Chapter 10-32 Cadre (IV)

Chapter 10-32 Cadre (IV)

Authority Greatling. There been a problem.



Jhred. He dead?



IIm not sure, Higherthats another problem altogether, Im afraid. Im talking about



[Sound of metal warping inward] That godsdamned Vator. Who did he hurt this time



Not not Instrument Vator either, Higher. Its your daughter.



Abrel?



Yes.



Abrel.



Yes, Higher.



Are you sure?

Im positive, Higher. Instrument Abrel Greatling has been spotted at Mazzas Junction, Nu-Scarrowbur, and then Akimaki in the Yuulden-Yang Sovereignty. She has engaged a rival cadre from Stormtree and there have been casualties. Ruptures. A member of her cadre has met their final end.



[Building shaking; rattling and breaking glass]



... Authority?



Apologize [Deep exhale] To the Ambassador on my behalf. Tell him that this is not meant as a slight on my part. Tell him that personal matters have disrupted my plans.

Yes, Authority Greatling.

-Authority Uthred Greatling, The Fires Height.

10-32

Cadre (IV)

Blooming out from his veins, the haemokinetic broadcast rippled in sync with the waves of his Metamind as ghosts flowed on pulses of blood.

Essus heeded the cast with a note of surprise while Draus simply responded. Slow as time was, her connection to her domains worked just like his. Godhood was not like a muscle to exercise, but a divine machine of feats and lore. The sprawl of glass she made from the shattered bodies of a drone squadron split into two.

One section speared high into the air while the other encased her in a reflective sheen, rendering her a taller, more insectoid-looking cousin to Mirrorhead. The shards of glass she flung into the air climbed at speeds nearing a hundred miles per hour.

For Avo, it might as well have not moved at all.

That was fine. He would go to it in just a moment.

First, he had to see to Chambers continued survival.

Mind blind in the throes of panic, Chambers was so preoccupied with howling his lungs out that Avos thoughtcast went unnoticed. Sinking into the mans perception, the divided plates of Layer Three and the edges of a spatially quarantined district came into view as the ex-enforcer flailed against gravity. Terror stripping him of composure, the thought of manifesting his Heaven was a far one.Ñ00v€l--ß1n hosted the premiere release of this chapter.

At least it was till Avo overwrote the mans fear with an injection of artificial focus.

+Chambers. Listen. Activate Heaven. Get to Draus and Essus. Stick togetherwill convene with you all shortly.+

At his current speed, he would be able to perform countless actions before the ghosts finished delivering the information over. With Sanguinitys Reign, the Nether lag was vastly diminished for reasons Avo wasnt fully sure about, but he wasnt going to complain.

Instead, he was going to continue using it to his advantage.

He strode twice, his being lengthened into stretching bolts of arterial lightning. He kept both movements random, deliberately confusing the pursuing delta while using his vectors to approach Draus rising screen of glass at an angle.

Ah. If it wasnt his old consang, unforeseen consequences.

He spread himself wide and round like a bunker, around his allies. Yet, halfway through his haemokinetic shapeshifting, he felt a most dissonant sensation as Draus sank into him. Right. The Twice-Walker had a canon that let it do that. Didnt it also have the ability to make a demiplanar pathway?

The answer came as some of his blood spilled into a loop; the Twice-Walker created a spatial passageway using itself and his Woundshaper as junctions.

Ah, the Woundshaper laughed. The huntress has thought ahead. Most wise. Go, master. Go and pull the two burdens into our crossway. The Regular has solved several matters of concern concurrently.

He didnt need any further prompting. Reaching out to scoop both Essus and Chambers into the tunnel that shimmered past the surface of his gleaming blood, he found the former most elusive as they blinked from place to place while the latter made a mad dive for him even without prompting.

Ultimately, it was the Lushburner that descended beneath the ichor first while the Gate of the Passing Dark followed. As Avo performed a quick dash to arrive next to Essus, he found that flinging himself outward as lightning did nothing to impede the functionality of the Twice-Walkers Liminal Paracosmos.

Essus Gate stepped one more time and, despite the vastness of its size, it ballooned into shape within Avo as well. Oddly, it seemed to materialize inside his internal passage with a stutter, slipping from one point in reality to another. With motes of blood running through the passageway via Sanguinitys Reign, Avo confirmed the presence of his companions as Essus released himself from the form of his godhood and Chambers soared and dipped around Draus.

Finally, her message loaded.

