The Path of Ascension

Chapter 266

Quill watched and waited as everyone scattered to the winds of the desert, trying to remind himself of the larger picture and his place in it. It even worked to a degree. Or maybe it was Lila sharing her view of the fights with the three of them so they got to watch in real-time as the Empires delvers encountered and fought monsters.

Rifts had seemed to turn into small oases for one type of monster, which told Quill there was no one monster that was stronger, faster, more cunning, or more dangerous than the rest. If that was the case, then monsters, or rather their descendants that werent bound to the rift, would have gone on to dominate the planet like an invasive species over the eons.

As he had noticed yesterday, there was some degree of bleed through. He suspected it was from the ruins, the planet was overrun with bugs and small creatures which would normally inhabit a rift but were usually ignored.

Quill smiled as a group in a fortified tower plinked at a group of gray scaled apes from range. When the apes tried to take to the skies, their flight was shaky and slow, as befit trying to fly with a Concept on a planet with such firm space. There was a reason everyone was using alternate methods of flight, aside from the rare few people who truly specialized in Concept flight, or those who had some portion of their Intent. Though even those with partial Intents did so for showmanship more than practicality; the willpower use was prohibitive given the certainty of high stakes combat in the near future.

That left the apes at a severe disadvantage.

A disadvantage they quickly changed by ripping up the spindly trees that had grown in the shadow of the mountain housing their rift, and hurling them at the delvers like javelins. When that didnt work, they started using light-based spells to attack the delvers, which finally forced their frontliners down and onto the ground to engage the monsters up close.

Quill analyzed both sides and came to the conclusion that the delving team could handle the apes, but it would be a slow fight, as they were conserving their strength. He approved of the tactic, but it resulted in a fight that was boring enough for him to seek out a more interesting feed to watch.

He quickly found one.

A team of four men had rushed far ahead of the others and had reached the edge of the desert where sandy hills turned into rocky shrubland. There, they had found one of the planet's ruins, and had dived into its spatially expanded depths against the advice he had passed on from Lila.

She had warned him that usually, ruins of this Tier were left alone to be the last thing exploited due to their higher-than-usual danger, which very much tracked with Matts own experience with the golem fortress so long ago. But while he had passed on that information, not all of the teams listened. It quickly became obvious as to why Lila had said what she said, and Quill was only able to watch as the lead tank, a green-skinned man, had his legs torn to shreds by a wave of insects that quickly swarmed up his body to tear at his abdomen. The man with a rapier dove in and grabbed the melee fighter, but he was a moment too late and too slow.

The bugs jumped off the first man and started devouring the second, and in moments, he too was torn to shreds.

The mage spread his hands and sent out a wall of fire, trying to stop the wave of insects. It worked, but only until the monsters behind the leading elements pushed the initial wave through the flames. Most died, but those who did survive threw themselves at the mage. He lasted nearly a second.

The final man, a healer, didn't hesitate as he cast a healing spell on his last surviving teammate, but Quill could see that he wasnt trying to save the man, but rather keep him alive longer to buy himself time to escape.

Vile.

As the man stumbled out of the ruin, he fell to the ground and panted as he watched the insects slam against an invisible wall that the ruin must have erected to keep the monsters inside.

Scoop tsked. Let's mark him down for backline healing only. Can't trust him anywhere dangerous.

Quill nodded at that and agreed with her sentiment. He most certainly didnt want to rely on someone like that for anything, let alone healing.

Going back to watching the teams, it only took two hours before there was an incursion by the Clans into the nominal Empire territory, which was their call to action. Quill took off on an oversized flying sword, while Torch took off with a set of flying devices that acted as ankle and wrist bracelets, but produced flames. Scoop, on the other hand, was riding her flying cloud and was using her namesake to pull chunks of the cloud out and toss them into her mouth.

Reports came flooding in as Empire teams fled or were killed,, but Quill ignored them. He had warned all teams in that area to retreat, and if they chose to disregard his orders, they could reap the results of their actions.

