Unbound

"Seven Tribulations!"

A storm of air Mana threw the Ghostfire Simians back, shredding through ten of them. Yet the ones behind them simply clawed their way forward, into the bursting spears and suffering lacerations that cut them to the bone. They did not stop.

You Have Killed A Ghostfire Simian (x11)!

XP Earned!

They have gone insane. Vess stepped frantically, pushing her Agility to its limits as the monsters came at her without regard for their own safety. Their eyes were wide and glowed faintly with the same bloodred illumination as the moon above. A Status Condition?

"Vessilia!" Atar cried out, moments before Imbued Sparkbolts burst to either side of her. It was enough of a warning, letting her flip backward and out of the line of fire. "They're enraged!"

"So I see!" Vess leaped up and over a Lesser Wretch that took a swipe at her, flipping just over it's iridescent carapace. Her remaining two spears stabbed down and pierced it with a violent report.

You Have Killed A Lesser Wretch!

XP Earned!

"The Mark! It's burning up!" Vess' Elemental Eye spotted the Marks along the monsters various torsos, and each one pulsed with a sickening yellow-red illumination. She could almost hear a discordant squeal in the distance, but no, that was only the maddened roars of over a thousand insane beasts. "Whoever is controlling them just cut them loose!"

"And pissed them off!" Alister added, using his own Grand Impetus to shove himself out of the way of a soaring white fireball. The pillar of force had the added effect of dispersing the explosion entirely. "Oh, that worked nicely!"

"We're close! Get to the shield wall before the signal!" Vess said, before leaping far above the assembled horde.

Pierce the Sky!

The rain and darkness limited visibility, but Vess could still see a mass of ravenous monsters, all of them burning with that same sickly light. The Archon's light. Beyond the limits of her Perception, it was a sea of yellow-red embers that were looking to crash against them all.

"Lass! This way!"

The voice broke through the roars and screeches of the monsters; a tone she recognized. "Rory!"

From above, she could see the Dwarf's double-headed axe cut through the few monsters ahead of them before he beckoned with his free hand. Vess landed, her spears skewering still more enemies as Atar and Alister caught up. They were ushered beyond the shield wall while the horde slammed against the flickering flames and ice the Tin and Iron Ranks conjured.

"We've been waitin' for ye!" Rory shouted while shouldering his axe. "Thaddeus! How goes it?"

Thangle was atop a pile of masonry, weaving together strands of wisping violet energy. His face was screwed up in concentration, his white beard all but quivering. "Almost...finished..."

"Roridan, we cannot last much longer," Aenea said. "I am nearly out of Mana Potions and the Gnome is at the end of his ability." She approached from Thangle's side, and her bandolier was almost empty of vials. She stabbed a hand at the monsters assaulting their shield wall. "And they're all under a new Status Condition. Berserk Blood."

"It is transmitting along their Spirit Mark," Vess added and the Alchemist's nostrils flared.

"Someone is controlling all of them?" she whispered. Horror trembled her Spirit before an impressive Will steadied it. "I'd say that is impossible, but we are well out of my depth here."

"I've almost got them...connected. Hold them off...give me...I need more time," Thangle gasped, his fingers flicking ceaselessly. Whatever he was doing, it was more complex than Vess understood. She was no mage.

A chorus of bellowing cries shook out as nearly a hundred ice-armored Reforged charged their line. They towered over the others and even trampled many of the monsters underfoot in their rampage. All of them bore a Mark atop their chest, burning like the sun.

"Bodie!" Vess shouted, and the big man bounded in their direction. He was covered in offal, but his mace was strangely clean. "Carry Thangle! We retreat!"

"Aye, Lady Dayne. Sound the retreat!" Bodie hollered, his Tempered voice louder than the thunder above them. "Fall back!" With a single, fluid motion he lifted the almost catatonic Gnome onto his shoulder. Thangle kept weaving his spell form, thankfully uninterrupted.

"Those abominations will hit our lines before they can disengage," Aenea pointed out to Vess. "We can't leave them to die."

"We won't," Vess assured her, before quaffing a Mana Potion. Her last. "We'll give you all enough time to breathe. Make the most of it."

"You heard the Lady," Atar said before a crown of flames manifested above his head. The fire mage's entire aura suffused with flames and streaming orange Mana. "Let's give them some time."

