Unbound

Twenty Adept Tier Inquisitors rushed at them, leaping over molten sections of the floor and skidding through fallen gems. The six swiftest reached their team before they made it out of the main vault, swords out and golden Skills forming on their lips. Arrows of light and swords of flame hemmed them in, cutting off the path toward the workshop, but only for a moment.

“Get back!” Beef shouted, slamming Bedlam to the earth. The Skills scattered, their patterns disrupted, and several of the Inquisitors stumbled as if they, too, suffered the blow. Others charged ahead, their side swords lifted into a high guard…only to be met by Felix.

He tore them apart.

Rime Shaping!

Cardinal Flame!

Green Shaping!

Stone Shaping!

Before their blood settled, Mana poured from Felix’s palms and elbows, a thick tide of power that snapped ahead of the nearest Inquisitors. All of them froze, encased utterly in trailing streams of Fiendstone.

You Have Defeated An Inquisitor Of The Pathless (x20)!

Felix figured that would change to “killed” before long. He hadn’t left any air holes.

"Seal this door!" Felix ordered as they slipped into the workshop. One of the Eidolons slammed their hands to the cavern wall, and the once-hidden door shut before a familiar spinning array sprawled across its surface.

“It is done,” Telys reported.

“Good. We’re getting out of here, now.” The lot of them were hustling across the devastated workstations, and he jabbed a finger at Orun. “You. Carry Harn.”

“As you wish,” the Eidolon rumbled. He stooped low and, with surprising gentleness, took Harn from Tzfell and Evie’s grasp.

“Thank you,” the chainmaiden said. “Please just…be careful.”

“I will do my best,” Orun swore.

Laur also handed over a bloodied Archie to Orun, and the huge Eidolon easily made room for both unconscious allies.

Felix examined the Chanter. “Laur. Are you alright to walk?”

The Elf stood up straighter. “This isn’t my blood.”

There was a strength to the Elf’s words Felix hadn’t heard before. He nodded. “Right on.”

“Where are we going?” Beef asked.

Felix stopped, just outside where the pool of lava once was—now there was only a dry, empty channel. The Supreme Elemental was gone, and so was its power. “Through there, past the toppled shelving. There’s a door out of the vault and supposedly out onto the mountain. It’s our best bet.”

“Before you leave, perhaps some aid.”

Above them, clinging to the surface of a massive core, was Yintarion. The core still rested atop a rocky shelf high above the lava island, but now the molten stone that once hung from it was gone, leaving the too-smooth marble of deep orange, yellow, and crimson in its place. The last and most pertinent detail, however, was that it looked considerably smaller than before—and pieces of it were wisping away. Directly toward Felix’s mouth.

“I tried fruitlessly to appeal to the Elemental, but she was deaf to my words. Then its entire form vanished before my eyes, and I knew why I was ignored. She offered herself to you, Autarch.”

Felix frowned. “She did.”

Yintarion attempted to calmly clear his throat, but he was obviously panicking. “If you could stop trying to eat this, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Felix immediately cut off his Skill. He hadn’t even realized his Chthonic Tribute was still active. He’d thought all of the Supreme Elemental had been devoured, but here the densest and most potent part of it remained. Within his chest, his Hunger growled in anger.

“Done. You can have it, Yin.”

No!

Quiet. You’ve had your fill.

“That…I appreciate your generosity, Autarch.” Yintarion beamed, his two foot-long length laid out against the glossy surface of the immense core. “You picked an excellent mate, little Dragoon.”

Vess was too tired to do more than blush. She gestured to her Companion. "That core is huge. We'll require your assistance, Eagin."

"Of course, your Grace."

A crash resounded throughout the cavernous workshop. Across the way, the sealed door shivered under a tremendous assault. Felix’s heartbeat sped up. That door won’t hold out forever. We can’t escape with an entire army on our tail. A large chunk of stone fell from the ceiling. Even the wall is breaking—

Felix’s eyes widened. He traced out massive gaps in the walls where once bright, elemental lava coursed. All of it was empty, hollowed-out pockets of stone, and they positively riddled the cavern.

“Everyone, quick. To the exit and down the mountain. Vess, lead them out.”

“What about you?” Vess asked. “I heard you. Your sister—?”

“Someone’s gotta slow them down,” Felix said. He couldn’t talk about Gabby. Not yet.

Without another word, Vess marched up to him, seized his collar and pulled him into a kiss. Something inside Felix’s brain turned to mush as sparks shot up his spine for a second that stretched into eternity…until Vess pulled away and pressed her forehead against his. “Follow close.”

Felix wanted to say something witty or cool, or even "I will." What came out weren't really words, but Vess smiled softly anyway. She gathered the others and sped off into the dark doorway, the others and Eidolons following. Eagin even awkwardly carried the large Elemental core in his great arms.

Yet, when most of his senses returned to him, Felix found Yintarion, Beef, and the Chanters at his side. “What are you all doing? Go with the others.”

