Unbound

Chapter Seven Hundred And Thirty One – 731

Felix stood from the devastation of his landing, Perception flared. Redcloaks were dead all around him, torn by elemental forces and simple Strength. More died by the second as the Janus Hydras rampaged across the flanks, making their way to the center of the zealots. In the distance, he saw the Dragoons rallying behind Vess, while Beef and the others led a charge behind the nearest Hydras.

The tide was broken. The entire Hierocratic army faced defeat, and if he applied himself he could see it done sooner—yet he didn’t care.

He wasn’t there for them.

“Felix Nevarre!”

Imara walked across the trampled field, two massive swords in her hands. Her armor was caked with dirt yet all of it still gleamed with an inner light.

Felix’s Spirit raged at the sight of her. “Gabby.”

“That is not my name,” the woman insisted. A pulse of gold thrummed around her shoulders. “That is a shadow. A lie you placed into my head.”

“It’s the truth, Gabby. You’re my sis—”

“Lies! The Light reveals the truth.”

“Then kneel.” She brandished her swords and the blades heated up until they were white-hot and the air distorted around them. “Your death will be swift.”

Felix set himself, his hooked sword in a high guard. “Bring it on.”

Imara shouted and the golden glow around her strengthened until it spread from her back. A mantle of blinding light flowed from her shoulders and around her head, as if the sun had gathered just behind her hair. Armor formed around her body, translucent golden panels that weren’t giant but fit her like a glove instead. Sleek and dangerous.

Around her a hundred blades made entirely of light formed, spinning in a kaleidoscopic pattern.

“You have no arrays to employ or elementals to sacrifice themselves for you this time,” she mocked. “Show me your real strength.”

She kicked off the earth, and the blades shot outward.

Sovereign of Flesh!

Felix’s Body burst, expanding with muscle and bone as thick, midnight scales crawled across his chest and limbs. Arms and legs elongated, the Behemoth Feature proving its worth as his entire Body grew to titanic scale. He stepped forward, twenty feet tall and half as wide, and met her blades with a single, swiping claw.

They shattered, becoming nothing more than liquid Mana.

Empyrean Embrace!

He consumed them all.

To her credit, Imara didn’t hesitate but came at him with death in her gaze. Her true swords blazed, spinning to deflect his talons before slicing into his forearm and knee. Felix didn’t even feel it before it healed, and he kicked her away. She took the blow, folding with it, before getting launched two hundred feet away to crash into her own soldiers, turning them all into red paste and crushed golden armor.

The light Mana traveled straight into Felix’s Hunger. She roared in pleasure and mounting greed.

More!

You got it.

Felix advanced toward his distant foe, but a shout from the side commanded his attention.

A man charged from the left, borne within a massive set of golden Mana armor, as were the thirty Inquisitors that followed in his wake. “Protect the Chosen! Kill the heretic!”

“Yes, Inquisitor Bellar!”

They bore conjured blades of gleaming light and righteous fury sang from each and every one. Felix hesitated. The surety in their Spirits convinced him that he’d have to deal with them before he could fight Imara all out…at least until he heard the shriek.

The Inquisitors were too intent on Felix’s demise that they missed it. At last until several tons of Chimera barrelled into them from above. Several were crushed to the earth, their Mana armor shattering instantly, while the rest were sent flying by a Talon of Tumult.

Bellar spun, bringing his giant weapon to bear on the Storm Tyrant, but was met by Skyslain’s Riposte. The pressure from the impact alone tore through the ground and bisected two nearby Inquisitors. The man howled at the top of his lungs, clearly putting all his Strength into his weapon.

“You cannot defy the Light!” he cried. He forced Pit back step by step before attempting to throw a punch with his free hand.

Pit dodged the massive Mana armor’s left hook and darted away, his bulk careening through redcloaks and shredding them with his crystalline claws. Bellar followed.

I got this, Felix! Save your sister!

Kick his ass, bud!

I wil—Watch out!

Felix’s Perception caught the movement too late to dodge, as an enormous golden warrior tackled him into the dirt. Earth exploded around them as they slid, stones and loam thrown outward in a wave as Felix grappled with Imara, now clad in her own giant Mana armor.

“Fury’s Cascade!” she bellowed into his face, and a beam of concentrated light blasted out of her Mana armor’s helmet. It struck against Felix’s chest, cutting through scale and muscle with an incredible amount of heat.

