Savage Awakening 317. The Gauntlet (II) (Patreon)

It was said that one bite from that Serpent was enough to kill a Minor God. That was how it got its name.

Godsbane Cobra (Monster Lord)

Essence Level 542

It was so massive it couldn't rear up to its full height in the space of the cage—sixty feet in the air, a mountainous shadow looming over Zane. A seething black spittle splattered from its crescent fangs. It landed in thick gobs that hissed like nests of angry snakes. Runes flared up on the steel, struggling to contain them.

Even just looking at those gobs, Zane could tell they held a powerful Law… 

The light of its Monstrous Bones shone brightest in those fangs.

Its tail was spiked like a mace, a porcupine of vicious spikes long as a man's body—and tipped with that black poison too.

Zane took out his chains and narrowed his eyes. Between him and his foe there was just one blue ward-barrier.

"Ten seconds!" roared the Barbarian Sage.

This was what Zane was here for.

What the Barbarian Sage wanted him to do was to push him until his breaking point.

His sole task now was to not let anything that came across this path break him.

Slowly he took in the beast before him—tail-to-tip, until he calmly met its slitted yellow eyes. 

Just a little more than eight years from now, when the first wave came, this was the kind of Monster he'd be fighting.

Eight years was not a huge amount of time, in galactic terms, for Zane to work on his powers. Time passed surprisingly fast—the first wave didn't feel so distant now. Every week, Reina reported some new dungeon breaking. Some new Monster Lord wreaking havoc on the frontier… 

But Zane was heartened by the progress he'd made so far. 

Somewhere out there he knew Reina was working dawn-to-dusk to supply the galaxy with all the elixirs it needed, and to bolster Earth while she was at it. Evan and Avery were trying hard too. They would all be there when the time came.

Zane knew, though, that he would be the one on the front line. 

Ever since the Superdungeon he'd taken on the mantle as Earth's best. It was a simple statement of fact. If he was to honor that—nothing that came at him could break him.

If he broke, his friends, and his home, would be broken too. 

And Zane would not accept that.

It was with this mentality—a certain hardness, a certain stone-cold weight on his mind—that he regarded the Serpent. 

With its Tier 6 Laws, the Barbarian Sage said it was a step up from that Gorthak—a sergeant in the Monster Army. And Zane could sense it at once.

Laws of Corruption smoked off its silky scales. It was shrouded in a deathly hissing mist of a domain; that domain had a great heat to it, searing holes in the air even after it'd long passed.

That domain was a translucent purple-black splotchy world, asserting itself over reality. The Barbarian Sage called it 'Void Rot'—it was a rot that could burn through the hearts of even low-level stars, the Barbarian Sage said. 

A rot made stronger by those fangs.

Zane could not let those fangs sink into him.

His vitality was strong. He knew this. But even he would not be able to resist it very long.

There was also poison on the tail. But when he regarded the beast, his senses screamed danger from those Fangs. He could feel deeply the essence, the Bloodline, the sacred power flowing through them… That, he felt, was the true threat. 

That would have to go first. 

He also felt cramped in this cage, an added annoyance. His axe and hammer worked best in vast open space when he could swing back and forth, stack on momentum… here he would crash into the walls if he tried. 

He settled on bare chains. 

There was a calm in his heart as he stared down the beast. He felt in that moment a certainty cast in iron. 

He knew what he had to do. All that was left was to execute. 

"Three! Two! One!" roared the Sage.

"Let the battle commence!"

And the wards dropped at once.

*** 

The domain battle began.

The Serpent screamed—and its domain exploded.

Tier 6 Laws worked at a galactic scale. You could see hints of what void rot would become just a little further along the path. There were hints of the great forces of entropy in that domain. Breaking down, aging, rotting, poisoning the very air…

Zane's domain—bright as it was—felt like a candle before a rising sea. It was vastly outmatched in scope. 

Viria turned her sharp eyes on the Barbarian Sage. "You really think he'll win?"  

"Viria!" said Summersteel—the portly dwarf looked aghast. 

But the Sage just chuckled. He could tell she was a blunt one—spoke her mind. There was a challenging jut to her chin. That was how a fighter ought to be. 

"' Course I think he'll win!" he said.

Now—the Sage was a little worried, in his head, that Zane might be in some trouble. That was quite the leap in Law… 

But in his heart there was no doubt. And that was what he heeded.

"Hm," said Viria, crossing her arms. She didn't look convinced.

"Just you watch, lass," said the Sage, still quite cheerful. 

Any early Tier 6 Minor God, against any other peak Tier 4 Ascendant, was a no-brainer. Their powers were worlds away.

And yet… this was Zane. 

The Barbarian Sage knew his disciple. 

They all watched on as that Tier 6 domain rolled across the battlefield like toxic fumes. The air smoked away as it came under that great weight, holes opening up in its midst, widening fast—crisping, melting under the onslaught…

And for a few seconds, it seemed she was right to doubt.

