Chapter 409 - Gravity of the Situation

Chris

Outside East Fort

I had known this was a possibility from the start, but I just hadn't thought they'd go through with it. Maybe it was my thinking that clouded my judgment? The fact that the actions I was witnessing were something I wouldn't even consider.

It didn't matter now.

Bri was hurtling forward far faster than I could match, and I wasn't sure what kind of condition Vanessa was in. Her shield could have held, and she could have emerged from the collision none the worse for wear. Or, she could have been severely damaged and entirely unprepared to face the combined attacks of New Canada's and Boston's leaders.

I knew she wasn't dead, her aura was still alive and burning, but that didn't mean she was in the process of dying.

With no way to step in front of Bri, and doubtful I'd be able to raise an [Ice Wall] in front of her to block, I did the only thing I could think of.

I threw my hammer as hard as I could.

It was tricky, aiming it well enough to hit a target moving so fast, but fortune smiled upon me. As soon as it left my hand, I knew it would land.

A split second after my weapon left my hand, my mind started kicking into fighting gear. My knee-jerk reaction was to stop the charging assailant, but now I was moving on to the bigger picture.

A fight with both Leaders, who were both Barons, plus the Admiral's friend, was going to be... tricky.

"Focus on attacking them," I spoke through my aura to Michael. My aura was so riled up that it was difficult to form words. It was like shouting into the wind, but I managed, "Do not defend me or shield me. Defend yourself if you must, but prioritize offense."

After instructing my ally, I called on the core of frost inside me. My Bloodline burned through my veins as the changes to my body were made. My height increased by nearly two feet, and my body filled out with over two hundred pounds.

The rest of the alterations were superfluous, and I didn't have time to think about them right now. Hair and eye color didn't much matter right now.

[Weight of the Arctic] kicked off as soon as I made my attack, and [Glacial Presence] was already running on max. The only choice I had left was to activate [Battle Fury] or not.

Robert wasn’t a Baron officially, missing the title, but he was strong enough for one. Facing three Baron-level threats, I didn't hold back.

Fury was easy for me. It was an old friend, and one that didn't need any encouragement. It helped that I was actually furious at what just transpired. Interfering in a duel was dishonorable enough, but to aim to assassinate Vanessa? That was something I couldn't tolerate.

My stats rose to heights I usually didn't experience until after an hour of fighting. All the recent levels were being multiplied by [Fury] and [Presence], along with my Bloodline, which was usually a state reserved for later in a fight.

Now I had it at the start.

And all of this happened before my hammer made it across the burned field.

When the hammer hit Bri from the side, it did so with little fanfare. There was no mana exploding out or explosions to be had. I didn't have the time to charge it with a skill or do anything fancy. Only pure force and momentum.

But it was enough.

The woman shielded herself with a layer of mist as she had before, which was what probably saved her from a broken arm and ribcage. She didn't seem the fortitude sort. Even so, she was sent skipping into the distance with only a cut short grunt of pain, completely halting her charge forward.

With the immediate threat dealt with, I turned to my other two opponents.

Ryan was casting another glowing spell while Robert was still screaming at him to stop. He was ignored, of course, as a ball of light was sent my way. Snow flowed up from the ground around my feet and condensed into dense plates. [Glacial Heavy Plate] wasn't the best against light-aspected spells, but it was better than nothing.

I was expecting an impact or a force to weather when the spell hit me, which made me unprepared when there was none. My raised arm did nothing to stop the light, and there was no impact to block.

Instead, a sluggish haze settled over me. My body felt slow and disconnected, while my eyes refused to focus. The light was playing havoc on them, blinding me to whatever was happening.

Unsure of what was happening, I did the only thing I thought could protect Vanessa.

[Tyr's Judgement] formed chains of spirit that shot from me and into Bri and Ryan. Curiously, a third didn't form for Robert for some reason, even though I'd expected it to.

I'd have done so right off the bat, but it wouldn't have stopped Bri's forward advance. The chain disallowed fleeing a fight, but it did allow room to dodge. There was some slack in it to begin with that I wasn't certain  would have prevented her from reaching Vanessa. Plus, while the chain shot out quickly, it wasn't instant. My hammer was faster.

A sword impacted my armor of ice, chipping off a few shards but not enough to get through.

Still blinded, I reached out and backhanded whatever was in front of me. I felt a thud and heard something tumble across the ground, but I wasn't sure what, exactly.

I reached out with [Aura Detection] to get a semblance of what was going on, but everything was fuzzy. There were too many powerful auras to get a clear picture.

Bri was rising, or moving at least, Ryan was lying prone a few feet away, and Robert still hadn't moved. I felt a blazing heat soar over my shoulder and land right where Ryan was lying, sending him exploding even further away.

With the reprieve, I sent mana coursing through [Jotun's Resistance] to rid myself of whatever hex was slowing and blinding me. The skill wasn't designed for stuff like this, but with a boost of my Spirit, it ripped through all the foreign mana inside my body.

Everything that wasn't Arctic mana or connected to frost was ground out, and I could see once more.

Ryan was bleeding and burned, while Bri was charging at me faster than I could track. She was a blur with the assistance of whatever Ryan did.

"Stop this! Stop this now!" Robert yelled, sending out a haze of purple mana. His words were accompanied by a weight settling over the field. It wasn't aura pressure, but from a skill.

