Chapter 102

Nialla released a river of writhing tentacles at the boy, ignoring as she did so the fire of energy rifles that periodically scorched her skin. She’d fallen into a steady rhythm by this point. Almost a form of meditation, in a way. In fact, in that moment her minds were so at peace that, were this place not as resonance dry as an uninitiated world, she might have expected some decent gains in her law comprehension.

Even without external resonance sources, she felt her innate affinity with that of her ancestor spirit growing in leaps and bounds by the day. Perhaps that was why, lost in her rumination’s, she failed to notice how, this time, as opposed to all the others, the world did not immediately fade away. How the world failed to restart, despite her landing the killing blow. 

Or… at least what she’d thought had been the killing blow. By the time one of her sub-brains had caught onto this anomaly, however, it was already too late. 

Her head snapped up sharply, confusion evident in the crease between her brows. Taking in the full scale of the destruction she’d wrought, she was somewhat disappointed to find a few key structures still intact. The platform on which the boy stood chief among them. And while parts of the floating machine were notably absent, the boy himself remained entirely too alive for her liking.

Just barely, but even that much was a miracle.

The left side of his face had clearly been ravaged. His eye and the surrounding socket simply gone, showing bits of brain matter peaking through the red ruin she’d made of his face. Gone, along with most of his left arm—the limb having been removed at the elbow.

And yet…?

Despite his sorry condition, despite his barely being able to stand, that lone remaining eye, peaking out like chipped obsidian from within a bruised and hollow socket? That was not the eye of a defeated man, broken beyond all hope of recovery. No instead, in that steely gaze was held a willful, almost spiteful defiance. That, in addition to an inexplicable confidence which she did not appreciate in the least.

Deciding that the reason behind this new development could wait, she sent another barrage of tentacles hurtling in his direction, expecting to end this loop the same way she had all the others. Which was why she was so surprised to find her assault intercepted by a barrage of his own. Although, in hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have been.

An emerald coffin enveloped his body in nearly the same instant as a deluge of green chains burst forth—as if a pressure valve had been released. Their number was still pitiful in comparison to her own—a puny stream compared to her grand river—looking like they’d be swallowed whole at the first opportunity. And yet, when the two forces actually collided, neither one of them gave ground. 

Chain dug through cephalopod flesh—looping, wrapping, and constraining in quick order. All the while, her bulky tentacles strained against the diminutive restraints, popping links by the handful, though nowhere near fast enough. For every chain that was destroyed, three more would simply take its place. Until her deep-sea onslaught was halted in its tracks, far too tangled up in links of chain to push an inch further. The tier of her resonance pillar bumping up against his own and being met with, of all things, equivalency.

Impossible! Could it really be he was of the same resonance pillar as she was? She hadn’t thought to check when she’d inhabited his body. Expecting it to be as undeveloped as the rest of him. A high pillar at his age? Truly?! Suddenly, she had to wonder, what else had she missed?

Still, for all his resonance, it didn’t change the fact that the sum total of the spirit she’d packed into her law, though formless without its influence, would still be enough to level this entire block. As if on cue, the structural integrity of her law construct destabilized.

Bulging.

Shrinking.

Exploding outward into a wall of howling spirit, like a gray toned sandstorm of apocalyptic proportions. A raging spirit storm which soon blanketed the entire city skyline, quickly obscuring the boy from view.

Nialla waited with bated breath for the telltale signal she’d succeeded. However that sign never came. Instead, a resonant gong shook the wall of spirit. Parting it. Dispersing it to flow around a large sphere of unknown influence. Leaving the shrieking wall of unbound energy free reign to ravage the city streets beyond.

As the wild cacophony of a city in peril washed over her, Nialla’s eyes remained transfixed on the character hovering before the boy—shielding him from view just as surely as the spirit storm had.

“Is… is that a… demon?”

She recognized its like more by presence than by sight. Demonic presence was not nearly so harmful to her kind as it was to most others, though it was unmistakable regardless. Like the stench of rotten egg wafting on the breeze. And this one was strong. Very strong.

What the nine hells was an earl of the infernal plane doing here?!

It truly was a grotesque creature from one of the lower circles of hell. Impossibly obese and covered in enflamed sores that leaked a viscous, yellow pus. Of a sickly green complexion, skin practically glistening with excess sweat, the earl was also entirely naked, though the folds of loose flesh and sagging belly helped to at least somewhat protect its modesty.

If anything about the demon could be said to be modest, that was.

And that spoke nothing of the leering mouth that split its massive belly wide open like a disemboweling slash. Slimy pink tongue darting in and out of the gaping maw with sickening regularity. Almost as if it were… talking to someone. 

Nialla sharpened her hearing to pick up the words, if any words there might be.