Rory laughed, a touch bitterly, as Yan, Kelgan, and others converged on their spot. Spells and Skills manifested around them in a fireworks display of Mana vapor as the shield wall sagged and fell back. "Aye. Let's."

Grant me your grace, Lady Siva. Spears conjured around her and began to rotate.

With a cataclysmic bellow, the Reforged burst through.

"Pit! Go!"

A flash of white light and the tenku manifested outside of Felix, wings already spread in flight. Pit let out a shrill scream before climbing further into the air.

Support them! And remember the plan! Felix sent, receiving a frantic affirmation in return. It would have to do. As much as Felix wanted to turn back and fight the Reforged, he had another role. If everything went to plan, then...

Felix ran. Across the battlements and through the charred remains of redcloaks, leaping easily from the bulwark and onto the roof of a mansion. The Sunrise Quarter was littered with the things, all four or five story monstrosities occupied by merchants and nobles. Empty now, or so Felix hoped as he crashed into their roofs and tore apart their shingles and eaves. Each leap sent more destruction splintering behind him, but he couldn't stop. He refused to stop.

Screams ahead.

A trail of destruction laid before Felix, an easy one to follow. Patches of flames and ice lingered among smoldering, ruined landscapes. The fortunes of more than one minor noble likely dashed by desperate battle. Interspersed were pools of glowing...Is that metal?

The screams continued, though they changed in timbre and pitch. Grunts and Skill names filled the air, followed by the report of stone or wood meeting a devastating end. Felix found them fighting in the open courtyard of a six story mansion. The fountain that once decorated the center was ruined, melted to slag, while the water in the basin had become a rising cloud of steam.

Eliza DuFont was the one screaming, and as Felix landed atop the mansion's roof he saw her duck and dodge beneath a flurry of attacks. She kept portico pillars between her and his friends at all time, weaving around them in a dizzying pattern. Harn followed after, moving far slower than normal. His armor was glowing, and some of it had even started to melt across his body. Though stilted, Harn's every swing contained a mighty power that severed entire columns with a single strike. He was driving the ex-Elder into a corner, and Felix was glad to see it. Evie and Cal were both right behind him, weapons at the ready.

Felix only had a brief moment of warning before a blast of heat Mana sent all of them running. Harn withstood the brunt of it, unable to deflect or dodge in time, and his armor reignited in a bloom of molten metal. The sheer pain of it drew a ragged scream from the stoic warrior. Almost simultaneously, a pulse of strange music swept through the air. Felix couldn't quite place it, except that it felt familiar. The song crescendoed, and without warning Evie and Harn both collapsed to their knees, fresh screams torn from their throats.

What the hell? Felix felt the song push at him, but he ignored it. Instead, he leaped down from his perch pulling at his core for the lightning he knew resided there. Yet his channels choked on the action, and Reign of Vellus refused to ignite. Frustrated, he conjured a Shadow Whip and swung it as hard as he could as he landed. His descent had been so rapid that it took the ex-Elder completely by surprise, and the whip bludgeoned her hard.

"AA—!"

DuFont barely had time to scream when she was driven straight through the mansion's wooden walls. The song cut off immediately. Cal, who also seemed fine, leaped into the mansion after her.

"Go get her, Cal," Felix said.

"What took you so long?" Evie panted while she regained her feet. Up close, Felix could see cuts all over her face, hands, and neck. Aside from that, her face was haggard with whatever DuFont had been doing.

"Evie...What was—Are you okay?" he asked.

"Quit it, I'm fine." She shook herself before eyeing Harn. The man creaked in their direction, his armor glowing in places but slowly reforming. "How hurt are you?"

"The Arcids?" Harn demanded hoarsely, ignoring the question.

"Dead, both of them," Felix said. He handed both of them his last Health Potions, which they slugged back without hesitation.

"The Legion?" Evie asked.

"I don't like that name," Felix began, but was interrupted by a blast of yellow Mana vapor. It dry roasted the mansion's entire first floor, and flames soon followed. Cal was thrown backward, out of the house, but she reoriented mid-air and landed in a skidding crouch.

"That didn't go well, I assume," Evie said. She blinked at the inferno before them. The heat was intense, so hot it was charring the stonework.

Song of Absolution is level 66!

