Savage Awakening 215. Grand Entrance (IV) (Patreon)

Everyone knew Zane Walker could take a hell of a punch. Reporters had been saying since his fight with Eze—you had to kill him. And even then, he wouldn’t stay down.

Still—Reina couldn’t help but let out a gasp when he got hit. Four times, one after another. 

Two sledgehammers clocked him in the face—each with enough force to annihilate any living creature on Earth.

A third caved in his belly. A fourth, his back. The sounds—those brutal crunches—were sickening. 

And he went flying.

He didn’t even have it in him to break his fall. He just flopped like a big ragdoll to the ground, face-down—and for a moment Reina’s heart stopped even as she desperately poured in her healing.

The Monsters began turning. Saw his prone body, and their smiles seemed to widen in the hellish light—

A heartbeat. And they started stomping closer. Two… Three… it all passed with agonizing slowness. 

She saw a pool of his own blood leaking out of him, drowning him slowly…

He had to get up—and fast. But there was just no sign of it. 

Her heart sank. 

Just when Reina was getting ready to throw herself between them, she heard a groan.

A shattered forearm planted on the ground. And that bloodied, battered head began to lift.

It was crushed. Broken in so many places—but the eyes were the same. 

They had knocked everything out of him. But not that.

His fighting spirit flared bright as ever. 

Skull. Cracked. Jaw. Broken. But slowly it was stitching together… Reina gave a cry, redoubled her healing efforts. And his shambling body started piecing itself back together, Stormfire raging at the wounds, even as he stood, swaying on his feet…

Relief washed over her.

She knew he would. She always knew. And yet… it still tore at her heart every time. 

She knew he had the will, and she knew he liked to lean on it in battle. But it wasn’t just a matter of will. As the Monsters he threw himself at got stronger and stronger, she always worried he would hit the point where his body just couldn’t keep up… but then—he had this way of pushing his body to do things that never could otherwise too, if he knew he had to… 

Like he was doing this very instant. 

The air around Zane was starting to shiver now, trembling—and Zane’s body began to leak essence. She gasped. His Core—it had never stopped spinning. And now it was going so incredibly fast—

He bellowed through bloody teeth. 

*** 

Zane felt his face splatter against the stone.

And he was broken. Everywhere. Especially his head—it was a spiderweb of blinding pain. He couldn't feel his mouth, just a fuzzy sphere of white-hot pain. It had gotten inside him. It was everywhere, piercing bright. Everywhere he tried to think, he could only find pain. It was some of the worst he’d felt in his life. He couldn’t seem to remember very much else…

He had a vague idea he had to do something. He just… couldn’t seem to remember what. 

Warning! 

Critical Health 

Savage Body Activated!

Strength increased 50% 

Speed increased 50% 

Vitality increased 50%

A jolt of sudden energy, sudden power, blowing up his body. And he remembered. 

He had to get up. Now. Fast.

Must. Get up. NOW.

He did. Groaning, slobbering a little, eyes burning, that one commanding burst of will animating his shattered body—

And all the while he felt warmth flowing into him, warmth exploding inside him, mending, patching the holes in his head, his chest, his arms—

He coughed blood. He dragged in some heavy breaths.

Then he felt like he could think again. He winced. Blinked.

…He’d made it up. 

He looked around. He saw just four of those big steel golems coming at him.Just four of them. The rest—burning wreckages. 

It worked. 

It had been a bit risky—and he’d let himself go a little too much near the end there—but he’d gotten it done. 

He let out a long, slow, rattling breath. And narrowed his eyes. 

They had their chance. They would not have another.

This time the Monsters stood there—not even enough to swamp him anymore. They looked a little stunned. Like he was not supposed to be standing right now—it didn’t compute to them. 

He certainly was not supposed to be burning up as bad as he was.

Even standing there—lightheaded, woozy—his body was running so hot now he felt he might burn alive. He was overheating, leaking at the very seams, brilliant Stormfire-blue leaking out the cracks in his skin… 

His muscles felt stretched so painful-tight they might explode. 

