Prepare yourself,” Se-Vigilance said. “We mustn’t give it a second longer.”

She was right to hurry. The Tyrant was enwreathing itself with more fire, which funnelled around it now like an infernal drill. But Se-Vigilance was faster. I gasped a little as her aura flared with tremendous power, like I was standing on a spot one millisecond away from being struck by lightning.

Just as the Tyrant roared and slammed towards us in its fiery drilling motion, the Councillor’s wings unfurled into their full majesty. Three wings on either side of her spread out far, comprised of the prismatic feathers now stuffed with that deadly blue light.

An instant later, she fired herself at the onrushing Tyrant like a comet.

I thought the blast would send me flying or something, but it was the opposite. My monster-gifted wings spread out wide as I took off.

A tether of magic between me and the councillor dragged me after her. She was too fast, though. In less than a heartbeat, she had turned into a twinkling burning star of super-dense magic, her brilliant blue and the Tyrant’s burning orange meeting with a spectacular explosion.

A nuclear blast ripped through me. It wasn’t an exaggeration at all. Sound compressed before bursting both my eardrums. I could smell the blood rushing through my nostrils. All occurring in the instant before a wall of riotous energy and force slamming into me.

And still, the momentum of the Councillor’s power dragged me along the path she had followed. I was trying to help it by forcing Flare to fire behind my back, while desperately relying on Reverence Everlife to allow me to survive the cataclysmic levels of power the two behemoths were outputting ahead of me.

I made it through alive. Blood streaming everywhere, body feeling like it was being microwaved from the inside out, all sound gone and all vision reduced to flickers of light.

But I had made it. And I held on to enough of my senses to know exactly how I needed to act.

I crashed on the enormous monster’s side with a rupturing metal clang. It had been difficult to make out the exact fallout of that impact between the Councillor and the Tyrant. But I had seen enough to note that Se-Vigilance had attained the upper hand, her cometlike charge throwing the monster back as she aimed the remainder of her momentum upwards.

And now, I had landed on our enemy before it could recover.

The Councillor’s attack had carved out a gory wound on its side. I couldn’t dive in. Having barely survived the crashing impact, I was stunned, but not so much that I’d ignore how the wound was bleeding actual lava.

Heat should have been fine. I could use Absorption. Or Immolation. But I had no idea what sort of damage I’d need to do to actually kill that thing, nor did I know how long I could survive literal molten earth. Instead, I needed to aim for the kind of damage I knew I could leave and would actually propel us closer to victory.

As the monster rose with a cry that I didn’t hear so much as feel in the vibrating air, I jumped up too. My arms closed around its other wing. Heat blistered into my body, despite Absorption trying its best to keep me safe and alive.

I had to bite down against the pain. Even my headache was intensifying. But I reminded myself of my goal and channelled Sacrifice again.

Even as the monster arose, the wing joint broke. I managed to rip off its second flying appendage with the help of Overclaim, quickly plummeting to the ground with my prize as the Tyrant bellowed out another air-thrumming roar.

One I could finally hear as my regeneration kicked in and started building my eardrums back to their original state.

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No sooner had I landed on the ground than the Tyrant was angling to attack me. Those relatively smaller legs it had used to leap with earlier now extended into burning claws, swiping straight for me.

I cursed. There was no time to prepare any countermeasure as I just tried to pull in the wing to protect me.

Which I didn’t need to do. Se-Vigilance slammed down with her cometlike aura still alive and well around her. Her prismatic wing of iridescent feather exuded so much power, I almost felt like freezing. Honestly, I was mostly thankful I could hear her landing in front of me.

Then both Se-Vigilance and I were sent flying back with the pure power that the Tyrant generated. I could only think about how inconceivably mighty that thing had to be.

Also, I was sure of one thing after that exchange.

“The piecemeal strategy isn’t going to work,” I said to the Councillor, once again relieved to find my hearing was fine enough. “We need to take it out with one blow.”

