CHAPTER 13 – PARLOR TRICKS

  The Parlor – Aetheris Mansion – Iron Ranked Dungeon – Erebus

  ***

  L’Sana, Danny and Ari were shoveled by the blue and white windows onto the floor into the same stretched out shit they’d just been taken from. To say she was on edge, pissed, desperately wanting to kill something was an understatement. They’d taken her from her man. Gideon would get in all sorts of fucked up situations without her to back him up. It was proven time and time again. He needed her at his side to save his scrawny ass, his sexy, scaly, scrawny ass. A feral smile slid across lips. Who did she need to kill?

  The room they were in what looked like a small tea-house stretched out in the weird spatial trickery into several hundred yards in every direction. Several small tables spread out ridiculously and then at least a dozen women of the same race as the Butler stood in various spaces in some strange outfits that had their white/blue tits and asses hanging out, covering very little. Ari’s voice popped.

  “Oooooh!! They’re wearing french maid outfits!! How does some alien race in a Dungeon know about french maid outfits? They are cute though.”

  At that statement all dozen did the whole spatial thing again and appeared together no more then a dozen feet from them, one was dressed a bit fancier than the others. If they could teleport like the Butler it made her think it was a racial Ability which would make them tough to fight if it was low in resource cost. It would also be ridiculous if they had to fight a bunch of women in their undies. The one that stepped in front and dolled up a bit finally spoke.

  “Welcome to the parlor of the Astral Lord. He shall be addressing you in the next few moments. Please feel free to take a seat and enjoy some tea in the meantime.”

  The blank gaze by most of the women was not the case with this one. L’Sana clocked a look of superiority in her expression very much like the Butler though all of them had it to a certain degree. She had a feeling it was a part of the race itself. She wouldn’t be surprised if the Aetherborn’s history within the Multi-Verse wasn’t filled with some heavily skewed holier than though attitudes. A table was teleported in front of them with three chairs and a steaming white pot and three dainty little cups on saucers with tiny silver spoons next to them.

  L’Sana didn’t even need to respond. A blast from [Breath of the Dark Moon] covered the table in a layer of frost, the cups and pot shattering though the table and chairs actually stood up to Ari’s show of displeasure. Ari giggled as the gasp of sighs and shock rolled through the dozen women in their undies and one snort escaped L’Sana’s lips as she raised a hand and felt a little high-five claw hit it. Danny behind her mask also released a few chuckles. Ari’s melodic voice broke the stunned silence.

  “Damn Sana, that’s some tough furniture. I need to ask them for where they shop, maybe a Multi-Versal IKEA?”

  This time the snorts were hard and fast and real while Ari who had been face to face with her Mistress had to wipe her face from the fire-hose of liquid.

  “Seriously Sana, you need some kind of early warning System. Now I know how Gideon feels.”

  Danny was doing her best to stifle the laughter behind her mask while Ari gave her a hard reptilian stare doing the good ole’ two claws to her eyes then pointing at the Harvester. ‘I’m watching you’. The lead French Maid was almost apoplectic and actually spitting as she talked.

  “How dare you show such disrespect to our Lord’s generosity! If I didn’t have orders saying otherwise I would put you in chains and teach you some manners!”

  L’Sana’s laughter went from uproarious to a frigid landscape in a moment. She threw an [Identify] on the lead Frenchie.

  Head Servant

  Race – Aetherborn

  Class – Aether-Blade

  Level – 31 (Iron)

  This uppity bitch was only Level 31 and not even an Elite like the Butler. L’Sana was Level 33 and was a Scion with the Titles to show it including being the Champion of one of the most kick booty Goddesses in the entire Multi-Verse.

  Her claws slid out and she took one step before a ghostly image wavered into being halfway between her and the Lead Frenchie like it was a TV attempting to tune into reality. The static broken image showed a man that was very tall and regal dressed as some long lost rich scholar or noble. He had long bluish-white hair perfectly set in a band that held it back while looking like it had been washed and brushed a thousand times. He was the same race as the others though something about his features said he was a step above the rest by a far margin. He had a string of rings along all his fingers threaded by a slender silver chain that hooked to a bracer on each forearm and if L’Sana had to bet it was a Mage’s focus more than likely a Growth Soul-Bound Item. His eyes held a flicker of madness in their depths and danger, a lot of danger which meant shit to L’Sana.

  Her Man might be fearless but anything that scared her nowadays just pissed her off and made her want to put her claws through it. It had been a long road to get to that point with a lot of love from her new family and finding her inner-strength once more. She’d always been good at violence when she was told when and who to kill but now no one but herself made those choices. His voice was cultured but dripping with so much ego he made his flunkies seem humble. This was the Asshole that was in the way to getting back to the rest of her new family.

  “You seem to need some lessons in culture and how to comport ones self within the upper echelon of society. That will need to be taught to you before you will have worth as tradable commodities. You will also learn how to satisfy a man in bed in a way that is assertive yet submissive. An art form all the ladies before you have mastered. They shall be your teachers in such.”