Sovereign of Flesh is level 101!

…

Sovereign of Flesh is level 110!

“Gah! Nope!” He clamped a hand over her false face and wrenched it to the side before chomping down where neck met shoulder. His immense, scaled jaws snapped through panels of crystallized Mana with ease, and with a shove Felix tore a massive chunk out of her conjured gorget and pauldron.

To Felix’s surprise, once his mouth was full of solidified Mana, Empyrean Embrace activated automatically. It broke apart, funneling immediately into his core space.

Empyrean Embrace is level 101!

…

Empyrean Embrace is level 109!

More!

Imara stabbed at his eyes with her clawed gauntlets, but he kicked out again. She shot backward, not nearly as far as before, but giving him enough space to stand up. That was all the time he had however, as Imara closed the distance again, now wielding a massive golden greatsword. Felix met her with his bare hands and talons, deflecting and parrying her lightning fast blows.

They ranged across the field, stomping through the lines of warriors with abandon as both sides raced to evade their path. Imara pressed him, her sword a blur, taking off scales with every other stroke. Felix healed and fought, matching her speed over and over, until his only limitation was the wind whipping across his massive arms and legs. Their moves concussed the air, shattering the sound barrier with every blow.

He broke panels of her armor, eating them when he could, but more always appeared. That mantle and halo around her only grew, becoming more intense the greater her injuries, then fading as they healed.

Emperor’s Vigilance!

Information flowed through him. Not just level, Race, and name, but more ephemeral concepts. He could feel her advancement at Master Tier, just as he could feel it being artificially boosted to Grandmaster on top of her already ridiculous stats. More importantly, he became suddenly aware of a golden silhouette hovering close behind her—too close.

Emperor’s Vigilance is level 101!

…

Emperor’s Vigilance is level 111!

The Pathless! The halo and mantle…all of it was a connection to her god. A Link.

Within him, a familiar, dangerous force stirred. A monster he’d unleashed only a few times, and then only by paying a terrible toll.

This time, however, he was a changed man.

His Pillars chimed with the turmoil within him, no longer quaking but resonating as his Tenth gave him a newfound stability…and his Core Manifestation made itself known.

Claws tore from him, bursting free of every single Mana Gate at once, to manifest above him in a rain of domineering violet light. Not one, but two fists that resembled his own but on a far larger scale, both affixed to wrists and forearms studded with red-gold spikes and midnight scales.

It’s upgraded, he realized. Cool.

Imara swung for him but he trapped her weapon with his physical arms…and seized her golden mantle with his Core Manifestation. Within her translucent armor, she choked, eyes wide with sudden terror.

Empyrean Embrace!

His Skill snapped at the power in his hands, but it could not be taken. It was as if the power was anchored to something far weightier than a single Unbound. He clutched harder with his Core Manifestation and her summoned armor shattered, but that Link remained.

Imara screamed in fruitless fury, and a beam of that incandescent heat blasted him in the chest again, forcing him to twist his grip on her mantle. Like a puppet getting its strings yanked, her body followed, and the beam blew into the sky instead.

He shook her. “Wake up, Gabby!”

“Release me!” she demanded.

She wasn’t listening, and he couldn’t hold his Core Manifestation forever. Already he felt it straining the edges of his Aspects.

If he wanted to, Felix knew deep down that he could end their conflict right then. Helpless as she was, he could tear through her with his talons and take the Pathless’ Vessel away from him.

And Gabby would die. No.

Unite the Lost!

The Skill unfurled within him, mobilized by the gathering of significance within his core space before it flashed through both of his palm Gates. It struck Imara and she screamed. As before, his Skill came up against the Pathless’ power and found no crack or seam through which it could act.

It…won’t work like this.

Unite the Lost is level 95!

Laughter echoed across the sky, and the mantle around Imara became suddenly an opaque, hexagonal pillar reaching into the clouds. Foolish! My Power Runs Through My Chosen More Completely Than Ever, Nevarre. You Cannot Take Her. Unbound Or Not, You Are Still Just Mortal.

“Watch me!” Felix’s phantom arms clenched, and the surface of the pillar gave way. His fists sank deep into that golden light as the heavens cried out in alarm.

What are you—BACK! This Is Not Allowed!

