Chapter 410 - Immutable

Chris

There was a brief pause as everyone who had been fighting realized that both Zuri and Vanessa were still alive. Roughed up a bit, but still breathing. Ryan looked at the two of them curiously, while Bri’s expressions didn’t change.

Robert was relieved, and it seemed as though a weight had been lifted. Funny how he was doing the opposite to us right now.

That pause ended as I launched forward at Bri with my hammer raised. She was quick, agile, and always in the wrong spot during the fight. I wanted to eliminate the hassle before moving on to Ryan.

He kept healing and boosting Bri while also sending out hexes at me. Everyone knew to kill the healer first, and to do that, I needed Bri out of the way.

Robert was… different. Killing him was… not advisable. I’d do it if I had to, but I currently wasn’t forced to, as there was no chain of judgment connecting us. The other two, though, had no such luck. They would die where they stood.

My sudden swing took the woman entirely by surprise, as she expected more to be said before the fight resumed.

She’d assumed wrong.

Any misty shield she could have used to blunt or deflect my blow arrived too late; her reaction time slowed just enough by [Frozen Leach] and her incorrect assumption. It was a subtle skill I’d applied to all three of them at the start of the fight, and it did its work slowly.

I didn’t get to use it often, as it wasn’t suited for large amounts of weaker enemies, but a few strong ones? That was where it shined.

A hammer filled with the violent energy of [Shattering Hammer] landed squarely upon her side, and she went flying off into the distance. The angle of my swing sent her soaring into the distance rather than skipping off the ground.

My goal of removing the nuisance was achieved.

Vanessa and Zuri both got over their brief shock quickly at Bri being sent flying and began casting spells at one another once more. The casts took slightly longer, now that they weren’t in prime condition, but both had been through enough that a little weariness wouldn’t put them out of the fight.

I put what was happening behind me out of mind. Vanessa could handle herself, and if she couldn’t, I wanted to find out now. Fighting together was the deal. Protecting her was not.

Ryan’s face was contorted in concentration and strenuous effort as the spells left his hands faster and faster. One shot off toward Bri, a healing spell most likely, while two more were cast toward me.

I’d had enough of his spells and finally called down [Tundra’s Descent]. The fire flingers would figure it out.

Cold and fire warred in the area as the pressure shifted wildly and violently, bringing unpredictable winds blowing through the area.

Perfect.

My Wind Law reached out with my middling [Wind Manipulation] as I poured more into [Tundra’s Descent]. Maybe if I’d taken [Northern Winds] it wouldn’t be as hard to do, but that was a choice long passed.

Instead, I poured mana and leveraged my Laws to cause Arctic mana to explode out of me, draining me of over a quarter of my mana. Fighting off Vanessa’s Fire was much harder than I expected, and the area I claimed was smaller than I’d hoped. The fire had a tenacity to it that I envied. My ice could use something like that. It already had a resilience, but there were always ways to push it further.

The Cold functioned almost like a corrupting energy. The Wind carried it toward the flying spells, and the ice pervaded it, dominating the mana used to fuel it, turning it into a light-frost mixture. It took a lot to do, but it was worth it.

When it landed, the blindness and disorientation never came, leaving me perfectly suited to continue charging toward my enemy. Robert tried to stop me, but flames from two sides held him off.

Ryan’s concentration turned to worry, and following worry was fear. It was a look I usually disliked seeing, but on his face, I felt nothing but satisfaction.

He tried to dodge, attempted to escape me, but he didn’t get far. The fight hadn’t been raging long, but it was enough to start seeing my stats ramp up from [Weight of the Arctic].

Any assumptions on how fast I could charge or how quickly I could swing needed to be constantly adjusted, or it would leave them in a poor position to face my hammer. A similar position to what my fellow Northern Leader was facing now.

Shields of light flared brightly around him in a protective aegis as he activated spells and skills alike, but I pressed on.

My hammer came up high and promised devastation, only to then be increased further as mana filled the weapon and its descent began. If Robert wanted to throw off my swings with gravity, I would use that to my advantage.

[Meteor Blow] and [Shattering Hammer] caused my hammer to glow with a dancing aurora, and the added force courtesy of the gravity brawler sent it screaming down faster than ever.

Light barrier after light barrier shattered like paper, loud cracking sounds their only accompaniment.

Ryan turned pale white, watching death come for him, when an excruciatingly sharp pain tore through my side. It was in the exact same spot that had just been healed, which was rather tender.