When they arrived, he was able to get a better picture of the team who had encroached on their area. It was a team of five decked out in matching colors of earthy brown and neon green, with crests adorning their shoulders and chests. He was able to identify them as heraldic badges the Clans used to distinguish themselves.

Balders Clan wasnt a well-known clan, but they were a respected mid-Tier human clan that had a reputation for being hard on themselves and harder on their enemies. They had earned themselves a number of accolades from the last time the Clans were at war.

They were Tier 22, but that was the norm here, and Quill let his mask smile as the group turned to disregard their team after sensing they were only Tier 20s. Foolish.

Give over all your spatial rings and

Torch didnt give the leading man time to finish his statement and dove at him like a descending meteor.

As flames brightened the now dark sky to a noon-like brightness, Quill was able to see the shock and horror on the team's faces as they finally realized why they were confident enough to come to a Tier 22 battlefield.

The team was dead in moments, no quarter given to enemies of the Empire, and Quill thought that was all they would need to do to secure the sector. But as they were flying back to Empire-controlled territory, they saw the night sky brighten behind them and grow brighter by the moment.

It was so bright, Quill initially thought it was the sunrise, but the light was coming from the north rather than the bulging eastern horizon.

No, there was someone coming from Clan territory.

Quill assumed they were coming for vengeance, but didnt discount that this was an ambush, and started cycling through his various manipulation skills and their senses variants to catch anyone hiding.

Finding no one only made him more wary, and he threw out a number of talismans to create a perimeter that, if crossed by anyone, would alert him. It was in no way perfect, but Quill felt better for its protection.

Like a shooting star, a dwarf in shimmering silver-blue armor turned the night sky to day, similarly to how Torch had done not moments ago.

As she approached, Quill reeled in shock. He had asked earlier, and Lila had assured him that there were only a handful of Tier 20s on the planet, almost entirely from the Monster Collective.

Which made it all the more shocking when Seasadh MacMhunna and her chosen group flew as Tier 19s onto a Tier 22 battlefield, looking to all the world like valkyries in golden armor descending to let loose devastation.

Seasadh MacMhunna, the latest Inheritor of the Clans, wielded a mace with the head of a star, a man made growth artifact passed down from one of their Great Powers earliest Golden Ages. Quill knew a bit about the dwarf girl, just like theyd been briefed on all the elites they were liable to face in their first war, but he didn't know she would be here. Most of all, he hadnt known she was a Tier lower than them.

Crashing to the ground with an explosion of debris that flew for miles, Seasadh stood her ground like she was posing for an audience. An audience that manifested as the three remaining members of her group landed with far less aplomb and a few miles back.

Seasadh laughed as she saw the three of them still flying. Ahh, the newest possible Ascenders. Quilt and Flare, was it? Along with someone you picked up from some backwater planet on the way here? I never got to fight Light and Shadow due to being a little too young, but then again, you guys are too weak. Still, it will do. I

In unison, the three of them rushed Seasadh before she could finish her monologue and allow her reinforcements to arrive.

Scoop immediately cast her support spells, buffing their side while slowing Seasadh, whose armor flared like a sun as she tried to resist the effects. Quill was sure by the way she was throwing mana around that she would have been able to forcefully break the debuffs effects in short order, but he and Torch werent just for decoration.

Quill tossed out two talismans that flared into lightning bolts that raced for Seasaidh, but just as fast as the lightning he threw, she swung her mace and batted the two bolts into the ground and sky. With his mana sight, he could see that she was burning away Scoops debilitating spells from her mace down into the rest of her body.

Is this the best the Empire has to offer? Is this the power of Ascenders? Seasaidh shouted out as she burned away the last of Scoops spells.

Torch darted through the cold, spear and shield raised to face Seasadh, who swung at her with the Morningstar.