  A claw lit in green and black flames flew through the image and though the claws themselves did nothing, the necrotic magic created a disjunction in whatever magic was allowing the Lord to project his image. It shook but than begin reconstituting itself about ten feet to the right and the man’s face look affronted and angered but then the Harvester stepped up and let loose with a piercing shrill of [Scream of Desolate Dreams] permanently disrupting the magic or ability that made-up the astral projection. The Lead Frenchie’s voicing went higher than a man with his nuts kicked and it was accompanied by the sound of hidden blades coming from somewhere on those dainty outfits.

  “HOW DARE YOU!!!!! SUBDUE THESE BLASPHEMOUS WHORES FOR OUR LORD!!!!”

  L’Sana was many things, violent, loyal, a highly highly skilled lover, like really really skilled but patience was nowhere near the vicinity and the only thing worse than someone getting between her and her loot was someone or several someones getting between her and her man. Her husky voice was a strike of thunder to the fall of a storm.

  “Danny. Would you care to do the honors?”

  Her response was immediate with a giddy energy to it.

  “Finally. I’ve been wanting to wipe these bitches faces along the ground since we got here.”

  Before the French Maids could take one step Danny let loose with a [Banshee Scream] and a blast of pure sonic force blasted all dozen women who had been kind enough to group up across the strange mirrored room but as soon as her Ability rode across the space it did something with whatever effect had been running and shattered it as the bodies flew through now much closer chairs and tables and one went sailing through a wall. Ari didn’t need an invitation and had been jonesing to try out her new Ability in real combat. She activated [The Ferocity of a Dark Moon] letting out a primal roar much deeper than the higher pitched melodic tone of her usual voice.

  Her body morphed and shifted until she was almost 4 and a half feet of 300 lbs of angered draconic scales. She immediately leapt upon one of the just recovering Frenchies. She clamped her now prodigious set of teeth and powerful jaw around her adversary’s entire head and with a tremendous growl reverberating around the flesh and skull she had in her mouth she put both her now glistening dagger length front claws onto her prey’s shoulders and yanked once, twice, and the third time accomplished what she’d aimed for yanking the head clean off with a flood of white blood and viscera.

  Danny’s blast had left at least bruises if not some with broken limbs and L’Sana wasn’t about to let the opportunity slide as she followed Ari’s example and leapt midst a group of three off to the left against the wall. The room had gone from hundreds of yards in size to no more than fifty in diameter. Her lead set of claws punctured the chest of one as she activated [Memory of Tombs] her entire body including her claws lit up in black and green flames, the burst of necrotic magic following her claws to light the inside of the Servant on the end of her claws as a rot started eating her from the inside out.

  Several other Frenchies had refound their feet and teleported to surround her, now four of them within five feet ready to pounce with their thin stiletto type blades. She just smiled as she activated [Teeth of the Long Dead] spikes of necrotic covered bone shooting up from the ground in a perfect circle around her location.

  Their level of surprise had worn off though and in the end these were Iron Ranked Citizens of the Multi-Verse who had managed to find traction within the fight so her spikes of bone only hit two of them, one of the others using their pain in the ass Racial Teleporting to shift out of the offending space while the other, mostly uninjured from the initial harmonic blast courtesy of Danny, using their obvious high Agility to dance back in a myriad of flips and pure speed.

  The two that did get hit, only one was hurt in any serious way, one of the bone spikes erupting directly beneath her, punching into her gut and unleashing it’s necrotic blast, the physical aspect not having the actual piercing strength of her claws and going against what was some obvious racial ability that toughened their skin or did some astral thing that portioned some impact off their bodies was in effect so instead of going through her it had instead probably broken several ribs but the necrotic energy had mutilated the woman’s abdomen in green and black rot that permeated her flesh and as she landed several feet away was writhing in agony.

  The second woman had just gotten her arm clipped and shattered but through their insanely high Agility which also probably received racial boosts she spun with the blow losing one of her stilettos but saving herself from much of the necrotic blast that followed. While giving herself space L’Sana took a glance at the battlefield and saw Danny holding off three of them with both her blades out, one of them in the chest of a downed Frenchie and the other two she was facing bobbing all around almost falling over telling L’Sana she’d hit them with [Harbinger of the Fall] and the circling swirls of sound around her body and the subtle shifts of extra Dannys appearing here and there told L’Sana she also had her new Sub-Class abilities up and running in [Epiphany of Harmonic Shifts] and [Displacing Haunts].

  Ari on the other hand in her new tank form was struggling as she was going against two but one was the Lead Frenchie with the big fucking mouth. Ari’s new form beefed her armor up greatly as well as her Strength and Body but halved her usual fluid and fast Agility and going against the naturally Agile fighters with the cheat teleportational innate Ability was proving troublesome. She already had some bleeding wounds on her flanks and she just couldn’t keep up with the much faster enemies who were baiting her in the front while the other was teleporting behind to take free pot shots.

