Wild Era 3, Ch 34: Boneshadow Monk

The city street exploded as the monk landed, creating a crater a dozen feet deep. A massive wave of disintegrated bone dust and shadows filled the air.

The monk hardly noticed. He leapt into the air above the crater and his fist flew toward Kelin with the weight of his full body behind it. 

The attack was filled with a massive pressure like a giant’s club was descending. Shadows writhed around it, making the space in front contract. Lines of spatial energy appeared, glowing silver and black.

The blow wasn’t enough to break through the spatial barrier, which was almost impossible without a Concept, but it was enough to show that the barrier was there.

That was impressive for someone at the Third Evolution. 

The monk was a true elite from Sarathia and much more dangerous than the necromancer had been.

His skills were near the top of what his level could offer, even though he was only at Level 310. Once he finished the full Evolution, he would almost certainly rise to prominence and have a significant advantage in using spatial energy.

For that reason and others, Kelin had no plan to leave him alive.

The monk was destined to end up as one of the undead and seemed as willing as the necromancers had been to kill everyone in his way. The necklace of skulls was enough proof of his character.

As the monk’s fist closed in, Kelin swept his staff to the side, catching the blow with a stream of Wildfire and deflecting it away.

A house on the side of the street exploded as a wave of darkness tore through it. Bone shards flew in every direction and a crater the size of an ox cart appeared, blasting straight through the house and into the one behind it.

A line of destruction tore a path ten feet deep into the ground and the energy didn’t stop for almost a hundred feet.

The energy in the impact made Kelin’s arm turn numb as he stepped to the side and his foot landed heavily on the ground, making the street rumble as he transferred the force into it.

He had an entire inferno’s worth of energy at his command and he could match dozens of similar blows before it was used up, but the monk’s attack was still incredible.

He hadn’t had this type of reserve when facing the necromancer, which was why he was confident about this fight, but he needed to save some for the others inside.  

He’d been hoping that the monk would call out the others so he could deal with them all at once, which was Wildfire’s forté, but it seemed like it wouldn’t be that easy.

The monk barely stopped, following the blow as he flipped in the air. He landed on his feet again on the opposite side, in front of the house he’d destroyed.

He narrowed his eyes as he studied Kelin.

“You’re no normal Second Evolution mage,” he said, frowning. “Even Third Evolution mages shouldn’t have been able to block my Bone Shattering Darkness.”

His eyes turned darker and his smile came back. 

“But that just means it’s going to be more interesting to kill you. Now I’m really looking forward to having your skull on my necklace. Maybe I’ll even give you a special spot or a bit of paint.”

He touched the necklace again, rubbing his thumb over one of the skulls. Then energy gathered around him, making the entire street turn dark as he looked back up.

“Since you can block my fist, try this. It’s called Shadows Fall on Daylight.”

The monk’s foot swept through the air, followed by a line of darkness like night was spreading across the horizon. Inside that darkness, shadows writhed like ghosts, waiting to break free and consume the light around them.

The earlier attack had combined the fragments of Law he had, but this one was mostly Shadow, even if it was still backed by an incredible strength.

“Is that all you have?” Kelin asked, stepping forward into the blow as his staff rose to meet it.

His staff was a radiant column of Wildfire, but the front was sharpened with a blade of Spell Disruption. 

When the two met, there was an explosion of darkness and flame that made the street below buckle. A massive trench appeared, shearing a line through the skull cobbles as bones exploded in every direction.

Then Kelin’s staff split through the attack and continued on straight toward the monk. The leading edge of Spell Disruption had no trouble severing the power and opening a path. 

Rainbow-hued flames flared around it, igniting the necrotic energy and bone essence in the air and sending up twisting clouds of ethereal smoke.

The monk had expected the kick would break Kelin in half and his eyes widened.

A normal human wouldn’t have been able to abandon the attack and move so quickly, but as the staff closed in, he twisted to avoid it, releasing a sound like half of his bones were breaking all at once.

It was almost like he’d melted his bones and turned into a shadow. His entire body twisted around itself.

His body solidified again as he reappeared a dozen feet away and he let out a growl of disbelief. His body looked misshapen and deformed, but flickers of bone essence from the area flew toward him and he absorbed them.

His bones let out a thousand small cracks as he twisted his shoulders and limbs, settling everything back into its original configuration.

Kelin pulled his staff back and tapped it on the ground at his feet.

Their battle seemed simple, but the truth was evident in the flows of energy throughout the area that were twisting mana and the elements. 

Lines of rainbow flame and ethereal smoke were everywhere, filling the street and incinerating the monk’s aura of darkness. Moment by moment, the area was becoming brighter and hotter.

The monk’s affinities were dangerous and he was powerful, but when it came to the complexities of mana manipulation and elemental essence, he was a far cry from the mastery that Kelin was capable of.

This was a higher-level fight, the type that Irian Mana Weaving had once been designed to train a mage for. Every blow was complex on a dozen different levels.

The Third Evolution was the Unity Realm, where mana, stamina, and the elements began to fuse together to lay the foundation for a Concept. 

It also meant that the separation between a punch and a spell was minimal. The monk’s attacks might as well have been an enchantment that Kelin could read in the air.

The monk was not pleased by the outcome.

“I don’t know how you’re doing that, but it can’t be your own power,” he snarled as he raised his hand. 

Mana gathered around him, swiftly building up until it was five times stronger than anything before. The bones on the road began to liquefy under the pressure, cracking and hissing as they sank. 

The monk floated in the air above them, not even looking down as a wave of dark-tinted Iron essence filled the area. It was heavy with a scent of metal and shadow. 