“How do you propose we accomplish that?” she asked.

The Tyrant was recreating its massive storm of attacks again, though I was less anxious this time. I had the Councillor right next to me, after all.

“I just… need another opening,” I said. “Just one more. And… I think I need a breakthrough, but that’s on me.”

“So rely all our hopes on your ability to reach whatever solution you have in mind?”

I offered her a crazy little grin as the first of the firebombs from the Tyrant were swatted out of the air by a cavalcade of her feather-swords. “Don’t you trust me, Councillor?”

“I suppose you do have a rather remarkable track record,” she said with a returning smile.

That was the end of our little conversation as Se-Vigilance took off to meet the Tyrant head-on.

I could hardly tell the little minutiae of what was going on. The Councillor was once again a glowing blue meteor with gigantic prismatic wings, flitting this way and that around the creature as they clashed over and over with blistering impacts that echoed over the battlefield.

With Se-Vigilance granting me some room by occupying almost the entirety of the monster’s attention, I compressed all my combat Aspects into one. Well, all save Entropy.

I was saving that one for the finale.

But I was casting that one too. Casting, then immediately Sacrificing, over and over to boost every subsequent cast’s efficiency multiple times. The only way it was going to be fast was if I boosted it far beyond its normal capacity.

I did the same for my Ignition Charge. For a second, the monster’s flames washing over and around me—with enough of their destructive effect nullified by Vital Mana—swirled in my own little cyclone thanks to Orbit. And then I Sacrificed the Ignition Charge, empowering its next cast. And then again. I had built enough charges now that Sacrificing a few was not at all a loss.

The fight between Se-Vigilance and the Tyrant was getting more furious with every heartbeat. I could hardly see through the crackling storm of fiery and prismatic magic enshrouding everything.

Despite that, I rushed in. Flying was better than letting my legs continue to get eaten away by the flames. It was a little difficult to control, though. Holding Starburst steady between my hands until I got the right opportunity to use it, I approached fast. Se-Vigilance was doing great in letting me prepare, but the final opportunity was something I’d need to carve out myself.

It quickly became apparent that I wasn’t going to find said opportunity up front. Not so long as I remained close to the ground.

Even if it hadn’t worked last time, I needed to attack from above. I needed to drop Starburst from up on high.

So I did just that. Channelling Gravity had me rising pretty high once again. There was that inferno around the monster yet again, surrounded by Se-Vigilance’s prismatic aura. I felt like it was a miniature version of that terrific detonation of magic that had happened moments ago, when their two attacks had collided. Like if I got too close, I would start getting vapourized.

Nevertheless, I got into position well above the battle. High up enough that I could see the mouth of the tunnel.

I waited. It gave me a bit of reprieve to check out the rest of the battlefield. I was glad to note that Lassikhio was successfully keeping our enemies at bay for the time being. Perfect.

The intensity of the battle between the Tyrant and Se-Vigilance reached their peak. I had known that all the magic they were belching out would eventually interact in a way that would cause another massive detonation, especially with the way they were going for each other’s throats.

Thankfully, I was far enough from the explosion to feel only a rush of air scouring past my body.

Then I fell. I plummeted. I dived.

With Gravity enhancing my weight via Infusion and Flare bursting at my back, I was accelerating towards the ground at breakneck pace, the compressed Starburst threatening to break apart prematurely at any second. I had to hold on for just a few moments longer.

The Tyrant spotted me. No surprise. My body was rushing down, the energy I held between my palms now pulsing with thumping blasts.

It sought to blast me with that superheated beam again, but it was too late. Another series of Flare bursts behind me sent me down even faster, the drag forces now trying to pull my flesh and skin off my bones. The monster fired its beam, but it only got maybe a couple dozen feet into the air.

By that point, I was in reach. I swung. The Starburst finally burgeoned outwards as I released my hold on it.

