Wish upon the Stars chapter 488

Leverage. It was an important part of staff combat. Maybe the most  important part, at least based on what Willow taught me. But as much as  leverage could do in a fight, Goetia wasn't some single faceted stick  swinging style. It was a manifestation of my potential. It was a way to  connect my Path and my combat style into a single unifying force.

Which  meant leverage wasn't all I needed. Leverage worked well as a principal  for Belial, but for Mephistopheles it didn't fit. This was my offensive  style, the whole point of it was focus, packing as much damage into the  smallest area possible. I.E the end of the staff.

I held  the Stygian Branch with on hand wrapped loosely around it as a guide and  one at the back gripping tight as I shoved it forward like a pool cue.  Back and forth, a torrent of staves appeared in front of me, powerful  black flames on the tip leaving scores of lines in the air as I peppered  Adrian with attacks.

The smaller man was every bit as  impressive as I'd been told. His fists flashed out in a blur, deflecting  and offsetting my attacks as he adjust his body. Every punch was short  and sharp, crushing my momentum and stopping my attacks before they  landed. His fists glowed as he punched, white energy coating them and   offsetting most of the damage.

Backing off, I cursed. The  whole thrusting stab concept was fine, but it wouldn't work against  someone like this, it was too limited. Adrian was shaking out his hands  warily as he circled me. "That was actually painful. I can feel a Path  in those attacks, and a dense one. Achieving a Solid Path without  Mastery is rare." He flashed forward, fists blurring as he came at me.

Unlike  Abel, Adrian didn't go in for the large images or the fancy windup.  Short brutal punches, economy of motion, close attacks with no time to  react. Those were his weapons of choice. He was in my guard within  seconds, hammering punches into my chest and ribs, and throwing the  occasional uppercut at my jaw. I triggered Mountain Stance as he came  in, which soaked most of the damage, but I quickly realized my new form  was falling apart.

When I figured that out, that was when I  knew how to fix it. I attacked. Staff forms weren't just about the  staff. Forms were ways to use my entire body and all my powers. I  hammered out my own punch into his face, black flame congealing on my  fist, and as he backed up, I slammed down my staff at his foot, forcing  him back. I'd been too narrow minded. Focused damage didn't just mean  thrusting attacks.

I'd been enlightened by his combat  style, short, sharp blows of pretty much any kind had the power I was  looking for. I was using close combat too, but the big difference was  reach. My staff and wingspan made short attacks substantially more  versatile. Aside from that, I'd backed off. Mephistopheles was a  guardbreaker, pure unrelenting force, and that meant momentum.

Ruthlessly  aiming for every possible weak spot, I followed him, sticking to the  now retreating Master like glue. Belial was the about control, dictating  someone's fate, but Mephistopheles was about crushing it. Dominate the  enemy, conquer their destiny. I slammed my staff into Adrian's knee,  then my elbow into his nose. My shoulder check sent him stumbling back  as the bottom of my staff smashed down on his ankle.

Snarling,  he slammed his other foot down, sticking in place to arrest some of my  momentum and threw himself at me, trying to cancel my advance with his  own. The fight devolved into a pure slugging match. I'd dropped Mountain  Stance, it didn't work while advancing, and defense would be  counterintuitive to this form. This was an assault, a knock down drag  out brawl.

Every part of me was a weapon, black flames  exploding on contact as I struck out. I felt bones fracture under  Adrian's Master level punches, but I ignored that. They weren't real  bones, what did it matter. I smashed my mask into his face, hooked my  staff behind his back and held on, pinning him in close as I drove my  knee up into his chest repeatedly, then stomped down on his own knee as  he blocked.

The pain was excruciating, but I was having  the time of my life. I didn't care about tactics, or prediction, or any  of that. Despite that, I was more in tune with my Path than I'd ever  been. Crush the enemy, stomp his fate into dirt. I cackled madly, and  Adrian met my laugh with a grin of his own. He was burned and bleeding  and beaten, but he neither gave nor asked for quarter.

I  lashed out at his knee with my staff, shifting my grip to maneuver in  tight quarters, and when he dodged, I slammed the butt of it up into the  bottom of his chin at an angle, pouring the black flames into the  attack. His head snapped back and he stumbled away, leaving me to follow  and batter him with hits.

My physical power was boosted  in this form, Afterburner being a part of the form itself rather than a  temporary boost meant I was just multiple times stronger, combined with  the boost from Mercy Kill and the defense breaking from Marked for Death  I was putting out the most brutal offense I was capable of, something  pretty close to the absolute limits of F-rank.

The damage  was adding up, but I didn't care. I roared with excitement as I  attacked, feeling bones crack under the blows from staff, feet, and  elbows. Adrian had committed to short range combat, and Mephistopheles  was pure destruction. I'd created it for this exact purpose. Single  target battle with explosive damage. Master or not, up against a Solid  Path like mine in its element he couldn't keep up.

