EG Book 7 Chapter 17 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

I got a ton of writing done this week! It was kind of a preview of what I could do if I was full time, as I got 12.5k words written since Christmas. At that rate, I could get the first draft of a story out in 8-10 weeks, giving a publication timeline of 12-16 weeks. Three to four books a year, and I would probably get even faster over time. Someday.

Either way, enjoy the chapter!

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

“Milenna!” I screamed, and I heard Lilianna and Aleks at the same time. I jumped, flipping around, and created a platform under my feet. In my panic, I dumped a massive amount of Aether into it, and when I leapt off, throwing myself towards the falling girl, a gush of Air shoved me twice as fast as I was expecting.

One of the swooping Harpies tried to interpose themselves on my flight, but I slashed it apart with a Plasma Slash before it could get between me and Milenna. The swing, though, caused me to spin, so that I slammed into her with my back instead of catching her.

Milenna’s arms wrapped around my chest, and she yelled, “Now what?”

“Hold on tight!” I bellowed, throwing my arms to spin us, then I formed two cones of Fire and blew them out of my feet. Gotta slow us down or she’ll get hurt! I thought. The attempted rocket jets didn’t do enough, so I dropped them after a second. I used Dancing Northern Wind to make another platform under us, only to crash through it immediately.

Six more brought us to a stop, though my ribs felt squished from Milenna’s death grip. “Look out!” she exclaimed, and I jumped off the last platform. A massive tentacle, easily thirty meters long, slapped through the area where we had been. I looked down to see a Kraken, its baleful eye glaring at me from the water.

The Beast’s aura tried to stop my ability to move, but the distance gave me enough of a buffer to dodge the return strike as I jumped upwards. It screamed, the air shattering in front of the sound, but Milenna quickly formed an Air shield that blunted its effects. My ear drums still burst, and I’m sure she was in even more pain. The world was silent for a second, but my hearing popped back into existence to hear Milenna whimpering.

Above us, I could see that the others were being bombarded by long range Aether attacks, and having trouble returning fire. There were just too many Harpies, even as Sia swept through them again. Zimnodlot was perched on Jon’s shoulder now, assisting with holding the shield. Zim’s wing was bleeding, with Jamila feeding Aether into him to restore it.

“Cover my back!” I told Milenna, then leapt again past the Skysurfer. Two of the Seed Core Harpies turned towards us, while the Foundation Core was chasing after Sia.

“Stop fighting like you're still in Condensation!” Knight Kaminski commanded us as she dodged a blade of Air that was easily the sharpest thing I’d felt to that point. Of course, she immediately put that thought to lie with her return slash, the Metal Aether viscerally slicing apart the sky. They were both outputting enough Aether to cause my projection meridians to shatter with each attack, and I would drain myself dry trying to keep up.

I stopped in midair, a dozen meters away from the Harpy flock. Milenna kept up her shield of Air, mixing in Ice and Water to create a v-shape. It broke apart two Air Blades from the Seed Core Beasts attacking us. They were winging towards us, with only a few seconds before they crashed into the shield. Fight like I’m Core, I thought, then formed the runes for Forceful Punch two meters away from me.

I punched forward, and the runes mimicked my motion, exploding into the frontmost Harpy flying towards us. With a thought, a dozen Plasma Blasts formed and shot into the same guy, and he screeched as his wings burnt. The Sound rippled from him, smashing apart the rest of the Blasts before they reached him.

Of course, I wasn’t the only one who could create techniques at range now, and I saw the Aether streams from both of them enveloping us. I slashed my right hand, Plasma arcing off it to break apart their techniques before they finished forming. Being able to see Aether is such a cheat, I thought as my left hand sent out a wave of Lightning. Turn to the dark side, we have cookies!

The Seed Core Harpies in front of me dodged to either side. I followed the one to my left, the Lightning beating against its Aether Shield as it tried to retaliate. I felt its aura fluctuate, and then Milenna sent an Ice Spike into it. With a squawk, its Shield collapsed, and it cooked.

