Chapter 90 - Shiva’s Descent (Patreon)

Mayalyn Aloyhee

“Boil mor voruuta gu soaer!” Olive shouted from somewhere behind Mayalyn.

Cameron was standing at Mayalyn’s side, already banging his gold-inlaid hammer and shield together. Jiran’s hand rested on her shoulder, his smooth, deep yips and growls rumbled through her chest as he translated the nonsensical imperial tongue.

“On the count of three.”

Olive clapped once and Mayalyn released her emotions to coil around her core. Olive clapped twice and powerful feelings became a swirling vortex that spiraled down her body until her toes curled in the dirt. When Olive’s hands came together for the third time, Mayalyn released everything and blasted forward as if she had become the very lightning that coursed within her body.

This was not any lightning, it was Jiran’s lightning and it sang through her muscles and blood. Her legs pumped explosively and the world stretched around her. Her focus remained solely on the prey, their forms swelled as she drew near. Only an instant passed before the first was before her.

Her painful lesson from the day before was at the forefront of her mind. The desire to leap upon her prey and bury her fangs in its throat was restrained. She bared her teeth in a snarl as she ran up its leg and torso. Her claws yearned to taste flesh, they stretched painfully to be free as her fingers clamped together, forming a blade.

Before Cameron had taken his fifth step, Mayalyn's arm sank to the elbow into the beast's ear. She released the power Jiran had lent her. Not all of it, but more than enough. It seeped out of her blood, then muscles as it raced down her arm.

Moisture within the beast's brain evaporated and expanded. Lacking space for the expansion, gore geysered out of its eye sockets and ears, soaking her clothes in exquisite, brown filth that called to the predator within.

She screamed, releasing her pent-up fury at the alphas who destroyed her home. Behind her, a clawed hand sailed through the air toward her neck, each finger the size of her leg. Gravity would be too slow to dodge its grasp so she lifted her legs while tilting to the side. Rotation brought her feet around to face the emptying skull and a burst of coiled power slammed her heels into it, launching her to the ground just before powerful claws dealt a blow that toppled the monster.

EXP + 1

Enhancing - Lightning 31%

That felt nice, but I should focus before I run out of lightning and need to go begging for more. It feels so good when he tops me off… Maybe I should go ask for more right now…

She already knew the smile he would give her if she came back for more, the same smile he was probably wearing right now while he watched her. The image sent a pulse of affection through her core that she savored before dancing around the next clumsy swipe.

No, stupid Maymay. He’s going to be gone soon and I need to learn to restrain myself, starting now! No matter what, I shall come out of this with more than twenty percent. Anything less would be a failure!

As the beast’s arm passed her by, she stepped forward and sank her claws into rubbery flesh before scampering up the back of its paw. The beast protested against the hitch-hiking rodent with a roar that was silenced a moment later as its throat was opened with a single swipe. Mayalyn leaped off its shoulder to the next beast in the throng, leaving behind a blue trail of crackling energy.

Jiran of Feylon

Good to know I don't need to worry about her when I go to the arena. If Cameron doesn’t hurry, he won't get any exp at all.

Jiran carefully observed the throng of beasts as they continued to tear into each other. He saw a problem and contemplated jumping in to help. The creaking of leather from Olive’s gauntleted fist reminded him he had a perfectly good source of information to bounce his thoughts off.

“Her lightning won’t be able to hurt those ones there,” He pointed to a group of three in the back.

[Voltaic Scavenger] (Tier 4) (1092/1120)

“Think I should help or wait for her to figure it out herself?”

“Why are you asking me?” There was no bite in her tone as she tilted her head.

“I think you’ve been in more fights than me, and you’re a girl. I’m not sure if interfering before she needs my help would be disrespectful.”

“You’re concerned that helping would wound her pride? If it were me out there, I would certainly be annoyed if you stuck your nose in. As you’ve said, I have been in many fights and from those experiences, have developed a sense of pride in my abilities.”

Jiran waited for her to continue, when she didn’t, he realized he had enough information already.

