Duke Waters spun through the emptiness of space and launched a dozen [Water Scythe]s at the squad of generals who were trying to stop him from massacring their troops. It was quite rude of them. Hed so much rather be back with Liz, Matt, and Aster, congratulating them for a job well done and ssing with them back in the ho base, but the Republic just had to launch a deep strike. Honestly, didnt they know how this sort of thing was done? You had to give the newbies a few softballs, and not pull aside their senior Ascender to answer a stupid invasion. And then another, and another, and another.
It was just rude.
Sure, normally it wouldnt be that much of an issue. It was an easy enough mission of the sort he usually liked, just enough pressure to be fun. But damn it, he was missing all the good parts of watching a new pair of Ascenders being brought into the fold.
He couldnt even slap the kids around a bit to keep their heads from getting too big.
Oh well.
General Grotesques fired off an array of decay needles. They slamd into his side with almost no resistance and began to liquefy his flesh.
Oh no. However might a water mage manage to survive being turned to liquid?
Water flowed from his side, carrying the poison with it and coalescing into a clone of himself, an Edgier And Cooler Abyssal Duke Waters complete with all kinds of murky water and glowing red eyes. It charged at the people responsible for its creation, ting out proper justice while the main Duke Waters called upon his Anchor, letting the ocean inside him refill the tiny amount of water that had splashed away.
What kind of mortal could harm an ocean? They were all hopeless before its overwhelming might. No attack could do more than cause a few ripples.
Not that he was fighting mortals, but hey, it wasnt like he was always an ocean.
The other two generals, Tivus and Regta, outflanked and tried to destroy his clone, but hadnt accounted for the incredible pressure of the abyssal ocean. Tivus sword crumpled like paper as it passed through the black water, while Regtas bullets just vanished into the inky depths.
Then the water exploded and coated them, and they began to feel the unending pressure of the ocean. The surrender notice ca, and he relented.
Danger rang out from behind him, and Duke Waters twisted just a mont too slowly.
A searing bolt of pain punched through his chest, sending the ocean within into turmoil, but he leashed the power before it could spiral out of control. Instead, he locked on just who had landed the blow.
Yuvgret. Now leading a bunch of discount Graduates instead of the normal flunkies he liked to boss around. Figured.
Fucking assholes had been hiding in a spatial fold or sothing and used the rest of the army as bait.
He had suspected sothing like that might be up when he heard a Tier 35 army had jumped over the established line of battle. He had just assud he was wrong when they didnt appear after he killed the first of the generals. Waiting until after the surrender ca in was impressive dedication. Not against the rules of war, because this attack group clearly wasnt part of the army, but it was just kinda cheap.
Not that Duke Waters was a cheap date. Hed make them pay full price.
Of course, before he killed them, he had a few questions. While normally he might have asked out loud, his lungs were quite inconsiderately not healing, and it wasnt the sa to talk using just his Domain if he couldnt accompany it with an appropriately nacing laugh from his own lips.
So he settled for sending it on his AI.That stung. What was it?
Rugrat and Blake, the team's lee fighters, rushed forward with earthen shields raised.
Seriously, the Republic had just lost all sense of proper procedure in this war. The quips were half the fun! But noooo, apparently President Janet wanted to take this seriously and the elites were actually listening to her. Bah, at least Maya had kept her head about all this. Hed gladly take her or On The Last Line, they appreciated the importance of proper mid-fight banter.
Hell, even Light could get chatty if you hit the kids right buttons. Because he knew how it was done!
The InSects were always a laugh with their grandiosity, the Feddies couldnt stop themselves from yelling out hilarious insults, but these punks? They just kept refusing to have a philosophical conversation with him during the middle of a life-or-death battle! No self-important last words, not even a good old For the Republic!
Shaful.
He flushed himself with mana and willpower, trying to reset his body to regain access to his lungs and glorious voice. Unfortunately, whatever stupid attack theyd hit him with wasnt so easily washed away, but he tided himself over by reassuring himself that the attempted Domain damage he could sense had just splashed harmlessly off him.
If that was the best the Republic could do as an anti-Duke Waters opening shot, it was fucking embarrassing.
Involuntarily, he coughed up so blood and noticed there was actually a curse hidden inside whatever he had been inflicted with.
Ok, so maybe it wasnt a totally awful attempt. If the Domain portion had worked, which it couldnt because he was the best at Domains, he would have been in serious trouble.
Rugrat cast so earth based spell that tried to ensnare him, but a [Washing a-Wave] dispelled it, the stone ending up very firmly lost at sea. While normally the dispel would have ended there, he called on his Concept to keep it running, rushing over to the next attack.
A flurry of molten blades was eaten by his spell at the cost of a negligible amount of willpower, but he must have surprised Yuvgrets team, as they werent reinforcing their spells with their Domains beyond the basics.
Interesting. So they had really expected that initial bolt to disable his Domain. How fascinating. How foolish.
He manifested a bubble as a spell focus, overcharged it, and popped it. Torrents of water flooded forth, blasting into the pitiful fire and air-based walls Yuvgret, Kimberly, and Dlassa were sheltering behind. He enhanced them with his Domain, and fire and air gave way to the superior elent.
Currents of power, unleashed through his Intent, ripped and tore at his opponents, and while Kimberly and Dlassa only lost an arm and leg respectively, Yuvgrets body was torn outright in half, already being crushed from the overwhelming pressure of the ocean.
Drowning wasnt the only danger in the depths.
Annoyingly, magic flared and she began to be put back together. A quick query to his AI told Duke Waters the na and identity of the healer responsible Ethan the chronomancer? Ti-based healers were always a pain in the ass to fight.
He wasnt able to do anything else quite yet, as the lee duo of Rugrat and Blake were already on top of him.
Aiden wasnt a lee fighter, and while he was happy to test his diocre skills against weaker troops, he wasnt dumb enough to treat these two with such contempt.
A wash of seafoam stopped a massive incoming spell, a whip of water pulled their blades to the side, and two more attacks bounced off a bubble shield he created around himself. [Water Armor] brought a cloying, sticky orange spell to a near halt, but it still brushed his skin and drained itself into his body, giving a really weird sensation.
That only heralded even more spells, and he found himself hard-pressed to keep any level of control over the battlefield, but he began counting down as the tide slowly turned in his favor.
Ten.
He dodged a blade and took a crossbow bolt to the shoulder as paynt. It didnt over-penetrate, but it shattered and sent shrapnel into his shoulder that locked it up. It attempted to send off a series of biological failures cascading through his body, but he called on his Anchor to keep him in one piece.
To his surprise, it took so effort to do so, but nothing he wasnt able to handle.
Nine.
He dodged a bolt of dark purple mana that his spiritual sense suggested had so amount of void in it, but took a blade to the leg that suffused his body with a caustic green energy that slled of pinecones. No, that wasnt right. It was reacting with the Domain-inhibiting curse and sohow increased its strength. That was less than ideal.
Eight.
The torrents of his Aspect dragged six blows just enough off-track for him to avoid them, then he used that opening to shoot a [Riptide Hook] at Kimberly.
It pierced her thigh and dragged her off into the distance.
Seven.
A bubble-shield popped, and his attempted dodge was insufficient to stop the sword to the gut, but instead just provided extra leverage as it tore up his chest.
Man, you guys are heartless, he sent. Or maybe I am. Is there a difference?
Eh, he could do better. Co on guys, stop ignoring . Youre breaking my heart!
Six.
A bubble was a funny thing. Below the water, it was the only source of air. But above water, it could either be a prison made of the best elent, or simply a solitary refuge for the ocean in the form of a droplet. And any droplet preceded a rainstorm.
[Hurricane Arbor] manifested a bubble, and he flooded the rain-seed with mana until it began to glow a vivid, shifting blue. Instantly, a storm-tree sprouted, its trunk ice, its branches clouds.
Its fruit, a storm.
Five.
Rugrat proved himself the smarter of two as he started hacking at the tree, while Blake rushed Aiden down. In response, he shot off a column of water as wide around as his head that tragically missed, or perhaps mist, as it burst into a cloud of white not far behind the onrushing elite.
Four.
Duke Waters harvest had ripened, and artillery-grade rain began to fall. Like petals, or perhaps bubbles, tiny drops of water fell in a andering pattern beneath the still-growing tree. But instead of landing gently on their targets, they punched holes in hastily-raised defenses and tore into his attackers.
Three.
A bolt snuck through the swirling torrent of raindrops, striking him directly on the open wound in his chest and exploding into a toxic gas. [Cleansing Waters] took care of that, leaving nothing but the scent of freshly-fallen rain.
Two.
Raindrops slowed lethargically as his [Hurricane Arbor] was destroyed, but a wave of his hand collected the water around him into a [Tidal Wave], washing Rugrat and Blake as they ca too close, and giving him a mont of respite.
One.
Kimberly re-entered the battle just as her would-be support left it, and Duke Waters released his hold over the compressed water hed deposited in her thigh.
Blood and saltwater spread into a thin mist, and [Salt in the Wound] ensured that pain debilitated Kimberly long enough for him to pull her close to him.
[Calm the Storm].
All water in the woman simply stopped, even her slight twitches freezing instantly.
He smiled a toothy grin, then bodily raised her up, directly into the path of [The Water Cyclone]. Dispersed mist re-coalesced into water and unerringly shot back into his other awaiting palm. That Kimberly happened to be in the way, and was reinforcing her body with her Domain, did nothing to slow it. Still, he made sure that the guts sprayed at him simply washed past him and into the face of Ethan.
The healer thought he was being sneaky while trying to heal his teammate, but hadnt been prepared for intestines smacking his eye. Even if they didnt do any actual damage, or even truly disorient him- fighting professionals could be annoying- it was at least a moral victory for Duke Waters.
Then, the currents of his Aspect slamd Kimberly into Ethan, and the healer was knocked into an awaiting bubble of water, where he was most vulnerable to Aidens domain and was forced to try and take it on completely solo.
A hasty defense was raised, but Duke Waters simply crushed first the defense, then the Domain, and finally cracked the spirit itself as if it was a child trying to stop a train.
The move took a lot of willpower, but Duke Waters dug deeper and growled as he cast [One With Water] and [Water Swap] to join the still reeling healer in his bubble. He needed to flare his Aspect to break through their spatial lock, but he did so without care for the willpower expenditure.
When he appeared, he didnt attack the healer, but rather Yuvgret, who had made it back to the fight and was trying to stabilize the man.
The bubble was popped, and its pressure redirected into a [Water Blade] that broke through Yuvgrets shields and armor.
She was trying to use her Domain to stop him, but Duke Waters didnt get his title because of his good looks.
The pressure of his own Domain rose, suffocating and crushing the womans spirit. She was deep in the depths while this close to him, and while Rugrat and Dlassa tried to break his spatial lock to save their team leader, it was too little, too late.
Yuvgret drowned in the depths, and the mont he felt the wash of essence, he cleansed it of Yuvgrets Domain and imdiately started allocating it. A Tier 35 had a lot of essence, it was a sha the realm only let him have such a small fraction, miserly fuck.
His willpower and mana were both running dangerously low, but he still managed to replenish so of the latter by re-absorbing the mana in the bubble of water around him. Rugrat and Dlassa charged, but Aiden had already left the spot they were attacking.
As his clone was destroyed, Duke Waters snatched his prey. Blake was still trying to rid himself of the parasitic [Hurricane Arbor] seeds, and was wholly unprepared for a [Water Blade] to tear him twain. So kind of life-saving device began to activate, but Aiden refused to release his Domain grip. Between the potent rescue lifeline trying to spirit Blake away, and the insatiable grip he had on the mans spirit, sothing had to give.
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And it ended up being Blake.
The mans body vanished in a puff of smoke as essence washed over Aiden. Hmm. Between Yuvgret and Blake, hed gotten a pretty good sense as to how that particular lifeline worked, what were the odds the rest of them had it as well?
Clearly, theyd prepared for his Domain to not be fully suppressed, because it was set to trigger when foreign willpower infiltrated the body. Well, he could oblige that.
Kimberly was still floating around here sowhere, trying to patch herself up with a broken Domain, and there she was. She was out of range with Dlassa, trying to stabilize herself, but Rugrat was charging at Aiden and ran right into a drifting bubble of his Domain. It didnt actually do much, and didnt cost much willpower, but it was tuned perfectly for what their lifelines were looking for.
Rugrat vanished in a puff of smoke.
Aiden couldnt retreat, not without giving up the battle hed literally just won. But the Republic stuck-up squad, with their leader killed, two mbers in serious need of healer attention, and only one mber still in fighting shape?
Dlassa decided discretion was the better part of valor, with a blast of wind dragged herself and Kimberly over to Ethans catatonic figure, then the three of them vanished.
Duke Waters wanted to collapse into a puddle as the exhaustion and injuries hit him all at once, but he couldnt look weak.
So, instead of retreating like he wanted to, he looked out at the Republic troops who had been watching on in horror.
Using his [AI], he sent a short ssage. I believe you all were in the middle of sothing?
Aiden ntally sighed as nobody tried to retract their surrenders. And that was why having a reputation was useful.
If anyone else had the wounds Aiden had and still pushed for surrender, they would just get attacked, but he had proven his tenacity in a thousand battles before this.
Aiden stabilized himself with a couple of subtle healing enchantnts worked into his gear, careful to not give anything away as the haggard Empire defenders mobilized to begin securing their new prisoners.
The mont the final Republic soldier was taken into custody, he withdrew his personal ship and boarded it while telling it to enter chaotic space.
Breaking a fragile ceramic plate from his spatial ring, he felt his ship recall to deeper into the Empire with a lurch that aggravated his wounds.
He hated to use the stupidly expensive teleportation formation, but he needed to get seen by a healer sooner rather than later, and the ship would get him to the military base without a million questions or anyone seeing just how badly he was wounded.
As he concentrated on keeping his wounds under control, he counted the days.
If the kids were sent on the normal kill-an-army Ascender first mission like he had been, they should be back by now.
And linda should be back. Perfect.
Then he could fight the kids and not have to hold back too much.
How much better could that be?
He pulled up the Ascender group chat and sent off a mocking picture to Maya, depicting a cartoon version of himself trapping the elites hed just fought in bubbles.
Your puny little team of elites were no match for the aweso might of Water!
He smirked as Lila, Gideon, Sien, and Krodag began to express their amusent. Maya was probably out of service range or silently stewing, figuring out a scathing response of so sort.
Eh, so far as he knew, Maya wasnt too attached to either of the elites hed killed. Worst-case, shed probably respond in kind. If any of them got too salty about a few random dead countryn, their group chat wouldnt work. Of course, the new kids wouldnt be invited quite yet. They needed a proper war under their belts, a bit more experience before they truly joined the cool kids club.
After all, what was a bit of mortal combat between friends?
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