The Morningstar that glowed like a sun met the flame wrapped shield in a wild conflagration.

Flames billowed out in a wave before pausing, starting to reverse, and then pausing again. That stuttering and starting movement happened a few more times as Quill watched Seasadh and Torch grimacing under their helmets. Even using as much mana as Quill could give to her, Torch was slowly losing the fight, the flames encroaching and threatening to engulf her.

Torch wasnt using [Fire Manipulation], she was using the [Blood Manipulation] that she had spent close to a century honing into her strongest skill. More than that, it was her innate skill, making it all the stronger. Finding someone who could go toe to toe with her in fire control was a rare event, but if anyone should be able to do it, an Inheritor would be one.

Seasadh seemed to realize that as she grinned, even as her mace went from producing flames to blinding light and her speed increased a dozen times over, almost matching Torchs potion boosted self. Judging by the way mana pulsed through her armor, he could tell it was more than just spells boosting her speed. It was difficult to get a good read on the armor mid-battle, but from what he knew, it would be some of the best armor possible to make in the Clans, better than anything he had ever seen firsthand. From what he could tell, it was made of literal force, but he couldnt properly conceptualize how that was even possible. Spells like [Force Armor] existed, yes, but the difference between a defensive spell and permanent armor was like night and day. He couldnt contemplate it too much, though. Her mace blurred as she pulled it back and slammed it into Torch's shield like a woodcutter trying to fell a tree. Torchs shield held firm, but she was sent skidding backward, her feet digging deep lines into the ground.

Scoop was summoning a twelve foot tall ice golem, but before it could get more than half formed, Seasaidh threw herself forward, past Torch, and ripped into the golem with her mace, carving chunks from its body with each swing. Scoop managed to expel the dwarf with a [Wind Lance], but not before she had caused enough damage to the golem to make it collapse on itself.

Quill decided enough was enough, and threw a handful of talismans out. [Mana Spear]s, [Mana Bolt]s, and [Force Lance]s ripped through the intervening space, homing in on the blurring form of Seasadh, who tried to dodge.

She managed to dodge the initial bombardment, but the follow-up spells had been able to lock onto her movements and slammed into a dome of light she summoned around herself. The final [Force Lance] was the only spell to penetrate and left a shallow scar on her armor, but the material it was made of already seemed to be repairing itself, the scratch fading into the light gray-blue of the rest of it.

Torch approached Seasaidh from the rear, but before their melee fight could resume, Seasaidh threw out a blast of fire, then with a slam of her mace, forged it into a blisteringly hot lance of plasma and launched it at Quill, all in a single practiced motion. A [Bulwark] manifested to stop the spear, but rather than dissipating, it started to drill into his shield. He quickly activated a [Dark Wall] talisman, then a [Bulwark] talisman behind it to slow the plasmas momentum. Just as he finished, the spear burst through his original spell, quickly overloaded the second barrier, and finally petered out against his third one.

Torch and Seasaidh were battling it out with their weapons as Quill rejoined the fight, and he could see that the dwarf was pumping mana and will into her mace, causing it glow all the brighter and manifest spikes of plasma from the head, reminiscent of solar flares from a star. He could feel his armor heating up just from the proximity to the weapon, and that was merely a side effect of the effects she was imbuing into her mace.

The heat and power he could feel from her was glorious. He drank it down like a wilting plant. He wanted to rip that mace apart just to absorb the wisdom used in making it.

The spikes on the mace turned white hot with light leaking from them, and the explosion sent Torch flying and skipping off the ground until she managed to orient herself enough to drive her spear into the earth and come to a halt, before sprinting back into the fight.

Knowing this was one of the strongest opponents they had faced despite being a Tier lower than them, Quill threw himself into melee range. Sensing his intention, Scoop sent out a summoned mass of twisting white ribbons, her tiaras interpretation of [Headwind], to tie down Seasaidh.