A dagger had found its way there from a hand I hadn’t seen nor felt. A wafting darkness surrounded the new man, revealing who I knew only through description.

Pierre. Ryan’s Guard Commander.

Even with his attempt to divert my swing through pain, my hammer’s course was only altered slightly. I taught everyone to master their instinct to flinch in the face of pain, but even I wasn’t immune to it all the time. It wasn’t something you could kill off completely. At least, not in six years.

My hammer was still going to land, just not as cleanly as before.

At least, that was until a bolt of purple landed on Ryan from the side. All of a sudden, it was like down for him was off the left. He didn’t have long to fall horizontally, but it was enough to escape the worst of my blow.

It wasn’t enough to escape all of it.

Ice scraped and tore along his left arm, which was just enough to get [Shattering Hammer]'s energies to transfer to my target. I did the same thing I’d done when facing the Blood Berserker in Lakeshore.

Commanded the violence to wreak havoc upon his insides.

Blood poured from his mouth and nose as his internals were torn asunder, staggering him from a pain worse than I was feeling, no doubt. His sideways fall turned into a sideways crash, as he was sent spinning from all of the odd and unpredictable forces acting on him.

Still, my foe wasn’t dead, and there was a new one standing behind me holding a dagger in my side.

[Jotun’s Resistance] fortified my body enough that he couldn’t twist the dagger, and I reached out to grab the man but missed.

It was a good thing I wasn’t aiming for him.

I was aiming for his weapon, which he lacked the strength to hold onto when someone like me had it grasped by its bladed end. The edge bit into my palm, through the layer of ice and metal covering my hand, but one more cut didn’t bother me.

It was worth it in exchange for disarming him.

Faced with the option to hold on to his weapon and become locked in close quarters with me, or letting go and backing off, he chose the latter, backpedaling out of my range and toward where his Leader had fallen.

I brought the dagger close and observed the impeccable runework etched into it. A capable and steady hand had created the Runes, along with an equally capable smith. Piercing Runes, along with Light Runes and Fire Runes. Everything to not only Pierce my armor, but [Glacial Plate] as well. Fire and Light were the perfect counters.

The weapon had been designed for me, and given to a man suited to wield it.

I growled, my [Fury] threatening to take over. I hadn’t let it before, and I wouldn’t let it now. It was a beast hard to tame, but one I’d worked hard to control.

Always the Rogues, I fumed in my mind. I’d been stabbed in the back not once, not twice, but now three times! Well, the second attempt I caught in my sleep before it could land, but it still counted!

Thrice!

I closed my fist around the metal blade, pushing its hardness to the point of brittleness. Every Smith knew what would happen next. The blade shattered into pieces, falling to the snow along with drops of blood.

By then, Pierre had picked up Ryan from the ground and made to flee, but the chain of Spirit snapped taut, forcing them to stay.

Fire, starlight, and hazes of purple surrounded the three of us, and even mist signaling Bri’s return, but I ignored all of it. I’d been angry before, but now I was furious.

I launched myself toward the duo, regardless of the wounds. [Tyr’s Judgment] didn’t reel in as distance closed, so they ran from me as far as the chain would let them.

Pierre obviously had more Agility than I, but he hadn’t accounted for all my boosts. Nor had he thought how carrying Ryan would slow him. My stats had nearly doubled by this point, with [Weight of the Arctic] reaching 30%, and the distance between us was closing, no matter how hard he tried to run.

I saw the decision playing across his face. The choice to leave his Leader behind and flee. Surprisingly, the backstabber didn’t throw the man away, keeping him in his grasp as he did all he could to run.

Even less pleasantly, I saw Ryan’s color returning and his wounds visibly healing. He’d left his exterior wounds for last, and they were now slowly starting to close, which meant his insides weren’t as shattered as I’d hoped.

Fucking healing bullshit!

A wall of pale, astral light formed in front of me, but I didn’t give it a second thought before smashing through. It resisted, but couldn’t halt my momentum completely. I was slowed, but still moving.

A bolt of purple moved too fast to dodge, and I started to fall backwards, away from my foe.

NO!

I lashed out and gripped the snow with a stranglehold with [Ice Manipulation], but it wasn’t enough. I could feel the snow falling with me, unable to hold my weight. My aura ripped into the ground, finding any hold it could in a much less graceful manner, but I didn’t care about grace right now.