Even with all the essence in his Core, he felt his reserves dropping off a cliff.

No more wild flurries. It was time for something heavy-duty. 

It was time to finish things. 

He summoned a new chain-head. A breath. Two. Three.

Just as they converged on him his Meteor Hammers came to hand.

He chucked them up in the air, and let them take the bulk of his burning powers.

They blazed so hot in that moment they chased away the solid dark. The heat alone melted it totally—drawing back those pitch-black curtains—and for a moment the whole of the grand hall, the mosaics, intricate carvings, fallen pillars, were cast in a mold of shocking blue-white.

Zane let out one last hoarse battle-cry.

Summoned all the powers of his body. His Law. His essence. And gave those hammers his all. 

BOOM-BOOM!

The impact rattled the whole floor, sent stone jumping and rippling for miles, sent ruptures cracking over the ceiling—and made two smoking craters where Wardens had been. The last two wardens went sprawling just by the sheer force of the vibrations.

Zane’s hammers swerved back around one last time. And finished the job. BOOM-BOOM!

The shaking soon stopped.

As Zane stood there heaving, he only heard burning. Crackling. Otherwise… quiet. It was a good thing too—he had finally been finished off. His muscles were sagging. His whole body was sagging.

Even his massive Core had run out.

He looked back one last time, just to make sure his friends were okay. They looked stunned—but not hurt. 

He felt one last flicker of relief. And blacked out.

***

Azure Flame Faction Observatory

They thought Zane died three times over. First when they saw just which floor they dropped him on—then, when they saw the Level of the ten Monsters coming to crush him. And then, at last, when they landed their four blows—and sent him face-planting.

And now—finally—there was only silence in the room.

Scout Haelin’s pipe slipped slowly from his slack jaw.

Then—

“Heavens…” Someone whispered. 

Then, all at once—

“How did he—how did he take all that?!” 

“How did he get back up?!” 

And most pertinently—

“How the Hell does Zane Walker have so much essence?!”

The room erupted. 

*** 

Steelheart Conclave Observatory

A similar silence. 

But it was soon broken by booming laughter.

“I told you he was the one!” roared the Barbarian Sage. He downed a giant glass of spirits. “Yes, yes, yes!”

“Grand Elder—you cursed him for an idiot,” said the Head Scout. “As soon as you saw him rush in.”

In any other Faction it would have been unthinkable to contradict him like this, but the Steelheart Conclave were a blunt folk who had always prized blunt truths. Even to their superiors.

“Bah,” said the Sage. He waved a hand blithely. “He knew he could survive that. He had it all figured out! And whether it was bravery or idiocy… that depends on if you live or die, does it not?”

“I… don’t believe that makes sense, Grand Elder.”

The Sage wrinkled his nose. “Don’t bring your ‘logic’ into this,” he said. “Let me celebrate, damnit! My boy lives!”

He clinked his glass. “Another!”

***

Zane woke up to three Level-ups. Which was a pleasant sight. 

Level up!

Essence Level 230 -> 231

Level up!

Essence Level 231 -> 232

Level up! 

Essence Level 232 -> 233 

And also Reina’s face. Also quite pleasant. But it was frowning… less pleasant. Oh. Not anymore. She saw he woke up. It was back to pleasant. 

It took her two hours to nurse him back to health. Mostly relieving the load he had put on his soul—which might’ve had him out days otherwise. His head still had a dull ache to it, but his body felt solid by then. Evan and Avery were scared, then worried, then perfectly alright when they saw him upright and blinking.

He supposed he had taken quite a beating. Even for him.

He noticed the torches were blazing all around now, covering most of the hall in a  cozy warm glow. The darkness was gone. That oppressive atmosphere was gone.

“That was… close,” said Reina. She looked worried. 

Zane tried to tell her he did have a plan. Well—at least an idea. It had come to him mid-fight, right about when his head had stopped spinning from being punched the first time. 

