EG Book 7 Chapter 28 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Chapter 1 of 2 today! I also just ordered the cover for Homecoming! I'm trying to get the hardback version of Volume 2 (Books 4-6) done today as well, but that one is being tricky. The hardbacks have a page limit of 550, and my fist attempt had it at 779 pages! So I've been messing with font, size, margins, etc to try and get it down while still being readable. 

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Jon stepped forward to defend, creating an Ice Wall to blunt the Beast’s advance. The front row slammed into it, cracks forming throughout, and I knew the second grouping to hit would break it. Milenna spun her new halberd, Air Aether streaming through it, and created a twister that landed just beyond it. The lighter Beasts, foxes, snakes, and birds mostly, were pulled into the sky as the cyclone roared.

The larger Beasts, including a rhinoceros like creature with three horns, made it through the Air technique and broke Jon’s Ice Wall. Aleks landed from an Air assisted leap just in front of them, then sent a wave of Metal Spears in a crescent. The rhinoceros and hippopotamus in front impaled themselves then crashed to the ground.

Three more undead bears rumbled over the newly dead bodies. I met the first with a triple charged Forceful Punch while fully channeling the Elemental Enhancement Technique (name), putting every bit of tempered strength, techniques improvement, and my trisula’s Inscription into the attack. The undead, sitting near the top of Seed Core in power, met my punch with a claw swipe. Our hands met, and my technique detonated through the Beast.

It roared, a gurgling sound as its vocal cords were partially dissolved, and then was thrown back. Its paw, leg, shoulder, and a third of its torso disintegrated as my Aether surged through it. The remains of its body slammed into and through another Beast, rekilling it as well.

Aleks sliced apart the second one, her sword a blur as she used her body enhancement technique to raise her strength to be my equal, even with the tempers I had over her. That was the benefit of being the princess, though I was sure that once I got my Elemental Enhancement Technique (name) to a better level of understanding I’d jump ahead yet again.

The third bear was met by Jon, while Milenna kept her tornado going to keep the riff raff out of our hair. “Where are the others?” I asked, ducking under a Jungle Jaguar’s lunge.

“Other side,” Aleks said. “There are more (zombies) and Naga there!” She growled and stabbed her sword forward. An arrow of Metal, Earth, and Fire Aether formed and shot forward, blowing apart four more Gallu Beasts as they rushed towards us.

I caught a Giant Swamp Beetle’s mandibles on my trisula, straining against a Beast that was nearing the power of a level seven, or Constructed Core, Beast. My Aether drained as I struggled against it, holding it in place while I formed a dozen Metal Arrows that then stabbed into its thorax. Earth Aether surged upward, and then the Arrows exploded into a porcupine of Stone Spikes, ripping apart the bug’s body.

“We have got to deal with the Naga!” Jon shouted, smashing an undead Spotted Skimmer Dragonfly away then swinging his sword into a Brine Mallard. The bird died, again, as it spewed a sludge of Brine and Acid, burning away at Jon’s Aether Shield.

I sent a set of Metal Spears forward, blunting the advance of yet more undead Beasts. “Did the Naga empty the entire Light blinded swamp to create their zombies!” I screamed, frustration oozing from my voice.

“The Naga are enhancing them. You have got to stop them,” Jon yelled again. “I will protect Aleks and Milenna. They will kill the (zombies). You go kill the Darkness shrouded Naga!”

“Language!” I yelled, then stepped on the next Beast’s head. I leapt into the air, sending a deluge of Metal Aether Slashes into the tornado that Milenna had been maintaining for the last two minutes. Each of my attacks killed tens of the weaker undead Beasts as they struggled against the Air currents.

Behind the Beast horde, the three Naga priestesses had multiplied to an even dozen, all of them chanting and sending bursts of Death Aether into the undead Beasts, enhancing their power and prowess.

I kept rising, wrapping myself in Air Aether to blast forward, trisula extended to spear the forward most Naga on the tips. A shield of Death Aether tried to stop me, but my focused Metal, Earth, and Sturdiness Aether, channeled through my weapons, punched straight through. My Aether Shield, the base technique that Azyl Academy had taught me to cover myself in my own power, dimmed as the Death Aether tried to corrupt it away, but I was through before it could finish burning through.

The Naga grunted, their chant disrupted, when I slammed into them point first. Their armor, a chainmail equivalent, split apart in the wake of my attack. I rolled off the collapsing body to send two descending Metal Aether Slashes, cutting into two more of the Naga enhancing the Gallu. Both of them staggered back, their techniques stopping, but they were still standing.