My backwards fall halted, and I pushed myself onward with aura and manipulation alone. I was a heavy man, but my will was enough to haul me forward. I wasn’t about to let them go.

The fight had moved with us, apparently, but I didn’t have the bandwidth to look back.

The distraction was enough for the two to catch their breath. Ryan was standing on his own power now, while Pierre had a cold sweat running down his face. Both were waving a hand at the ethereal chain, trying to work out how to break it.

My face wasn’t visible under a layer of ice and my helmet, but my grin turned smug. There was nothing they could do–

Something vile was pulled from a sheath. A sword of the purest light I’d ever laid eyes on extended from a pommel I hadn’t even known was there. Where Ryan had drawn it from was unknown, as was where he’d gotten it.

It stank to my senses. It screamed something I’d thought I wouldn’t feel in a long, long time. It wasn’t demonic, but divine. Divine in a way I hated. I’d felt it only once before, on a recording of a person I’d sworn to kill.

My feelings on the matter didn’t change what followed.

The sword of light was brought down on the chain, sending searing pain coursing through me. It was brought down again, sending out a second wave. The sword had cracked what I’d thought immutable.

The third swing shattered it.

Pain. Searing, excruciating pain worse than anything I’d ever felt or imagined burned inside my spirit, causing my vision to darken. I’d thought Body Refining was the worst pain I’d ever feel.

I’d been wrong.

My arms felt distant and ungainly as I tried to move, my legs buckled as the steps I tried to take faltered. I couldn’t help but cry out in anguish.

As the burning continued, the second chain anchored to my Spirit was pulled out, ripping the section it had been connected to. Where it had been anchored couldn’t hold it now that it was weakened. Not only was my Spirit on fire, but a chunk had been ripped from it.

My hammer fell to the ground through weak hands.

It was nearly too much. The narrowing of my vision tried to darken completely, but I wouldn’t let it. I pushed all of that pain into sheer determination.

“NO! You don’t get to leave!” I screamed, my throat hoarse.

Thankfully, whatever had been messing with my gravity had ended, as I used whatever strength I could muster on my legs to leap forward, accompanied by pulling on my aura and ice both.

My aura was weak, weaker than it had any right to be, but I pulled on it all the same, ignoring the pain.

Ryan was so stunned, he didn’t react in time.

My lunge wasn’t graceful enough for a full tackle, but it was enough to grab hold of his newly healed left arm. With my grasp anchored, I poured all my will and mana into [Pervading Cold], empowered by both my Laws.

It was the only skill I could think of.

I did to his body what I’d done to his spells previously.

Arctic mana flowed in large rivers out of me, strengthened with my Laws, through [Pervading Cold] and into Ryan’s arm. Instantly, two black handprints began to grow and expand.

Frostbite had set in immediately and spread with every millisecond I kept pouring mana into him. It wasn’t even a heartbeat before his entire lower arm was black and frosted over.

Ryan screamed. A scream of anguish and pain eclipsing my own earlier.

He pulled away from my grip, but I had too much strength to let go now. Even weakened as I was, he couldn’t match what I was best at. Pierre tried to help pull his Lord away from me, but both weren’t enough.

Black frost inched further and further up his arm as my mana got lower and lower. I wasn’t sure if I’d have enough, but I was going to find out.

He tried to fight it as his body started to glow, but the black continued to expand. Slowed, but not halted. A mentality I’d matched earlier physically, applied magically now.

Ryan’s screams continued as the line of frost reached his shoulder when something unexpected happened.

His pulling away, along with Pierre’s tugging, weren’t enough to rip my hands away, but my grasp was no longer the weakest link.

His arm, which was now entirely black and covered in frost, shattered. My hands closed tight around shards that had once been flesh as the rest of his arm fell to the snow in pieces.

If I’d thought he couldn’t scream any louder, I would have been wrong. A stump of blackened skin and muscle with frozen blood met my gaze as Ryan was pulled away from me.

Now that I wasn’t countering their force, Ryan and Pierre sent themselves tumbling out of my reach. Pierre picked up his screaming Lord and ran quicker than I could adjust or catch up with.

Seeing them flee ignited a righteous fury inside me.

I called my hammer toward me on instinct, ripping it from where it had fallen and grasping its frosted wood. In seconds, it was in my hand once more and arcing through the air. The last of my mana was sent into the weapon and sent hurtling through the air after them, thrown with the last of my strength.

All I could do was look on as it flew after them.