With all of his Strength, Might, and Willpower, Felix hauled back on his Core Manifestation. The arms trembled, moving only inches at a time, but moving nonetheless. The pillar bulged, filling with even more radiance as something came closer, like a monster rising from beneath the waves.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Title Activated: The Call of Defiance!

+25% Willpower When Contested By A Foe Of Divine Formation Or Greater

His vast Will slammed against the Pathless’ own, grappling with it in a sense beyond physical that Felix could barely comprehend. Yet his claws could not be shaken loose.

Felix didn’t need to understand something to break it.

A dissonant screech cut through the battlefield, carried along a concussive wave that sent warriors and mages sprawling in all directions. The pillar connecting Imara to the heavens shattered, and his sister screamed as if someone had cut out her heart.

His Core Manifestations flickered and faded, leaving behind a ragged ache across every piece of him. Felix staggered, and threw up an arm to shield his eyes as light bloomed, brighter than the sun and twice as blinding. Within it, a figure crouched upon the battlefield, scorching the mud until it baked hard as stone. He stood, and the strange angles of his form were against all reason. His face was a shining disc, a sun to the moon of his fellow divinities. His unnatural body was twice his size and armored like an Inquisitor, but too many limbs stretched from him, tendrils and appendages that bent in uncertain directions.

A man, yet not.

A god.

How… The Pathless looked at his hands and body. How Have You Done This?

“I told Siva already.” Felix squared his stance against the enormous, forty-foot being. “I’m special.”

You Are Nothing But A Defiant Child, And I Tire Of Your Impertinence!

There was no warning before the Pathless hit him, only sudden, savage pain and a sensation of falling. He crashed, impacting dirt, stone, and tree trunks that snapped as he tore through them.

Lay of the Unfallen is level 123!

Trees?

Felix got to his feet, and around him was a thick forest. There was no sign of Pax’Vrell or the armies…only a path of devastation that led back into and through a high hill. The Pathless had hit him hard enough to send him across the countryside.

You Still Stand. The Pathless landed with a soft thump. Around him, the forest ignited.

“Takes more than a punch to take me out,” Felix growled, and electricity crackled across his dark limbs. “Adamant Discord!”

You Are Not Enough.

He zipped forward on a tether of lightning and threw a vicious right jab. The Pathless stepped forward, grabbing Felix’s wrist and driving his knee straight up and into his gut. Liquid gold burst from their point of contact and pain lanced across his abdomen as he was shot straight into the sky.

Adamant Discord!

Lighting shot from six different angles as Felix blasted through clouds and into the brilliant blue. He stabilized himself just as a flare of light announced the arrival of his foe. Felix seized upon a tether and hauled himself to the side, evading the Pathless as he shot upward like a comet.

Sonata of Dominance!

Astrum Ascendence!

Essence and Mana poured from Felix as he claimed a portion of the sky as his own, including where the Pathless passed through.

Sonata of Dominance is level 105!

…

Sonata of Dominance is level 115!

Astrum Ascendence is level 111!

…

Astrum Ascendence is level 115!

Light and fire and heat fled the god’s control for a single instant. Cosmic flame burst from his hands as black acid and lightning congealed into a replica of his hooked sword. In the same moment the Pathless’ control wavered, Felix struck.

His blade opened up the god’s chest, cutting through armor and gleaming flesh with startling ease. Golden ichor spewed from him, running across his abdomen and falling to the ground like rain. The Pathless shouted in pain and fury, before his voice boomed across the heavens.

RADIANT EDICT!

A beam of solid light blasted from the sun itself, too fast to dodge and too powerful to deny. Felix was set ablaze and bowled over, his nerves set alight and his core space spasming under relentless assault. He lost his grip on Adamant Discord and was blasted out of the sky.

He hit another hill, this time cratering it in an explosion of dust and tree.

Aureate Subjugation!

Divine Injunction!

A wave of tainted gold surged through Felix, bringing with it a shivering weakness that assaulted his limbs and chest.

Status Condition: Weakened

All Stats Reduced By Half

On the heels of the wave, chains of solidified light burst from the earth to affix themselves to his ankles, wrists, and neck. He crashed to his knees, chains pulled taut, and found himself utterly unable to move.

Now, said the Pathless as he descended gracefully from above. He carried with him a light shaped replica of Felix’s sword. Remind Me Again How Special You Are.

Felix glared at the god, staring into the incomprehensible geometries of his body without flinching.

