Chapter 29: Dean of Ash

The Princess of the Shifting Sands and next head of the south dukedom has just slain Kadish the Devourer. Kadish was a well renown bandit that reached the limits of his physical body and ascended to a Rank One being. The Land God terrorized different portions of the Empire for years. Even waging war on a small barony in the eastern dukedom before evading capture with his band of a thousand men. Kadish, originally from Central, met his end in the south. How?

That is the question that remains unanswered but if one thing was certain it was that the Princess of the Shifting Sands and her small elite guard team took it upon themselves to slay the bandit and his men once their presence was made known in the south by pillaging a small town of three thousand. Eyewitness reports say that their small party of five faced off against the thousand bandits plus Kadish. The battle ended in record time taking a little under an hour for the band to kill all enemies and free the captured women and children. The Princess of the Shifting Sands is known to only be at the 8th tier in strength. Her band is supposed to be similar in their level of strength. Overcoming tier disparity is not unusual for scions of renowned households overcoming the difference in rank is thought to be nearly impossible. Only legends like Apollo Kan, Empress Chiara the First accomplished such feats. Now another has joined their ranks. Of the four scions of the different dukedoms, the Princess of the Shifting Sands has far surpassed her peers.

Except from a Watcher Report.

Six golem-like constructs all radiating power at the peak of tier six made their way towards me. I welcomed the challenge as the figures moved as one. I would use this as an opportunity to test my newly maxed perk and perhaps my newly acquired passive.

“I call to you fireflies who’ve lost their spark come from [Beyond].”

Ashes began to descend around me in a thirty-foot radius and I could sense that I could feed my mana to it increasing the radius if needed. For now, I didn’t think it was necessary as the constructs created from Amaya’s perk make their way towards me. The ashes were a dark grey color and began to pile on the ground around me. While the six spread out in a half-circular formation just shy of the radius of Ashes Fall [Beyond]. They stood their silently Amaya in the far distance watching.

Then at once, they moved faster than a blink they were in front of me, and I was quickly retreating hoping to use my perk to its fullest abilities. My mana was around half full and with six enemies at once I knew I wouldn’t get the opportunity to form a spell construct and use direct magic in general.

The golems were bulky standing at twelve feet tall and for once in my life, I was on the opposite side and once again able to relate to normal size humans. Now I could relate to any of the Primans or regular humans when they face down someone who towered above them. Although the golems were at the peak of tier six, they were still slower than me. I dodge as one of the constructs came from the left swinging a massive arm at me. Moving back in my ax severed it’s at as I put strength into the blow. Another came swinging and I began to realize the folly of the perk. For any lawbreaker with overwhelming strength or above-average skill, the golems would not be much to defend from. They were slower than me, showed no true skill, and were little more than mindless constructs. Yet in the few minutes of dodging and retaliating, I waited for the sign of a stack as ashes continued to fall around us. My mana pool decreased all the while

“|Descent of the Oasis|.”

Small droplets began to fall from the sky as the spell constructs roared to life. Soon the droplets turned into the pouring rain and the ground became slick with mud. The downpour was heavy enough to lower visibility. In less than five minutes I could barely see a few feet ahead of me even with the downpour my ashes continued to descend unaffected by the rain. It was a strange sight to see but I paid it no mind as the golems seemed to be fine. The battle against the golems had been going on for upwards of fifteen minutes and I knew whatever Amaya planned was coming to fruition.

This entire time no stacks had been generated and I fully realized that the golems weren’t classified as living beings. I kept the ability active however as the feeling of heat was generating in my chest. My body suddenly reacted as the golems moved in again and I began to dodge while scoring small attacks whenever I could. The thing about fighting multiple opponents is you can’t let them surround you and if they can’t surround you at the most, you'll only face two maybe three at a time. With the size of the golems hindering one another I only truly faced two at the same time. The downpour continued as small clangs rang out. Steel clashed against the construct’s bodies carving jagged lines throughout them. The muddied ground began to turn into liquid and soon the downpour stopped revealing the setting sun and an oasis surrounding me.

In the same instance, a figure of ash and flame erupted from my chest clawing its way out. I felt no pain nor discomfort as the figure appeared cloaked in ash with two ruby red gems glowing brightly for eyes appeared. Instinctively I felt a familiarity with the being, and I knew it to be the Dean of Ash.

“You’ve lost cousin.”

I turned to look at Amaya standing knee-deep in the water while shooting me a sly smile. Confused I looked to the Dean of Ash then back to her and the golems formed from her perk.

“I’ve roughly a third of my mana pool left and this guy as a new partner in the fight. What do you mean I’ve lost?”

“You’ve lost because of this.”

My senses screamed danger at me, but it was too late. Amaya jumped and activated her bloodline. Only now did I notice she was at the center of the pool formed from her spell. So, in the few moments, I had to process. I asked myself what happens when you superheat water? The Dean of Ash broke apart and in the second before Amaya’s bloodline power touched the water it reformed around me. The last thing I saw before the explosion was my floating cousin grinning above me.

