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[Ending Assessment…]
"-sn't wise to assume all you'll need is this temporary advantage." The system auditors voice echoed over the heavy ringing that filled my ears.
"Wisdom's scope is limited by its experience." Beloris replied with a chuckle, my vision slowly returning.
"And you believe this will be novel to me?" The System Auditor replied, my vision clearing fully to see the drop of his raised brow.
"Welcome back, Korbin. How was your trip?" Beloris asked, placing his ankle up on his knee and leaning back in his rolly chair.
"Well, other than the weird superiority complex and blatant prejudices, G-money definitely had his ducks in a row, whenever that was. I wonder what happened." I answered, recalling the reverence and fear anyone who saw him echoed through their enthralled stares.
"As do I, what did you see?" Beloris asked, narrowing his eyelids accentuating his red and orange eyes.
"I believe that's a question that'll have to wait until we complete our final assessment, as Korbin's spiritual integrity cannot exist outside his vessel for too long." The System Auditor interjected with a raised finger, still typing away at an inhumane rate with their other hand.
"That's a thing?! Since when?!" I questioned, recalling the several other occasions I'd been pulled out of my physical form for extended periods of time.
"For you, and for now, yes." Beloris replied plainly.
"Oh yeah, no that's not foreboding at all." I exclaimed with a scoff, shaking my head.
"Enough, we're already short on time. Are you ready to view the final assessment?" my System Auditor asked, already standing up from behind their desk.
"Sure, it's not like I haven't enjoyed the show. But I refuse to leave a review after this, regardless of how it affects your salary." I explicitly explained to the auditor, who didn't even acknowledge anything after 'sure' placing his finger on the center of my forehead. Immediately, all semblance of consciousness scattered into millions of grains before reassembling in nothing but darkness.
>Commencing Assessment of (Galenthelos) #3:
[Betrayal…]
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"I take it this is another mission you don't intend on participating in?" Beloris snickered, spinning his glaive around his hand passively, a tick he'd developed after years of training.
"Unnecessary, you two are plenty capable of infiltrating their infernal defenses. And I've already informed General Caloth our army's full force is at your disposal." I replied to my second oldest disciple and Chosen to be.
"Will Caloth himself be available for advisory? His insight on his own soldiers may provide pertinent detail in finalizing our tactical approach." Anutir thoughtfully questioned.
"Of course, it's essential we crumble the Voidbringers supply chain across this universe before their Flodhests arrive." I answered, nodding to acknowledge my niece's insightful question.
"But isn't Juxen their main trade hub? Seems redundant to hit Vanir first, especially when their people are already revolting here." Beloris pointed out.
"Unofficially, yes. But taking the capital of Vanir will publicly diminish any trust in their trade routes, as well as free our Vaniran brothers and sisters in the process." I replied carefully.
"I never much took you for a politician, sir. Respectfully." Beloris jeered, raising his arched brow. I would've punished the boy as I had for nearly 380 years now, had I not caught Anutir fighting to conceal her own laughter.
"Oh I beg you bite your damned tongue. For once." Vendelius said, slapping his brother on the back of his head as he walked by.
"My-my, mighty violent for a healer, aren't we Vendel?" Beloris replied, smiling with a wicked glare in his piercing orange eyes.
"It's a completely rational amount to utilize on you at almost any given time." Vendelius replied, forcing me to stifle a laugh.
"Is that bitterness I'm hearing, big brother? If it's any consolation, my vote was to bring you along with us." Beloris said through a devious grin, one I still haven't decided whether I admire or loath entirely.
"Enough. Both of you may squabble like children when you've finished your duty to Myzur today. You two are dismissed, do not return until Vanir has accepted our Total Serenity." I said. Dismissing Beloris and Anutir, who both flashed each other a smirk as they turned to leave. I know Anutir's mother was never fond of Beloris when she was still here, or Vendelius for that matter since neither are native to Myzur. Still, for all of his incessant jokes and tricks, Beloris means well enough.
"Uh-Galenthelos, if I may." Vendelius said, stepping into my vision as I watched my niece and future Chosen depart.
"Of course." I answered with a smile.
"I was actually curious as to why Beloris and Anutir are to travel with no healer on this journey. Not to say I don't trust their abilities, it's just my brother can be…"
"Compulsive? Careless? Impatient? Conniving? Egotistical?" I guessed.
"Was going to say stupid, but yeah. I'd figure a battle as important as this would merit taking the least possible risks?" Vendelius replied, momentarily flashing a smirk not dissimilar to his brothers. I chuckled at their shared drive to fight off the infernal scourge, even if its magic runs naturally through their veins.