This is her second fight, she hasn't been doing it long enough to develop any pride. She probably won’t mind if I hop in then.

“Thanks,” Jiran brought them both closer to the thrashing beasts as they fed off one another with wild abandon.

The scent of blood in the air was thick enough to make him gag so he pushed it out of his aura with a thought. Mayalyn was dashing from beast to beast along the outside of the throng. Each swipe of her arms tore away chunks of flesh, leaving a trail of blood and gore in her wake. Cameron was doing his best to follow behind her while taking his own potshots and protecting them both with his shield and techniques.

“Do you want to join in on the fun before I trim their numbers a bit?”

“Really? What good would that… Unless you really are the same tier as us! I-I don’t have enough mana, I would get in the way and likely only distract Cameron and Mayalyn.”

She’s already put a lot of faith in me. It wouldn’t hurt to extend a little trust their way. For the sake of performing an experiment, of course.

“I can probably do something about that, if you think you can trust me enough to try a technique out in a way I’ve never used before. It might—

“I trust you,” She stepped closer while steadily meeting his gaze.

“Okay then,” Jiran held out his hand with his palm up and she immediately grabbed it.

A thread of Coating slithered through her skin, causing her to flinch. She maintained eye contact as her jaw muscles clenched. As the thread traveled up her arm and into her chest he heard her teeth grinding together as her nostrils flared. He found her mana pool a moment later and pierced its protective membrane with ease.

She groaned at the unfamiliar intrusion but still refused to look away. After confirming the resolve leaking through her bright blue eyes, he proceeded.

Mana Siphon.

He used the skill in reverse, trickling a thread of his mana along the line of coating. It flowed into her mana pool and rested within like ink on the surface of water. She gasped and her other hand came up to clutch at the armor covering her chest. Wrinkles etched across her face as pain contorted her features.

Crap, it's not mixing with her mana, she needs to claim it but she has no idea how. Or, I need to release it!

Jiran willed the mana to be free, he cut it off from his existence, no longer desiring it to be his. The moment he did, it sank into her mana and vanished as her pool swelled. Her face relaxed and she released the breath she was holding. When he proceeded to funnel forty percent of his mana into her, she inhaled sharply as if coming up for air after a long dive.

Technique evolution triggered - Mana Siphon > Mana Transference

Mana Transference + 8

Woah, haven't seen that happen for a while. It’s not even a terrible name. Good job me.

Jiran glanced up to the party menu and confirmed Olive was at thirty-one percent mana. When he lowered his gaze once more, the girl’s mouth was opening and closing like a suffocating fish as words failed to materialize.

“It worked, cool,” Jiran released her hand and dropped her to the ground.

She released a little squeak as she fell but by the time her boots hit the ground, her sword was drawn and she was rushing after Cameron and Mayalyn while shouting commands at her cousin. Under her orders, they formed into a tight group of three as they tagged each beast one at a time. Jiran's chest swelled with pride at Mayalyn’s intelligence and quick thinking. He knew she couldn’t understand the princess but was able to pick up on what she wanted while in the thick of combat.

They used Mayalyn’s speed to distract, while Cameron blocked any follow-up blows while covering for her mistakes. Only twice he had to use his aura to bat away swipes that looked like they might get through their combined defenses. Within ten minutes, they were done and Olive commanded the retreat. When they were clear, Jiran landed beside them.

The beasts were still rampaging, mostly against one another, their numbers having dwindled to a mere twenty strong.

“Is this a common thing? I’ve never heard of beasts acting this way,” Jiran blocked the sounds of their thrashing so they could hear him without having to yell. It was Olive who responded.

“Each of these beasts is at the bottleneck of tier four but they need a final push. They are drawn together, waiting in peace for days, sometimes weeks, until enough of them arrive. We have no idea how they know, but the moment the final one is present, they begin fighting. They will not stop until a victor emerges and ascends.”

That… is eerily similar to the challenger arena. If one of those beasts were to kill me, would it earn the right to ascend?

Jiran shook the morbid thought free and motioned Mayalyn to his side. She hopped to him, her smiling white teeth the only thing free of blood.

