The Path of Ascension

Chapter 255

Zack allowed the tapestry of mana to swirl around him, pushing with his Talent as he pulled from the array beneath his feet. Hed always had to be so cautious with his mana usage and how much he could truly experiment, but now he had a higher mana budget than hed ever thought possible. He still was compelled that he Waste Not, of course, but now, time was the far more precious resource available to him, and that required certain sacrifices.

His spellbook, Codex, flashed silver, fluttering its pages until it settled upon a half-finished page filled with diagrams and complex relational charts as words filled the margins, as though penned by an unseen hand.

The loss is higher than the reverse, even after accounting for the increased time delay. Might there be contamination from the ambient mana? It could support lightning natively. It asked.

Zack began to shake his head, then paused. Maybe. I suppose if the peaks regularly experience foul weather, there might be some traces of storm and lightning mana. If that is the case, it would suggest attempting to map out a full matrix of ideal aspect swaps could be impossible. Frustrating, but good for ensuring that I would not grow complacent. They make it easy enough.

Codex didnt respond directly, but fluttered with happiness at its newly-refurbished cover and the spell knowledge stuffing its pages.

Yes, you are getting spoiled.

Im fine with this, it responded.

Of course you are. One last test, then are you ready to head back?

The words faded, replaced with a caricature of a book giving a thumbs-up as it returned to its normal place at his side.

With a deep breath, Zack refilled his mana pool, grasped his staff, and unleashed a torrent of raw eldritch energy. At the moment, he was content to allow his Tier 1 Talent to transform the [Meteor Shower] into a bombardment of arcane mana, striking with more physicality than fire ever could. He could have utilized his Tier 3 Talents influence to change it from arcane to nearly any mana aspect he was familiar with, but presently, he was simply testing his newest Talent.

As the orbs of energy hurtled down the mountainside, Zack traced the connection he still held to the mana and pulled, changing the attacks aspect right as it exploded to lightning and unleashing a true tribulation on the natural creatures below. Thunder boomed, arcs of blue energy crashed into the mountainside, and then Zack pulled once again to earth.

The lightning bolts froze, literally petrified as the plasma within them was turned to solid rock, and forming an odd form of sculpture across the stony cliffs, interwoven with the scars of a half-dozen similar tests.

He didnt even need to consult his book to feel the increased drain on his mana involved in the transformation, but for the sake of practice, he changed the stone to wind and allowed his control to lapse, relinquishing the spare mana to the rift around him.

The opportunities afforded by his Tier 25 talent were immense, and if hed had a thousand years to experiment, he felt as though he wouldnt even come close to unlocking its true potential. He was accustomed to choosing a single aspect, or a blend of aspects, for each spell he cast. Oftentimes that was simple, such as altering [Fireball] to ice mana when fighting against a fire-based creature. Other times, it was more complex, such as choosing whether stone, ice, or a combination of wood and metal would best defend against an incoming attack. He gained new tools as his mastery over the elements grew, yes, but they were manageable.

But this? The ability to alter a spell after it had been cast? That was simply too massive. Not only was he mastering a number of new elements that he simply wasnt sure he had the proper finesse to create even a half-century ago, he now had to balance what kind of element would be the best start for each spell, what he could change it to afterwards for maximum effect, when he ought to make that change, whether he ought to change it multiple times, or even if he ought to change it at all or allow it to continue as-is, saving that small measure of mana? Each and every scrap of mana was precious, and he prided himself on not wasting even a point more than was needed in any given situation.

It was unacceptable that he possessed such an unrealized tool and could not devote the proper time needed to mastering it. But such was the tyranny of time, no matter how strong one became, they would never be free of its grasp.

After a bit more time discussing the results of his latest test with Codex, Zack wrapped the winds around him and flew back to the main base.

He was only a few hundred miles away from the base, having claimed the nearest mountain range as his private area, so the trip took practically no time. Far below him, the bare skeleton of what promised to be a truly massive undertaking was already forming, an endeavor that promised to stretch over a substantial amount of the solar system-sized Tier 35 rift they were in. It was all one continuous mass, albeit one that stretched across a huge variety of mundane and magical climates. All the better to utilize Allies Tier 25 Talent, after all.

Military undertakings in rifts were nothing new, of course. On the grand scale of a Great Power, there were plenty of Talents that would enable access into an existing rift instance, but they typically required physical access to the rift in question, rather than simply being able to appear and disappear from one at-will. It was nigh impossible to move between the battlefield frontiers and the Tier 37 subsidiary world in the capital system like his partner could.

