Chapter 99: Legion Offensive

Subject: Caim Location: Riventread - Outskirts Caim pressed his palm to the cool black surface of one of the once-glimmering stones. He took a calm moment to collect his thoughts. He was lucid, but still somewhat disoriented. Legion was refreshed? It couldn't have been a coincidence, right? There was some link between Legion, the calming stars, and this substance here. Had he absorbed the light to replenish Legion? It seemed the most logical explanation. No answers came, save for a solution to his immediate predicament. His problem was that he was trapped underground, but he realized that it should be relatively easy to get out if he used the other one of his new powers. Plate A Conjured Caim climbed atop the hovering plate. The surface was smooth to the touch, but there was enough friction to use it as a platform. These clashing properties defied reason, but all that mattered to Caim is that it worked for him right now. Plate B Conjured The second plate was higher than he should have conjured it, so he struggled to pull himself up. It was harder than he hoped it would be, and burning muscles begged him to stop. He couldn't relent, but neither could he tire himself out needlessly like this. Instead, he conjured the remaining stepping platforms more densely grouped. Plate C Conjured Plate A Dispersed Plate A Conjured Caim continued in this way until he reached the surface, clambering out into the annihilated surface landscape. Scion was ready again, so he sent it out with the same general order, starting a new queue. "Get inside the breachworm's mouth and try to concentrate fire on the same wound. Repeat thirty times." Subject: Caim Location: Riventread - Outskirts All around him, Caim summoned Shards of Legion. Twelve in all, he kept them concealed between mounds of disturbed sand and gravel. In this way, he ordered them to dig a number of small hiding places. Legion [ Shards Summoned: 12 ] Far across the expanse of the coiled worm rose it's head, swaying menacingly. A heavy clang impacted against a dense surface far in the distance. Caim hoped this meant Gire was still alive. "Crouch down and dig." Their hands prodded at the ground, clumsily wielding their hooked limbs as they had no better tools available to them. When the shoddy work was done, he ordered them to continue digging further out. Caim chose one of the small hollows in the ground to lay in, and he snuggled down tight in a bed of amber clay, a hard wall of garnet rock pressed against his left side, just uncomfortable enough for him to make note of it. He knew his hiding place was nothing to hulking beast he was hiding from. He was hiding because he could not run fast enough. Caim snuggled down deeper into his hiding space, brushing a thin layer of sand and gravel to cover him. Everywhere but his mouth, leaving him with just large enough breathing room. He tried to fend off claustrophobic thoughts. This was where he would command his Legion. But first, he needed them to be elsewhere. If the breachworm was drawn to thrash where he hid, it would be an embarrassing death. "Disperse. Move slowly and quietly," he ordered. Quietly, he crept inside the closest crystalline automaton's rocky flesh, with just as much unease as the last time he'd had the displeasure. He stepped forward, uncertain at first, gaining confidence with each plodding impact. Caim remembered what it felt like to die in this form, and though the thought disturbed him to his core, the shiver couldn't reach him like this. Sensations were muted, separated from his body. "Avoid that rocky outcropping," he corrected, adjusting the spread pattern. In his mind, he could feel their locations, and he used that extra sense to adjust their trajectories when he could. He looked around in his proxy body, and noticed where Gire hid from the hulking creature around them. The Shards obeyed his command, moving at a low crouch. He was aware that each bipedal Shard lay exposed to sight, and he was also aware of the subtle reverberations generated by the impacts of their legs. Fortunately, the latter concern seemed less of an issue given the odd, arcane-assisted manner of locomotion. Each point barely touched down on the dirt and sand before moving lifting up. Movements were sluggish, but they were not as easily detectable as their natural bulk might have led on. The former concern, the breachworm's vision, may or may not have been a problem. Caim didn't know how keenly the creature could see. Did it even have eyes? Caim's remote host passed by Gire, who levelled that strange, dangerous-looking crossbow his direction. Caim halted, looked up at the worm, and strafed until he was hidden from it's view behind the rocky outcrop. He stood up, still Gire did not fire. Slowly, Caim made an "X" with the Shard's arms, attempting to make a recognizable signal to his partner-by-circumstance. He then let the arms fall limp by his sides, and he waited. Gire did not fire, and he did not speak. Though, Caim wouldn't have been able to answer him in this form if the Guild Tracer had spoken. Caim pointed up at the creature, through the rock. Gire did not look to see where the Shard was pointing. He didn't have to. Caim pointed to one of the passing Shards. Through the Shard's distorted vision, it was difficult to spot Gire flit his gaze there and back. Caim felt he may have imagined it because of just how much he needed to convince his ally of his intentions. Caim pointed again to the Breachworm. Scion Destroyed In this form, Caim could feel the "death" of his guardian down to his core. Had it been like this before? He dropped to a low crouch and continued his journey toward the Breachworm. His puppet was now twenty or so small steps behind the others Shards at this point, but it was not a race. Caim didn't yet have a concrete strategy in mind. If I could get them inside the creature, a self-destruct command could probably do some serious damage. How would they get inside the breachworm? It's head was searching the landscape for targets in the period between Scion's attacks. Caim continued moving away from his vulnerable body and Gire's hiding place. Once he felt he was a far enough distance away, he gave another order. "Wait." Caim looked for something, anything he could use. Scion Summoned Through the Shard's "eyes", Caim watched Scion fly toward the beast. The winged protector baited the breachworm into attacking it. It was certainly more agile than it used to be, but it might also be the effect of a much smaller thing attacking a monstrosity that would rival the height of a small megacity skyscraper, were it to somehow fully extend vertically. The breachworm snapped at Scion, but the metal butterfly was no longer there. Scion dove down, collapsing it's wings against its body, and disappeared inside the maw of the creature. A terrible rumble indicated that the attack from within was producing the desired effect. The worm began to sway and screech. Caim couldn't rightly hear the sound, as the Shard didn't have hearing, but he could "see" the strong reverberations. It smashed it's head down on the ground, purple mouth flaps sucking inward a large mound of rock and sand. It's eating the ground to dislodge Scion, Caim realized. He imagined that his real body, back there lying in the dirt, was tingling with excitement. I can use this! Scion Destroyed When he saw Gire prepping his weapon to fire another shot, Caim gestured through his vessel. "Lower it", he attempted to communicate by outstretching his Shard's arms, and then bringing them down to point at the ground. It was messy communication, but Gire seemed to understand. Even so, Gire didn't say anything this time either. Together, they bow peered around the corner at the creature, watching Scion repeatedly throw itself at the hulking creature. It gained entrance to the worm's interior each time, and each time it was destroyed by swallowed rocks. After watching the pattern repeat itself five more times, Caim was confident he knew what to do. The worm looked for large boulders, already broken by its movements, which it would swallow to damage and eventually destroy Scion. Unfortunately, there was little time left. Join together over there, he commanded to his Shards. It would take time to get the Shards into place. Caim also moved with the pack. Every bit of damage counted against such a titanic creature, so he must detonate his personal Shard with the pack when it came time to pull the trigger. Each time Scion darted inside the breachworm's maw, the beast grew more cautious of the winged automaton's provocations. Each time, Scion had to work harder to gain entry. Now, it seemed like Scion would not be able to persuade the breachworm to open wide. Caim looked around, a muted desperation travelling from his real body to his remote host. Now that he knew what he could do, it couldn't be too late!