MM - Chapter 258 - ZERO SUM GAME

The distant line of blastslits was a hundred pinpricks of darkness against the colossal stone canvas of Celendine’s Shield. Lucius Slade watched from one of them, his face likely a mask of impotent fury after his failure. A Plasma Lance from a neighboring Crandal sliced through the air where Raine had been a moment before, a casual reminder that this battlefield offered no respite. He ignored its origin, attention fixed on the audience he could not see.

Knowing they could witness his every move, Raine pressed the tips of his pinky fingers together. Then, with a sharp, derisive flick, he split them apart. The message was ancient and crude; a silent testament to a very small man, unequipped to carry on his family line. Unsatisfied, but also lacking other methods to punish the cowards, he turned his attention to the spoils. Three shimmering bubbles of light pulsed around the Crandal’s rapidly dissolving corpse. 

Raine Lunged between them while opening a direct channel to his hidden sentinel. “How bad is it?”

Pamalaiha’s voice was a calm whisper in his ear, a stark contrast to the cacophony of the ever-raging battlefield. From her perch high atop the wall, tucked into a crenellation with her legs dangling over the edge, she was an invisible judge to the chaos below. Her form, cloaked so thoroughly in shadow as to be a void in reality, seemed to shrug. “Four cohorts were wiped out with only a few survivors. It could have been worse; the acid was mostly concentrated in one section. Besides, from the look of it, the fools you left in charge were already marching them to their graves.”

Air hissed between Raine’s teeth. He had anticipated losses, even planned for them, but the confirmation still stung. He’d intentionally left the least likely cohorts to succeed near the gate Lucius occupied, a calculated sacrifice. The second half of his plan for them would play out in the morning. It was still too early to reveal the light at the end of the tunnel. 

“Okay. Check your interface. I’m granting you strategic officer privileges. Accept the map override and highlight the section of the wall Lucius’s Blasts are coming from. Before you do that, pinpoint which Crandal that dickbag’s casters were working on before they tried to steal my prey.”

By the time Raine absorbed the loot—two level 75 Common Grey drops and a handful of gold—Pamalaiha figured out how to manipulate the strategic overlay. A large swath of the wall now glowed a warning orange on his map.

He re-invited the forty-five battlemasters, including Varak, to the raid, then forced a pop-up showing the new intelligence. “Update your maps. Stay out of the highlighted section. Varak, redirect your people. Stop thinning the herd in front of their position. Let the young master deal with the consequences of his own ambition. That's all.”

A raid check let him know when each battlemaster had done as instructed. A series of acknowledgements blinked across his interface. He tracked them while dodging another Plasma Lance, then promptly kicked every last one of them from the raid, lest they lose Superiority from any Rabinoids they managed to kill.

Raine raced to the next target, a pulsing red icon on his newly updated map. With so many eyes watching from the wall, now was not the time for direct retribution. But he would be damned if he let Lucius Slade gain a single point of Superiority this day.

Moments ago

- Celendine’s Shield -

Inside the cramped, sweltering chamber of blastslit fifty-two, Lucius vibrated with a silent rage so thorough his vision danced. Utilizing the wall's arrays to decimate the enemies of the kingdom usually soothed his heart, reminding him of his power, his birthright. In one swift blow, the activity had lost its joy.

How dare he!

The thought was a venomous serpent coiling in his gut. How dare an outsider, a mudworm elevated by a whimsical queen, come to this place—a bastion paid for with the blood and bones of Lucius’s ancestors—and steal the Superiority that was his by right? And this was but the latest offense committed by the charlatan who called himself Alaric.

The deepest violation had not even occurred on this day. 

Princess Selena. Lucius had seen her twice, but it had only taken once. Their first meeting came at a kingdom-wide coming of age; her placid beauty struck him like a physical blow. She was both regal and blessedly unimportant in the line of succession, making her the perfect political prize for an up-and-coming Grand Magister like himself. Most importantly, she possessed a docile, vacant expression, utterly devoid of the sharp glimmer of intelligence Lucius found so distasteful in a woman. She was an exquisite doll; she was perfect, and she belonged to him.

To learn that this Alaric had not only earned the Queen’s Favor but also groveled for scraps at Selena’s side was too much. This unknown heathen had spoken to her, made her laugh, and earned her misplaced trust. A hatred unlike any he had ever known ignited within Lucius. It burned hotter than any Empowered Blast. There was only room for one of them in this world. Only one of them would survive this rivalry.

Through the shimmering lens of the long-range vision array, Lucius watched the conclusion of his brilliant plan with stunned disbelief. The Crandal, battered and smoking from his casters’ salvo, had not succumbed to the lingering damage. Instead, through the dust and blinding light, Alaric had emerged to strike the final blow. The kill notification that belonged to Lucius never arrived.

Then came the gesture. A crude, common insult that somehow felt more infuriating than a slap. It was a vicious accusation that had never once been directed at Lucius. Who would dare insinuate such a thing to one of noble lineage? An eye twitched sporadically, accompanied by a vein bulging from his forehead.

A shrill voice cut through his murderous thoughts, making him flinch. "How is that possible, Young Master?" His aide, Kenry Dahlp, had crept up behind him, his face a mixture of awe and confusion. "Alaric is only level 41! Thievery aside, how can he possibly harm a Siege Crandal?"

Lucius rounded on the bookish little man, his lip curled in a sneer. "That vile thief must have charmed some powerful weapon from the princess!" He spat the words, tasting bile. "Imagine the rewards we will reap when we retrieve it from his corpse and return it to its rightful owner. The Queen herself will thank me."

Kenry’s eyes widened, and he froze like a wild animal before a charging beast. “I…uhm…yes, I see, Young Master. As usual, your investigative prowess is unmatched.”

Lucius narrowed his eyes at the man's suspicious behavior, then chose to move the conversation along rather than attempt to plumb the depths of the simpleton. “A weapon capable of bridging such a gap will either have a ruinous cost or a punishingly long cooldown. We will proceed as planned. Prioritize the shieldwall’s integrity for a knuckle. We will leave behind no fault that can be pinned on us. By the time—”

Kenry pointed a trembling finger toward the viewport. “He's on the move!”

"I have eyes, you fool," Lucius snapped, fury redoubled from the interruption. His own gaze tracked Alaric’s trajectory, a silver streak against the blighted landscape. The charlatan shot past two closer Crandals, making a direct line for the beast at the top of Lucius’s firing sequence. "That's the one we were whittling! Motherless bastard! I shall gladly bear witness until the final mote of your corpse dissipates into the ether!”

Feeling pressed for time, Lucius’s gaze flicked from the distant Crandal to the display in the corner of his vision.

[Siege Crandal (Raid Elite): Level 75 (HP 17,033,215 / 19,025,000) (89.5%)]

[Regional Shield Stability: 46%]

The 12% stability they sacrificed would take precious time to regenerate. Meanwhile, his casters would need to expend more Elemental Power than normal to intercept every incoming threat, slowing their personal recovery. Interruptions wouldn't halt the shieldwall’s restoration, but they would slow it down.

"We shall see how low you can bring my prey without our assistance," Lucius hissed, a cruel smile twisting his features. “Full defensive posture. Then, cycle for power recovery and await my order for the next salvo. Alaric will soon taste the power of a Bearer backed by Her Majesty’s arrays!”

“It will be as you command, Young Master.” Kenry Dahlp bowed low, the gesture hiding the swift, practiced movements of his hands as he composed and dispatched an urgent message. Waging a private war against a Queen’s Favored was a deadly gambit. Yet, it was what the Young Master had set out to do, and he could not be allowed to fail. As always, Kenry would ensure his charge emerged victorious, leaving nothing to chance.