The one on my left hissed, “He is mine,” then darted towards me. Death, Water, and something that was a mix swirled around her. The other leapt into air, Air and Ice coating her scales as she started the chant up again.

“That was not smart of you,” I said, unleashing my aura and focusing it on her. She did the same. Even though she was a stage above me, I was able to restrict her control to only a tiny area around her. With a thought, I created a dozen orbs of Lightning and sent them streaking into her.

The shield she’d created blocked the attacks with only a small decrease in the mixed Aether to show for it. I frowned, then snapped my trisula up to block her staff. The Aether construct covered her weapon as well as herself, and it tried to run down into me. I rejected it, my aura and willpower pushing against hers, and found hers wanting.

I slammed my foot into the spot where her snake tail merged into her human-like torso, Plasma Edge coating my boot. The Death and Water Aether stripped most of my technique away, but what was left was enough to put another hole in her armor and send a stream of blood down her side.

A blast of Death Aether exploded out of her staff into my face. My circlet’s shield absorbed it all, but I knew it couldn’t take another hit like that. I growled at her, engaging Iron Bones, Granite Skin and yanking towards myself on her weapon. I turned the momentum of her forward stumble into a bear hug. My defensive technique started to degrade, though I bet she thought it would fail much faster. With my new strengthening technique running with my absurd Aether reserves flowing into it, my physical might shot upward, and I crushed my arms together.

The Naga made a squawk sound, and then her spine snapped. I threw her into the wall nearest us, and the stone shattered and collapsed onto my enemy. I turned around to find the Gallu mostly gone, Jon, Aleks, and Milenna taking care of them while I took out their enhancers. More Naga were coming up the street, but were at least five hundred meters away now.

I started to form a larger version of Pride of the Plasma Herald, enhancing it so that it would reach the Naga before they were able to attack us. Two seconds later, I was putting the last dozen runes into the technique when the bank’s wall next to me exploded outward.

“I will do it myself!” a female Naga wearing black plate mail armor and carrying a much larger staff than the others shouted as she emerged from the collapsing building. Her staff glowed with a black light, and everything around it seemed dimmer. The staff on my back seemed to vibrate in time with the pulsing of the Naga’s staff. The Perfect Core Naga could feel it as well. She turned to me and tried to freeze me in place with her aura while forming a technique to kill me.

Her aura was slightly weaker than Knight Kaminski’s, and thus I was able to move while under it, though the backlash of my failed technique was making my head spin. A beam of Death Aether shot at me, and I was able to dive out of the way only by the skin of my teeth. A snap of the Naga’s tail sent a line of Force and Air Aether that picked me up and sent me shooting across the road into the same building I’d thrown the other Naga.

I smashed through three walls before coming to an abrupt stop on the fourth. Knight Kaminski’s aura soared into the area as she shot forward to prevent the Entu from squashing me like a bug. Her spear slithered forward, spiraling around the Naga’s staff to slash at her neck. The Naga tilted back on her tail in a move that the human body couldn’t reproduce, then used her tail like a whip again. Knight Kaminski lifted her right leg to catch the side of the tail on her shin guards, then yelled at us, “Keep the little ones off me and I will take care of this one!”

“Yes, Knight Kaminski,” Aleks called out, then danced across the roadway towards the oncoming Naga. A whirlwind of Fire formed around her as she twirled, then continued down the street.

Jon sprinted in front and to the side, out of the way of her technique but in a position so that he could intercept the Death Skulls two of the Naga sent screaming at her. Milenna took the other side, Aether Slashes meeting a group of Death and Air techniques that looked like bats flapping their way at us.

I dug my way out of the collapsed rubble, my side screaming where my ribs broke. Aether surged in me to coat the damaged areas, numbing the pain and increasing my natural healing factor, but I didn’t take any more time than that. Air Aether enveloped me, and I blasted into the sky.

When I’d been hit, Sia had surged out of the hole to defend me, but a dozen flying undead Beasts met him in the air. Zimnodlot and Sia were weaving through the crowd, Fire and Ice blasting around them. I shot towards them, landing on the back of an eagle with a ten meter wingspan. Its body cracked as I landed, and then I hit it with a massive Fire Arrow immediately afterward.

The undead bird cried out, then started to tumble towards the ground. My power swept me back into the sky, and I sent two Metal Aether Slashes into the path of a vulture before it could pounce on Zimnodlot. Sia’s flames, tinged with Metal and Lightning, burned the wings off a giant sparrow, leaving us with only five more undead to clear out.

