Divine Apostasy Book 7 - Chapter 75

[Author's Note: I altered Tarot's prophecy a bit to add some foreshadowing for future items, and to make it more awesome. It is repeated in the text of this chapter so you will get to read the new version.]

Chapter 75

A demon from the now visible courtyard threw a bone spear at Ruwen. He caught the weapon and threw it back, not bothering to turn it spearhead first. It slammed into the attacking demon, vaporizing its chest, and traveled through three more creatures before shattering against the stone ground.

The demons below grew still and then in a pack, fled the courtyard, leaving their four dead companions.

The avalanche had created a constant rumbling vibration and Ruwen glanced at the oncoming wall of burning snow and ice. Its speed had increased, and Survey updated its calculated arrival time, decreasing the time they had by thirteen seconds.

Between the avalanche and being discovered, this had turned from a fun adventure into something more serious, and Ruwen wanted to buff both himself and Sift. But Ruwen already knew Sift would complain about the buffs, because he wanted to beat the Champion with just his own abilities. For now, Ruwen would honor that.

Instead, Ruwen cast his worthwhile individual buffs, as their situation had turned uncertain. He started with the Worker’s Sick Day to increase his Resistances by ten percent for forty Mana, followed by the Fighter spell Hustle to add ten percent to his Haste for thirty minutes, and Power Nap to increase his out of combat Health Regen by fifty percent.

Leeching Blow, one of the few spells Ruwen had increased to level five, healed him twenty-five percent of the damage he dealt for half an hour. His Commander Subclass spell Relentless was another maxed spell, and he cast it, increasing his Energy Regeneration by twenty-five percent for thirty minutes. Quartermaster’s Yell decreased the resource cost of all his spells by fifty percent and potions became fifty percent more effective. Emissary’s Shout increased his Perception and Speed by ten percent. And Warlord’s Roar increased his Armor Class and damage by fifty percent.

Ruwen wore his Bamboo Viper jacket, pants, and belt, and didn’t want to change out of it into his Inklord Wrap or Overseer armor. As his Mana bar refilled from the cost of the buffs, he dropped the Sublime Centipede of Solace into his right hand.

The small totem looked like an actual centipede. It had the sick green color of mucus and its black eyes seemed dead and uncaring. Its spread, bile-colored wings, gave it the shape of a cross.

Ruwen placed the totem inside his jacket, hoping he wouldn’t need to rely on the items five-thousand-point Mana bank. But he couldn’t cast any Spirit spells or use his Architect Role as it tapped his Spirit after draining his Mana, and if he accidentally did, in the heat of battle, forget this fact, he wanted a buffer.

Ten small pressure waves approached Ruwen from the area Sift and the Champion fought. Ruwen glanced over and leaned out of the way of the flying barbs the Scourge Champion had launched in all directions.

Sift’s eyes had filled with white soul Energy and it covered his body as well. He would need the added durability the soul Energy provided as the Scourge Champion had fortified to low Diamond Ruwen guessed, making the demon’s strikes painful on a Metal Fortified body like Sift’s.

The Champion lunged at Sift, trying to scrape its claws across Sift’s neck. Sift used the Bamboo Step Lost Ladybug to shift the strike downward. In quick succession, Sift stuck the demon’s forearm with the Viper Step Stone Drum, numbing the demon’s arm for five to ten seconds, followed by Hidden Knife which delivered an elbow to the chin.

The demon didn’t have a chin however so Sift turned the attack into a backhand across the demon’s face. It did no damage but succeeded in enraging the Champion further.

Sift appeared to have complete control of the fight.

Ruwen triggered his Commander Ability Ringleader and formed a group with Sift. Using Chat, he spoke to Sift. I’m not sure how hard it will be to escape this city, so I’m buffing up, and I only want to cast these party buffs once so I’m doing them now. You obviously can beat this guy so no complaining.

Fine. Sift said as he stepped over the demon’s attempt at a sweep.

Ruwen cast his Energy buffs, including Bodyguardon Sift, which would transfer sixty percent of Sift’s damage to Ruwen. Then he picked the five Warlord Banner buffs, choosing them to maximize a safe retreat while dealing with any demons that got in their way.

Havoc, the first Banner buff Ruwen cast would increase their damage by twenty-five percent. Awareness would increase Perception by twenty-five percent, which had a bigger effect on Sift, since Ruwen’s Perception, because of Rami’s second Codex of Evolution, had already doubled.

Next Ruwen cast Forced March to increase their movement speed by thirty-five percent, and Unrelenting to increase the Regen rates by thirty percent. Finally, he cast Indestructible to increase their Armor Class by twenty-five percent.

Ruwen glanced at his Profile, checking the main items his buffs had affected.

Pools

Health: 2,657/2,657

Mana: 2,204/2,204

Energy: 4,026/4,026

Ratings

Armor Class: 8,785

Regeneration

Health Regeneration per second: 31

Mana Regeneration per second: 32

Energy Regeneration per second: 293

All Ruwen’s Resistances hovered around one hundred nineteen percent, except for his Mind Resistance, which had climbed to six hundred seventy-two percent. All his stats had incredible values, but his Armor Class, with all the compounding benefits, buffs, and enhancements, staggered him. Even a little bit of extra AC, like the jacket and pants he wore, increased the value drastically.

The vibration from the approaching avalanche grew stronger and Ruwen glanced at the wall of burning snow. Survey displayed they had less than two minutes. The rest of the class, across the lake, would remain safe from the avalanche, but he worried about them anyway. So he removed a ring from his Inventory, and slid it onto a finger.