There were even other projects going on in other instances of this very rift, though Zack wasnt privy to what they were. There was a small crew dedicated to directly entering and exiting those projects so Allie wasnt spending her entire day just ferrying people and gear in and out. There was even talk of setting up a semi-permanent portal, but whether its benefits would outweigh the risks was still hotly debated.

It was, of course, all in service of utilizing the eightfold time dilation the rift naturally provided, orders of magnitude superior to anything manmade for the utterly negligible mana cost. Here, they could train, adapt to their new Talents and new gear, and grow accustomed to working as a team.

Ascenders, by their very nature, were solitary. They were the utmost pinnacle within the art of violence. Companions were ephemeral, utilized for single missions either in a situation where their unique capabilities would be useful, or as a larger plot or as a favor to another. Project Breach, and in particular Team Zero, was something novel, something only made possible by the utter absurdity that was two or even three teams managing to complete the Path within the span of a bit more than a century. They still had a bit less than a century and a half before their team would be complete, but General Darrow was consistently having them run training drills with a number of candidates to see who they worked best with, and who might be a strong contender for the final Team Zero composition.

He touched down on the temporary Team Scry headquarters, a wizards tower stretching nigh a mile into the sky, and entered without so much as a word.

There were no active identity or security checks, even for entering classified areas such as this one, but their position inside of a cycled rift meant that there were very, very few people who could get in without permission. The rift they were in was inside of the main operating base for the entirety of the Empires military, complete with countless guards on-hand, the tightest security perhaps anywhere in the entire Empire, and several Tier 46 strategists. The Tier 46s may have been forbidden from commenting upon any war-capable infiltrators, but they ensured that not even being high Tier would be sufficient to infiltrate this place.

Zack knew that the apparent lack of defenses wasnt wholly true, and some areas were off-limits even for him, but the lack of any visual indicator took a mental load off. An important consideration for a base theyd be spending centuries or more inside of.

He passed Wellspring and her bodyguard as he entered, the former practically frozen midstep at the speeds he was operating at. It was unusual to see the pair of them outside of the Kudzu complex, but Scry was the next most-common locale for them, as the blonde womans mana and Talent was studied as a general assignment. At Tier 15, the healer was one of the weakest people involved in Project Breach, and it was up to Corporal Blossom, once one Corporal Evelyn Nore, or Evie as she preferred to be called when out of uniform, to keep her safe in simple everyday activities. The bodyguard saluted to him as he passed, and he returned the greeting, senses fixated upon the twitching in the womans lower jaw.

Corporal Nore always made him a bit nervous. The bio-metallic parasite empowering her body carried with it a distinct risk that it would one day render its host into an insane, life-hating entity like any other rift monster. Why theyd paired a potentially unstable experiment with the most Talented healer in the Empire, Zack did not fully understand, outside the potential hope that Wellsprings continued healing would keep the parasites madness at bay and its host alive.

Should the need arise, Zack had dozens of protocols and prepared spells ready to eliminate Corporal Blossom. The treatment she had undergone made her incredibly resilient and even harder to kill, capable of regenerating from even the smallest bit of missed flesh into a whole being once again. That was without accounting for the dozens of enchanted items and natural treasures shed consumed to enhance her body and its passenger, the womans own Talents and Domains, and any number of other tricks he didnt know of the project might have given her.

Nervousness was no excuse for impolite behavior, of course, and it wasnt as though Corporal Blossom was the only person he had rehearsed killing should the need arise. She was simply among the more annoying to fully vanquish, though some of his newer skills and gear would aid in that. By contrast, Wellspring would be trivial to eliminate, even if they were the same Tier. Her healing was not instantaneous, nor was her judgment, and the woman wasnt much of a combatant. Simply removing her head with a healing-blocking skill would be sufficient for the time being, though her Talent was actively being grown to overcome the admittedly basic methods he had available to him at the moment.

The most assured method of killing her would be to destroy her head and then outpace whatever slow healing she had active on herself until the spells expended their duration. It would be messy and inefficient, but from what he knew of her abilities, it would always work on her or anyone she had healed.

Crafting a more robust method of execution was something he spent nearly seventeen seconds per day working on.