Raine KongRu

- The Divide, ZionLine -

The Siege Crandals’ superior senses made exiting combat an impossibility, leaving Raine to carve a path through the sky on foot. Plasma Lances scored the air around him, each near-hit releasing another wave of oppressive heat. Every meter gained was paid for with a precise Lunge or the use of Spectral Slips. He took his time, progressing carefully. A single mistake would see him dead, even from full health. Since that was the case, Flawed Conversion maintained his health at 35% to take full advantage of Greater Werewolf’s Regeneration.

Even now, after using so many skills and draining his Elemental Power, Raine didn’t need to rely on the horn’s frankly outrageous reserves. His Discipline regeneration alone sat at 4.1 per second. Each of his resource pools climbed at a similar pace. In the ten minutes it took for the Heart of Plutus to recover from swapping fractions, he was back to nearly 100%.

He got a good look at his next target while working his way closer—a wounded titan scarred by the Empowered Blasts that still clung to it, sizzling away its health in persistent ticks. He spared a glance at the shield stability, nodding at the predictability of Lucius’s casters. They were on defense, intercepting Venom Shots and rampaging Rabinoids to buy time.

The shield needs to hit at least seventy percent before he’ll risk another volley. Ten more minutes.

A grim smile tugged at his lips. Usually, each Crandal kill was a drawn-out process that could take hours. Still, they were one of the safer options for young nobles of the kingdom, at least the ones who chose to be casters. Lucius was entirely out of his depth. Raine had played this game many times in the past, and against far more cunning opponents.

A fresh horde of Rabinoids burst from the soil, a living carpet of chitin and insectoid determination rushing to protect their colossal kin. Raine accelerated, not bothering to engage them. He swapped Fractions, then dove toward the Crandal. His gray matter stretched with a pleasant ache, Bloodlust reaching farther than ever before to soak the monster in crimson mist.

[Negative affliction applied (Enfeared): Enemy attributes reduced by 20% (Duration 4.59 seconds)]

It took four spins of the Cursed Ring before he found a weapon capable of all the skills he needed. The spear wasn’t as deadly as Last Chance’s Gambit, but its bonus Potency would allow it to get the job done, barely.

[Spear of the Lost Legionnaire: (Lustrous Blue - LVL 35) (Attack Power +157) (DEF +35) (PTC +42) (ACU +15) (PHY +23) (Durability 150/150)]

As before, a swarm of spawn erupted from the beast’s carapace. Raine didn’t waste time fighting them piecemeal. He Lunged in a wide, sweeping circle, gathering them up with the pursuing Rabinoids. Three spread-out Great Divides turned the entire swarm into a shower of Superiority, again split sixty-one ways. It was a tidy bonus to Varak’s people, who were risking their lives supplying him with buffs.

With the chaff cleared, Raine picked up where Lucius left off, chipping away at the Crandal. Instead of only stacking his debuffs and dodging the tail, he added another layer of complexity. He channeled a significant portion of his focus to the tip of his spear, to bloodlust, attempting to recreate the technique he’d used so long ago, in the demonic raid heart. Just because it was foolish to form the alien fractal didn’t mean he could not practice his control.

He danced a deadly tango with the Crandal, using its lashing tail and stomping legs as a whetstone for his instincts. The minutes blurred into a grueling rhythm: debuff, strike, evade, and Flawed Conversion with Fluency of the Soul to refresh his cooldowns. By the time he could swap fractions again, the Crandal’s health dropped to 62%. Raine’s own health hovered just above half; the constant tax from swapping weapons, Prominence of the Fool, and glancing heat waves was kept in check by his steadily improving Life Drain.

Pamalaiha’s voice was a sharp crackle in his skull. “Incoming. Thirty this time, converging on your target.”

Raine’s grin turned feral. Lucius was already growing impatient, and their game had only just begun. The stupid kid’s plan was obvious: layer the volleys, letting the damage-over-time effects from the first soften the monster so the second barrage could finish it all at once. Raine dove toward the base of the Crandal’s tail, positioning the bulk of the monster between himself and the incoming storm.

