Savage Awakening 339. The Second Planet (III) (Patreon)

Zane stood in a world of his own making.

A world of heat and searing gold and sheer destruction.

He gritted his teeth. He was already feeling the strain; torrents of essence poured out of him. He knew he couldn't hold this for long.

But he didn’t need to.

It was wrecking Minor Gods even as they spawned. He saw Monkeys howling as their fur, their bones, their skin vaporized, their red-cracked eyes clawing at melting ice, clawing at the skies, clawing for anything—dragged in, carved through. Fed straight into the beast.

Zane’s storm carved through everything. Vaporized all that crossed its path—whatever physical thing it swept over—flesh or blood or ice—took on its color at a blinding intensity, and only the faint outline of the form was visible in the blast. After the storm rolled over, all that marked its existence was its shadow—scorched deep into blackened stone.

The force in Zane’s storm was the very same that powered nuclear weapons. Blown up to a scale that shattered planets.

He bore down on his grips, every muscle in his upper body straining mightily, screaming at him. He turned into another revolution.

Seven.

It didn’t matter what that light touched. Blizzard gale or mountain peak—it was all gone, just like that.

Those Asura Tattoos burned nearly as bright as they could go; his muscles were so pumped, burning with so much force they were carved out stark against his skin.

Minor Gods perished, one by one, howling and thrashing, in bouts of violent light.

Zane saw this, and felt a vicious joy in his chest.

The end was near, he felt.

Then a groaning rumble started, deep in the distance, a vast sound, like tectonic plates moving…

The pale mists on the horizon were parting. Vast cloud layers shuffling out of the way to make way for something greater.

Icicle-mountains crumbled one by one, mowed down in the path of a distant shadow.

A blizzard was sweeping the horizon, edge-to-edge, gleaming, swirling with shards of icy blue. A storm whose breadth was quickly ballooning—nearly rivaling Zane’s own…

Zane frowned at it.

An aura blasted out. And he sensed in it the telltale aura of a Monster Bone.

A strong one at that.

Something was coming. A creature had been awoken from the depths of this fast-crumbling planet, and it was making its way over from the other side.

At first, Zane thought it was a mountain range in that far distance; there was so much light, so much heat blurring the air, it was hard to tell.

Then he saw the mountains were moving. Growing.

Bounding across the continents in giant leaps—closing in fast.

He made out an ape’s face. Tusks jutting from a slobbering jaw. Feral crimson eyes. An albino gorilla bounding on all fours, snorting puffs of sleet, each a blizzard unto itself. Like some demented King Kong, born from the heart of an icy peak.

Glacier Silverback (Monster Prince)

Essence Level 566

It let out its own bellow.

A sound that rivaled Zane’s own—that broke through the Solar Storm’s roar…

Then the Silverback’s domain roared out too.

Not any mere domain. This was Tier 6, and it had a gravity that this planet struggled to contain—and its Concepts spoke to an ancient power, a galactic power…

That domain rammed up against Zane’s—and he felt a shock of brain-freeze in his soul.

He groaned.

But the Silverback hissed too, as though burned by Zane.

And their Domains began to wrestle back and forth—seething and howling. Wrestling for dominance.

Zane narrowed his eyes.

It seemed he’d have to take this one seriously.

Still—he wasn’t concerned.

His heart was full of confidence even as it felt near the point of bursting—straining under the immense pressures ripping at his body.

For this Final Boss had come too late.

It should never have let Zane get in rhythm. Should never have let him take his most powerful attacks to these incredible heights—he bellowed his own war cry, and struck right back.

There was just too much power at his fingertips. All over his arms, his back muscles felt like they could explode—rip off his frame at any moment… He knew he couldn’t hold it even a minute longer.

But this wouldn’t take nearly that long.

What happened next—however it went—would be very fast. And very violent.

The Gorilla knew it too. Its eyes were wide, pupils dilating as it stared down Zane’s powers; it hissed hatefully at the light.

Then its jaw unhinged.

And the Final Boss went for broke.

A world of ice flooded out of its mouth.

Sleet on a galactic scale—an asteroid belt full of cosmic hail, a blizzard on a scale that could sunder moons, punch holes in planets. Blasted forth in the kind of cold that stopped everything it touched dead—even heavenly bodies. The kind of cold that seemed to freeze time.

It crashed straight into Zane’s storm.

The explosion threatened to rip this world in two. Sent shocks, voids, skittering through the air—there was a steaming, a screaming, a hissing that blanketed the skies, swept far into the distance…

But the worst of it faded, the gold shone through.

It had shuddered—slowed.

But it was nowhere near finished.

And neither was the man within.

Zane stood there, coughing out blood. Heaving mightily.

He saw naked shock in that Monster’s face. All that effort, all that world-ending power—had just been swallowed.

He saw something change in its face; saw it come to a realization.

Then it stared straight at Zane. And bared its tusks.

He had a feeling he knew what it was thinking.

While Zane lived, there was no beating that golden power. There was simply too much of him. He would burn this planet down before he burned out.

Then a cold resolve filled its eyes.

The Glacier Silverback screeched.

And its aura erupted.

Shards of ice crackled over its back, forming fast, ballooning up, making a spiky shell, caking its entire body—and the Bone in its body poured out all its powers. Bolstering that Bloodline technique.

Then it charged straight at the destruction.

It charged straight for Zane.

It looked like a mad thing, but instantly he understood.