He left the duo behind as he navigated further into the tower, until he eventually reached Researcher Karls laboratory. The man was quite scatterbrained, but no worse than Allie was. At least he was always getting distracted by other equally valid avenues of discovery, rather than Zacks partners fairly blatant desire to avoid work. He wasnt much of a threat, discounting the mans Tier.

While Researcher Erwin Karl was a fairly proficient combat alchemist, the man hadnt seen true combat for at least a few millennia, and most of the mans Domain and skills were more geared towards knowledge. He would be unpredictable, with a deep bag of tricks, but Zack had fought tricksters before, and could do it again. Limit their mobility and visibility, then strike with overwhelming force. Bait out their instinctive defenses, then adjust accordingly.

Simple opponents when you knew the proper steps to take.

When he entered the room Researcher Karl was facing away from him, a faint blur of color working on an illusionary diagram. That didnt stop the man from noticing Zacks appearance, and he settled into a slower pace as Zack took a seat.

Oh! Ascender Light! Sorry, I got carried away. How was your practice?

It was productive. I believe that environmental mana may influence the efficacy of my conversions, and at some point I feel it might be prudent to investigate whether there may be some form of corresponding effect upon my at-cast alterations.

Hmm, yeah. That could

Researcher, Zack warned the man before he could get sidetracked, Did you find anything promising?

Yes! Faster mana types. I believe there exists a possible blend of lightning, air, and illusion that I think you could utilize to decent effect. I wanted to use light instead of illusion, but none of the calculations checked out. Im going to keep looking though, once we try this one. Do you want to give it a try?

In addition to, or perhaps because of, Researcher Karls experience as an alchemist, the man was also remarkably skilled at helping break down mana aspects, or recombining them for specific goals. As Zack mastered higher-level mana types, and combinations thereof, he grew to desire mana blends with exceptionally specific properties. For all his mastery of level 1 and 2 mana types, and his fairly solid grasp upon a substantial number of level 3 mana types, he was only barely capable of pushing his spells to a full level 4, let alone level 5.

Expanding that capability was among his highest priorities, and that desire was only magnified by his ability to only utilize a hyper-specialized aspect when it would be useful. For example, making a projectile travel as fast as possible before changing it to something far more dangerous the moment before impact.

Zacks [AI] beeped with Researcher Karls new theory, and Codex fluttered open to a page where it was broken down into pieces. I suppose we may as well. Is the testing room ready?

The alchemist glanced over his shoulder, blurred into motion, then settled back into Tier 25 speeds. Yes.

The testing room was heavily reinforced and embedded with countless sensors. Codex fluttered to its pedestal, where it would monitor the proceedings, while Zack took a seat on his chair and cast a floating light orb within a nigh-indestructible Tier 35 box. While the odds of them finding a mana combination destructive enough that simple testing would result in substantial damage to them or the room were low, discretion was the better part of valor, and they never knew when a seemingly innocuous mana blend could be dangerous.

Zack reached within himself and altered the mana in his floating light to Researcher Karls proposed combination. It fizzled out, dissolving into spare motes of disparate mana.

Well, no matter. That was why they tested. Aspects were notoriously difficult to get to cooperate, immensely unstable unless properly synthesized into a new aspect. Discovering new, proper aspects was beyond the scope of their goal for the moment, but in time, there was always the possibility of it happening.

It took several more attempts, with a few other members of Scry coming through to offer their expertise on the matter, before they finally settled on a ratio for the three aspects that wouldnt instantly disassociate when Zack attempted to utilize it. It still required concentration on behalf of Zack to keep it together while in use, but it was one step along a much larger journey. It was usable in a fight, albeit just barely, and that was their current goal completed. In time, perhaps their experiments would yield something truly impressive, an element which he could utilize for faster-than-lightning spell attacks to hasten himself and others. There would be countless more uses that always accompanied such broadly versatile abilities as more speed. His goal accomplished, he took a detour to the Cloud compound for a meal.

With the size of the operation they were acting on, there were several families present. No children, but many of the spouses, siblings, or in a few cases teams were still living within the rift. Many of those were employed as aides, either in the group most closely associated with their speciality, or barring that, as an aide in Group Cloud.

The food was as high-quality as everything else, with two Red Feather accredited chefs working together, and Aunt Helen herself had made Zacks welcome meal when hed first arrived at the garrison, back when it was located on a hidden planet a few systems away from the Citadel. He didnt know if Allie had gotten one of her own, but the fact he didnt know meant she probably hadnt, as she would have boasted to the sky about it. That meal had been utterly divine. This food was still quite excellent. Better in some ways, lesser in some others, but overall an inferior experience.