*

Amaya smiled but then a worried expression appeared on her face for her cousin’s safety. Before she recalled the necklace her cousin constantly wore gifted to him by his mother. She allowed the feeling of victory to consume her and from the commotion of their onlookers. They too were surprised at her victory. Amaya watched as the soldiers made their way towards them and she once again let her excitement show as she smiled down at the ruinous landscape.

Everything had gone according to plan. Amaya knew her cousin well and although he may have only taken this opportunity to attune himself to his new strength Amaya chose this opportunity to refine herself and push for a breakthrough. A breakthrough that succeeded. Ever since she was a child, she strove to always stand side by side with her cousin. Just because he was the next head of the house doesn’t mean she’d stay in his shadow. Essence rushed to her and her Mindspace expanded allowing her to form more elaborate and complex spells.

“Congratulations.”

A voice came out of the ground and Amaya watched as Aegis pulled himself out. His body was covered in some type of hardened ash-like suit and his eyes glowed red. The suit dispersed around him a moment later and scratched but unharmed her cousin emerged. Gently Amaya landed and took a pose. Something Aegis taught her that she hadn’t done since childhood. One foot was raised while her index and middle fingers formed a V shape on both hands. She leaned forward slightly and completed the look.

“Victory!”

Aegis clutched his chest and stumbled backward slightly and for a moment Amaya thought she truly hurt him. That moment soon passed after he spoke next.

“You may have defeated West Bandit this time, but you will surely fall the next!”

The cousins stared at one another in silence before joyous laughter rang out.

“Congratulations once again Amaya. I should have known you’d use me as a stepping stone to achieve the next tier.”

“I hope you were at least able to get some results that you wanted from your abilities.”

Her cousin paused for a few moments seemingly thinking about all that occurred.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. I did get to see a new perk from my abilities activated. I believe I’ll only be able to truly get the results I want on the battlefield.”

The cousins began to make their way towards the cheering crowd that was still nearing them. Each with their thoughts on the battle. Amaya knew the same trick might not work on other people of her caliber. Yet just getting the practice on Aegis could save her life once they entered a life and death situation. Her spell repertoire was massive even with her affinity to fire and earth just like her cousin. If not for her perks True Spell Caster and Quick Caster Amaya would have had a much harder time defeating Aegis. True Spell Caster allowed her to build and hold three spells that would not take up room in her Mindspace where all spells were formed. These spells could then be cast at any moment. While Quick Caster lowered the mana cost of indirect spells equalizing them to a spell built from a construct.

It was never guaranteed a mage would best a knight of the same caliber. Numerous factors need to be considered. From the personal experience of both parties to their spell repertoire and knightly abilities. Yet with the advantages Amaya was beginning to have. She felt secure if Count Caccula ever managed to end up on the wrong side of her. For now, it was time for her to return to the manor and finish digesting her gains. It would also do her good to study the numerous tier seven and eight spellbooks she brought along. The moment she could extricate herself from their cheering soldiers, however.

*

I found myself once again in the garden late at night in the same spot the Star God once met me at. My mind was replaying the earlier events. Going over what I did right and what I did wrong. I believe I was using my aspects and their various perks correctly. There were a few mistakes or things I could have done better. The first thing I could have done better as I analyzed the events of the battle was to use my perk Adventurer’s Insight as an opening move. It gave me insight into the weakness of all objects within my vision. That included any weak areas in the ground that may give way easy to a rampaging monster or golem. Most likely it could have been seen through Amaya’s illusions pointing me towards the right one.

I could have reacted before she activated her perk Unrivaled Dragon. I would have not only prevented the laws from ever being utter I would have most likely ended the battle within the first few minutes.

One thing I did do correctly was use Adventurer’s Grit in taking damage reduction. With all my abilities including armor, it was extremely hard to damage my physical body. If this was a video game, I’d be a pay-to-win character simply because of the resources at my disposal. Moving on I didn’t know whether to classify this as a mistake or a positive action.

Ashes Fall [Beyond] did not work as I intended. Not because I didn’t know how to use the ability but because the target was too adept at running and dodging. Not once while the ability was active was Amaya in range for its effects but because I kept inactive while not affecting the golems since they weren’t living beings it arguably saved me when the Dean of Ashes was summoned. Still, I couldn’t help but be disappointed at my inability to generate stacks on non-living creatures.

Through all of this one thing became clear. I lacked the means to effectively attack at range. I was tier five in Path of the Mind yes but as I was more physically combat orientated it became clear to me that I would not have the opportunity to form constructs in the heat of the battle. To cast my quickest spell would take just a bit over ten seconds but that was time I didn’t have in close confrontations. Either I would have to become more familiar with indirect casting and how to properly manage my mana through it or I was going to have to develop new skills and abilities that would give me ranged targeting options.

As I came to this understanding, I felt my mind and body solidify more and I knew I was now truly accustomed to this new level of strength. Just about a week was left and then the Crimson Army would march to do battle with the Nox. I was as ready as I could be in this short time frame. My fight issues were resolved to the best of my current abilities. Now, I would go to war. I would complete the mission of the system and return to Nia a champion. A conqueror.