For the first time, I got a feel for his affinity. Before, he'd kept all his mana contained without leaking any out. Such a practice was unusual because it went against what was natural. The body naturally drew in and leaked mana, similar to breathing. Remaining locked tight was uncommon to say the least.

My weight, which was already high from natural bulkiness and enhanced by my Bloodline, rose precipitously. The force pressing down on me was like being at the bottom of a deep lake.

Gravity. It was extremely rare, and not something I'd ever faced before.

The fight had already escalated past where words mattered. I ignored him, just as Ryan and Bri had ignored him before.

I felt my hammer off in the distance through my link to it. It had deepened immensely since I first acquired the skill. Where it had once been a faint thread, it was now a thick cord connecting me to my weapon. [Ice Manipulation] wasn't even needed to rip it back toward my hand.

It wasn't the graceful journey I'd demonstrated previously; it was a sharp tug that sent it soaring back with an impressive amount of force. Slower than hurling it physically, but still fast. I had to tug it back with my Spirit, which didn't have the same heft as my muscles. Not yet, at least. It was still growing.

Weapon in hand, I slammed it into the ground, activating [Frozen Rift]. The skill didn't only open rifts. That part was optional. What I molded the skill to do now was send sharp, jagged spears of ice ripping up in a line in front of me.

Even with the additional gravity, Bri hadn't stopped her charge, and I met it with a line of spikes, ready to spear her through. The ice itself came from the lands of Eternal Winter, where [Frozen Rift] drew power from, and wasn't something to be ignored. If I'd conjured it normally, sure, it could be shattered through with enough force.

Bri didn't chance it, dodging the line of ice off to the side, where Michael followed up with a jet of flames, anticipating her dodge. It met another wall of mist ending in a burst of superheated steam.

The temperature was becoming a problem. I didn't want to use [Tundra's Decent] with Michael behind me, and I still wasn't sure how Vanessa fared. She might need the fire mana saturated in the area to recover or heal, similar to how I used the cold.

A flash of light drew my eye, and Ryan was standing once more, completely healed and devoid of any blood or burns. He glowed like the sun with blonde hair replacing his usual brown. His Bloodline seemed regenerative.

Annoying.

Robert was forced to intercede between four powerful fighters, or to choose a side. His gravity well, or whatever he was doing, hindered and slowed, but didn't incapacitate. We were all too strong for a single skill of his to end the fight. He'd need to go all out to do that. Which meant making a decision.

He chose a side.

The wrong side.

It seemed his sword was for decoration because he came at me with his fists. It was either a sly deception to make people assume he was a swordsman, or he was trying to be non-lethal.

I wanted to snort. No one faced me without their best. If he was a swordsman, he'd need to draw it. While his aura was powerful and his affinity was strong, if he didn't use his all, he would lose.

I met his fist with my hammer, and it went the way to be expected. The only exception was that his arm wasn't pulverized like I assumed it would be, only blown back. It was like hitting a block of steel. His bones didn't crack, and his hand wasn't evaporated.

He didn't go flying, skipping, or tumbling back. Only skidding a few feet.

It was harder to swing with the added gravity, and it lacked any skills or Spirit empowerment, but it was still a full swing.

Dense. Dense and heavy. Body of Copper?

Michael continued to cast spells of fire and flame while I fended off any attempt to get to him by going around me. Walls of ice or similar jagged spears of ice as before cut off any path to the Fire Mage.

Robert's fists darkened as he called on his own Bloodline. His eyes turned purple, and his hair lost all grey, turning jet black. I wasn't sure what it was, but his aura spiked aggressively.

The only one not to call on their Bloodline was Bri, which was interesting. The only thing she'd done so far was shield herself with mist or charge forward with her swords. Now that I thought about it, she wasn’t using any other skills or Laws like the rest of us.

I was leaning heavily on my Ice Law, Michael on his Fire, Ryan on his Light, and Robert on his Gravity or Weight Law; I wasn’t sure which. Bri, though, was only fighting with her body and defending when necessary.

That oddness was dismissed as she charged toward me once more with her swords raised.

Arctic mana coursed through me as I brought my hammer around and activated [Meteor Hammer]. Instantly, the force applied to it multiplied, dragging my swing down and off target, leaving Bri to easily sidestep and hit me with both swords before I recovered.

No [Meteor Hammer] then, I thought.

Another hex flew at me, but was burned away by fire before it could reach me. I'd told him not to shield me, but I had to admit my thankfulness for the fact. The hexes were harder to shrug off than the physical blows were.

I wasn't used to being debuffed like that, and it was a weakness I'd have to remedy.

"What on God's green earth is going on?" A feminine voice raged.

Vanessa, armor nearly destroyed and slightly haggard, leaned warily on her staff from a round depression in the ground. Her hair still blazed, and the flames still danced, but she'd seen better days.

Zuri stood off to the side, looking better on first appearance, but was similarly haggard and drained from their duel. Both were staring, confused about what had turned into a four-person death match.

"They aimed to assassinate you, my Lady!" Michael roared, sending more fire down range.

Vanessa was taken aback and looked to me to confirm.

I couldn't take the time to answer normally, speaking through my aura instead, "They aimed to interfere. My attempt to dissuade them was ignored." It came off with an unnatural calmness, as I couldn’t be bothered to add emotion artificially through it.

With a lower voice only Vanessa could hear, I added, "Something odd is going on. Robert is holding back, and Bri is... acting strangely."

The only one going all out was Ryan.