As a nominal mage, he needed to be careful when he did that, so as to not give away his cover, but Quill had his own powers, and they had hinted at him being melee capable a few times now. So as long as he didnt go overboard, it would be fine.

Landing next to the dwarf, Quill let a few of the fake talismans on his cloak flare to life while he channeled his physical buffing spells. Backstepping from the first swing of her mace, Scoops ribbons wrapped around her short form, and Quill activated the Breakers Fist talisman array he had gotten working on the long trip.

His gauntleted fists flared with mana as they started gathering momentum from each of his talismans.

Quill's first swing sent Seasadhs Morningstar flying back and almost out of her hands as he landed a punch on the haft of the weapon. His second attack, aimed at her shoulder, was dodged with some dash spell that let her nearly flow around his fist. Seasadh used that opening to swing at him, the head of the Morningstar venting plasma into the air, forcing him to roll over the weapon while using what little of his Concept he could to launch himself downward the moment he cleared the haft. His third blow was further boosted by Scoop, who threw her Concept at Seasaidh to freeze her in place, while boosting Quill with [Tailwind].

That let him close the distance and land the blow, which dumped all the momentum he had been able to store in the talismans into the flat plane of [Light Shield] Seasadh created to defend herself.

Even with the spell to prevent most of the damage, Seasadh was sent flying with already-fading scorch marks coating her armor. To further worsen her situation, Torch rushed in to drive her spearhead directly into the armpit of the dwarfs armor.

Seasadh twisted mid-air even as her armor and Morningstar flared to life, but she was still a moment too slow, and Torchs spear drew blood for the first time.

Twisting and wrenching herself free of the spear, Seasadh jumped into the air and took flight for the first time. Instead of using a conventional flying device, she threw her Morningstar and was pulled along, a damn odd method of flight, but it gave her time to burn off Scoops summoned ribbons. That move got Seasadh near her team, who only seemed willing to fight now that Seasadh hadnt been able to beat them herself.

One of the other dwarves, a man in robes seemingly made of starlight, put his hands on Seasadhs back and her wounds closed up in moments. He saw Seasidh start breathing again, trusting that the healer had washed away any potential internal damage Quill had caused with Breakers Fist.

Frowning, Quill let it show on his mask.

With another three combatants who would no doubt be perfectly paired with Seasadh as a fully rounded out four-man team, the balance of power had shifted.

They hadnt been going all out, but he was sure that Seasadh hadnt been either, so the addition of her team wasnt a good sign. No dwarven Inheritor was a weakling, and neither would her hand-selected team be.

It stung his pride, but Quill knew that if Seasadh and her team were here, prepared to face Tier 22 elites, she was likely capable of delving Tier 24 rifts. By Matts estimation, that would put her roughly on par with their real identities and strength. Considering how limited they were as Torch and Quill, that could prove a serious problem. Typically, the decreased combat power was of little consequence, but against their true peers in the top echelons of fighting ability, it put them at a real disadvantage. Even someone with an Intent wouldnt have caused so much of an issue, in his estimation, as anyone here with an Intent would be unlikely to be skilled enough to use it to its fullest.

Despite the Tier difference, Seasadh most probably had a higher combat power and could very well beat them if they werent careful. Or, they would get too engrossed in the battle and reveal something they didnt want to.

Any outcome but victory seemed unacceptable.

Flicking his cloak off to the side, Quill used a little [Air Manipulation] to make the parchment flutter. It wasnt just aesthetics- he was gathering wind in the gaps and getting ready to send the parchments flying.

As Torch and Scoop landed next to where he was standing, the dwarves moved into a battle line. Seasadh took her position, flanked by a dwarven man with a silver and bronze shield and a woman wielding a greataxe almost her own height, while the healer withdrew a shield and mace of his own.

There was a lack of obvious ranged combatants, but Quill didnt discount that they were all versed in ranged spells or had available weapon swaps to ranged options.

The dwarves werent known for their smiths for no reason.