  Her new shape was heavily armored her so had prevented any super serious injuries so far but it didn’t matter, L’Sana’s fury at seeing what they were doing to her Ari had her fuming like a volcano ready to explode in violence and corpses.

  With a flex of will she dissipated the bone spikes which in Iron would have stayed in existence a few more minutes as a control of space and deterrent with the continued radiation of necrotic energies on their frames. She needed to remove these last three impediments so she could relieve Ari of the pressure and allow her to focus on one combatant meaning L’Sana wanted the Queen Bitch on the end of her claws.

  In actuality she just needed to contain the three approaching enemies and free her up to pursue her prey. She smiled at the continued arrogance and confidence in the encroaching women. Even in the face of them already culling a third of their number without any of them taking any severely debilitating injuries themselves couldn’t shake their preening delusional confidence.

  She activated the new and improved Iron Ranked version of [The Ghosts of the Spectral Eve] at the same time as throwing in her new Sub-Class Ability [Ancient Graves]. That ability was still in Copper and would be limited in it’s Ability to contain them but utilizing it would give her some Levels going against Iron Ranked enemies and would root them for at least a second or two to allow her specters to hit them with their fear component and they could now inflict some small necrotic damage over time. She was already taking off past the three as the skeletal hands shot out of the ground to grab their legs and five horrific looking wraiths shot towards them sending grave induced waves of horror and death, their hands wreathed in black and green tendrils of the necrotic. L’Sana’s claws were hungry as she slipped past them towards the back of the Lead Frenchie who was laughing as she struck her blue/white lined blades into Ari’s haunch. Her laughter would turn to screams by the time L’Sana was done.

  ***

  The Dungeon – Gideon, Marcus and Freddie -- Aetheris

  ***

  When they rematerialized they were all standing in a cage of white and blur bars lined in runes Gideon would guess at a glance were from the Astral. They looked complex and done with skill. The cell was in a room only slightly larger than the remainder of the room. A large door closed and looking sturdy made of the white and blue stone most of the rest of the mansion seemed to made of. It was dark as midnight with no illumination but with his [Night Vision] that was no impediment. It wouldn’t hinder Freddie’s type of senses. He sent a message through the party interface also registering that Danny and L’Sana’s names were grayed out. He was starting to see the whole controlling space and movement of the Astral. High skill in runes, use of spatial magic to teleport, and also lock down space and Party System dynamics.

  Can you see in the darkness Uncle?

  His response was immediate.

  Yes, my Bloodline gifts me a low grade [Night Vision] as a Romany. It’s only at Common Rank II so in this pitch everything is extremely dim but I can see well enough. What is the plan here Nephew? Whatever these wards are on the bars it prevents any movement abilities that I have. I already tried.

  Freddie who as usual was doing his System hack tricks and reading the messaging chimed in through party chat.

  I have accessed the emanations off the Astral Runes etched into the bars and they are not what they seem. It would be erroneous to think of them as the bars they appear to be as even though visually it would seem to point to I being able to slip through them in my ferret shape, that would not be the case. The runes are creating a shield of astral energy preventing anything from exiting this cell and based on the strength of the energy its giving off I would estimate whoever created the runes was in at least Mid-Iron.

  The initial information of the Dungeon stated the Astral Lord was a Planetary Lord of the Academy and the records I do have access to state that none that hold the position would be any less than Peak Silver or Low-Gold so the System has suppressed his levels down to fit the parameters of the Dungeon. Usually they do the reverse as the System normally doesn’t have access to a lot of Citizens confined to Prison of higher Ranks so they are usually Lesser ranked Citizens who are buffered up to fill higher Ranked Dungeons in those that it uses Sentient Citizens to populate versus Monsters.

  Gideon could tell he was over-explaining attempting to make up for his insecurities about losing access to all the knowledge he’d thought he’d stolen but he let the little AI have his moment. He looked at the runes and smiled. He hadn’t really needed any help in this instance as his new Skills had already gone over the runes.

  He wasn’t sure how this story was supposed to go and could imagine the Astral Lord thinking this would keep them locked up. The other Dungeon he’d done had had a theme but numerous ways one could go about it depending on the skills of the party and the Astral Lord himself had bitched about having rules of the System they needed to follow. There was probably a time limit they had to affect an escape before something else happened instead. Gideon did not plan on staying within this cell.

  He activated [Rune-Mastery – Umbral/Moon] and without thought as had become the norm his [Investigation] and [Intuition] kicked in as he threaded his runic-sight and quickly got what he needed. The boost of his newly merged Bloodline was insanely effective. The speed with which he’d just done that? Focus. He pulled threads from both his Soul-Pillars as he wove them into a stream of power flooding the weak point of the rune he’d already found. He highly doubted the Astral Lord thought anyone at Iron would be able to actually break his runes. The only ones that would have a chance was someone like Orin who had a Rare or higher Class that directly dealt with Runes. In fact the only other feasible methods would be to go through the floor or ceiling physically, that he could come up off the top of his head with but none of them were suited for that style of egress.

