NBB3 - chapter 41: Against the clock

> Suspended animation halted

> Body waking up in: 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds

Solus closed the status window and gritted his teeth, the only part of his body he could move by now. With some effort, he focused on his connection to the barrier above. It was shivering uncontrollably, and a painful pressure surged across it in rapid waves. A splitting headache began growing in his head.

Suddenly something lightly touched a part of the barrier and slid across, so distinct that it caused the connection to clear up. Solus saw a fuzzy image for a moment and tried to grab onto it, attempting to focus.

Slowly, a vague, hazy image appeared of a massive shape against the backdrop of stars and nebula. Two large eyes glimmered clearly in the middle, sharp purple slits with pupils that focused on something behind him. Then the image cleared up with a snap as the Kaot Lord's attack cut off.

Solus saw Sig move across the barrier like a blanket, reshaping into his giant indistinct form as the massive torrent of energy vanished. The image focused on him for a moment, and Solus saw his friends' pained look.

He won't last long enough, he thought, turning his attention to the Kaot Lord. He could see the purple mana in the center, growing and increasing as it prepared another attack. They were occurring faster and faster, as if it was gaining power from some external source the closer it got to the planet.

Time seemed to pass at a crawl as he kept his attention divided between Sig and Kaot Lord. Too fast, a purple glow reappeared in the maw.

Too soon, he thought as he pulled up his status window.

> Suspended animation halted

> Body waking up in: 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 9 seconds

He did a quick calculation and felt his anger surge. Less than two minutes between attacks now! His thoughts barely finished when a bright burst of purple light shot forward.

The barrier cracked as the energy attack rammed into it, and with a sudden migraine-inducing tear, Solus watched as a large section cracked and crumbled.

The last he saw was Sig's cloud form rush forward, lodging itself between the beam and the planet, then the image vanished, and he was staring at the green glowing stone ceiling.

"Sig!"

His roar blasted outwards in a mass of invisible sound waves that cracked the stone above him. A pit appeared as stone crumbled to dust and debris that pelted down on his chest. He took a deep breath and tried to ignore the migraine as he attempted to see through the barrier again.

It felt like pulling at something too heavy, but slowly a fuzzy image appeared.

Sig's massive shape hung in front of a crack in the barrier, his face pulled in a pained snarl. The front of his body was that of a giant with huge fists blocking the barrage of energy, while a torrent of swirling grey particles sat where his legs should be, barely keeping him from being blasted away.

A fissure appeared in one of his fists, then a second, and as Solus looked in stunned and horrified silence, the front of Sig's body exploded outwards in a cloud of particles. For a moment, the beam of energy seemed held back by the remainder of what consisted of Sig, then it blasted through, washing over and through the barrier. Around the edges, small parts of the cloud swirled off into the distance, unmoving.

Sig… Solus thought as he followed the particles, stunned.

Then the migraine doubled, tripled, and he screamed in agony as he sensed the Kaot Lords' attack streak through the thin, almost non-existent atmosphere and slam into the planet below.

Waves of intense pain flared up, and Solus felt his consciousness flag, seeming eager to enter oblivion. However, through the pain, there was a sense of foreboding. Warning bells seemed to be ringing.

Solus focused on his waking mind, trying to ride the pain as he clung to consciousness. He knew. If he let go now? He would not wake again.

--

Oytach looked across the shaking buildings, over the hills that were cracking, dust and sand exploding out from cracks. A torrent of purple blackness was covering the distant horizon beyond the city.

The building below him was swaying dangerously, seeming ready to topple over at any moment, and he snapped out of it and turned around.

"What is going on?" he shouted at the group of librarians behind him. He had found them moments before, hiding at the top of the building.

There was no reply. The slender undead just gazed at him, gripping books in their hands as if those would save them.

"Well?" Oytach roared.

"We don't know," a pale, short-haired undead said, holding on to the one beside him.

"So this isn't something that normally happens?" