LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 519: Selia
First Bout
Selia turned her attention to the new arrivals. They floated above them, and for a moment everyone paused. Nayra had recovered from the attack and was standing, glaring up at the sky where the four of the Unchained were hovering. The one that was in front was easily identifiable.
His helmet was shaped to hold a drake head, with holes for black antlers on top. His wings spread behind him, and were covered in feathers like those of a karura. Kaeliss Cloudwrought, the leader of the Unchained. Behind him, hovered three of his allies. Next to him was a skreen, his body shape made him easily recognizable as the Exiled Shell despite the armor covering all of his body, a former member of the Triumphant Hive. On the other side was a ravzor woman, which had to be Tellisa Oakcalled.
High above the three of them hovered the only member that didn’t wear the same armor. A minotaur that had to be Berion, who was probably the most dangerous of the group.
Selia turned to the others and spoke quickly.
“Berion and Kaeliss are the priority, Zach, Nayra, Eratemus, you know what to do,” she glanced at Erdania still next to her. “You take the ravzor, I’ll take the skreen.”
They all moved without acknowledging her words. The pause ended and both sides sprung into motion.
A cage formed around the Exiled Shell as he charged through the sky toward Nayra, intercepting the skreen and trapping him in the air.
He swung his hammer rocking the bars that surrounded him and Selia felt the blow as a mental backlash. She grimaced, but kept her focus. She knew that the cage wasn’t going to last for long, and as Exiled Shell swung again she acted.
Selia had fought in many battles, she understood the dynamics of a battle against high tiered people. She didn’t know what Exiled Shell was capable of, she definitely didn’t know what his armor was capable of. Sometimes, both sides would test each other, slowly show their hands. Or sometimes, they went all out trying to catch the other party off-guard and end the fight quickly.
She decided to attempt the latter. Eyes of True Insight allowed her to gaze into the Soul of her foe, in there she saw a belief so strong that it made even her pause. He held his faith, his loyalty, so strongly in his heart that Selia knew he would never change his direction, never break from it. He was a zealot, but beneath it all Selia saw the reasons for it. Hidden behind that faith, beneath the identity of a loyal follower, was something else. Beneath it all, she saw a coward, someone who ran away from his mistake and blamed others for it. He needed that faith, because without it, he would have to face the truth of who he was. And that was not something that was easily done.
With that one gaze, Selia saw someone who would never reach the peak of his Focus on his own. Someone who would never understand himself enough to reach greater heights. With the measure of her foe taken, she acted.
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Her Aspect Manifestation came into being around her as a cloak made out of dark green fire and blood. Her Evolved Form made her change, and Scorn changed with her, growing to accommodate her slightly increased size. Scorn was covering her with the metallic Essence that had once been part of Ryun’s Armor of the Last Star. It didn’t have its greater properties, but the raw stats remained.
She entered her Sanguine Flame Ascendancy. She drew on her Qi, and shaped her new techniques. She had changed their names to be simpler as she upgraded them after reaching peak of the Eternal Realm. Her name was SHE WHO BEARS ALL BURDENS, she understood her power more now. Like Laqruud, it was her duty to spend her own lifeblood to sustain those that will come after her. Her future were those who would inherit what she has built.
{Lifeblood Forging} to improve herself, strengthen her body and attributes. Then she shaped ten identical techniques in the air around her. She could feel her Creation and End perk boosting her creations.
{Lifeblood Shaping} created ten spears, simple in their make, but glowing with the power of her Qi. In each of them she put a piece of herself, a tiny sliver of her Soul, using the same method they had devised for their smithing.
The pieces of her Soul made the ten spears more solid, their intent greater, amplified by the meaning of her Qi—the Sanguine Flame of Laqruud, which came directly from a being as large as a mountain, who knew what it was to sacrifice and bleed for the future.
Sometimes, killing was in the service of protecting your future.
She layered Reinforce on her spears, she pulled out an Eternal weapon, a sword with a True Pierce ability that greatly increased its penetrative power. With Copy Property, she copied that ability and placed it inside one of the spears.
Her twelfth technique she used to infuse that spear with {Pulsing Lifeblood Impact}.
With a thought and will she launched her attack. Ten spears flew straight as an eye can see, Exiled Shell swung his hammer through the bars and exploded out of her cage.
Ten spears met him mid-air. He pulled his hammer back, a faint blue shield shimmered into existence. Nine spears slammed into it, boosted by her power. Both the shield and six of the spears cracked. Three spears continued, but his armor surged with power, three spots across his chest were hit and three red disks appeared. They stopped her spears dead in the air—as if all of their kinetic power was robbed. In the same moment Selia saw three burst air explode out of her foe’s back, as if all the power of her attack had been redirected through the armor.
With |True Aim| and |Control| she guided the last spear with greater precision. The last spear hit him straight in the chest. Another red disk appeared and immediately shattered, the spear reached and hit his chest, a loud groaning sound of metal being torn filled the air. His armor flashed with light, and then her spear was thrown off-course.
Instead of piercing him through his chest, the spear slid to the side and pierced his waist. Her technique triggered, and the spear exploded as it entered his body.
Her Qi reached out to his blood, and ignited it in a pulse of power. His side burst open, his armor bent outward as blood and gore ripped out of him. A cry filled with anguish filled the sky and Selia used [Project Construct] to summon a giant blade directly above her foe, then launch it at him from above. She prepared [Detonate Construct], waiting until it was close enough to finish him.
Space bent, and her construct vanished for a moment, before appearing straight above her. She blinked, caught off guard, then willed her platform to move out of the way. Her blade stabbed into the ground and she glanced up.
She saw the minotaur, Berion hovering above everyone, his hand pointed downward. She grimaced, then looked at her foe.
Exiled Shell’s armor bent, it grew and formed around the wound in his side and then space bent around him and he was next to Berion, the minotaur raised his hand and carved a rune that he then somehow pushed into the Exiled Shell’s chest through his armor.
As the battle around her intensified, as two titans threw each other against the mountain, Selia focused and prepared for the next round.