Such Defiance! If Only You Had Fallen Into My Reach First. You Would Have Led This World To Such Glory. The Pathless sighed. Now You Must Die. The Poison Of Your Primordial Stink Cannot Be Tolerated.

He lifted a hand, fingers spread. I Will Save This World From You.

Order’s Reckoning.

Nine beams of light dropped from the sky around Felix, each one a dozen feet thick and exploding the earth where it touched down. Violent winds kicked up between them, carrying streaks of the beam’s light along with them. Wherever that light touched, the ground bent and twisted, forming into geometric shapes that piled atop one another like a crazed child’s building blocks. The winds and light turned, spinning now in a hurricane of transmuting light.

Goodbye, Felix Nevarre.

It tightened, wind and light rushing into a singular pillar of raging power.

Core Manifestation!

His weakened stats trembled, unable to withstand the force of his power, and Felix screamed louder than any storm or spell. His Aspects bucked, damage cascading across his Mind, Spirit, and Body—but Felix forced it through, just the same.

Lay of the Unfallen is level 124!

Sovereign of Flesh is level 118!

One fist shoved upward, blocking the full force of the Pathless’ power, while his other slammed the earth, shattering the golden chains.

Status Condition: Weakened

Status Condition Ended!

Stride of the King!

Felix charged through the haze of light and storm, and tackled the Pathless. The god shouted in alarm, unable to dodge out of the way as Felix carried them both off the side of the hill and into the air.

Felix’s manifested arms and his true limbs grappled with the god, clawing into his golden flesh as they careened back into the battlefield. Together, they crashed into the back lines of the Hierocracy, killing thousands and maiming hundreds of others as their limbs thrashed against one another.

You Cannot Defeat Me, Nevarre! I Am A God!

“I’ve eaten worse!” Felix snapped his jaws at the Pathless, but a pair of strange limbs held him at bay. Others tangled with his arms that even now pummeled at the god’s golden body.

You—! You Haven’t The Power!

The Pathless kicked at him, but Felix held on, neither sets of his arms releasing their grip.

“Power?” Like a match sparking to life, inspiration surged through Felix’s weary Mind. Mana, Essence, and significance. That was power. “Let me show you mine!”

He fed all he could spare into his Hunger.

YES! his Hunger roared, and the sound of it reverberated through every inch of his Aspects. MORE!

He’s right here! Come and get him!

Something shifted inside of Felix, a creature that was bigger than any he had ever known. It rose, pieces of it surfacing within his Hunger’s event horizon as his core space trembled with unmitigated Need.

Felix’s eyes burned brilliant blue and the air above him split, revealing a patch of endless, star-filled night and rows upon rows of wicked teeth.

MORE!

His Core Manifestation lunged for the Pathless, and the god put up his arm and blazed with light.

The maw bit his hand clean off.

The Pathless bellowed, horror and fear so strong that it infected all those around them. The redcloaks ran, tripping over themselves in mindless panic.

Godflesh. His Hunger practically cooed. Power flared in Felix in a way he had not anticipated, and for a moment he was blind to the outside world. All he could perceive was the mountain of Mana, Essence, and significance that inundated his core space, bathing all he had in gold. The moment the hand of the Pathless passed beyond the event horizon though, an eerie sensation bubbled up.

Triumph…vengeance…and something ancient.

Face me, Coward in White! Felix said, a passenger in his own Body. More words climbed onto his tongue. Come for me as you came for my siblings!

The Pathless, now several dozen feet away and clutching his stump, stared at Felix with horror. Cardinal.

Felix shook off the words, and bared his teeth. Disembodied and otherwise. "Scared?"

The Pathless ran.

Adamant Discord!

Tethers of lightning stabbed through the god and wrench him backward. It was easier than ever before, as if he had lost something vital. His manifested jaws snapped, missing the Pathless by inches as the coward flared his power.

Golden spikes twenty feet tall manifested around the Pathless and slammed home into the earth. The impact jarred Felix in more ways than simply physically, but he couldn’t focus on that.

Empyrean Embrace!

Chains glimmered into reality and into the Pathless’ hands, even as Felix’s Hunger pulled at him. The spikes shifted, ripping through the muddy field and exposing a stretch of infinite darkness.

Empyrean Embrace is level 110!

…

Empyrean Embrace is level 119!

The Void. Felix started, feeling a sudden pull toward that blank nothingness. He ground his heels into the mud and braced himself. The Pathless dragged himself forward, out of Felix’s reach.

