Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 21

Aureus returned to my side after he dropped off the family of five at the gathering spot. He did not look badly wounded, but the Earthheart was exhausted. He’d been forced to fend off the death bolt’s effects, expending most of his ether reserves in the process.The death bolt had been tricky to deal with, but the additional effects layered onto it had been the greater problem. As far as we could tell, one of the Blessed had amplified the necrotic force. Whoever did it transformed the necrotic energy into something that clung stubbornly to Aureus’ body, and it was not until phoenix fire burned through his side, expelling the last traces of it, that he began to recover.

“Those mind-fucked idiots,” I cursed, momentarily losing myself again when my Soulkin’s pain spilled through our bond.

Aureus tried to keep it to himself, but our bond was too firm for him to hide his pain from me.

“You did a good job, buddy.”

The Earthheart had used both body and mind to protect the civilians. And as much as I hated that he’d been willing to bet his life for strangers, I was also proud of him. It was brave…and stupid. A dangerous mixture, yet one that deserved my full respect.

Why did they attack?

Aureus asked for the umpteenth time, and I still didn’t have a satisfying answer. With all the chaos unfolding around us, it could have been an honest mistake. But was that really possible? For several elite units to forget about the Scanners? As much as I wanted to believe all of it had been a mistake, it was odd. Too many Wardens had forgotten about the Scanners, resulting in their inability to separate Soulkins from beasts.

Honestly, considering how messy the Wardens were, I didn’t even want to know how many Soulkins had died to their own allies when all they wanted was to protect civilians. No matter the answer, the number would be too high for what should have been a clean slate. A reassuring zero.

“Come here,” I called out to Aureus, taking him into the World. There, he wouldn’t be attacked by anyone.

Next, I fused with the Earthheart, manifesting two pairs of semi-translucent wings.

The following hours were spent in a simple, if tedious, way. I shot high into the air, scrutinized the beasts’ movements, and rushed toward the buildings most were headed for. Even though it was not my mission, nor within the realm of my authority, I ordered the soldiers on the ground, pointed them in the directions the beasts were heading, and organized the remaining forces spread throughout the ninth sector.

Once inside the buildings, I sent a ripple through the entire structure. It was nothing special. If anything, tremors used in combination with Gravity and the Earth Aspect were among the simplest ways to use them. That didn’t diminish their effectiveness. I located both beasts and civilians spread across the structure and caught up to them before opposing groups could meet. The beasts were dispatched in seconds, the civilians herded together and dropped off with soldiers to return to the gathering spot.

That was all I did for hours. It was exhausting, but whenever I found the body of a civilian I failed to save, I moved again.

There were so many corpses. They were everywhere, and the sight of beasts feasting on them was infuriating. Worse still was seeing Outsiders appear out of nowhere, their barbed tails and razor-sharp elongated claws ripping into groups of soldiers. Soldiers and Warden units alike resisted desperately, but the Outsiders were not foolish enough to attack those stronger than them either.

Their intelligence was as frustrating as it was terrifying. Even the weakest members I’d located in the ninth sector were as strong as the average Expert, and they deliberately avoided appearing around other Experts. The strongest units they attacked were led by Blessed at the Journeyman Rank.

That was until I expended far too much ether to release a spear made of azure flames. The spear had a two-meter-long shaft when I hurled it at the target from the sky a dozen blocks away, yet only its blade remained when it pierced through the Outsider’s chest and exploded. The shaft, simultaneously, dissolved into tiny explosions, propelling the spear through the air at speeds I couldn’t quite grasp yet.

It was certainly something I would have to research later, but the explosions I could create with phoenix fire were certainly powerful.

Then, at last, the barrier flickered. It didn’t snap back into place right away and instead manifested slowly, but the result was the same; the Bastion survived the Outsider’s attack. But not all was well. The Outsiders were still out there, their composed and rational strategy devolving into chaos and bloodshed as soon as the dome barrier showed signs of repairing itself.

The Outsiders were done hiding. From one moment to the next, their bloodlust could be sensed from all directions. It wasn’t dense, but it stretched far and wide.

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I brushed it off, turning the fear the bloodlust was meant to inflict into rage, and located the nearest source. A group of five Outsiders, none as powerful as the first I’d encountered.

I called out to my Soulkins.

Yes!

They answered unanimously.

Finally, the hunters became the hunted.