For all that the explosion between the Tyrant and the Councillor’s powers had felt obliterating, I was almost proud to report that the blast I caused was no less impressive.

Everything disappeared in a storm of light and sound, an endless sea of thunder deafening my poor ears again. Pillars of power shattered through space itself, crackling energy fracturing everything it touched. Every inch of space was blistering with obliterating magic.

My vision was reduced to slits thanks to the glare, my body now compressed by incredible heat and pressure. For a second, I almost regretted my flashy entry.

And then a blue aura was enveloping me, shielding me from the worst of the terrible explosion I myself had caused.

Se-Vigilance was providing an assist even now.

Her power combined with everything I was throwing out—Intake, Absorption, and Reverence Everlife all combining to safeguard me against the oppressive energy. I couldn’t let this opportunity go to waste. I couldn’t afford to be blown away or rendered too injured to capitalize on the chance I had created.

I couldn’t wait to finally kill that thing.

The very moment I saw things start to clear up, where everything was still way too dangerous to wade through, I slowed down. Overclaim reached out with spiderwebbing tendrils in all directions, quickly getting rid of the energy so I could go down.

[ Sacrifice

You have Sacrificed 1 [Moderate] Remnant of an Aspected Storm. Windfall bonus activated.

Reward: Essence of Aspected Storm now suffuses your being for 3 hours 40 minutes. ]

I hardly noticed how the same energy I was Sacrificing was just returning via my Aspect’s reward, imbuing my body so that I was a volatile, fizzing mixture of heat, light, pressure, and more I couldn’t identify just then. It didn’t matter. Not even if a part of me was panicking about whether I could maintain my sense of self when I was turning into literal energy. I would. I had come too far to lose now.

My vision cleared. The monster was right underneath. It was devastated. A gory crater had cracked open on its enormous maw, slowly filling up with its molten-metal-lava blood.

I grinned. Once again, I knew that trying to take that thing out with Sacrifice was going to be impossible, even if I somehow managed to find a way to get into its torso and attack its vitals. No. My real plan was much better suited to end this once and for all.

The Tyrant tried to rise, its maw opening, only for the monster to screech out in pain as the crater on its head spurted out more molten blood. I came to a stop a few feet away, almost feeling alive at the way the energy rising in waves from the overheated monster was starting to cook me.

“You’ve done enough,” I said. I didn’t need to, but I found my arm rising and pointing at the monster of its own accord. “Now, die.”

Entropy came alive. Not just by itself, of course. Ignition Charge fired, the mana core in my chest whirring with a few thousand RPM.

[ Ignition Charge

Ignition Charge empowers Aspect of Entropy. Charges remaining: 28

Entropy: Framework]

Fractures in reality wormed their way into the enormous monster in front of me. Like parasites on fast-forward, Framework began eating away at the Tyrant from within instantly. Right. I had boosted Entropy’s cast so many times, I had lost count just how much stronger than normal it was.

Though the proof was right in front of me. With the cracks taking over the entirety of the Tyrant, it started dissolving soon after.

Entropy really was extremely powered up now.

I gasped. My headache turned so severe, I was pretty sure my skull was literally splitting in two. I could barely hear the monster scream, could barely even register that its shrieking had a level of fear and existential panic that I hadn’t heard from it yet.

I certainly couldn’t even react to the explosion of flaming aura overwhelming me in the next second as the Tyrant did all it could think of to stop disintegrating.

The world itself seemed to be screeching as loudly as possible. There was so much energy everywhere, so much blinding power and unbearable pressure, I felt like I was losing myself. Maybe I was just being slammed by too much radiation, my body barely able to stand against it after—

The world went blank white. I was nothing but sheer, livid, ascending might.

[ Path-bound Core Aspect Unlocked!

Sufficient mana consumed. Connection with the Beyond established. Core prepares for ascension. Ascension charges arrive at every breakthrough and can be used on any Weave-property.

Core Aspect: Ascension Charge]