When  the drop came, I was ready. His shoulder dipped, and I came in with  brutal swing that put all my momentum behind it, pouring power in as my  staff smashed into his head, caving it in and dispersing the spirit  construct completely. I dropped to my knees, not needing to even catch  myself as the key fragments shifted to me. The gold ones clicked together, forming a solid key that hung above me majestically.

Callie  rushed over, her absorption forgotten. "Shane!" Mephistopheles was  fading now, the adrenaline and power gone and between the broken  everything and the drain from Afterburner being part of the form, I was  barely mobile. I triggered my heal burst with a scan heal, my last  charge of the former, and groaned as I felt the energy flood me and get  to work. "That was crazy, are you alright?"

I just  chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fine Cal. Well, no, I'm horrifically injured. My  organs feel like speed bags. But I'm alive and probably going to stay  that way. Kind of lost my head there for a second. The new staff form  floods me with destructive energy, kind of lost myself in the  aggression." Which was new. Belial didn't affect my thinking at all,  probably because it was a weaker form. I'd have to do some training with  Mephistopheles.

"Grab the silver key fragments." I said  with a wince as I tried to sit up. "You're still short of the full key,  but you only have one more piece to get and we need to take out Billy  anyway. Once you do that get back to absorbing before more people get  here "

"But you..." She trailed off, gazing worriedly down  at me. Then she nodded. "Ok, if you think you're all good then I  believe you."

I chuckled. "I'm a mess, but I'll heal.  After that showing I don't think anyone who noticed will try me easily  either. Honestly I should already be healed, but becoming more physical  means the damage isn't healing as well I guess, either that or Master  level damage sticks around longer."

That was probably it.  While I waited for my injuries to heal I got back to my feet and leaned  on my staff. Even without an active attempt to absorb it, the soul  energy from the platform WAS helping though. I may be more physical but I  was still at least partially soul, and it seemed to be boosting the  healing.

I needed to get in touch with Jessie. Hell, I  needed more wishes to trade for healing charges. Not having access to  them was forcing me to put a lot of emphasis on my combat skills, which  was good, but it would be nice to have access to my trump cards again.

While  I watched and waited I did a bit of musing on my Path so far. Path of  the Doom Sovereign. The form that took was the Fatewalker because of my  build. The Diviner, the Monk, the Rogue. There were multiple ways to  embody my Path.

Belial was control, very Roguelike, while  Mephistopheles was more of a Monk kind of thing. Direct combat and  martial power. The loss of control wasn't what I wanted there. I needed  to practice with that a bit soon. I looked over my shoulder at Billy,  who was already halfway up the damned steps. I wanted to catch him, but I  was in no condition, and I wasn't willing to screw over Callie.

This  advancement would be good for her. I concentrated on my own soul, and I  could feel it being repaired by the combination of the strain and the  runoff from the platform. It wouldn't push me too far ahead without me  trying to draw it in, but just the soul weight I'd endured would  probably get me up to forty percent of yellow, maybe a percent or two  higher.

Finally,  Callie let out a long breath and got to her feet. "I think that's the  most I'm going to be able to process right now. I could keep going, but  it would only be draining energy the others could use when they get  here. That seems like a bad call no matter how I look at it. Forget our  friends, if we suck this thing dry we'll have people on our asses much  faster than we would if they stopped to absorb."

I  hadn't known you could fill up on soul energy, but I supposed it made  sense. If you could run out you could overfill. I guessed we just hadn't  run into a situation yet in the trials where we'd gotten enough for it  to be an issue. "Alright, we move on then." I held out a hand. "Want to  go together again? We did pretty well last time."

She  smiled softly at me, leaning up to kiss the cheek of my mask. "No. I  know you're trying to break your heart shackle. Support will make that  harder. I should work on mine too. I'm not scared of anything when I'm  with you, but that's not exactly a pro in this case. You got me through  the section I probably would have lost it at, I can go it on my own from  here."

"Alright." I chuckled. "I'll wait for you up there if I get to the next platform first."

She  sniffed imperiously. "Why do you think you'll get there first? I think  it's clear that I'm one most likely to get through this quickly. You'll  be eating my dust."

"You?  Preparing food?" I asked with a grin. "Now I know you're delusional.  Did that last staircase cause permanent damage somehow? You might want  to sit this out." Her outraged scoff was too over the top to be  realistic, but I smiled at the back and forth anyway. It felt good to  bicker a bit with her before we moved on to the really rough stuff.  Sadly, we saw people coming up behind us (sadly not our friends) and we  had to stop putting it off. Separately, but at the same time, we stepped  onto the soul crushing stair's second section.