Ruwen rubbed the Watcher’s Ring of Travel, and Whiskers appeared in his giant panther travel form. The cat lowered its head, and he scratched Whiskers between the ears. The last time he’d summoned the cat had been outside the walls of New Eiru. The newly created Overlord had rode Whiskers toward the advancing army.

“I missed you, too, friend,” Ruwen mumbled.

Ruwen changed Whiskers’ form to the small urban cat and sent it to escape the city and check on the Masters on the beach across the lake. He stayed with the cat long enough to see most of the streets were empty as the demons sought safety inside the city’s buildings.

A sharp pain forced Ruwen to refocus on the rooftop fight, and his Health bar dropped by fifty points. He found Sift rubbing his forearm and realized Bodyguard had shifted sixty percent of the damage and pain of Sift’s injury to Ruwen.

Sorry, Sift said in Chat. I didn’t expect touching that weapon to hurt.

The Scourge Champion held a white spear created from soul energy, and he stabbed at Sift again. Sift didn’t block the spear this time, which evidently caused damage, and dodged instead, landing a quick kick to the Champion’s hands.

The Champion’s hands opened but the spear remained attached to them, an obvious advantage to soul Energy weapons. Even with a Gem Fortified body, the Champion could not match Sift’s speed. Coupled with Sift’s complete control and mastery of the Bamboo Viper Steps, and the Champion had no chance.

We should go, Ruwen told Sift. I don’t want to spend an hour digging out of the snow.

I didn’t want to rush the fight in case he had a surprise like that spear. I’ll hurry.

Ruwen studied Sift’s Steps and found them nearly flawless. The moves radiated a confidence mixed with deadly beauty that transfixed Ruwen. The next time Sift competed at the Step Championship, the crowd would adore him.

Whiskers made it out of the city and Ruwen transformed the cat into the puma sized scout. It gave the cat more options for camouflage in the wild and Whiskers dashed down the beach, just in the tree line of the Red Forest.

“Of course,” a male voice said.

“We should have guessed,” a female voice responded.

Ruwen recognized the voices and his stomach knotted. He turned his back to Sift and the Champion and looked down into the courtyard. On the far side, two hundred feet away, sat two figures on unnatural horses.

The Pestilence Aspect sat atop a yellow horse, and his sister, the Plague Aspect rode a green horse beside him. They both had pulled their hoods forward, and Ruwen knew it hid the infected sores that covered their faces.

Pestilence turned from his sister and looked up at Ruwen. Blood oozed from the Aspect’s eyes, leaving fresh streaks across the dried blood covering its cheeks. Plague didn’t look any better, as her eyes leaked yellow pus.

Plague sneezed, and a cloud of green mucus sprayed into the courtyard. Her breathing remained raspy and labored, and she hunched over, trembling under her robe as if she suffered from a fever.

The appearance of the two Aspects meant the situation had become dire.

Sift, Ruwen said over Chat. There are Aspects here and you need to leave immediately.

What are you going to do?

Delay them.

But—

Ruwen interrupted him. Don’t argue. We—

The word “we” made Ruwen pause. Plague had used that word. It’s possible she just meant her brother and her, but it also might mean something far worse.

Ruwen shifted his focus to Whiskers. The cat had superb eyesight and he could make out the distant Masters searching the beach for Soul Pearls. He relaxed a little at seeing them safe. To be sure, he asked Whiskers to glance at the lake.

Ruwen’s breath caught.

Three figures, each atop a horse, galloped across the lake. The Aspect of War on a red horse, Drought riding a blue one, and Poison between them on a white horse.

They rode directly toward the group of new Bamboo Viper Clan Masters. Ruwen’s classmates. His friends.

They didn’t face two Aspects, but five.

The itch in Ruwen’s mind that had started with the avalanche became a shard of ice at the number five. The mental icicle exploded as his Cleverness Attribute triggered, and the splinters shredded his mind, slowly crystalizing around a single memory of Tarot, glowing with golden-silver light, giving Ruwen his fortune in a somber voice…I, Tarotmethiophelius, a Divine Fortune Golem forged from the mists of heaven, touching past, present, and future, offer this fortune. Ruwen Starfield, the tenth muse, keeper of the scales, and holy father, hear me. Your plans, buried under an avalanche of the past, will suffocate and fail. Harken the wolf and the path not taken, or death will surely find you.

Ruwen had believed this fortune described the plans he’d made to challenge the Founders. That the prepared and determined foes had meant the three Sisters. He had assumed the mistakes Tarot had mentioned when examining the three cards had referenced Ruwen teaching Grandmaster Steps and using the Shadow Forms.

After winning the fight with the Founders, Ruwen had believed he’d successfully sprinted along that crumbling cliff, arriving at his destination without a scratch. He’d thought the Reversed Fool, like all the rest of the warnings he received, could be ignored.

But the Chariot had signified his rush to come back here, the Five of Wands had pointed to the five Aspects, prepared and determined, and the Reversed Fool represented the most grievous mistake and act of foolishness, the fact the Aspects could be here at all.

Tarot’s voice echoed in Ruwen’s mind. Your plans, buried under an avalanche of the past, will suffocate and fail. Harken the wolf and the path not taken, or death will surely find you.

Tarot’s fortune had foretold this moment. Predicted Ruwen’s failure. Prophesied his death.