“Purge what’s left of your lightning. It’s time to try something new.”

Her response was to punch the air. A tiny spark extended and then sputtered out halfway between her hand and the ground. Her head drooped as she turned away, unwilling to meet his eyes.

Is she feeling guilty about something? Whatever.

“We are going to use ice this time,” He leaned in to whisper in her ear as he blocked the sound around them so the cousins wouldn’t hear his next words. “Picture those little molecules we talked about coming to a stop. All heat and therefore all cold, is merely the rate at which molecules vibrate. The faster they move the hotter they become. The slower, the colder. There is not a creature alive that could survive all of its molecules coming to a complete stop.”

Mayalyn closed her eyes and focused on his words as she formed the image in her mind. When she nodded vigorously, he placed his hand on her shoulder and pushed True Origin of Ice into her. Her breathing stopped as her skin turned blue, then white as a porcelain goddess. The ground beneath her feet cracked as her mouth opened in a silent scream. A single tear fell down her cheek before it cracked apart into dust that scattered the pale morning light.

“Release it, don’t hold it in!”

She screamed for real. It was a hollow sound that froze the air as it rippled away from her. Jiran covered his aura in a thick membrane and used it to guide Mayalyn’s enhanced ice. He continued to pump more of his shaping through her, which she enhanced and then released. After only fifteen percent of his mana had been filtered through her, his aura could handle no more.

The ball of ice was held above the battlefield like a resplendent floating jewel. He withdrew his aura and the magic dropped into the throng of squirming monsters.

Silence descended as the blue ball of mist impacted the ground and roiled outward in a wave that instantly froze everything it touched -80,482. Jiran’s jaw dropped as he saw the damage that popped up near each beast’s head.

The frozen statues were not content to remain as they were. At first a single limb, then like an entire field of flowers swept into a strong breeze, the beasts shattered into diamond dust and vanished. Two more waves of equally ridiculous numbers flooded his vision as they dispersed, -80,482. -80,482.

Okay, those were only tier four but I’m certain that would have killed them all if they were tier five as well. Usually, it takes me around five percent of my mana to kill a tier five and we just did enough damage to easily kill twenty of them with only fifteen percent. If my math is right, we did about triple what I could do alone off that same amount of mana.

Olive isn’t wrong. If the People and the empire work together, we could massively boost the power of our strongest fighters. How much damage could an attack like that do to an army of Graymin?

Mayalyn’s sniffle roused him from his awestruck state.

“Beautiful,” She whispered, and he could only agree.

A boyish shout disrupted their moment of wonder

“Awesome! I finally maxed my exp Tier five here we come, baby!” Cameron’s outburst caused Jiran to look over his shoulder with narrowed eyes.

“What? Can you blame me for being excited? Yeah, your attack was great. Good job, get over it already.”

“Cameron, you’re being rude. They have never seen our parents spar as we have. They should be proud of their teamwork, it's far more than we could do. Besides, Mayalyn is only tier three.”

“Wait a second. I got exp, that means you’re not a higher-tier than me?! How, what, no, but? Ahh, I lost the damn bet too! You know what, I don’t care. Today is amazing. You mind if I borrow that little hole of yours so I can tier up?” The corners of his bright blue eyes turned down as his lips pouted in what Jiran could only think of as the face a pitbull would make when begging for dinner.

“Eww, turn that thing somewhere else. I don’t care what you do, just stop looking at me like that!”

Cameron threw his head back and laughed while Jiran lifted them into the air. As they flew, Jiran contemplated his experiment with Olive and how successful it had been. He remembered her face and the naked honesty she had worn when declaring her trust. A sigh escaped his lips as his thoughts raced.

I think I’ve had enough with all the secrets. Well, I won’t be telling them anything science-related that might get them vanished. But as far as claiming density goes, it's far past time the empire equips itself with a better method, and who better to spread it than a princess? Before that, I earned myself a question and I have to know before I proceed with teaching them.

“You lost the bet, so answer up. I know Lenton would have passed along the information, so why haven’t your parents taught you how to claim density?”