“Would it have killed you to pick a warmer climate? I swear I’ll freeze to death within the hour. And would it have been so hard to bring along refreshments? Look at me! I’m wasting away! I come all this way and this is the treatment I get?! No goats paid as tribute? No abbot flayed at the alter? Not even a young virgin or two to tide me over?! That’s the problem with young cultists these days. No respect for the old ways! I hope you know that, if you hadn’t stumbled upon my true name, boy, I would already be using your finger bones to pick the gristle from between my teeth! No respect… I swear I get no respect…!”

Nialla was left dumbfounded.

 What…?

But before she could make sense of its… complaints, a series of concentric circles wrapped in arcane symbols appeared not far from her, hovering several head heights above the ground. And from within that arcane working, a fiery portal appeared. Pouring out flames as if it were water, all the while releasing the telltale, sulfuric stench of burning hellfire.

THUD

From the portal emerged a second demon, this one the polar opposite of the first. Where the first had been obese, this one was a towering figure of lean, corded muscle. Skin the texture of cracked basalt, it appeared as though the stony hide served in a natural armor like capacity—going so far as to obscure its face with a featureless mask of chipped rock. The only telltale sign this was a demon at all, and not some stone construct, it’s two shaggy goat legs, and the unmistakable horns sprouting from its forehead.

It took but a second for the demon to spot her, a veritable eternity with her enhanced levels of perception, and, without an ounce of hesitation, the demon charged—each heavy foot fall digging deep furrows in the well maintained lawn. Nialla would’ve been tempted to laugh, were she not so insulted.

Even without her overclocked cognition, its clumsy movements would’ve been slow and awkward. With it, however, the demon’s sad attempt on her life was an unfunny joke. It took but a swat of her Kinetic Authority to reduce the looming demon into a red smear, staining the otherwise pristine landscaping.

She turned back to the sky just in time to witness two more arcane circles spin into existence. The portals these produced glowing with a hallowed, golden luster. Ever so faintly, the blare of trumpets and sweet chorus of hymns could be heard, carried through these pools of light on a gentle breeze.

In short order a winged humanoid exited each, flawless in their cream colored robes. Each the epitome of elegance personified. Until, that is, they caught sight of the earl, at which point much of their regal air was replaced by red faced animosity. Words were surely exchanged, a harsh argument likely ensued, unfortunately Nialla was not allowed to spectate much, given how preoccupied she was with squashing this damnable insect.

THUD

For the third time an infernal portal spun into being, and for the third time the horned demon thudded to the ground. Nialla dispatched this one much like she had the first.

THUD

Only for another to simply take its place as if nothing had ever happened! No matter how many times she crushed him underfoot, the demon simply refused to die. She was beginning to have… unpleasant flashbacks. And though it may not have been a threat to her well-being, that did not mean it wasn’t a near constant annoyance.

THUD

Unthinkingly, Nialla lashed out, investing a full eighth of her spirit reserves into the attack.

A wave of prismatic force rolled out and away from her. Enveloping it’s stony frame. Reducing its body to a red smudge. And then, something unexpected took its place. A subtle warping of the air. A distortion in space. And there was the boy, throwing himself upon the brunt of her attack with no hesitation. Arms crossed before him, as if to brace for the inevitable. Silver mist wafting lazily from his remaining forearm.

When the wave of force reached him, he was obliterated so utterly, it appeared, even to her sight, that he simply ceased to exist. Or… no. That wasn’t right. It really was as if he’d just up and vanished.

Another distortion of air. Close this time. Bare inches from her face. And there he was, appearing as if by magic. Moving so fast that, to anyone else, he might have appeared as nothing more than a blur.

He must have borrowed the momentum! But how-!?!

Under the scrutiny of her heightened perception, the boy moved at a glacial pace. Her own attempts to intercept him only marginally faster. Nevertheless it was evident who would reach whom first. The corners of her eyes were just beginning to crinkle with glee, when a shock of what she could only describe as naked desire exploded in her mind. Struck dumb, she froze for just the barest fraction of a second. It was enough.

Silver wreathed knuckles met soft lower jaw.

CRACK!

She was rocketed off her feet, sent careening through the air, thrown upwards at speeds that even gave her pause. And as she flipped and spun haphazardly, earth and sky a kaleidoscope of colors, she was given an uncomfortable amount of time to reflect. On the ache in her jaw, somewhat, but more so on the blow to her pride. For it had been bruised.

And badly.

Leveraging her racial trait, she brought her uncontrolled ascent to a stop. Looking around wildly, trying to catch her bearings, she felt the telltale heat of hellfire brush against her back. She tried to react. Her mind was more than up to the task. An infusion of warmth in her belly had Nialla’s extremities turning to jelly. A massive weight hammered into her in the very next instant. Massive arms wrapping around her chest—squeezing the breath from her lungs.