Empyrean Embrace!

His Hunger roared through his Core Manifestation, and the draw of its power yanked the Pathless back.

Just…a little more!

Hands emerge from the Void, skeletal and burning with crimson and gold. Cold fear settled into Felix’s gut. Avet! He couldn’t face two gods. He wouldn’t survive.

BROTHER! the Pathless cried. Aid Me!

Avet’s hands reached out, grasping Pathless around each of his leading arms. The tear in the Realm widened, revealing a bright slash in the dark, and teeth that shone crimson and gold.

Let Chaos Reign.

The hands twisted, exerting some Divine force and shattering the chains. The golden spikes vanished, as did the rip in the world, but not before Avet threw the Pathless.

Felix surged forward, maw gleaming, and bit off his legs.

Empyrean Embrace is level 120!

More power than ever rioted through his core space. It overwhelmed Felix’s senses, forcing him back into himself to bolster the edges of his internal world. The Pathless’ power tried to escape, clawing its way back up, but the Sealing array kept it contained, refusing to even allow it purchase upon the opalescent lattice around his core space.

Stores of Essence, Mana, and significance filled themselves up to bursting, and his Divine Tree was festooned with a galaxy’s worth of nebula leaves, and there was still so much more. Too much for him to handle without rupturing at the seams.

Hunger! Take it!

Gladly!

His Hunger pulled the power within her dark embrace, and it simply vanished.

Felix opened his eyes. He was normal-sized again, no more than six and a half feet tall, and his scales had all vanished. His attention had been so consumed that he must have lost grip on his Skill. He stood up, groaning in pain, but it was nothing compared to what lay before him.

The Pathless was stretched out on the ground, bleeding golden light from his severed waist. It distorted the air and earth both, twisting smoke into geometric tangles and dirt into crystalline mazes.

Unbound… You Bastard…

Felix walked to the god’s face just as the shining illumination in it faded. For the first time, he gazed into the true features of the Coward In White.

He was monstrous. The flesh of his face was twisted, riddled with tendons stretched in odd geometric patterns over cavernous holes. Most unnervingly was his mouth: it was normal, even down to the white teeth and pink tongue.

You Gaze Upon Truth, Felix Nevarre. Upon Order Itself.

"I'm looking at ten pounds of ugly in a five pound bag," Felix said through his bloodied teeth.

You Would Devour A God, Cardinal? Is it Revenge You Seek?

"You stole my sister and wiped her memory, you sanctimonious piece of shit."

The Chosen Means Little But A Means To An End. I Would Give Her Up, Restore Her Memories, If We Can Come To An...Agreement.

"You fucks always wanna make a deal," Felix growled. "How about I kill you and take the memories back myself?"

You--! I Am All That Has Remained On This World! All That Has Kept Creation Singing! Strike Me Down, And I Can No Longer Stop The Inevitable. Ruin Will Be Upon You And All You Hold Dear.

Felix hesitated. Not out of indecision, but because he needed to know. "What is the Ruin?"

More Than An Urge. Less Than A God.

Felix stabbed his hooked sword into the Pathless' weeping wound. The god of light and order screamed so hard the ground split into smoking fissures all around them.

"Stop! Obfuscating!"

It Is Against Ouranic Law---!

"Do you think I care about that? What is it? And while your at it, explain why you summoned it in the first place!"

The Pathless’ many, twitching eyes blinked. I Did Not Summon It. I Cannot. The Ruin Is Beyond Our Control. It—

SILENCE.

Authority unlike anything Felix had ever felt fell upon the battlefield, accompanied by five familiar voices. Above, the heavens pulsed, the blue expanse twisting as ephemeral energies spun in strange patterns Felix couldn’t understand. From the horizon all five moons ascended the sky and the entire world went quiet.

Clouds boiled and the skies darkened. Not night, but to an unnatural black that spread from the five moons as if their very presence charred the firmament.

A force threw Felix back, smashing away his Core Manifestation. The power was too much for him to even remain standing, let alone do anything as silvered shadows swirled around the Pathless’ still-living torso. The golden god smiled.

See You Soon, Nevarre.

He vanished, transported away by Divine might.

We Will Be Taking Her As Well, Bondbreaker.

“What?” Felix’s head snapped up and he fought against the pressure holding him down. In the distance, another swirl of silvered shadows struck. “No!”

They had taken Gabby.

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