  He could either break the runic structure or overload it. Breaking it would have a much higher chance of causing a wee explosion though both could do so if the Astral Lord put in a ward Gideon wasn’t seeing but two things told him that wasn’t the case. First he had complete confidence in his own Skills and his Attributes backing them which were borderline freakish compared to others of his Level and the second and more important reason. The Astral Lord was the poster child for arrogant asshole with a heavy superiority complex. He wouldn’t believe anyone would have the Skill to fuck with his runes.

  Overload it was. He took a deep breath then flexed his Will hard and pushed a heavy blast of umbral and lunar energy into the space slipping between runes directly towards the power source, the master rune, behind them. With a snap and spark the runes along the bars went dark. His Uncle’s voice was a whisper in his ear.

  “Took you long enough Nephew.”

  Gideon threw a look back from behind his mask and hood. Did his Uncle just try to be funny? Without even asking Freddie slid off his wrist into his ferret shape, slid between the bars then scampered over and up onto a table near the door then leapt on top of a small box where his eyes then begin to glow. He was pretty sure that device hadn’t been there before or at least had been shrouded and hidden. A few seconds and the bars to the front of the cell flashed and were gone. Freddie slid back and became a bracelet once more but he could feel the pride in his little AI buddy. Gideon’s hand tightened around Skald’s haft. It was time to see what was what but twice now they’d been caught on the back foot so the Astral Lord was ahead in this game so far. Now was the time for Freddie to even be more useful.

  Freddie. Use your senses and tell us what’s in the next room.

  He could of also become a shadow and done his own scouting but he had no clue what kind of sensory abilities whatever was there had. This was the safer course and allowed Freddie to once more feel useful. He knew earlier his buddy had blown off feeling like he was not holding his own on the team and his insecurities but Gideon knew better, knew it was still a lingering sore in Freddie’s psyche especially when you threw in him wanting to impress Ari.

  The room behind the door is radiating the same energy that the original foyer did. It has some spatial magic working within it to stretch space. I do register at least five entities close together within the space though zeroing in on exact locations is impossible with the spacial magic active. What I can tell you is four of them are of similar proportions and emanations of strength while the fifth is almost three times their mass and a much more intense core of energy.

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  His inability to know their locations was a hit but with this astral spatial magic he understood it. They would need to go in hard and fast.

  Marcus, keep the four occupied. I’ll go after the big baddie. Wait for my signal. I’ll go in as a shadow and see if I can gain us some intel that way you can go in and hit them hard. It will allow me to position myself close to my target.

  The only thing he got out of his Uncle was a nod, his hooked blades in hands. He hoped there was little light in the next room or this wouldn’t work at all. He activated [Birthed of the Eternal Eve] becoming pure shadow as he slid underneath the tiniest crack at the bottom of the door.

  He immediately darted to the corner of the spatially warped room exactly like the foyer. It was stretched like some half delusional David Lynch film. It was also moderately lit by lamps high up on the walls with the same white/blue flavor of everything else. Once Gideon had a better glance at the seemingly 200 yard sized room he slid from the corner up to the ceiling where there were more shadows to move in. He threw eyes to his Resources but more than he thought. His boost to efficiency from his Bloodline regardless of source would be helpful going forward. He was only at Low-Green though with his Stamina slowly ticking down while holding to his shadow shape.

  Once he’d secured a safe space he began to access the room. It was what looked to be a barracks for the guards of the Dungeon. It had a large table that was stretched out to comical portions especially as it seemed the four guards around it were drinking and attempting to play some kind of game. It seemed like it would be difficult to do when each participant was a good fifty yards from each other which told Gideon to them the space was normal especially as one tossed some kind of coin on the pile in the middle of the table and it landed perfectly when it looked as if it was a good thirty yards from where he was sitting. The man had moved his arm as if he was throwing it the two feet it should have been.

  If the spatial magic effected them but not their enemies this would be a difficult challenge and he was really beginning to not like the Astral Soul-Pillar. None of that was even touching the mammoth specimen of an Aetherborn that was porched up a good fifty yards to the far side of the room at what looked to be his own personal desk. He was well over seven feet and was a massive slab of muscle like cartoonishly so. He had to be close to five hundred lbs.

  The five guards were all dressed the same, even their captain, in some ornate looking half-plate and chain, so mid-armor, and while they all sported a longsword none of them were actually wearing it, all tfour weapons in their sheathes leaning against the table or the chair they sat upon and one of them with it on the actual table. The Big Aetherborn however had something different. He sported a huge ass two-handed warhammer leaning against the desk.