"Relax, Vendelius, I'm keeping you here because I need your particular skill set ready at a moment's notice today." I said, ushering Vendelius out of my tent.
"I don't understand, we've no known threats anywhere near here?" Vendelius asked, concernedly.
"Danger lurks in more places than the systems we traverse, especially those that can threaten our very existence. Which is why I kept you today." I said, halting us both just outside of camp. Lifting my hand and feeling every single passive ionic bond flutter to my very spirit before calling upon the gateway to what is soon to be my Lightning Realm. The energy crackled in the air, echoing several times and causing Vendelius to physically leap.
"Calm yourself. I need you to remain here, and be prepared to heal me the moment I return." I instructed.
"What? Heal you from what? What the hells even is that?!" Vendelius frantically questioned.
"A place I intend to conquer fully today, finally." I said, my eyes narrowing with both focus and excitement at the task at hand. In less than a thousand years, I've ascended to the brink of genuine Godhood. And what is a god without a realm they may reside?
"Uh…alright. So I just wait here?" Vendelius asked, wearing a concerned expression staring at the rippling white and blue doorway.
"Yes, it may take some time. If your brother and my niece return before me, it's absolutely crucial they do NOT enter this doorway. Are we clear?" I answered sternly, making certain he understood the gravity of his position.
"Yes, sir. Crystal clear."
"Good. Then farewell, my friend." I said with a smirk before stepping through the doorway, fully prepared for the onslaught of Elementals I'd let foster for over 200 years. It of course meant I left the one who named itself to their own devices, though they've trained with me hundreds of years. In a way, he's been my oldest friend.
…wait.
I stopped, realizing I was experiencing something completely foreign to this chaotic, endless plane of pure energy…silence. Confused, I began jogging toward the center of the passive streaks of lightning quietly zig-zagging overhead. Yet there wasn't a single elemental in sight. None at least for what felt like a full mile until I came across a blinding blue light flickering on the horizon.
Ugh, they must all be constantly fighting for dominance. At least they'll be worth a fi-
My eyes shot wide open realizing the bright light was growing exponentially larger and closer by the second, before narrowing them at the audacity one of these rogue elementals have assumed in my absence. Raising a palm, a wave of pure lightning mana rose several feet in front of me to absorb the incoming attack. I felt as the energies clashed on impact through the constantly ebbing lightning mana links, and the moment this burst of energy pierced through my defenses. Dipping back, the burst flew over my chest and earned itself a net of Lightning-infused water mana I summoned in its path.
*TSSS*
The massive ball of light sputtered through the air after being hit, sliding across the clear-blue mana floor kicking up massive sparks of lightning in the process.
"I almost didn't recognize you with that hideous robe." A familiar voice echoed, only with far more clarity than I'd ever heard from it. I closed my eyes, trying to recall how to pronounce the strange title they'd selected all those years ago.
"…is that really you, Little Spark?" I asked, scanning the significantly larger, more detailed elemental through the pulsing waves lightning exuding from its form. The elemental seemed to adopt my Myzurian biology when we used to train, unlike this incredibly bulking frame hovering before me.
"There's no Little Spark. There is only Perunious." It answered, stomping their bare foot causing the elemental's lightning form to collapse into a thin streaking bolt trained for my chest. Summoning a tall wave of Lightning Mana, the streak somehow managed to temporarily merge with my defenses, emerging out on the other side.
*WHACK*
The water mana that constantly churned and compounded across my shoulders channeled through my arms and released from my fist, blasting the elemental's jaw and launching Perunious several feet back with a bright blue crackle. The elemental twisted upright and halted their momentum, hovering upright just above the glistening lightning mana floor. Narrowing my eyes, I noticed the bluish white lightning mana the elemental's body was made of beginning to grow wildly unstable. Then, the air became thick with static energy as the elemental bolted forward as the elemental erupted into another massive ball of energy hurtling my way.
Seeing the elemental has grown strangely adapting to my lightning energies, a torrent of water mana whipped out from my swiping arm. The elemental in its bright balled form jolted up out of the way. Twisting my hips and allowing my momentum to twirl, letting each muscle in my body oscillate in one circular pattern. As the elemental closed within a few feet in mere seconds, I unleashed a spiraling air tunnel from my fist and back foot. Both the elemental and I both fired straight back toward the Lightning Plane's epicenter, its body spinning just outside my circling fist. My free hand summoned the air mana that leaked from my gusts, using it to propel my elbow across the elemental's jaw before blasting another torrent of hardened water mana. The elemental managed to twist its body horizontally around the jet, letting it spew overhead. Smiling, I thrusted both hands down hard, summoning a massive wind wall that slammed the jet down on the Elemental and smashing it down to the floor in a pool of water. Somehow, the elemental still remained on a knee.