The Empowered Blasts struck with a cataclysmic roar. A tidal wave of fire washed over him, but the Soul Flame of Amanesh drank the heat, leaving him untouched as the Crandal’s health plummeted.

“Forty more!” Pamalaiha’s warning was clipped, urgent.

He had the timing now. Raine counted down three seconds, watching the Crandal’s health tick to 35%. Hopping back a little further, he raised a hand and extended a glorious finger, pointing not at the Crandal but at the wall in the distance. There was no need to say the skill aloud, but this one was just too satisfying to keep in.

“Elemental Finger,” Raine swore the words like a curse.

A circular mass of soil answered his call, heaving high into the air, forming a tower of pitted rock and bubbling magma that was pitifully small compared to The Wall’s magnificence. It was more than large enough. 

The Siege Crandal was punched in the gut and lifted high. Jets of superheated water shot from the dirt, cutting at the durable creature and dousing it in moisture. Black thunder was unleashed from the cloudy sky in cascading waves to skitter over its body. Heat cooked it from above and below before the evaporated moisture was sucked into a thousand shards of deadly ice that clanged noisily against its chitin.

The attack dealt no damage, but that was never the point. Lucius’s second volley of Empowered Blasts missed their target entirely, crashing harmlessly against the base of the newly formed tower. 

A bark of maniacal laughter slipped out as Raine imagined the apoplectic purple of the noble’s face. The fool had sacrificed another twenty percent of the shield’s integrity for nothing. Taking that much fire all at once, even a slight miscalculation or stroke of bad luck would see the stones of the wall itself being damaged. A mistake of that caliber would result in hefty fines and possibly even some time in a cell.

Before the Crandal could consider a way down, Raine Lunged straight up the side of his construct. By the time he reached the summit, he’d cycled through another seven weapons and topped off his health. He raised the absurdly ornate wand that appeared in his hand and shouted with unrestrained glee.

“PuriPuri Rainbow Release!”

Streamers of vicious light coiled around the Raid Elite, tightening and slicing deep into its shell. [-1,182,411] To Raine’s astonishment, as the Crandal was lifted and then slammed back into the rock column, it didn’t stop being pulled down. The skill was adamant in continuing its destructive descent until its target reached the ground.

That alone wasn’t enough to shock him. In a spectacular cascade of exploding rock and magma, its health bar deteriorated not once or twice, but a dozen times. [-1,182,411] [-1,182,411] [-1,182,411] He had been prepared to use Comet Burst as a finisher, but the monster dissolved into particles long before it reached the bottom.

[You have slain a Siege Crandal (Raid Elite)]

[Level up! +20 free attribute points]

[Potency: +3]

[Finesse: +3]

[Acuity: +3]

[Physique: +3]

[Connection: +4]

Lucius’s scheme had failed again, spectacularly. Yet all Raine could do was stare at the jeweled wand clutched in his fist, profound shock rapidly morphing to a deep foreboding. The weapon had repeatedly proven itself too good. It broke all the rules he knew. Worse, the price he paid to acquire it was infinitesimal compared to its output. 

There was only one type of item that could seemingly ignore the second inviolable law of ZionLine—a curse in disguise: an Uncursed Relic.

It was no wonder Raine didn’t realize it sooner; he had only heard of two like it in the past. Uncursed Relics did not truly ignore the second law; they merely delayed the inevitable challenge. And the longer that delay, the greater the eventual calamity. Both times, entire kingdoms fell. Dynasties were wiped clean from the slate of history, and millions of ZionLine accounts had been scrapped, rather than spend years recovering.

A Vaaterran Ragnarok was coming, and its harbinger was resting in the palm of his hand.

-----------------------------

[Fraction of Elemental Might: (Elemental Power +20%) (CNC +20%) Upon command unleash the Elemental Finger dealing 2500% elemental damage in a 15-meter tower AOE (Cost: 200 EP) (Cooldown: 5 minutes)]