Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 227: Back Home

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Sevren Denoir

The thing screamed. It was hard to describe the sound it made as it stamped its near-endless feet. Like a dozen steam engines smashed together, maybe?

Still, the massive millipede was making my life difficult. Its serrated mandibles, translucent hide, and strange flexibility had turned what should have been a routine ascent into a death trap. When we'd arrived in this zone, Caera and Naereni had been content to just leave. I had, too: until my reforged aether compass had picked up absurd concentrations in the central mound of the jungle.

But the countless piles of aether crystals had a guardian. One that looked like something forged in the depths of Taegrin Caelum itself.

I blurred backward, slashing outward with my blade arm as I used Dictate of Mass with perfect precision. The bronze soulmetal lightened in color as the effect took it, and my arm moved at speeds that would have seen me crippled before. Then, in the instant before impact, I inverted the effect.

The soulmetal turned dark as its mass redoubled, but it was still going at an absurd speed. With impossible momentum, the edge of my blade slammed into the creature's leg. The purplish aetheric barrier around its body shimmered, then melted away as my sword arm cut right through with the force of a guillotine.

I would have never been able to do that before, I thought with silent relish, feeling mana as it thrummed over my veins. My teal cloak whipped as I moved, already preparing for the creature's counterattack. All because of Toren's aether arts.

The massive leg–easily twice my height–fell to the ground as purplish-red blood spurted from the stump. The massive millipede screamed, whirling on me as it tried to stamp me into a fine paste with its spear-like legs. Its mandibles clicked and whirred as it made that steam engine noise. It had no eyes to glare at me, but I could feel its hatred.

But I had already acted, expecting this chain of events. I moved my metal arm to the side, aiming for the nearest cavern wall, then flexed.

The blade atop my wrist ejected with the force of a bullet, trailing hairavant wire as it sank into the faraway stone. And with a simple tug, I was already flying up and away, out of the creature's reach in a blur. As I was pulled away, I took the chance to aim the gun in my left hand. Time seemed to slow as I lined up my shot, the edge of the bronze barrel glinting in the low light.

Then I pulled the trigger, three times in quick succession. Three gunshots echoed as the buster rounds punched small holes in the creature's body, each leaking a slow stream of blood.

Unfortunately, my attacks did little more than annoy the beast. It screamed in rage, fully intent on chasing me up the walls of the cavern. Still, I felt a subtle smirk stretch on my face as the beast forgot the true threat.

Caera's red blade swung, a gale of violent soulfire slamming into the creature's side. The decay-aspected flame fought the creature's aether barrier for a time, before finally breaking through and opening wounds along its long, plated body.

The cavern rumbled as the aether beast twisted about with impossible speed, mashing more aether crystals beneath its feet as it tried to gore my sister. It screeched in rage, pitching a tantrum as it tried to catch her with its mandibles. She raised her soulfire-coated blade in a defensive maneuver, bracing against those scythes of chitin. Around her raised mask, her navy hair flared.

The creature still pushed forward, my sister's back inching at speed toward an erupting spike of aetheric crystal. Those pincers snapped and bit as she held it away from her head.