A soft crunch could be heard from the ships deck, the wooden floorboards slowly cracking under the pressure of both the creature, the catenarii, and the conflicting energies of both Spurius and Paulus. Either brother stood diagonally across from one another, the air between them visibly trembling, the intense frequencies amplified by all the impacts absorbed by their shields until this point. Having kept the monster at bay the two brothers had stuck to an approach of whittling down its strength, deflecting the force of each thick wooden limb with their inscribed shields. All the while occasionally scoring small blows, striking into openings, and hacking of parts of the enemy whenever possible.
However, with each blow the shields had been absorbing the force, gathering the power and slight bits of energy embedded in those strikes, whether it was mana or prana. Realizing that the stored energy within the inscriptions engraved onto the bronze shields had reached their breaking point, the two decided to unleash their most powerful attack. Luckily the creature between them was stationary, relying on long thin whiplike branches, around ten in total to unleash an almost continuous barrage of mid-range attacks at the pair. Had they not been empowered, benefitting from the increased stamina and sensory abilities that came with it, or the inscribed weapons and armor provided by the Scholar, they would have been killed ten times over by now.
Their pair of identical shields had another result, an unexpected side effect of their absorption ability, that was the gradual weakness afflicting the catenarii, its movements becoming more sluggish as the mana was drained from its body, if only by a fraction of a fraction. However, in combat, even a one sec delay in response was enough to tip the scales. Each brother took one end and positioned themselves, aiming their shield at one another, the inscriptions burning with light, threatening to break free of the engraved symbols.
Before their opponent had a chance to respond to either brother, they slammed their empowered spear down onto their shield, unleashing the absorbed energy in a single concentrated blast of sonic vibrations. The shields having absorbed and collected the energy, then allowing the user to concentrate their ability into the shield as a relay to amplify their ability, in this case the vibrational abilities cast upon their spears.
Each brother unleashed their full power in the same instant, the sonic frequencies so powerful they became for a brief instant visible to the naked eye. Sensing the danger far too late, the catenarii used its limbs as a makeshift shield, encasing itself in a cocoon to weather the storm. The two sound blasts struck one another, with the opponent trapped between them, but instead of the expectant clash of energy there was a loud thrumming. Each wave of sound combining with the other and creating a physical ripple in the air, the target falling to its knees, reeling and visibly disoriented.
Waves of enhanced sound simply traveled through the cocoon of entwined vines and branches, the hollow interior becoming an echo chamber that amplified the powerful sonic waves, vibrating the creatures’ insides. That was how they arrived at this point, both brothers forcing their powers through the shields, the oppressive thrumming pressing down on the creature before them. It was a devastating ability, especially if used against flesh and blood opponents, even now the brothers were struggling to remain standing, their arms shaking from exertion, their ears and nose bleeding from their proximity to the sound waves.
Even as they maintained their stance, pouring their attention into containing the focal point of energy, inhibiting it from spreading outwards in all directions possibly killing their allies, there was still another problem. Although their enemy lay still, they could not know if the attack was successful, on top of that heat emanating from their shields was growing gradually, scalding their skin through their leather forearm wraps. This was a clear sign that the inscriptions were reaching their breaking point, the energy contained within breaking free of their containment, with the physical shield cracking under the immense pressure.
Both Paulus and Spurius could only hope that the battles elsewhere were going better, they could contain the creature, but they did not have complete confidence in their capabilities to control their new powers and inscribed weapons. Should the catenarii still be among the living upon the conclusion of their combined attack, then the brothers would have to compete with the creature without their defensive equipment. The shields were after all a single use item, as the Scholar had stated, they could only unleash the contained energies once before crumbling. After which the brothers would be left defenseless and would need to commit to a purely offensive style of combat.
Even their spears were on the verge of collapse, the tips chipped and cracked all along its edge. Although they would switch to their preferred method of dual sword combat, it would place them at a significant disadvantage against an enemy like the whip-armed catenarii variant. There hope lay in the battles around them, and the hope that their allies could come and join their side. A flash of orange and red light, followed by a wave of heat and the smell of smoldering flesh indicated the use of liquid fire, as well as hope that help would be arriving soon.
For now, they would hold for as long as their shields and bodies allowed.
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At the same time as Vexariz and Cauaria along with Sabina were finishing off their opponent, and the brothers were containing the enemy before them, Niko and company had their hands full dealing with an ever-growing swarm of enemies. Unlike the other two owl masked catenarii soldiers, their disfigured and unstable enemy appeared to lose control upon witnessing the trio. Black ichor spilled from its half formed wooden mask, its hands pounding its own skull as a howling raspy cry escaped its deformed lips.
The repulsive creature stared directly at Niko and Mera specifically, its previously dim and empty eye sockets filled with a ghostly blue flame. What was more confusing was the action the creature took next, as it began to disfigure itself, digging its claws deep into its chest and carving an image into its very flesh. Black ichor mixed with rust colored blood dribbled from its skin, the image a circle, set within what could only be described as something resembling a shield.
Now it was not as if the group simply stood there and allowed the creature this time to do what it pleased, they had tried to assault it, however as they moved to do so the deck under the enemy’s feet splintered, and long tentacles of black mist emerged to repel them. This mist like substance was slowly absorbed into the creature’s wounds, the image burning with blue fire, like an eternally glowing brand. In either case, this had yet another more important effect upon the opponent, its hands burned with that ghostly flame, and its back split open revealing eight dark purple tentacles, a combination of wood, flesh, and dark mist.
These disgusting and disfigured appendages shot out in all directions, but the intended targets were not Niko, Timeaus, Mera, Apollonius, nor their soldiers, it was the dead bodies lying across the deck. One by one the bodies rose, black ichor pumped into their lifeless husks, slowly causing them to inflate, the bloated corpses them growing random disfigurements across their bodies. These reanimated husks filled the lost body parts with black ichor, or seemingly random mutations, such as tentacles, eye stalks, elongated fleshy trunks, none of which made any sense.
They shared but one similarity, a slavish devotion to the original creature, the tentacled horror that brought them back to life. Once the first batch of these repulsive horrors had been brought to life, only then did their opponent turn to Niko and Mera, squeezing out a single line in a raspy, gravelly, croaking voice, a line that left its subjects in wide eyed surprise. “How dare you insult the Scion of House Duris, you low born!”
Just as the first wave began to shamble in their direction, the creature that was once the young nobleman began to raise yet another group of underlings to throw at their party. Niko, Mera, and to some extent Apollonius’s state of shock shifted to one of disgust, even in such a state, Therapon remained an unredeemable spineless coward. Instead of fighting himself, he was relying on his minions, throwing them towards the group in large waves. As in life he continued to be a cowardly lordling with no beneficial qualities. Only now his outsides matched that which had always existed on the inside.
So, we finally get to see the little weasel again, didn't make the best choices in life for sure. Kinda got what he deserved for being an arrogant bastard. Either way we have more action here as things proceed to increase in intensity and combat has kind of broken out everywhere at this point. The brothers got some pretty neat new abilities, good synergy with one another.
Also, just wanted to let you know I will be doing a multiple chapter release for my new Alpha-7 series this weekend. Will probably get 5 chapters out, but it will be on a 2 chapter per week release at best, until Lineage Book 2 is done. I'll then be taking a break from Lineage and finish Alpha book 1 before starting on Book 3 of Lineage. Just thought you all should know.
Here is the link and cover art for Alpha-7 Book 1 Foundations: Alpha-7 Book 1