Strong!

Nialla pushed away with an omnidirectional wave of force. And just like that, another eighth of her spirit reserves gone.

To her utter dismay, the boy appeared before her in that same instant, arms outstretched. As if to embrace the deadly wave of force. Or maybe he’d merely done that to taunt her. She tried to pull it back, to abort the attack, but it was too late. It hit him like a meteor—his body a distant spec on the far off horizon within moments. Nialla was not fooled, however. Soon enough, she was proven correct. He appeared before her, just as she expected he would.

|Conceptual Law of Stillness|

Quiescence Overwhelming

The boys body became rigid. Instantly as still as a statue. Knuckles bare inches from her unprotected stomach. She locked eyes with the cockroach—the space around his body bulging, practically bloated with kinetic force.

Unfortunately, the nature of her third law negated much of the internal damage such an immediate cancellation of momentum would normally result in. No matter. She would rectify that immediately. Already she was reaching forward to grind his skull to dust between her fingers. He disappeared suddenly, a twist of space all that remained. And again, that sudden lurch—a spreading warmth making her hesitate. In the next moment, a mountain fell on top of her head, and she found herself tunneling through several layers of hard packed earth.

BOOM!

The sound of her supersonic passage only reaching her ears moments later. By the time she’d crawled her way out from the earth’s embrace, and had gotten woozily to her feet, the welcoming party was already well under way.

THUD

With a flash, the horned demon appeared, riding on a wave of brimstone and ash. She ignored it. Entirely too preoccupied with finding that little pest. Where in the world could he be hiding?! Ignored it until, that is, the demon’s fist connected with her left temple, and so launched her through several consecutive buildings.  The earth jounced and rumbled as the final building—a once pristine insurance company HQ—collapsed right on top of her.

The unholy cacophony eventually settling down, until the skittering of a lone pebble was all that could be heard. Nialla hacked and coughed from where she lay beneath the rubble. Quickly vacating the dust clogging up her airways with a minor working of law, for a time, she just sat there. Before anything else, she wanted to wait for her head to stop spinning. Eventually, the world came back into sharp relief. She wasn’t seeing double anymore, at any rate.

Shoving her way out from under the heap of debris, she berated herself silently—rendering a rubbernecking family unit into avant-garde wall deco out of sheer frustration with her own incompetence.

She’d known the demon was strong when it nearly cracked a rib. How could she have forgotten that. What was wrong with her mind? Feeling like she was thinking clearly for the first time since this fight had been joined, she shook herself. What was she doing fighting in close quarters. She was a ranged specialist damn it all! Act like one!

She shoved off from the ground, rapidly taking to the skies.

From this high vantage, it was child’s play to spot the boy. The rain of spearing tentacles was instant, done without a seconds hesitation. Unfortunately, inexplicably, so too was his response. Spearing chains and winding appendages clashed—ripping through the glass and steel monoliths as if their grand construction were made of tissue paper. People screamed, debris rained down, and yet, no matter how she pushed, her law construct would not close.

Every tentacle she managed to breakaway from the pack quickly swarmed by myriad chains and pinned down like all the others. With a scream, Nialla released her law completely. Instead forcing a tidal wave of, ripping, tearing spirit down the broad boulevards—hoping to encircle him. Crush him beneath wave after wave of raw spirit. Her spirit flooded the streets, sweeping up anything and everything in its path with the force of a tsunami.

Eighty story buildings teetered. Crashed.

Creating a cascade of destruction like the worlds largest game of dominos. And at its center, the heart of the city. An insignificant plot of green land. And right there where she could plainly see him. She locked eyes with the brat, and for a moment she feared he might spirit himself away. Then the series of waves crested simultaneously, and the park was consumed by a churning mass.

For the briefest instant, Nialla allowed herself to hope. Then, a gong sounded from somewhere within that churning mass of spirit. Nialla’s heart sank. And, sure enough, low and behold, when the ludicrous expenditure of spirit lost all its substance—amidst a ruin of torn up soil and wood kindling—there stood the boy and his demon. Completely unharmed.

Rage unlike anything she’d ever experienced consumed her then. And before she knew it, she was diving headlong, arms outstretched.  Desperate to tear him limb from limb with her bare fucking hands!

The next thing she knew, she was sent careening through one of the few buildings still standing. A rapidly forming bruise and a peripheral glimpse of black hair the only indication she was given as to what the hell just happened.

She burst from the creaking tower just in time to see the boy, still air borne, take a straight punch from his horned demon full on to the face. There was a brilliant silver flash. A flare of disorienting pleasure. Then a meteor in the shape of a foot connected with her clavicle, and her body was buried thirty feet beneath the cracked and broken asphalt.