“I will aid you, Autarch,” the Wyrmling said.

“We cannot abandon the Unbound,” Tzfell said fiercely. “And you cannot pull this off without help.”

“You know what I’m planning?” Felix asked.

“After our time traveling with you, Lord Autarch, I can honestly say I will never be able to anticipate what you do,” Laur said. His voice hardened. “But I would be of use.”

“I got a hammer,” Beef offered with a shrug. “And I can carry them, if this all goes sideways.”

The door shivered, and sparks spat from the sealing array on the far wall. Felix shoved his concerns away. “Stay close and follow my lead.”

Stone Shaping!

Rime Shaping!

Green Shaping!

Felix’s Mana speared across the cavern before coming to rest within the deep crevices left by Scaldara’s death. Ice bloomed, crackling and expanding within the cracks, while nearby roots sprouted from nearly invisible moss that clung high above. The roots sought those same cracks, and as the ice melted away, they dug in. Above it all, consuming the most of his attention, was the rock itself.

C’mon. The walls were made of a high-Tier stone, decently above his control…but not entirely. His Will, Intent, and sheer amount of Mana on hand meant he had leverage. Not much, but some. Very slowly, pieces of stone liquified and fell away. C’mon.

The pounding on the door was increasing in tempo and volume. The wards gave off sparks now with each strike. “They will not hold long,” Laur cautioned. “I am weakening the wards holding the wall together, Lord Autarch, but it will diminish the door seal as well.”

“Then we must escalate. Adherents of Ophidia.” Spiraling dragons of water shot outward from the hovering Wyrmling. They split, each powerful jet striking a different place along the wall and sending deep cracks across the cavern. “Adherents of Ophidia!”

The dragons shot out again. And again, while Felix froze, rooted around, and shaved away strategic portions of stone. Tzfell lifted her arms, and geometric shapes hurtled into the cracks and gouges, coursing through until they found the weakest portions of the wall and ceiling. There, they seared themselves into the stone, and each of their magic attacks were drawn unerringly toward them.

The wall burst apart, the seal failing in a shower of incandescent vapors. Redcloaks poured through the opening, their white armor covered in gleaming golden plates conjured from light Mana. A man with dark hair and an insufferable smirk sauntered through the opening, grinning as he took in the five of them across the ruined workshop.

“You fools,” he said, almost tenderly. “You cannot escape the judgment of the Light.”

Felix growled. “Eat shit.”

With everything he had, he flared his shaping Skills and one new addition.

Adamant Discord!

Multi-Cast is level 90!

Stone Shaping is level 99!

Rime Shaping is level 94!

Green Shaping is level 89!

Lightning burst among ice, vines, and gelatinous stone, and the entire goddamn wall collapsed. The smirking man paled and tried to run, only to have his legs taken out from him by a series of water dragons. The wall fell atop of him and all of his Inquisitors.

Yet it wasn’t just the wall. Cracks spread and expanded, tearing from the workshop to the vault proper. The orichalcum rafters—bent and battered by Imara’s assault—ripped free of the vault’s ceiling…and the roof followed.

“Autarch! Felix!” Laur shouted above the roar of collapse. A shield around them held some massive debris away, but it was flickering wildly. “Everything is falling around us!”

“Beef!”

Without a word, the kid scooped both Chanters up in his arms and took off. Felix and Yintarion ran close behind as cacophony reigned. Thousands of tons of stone and metal roared as it fell, ripping apart ancient architecture and advanced magical arrays. Sparks and vapor became a firestorm as the wild discharge of magic exploded like a bomb.

Debris followed them, and a pyroclastic cloud tore across the workshop and through the doors. It chased them as Beef and Felix slipped into the spiral staircase beyond the exit.

“Hold on!” Beef yelled, before Mana surged from his hooves.

A sheet of chitin covered the staircase, and Felix’s feet shot out from beneath him. He rocketed down an impromptu, spiral slide. The noxious cloud of rubble and cascading Mana followed. It shot through the entire staircase. They shot to their feet as the end appeared. Beef shouldered straight through the half-open stone door and nearly launched himself into thin air again.

Spears of crystal shot into the ground, halting him in his tracks. “Not again,” Hallow called out. Beef lurched aside as Felix and Yintarion followed suit.

A column of heat, fire, stone, and incredible pressure exploded from the open door, ripping it off its hinges and sending everything out into the empty sky. Felix watched, a little numb, as the cloud and rubble hung suspended in thin air…before it launched upward. Into the endless dark that yawned just above.

A black hole into the Void. Felix had to tear his eyes away from the desolate emptiness. Like my Hunger, almost.

He shook himself. “Everyone good?” The others gave dazed noises that he took for confirmation. “Down the mountain, then.”

They needed to escape the Undermount…and Felix knew just where to go.

It isn’t over, he swore, eyes cast up toward the summit.

Not by a long shot.

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