The other side of the bank was a massive melee, Ming, Xiao, Vaya, Lilianna, and Lea clashing with dozens of Gallu and male Naga. Bridget was leaning against a wall, Jamila next to her with her hands glowing green in my Aether Sight. Hanna stood in front of them, shielding the injured from the Gallu while occasionally throwing out her hands to conjure a shield that prevented an attack from hitting on of her compatriots. Wow, she’s got impressive battlefield awareness, I thought while dodging a snake with wings attempting to bite me.

I slashed upward as the Beast tried to turn, slicing it in half diagonally right where its wings connected. The pieces tumbled towards the ground, the head still hissing at me. I snorted, then turned through the air to zoom towards where Aleks, Milenna, and Jon were fighting. It seemed like they were up to the rest of the Core level Naga, while the larger scrum was those at the peak of Condensation. Ming and them were outnumbered enough that it wasn’t an immediate win, but they weren’t in any major danger.

The Fire Cyclone from Aleks had been dispersed at some point. Most of the Naga had burns, but none were serious enough to impede their combat capability. Others had cuts and stab wounds from Icicles and Air Blades. Milenna’s left arm hung loosely at her side, a gray pallor visible in it as I slammed into a superhero landing next to her. “Here,” I said, tossing her a healing pill.

“Thanks,” she said, a burst of Air Aether redirecting it into her mouth where she immediately chewed it down. She ducked under another Death Skull, then sent an Aether Slash into the second one, blowing it apart into a cloud of gray Aether.

A shockwave from behind us sent myself and Aleks sprawling. Jon was pushed into an Ice Wall he’d erected earlier, and Milenna skipped forward, Air swirling around her ankles as she hurriedly stepped to avoid a Death Bat. I glanced quickly to see Knight Kaminski floating in mid-air, Aether surrounding her upraised hand as she glared at a new crater in the roadway. She brought her hand down, and a globe of Wood, Earth, and Metal exploded downward to grind through the dirt.

The Perfect Core Naga’s aura wavered for a second, then strengthened again. A scythe of Death Aether slashed out of the crater at Knight Kaminski, who shattered it with a swipe of her spear. A hint of blood was at the corner of her mouth, and a rent in her armor showed she wasn’t untouched in their duel.

A Skull detonating less than a meter from me caused me to pull my attention back to my part of the battle. Jon threw an Icicle back at the Naga. Somehow, we’d created a battle of techniques. There were six Naga sitting ten meters down the road. Two were focused entirely on defending against the attacks Jon, Milenna, and Aleks were shooting at them, while the other four pelted us with Death Skulls, Death Bats, beams, and bursts of Aether.

Jon deflected most of the attacks with Ice Walls, Shields of Air, Ice, and Density Aether which he made out of Ice and Metal, and well placed attacks. Milenna helped as well, her Air Blades specialized at disrupting other techniques. Aleks sent blasts and whirlwinds of Fire, Metal Spears, and Exploding Boulders back, matching in output the same as three of the higher level gatherers.

I joined in, stepping forward and creating a Metal Spear, then wrapping the back with a modification of the Forceful Punch. When the Spear hit something, the Punch would go off and slam it forward again. Two seconds of work, and I flared Lightning Aether to accelerate it forward like a railgun. The Spear cracked the sound barrier, its travel time infinitesimal to even my enhanced senses.

The nearest Naga blocked it with her shield, an evil grin on her face. Then the Forceful Punch blew the Metal Spear straight through her shield and arm, stabbing into her chest. The gap created by the impact let a Fire Blast from Aleks slam into the Naga directly behind her. The Fire scorched her face and right arm. The Death Skull she was creating dissolved as she shrieked in pain.

I spun my hands over my head, creating a hundred runes in a second to throw a Wrath of the Lightning Herald into the other Naga with a shield. She caught my attack and was rocked backwards, only for Milenna to slide an Air Blade underneath her upraised shield. “Nice shot!” I shouted.

“Aiden,” Aleks yelled, rushing up next to me, “where is the staff?”

“It’s on my back,” I said, reaching over to where I could feel it resting. There was nothing there. I flexed my Aether, and shattered whatever thing it had done to make it feel like it was still on me. “Light blind it, the staff tricked me!”

Ahead, the Perfect Core Naga appeared behind her sistren, bloody and battered, but carrying the staff from where it had fallen. “Sisters,” she said, “for Inanna and Tamuz, we give ourselves. Return this world to Chaos, to Death!” The staff dimmed in her hands, actively drinking in the light around. Each of the Naga shouted, “To Death!” and then sundered their Cores. .

With each death, the staff grew darker, until only the Perfect Core Naga was left. In common, she snarled, “You will pay for interfering.” She then stabbed the star of the staff through her neck, dying instantly.