It must’ve thought taking Zane down was its one chance.

He narrowed his eyes.

If it thought it could simply rush over, and bring him down…

Zane knew what he could take.

The Monster leaped.

Leaped so high it nearly went clear into outer space, an icy mountain taking flight—and as it traced a slow, inevitable arc, its powers exploded to greater and greater heights—

It let out a screech so piercing ice sheets cracked for hundreds of miles.

Then a behemoth of icy blue met a behemoth of scything gold.

The shockwaves broke open the planet like a cracked nut. Threatened to tear it apart.

There came a piercing hissing, an ocean of hissing, great gouts of steam fleeing to the skies...

But there was simply too much gold.

The Silverback’s shield could not hold.

Cascading sheets of gold tore through that shell of cosmic ice. And feasted on the flesh it found beneath.

The Silverback howled—and through that chaotic mess of powers, Zane saw black blood splattering all over, staining the grounds, the skies—lakes of it erupting out of the beast. But that wasn’t all. Enormous bulging shapes careened through the air—a leg? A tail? They vaporized even as they fell, flaring with the colors of the storm.

He groaned—his entire storm teetered, dimming, threatening to tip over—

The Silverback had paid a tremendous price.

But it had gotten through.

And now a mountain of muscle and hate loomed over Zane. Two fists big as Zane’s body swung up high, and though the Ape was a shambling, half-melted, bloodied, crippled thing, it screeched in triumph.

It had Zane exactly where it wanted him.

Zane was standing there, grimacing up at it—caught painfully stretched out between his own two Chains.

There was nowhere to run.

He could only glare down those fists even as their shadow loomed over him—swallowing up his body.

He never lost that look of fierce defiance. Up until the moment they crashed into him.

CRACK!

***

Haxorax’s eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the scrying glass, face set in a snarl.

He remembered that Silverback quite vividly, back when he’d done his Ragnos runs. Remembered how brutal those fists were.

The Final Boss just had to get its hands on Zane. The moment it happened, that overhyped little bastard was a dead man.

He nearly leaped to his feet when the Silverback broke through.

“He’s finished,” breathed Haxorax. “About godsdamned time!”

Those fists thickened as they fell, growing dense around the knuckles, wrapped in so much Eternal Winter Law it looked like he was bringing an icy gauntlet down on Zane’s head.

It was a blow that’d troubled Haxorax in his early tries as a Minor God—and that facing it fully fresh.

Zane was not fully fresh.

The fight had clearly worn heavy on him. Even his infuriatingly durable body was taxed nearly to breaking, Haxorax observed gleefully.

Burnwater let out a gasp.

Then it all crushed into Zane.

All that raw force. All that icy power.

There was a blinding flash of blue and gold. A sickening CRACK!

…it took them all a moment to realize it wasn't from Zane.

Huge chunks of ice sloughed off a mangled, bloody fist. The ape stared wide-eyed at his hand—and shrieked.

Then it stared at the man it had just struck.

Zane had staggered a step. He spit out a mouthful of blood, and all his big muscles were torn and bloodied on his wide frame; his whole front side had been bruised from the blow.

But somehow he’d stayed standing.

His dark eyes were still as clear and intense as ever.

And more—he’d kept his hands clamped firm on those two Chains.

Even the shattering of half his body hadn’t broken his grip.

Haxorax couldn’t understand what he was seeing. “…What.”

By the look on its face, Silverback couldn’t either.

Then Zane let out a guttural roar, face scrunching with the effort. And brought his storm crashing down.

A giant axe slammed deep into the Silverback’s spine, crushing through with brutal ease, making it choke.

And an extinction event’s worth of Solar Flare came crashing down on the beast’s head.

“WHAT?!”

Haxorax’s face had gone slack.

Even he couldn’t keep up his cool facade anymore—he’d leaped to his feet, eyes wide, breathing shallow.

Watching as the Silverback went for broke—pounding into Zane over and over in its death throes, shrieking, seeing the big man’s body stagger back and forth under the onslaught.

But he just stood there and took the punishment, bloodied teeth gritted.

Meanwhile huge chunks of the ape’s body vaporized in blinding bursts. His enemy broke apart, dissolving before his very eyes.

***

Burnwater had been worried for a second there—he breathed a little sigh of relief.

Haxorax whirled on him, then on Noughtfire—“What in the Nine Hells was that?!”

He jabbed a trembling finger at the glass. “That—that—”

The Prince couldn’t seem to decide whether to be furious or in utter disbelief. His face was redder than Burnwater had ever seen it—there was no sign of the cool, collected First Prince of Dragons that’d strode into the cabin.

There was a brief silence as Haxorax tried to process what he just saw.

Then the Prince settled on furious. “That’s damned bullshit!”

It was the first time Burnwater had heard the Prince—usually the picture of propriety—ever swear.

He said it like it was unfair—Burnwater had seen him leaning forward, barely hiding the glee in his face as the Silverback descended on Zane. He sounded as if he’d been robbed.

“I’ve heard he made great progress in his physique at the Conclave,” Noughtfire said mildly. The Sage glanced over at Haxorax. “It seems it’s paid off.”

The Old Sage didn’t show much in the way of emotion. But Burnwater knew the telltale twinkle in his eyes as he gazed at Haxorax.

Noughtfire was enjoying this.

“He caused quite a stir there. Now I suppose we know why.”