Underworld - Book 4 - Chapter 30

Unlike when I’d first used appendages, I was now able to command them with little cost. It was like extending my own mana outside my body instead of casting an actual spell. That was how Lady Contessa had been able to have her appendages constantly active. Mistress Nava obviously knew the same trick. Thanks ladies.

Instead of casting Artificial Sun in its normal sense, I flooded the air with a cloud of light that extended from my appendage that was hovering over her head. It would do double duty by annoying her and disguising the mana in the area so that Mana Sight would show her nothing. Laser burst from each of my appendages, burrowing shallow holes in her flesh. Before the wounds had the chance to close, all twelve of my strands plunged into her like lightsaber—or more accurately Lifesabers. A great wave of Life Magic funneled through the strands and began to fill her with the magic that should violently interact with her own. I felt the reaction almost immediately as a growing concussion threatened to push me back. I stood my ground and continued to fill her with the deadly magic. As a full second passed I feared she would explode just as her apprentice had.

My cloud of light, that also hindered my own vision, was blown away with the swipe of her hand. My appendages were still burrowed into her flesh of her gut, chest, back, and even one was in the side of her neck. She didn’t even acknowledge a fleeting ounce of pain. Holding out her hand, a dome of dark magic flashed into existence, cutting all my strands of light with ease.

“Is this how you killed her?” She spoke void of concern. “My dear Lady Contessa certainly would have lacked the experience with Light Magic to know how to handle such a trick. It’s creative, and—desperate.”

It wasn’t just that my attack and been thwarted, but that the mana that had been extended from my body in the form of appendages had been cut off and taken an extra chunk of mana at the same time. Including what I’d spent on my attack I had lost more than 250,000 MP in a moment.

796,190/1,443,000 MP

A bolt of black lightning leaped from her hand faster than I could physically react even with Mana Sight at full power. I recalled what remained of my strands and flooded my chest with Life Mana as the bolt struck me center mass. Undeath Magic assaulted my own, making my armorless chest its battle ground.

-57,303 HP

So much damage was done from a single small bolt and yet I’d flooded her with over 150,000 MP worth of Life Mana in a second and she remained unaffected. Should I have attacked with more appendages? The flow and density of my mana in the attack had reached its max—and she’d dispensed with them so quickly. The amount of mana she had to possess to pull that off…

Was that it? Was there nothing I could possibly do to defeat her even after reaching 10,000 Wisdom? Fire Incubus Form took shape as I healed myself. She let it happen.

I could still channel more mana into Fire Incubus Form, but there was a better option for increasing my power now that I had 62,940 Mana Per Minute at my fingertips. Fire Incubus Form cost half what it had. So did Master Muscle Buff.

Injecting 10x the mana necessary for Master Muscle Buff, my Strength and Dexterity hit the highest level they’d ever seen in this form. For an additional 38,400 Mana Per Minute, I received 4,500 in each stat that joined with Fire Incubus Form. For a total of 12,110 Strength and 11,846 Dexterity.

It wasn’t the same as pushing past 10,000 with just Light Magic Buffs, so I didn’t receive the 10,000 stat bonuses that came with them. It didn’t slow me down.

I tore through the space between us, defying the sound barrier just as Aeris often did when she got serious. My fist connected with her face before the concussive explosion even sounded. It sent her flying toward the entrance to the Inner Perimeter. If I couldn’t cause her to internally combust, perhaps I could beat her to death.

Before her head had rebounded off the stone floor, my fist found her porcelain face and drove her into the ground. The magical stone beneath tried to brace against the impact but it couldn’t help but to crack and crumble under the force. Nearly a metric ton of rock felt into the pit as Mistress Nava fell in after it.

I wasn’t finished yet. Even though Fire was one of her natural elements, I activated my form’s Enraged ability and heat filled my limbs and the air around me while granting me even greater speed and strength. With 17,820 Mana Per Minute still free, I’d continue replenishing mana even with the skill joining my form and buffs.

Not letting her fall far, I dived toward her, grabbed her by the leg and spun. Tossing her like a rag doll across the pit, she seemed to sink into the wall before the rock around her gave way, leaving a crater twice her size. It held her there.

I knew it wasn’t enough. More like a dragon than human or incubus, I spread out my wings and summoned my tail.

This time she remained silent because my assault had actually affected her. A mighty swipe of my wings drove me toward her and across the gap of the pit. My speed surpassed Mana Sight’s help. My tail was like that of a bone dragon—it was massive in girth with a round wrecking ball on its end easily half my targets size. When I was but a few meters away, my wings snapped out wide, stopping my forward momentum. The wrecking ball that was my tail only gained further speed as it swung toward her like pendulum. It hit her with such speed that is was as if she disappeared from sight. The entire room shook as if it would fall apart as my tail crushed her and drove her tens of meters into the rock.