Scoop ended up starting the fight with [Dispelling Wind], which dimmed the active spells the dwarves were casting and turned a [Fire Lance] that the axe-wielding woman cast into little more than an arrow of fire that Torch easily deflected.

Jumping into the air, Quill stood on his flying sword as he started tossing out talismans, noticing that the axe woman had turned her attention to him and was flying with ankle devices, like Torch was using.

Flying backward, Quill opened up the distance while circling to gain some more space between them. When the attacker flared with a burst of aura that increased her speed, Quill tossed out the talisman he had palmed. The parchment exploded into a burst of mana the woman tried to dodge, but he had timed it correctly, and she was covered in mana dust, allowing him to activate his second part of the rune which hardened and transformed the dust into stone.

The axe-wielding woman froze as her joints hardened, and she was unable to adjust her flight and started to veer off to the side, where Quill hit her with a barrage of [Bolt]s. Even as his attacks hit her and she was sent flying into a nearby mountain, he was already redirecting his attention to the three versus two, which was still grounded. Seasadhs hesitation to fly was interesting, but gave Quill a tactical advantage until the axe-wielding woman recovered, which he was making difficult with a healthy application of [Earth Manipulation] to bind and restrict her movements. The woman was built like most physical fighters, and would eventually tear her way out of the binding walls of rock, but it would take her time.

Time that he used to set up two arrays.

The first glistened and sparkled as it gathered a dozen types of ice-aspected mana with complementary sub-aspects. It took several moments to activate, but the beam of energy was reminiscent of the Aurora Lance that had been their group's trump card in Minkalla. A beam of energy the size of a train shot out of the array and punched straight through the mountain that the axe-wielding woman was trapped in. It created a massive mana explosion, leaving a several-mile-wide crater that was filled in with raining chunks of ice. His predictions gave a seven percent chance that the spell would kill her outright, mostly due to the unpredictability of her build, but Quill agreed that she would be an elite in her own right, and would not be so easily taken out if she was part of Seasadh the Inheritors team.

Even as she was crushed by the falling ice, Quill watched through his spiritual perception as she conjured an aura of flames to protect herself. Through the flames, he saw she that hadnt come through the attack unscathed, and was now coughing up large chunks of blood and guts even as she poured healing potions down her throat. If it was a one-on-one fight, Quill would have moved in to finish her off, but Torch and Scoop were dealing with a two-versus three and could use his help. Through his bond, he could feel that Scoop had been injured, though not too seriously.

That was where his second array came into play.

It was incredibly slow to cast, but that wasnt indicative of its power; rather, it represented its scope. Everything in a fifteen-mile radius froze, but not with cold. The air, the ground, the light that traveled through the air, spell effects, and even space itself slowed to a crawl.

Quill, Torch, and Scoop weren't immune, but they were keyed into the enchantment array and were correspondingly less affected, which made them move like they were boosted to the gills. Originally a spell Luna used as a form of resistance training, Quill had adapted a lesser version of her spell to his arrays as a project, and it proved mildly effective despite the unacceptably long casting time. Even in talisman form, where most of the work was already done when it was made.

The array's other issue was the tradeoff in duration and the amount of energy stilled. When Quill had flooded the area with mana in testing, the array only lasted a fraction as long as it would have normally..

All the energy Seasadh and her two teammates were expending to move was doing something similar.

Based on their previous engagements, Quill expected they had five seconds before the arrays effect fell apart.

For Tier 20s, that might have been an eternity.

Torch darted forward with her spear flashing, flames left behind where she had been when the array went into effect. Her initial thrust took the healer in the throat, her spear not being able to pierce the metal with the slowing array in effect.

Scoop didnt hesitate and started casting buffs on them and debuffs on the enemies. Each spell reduced the amount of time the array would last, but it was worth it in most cases.

Torch thrust her spear into the shield-wielding man's thigh before charging at Seasadh, who was burning mana like a star trying to go supernova. In fact, she was burning so much mana, she was appreciably reducing the time the array would last.