  For supposedly the Soul-Pillar being mage focused they’d so far only seen Martial Classes which he classified the Constructs as. Thinking about it though, every Faction or group that was focused around a singular Soul-Pillar would need foot soldiers. And there had to be Soul-Pillars that were less utilized, less found amongst the myriad of races brought through Integrations. He remembered Dori telling him almost all Shador were offered only the Umbral as an option, anything else considered almost blasphemy. And though that was considered rare, most races still only had four or five options to choose from. It was one of the things that made Erebus so unique. All three races had full access to all 31 Soul-Pillars though he’d be interested to actually have access to the data of how many of what pillars were chosen. It was of many reasons even average Integrations were still popular and coveted by Factions. The System made every Integrated world for the first few years rife with opportunities for growth. You could raise Levels far faster than was normal for the rest of the Multi-Verse and every Integration produced at least a few powerhouses, monsters as Freddie would say.

  He shook his head made of shadows admonishing himself for once again letting his mind wander to shit that had no value to the moment. When he threaded his Will to his Perception he realized he was getting some pulses to his mind from his new Sub-Class. Something to keep in mind. [Umbral Savage] pushed aggression and [Lunar Hound] pushed analyzation and theory dry humping. His Uncle was waiting on him. He sent a party message on positioning and the warning of the optic spatial games in the room and how their enemies seem unaffected by it.

  At least he’d been somewhat productive while chewing through nonsense in his head as he’d slid across the ceiling towards his actual target. It was time to begin the show. He sent the party chat that would begin the countdown. Freddie was put on protect Gideon’s ass from hard angles he wasn’t covering while playing dust up with the big man. They had no idea what these adversaries were capable of and still at Level 29 he was pretty sure they were above his level if not his strength so [Identify] would give up the game in a hot sec. They’d just have to roll the bones and see which way they fell. So not much different than Gideon’s entire experience since the Integration had begun.

  What he would give for the days where he had weeks to plan and strategize an OP, see all angles, all possibilities, all the ways it could fuck up, minimizing those same possibilities through endless run throughs and created practicals. It was time. Warmth pulse from Yisara and a whisper. ‘I have you my child. You are family.’

  Gideon felt the truth. Family was everything. It was nice to remember that truth after decades of being alone. He dropped [Birthed of the Eternal Eve]. Skald led the way as he fell and just as he was about to make impact the Ogreish Aetherborn somehow sensed something and in a breath, was gone, a flash of white and blue and reappeared suddenly three feet in front of Gideon’s landing as Skald pierced the flooring, its entire spearhead planted into the stone.

  He let it go immediately as the big man moved for his giant Warhammer. His two blades came off his back sheathes as he leapt forward only to cut through empty air as another flash of blue/white energy spiked. He heard yells and combat behind him as his Uncle did his best to occupy the guards but if they could all teleport like trans-dimensional jack rabbits they were in for a world of hurt.

  The warhammer came for his head and if not for his speed his head would have been on the other side of the room. His [Combat Awareness] was working overtime as was his [Investigation] and [Intuition] buffing his Insight. He let it take him, move him, no thought, instinct guided by Skills as he dove underneath it, one blade finding a minuscule point between greave and underlying leather, darting in, white blood spurting, another flash.

  The Giant now stood before his current position already swinging the warhammer again. Yisara darted like a viper her cloth wrapping his lead leg yanking him with enough strength that his swing was interrupted as he fell hard onto his back. Gideon’s [Combat Awareness] flared again as he felt the slight heat and flash of another teleport behind him. He started to spin but his ankle was clamped by the huge paw of the man on his back with insanely long arms.

  He felt the blade coming for him from behind when Freddie let out a gutteral growl as he leapt off Gideon’s wrist becoming his metal spiked once Snoopy now definitely pitbull shape. He tossed eyes for a half-second to see Freddie clamping onto the surprised man’s throat just above his gorget, a surplus of white blood geysering past Freddie’s large and jagged metal teeth. Gideon’s eyes went big as he felt himself taken off his feet and thrown into a wall that seemed a hundred feet away but which impacted his shoulder and the side of his head in less than a second from being thrown.

  Everything was a blur as Yisara pulled any shadow she could to accelerate his healing. His eyes still unfocused saw a blurry massive body that seemed very far away take a few steps before standing over him. A large something was in his hands and what Gideon thought was a deep heavy laugh came from the man’s chest. His mind was not cooperating.

  His eyes began finding purchase as the slight boost of healing from Yisara began taking effect but he could feel his shoulder dislocated and his blades were no longer in his hands. What he could now see was the warhammer was speeding towards his skull. A blurred one-eyed form slammed into the Giant taking him out of Gideon’s slowly returning line of sight.

  If he didn’t pull his shit together they were going to die here.

  ***

  The Parlor – L’Sana, Danny and Ari – Aetheris

  ***

  L’Sana landed on her ass hard as she’d leapt through one of the spatial teleport rings the Lead Frenchie Bitch had left in her location after teleporting away. She wiped the blood off her busted lip as she stood growling. She had to give it to these Frenchies, once they’d found their groove, they really were pretty good. And they had a lot of tricks, all the same tricks though.