Drawing back my tail, I flew back without taking my eyes off the deep cavity I’d just punched in the wall. I touched down on pathway near the collapsed section.

“Is that the extent of your sting?” She called from inside her hole. “Are you starting to understand? Are you starting to despair?”

It was like her words sucked the air from my lung. Nothing? Really?

Slithering out of the hollow with half a dozen black tentacles doing the climbing for her. Her appendages began to grow, rising out of the pit and across its gap until she looking down upon me from just a few meters away.

What she said was true. She’d emerged from the beating I’d just given her without a scratch, and she still glowed just as brightly in the mana realm as when she’d first arrived. Even if my mana had reached the same density as her own, she possessed so much of it that I was a drop of water in the shadow of her storm. 

“I admit that Lilith wasn’t as jaded as I first believed when she brought you here.” She said with a truly genuine smile. “It’s impressive how far you’ve come. Take pride in that little bug. But you are still a few centuries away from challenging me.”

She moved to strike me. It was terrifyingly fast, but not so fast that I couldn’t react. I grabbed her wrist before she could connect. I’d grabbed it in time, then why…

I doubled over with blood bursting from my mouth. She was kind enough to hold me up as I braced myself on her tiny arm.

-318,003 HP

I found enough strength to push myself back to create some space to glance at what had happened. I’d grabbed her wrist in time to block her fist, but her hand was no longer there. In its place was a large crimson blade twice as thick as her arm that had pierced my Impenetrable Skin and gone straight through me and out my back.

I almost laughed at my miscalculation. Her talent with Fire Magic had always been obvious because of her mana’s color in the mana realm. I knew fire would do little against her and was thankful that Fire Incubus Form would protect me against her flames. Never had I considered that she’d mimic Impenetrable Skin’s use of compressed Fire Mana and create a weapon out of it. And, of course, she was able to make one just as hard, if not harder than my armor.

432,172/750,175 HP

“I’ve decided I won’t draw this out. Out of mercy, it’s time to die.” She said at a whisper, lifting up she pursed her lips to kiss me on the forehead. 

All that it would take was a quick channeling of her Dark Mana and I would literally explode as our two magic’s tore themselves apart inside of me. My life and death were hers to command. But they had been that way from the beginning, hadn’t they?

In an enormous flash of light, I transformed into Solar Mage Form and cast Artificial Sun with my face, blasting it into her own. Her blade slipped out of me easily enough from my semi-physical form as I threw myself back and into the pit in a reckless move to get away. For a moment, I was free, but any confidence I’d gained during our fight was not to be trusted. I hadn’t even scratched the surface of what she was capable of.

My buffs returned and Fire Incubus Form took shape as Heal began its work. I flew as hard and as fast as I could to create distance between her and I.

“Aeris, it’s time. Be ready.” I said, trusting Richard’s magic to relay the message.

“I am.” She replied without delay.

Mistress Nava didn’t hurry her recovery from my blinding flash. It was still little more than an annoyance to her, and she knew there was nothing I could do to escape.

Landing at the far side of the room on the pathway near the entrance where she’d arrived, I faced the monstrous girl whose tentacles still stretched from one side of the pit on my left to the center pathway. She stepped down from them as if she had taken a flight of stairs. Her appendages then started returning to her and were sucked into her back and feet.

The girl with vibrant red hair and matching dress of mana stood opposite me.

“Now?” Aeris hissed in what was probably meant as a whisper.

“No.” I replied. “There can be no doubt that we will hit her. Give me just a moment.”

I heard the tremor in her voice. “Elorion, please don’t?”

“I love you, Aeris.”

“That’s sweet.” Mistress Nava said, cutting us off. “But I can intercept your friend’s magic and hear everything you’re saying.”

Her admission didn’t surprise me. I’d wondered long enough. I had to know. “Were you also able to spy on us through the Head Mistress’s spell?”

“No.” She shook her head.

“Then how? How did you know where we were?”

Biting her lip, she seemingly pitied me. “How do you think little bug. Lilith told me.”

A wash of emotions filled me, and my mind strained to sort them. It was like a giant’s hand had a grip on my insides and was squeezing them all at once. Betrayal was not something I believed I should be feeling. Lilith had literally kidnapped us and forced us into a life where we had to kill or be killed. We had to progress—to continue to kill—because she held the threat of death over us if we ever disobeyed. So why had I felt she was on our side despite the reality? Why did it hurt?

“I see.” I said, mostly to myself.

“You’re disappointed? It’s so heart breaking.” She chuckled. “Well, I best finish this. Is there any specific way you’d like to die?”

