The Narghul Sorcerer was coming, and unlike before, when he was close to before I detected his demonic presence, now I could track it from a distance.
I could feel the Hollow Avatar press up against my consciousness; it was recomnding that it took the center stage, but apart from when it was ti to forge my core, I was going to take on this demon.
The first ti I saw this demon, I had never been so scared in my life. Then he broke apart and took sothing from that I feared I would never get back again, and that was my innocence.
I was a mage, and I know that the world was vast and filled with mysteries, but I was not eager to pursue all of that; the few experiences I had were more than enough to satisfy .
I did not need to travel to all the continents or battle the fiercest beasts, as long as I had few friends I could laugh with over the weekend, take care of my family and hopefully marry a lovely girl one day, I was okay with my life... the world was big, but not all of us wanted to see it all, so of us were okay with a small ho, and few friends.
This demon took that world from ; it showed how fragile my dream was, and I knew from the mont I t it, without any doubt, that he hated and everything I held sacred in my heart.
I hated this demon, but I was a mage, and hate did not rule our spells. If he were coming towards , even without the Avatar, I would make sure that I killed him properly, and from his corpse, I would build a body that no demon would ever break.
The Narghul Sorcerer’s body erged from the bowl’s eastern lip, and I watched him like a hawk. By now, I had morized the shape of his horns, or the way his four eyes burned like suns, I knew the cadence of his voice, and after I was done with him, I would know this demon better than he knew himself; not even if he had a lover would they know him more than .
The Narghul Sorcerer paused when he saw , and then he did sothing strange: he stared at my chest, and I wondered if he could tell I had a core inside , or if he could hear how supernaturally slow my heartbeat was.
He spoke, and he did not use that demonic speech that landed inside my soul, just the common tongue, and it almost hurt that his voice was one of the most silky smooth voices I have ever heard in my life.
"Mortal child, you have great talent, and I do not see fear in your heart. Bow before , and I shall give you powers beyond your wildest dreams."
I blinked. This was not how the script was supposed to go. This fucker was to co over here and call a cattle, blast with their corruption magic, and I zap them to death.
There was already a frawork for this battle in my head, and for a mont, I was silent, then my mouth spoke faster than my head could catch up.
"Bow? To you?" I laughed. It ca out a little too high and a little too sharp. "Yeah, no. I’ve seen what happens to people who bow to you. Doesn’t end well." My voice was low as the forced levity went out of it, and I whispered, "They kill everyone I love."
The Narghul Sorcerer’s four burning eyes narrowed. He had expected fear or confusion, and all I was showing him was sadness and tiredness.
"You speak foolishly, mortal child. I have burned worlds for speaking—"
"Old. Yes. Very impressive. Can we skip the villain monologue?" My grip tightened on the staff. "I’ve had a long morning. Lots of killing, and it’s very tedious. I am sure that a demon like you would understand."
The demon’s jaw tightened, and whatever interest he had seen in was gone as his right hand rose, and a red fireball began to gather over his palm.
I did not wait for him to finish as I activated one of my latest Broken-Celestial Skills... Lightning Incarnate.
∞
I am going to slow down here, because the next five seconds were the most impossible five seconds of my life so far, and I want to do them justice.
The body that had been Elric Voss, dispersed.
I did not feel pain, what I felt was sothing I do not have a clean word for, the sensation of being more.
My body had been a single point of awareness, Lightning Incarnate transford it into a substrate of awareness. I was the field, and I was my staff, I was the Conductive Leash running through what remained of the Khaaz formation, I was the twelve directed arcs, I was the saturated air inside the sphere, I was the Cor Telluris core, which was now the brightest point in the lightning’s structure.
By all the light in heaven, I know what I was saying did not make much sense, but how else could I describe what it feels like to be made up of flesh, blood, and bone in one mont, and in the next, you are lightning.
I had eyes everywhere within the field. Storm Sense, when I was Lightning Incarnate, was now the way I observed the world, the way water is wet from the inside.
Ti slowed.
The lightning was not actually moving slowly; I was just moving at the speed of voltage, which ant the world around was relatively still.
The Sorcerer’s hand, with the fla orb still growing above his palm, stopped in mid-motion, and I crossed the eight tres in zero ti.
This was the part I had been most curious about. Zero ti did not an fast; zero ti ant no duration was experienced.
I was standing eight ters away, and then I was at the Sorcerer’s chest, and the transition did not have an interdiate state. I was simply at the new position.
The Stormbound Fuchsia was in my hand because I was the Stormbound Fuchsia, and the staff and the hand and the lightning were the sa substrate.
I drove the staff into the Sorcerer’s cardiac chamber, and I was barely slowed by the innate Abyssal shield surrounding his body.
User Comments
0 comments from readers