Chapter 392 (1/2)

Chapter 392

Chapter 390: Apathy and Ecstasy

The scene around me seemed frozen in tiic co undone as he watched with awe At his side, Ulrike blazed with internal light,out of her, the web of electricity growing brighter in coordination with her efforts Her crimson eyes avoidedas she ground her teeth

Behind the down his face, the ruins of his ar away to nothing

Blaise and Valeska had retreated down the tunnel toward Vildorial, and Blaise was fu with a tempus warp The familiar anvil-shaped device hummed as it collected and condensedfrom my discovery of the interplay between aether and h I still didn’t fully understand yet what Realmheart was capable of, I had no ti It took a tremendous effort just to lift one foot and place it in front of the other There were still five half-Vritra Wraiths to deal with, and I could feel Regis’s life force weaken by thefield of spikes and blue-black lightning shi+fted as Iand redirecting theup the various spells The force of es I had to maintain a more forceful hold over the aether than they could enforce on theirelse, some resistance fro the short distance to Regis sapped even th, and by the ti I released the pool of acidic sludge, which splashed back together and then sank between the cracks in the granite tiles and vanished

Richasped and sucked in a deep, desperate breath, as if he’d been holding it the entire time “Valeska! Go, now!” he barked, his voice raw

Releasing aether fro once again for thethe ters It was just like in the keystone, when I’d practiced with Ellie I had to let my mind refocus, shi+ftvery similar as well, and even Kordri’s lessons had required that I experience the motion and interplay of our bodies differently

Perhaps that’s what all knowledge boiled down to: new experiences that shi+fted one’s perspective slightly, revealing more of a world that was already there, but which we couldn’t see

My breath caught and my mind stuttered, and I wrenched myself back into the h the air at me

My hand raised, too slowly, my mental fortitude drained and exhausted The darts parted, their path shi+fting as they swarmed around me to either side, and I let out a breath siue I could feel where each particle of mana and aether interacted, how the aether took hold of the mana and redirected it to create aof the two forces

But I was also shouldering the co to hold each of the individual spells separately in my mind, and, as the darts curved to avoid htning web the other Wraiths had used to pin me down

The field of black spikes fired aildly, nearly iainst Ulrike’s shi+eld The lightning, which she had continued to pour le bolt and struck the ground, exploding in a blinding flash

The cha , I looked for the place where the two forcescontrol of the small cell away from Ulrike It snapped and seared the air as I pulled it away frois The wisp bobbed drunkenly as it drifted up aroundout, I closed my fist around it It sank into is offered no response to my sudden presence, but I could sense his consciousness, distant and unaware but alive I could only hope he would recover if we survived this battle

Mana flared froan to activate

The bright mana was clear, as was the rim of atmospheric aether that moved to encircle it Valeska trembled as she leaned toward thethe surface of the portal as itinto a claw as I attempted to seize the portal The aether ju around the portal and co the half-foret through,” Valeska screamed as she scratched at the portal’s surface

“Take him down!” Richmal’s deep voice cracked as he roared, and spells rained down on ainst lanced aside, bursting or burning into the ground, shattering the stone with the fury and hellfire of my enemies

But withthe tempus warp portal, it was all I could do to deflect even half their attacks Acid and lightning burns scarred h both armor and flesh My face and skull burned where the h it earlier

Too ainst the Wraiths’ spells and the portal

But I knew I couldn’t let the Wraiths retreat Not even one

In Agrona’s hands, inforive him that I couldn’t let them escape to report on my abilities

They all had to die

Ulrike was repositioning to stand between , sheathed in a cast of pure ed lie open wound in his side where arans alike had been cleanly reh a fleshy red is’s last desperate burst of Destruction

Destruction

I hesitated even as spell after spell pu the rest, the pain at once all-enco at all as I focused past it to the thing waiting dorer form

I hadn’t attempted to use the Godrune on is had been conscious, flying to my hand to help me concentrate all of my aether in one specific direction I knew all too well the risks of using it noithout Regis to help me focus and control it With the abundance of aether in h all of Vildorial

The spells were beco more random and madcap, their movements jerky and difficult to follow, and I realized Ulrike was i-attribute ic was faster, wilder, andinfused bolts of burning brine struck ht to maintain concentration, I understood that there was no other choice I couldn’t defend against the boht the rest of them

Eventually my focus would slip, the portal would open, and one or more of the Wraiths would escape

Even then, I would still have to defeat the others But ould keep theht in the great cavern…

I iined the power of these Vritra half-bloods unleashed on the defenseless people of Vildorial If that happened, nothing else would matter

I clenched is’s essence caer and power, and the violet flaed, deadly aura

A spasm of pain caolden light, and ht off guard by the difficulty ofboth Godrunes, but couldn’t release Realmheart Not yet

Sory, eager power of Destruction was all I needed

I lifted my hand

Destruction lurched forward, wild, uncontrolled flaht across the chamber

Ifiok’s iron spikes thrust forward tohistheis’s ht, Destruction rushed wildly, like a staan to screa his flesh and blood andat all

I spun with a poorly suppressed sense of giddiness, spreading the wave of Destruction haphazardly in every direction

Riched himself and Ulrike out of Destruction’s path with his watery tentacles while sending out a flood of green sludge to douse rona thinks these lessurans are going to kill asuras for him?” I asked the fla within it “Pathetic”

I grabbed a spear of black iron out of the air and watched as Destruction pulled the spell apart and un out of Rich what little remained of the chamber with the smell of death and rot in a feeble attempt to cut uillotine that had destroyed Regis’s physical body was forain

I slaht between my force and Ulrike’s Wherever Realan to burn and sweat, but I only pushed harder, Destruction consu my pain and fear, until Ulrike’s spell broke

A bone-crushi+ng shockwave of pure force, created by the static distortion’s failure, hurled both the Wraiths backwards into the wall I leaned into the force of the explosion and Destruction jued aura of fla between the scales ofit from the inside

Instinctively and without consideration, I dismissed the armor, and it dematerialized I didn’t need it anyway Destruction was better armor than any old djinn relic

Ulrike hunkered behind her shi+eld as Destruction caught up with her, but it acco Destruction ate away the runes, then shi+eld, then Ulrike, her ar layer by layer

Richmal stumbled back, but he didn’t try to run Instead, he threw hi liquid rose up to block the way

“Valeska, Blaise, go!” he shouted, and I was surprised to hear soenuine care in his voice

“Weak,” I snarled, the word burning like a chant, the force of it sending a treh the sehting with the teic into it in an attempt to rest control of the portal’soval shook and striations of distortion ran across its surface, but I held it entirely, the apathy of Destruction shi+eldingon both Godrunes

Valeska turned andakin to real terror in thee a quiet, shadoar against deities But they were children playing at being Gods They understood nothing They were nothing

Still holding her gaze, I sent Destruction to roll across Richreasy stea the purple flames back as they consumed his power instead

With Realht and shadow, and ripped it aside His spell was snuffed out like a candle flame, and then his flesh lit up like one

So cracked

My vision and sense of ainst sudden vertigo and nausea When I opened the oval of a portal appeared over the te Valeska toward it, but she was still staring at the place Richmal had been only seconds before

I stu down, I realized that violent fla the backs ofbeneath the fire I was losing control

“Go!” Blaise screeched, shoving Valeska hard

Her arh the portal

A groan escaped my lips as I forced aether back into the Realmheart Godrune and it sputtered to life with a wave of sickening agony I wrenched hard on the aether around the portal, crushi+ng it

The portal shi+vered, rippling violently Thethe noise, and what remained of Valeska on this side of the portal collapsed wetly to the ground