Down here, in the Underworld, we were completely alone. Whatever psychotic reasoning the Head Mistress had for bringing us here didn’t matter. I thought I could trust her lust for power, but the addition of her people’s politics made her actions so convoluted that the only hope was for us to flee—as far away as possible.

Glancing at my mana, I saw what I could only hope would be enough.

813,544/1,443,000 MP

I’d kept my mana usage less than my Mana Per Minute for the most part and recovered a little. More would’ve been better.

“Any last words?” Mistress Nava said and she began to walk toward me.

It was kind of her to give me one last chance to say something obnoxious. “Sure, why not. As a pet lover, you’ll appreciate this.”

“Oh?” She replied, slowing her gait.

“Meow.”

Confusion twisted her face, as my body began to grow. I dropped Fire Incubus Form as my arms began sizzling with power. They touched down on the pathway with paws of magma replacing what had been my hands and feet. Like a nuclear reactor on all fours I didn’t hold back my heat as the liquid rock that made up my body blazed with orange and yellow light. I was soon many times my normal size. Primordial Cat Form took over. 

Even with 10,000 Wisdom and my spell’s cost being cut in two, this ultimate form was 87,000 Mana Per Minute, 24,060 more than I could produce. Still, the form that had once only been available to me for a matter of seconds would now last half an hour. It still shouldn’t be possible, but this was the real reason Aeris and I had stayed away from Sanctuary for so long. Primordial Cat Form was now level 95.

Strength: +9,750, +95% Strength

Dexterity: +9,750, +95% Dexterity

I didn’t dare stop there. 10x Master Muscle Buff was added to the mix putting a 38,400 additional drain on my mana. Even though Primordial Cat Form didn’t use Constitution in the normal way and removed my Health Point stat entirely by shifting it to my magma in some fashion, I channeled another 38,400 Mana Per Minute to 10x Master Skeletal Buff. It felt as if I was in the process of overdosing on caffeine. Despite not being in my human body, energy pumped through me, sending my muscles palpitating violently from head to toe.

Strength: 20,694

Dexterity: 20,437

The drain on mana would limit my time, but I wouldn’t need it for long. Movement felt almost effortless. I exploded from my perch. Mistress Nava narrowed her eyes as I rocketed toward her. It was all she could do before she disappeared in my jaws that clamped down over her from head to shoulder. My front right paw, nearly as large as her torso, wrapped around her back and my claws sunk in deep to hold her firm.

Landing just inside the entrance to the Inner Perimeter we were at point blank range. I let my magma glow with power as the succubus squirmed in my grasp.

“Elorion, no…” Aeris said with little strength.

Looking up and across the room, I saw my fiancé staring at me with silver eyes of unbelief that it had come to this. We had discussed this. She knew it was what I’d planned if everything else failed. She hadn’t agreed to it quickly, but in the end she’d given her word. I couldn’t blame her for hesitating. I was even glad that she did for it showed me just how much she wished it didn’t have to be.

I didn’t have to say anything, nor could I or Mistress Nava would get free. With her palm resting against the wall on a vein of gold, she released the mana that carried the command of her will. It traveled down the vein into the wall, into the mana cannon and toward the Master’s Chamber. In less than a second I could feel an ocean of mana in the distance gathering in one place. Trevon must be doing his job, for there were no explosions as the batteries began to fill.

They weren’t filled immediately so that they wouldn’t burst from too much power. Mistress Nava wasn’t about to just let it happen. Her loose arm impaled me with a lance of compressed Fire Mana. It punctured my chest and exited the back of my ribs. Being made of magma, it had no effect.

Body of Magma: Your body is transformed into one that consists entirely of magma. 

She could stab me all she liked, but it would do no harm to me in my current form.

When that didn’t work the room started to fill with Dark Magic tentacles. If she couldn’t stab her way out, she would try to wrench my jaws open with magical force. With enough time, it would work, but she and I both felt the geyser of energy speeding toward us. The batteries had survived and filled. Now they were emptying themselves to a single point. The only part of the mana cannon that was visible in the room was the lens the size of one of our round tables from the Living Quarters. It was aiming right at us.

I couldn’t see Aeris clearly with my own two eyes, but I could see her in the mana realm. She was in her Wisp Form, but she was still trembling. It was enough for me to know that she’d survive.

The moment the overwhelming rainbow of mixed mana glistened in the lens, I let loose everything I had left in one final attack of Life and Light. Nearly 800,000 MP of Light Magic poured out of my mouth greeting the 8,000,000 from the mana cannon to wedge Mistress Nava between us. There was light, and then—there was not.

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This chapter has been updated with a cleaner edit.