Counters

Ra’azel’s constructs fought for him. The mech he stole and finally learned how to use properly was fighting with another of the new arrivals who also had interesting abilities, gravity based it seemed like.

Adding a sequence that simulated his thoughts and could pilot the mech had been the hardest part, but it was worth it. It had taught him how to do the same for his other constructs.

He usually relied on preprogrammed sets of instructions. The simpler was usually the better. Aim here and fire until all batteries were drained. Block here, or track that. But now he could do more complex orders, he could infuse a simulated operation based on his own thoughts. Not a perfect copy, of course, but enough that his newer constructs could have a limited ability to make decisions.

Like his runescribe orbs, and the construct attached to the inside of his helmet which proved its worth when Zacharia joined the battle.

The construct within his helmet tasked with tracking Time in a wide area around him pinged him, alerting him to the presence of a major threat. Immediately, his prepared measures triggered without him even needing to think about it.

He had fought people who utilized Time, dealing with them was difficult for most people. But not if you could level the playing field. Unfortunately, Ra’azel was aware that his understanding of Time in this reality was nowhere near as that of Zacharia. Especially since he appeared to be a nascent Aspect in some way.

Ra’azel wished that Berion had allowed him to study him, to learn about what it was that he and that being in the frozen waste had achieved. He still didn’t know what exactly that was, he had suspicions, but he didn’t like relying on information that wasn’t verified.

Still, he had ways around that, and he had enough time to prepare.

He smiled as he noticed that Zacharia was injured, that he was drained. It seemed like his pupil had managed to do something right at least. Now was the perfect opportunity to capture Zacharia and take from him his link to Time. To harvest his power.

His runes flashed with power, nullifying Zacharia’s Time-based powers. Next Ra’azel’s real countermeasure appeared above him, a construct made out of the hide of a Time Spirit, it launched an orb made out of its bones, inscribed with runes across its entire surface.

Ra’azel might not fully understand how Time worked here, but he had experimented enough to know how it would react when he used that mass of rune strings.

Zacharia evaded, but it wasn’t really targeting him, it was targeting Time. A moment later Zacharia winked out, trapped by Ra’azel’s design. And he didn’t even have to do anything.

He nearly laughed, but he had other concerns, other opponents. He summoned a hundred of his expendable constructs, turrets that targeted the body stealer and the woman surrounded by black fire.

Their attacks were weak, comparatively—each could blow a hole in solid steel—but there was many of them. The bolts of super-heated Air lanced out, pestering his opponents and giving him time to carve runes.

He arranged runes in strings, and a cascading ripple of constricting and expanding Space blasted out. It was more complicated of an attack that he usually liked to use, but his opponents were powerful.

Knowing that they would be occupied for a few more moments, he pulled out a large net designed to capture.

Before he could deploy it, Shadows deepened all around him, and again his automated defensive construct reacted.

Twelve constructs deployed from his spatial area. Immediately, six of them blazed with incredibly powerful Light, banishing the Shadow.

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“There you are,” Ra’azel whispered to himself. He had been expecting her. It was unfortunate that she hadn’t been within Zacharia’s shadow, so that he could get both of them at the same time. But, he had planned for both eventualities.

Ra’azel reacted as the Light came into being, his helmet’s visor dimmed allowing him to see as everyone else around him was blinded. He was surprised to see that the Shadows weren’t immediately banished. He had made the countermeasures based on what he had experienced of her powers the last time they met. She had to have gotten stronger.

Her shadows were made in the image of sharp spikes, rising from all around him to skewer him straight through. He moved away even as his Light weakened and banished them.

He still got caught. The weakened spikes scratched across the surface of his armor and punched through the net he held in his hands, tearing it apart.

He grimaced, that was a limited resource. The rest of his countermeasures for her activated, the six other orbs tracking and firing lances of light at the ground in quick succession.

Things were getting dangerous. Ra’azel still thought that the risks were worth it, but there were too many unknowns. He was still here only because he was intrigued, because he wanted new resources.

All of his opponents were interesting, and he wanted them all captured. The woman that had sent spears at him had an aura of some kind that could slow him down even through all of his defenses. He wanted that.

The giant one utilized gravity in interesting ways, but what Ra’azel wanted was the secret of how she changed her body’s size so much. He had been attempting to find ways to improve his body with the methods of this Framework, and he found little success.

Zacharia had his link to Time, which Ra’azel would take for himself. The Shadowy one had great skills and willpower, the two things that he had been searching to understand for longest. Willpower was one thing that he had as well, which was carried over from his reality.

But the ones he wanted the most were the other two. The woman who had powers that didn’t belong to her integrated into her Soul. He wanted to know how she managed that. He needed to figure out a better way to do it himself.

And the other one…

Risks versus reward. The challenge was in not killing anyone but hurting them enough that he could capture them.

Thankfully, he had just about as figured out how strong they were. He didn’t have to hold back too much.

Gravity twisted around him, suddenly pulling him down with an incredible intensity that his armor was unable to keep him in the air. He started falling, and immediately pulled out a glass container which he promptly crushed in hand. Gravity Essence spilled out, pushing outward on the already existing Essence, creating a zone of weightlessness.

That was when a boulder twice his size smashed straight into him, sending him flying. Ra’azel barely managed to blink when a spear pierced through his armor and grazed his shoulder. He carved a quick rune, halting his momentum in a way that made his insides shake.

Black fire spread over him from the attack, draining his life with just contact. He growled as he took in the situation. His mech was a pile of scrap, and the giant woman was preparing more boulders to throw his way.

Spears started flying in his direction and his constructs were struggling to keep up with bending space and sending them away.

The drake man appeared next to him, and suddenly Ra’azel was inside of a lightning storm. It shimmered into existence like a vision. An Image, he knew. Green lightning flashed all around him as the man attacked. His claws raking Ra’azel’s armor as his constructs appeared around him casting defenses.

With every contact of his claws, a lighting came from the sky and struck Ra’azel. His armor was glowing as it tried to absorb, deflect, and protect, but Ra’azel could feel the heat rising. He tried to block, but he wasn’t a fighter. The wind was howling around them and blowing his constructs away. He summoned his hammer, and swung. The drake blocked it easily, but that was the point. The runes etched on it activated, and chains caught the drake, binding his arms and legs.

A giant blade, made from what Ra’azel assumed was Qi, came on top of him then detonated and sent him tumbling away.

The drake broke the chains binding him and charged at him at insane speed.

They had turned the battle on him. They were pushing him back. He reached out to the piece of a Soul he had grafted onto his own. One of the few that he had managed to do successfully.

Shattering Sky.

The Image of the Storm rippled as the perk he used caught its Essence. Ra’azel wasn’t sure if it was going to do that. Everything around him was suddenly sent to the ground, the Air, the Winds, the Clouds, the Lightning, the Storm. It took his opponents and their attacks down with it, flattening them to the ground.

The entire floating mountain tilted from the impact.

Ra’azel was done. There was no more playing around. He pulled out a sphere, a fragile piece of a Soul within it. Some powers he had managed to take, to graft onto himself. Others he had failed to properly add, but he still found a use for them. Even if just as single use items.

He crushed the sphere and unleashed its power.

|I Shatter The Sky|