"You killed them, Fiend?" DuFont's voice crooned from the conflagration. She stepped through the flames as if impervious, though her red cloak had all but burnt away. Wooden struts and beams around her popped in mini explosions as the heat redoubled. "Good. Less for me to clean up, after."

Evie threw her chain only moments before Cal hurled daggers, and Felix sent two orbs of acid flying at her.

Rerouting Mana Reserves.

What? Felix shivered at the voice he heard, its warm tones at odds with the eerie premonition he experienced. Then another phrase, uttered with the same cheerful disregard.

Song of Siege, Activating.

A glowing, narrow orichalcum wall rose from the earth, blocking both his acid and Evie's chain. Cal's daggers ricocheted and clattered to either side of it. The wall was just big enough to hide DuFont entirely from view.

"You've no idea the power Authority grants me!" Dufont raged. The wall shifted, speeding toward them faster than even Felix could perceive it. It slammed into him, and all he could do was put his shoulders down and take the hit. The impact drove him back into and through the half-melted fountain. Evie and Cal were thrown from their feet as Felix plowed deep into the flagstones, only barely able to bring it to a trembling halt.

"I could tear all of this city to pieces, and turn you into quivering wrecks! With a single note of a symphony of power!" DuFont kept shouting, but with the structure so close he couldn't see her. Evie and Cal climbed to their feet behind him though. He met Cal's eye and she nodded and signed at him.

Got it, he mouthed. "Then why don't you," Felix grunted. "You've had Authority for less than a day and this city is a warzone! Why not stop the monsters?"

"And let you band together and take this from me? I've tried too long to rise to greater places, Felix. This is my right! And you will never, ever, take it away from me!"

"Switch Reversal!" Cal shouted, and DuFont suddenly gasped in obvious pain. The wall slackened against Felix's Strength, though he didn't realize it until he'd nearly pushed it over. He could see DuFont clearly now, from her charred armor to the hanging sleeve that had once held her left arm. She writhed on the ground, two foot long blades sunk hilt-deep in her shoulder and back.

"Now that you're holding still," Cal said, removing two new daggers from her belt and stepping around the dimming orichalcum wall. She met Felix's eyes and he nodded in agreement. "I Challenge you, Eliza DuFont."

A rapid melody played at the edge of Felix's hearing, and lightning crashed above them, loud enough to shake the earth.

"I have come to claim your Authority."

Authority Contested!

Reminder! You May Not Use Your Authority Directly On Any Challengers!

Light swelled in DuFont's vision, even as blackness edged her sight. The blades Boscal had ambushed her with had sunk deep in her shoulder and back, piercing most of what she needed to live. Eliza knew it, with a clear, cold certainty.

She was going to die.

Challenge Issued!

Challenge Automatically Accepted!

Terms: Surrender or Death!

You have Chosen this Path of Kings, Now You Must Defend Your Reign.

Walk Onward, Ascendant.

Ascendant?

Then Cal was on her, fast and furious and entirely too skilled. Too fast. DuFont had to throw herself wildly back to her feet, and even then she just barely evaded the treasure hunter's Skills. Eliza's heat magic blunted the edges of Boscal's attacks, forcing the woman to withdraw as her power swept outward in small bursts. But it wasn't enough.

Insistent strains of music called to her as she fought for her life, and DuFont refused to accept its siren call. It was the greatest and most terrifying of Authority's Songs. To Sing it, she would put her entire foundation at risk. Her Temper would suffer; she could even lose entire Tiers. All of this she knew intrinsically. In her bones.

I...I can't...!

It would risk everything she had built. Yet Boscal was not toying with her; she fully intended to kill her. Eliza managed to parry the woman's dizzying display of dagger work with her own hooked blade, even cancelled out a Skill or two the woman tried to send her way.

Strike after strike, they came too fast for Eliza to track. Her Skills were great, but her Body was not her greatest Aspect. She stumbled beyond the edge of the courtyard, the blades already within her grinding against everything vital.

"Lady DuFont!" a familiar voice screamed, and Eliza grabbed at the white-armored figure in anguish. He grunted in surprise as her superior Strength dragged him close.

"Fatal Flurry!"

Seven attacks blurred forward from Boscal's refined Body, and Klark served his last, most honorable purpose. He jerked in her arms as the blades carved him apart.

I'll—I'll remember you, boy. Eliza gasped and fell away from his corpse.

Authority! Sing the Song of Fury!

Authority Accessed.

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