***

I was drenched in blood. My enchanted armor was torn apart, shredded in numerous places after protecting me from the worst injuries. That protection had worked against the first two groups of Outsiders, but it grew progressively more difficult to escape unscathed.

My chest heaved, every breath harder than the last. Every step was difficult and felt like it would worsen my wounds. As for how many times my armor had actually protected me, and how often I’d been cut or pierced, I couldn’t tell.

All I knew was that I felt like shit. The only one happy about my state was the sproutling.

Gimme blood~

It demanded in its cutesy tone.

Normally, I wouldn’t have given in to such demands, but I summoned the sproutling and let it consume as much blood as it wanted. The sproutling helped me heal faster, after all. Although it could be nature-attuned as well, it was obvious that the sproutling was a life-attuned Soulkin. Consuming my blood allowed it to grow rapidly. It also seemed to strengthen our bond much faster than it normally would.

It was already closing in on the 1st Stage, which was crucial, as the bond’s strength amplified the passive accelerated regeneration the sproutling seemed to provide.

I was healing faster. Truthfully, it was hard to tell if I would still be alive if I hadn’t had the sproutling’s accelerated regeneration, although I highly doubted it was already that powerful.

My physical well-being and the sproutling’s obsession with my blood aside, there were bigger concerns. concern, to be precise.

It all started when explosions rocketed through the entire Bastion. I shot into the sky, fearing the worst, only to realize that there hadn’t even been an explosion within the Bastion itself. The source was far in the distance, smoke shrouding the sky beyond.

Several Zones away, something was happening, so I shot higher into the air, ether pumping through my tired vision. When I reached the dome’s barrier and still couldn’t see much, I burst through it and flew even higher.

That was when I saw it. Utter destruction.

A wildfire spread throughout a forest beyond the Oridon Mountains. Space distorted in the distance, ether ruptured, and more explosions resounded. Then came the inferno, quickly followed by movement. It was hard to tell, but something was moving in the distance.

“I can’t be… right?” My throat tightened.

I had to know.

All thoughts of rest were forgotten as I flew toward the Oridon Mountains.

Can we switch again?

Aureus called out, his voice as strained as our bond. I’d abused our Soulfusion too much over the last few hours, leading to several tears in the bond and a large, cobweb-like pattern that had spread to cover most of it.

I called out as I switched to fuse with Volix.

The Elemental Phoenix wanted to unveil Volca’s Mark and go all out, but I focused on a simple pair of wings. Nothing fancy, and definitely no details either–just a set of semi-compressed flames sprouting from my back.

He did not like that very much, but I’d already attracted more than enough attention by besting a Master Outsider earlier. The others hadn’t been any easier to fight, but I’d learned their attack patterns with Predator and managed to avoid a full fusion with the impatient phoenix.

The Oridon Mountains were nearly a dozen kilometers from the Bastion, which didn’t take too long to cross at this point. My ether reserves were close to rock bottom, but the Elemental Phoenix supplied the fiery wings. Two minutes later, the explosions had stopped.

I reached the Oridon Mountains and accelerated once more, weaving through them to see the truth for myself.

Volix’s fire should have kept me warm, yet I couldn’t remember ever feeling colder in my life.

Then I saw it–or him? Amid the wildfire and molten rock.

A settlement. Or what was left of it. Inside were corpses. Hundreds, possibly more than a thousand. Most, if not all of them, were Outsiders resembling the orcish, goblin-faced lizards that had attacked the Bastion.

Was that their base? It certainly looked like it.

Hopefully, that’s their only base.

Aureus commented, but as important as that was, I hadn’t even considered it.

My attention was fixed on the massive creature tearing through the settlement, drenching structures in liquid flame.

It was a familiar sight.

The Magma Dragon.

More creatures of similar size and destructive power rampaged through the settlement. Some were engaged in combat with much smaller figures I couldn’t quite make out, but my full attention lingered on the flame-wreathed figure levitating beside the Magma Dragon.

I didn’t even need to get closer to see who it was.

The Ruler of Fire – Raffael Torch.

“Why are you here?” I hissed, goosebumps spreading across my body.

The destruction of the Outsiders’ base was a great success, but the Ruler of Fire’s return promised problems. Even more so since it had only been hours after I’d been forced into a full fusion with Volix. In front of dozens of witnesses.