Unfortunately, he was unable to finish it before his [AI] alerted him to an emergency meeting.

He might not have quite determined what mana aspect was pure speed, but he could still be quite fast, and he arrived at the Chess building mere moments later, lightning trailing in his wake. General Darrow and Allie were already present, but the rest of Team Zero was still absent. A couple of the other team leads were present, and there was a general aura of unease permeating the room. Even Allie looked concerned, which instantly ratcheted up the possible degree of problem they were facing in his mind.

His partner noticed his unease and filled him in, Terrorist attack, courtesy of the Sects.

A successful one? Zack was taken aback. Terrorism was discouraged in the strongest possible terms, and that another Great Power would be willing to flagrantly break the rules this early in the war did not bode well.

Details will come momentarily, Ascender Light, General Darrow said. But suffice to say, the situation is complicated.

It didnt take long for everyone to assemble. Well, not everyone. It was only him, Allie, some members of Groups River, Chess, and Chatter, and the leaders of Teams Zero through Five. Team Six was deployed and thus absent, but all of the relevant figures for a potential emergency situation were gathered.

No sooner had their last member- Vorlai Kanakas, the Kanakas who strongly favored their left side in all things physical, resulting in a permanent limp- arrived, that General Darrow began. Two hours ago, a near-border planet named Ventillyria was struck by a terrorist attack indirectly bankrolled by the Sects. While the damages were strongly limited by Manager Luna, who happened to be on the planet at the time, it still served as a distraction for an assault upon the supply depot within that system by one Dao Child Maven and a team of Corporation Mercenaries. They crippled the local transport network and plundered a substantial fraction of the supplies present, and are heading back into Sect-occupied space. But to do that, they are moving through seven other Empire-held systems.

Allie snorted, Now thats a trap if I ever saw one.

Colonel Wexler, leader of Group River, and a man with exceptional enough senses that a flashbang would be devastating, stood as the projection changed. Indeed. Maven has been repeatedly emphasized as the intended counter to yourself and Ascender Light. We believe that she, the mercenaries she is working with, and possibly additional hidden reinforcements, are all stationed and ready to intercept you once you engage. They are moving substantially slower than their estimated top speed, seemingly at a rate calculated to ensure that were we based from the Citadel, we would have plenty of time to intercept.

And we plan to walk directly into the trap? Zack confirmed, earning himself a snakelike grin from the Kanakas present.

Of course we are. Theyve spent all this time attempting to bait you out, and making it patently obvious thats what theyre after, we cant allow that to go unanswered.

General Almora, the leader of the entire operation and distinctly lacking in terms of defenses against sound magic, finished the thought. The best part of having an Ascender on hand is that we can send you directly into obvious traps and know that it is the trap which will give way. Its the same reason you no longer need to hide your true abilities, because when they develop countermeasures for your tactics, we will have already devised a way to overcome those countermeasures.

Allie let out a low cheer, Fuck yeah! Lets break some faces!

Your first priority for this mission, Ascender Shadow, is to neutralize the Dao Child. Do not expect her to truly fall, however. This is no doubt as much an opportunity for her to ascertain your true abilities. If presented with a way to kill her, take that opportunity, but expect her to survive. For all that the Sects like to boast of their desire for victory or death alone, their elites are just as well-protected as any of ours. Your secondary goal is to inflict maximum casualties upon any support personnel present.

Zack nodded, then paused. No prisoners? I recognize that we are facing the Sects, but you mentioned that Corporation mercenaries are also present. Should we not seek to capture them?

Not in this instance. If they wish to push the bounds of decorum, then so shall we. Anything else? Very well, dismissed.

Allie teleported them directly to the armory, where the rest of the provisional Team Zero was already loading up Drifters ship. With the exception of Corporals Stick and Stone, they nominally possessed a single member from each of the other five conventional teams, as General Darrow gauged their synergy and interpersonal dynamics for inclusion upon the teams final composition.

Stick and Stone drew most of their strength from one another, Bolt would need to be subjected to an exceptionally powerful dispel, and Bulwark would require healing blocking much like Wellspring would. Origami needed to be eliminated fast before she could get anything deployed, Torment would either require a powerful emotional stimulant or suppressant, and Drifter would be helpless once he got inside her ship. All immensely powerful individuals in their own right, and when assembled, they were powerful enough to take on the best of any of the other Great Powers.