Milenna’s distraction, fatal as it was to the Harpy, let the other one get an attack through. I shifted before it hit, letting the Air Slash rip through my armor and cut into my stomach while keeping it from cutting off Milenna’s arm. I grit my teeth, cycling Aether to that area. My Aether was denser, stronger than the Harpy’s, and the attacking force was pushed out of me and dissolved. A small splurt of blood shot out of my gut, and then the wound sealed itself.

I growled, quickly forming a Wrath of the Lightning Herald, and blasting the Harpy out of the sky. It was thrown backwards and up, then it dropped. I turned towards the rest of the group to find Knight Kaminski ripping apart the remaining Condensation level Harpies. Sia led the Foundation Core enemy in front of the others, who met it with a withering wall of firepower. Vaya’s vine tentacles grabbed her, though she broke through nearly immediately, the forcible jerk startled her and let Sia turn around.

Jon, Bridget, and Zimnodlot sent a combined Ice AIr Blade into the distracted Harpy, while Kami and Lampart blasted it with Earth and Wood Spike respectively. The others contributed Aether Slashes and Blasts of various Elements, and her defenses were immediately overwhelmed. Sia finished off the Harpy with a Fireball that made mine look puny.

I sprinted for the Skysurfer, only for a bellow from below to shatter my Dancing Northern Wind Technique. We dropped for a second, as I tried to create new platforms only for them to be destabilized by the reverberating Sound. Milenna was trying to push against it, but fighting a Primordial was futile.

The Primordial’s roar stopped after three seconds, and I was able to finally make progress towards the Skysurfer. I glanced down to see a forest of tentacles, many reaching higher than I was. The falling Harpies were grabbed and dragged under. “Throw the Beast the bodies!” I screamed, “all of them.”

I jumped, and we landed on the flying device with a roll. “Hold on!” Knight Kaminski shouted, and I saw a flood of Aether from her surround the Skysurfer and grab onto it. With a lurch, we exploded forward, moving nearly ten times as fast as it normally could. Two tentacles swept through the area we had vacated. They wrapped around the bodies thrown overboard, bringing them down to a mouth that I didn't want to see. I’m going to have nightmares forever, I thought.

Knight Kaminski could only sustain her movement technique for a few minutes, but we left the Kraken far behind as it feasted on our enemies. “We are safer now,” she said, then collapsed.

Jamila was at her side in an instant. “She’s just exhausted,” she said after a quick check. “Help me get her inside her room?” Jamila picked up our unconscious mentor and gestured at the door.

I nodded, then rushed inside to open Knight Kaminski’s room’s door, since no one else could. Jamila placed her on the bed, then told me to shoo. I went back to the front room to find everyone but Aleks and Sam collapsed on the lounge chairs, three Beast Core’s discharging Aether into the air. They were gathering frantically, trying to refill nearly empty tanks in case more Harpies came. Kami, Zimnodlot, and Lampart were all munching on some Beast meat at the table, while Fluffy was chittering on Lea’s leg, channeling Aether into a wound to help it close.

Outside, Sam was still steering while Aleks was providing a bit of Aether to the Skysurfer to let it keep moving. I checked my reserves and saw that I was still over a third full. “I can take over,” I told them, pulling a bottle of gathering pills out of my belt. “Here, each of you take one, then go inside and recover. I’ll watch outside.”

Sia landed next to me, still three meters tall, “We will,” he echoed.

Aleks let my Aether take over, then stepped to me and pulled me into a kiss. “I will be out as soon as I recover to give you time to rest too. You cannot take all of the pain on yourself.”

“Got it, babe,” I said. I looked over at Sam. “You did great, keeping the Skysurfer steady.”

“How do you deal with …” she answered, gesturing at the splotches of blood around her.

“They attacked first,” I said, “and it gets easier with time. Go, rest. You’ll be fine.”

“I just wish I could do something besides huddling behind a shield,” she said bitterly.

Alkes looked at her sharply, “We talked about this. You did what was needed, keeping us steady and moving. If you did not do so, we would have been overwhelmed much easier. Come on.” Aleks hooked her arm in Sam’s, and they walked into the Portable Home, leaving me with Sia. (Note, need to make the battle longer)