It melted all in its path. And when it struck Zane's domain there came an ear-splitting hissing, a screeching, a sound of heavy things dissolving—

Holes started opening up in that Stormfire domain too… 

That wispy blackness rolled over him, threatening to snuff him out.

Zane had to grit his teeth, stagger back several steps—and still the Serpent's domain kept coming. A creeping sickness infecting, destroying all it touched… 

Purple-black met purple-white—and for a moment there was a screaming, a flare of white at the edges of Zane's power—but the greater black, that horrible hissing, drowned it out, sank through, melting greater holes still… sinking its fangs deeper and deeper. 

Viria was opening her mouth, a knowing look on her face. Like she had a sharp retort on the tip of her tongue. 

Then her eyes widened a fraction—and her mouth stayed hung open. 

Zane gave a furious bellow. 

And unleashed his essence reserves. 

That piercing white light gained a sudden new life, grew blinding. 

The smoky blackness wrapped around him, threatening to smother him—but when it met that white light it shuddered. Screamed as though in pain, flinching away, like it'd just impaled itself on some unknown power… 

It hit a wall a foot from Zane's body.

A wall it seethed at, and hissed at, and crashed into again and again—

A wall it could not break. 

Zane was a beacon of purple-white, a new star of heat and light then. Exploding with essence, burning huge sums of it just hold off the black. The strain showed clear in his face… 

But he held strong. 

“What?” gasped Viria.

"What'd I tell you!" roared the Barbarian Sage.

The Cobra's domain seethed at Zane's—melting, corroding… but Zane's Stormfire burned right back.

That domain knew many secrets Zane's powers did not—and its scope far outmatched Zane's own. 

But Zane's domain knew something it did not, too. One of the greatest secrets of all. 

When that Tier 6 domain crashed into his, it met a line of sheer white.

And no matter how much that vast stormy sea bore down on that island of blinding light… it could not drown him. 

“How…?” said Sage Summersteel. “Then—Ah!”

The old Sage looked delighted; he gave a little clap. "Is that a whiff of Destruction?!" 

"That's Zane for you!" The Sage had on a big relieved grin—for a second there—he had to admit—even he might've gotten a smidge nervous. "Lad's intuition's the best I've ever seen—he sees things, gets things, I never would've gotten at his level! You've not seen anything yet!" 

The Barbarian Sage had actually been quite pleased to hear his old friend Summersteel was coming over this weekend. All winter he'd been itching to show Zane off to someone. 

Zane stomped down. And bolted into action. Chains trailing behind him in wide burning loops—forging his way straight through enemy domain. Every step taxed him, forced him to burn more and more essence. But he gained ground at a shocking speed. 

"What an essence reserve the lad's got!" gasped Summersteel. "I never saw an Ascendant so huge—that's damned impressive, even for a Minor God!"  

"Right?" said the Sage happily.

Even Viria looked grudgingly impressed by the size of his Zane. 

Each step Zane took was a rocket launch. A hard winter's training had made slingshots of those tendons—they all watched as the Godsbane Serpent's eyes widened as he destroyed the distance between them in just two bounds. 

It had nearly no time to react. It shrieked a hiss and lunged straight for Zane's head, jaws unhinging, dripping scythe-like fangs ready to pierce his chest clean through…

At the same time Zane flexed and sent his Chains crashing through the air. 

The Cobra ran straight into the strike. 

An explosion ripped voids in open space; white light exploded through its mouth. It screeched its pain—though it'd take a lot more than that to down it. The insides of its mouth had taken a roasting. That was all. 

But Zane hadn't been meaning to take its head off in the first place. 

When the flames cleared, they saw the Cobra bucking and shrieking. 

A length of Chain muzzled it right across the mouth—choking off its greatest weapon.

"Nicely done!" cried Summersteel.

Almost at the same time, the Sage choked.

That bull-rush took Zane straight into the Cobra's range—and with his Chains wrapped up in the Cobra, there wasn't much room to hide… 

"Look out!" roared the Sage.

But Zane had already felt it coming. Threw his arms up, chains up, to brace as best he could—

It wasn't enough.

A vicious tail studded with massive spikes crashed into him. Spikes lancing straight through the gaps in his Chains—and driving into Zane's side with enough force to puncture Sky-grade Spirit Steel.

Zane went flying. Rammed headfirst into the wall with so much force he rippled the Spirit Steel—slid down to his knees—

But he only looked dazed, blinking. 

"The Hells is he made of?!" gasped Summersteel.

Zane wobbled back up, bleeding, wounded, panting. Shook his head once, and his black eyes were clear again. Bright with that same focus. 

The Barbarian Sage knew the lad. He'd put his body on the line on purpose. It was a price he was willing to pay.

Even as he took enough force to shatter the spines of most Minor Gods his hands never lost their death-grips on his Chains.

Corruption smoldered up and down his body in vicious gaping wounds—a death sentence even for Zane, if left too long… but in the end, he got what he wanted.

Zane took a deep breath. Eyes narrowing. 

And got to work.