After the first exchange, he saw how much damage he could do to them. He also saw how much damage they could do to him. Then it seemed simple what he should do. 

When they hurt him, with his own healing, plus Reina’s, he could recover pretty darn quickly from it. 

But when he hit them, they stayed down. 

So the way to victory felt simple to him. He didn't mind sacrificing himself up if it meant wrecking them, he explained. 

As long as they didn’t put him down for good he would win in the end. 

Still…they did come pretty darn close, though. Too close. He frowned. They got him a little below 10%. He should not have gotten put down like that.

He'd gotten the job done, in the end.

Sometimes Zane did feel bad stressing her out. Still—that one, he was pretty sure, he couldn’t have come up with much better—at least on the spot. Even if it was more reckless than he would like. 

After she heard him out, Reina felt okay with the idea, in theory—she thought in group fights it was a good idea to take out as many as you could as fast as possible. Even if she didn't like what happened to him. It was just… 

“We haven’t even gotten through the front gates,” she said softly. “If it’s this bad now…”

Really she was worried about what was waiting for them.

…They really wanted to kill him.

“I will find a way,” Zane promised her gently. No matter what. He swore it to himself.

She hesitated—then firmed her lips, nodded. “We’ll just have to make you grow just as fast as the challenges they send you,” she declared. “Or faster.”

He nodded his agreement. Stood. “I feel good now,” he told her. “We can go.” 

“Just one more thing,” Reina told him. And she gestured behind him. 

Oh. Right.

There were shields. Crushed armor. Littered all over the place. And they were all Earth-ranked too. He had been in tense fight mode that whole time. He hadn’t even thought about eating them…. But it was a pretty damned big hall, now that the light caught it in full. There were tons more scattered throughout.

He still couldn’t get Bone Tempering yet. But this could be huge for his muscles, and tendons—if he could crush his enemies even faster it wouldn’t matter.

And he’d seen how his muscles and skin could absorb force too. The stronger they were, the more they could take the brunt of the shock. 

Bone Tempering would be a lot better for bone defense. But this would help a good deal with that too. 

Then he saw a little mountain of steel treasure piled off to the left.

“I made it for you,” said Evan happily.

Zane blinked at it.

“Hey,” said Avery. “I made one too!”

She did a ‘tada’. Hers was about ten feet to the left of Evan’s. It was also about five times smaller. 

“…Steel is heavy, okay?” she said sheepishly. “Anyway—you wouldn't believe how big this place is! It must go like ten miles each way.” 

Apparently they spent the last two hours while he was unconscious scampering around picking up all the best scraps of steel for him.

“Huh,” said Zane. He felt warm in his chest. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“…Thanks.”

“Mhm!” said Evan.

“…”

Zane went over and started munching.

*** 

Skill up!

Colossal Tendons IV -> V

Skill up!

Colossal Tendons V -> VI 

Skill up!

Colossal Tendons VI -> VII 

Skill up!

Behemoth Muscles VI -> VII 

Skill up!

Behemoth Muscles VII -> VIII

Skill up!

Behemoth Muscles VIII -> IX

Skill up! 

Indomitable Hide IX -> XI

Skill up! 

Indomitable Hide X -> XI

Skill up! 

Indomitable Hide XI -> XII

It was an excellent feast. 

By the end of it, his skin had gotten a lot more resilient. His muscles felt all pumpy, and he could feel they would fire about the same amount faster. His tendons got a similar boost.

It was a pretty darn significant power-up, taken together. He could take a lot more force. He could dish a lot more too.

Put him up against those Wardens again, and he might break a few bones. But they would not have him on the ropes again. That he was sure of.

He thought about what Reina said.

He had to get stronger. Faster. They were all counting on him to do that. His world was, even. He clenched his fist.

Together, they went through the gate.

*** 

Meanwhile—on the Temple of the World Tree…

“…Say that again,” croaked High Priest Lan Arandor, one eye twitching. “Slowly.”

The scout swallowed. “Your Holiness,” he said, breathless. “The Mistress Maker has been reborn!”