  If she wasn’t seeing it she wouldn’t be believing it. In the sheer endless volume of Classes within even the same Soul-Pillar for all of these bitches to have the exact same class with the exact same skills, the only way it made any sense was if they were groomed since childhood with the same lessons, same training, exactly, so they would at least all be offered the same Class then for some reason all choosing to take the same Class.

  It didn’t matter in the end. They’d managed to kill one more of the Frenchies before they’d finally gotten off their back foot and started coordinating. The Frenchies could all creates some kind of force shield, teleport which she was pretty sure was a Racial Ability, could cover their blades with astral energy that seemed to be able to disperse magic when it struck and then could create those teleport doors like the one that had just sent her face first into the stone. Not to mention they seemed to be able to boost their Agility and sustain that boost.

  Ari had switched to her usual form as they were too fast for her to deal with in her new tank shape but still they had two pinning her, keeping her from healing either of them. Danny had three as her Abilities seemed the most effective and dangerous to the way the Frenchies Class was built and keeping her outnumbered was wearing on the Harvester.

  L’Sana couldn’t help until she could at least get rid of one of her enemies but as she’d said. Once they’d pulled all their tricks out and found their footing they were a pain in the ass for her to get her hands on. They never stayed within melee range and she hated to admit it but they were slightly faster than her and combined with their teleporting hi-jinks were proving extremely troublesome. Danny was wounded in at least three places leaving a trail of blood everywhere she went but her grit was a hard flag she still carried fighting just as ferociously. L’Sana herself had a couple minor wounds but periodic use of [Ancestor’s Faith] had kept her healed for the most part though they had quickly jumped on being wary of her various AOE Abilities so always kept a distance utilizing their teleports to quickly strike before retreating.

  It was difficult for them to maintain in the no longer massive spatially twisted room but they were accomplishing it. L’Sana’s own movement Ability [The Wraith of Eternal Ending] was far too slow to combat these fast bitches. She stood and saw the wicked smile on Lead Frenchie’s face but she returned the smile as her eyes landed on the claw marks on the bitch’s face. The Lead Frenchie’s hand involuntarily went to her face, her pretty dagger still clutched as she wiped the still dripping white blood rolling off her cheek. She hissed and spoke. This one liked to talk, a lot.

  “You may have struck me once infidel but in the end you shall all fall to our blades. Our Lord thought there would be a use for you and there still might if any of you actually are still breathing when we are done but I have been authorized to use any and all force against you and for you in particular I can guarantee you are not going to survive the experience.”

  L’Sana had just kept her smile up as the Bitch talked inching her way closer towards her but angling a bit more at the other that was corralling her off to her left about ten feet. They had become over confident in their ability to teleport away before she could get claws on them but they weren’t the only ones with tricks and she still had a couple she hadn’t shown. She might not be the big strategist or thinker her man was but she still had her moments.

  As soon the Bitch stopped talking L’Sana made her move and rushed the Lead Frenchie who immediately flipped a hungry look on her face as the one to her left started circling behind her getting closer. They’d rolled this same tactic numerous times and relied heavily on their mobility but L’Sana abruptly shifted spinning her body the other direction pressing the ballast of her muscular legs into the ground at the same time as she activated [The Beast Within] and when she pushed off it was on four legs, legs much stronger thanks to the heavy boost the shape gave her. The Frenchie wasn’t ready for almost five hundred lbs of L’Sana loving coming down the pipe.

  L’Sana’s leap cleared the space in a heartbeat and her claws found purchase in splashing white blood as her fangs came down on a tender neck followed by the snapping of bone and another Frenchie notched to her slap arrogant bitch list. The stupid repetitive tactics had also set up her next trick as she felt Lead Frenchie coming at her back she activated her other Racial Ability [The Ghost that Walks] letting the woman fall right through her and was happy the woman hadn’t lit her daggers in that anti-magic effect.

  L’Sana let her ability fade then leapt upon the woman her jaws closing over the entire woman’s head taking a page from Ari’s move earlier. With the heavy torque of her powerful beast body she twisted hard hearing the sweet sound of a neck breaking as she let go and heard the sound of dead flesh hitting ground. She turned her glowing violet eyes towards the remnants who were hurting her family. Her eyes flared electric violet as she lifted her head and roared.

  Everyone in the room froze at the primal sound as she leapt with blood and flesh hanging off her fangs to show them who she was, L’Sana M’Ras, the Scion of the Grave, Champion of the Lonely Widow and protector of those she loved.