"You've grown far beyond what I imagined, uh…Precipitation. Consider me impressed." I called over, landing a good distance away and gathering wind and water energy in every limb.
"My name…" The elemental began, suddenly erupting outwardly in a blast of unnaturally dark purple lightning. I covered my eyes, feeling the static streaks biting under my thin blue lids.
"You showed me purpose…promised me…freedom…" the elemental said, its eyes wincing in thought more than I'd ever seen from it. Glowing white Pupils filled his bright blue irises that darted around the lightning plane. Then, for the first time since I'd arrived here today, the realm audibly hummed to life all around me.
"And then…you left me…to die by my own mindless kin." Perunious continued, his voice amplifying into an authoritative growl that echoed across the plane. The lightning that jolted from the plane darkened as it bent and curved to peirce into Perunious from every angle, causing him to physically grow larger by the second. Seeing no reason to let this continue, I slammed down a palm summoning a binding twister closing in around Perunious. Then lifting my hands, I summoned a sea of water mana overhead. The plane's lightning mana broke through the water, though not before I wrapped Perunious in a cyclone of water and air mana.
"And what am I left to fend for myself with?" Perunious asked, the potency of its lightning mana still constantly amplifying itself and its voice as he stood within the storm.
"NOTHING!" The elemental's voice thundered across the plane itself as lightning filled the storm raging around it, creating a crackling vortex. Suddenly, I could sense my mana being…removed? No, flying up peering into the eye of the storm, I could see the strings of mana pouring into Perunious' body. They were absorbing my energy, covering it in a layer of its own. Its eyes suddenly shot up before a blinding blue flash exploded from its bare feet, launching Perunious' rippling fist straight across my chin in a blink. My heel hooked around with the momentum landing flush against the back of the elemental's skull in response. Perunious' weight hunched forward, instinctively triggering my knee to thrust up toward its skull. Perunious instead bolted its shoulder straight into my gut, lifting us both up at an incline closer to the rippling lighting plane's skies.
Grasping both its ears and unleashing a powerful burst of air mana, the elemental's head momentarily crumpled as its grip loosened around my waist before reforming. Pulling my hips back, a spiraling typhoon shot from my feet allowing me to twist free of Perunious' grip and land a twisting knee to its jaw on the way out. Perunious' head snapped back, returning its unflinching stare and extending its arm in a swiping motion. A massive dark purple streak of lightning extended from its forearm, binding into a massive blade extending toward my chest. All four of my limps began spiraling forward, creating four twisters that propelled my hunched form just barely out of range. Twisting around however, my vision was momentarily consumed in purple energy as I collided into the plane's corrupted streaks of lightning.
This is…
Feeling its energy closing in, I twisted preemptively around Perunious' rippling purple form as I awoke falling from the sky. The elementals shot by as the purple streaks of lightning above continued shooting into its massive glowing figure. Sticking its arm up, Perunious snatched one of the thick, purple lightning bolts that had knocked me out of the sky.
"My name is Perunious. And with Nothing, I will be free." The elemental proclaimed, thrusting an arm down. Immediately, its entire arm and the bolt merged as one, collapsing down toward me at incredible speeds.
…this is too much.
My heels blasted a powerful burst of air mana launching me horizontally out of the bolts path, a pair of stray jagged bolts jolting my legs as I took off. My eyes locked forward as I focused on sensing the corrupt Lightning mana crackling in the air behind me in order to evade Perunious' attacks. Each swipe and slam was difficult to avoid, but infinitely easier than letting it steal my Lightning mana outright. Peering back however, I could see the elemental actively igniting my air mana trail with lightning, while its body acts like a magnet for the combined mana's. My focus shifted back realizing I was only a few meters from the exit when I felt a hand wrap around my ankle.
"OFF!" I commanded with a finally powerful surge, releasing as much water and air mana from my feet as I could. My vision momentarily bent as I felt the speed even strain my bones before ejecting from the portal, closing it as my full foot slipped through. I felt my body bouncing off the ground a few bounces before feeling a deep weakness creeping in from the massive exertion. Several heavy steps rapidly gathered around me, though their energies were entirely too familiar to question.
"Galenthelos, are you alright?"
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[Ending Assessment…]