“Enough playing around,” he said, his expression grim. “I’m going to turn your blood into iron and tear your heart out. I don’t even care if your skull is left over. Die!”

All the energy he’d gathered concentrated onto his hand as he struck at the air toward Kelin. 

An impression of his palm appeared, made of swirling darkness and as heavy as an iron mountain. It flew toward Kelin with astonishing force.

There were streams of Wildfire in the air between them, but the palm strike tore straight through them, crushing them into stray energy.

Kelin didn’t bother responding. Nor did he pay much attention to the palm strike, even though it was strong enough to shatter his bones if it landed.

Instead, he raised his staff. 

He’d spent the time so far analyzing the monk’s abilities and the structure of his mana, as well as what he was capable of with his combined affinities.

And he’d found him wanting.

If it had been a fight between the two of them without any preparation, the monk’s strength would probably have won and turned him into a smear of gore on the ground, but Kelin had spent his time in the dungeon well.

Wildfire raged as it coiled around him and flowed into his staff, which he pointed straight at the incoming hand.

A tip of Spell Disruption and Soul Paralysis wove themselves into the structure of the Wildfire and then condensed into a Soul Arrow. 

The spell flared as it left his staff and it was so powerful that it turned into a bar of rainbow-hued flame. It was a blinding lance of power.

It tore through the center of the iron palm, ripping its structure in half, and continued through to the monk.

The monk let out a roar as he saw it coming and tried to dodge again, but this time the spell was too swift. It was an arrow of light as it drove straight through his chest and soul.

A massive explosion of Wildfire accompanied it, tearing through the loose energy in the area and shredding the walls of shadow and iron essence.

Wildfire leapt outward, turning into a coiling storm above the two of them. It looked like a tornado with a tail stretching to the ground, and it was rooted in the monk’s soul.

The impact hurled the monk across the street and slammed him into the side of a building, which shattered under the force. 

A wave of rubble buried him as he fell to the ground, covering his body, but a shout of rage rose up from the impact as the monk leapt to his feet, shaking the bones aside.

He was still durable, even as flames of Wildfire leapt through his soul and began to consume it. Ethereal smoke flared from his ears and his eyes were veiled by leaping prismatic flames.

“I will not fall here!” the monk shouted, his aura flaring as a wave of Bone essence and darkness tried to flood the area again. “I am eternal! I am blessed by the Lord of Bones! Even if my body dies, I will rise again more powerful than before!”

“You might have,” Kelin replied calmly, “but you won’t now.” 

He leaned on his staff as he watched the progress of Wildfire sweeping through the man’s soul.

“Arrogant trash!” the monk snarled, tossing bones aside as he walked through the rubble. “Your spell didn’t even harm me. I’m going to rip you apart.”

He staggered as he moved and there were strange pauses here and there, making his progress halting, but he was still able to move forward.

Once he was free of the rubble, mana gathered around him and darkness swelled along his limbs. His muscles bunched as he tried to leap forward, his hand outstretched toward Kelin.

He managed to cover a dozen feet, but halfway across the road, he suddenly lost coordination and tumbled through the air.

He slammed into the street, narrowly missing one of the massive trenches from their battle. 

Kelin walked over to him and shoved the end of his staff under the man’s side. He used it as a lever to roll him over.

“I am an Avatar of Bone!” the monk hissed, looking up at him from eyes that could barely see. “I will have your head as soon as I rise again with the form of a true servant.”

“So you know you’re going to turn into an undead when you die?” Kelin asked, looking down at him. “Thanks for telling me. That removes any hesitation with killing you all. But don’t get your hopes up.”

He used his staff to prod at the monk’s chest, taking the opportunity to study the course of Wildfire as it burned. It was blazing with fury as it burned through the monk’s bones and soul.

“You won’t be going anywhere,” he said. “All of that necrotic energy in your bones and soul is turning into fuel for my Wildfire.”

Massive torrents of flames were rising up from him, but Kelin forced them to condense, turning them into streams that joined the rest and flowed around him like a mist. 

It was almost enough to replace what he had used in the fight.

Stone hands rose out of the earth, stripping the monk’s gear and spatial items, and then Kelin turned and walked away.

The monk let out a howl of hatred, but a second later a massive column of Wildfire exploded into the air, drowning out anything he’d had to say.

Gaius dropped the spatial items into Kelin’s hands and then went back to grab the body. He returned with it a moment later.

Kelin glanced down at it, studying the remains.

The monk’s bones had almost completely burned away in the flames, leaving barely anything behind, and all of the necrotic channels in his body had combusted.

He covered his hand with a layer of stoneskin and picked up the corpse. Then he hurled it away into the ruins.

His attention turned to the mausoleum as he began to walk toward it. 

The monk had only been the door guard and he had a feeling dealing with whatever was inside would be a little harder, but he showed no hesitation.

It seemed like there were two rituals here. 

There was the one centered on this island that the necromancer had set up with the Curse of Violet Bones and the flow of vital energy that would turn the area into a City of Bones, and then there was this smaller ritual that this group was focused on, for absorbing necrotic energy to strengthen themselves.

The monk had mentioned “two brats” inside who were apparently the recipients of the power this time. 

That took care of two of the mana signatures Kelin had seen, but that was only half of the group that was left.

He needed to figure out exactly how they were using the ritual, where it was from, and how the tea and the incense worked to lay the foundation for it.

And then burn everything down.

He looked down at the coiling streams of Wildfire and headed for the mausoleum’s door.

When he got there, he kicked it open and walked inside.

Wildfire raged around him, setting the interior ablaze with a storm like the aurora had descended.