  ***

  The Dungeon – Aetheris – Gideon, Marcus and Freddie

  ***

  Two more figures flashed by just as Yisara had brought enough healing to make his head feel less like it had been hammered. Get into the game Gideon. He felt something land in each hand, his blades. Yisara had gathered them. Marcus was swinging and missing wildly and Gideon could see why, some kind of distortion field around all three enemies. He glanced back to Freddie still rolling around with the man he’d taken down, a pile of white blood expanding beneath them. Another man who seemed a hundred yards back at the table seemed like he was in some la la land. He focused his high Perception for a moment to his hearing and picked up the man mumbling something about his ‘Mother asking him to not fight, to stay calm and safe’. Had to be his Uncle’s doing.

  It was too lit this low to the floor to use [Birthed of the Eternal Eve]. The shadows were more in the corners and above the lights on the ceiling, so instead he flexed his Will and activated [Nocturnal Embrace of the Shade] or attempted to only to be rebuffed as if the Ability had been blocked keeping him from leaving the room or the Dungeon. That Ability had him slipping through the Umbral Realm to get where he wanted which seemed to be a no go. This Astral crap was beginning to get tiresome.

  He did it the hard way pushing his speed just as his Uncle was blasted back by a warhammer to his crossed arms. Gideon could hear the shattered bones from a long ways away as the distortion stretched his movement. He knew in reality they were only twenty feet away but somehow in the distortion effect in place all through the room they were a hundred yards.

  The Massive Aetherborn with his two subordinates at his side stalked forward towards the crumbled form of his Uncle. They could not have him. He’d just gotten his family back and he would not die on Gideon’s watch.

  He needed to override the distortion effects and he had an idea to do just that. He pushed his speed and with the distortion the Aetherborn threw around themselves in addition to the overall effect on the room their locations were hard to foot stomp but it didn’t matter as all three turned towards him halting their approach towards Marcus.

  He skidded to a stop and immediately pulled his Aura live [Night of the Ecliptic Horror] while boosting it with [Mortal/Divine Shroud – Umbral/Moon] and followed it right up by throwing down [The Pitch of the Umbral Moon] which in Iron was not only much larger but didn’t need to be planted with himself as the target. It still was locked to the location it originated at but didn’t need to originate where he stood. He threw it right on top of the ass-hats as he pushed forward letting them taste his Aura.

  Freddie piped in on party chat.

  I believe this enemy is dead. I am noting no movement and a copious amount of blood.

  Gideon was a bit busy focusing on keeping his Active Abilities up and running, which so far had cold encasing his enemies, slowing their movement to glacial speed as his Aura seemed to be effecting them enough that they didn’t just teleport as the dark miasma engulfed them. He split his mind enough to after a few moments a life elixir popping into his hand as he tossed his dagger in the air to free his digits to hold it then bowling sliding the elixir behind him as he’d shifted to put himself between his Uncle and the Aetherborn. His blade landed perfectly back in his hand.

  Insanely high Agility had a lot of benefits and he’d be using them to twist this game to sevens on the ivory. The two Guardsman were now on their knees trembling, covered in a layer of frost, their white skin gone in patches. His newly merged Bloodline was increasing the strength of all his Abilities now as well as making them more efficient. He was only Mid-Yellow in Spirit and High-Yellow in Stamina though High-Yellow in Health. Their Captain was strong as fuck.

  Freddie get that elixir I just tossed into my Uncle’s mouth.

  Freddie was learning. He didn’t respond, just did. The Captain shook his Aura off, enough to teleport as he transferred himself back by his desk but immediately went to a knee. It gave Gideon enough time even going against the distortion effect. His third highest Attribute was Perception and it was really high if comparing it to his own team which were all elites. He took a gamble to circumvent the distortion effects and closed his eyes as he slid forward.

  He had two helpless foes he needed to put down quickly while their leader was recovering. His guess was the effect was visual and he was quickly getting to where he needed to shut down his Aura which was a beast of a resource hog even with his Bloodline benefits. He realized quickly his other senses were just as heavily reliant on his Perception attribute as his sight. He used hearing and something else, a nuanced use of [Combat Awareness] to close quickly. He sheathed one blade as he had to use his free hand to lock down where to place his dagger.

  It worked, within moments not only had he found his targets with no distortion effects playing with him but had taken a giant step to shifting the odds to them. His free hand found the same gap Freddie had used, above the gorget. With no helm it left them vulnerable. A few deep breaths and a couple thrusts of his blade and a river of warm blood rolling over his hands and he shut down his Aura and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was the Big Man’s gaze locked onto him with a promise of extreme violence playing tap tap on the drums. Unfortunately for the huge Aetherborn he’d left his hammer behind him and within Gideon’s [The Pitch of the Umbral Moon] which was still active and would be for at least another minute as long as he didn’t end it before then.

  Gideon threw a quick glance towards his Uncle and Freddie and saw an empty vial and his Uncle quickly healing, arms no longer looking like splinters of bone held together by a sack of skin though he doubted that Life Elixir would bring him all the way back up but it would give him the presence of mind to at least get back in the game.