+Channel this here glass and hang on. I got myself an idea bout our problems. Right now, we aint a real cadre since we dont got all that fancy learnin from Guilder school, but I think I have a way for us to get around the whole separate and apart problem. Gonna create a pathway usin both of us as conduits. After, you can put Essus and the half-strand inside. Make it easier for us to pull a runner.+

She had some ideas of her own indeed.

The sensation of swelling power came to a jolting stop when he felt the first bomb shred through his broadcast. Others followed. Pockets formed in his awareness as Sanguinitys Reign turned porous. Faintly, as more and more blindspots formed in his awareness, he touched one of the platforms responsible for countering him and found it similar to a Sangeists Rendsink.

An instant later, it came apart and ruptured, its contents twitching between mundane blood and alchemized fragments of matter.

The Rend within Avos system spiked. His cog-feed began to wail.

WARNING: REND DETONATIONS DETECTEDDOMAIN: [BLOOD]REND CAPACITY [WOUNDSHAPER]: 71%... 74%... 76%

Immediately withdrawing Sovereigntys Reign to a limit of twenty miles, he strode as he began to make his escape through the opening of Layer Three.

Just as lightning began to jump through him, a translucent wall burst into existence over the opening he was aiming for. He altered his stride, dashing twice as he fled from the first signatures and entered the field of his reduced awareness.

Additional blasts followed. Blood plumed through the falling rain as the last of Avos crimson mist parted from existence. Suppose for influence that vast came a trade-offif he could strike at distant domains using Sanguinitys Reign, so too could it be done the opposite way around.

Another trickle of thoughts from Draus loaded. +Theyre bringin out the Rend-bombs. Theyll eventually herd us out of the sky. Dont bother jumpin aroundLights End is on lockdown. Layer Threell be closed off. We need to find a secluded spot in a district somewhere. Go zero-burn or somethin. Least thats what the Clads I fought with did when they wanted to go miss.+

His attention drifted as rainwater congealed into the shape of the Aegis on the borders of his awareness. It was barely nineteen miles southeast of him, and it was currently swimming through the downpour, rivers of water running free.

And within the wetness, Avo felt another signature sing out to himone he instantly recognized.

Abrel. Abrel who had escaped his grasp time and time again. Abrel, who drove him to break his determination of choice and elevate his allies to godhood. Abrel, who denied him a chance to savor her brothers flesh.

Abrel, who was now floating unconscious, her body flickering in and out of existence as the falling rain formed junctions from the skies above, midnight rivers darting between forking cracks of light. As he focused, he noticed the fortress-like outline of the Aegis and noted the other Godclad funneling her out from the fray.

How auspicious this opportunity was, to be able to kill and devour an entire cadre. And just along the way of his escape, no less.

Hundreds of prismatic trails searched the space behind them from afar. Considerably fewer aerial platforms remained as tides of destruction continued to sweep through the wind. The chaos had given both cadres enough room to flee from the golems and emergency response teams, though their escape remained in question.

Another thing Avo did know was this: He could feel Abrel, but he couldnt touch her or kill her using his Sanguinity. Not with the veil of water protecting her. Not without all her cyclers compromised.

So far away, the metaphysical ripples of Soulfire from his Frame didnt reach far enough to give his position away as he watched the Aegis flee.

He took the opportunity. This was a chance for another two Souls and all the ontologics that came with them. A chance to remove two individuals that possessed knowledge of his capabilities.

Abrel had seen him kill Jhred, after all. There would be questions about where his Frame went. And how.

So, with his mind made and Rend-bombs slowly cascading inward towards his position, Avo strode twice more, diving into forking bolts as he struck the Aegis from behind.

He expected to shear the water from his foeto utterly vaporize their ontological structure.

What he didnt expect was to catch a full blast of Soulfire across his Frame as the Aegis snapped apart into two pieces.

The water around him froze and began falling back upward into the sky. All that flowed strained against forces unseen.

There, still alight with crackling currents running through his bloodstream, Avo found himself at the epicenter of a prolapsed dragon. To his left, the form of a man strained, and to his right, the structure of a water-made castle began to collapse.

WARNING: DAEMON DETECTED



->ASSOCIATED HEAVEN: [AEGIS OF TIDES] - THIRD SPHERE



->REND CAPACITY [AEGIS OF TIDES]: 98%



WATER METAPHYSICS UNRAVELLING



REND SPILLOVER DETECTED