Between the nine of them, they were all but fully loaded by the time General Darrow arrived with his own kit in tow. Origami was the final straggler, weighing the benefits of her artillery platform versus an additional shield generator, but as their battlefield commander arrived, she loaded the artillery inside the ships hull and stood at attention.

Once dismissed, they filed in, took their seats, and Zack felt as Allie stretched her control of space over their entire ship, pulled them momentarily inside her pocket dimension, and teleported. They reappeared in a military hangar hidden within the Citadels solar system, Allie collapsed to her seat in exhaustion, and Drifter brought them into chaotic space.

Drifter was a very, very good pilot. While not the best in the entire Realm, or even the entire Empire, she was indisputably the best pilot under Tier 30 on raw technical ability, and had the fastest ship Zack had ever heard of for their Tier range. Between that and Drifters ability to navigate into the oddities of Chaotic Space safely, they intercepted Dao Child Mavens group within five days of deployment. New intelligence had confirmed there were some additional forces lying in wait, but the ten of them were more than prepared for anything. Theyd undergone extensive discussions and briefings, so they knew what they were getting into.

Then, the convoy appeared on their forward scanners and they sprang into action.

Bulwark, Stick, and Stone began casting their spells, buffing themselves and the rest of them. Bolt and Origami opened the war chest from Group Cornucopia, distributing potions and talismans, and Light snapped Codex closed while Shadow donned Gerald, the violet cloak settling around her shoulders. General Darrow opened his third eye and manifested a war map in his hands, consulting the icons upon it.

As they drew closer, Darrow was the first to deploy, breaking off into a small command shuttle Origami had provided so that he would be close enough for his abilities to affect them, but not close enough as to potentially end up in the line of fire.

General Darrows voice spoke into their minds, The Dao Child has been located, flanked by somewhere between one and six cloaked troop carrier ships. Drifter will close the distance on the count of five. Once you get in range, Shadow, I want you to gate in Torment and Origami above them. Then, take yourself, Light, Stick, Stone, and Bulwark from the bottom. Bolt, remain on the ship, focus on support for Torment and Origami.

Domains flared and began to meld. Stick and Stones were of course already naturally synergistic, while General Darrows own abilities ensured that the rest of them would cooperate rather than compete as they attempted to utilize their own control, meshing their powers into a cohesive whole. Simultaneously, an awareness of all the members of Team Zero filled Zacks mind, forming a tapestry of senses and status.

Fortunately, Darrow had managed to properly calibrate the emotional sensitivity such that Torment no longer overwhelmed the rest of them. The first time they had undergone full-scale practice drills, Zack had nearly been driven catatonic from the mans emotional feedback, and none of the others had fared any better. Now that it was dialed way back, it was far more manageable.

In preparation, Zack opened Codex to a very particular page and began feeling the arcane energies contained within begin to roil in anticipation.

As the mark was given, Shadow stretched open a sparkling portal, and Torments rage boiled over, a massive demonic figure tearing its way out of his body and through the portal with a roar. Origami tossed out a metallic device as it unfolded into a mobile weapons platform, hopping on it a second later alongside Torment.

The shimmering portal closed right behind them with a pop, Shadow clearly enjoying no longer needing to pretend all of her abilities were shadow-related.

Light could feel as the convoy they were attacking opened fire upon the platform, then Shadow reached out with her Talent, and with another pop, they were below the ships. Light grasped his staff, and power flowed from Codex into him and from him through his staff and into the void around them. Shadow grabbed the attack and teleported it past the shields, enabling Lights attack direct access to the ships hull.

Arcane energy burst forth, and Lights [Arcane Surge], carrying tens of thousands of mana, crashed into the ships hull. Like the [Wave] it was based on, it brought with it a flood, but this was one which overwhelmed enchantments and burned out runic structures, damaging but not crippling the ship. No doubt, there were mechanics prepared for power surges, and they had contained Lights attack admirably. They would have full functionality restored in minutes at the most.

But then, in a move Lila Worldwaker herself would approve of, Light changed the lingering mana to decay. His predecessor had been famous for turning the water in someone's body to sand, and he had taken a note out of her playbook. The excess energy the ship had claimed and directed across the entire vessel, shoving some to mana storage and utilizing others in their weapons, hull reinforcements, and more besides, suddenly became worse than useless.