  When Gideon turned back to the Captain the distortion was back in on the heavy, his exact location hard to pin as he stomped his way forward especially with the room effect adding to it. It was one thing to use his Perception to find and kill two men frozen in fear it was another to attempt that trick with a very much lively massive man coming towards him with the insane Strength he held. Still Gideon knew there was nothing for it and prepared himself.

  Gideon did his best to find the focus to discern where the true location of his target was but with the room distortion effect and the double downed effect from what the inherent Abilities of these guards it was going to be a hard press. Maybe with the length of Skald in his hand he could circumvent the disadvantage but not with his blades that had absolutely no reach. And it was obviously not a mental affliction or his Bloodline would have resisted it. It was a distortion of space that was effecting the visual cortex of the brain.

  A flash of white and blue had Gideon tumbling forward just ahead of two meat fists slamming into the ground where he’d been. He came out of the roll listening to the cracking of stone then Freddie as a robotic pitbull leapt right on top of the man as if the distortion was doing nothing to his buddy which made Gideon want to smack himself.

  Freddie used a type of echolocation to ‘See’ so these visual spatial effects would probably do nothing to him. Gideon used the world’s greatest AI Personal Assistant’s location to do a baseball slide between the wide set legs as both his daggers slice the tree sized exposed ankles and as he went past, the multiple images of the asshole also included multiple jets of white blood exploding from the severed arteries and mangled achilles.

  The Captain tossed Freddie like a baseball pitch into the far wall as he fell back on severed ankles. It was a loud thunderous explosion of sound as the good five hundred lb man landed. The Captain was a tough fucker though and immediately twisted himself up to his knees. The fucker was not an easy target to keep down. The tell tale shimmer of white/blue energy began coalescing around him that precluded a teleport but Gideon could tell the man was having trouble focusing past the insane pain he was experiencing.

  Gideon twisted and pushed his legs against the ground to reverse his direction and get to the man before he could pull his focus enough to teleport but he needn’t have bothered as his Uncle appeared out of a slit of silver with his hooked knives coated in silver energy as he went right through the man’s armor and into his back then slit up utilizing the hooks of his blades to rip out far more flesh than Gideon’s weapons would have done by a long margin. Gideon sheathed his blades as Marcus attacked a second and third time, his Ability [Kiss of the Moon] making physical armor almost non-existent.

  Freddie peeled himself off the wall and showed a few dents in his form to showcased how strong the man had been but even with that he seemed mostly okay while his Uncle’s mostly bare arms still looked at least fractured. Doing what he did with still fractured arms told him how strong his Uncle’s Will truly was. Throw in him tackling the man to keep Gideon from getting his head crushed warmed his heart. His Uncle truly was family once more, had earned that and more.

  Marcus collapsed to his knees, his blades dropping from his hands, his arms a walking promotional for bruised flesh. From hands past his elbows was one giant ugly looking bruise. It was what it was and until they could hook back up with Ari he would have to deal with it or until the thirty minute timer for taking Life Elixirs counted down and he could guzzle another. Freddie came waddling over looking still a bit dazed from his wall bounce. When he came close he shifted to a bracelet that looked a bit out of shape.

  Please talk me out of doing that again Gideon. I know it was very heroic and certainly I often fall within that category. Mark Hamill, eat your heart out, still, I believe I need a break from such. I wouldn’t want to overshadow you or the others after all. Add into that that I feel like a set of bongos that just went through an hour session with Ringo Starr. Very talented man if I must say, Yellow Submarine truly an unheralded gem of the Beatles.

  Now my ability to feel pain is minimal still it is a blow to the ego to be manhandled so and my vast cognizance is struggling to focus into clarity. It reminds me of Johnny Depp’s strange film Dead Man which was like a hallucinatory take on a western. I feel as if I’m his character towards the end of the film when everything is spinning and not quite right. To me, it was an understated film and a great original work of art. Critics didn’t quite….”

  Gideon pulled the well used card of his ‘Tune Out’ Freddie monologue skill set. It had to be in the Rare ranking by now if it had been an actual Skill the System recognized. He smiled. At least it told him his buddy would be fine as the chat messages kept a steady stream on the complete break-down of a Johnny Depp film.

  He looked down at his Uncle laying out on his back breathing heavy as he sat down next to him. A circle of Astral Energy appeared about ten feet away as the distortion of the room faded away leaving them in a rather small room that looked like a tornado had rolled through. He also had a Notification saying he’d gained two levels though he was pretty sure he’d been close after the Constructs. He hoped where ever that spatial door led them it was back with the others.

  A sound broke his exhausted reverie as his eyes clocked the guard still breathing over at the table reminiscing about his Momma. He’d forgotten the man was still alive. The Dungeon must have concluded they’d defeated him by being stuck in some mental delusion his Uncle had created.

  Gideon sighed, stood, walked over and pulled Skald out of the ground then started stepping towards the mumbling Guard. He might as well finish what they started.