Torch was just attacking Seasadh when her armor flared brightly and the slowing enchantment shattered, allowing the dwarf to dodge the blow aimed for her neck and take it on her shoulder.

Quill darted forward and dodged two attacks from the woman he had buried in the mountain. Her axe head had started glowing and was shooting mana projectiles like a ships cannon, though her wounds, the range, and Tier gap allowed him to dodge the attacks. They did slow him down some, and he was forced to block a shield bash with his staff while sticking talismans on the healer and shield wielder.

Their armor immediately flared with light and heat, burning off the talismans before they could activate. Quill saw smugness in the duos body language but he was already turning as they exploded. The talismans didnt just burn off when the physical containers were destroyed. In fact, that was the activation trigger, and the team was too green or too inexperienced fighting talisman mages to know better than to try such a basic counter.

As the duo went down Quill went in to finish them off, but a panicked Seasadh rushed to cover them while glowing bright and brighter, with the searing light seemingly focused on the head of her Morningstar and pulsing with energy.

Torch thrust a dozen times at the dwarf's back and managed to draw blood, but Quill noticed that her spear tip was glowing red hot from the energies the dwarf woman was erupting with. Erupting turned out to be a prescient thought, as Seasadh really seemed to be going supernova, and none of them could handle that much energy this close.

Turning, Torch jumped into the air and flew next to himself and Scoop, where Quill wrapped them in a dozen layers of defensive talismans and arrays, all boosted by his Concepts defensive properties. When Seasadh finally went off, the explosion made the entire world shake, but his shielding held, and through his spiritual senses, he watched as the world burned.

The atmosphere near them ignited before burning off completely, even as the ground and forest were turned to ash and then cleansed of even said ash as everything burned.

Quill expected to see Seasadhs allies facing the same treatment, but their armor expanded and blocked all the energy the Inheritor was expelling. Cursing at the dwarf's ingenuity, Quill got ready to fight the moment the spell dropped, but the moment the flames stopped, Seasadh fell to one knee. Disregarding his own wounds, the healer ran to her, scooped her up, and took off into the air with the rest of the team raggedly following suit.

There was a massive concussion as air rushed back into the area, but even as he dropped the shields, Quill coughed out a mouthful of blood. Holding the shields through that explosion had pushed his Concept to the limit, and he once more cursed his lack of Intent. No matter what Intent he landed on, it would have made his Concept a little stronger and given him more willpower to throw around.

Torch gestured around with her spear as she messaged. Well fuck me sideways. I didnt think any Tier 19 could get that hot, but she managed it. She sent along a short medical report as well, and it was worse than he had thought, though nothing was terribly serious. Some broken ribs, torn muscles, and cauterized cuts made up the worst of the injuries on her end, all things that could be healed in short order.

Quill agreed. If she can get that hot, she can clearly go harder, hotter than she went at the start.

Scoop grumbled and gestured with a hand that Quill noticed was missing two fingers. She burned my cloud, and that will take days to reform. What a shithead! She started this fight after all, just die easily and not ruin my snack.

Despite her seemingly flippant words, Quill could tell Scoop was just happy they were all alive.

With the air superheated and the ground glowing as the rock and stone that had been liquefied slowly cooled, he and Scoop were too uncomfortable with the heat and chose to leave the area. Torch, on the other hand, chose to walk through the flames, and Quill wasnt sure it was just theatrics. They were all trying to find their Intents, and that moment of enlightenment might come from even a secondary element like fire was for Torch.

It still made a good image for Torch to walk through the wreckage the other fire mage made as if she was unharmed.

The cleared area was a dozen miles wide, but Quill's flying sword made quick work of that distance, and before they were able to leave, another report for help came to them.

This time, the Monster Collective was attacking their flank, and the secondary teams had been unable to defeat them, which meant it fell onto their shoulders.

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