His mana dropped precipitously, but he refilled it with his new ring, and watched as giant portions of the hull blackened and turned to ash, the shields sputtered and stopped, and the regular thrum of cannons died away. Above them, Torment and Origami closed the distance with their army of summons and golems, but two troop transports shimmered out of cloaking. The first was instantly met by cover fire from Drifter and Bolt, explosions peppering its surface as the comparatively tiny craft flew circles around all return fire, deftly maneuvering between shots and performing stunts that should have been impossible to close the distance between it and the reinforcements.

Dao Child Maven, in the form of some kind of metallic bear-turtle hybrid clad in light emitting armor, charged towards them through the void, and was met by Stone. While the armored man was able to slow her, the Dao Child slipped from his grasp a second later. Much of her momentum was spent, but she was still a formidable force as her limbs elongated, seeking to carve Light in half.

Light didnt so much as blink, knowing that Shadow would block the attack, and his partner didnt disappoint, blocking the claw with a seemingly ship-sized dagger while a needle-sized one was driven into Mavens eye. But instead of gouging a hole into the womans skull, it passed straight through as Maven became intangible. She slid past Shadow, but Shadow refused to let her go. Gentle light bloomed from a massive silver moon Maven had summoned, dispelling every shadow in the area as a potent spatial and temporal lock descended upon the area. An anti-water and anti-illusion ward was established, a sandstorm began, and a deep hum filled the emptiness of space, with the sound reverberating despite the lack of an atmosphere.

Shadow flickered, no doubt as the spatial lock interfered with her trick of hiding inside her own pocket dimension, but she brought her own Intent to bear and space cracked around her, just enough for her to slip through and stab Maven in the back. The shapeshifter turned into a hissing snake, trying to slice Shadow in half with a bladed tail, but Shadow was already on the other side of the Dao Child, grabbing her neck.

Maven detonated into a cloud of shadowy birds, closing in on Shadow from all sides, but Light interfered with an arcane [Chain Lightning], devastating the flock. His next attack was a force [Meteor Swarm] that Shadow slipped around Mavens attempts to block, then twisted the explosion along cracks in shattered space, such that the recovering shapeshifter took the full force from every angle of the detonation.

Maven teleported away from Shadow and struck at him with a potent claw attack, but Light allowed Shadow to push the attack to the side, allowing its energy to dissipate when it couldnt find a target. Before it did, however, he grabbed the spell with his Intent and Talent.

Maven was prepared for that, seemingly, and the spell detonated before he could properly get control over it, pushing against his Domain and inflicting some kind of enforced cooldown for his skills. Light frowned. It was some sort of curse, preventing him from casting too many spells at one time, according to Codex.

Curious.

Codex hadnt managed to determine an optimal way to dispel the curse, but he launched himself towards Bulwark as Shadow kept Maven busy.

Bulwark already knew what to do, and with a touch, the healer fought back the curse. It wasnt removed, that would require more effort, but it was suppressed long enough that Light could finish this fight. Bulwark acknowledged the pulse of gratitude Light sent towards him, then hefted his polearm and returned to fighting back the onslaught of other fighters pouring from the ships, his spectral griffin steed screeching a silent warcry paired with a flame breath.

Light returned to the fight with Maven just as Shadow took a powerful blow from a void-empowered mantis claw, scoring a deep line into her armor and body. Light cast a quick healing spell upon her, knitting her flesh back together in the blink of an eye, and pushed against the spatial lockdown with his Intent and his mana. A dark blue crossbow bolt flew past his ear and detonated in front of him, giving him a sudden glut of spatial mana. With that, he joined with Shadows efforts to gain control of the space, but couldnt manage to do much more than lock it down for Maven as well.

For all his strength, there were limits to what he could properly manage with a mana type as tricky as spatial, and he was matched by quite high-quality artifice and centuries of experience. Given enough time, or perhaps some additional equipment of his own, he could no doubt seize control of the enchantments empowering Maven, suborning them or tearing them apart at his leisure, but the gains did not justify the effort required.

After all, Shadow was only somewhat hindered by the spatial lock, her Intent still allowing her to teleport within its area, albeit not out and back in. It let her remain mostly untouchable as she fought the shapeshifter, but was having just as much difficulty landing a truly decisive blow upon Maven. She had a truly impressive grasp upon her shapeshifting, dodging powerful attacks as small creatures and fast attacks with formidable defenses.

Light experienced similar difficulties, but fared somewhat better as he filled the battlefield with magic, raising stone and metal walls, waves of lava and water, and sending torrents of sand, lightning, and wood at the Dao Child, testing her defenses. Each spell was perfectly calibrated to the sub-mana level to not waste a single iota, be it a harmless strike to gauge resistance or an attempt to follow up with something more substantial. It was impressive the degree to which she could accurately tell the aspect of genuinely harmful spells he was casting, changing her form to something either immune to the attack or generally quite resistant, even when he attempted to disguise it.

What injuries they did inflict were simply discarded as the Dao Child changed to a new form.

Overall, they were winning. Just not as fast as he would have liked. One of the ambushing ships was disabled in the wake of a combined assault from Origami, Drifter, and Bolt, and many of the footsoldiers were dead or maimed in the wake of Stick, Stone, Bulwark, or Torment passing through. Though, those four were slowly losing ground, unable to hold back the tide of armored opponents.

Then, he saw his opening. Maven had overextended herself in an attempt to strike at Shadow. His partner had managed to compress space just enough that when it returned to normal, Maven was out of position. A powerful dispel perfectly tuned to Mavens particular brand of moon mana threw the shapeshifter back into her base form. He locked her into place with [Frozen Moment] altered to lava, then cooled with [Orb of Water], and then followed it up with a life-draining decay effect. When he fired his last attack, Allie was able to perfectly guide it into the Dao Childs chest.

She tried to shapeshift out of the way, but Light was able to, if not quite counter the spell, delay its activation long enough. She turned intangible, but that didnt matter to the roiling, chaotic mass of pure void that ended the fight.

Light had always had a singular element fully beyond his grasp, and while much of his custom gear was still under construction in the hands of Group Firmament, hed gotten a wand capable of aspecting any spell cast through it to void. Overuse would cause the wand to break, and there was no assurance hed be able to find a replacement, but for a dramatic finisher, there was no contest.

That was why he saved it for this final attack.

However, the instant the void scoured away her armor, and began to sink into too-white flesh, an artifact detonated, sending a powerful blast of static through Lights spatial lock and destroying it. When the explosion passed, Dao Child Maven was gone.

Damnit! Shadow frowned and continued, Was that really only Tier 25? It felt like trying to grab a mote of dust as it escaped.

Shes truly gone then?

Shadow nodded. There was a teleport in there, I think some kind of two-part link. Felt like it was headed to Sect territory, but theres too much turbulence to tell for sure.

With Maven quite thoroughly routed for the time being, Light turned his attention to the soldiers around him, preparing for their secondary objective. Beside him, Shadows Domain and Talent rippled, and everything beyond just a few miles out seemed to vanish in favor of turning back in on itself, no lines of escape left open for their opponents unfortunate enough to still be trapped in with them, merely a hundred strong per member of Team Zero present.

Stick appeared next to Light, and their Domains and mana meshed. Power was shared, control split, and capabilities divided as appropriate within their two-person ritual. Around them, a storm blossomed. High winds whipped through their arena, lightning overloaded or disrupted enchantments, and conjured hail battered and bloodied those not within protective armor. Yet for all the maelstrom unleashed upon their foes, no hail fell upon his allies. Lightning struck alongside their attacks, and the winds carried them to where they wished to go.

The Sect and Corporation enemies fell upon them with all the force of a gentle breeze. Light very nearly ended up mana positive by the end of it, if he included Codex and his staff. Spells were dispelled or stolen, turned back on their casters, siphoned into his staffs enchantments, or stored within Codex to cast at a later date. One particular Sect woman held his attention for quite some time, as she proudly occupied him with an inadvisable number of her personal [Seven Suns Vanquishing the Darkness of Night] modification of [Meteor Swarm].

It was quite a curious spell, though Light didnt allow himself to slack on his other support duties as he and Codex studied its magic. Unfortunately, it was simply a modification to utilize armageddon mana in place of volcano mana. While Zack had a tenuous grasp of the latter, he certainly couldnt utilize the former yet. Regardless, it was not a modification or spell worthy of copying into Codex, and once Light was certain of his assessment, he detonated the next casting of the spell right as it manifested by her palm, killing the woman with her own spell.

Didya find something neat? Shadow popped in.

Not worthy of any true consideration. While you are here, twelve-A, if you please.

Shadow shot a mock salute, forming a pair of portals right next to Lights hands. A combination of gravity and crystal magics utilized the pair of portals as an endless tube for acceleration, creating a form of resonance that Light utilized to decimate an entire column of Corporation attackers, piercing white light searing itself into the spirits of those struck by it. Even those not hit would find themselves with something of a blindspot in their spiritual perception for a short while if they had it spread out and the attack passed through their area of perception.

From above, Bulwark swooped down upon his mount, healing magic coursing through the mans body as he hacked a personal spacecraft into pieces with a brutal strike, then kicked a larger fragment hard enough that it caved in the chest of a Sect man who was rushing him. Stone was locked in a power armor battle with one of what seemed to be the Corporations commanders, facing down the much more experienced operator of the advanced suits with a combination of Team Zeros buffs, his own ludicrous strength cultivation, and simple superior enchanting-work.

Light still cut the battle short by disabling the Corporations supplementary arm motor, allowing Stone to crumple the man into a ball mere moments later.

Shadow allowed Torment and Origami to join in the melee at some point, and Light was more than pleased to see the formers fear, taking the form of a hooded figure with skeletal fingers and no visible face, grow ever-larger as it reaped strength from those it killed. The fiery silhouette of rage burning hotter and hotter as enemies sought to avenge their fallen comrades and fell to its wrath. Origami had deployed a fully automatic mana turret, unleashing a nigh-endless spray of cover fire against another column of soldiers.

There was no quarter asked. There was no quarter given.

A similar scene happened not an hour later when they went and routed the besieging Sect army, giving the military base a breath of fresh air. They would no doubt be attacked once more in a few weeks or months, but Team Zero had bought them some time to rest and recover.

As they were leaving, Light watched as a few vultures and pirates were already beginning to raid the bodies of the fallen and the wreckage that was once a proud, if small, fleet of ships. They would know to steer clear of the fortress planet, but that wasnt his concern. He just watched their surroundings as Drifter retrieved him in a ship that should rightly be falling apart were it not for her Talents dictating otherwise.

Despite everything, he felt a little pride zing through him as they boarded the ship. They had accomplished their goal, walking directly into a trap and walking out again unscathed.

No doubt, the next time would be harder. The entire Realm now knew of their capabilities, or at least loosely what they could expect, and they could train to perfectly counter his and Allies techniques, avoid the weaknesses they were most capable of exploiting, and generally hyper-specialize to fight them specifically. Meanwhile, he and Allie would be expected to fight against enemies with unknown capabilities, as often as they could physically manage, and do it all without showing a hint of weakness.

He was looking forward to it.

Once they were away from prying eyes, Allie teleported them back to home base, where Kudzu looked over them for any lingering wounds. Zack had his curse fully removed, Allies hastily-healed gash was properly mended, Torment underwent standard mental screening, Drifter was treated for full-body bruising and crushed organs, while everyone else underwent a thousand and one other minor checks to ensure they were in prime condition for the next fight.

Alongside it all was Wellspring, assisting and learning from the healers a hundred times her senior. It slowed the entire process to a crawl, but Zack took the opportunity to meditate and discuss magic with Researcher Karl over his [AI], instead of simply suppressing his mental cultivation. If nothing else, Wellspings Talent made all the healing she was a part of much faster and lower effort, which made her a resource to be catered to.

Removing a healing cooldown and reducing the strain to heal was a valuable Talent, and even Zack wasnt sure just how strong her Talent would grow given a few centuries and a dozen Tiers, so he approved of catering to her when she was young, as time permitted.

It was something of a pity they couldnt operate with full efficiency, with Allie carrying them around the Empire in the blink of an eye and Wellspring wiping away whatever injuries they did take, but such was the cost of those secrets which they still needed to maintain. Logistical secrets had to remain a secret, for those were the only things which genuinely influenced the strength of the Great Powers, in truth. It didnt matter that Zack could utilize any form of magic he desired at any time, or that Allie could bend space in a massive area. Those were relevant on the micro-scale, within the scope of a single battle.

But Wellspring enabling Ascenders to fight with no regards for most wounds? Allie allowing for instantaneous deployment of strategic assets anywhere in the blink of an eye? That the Emperor himself possessed those capabilities? Those were the sorts of things which told the story of how well the Empire could genuinely weather the attack, and nobody wished to give the slightest hint of their true strengths.

As for strengths

Zack needed to work a lot more upon mastering level three and four mana types.

He would be the one unleashing armageddon the next time he faced the Sects.

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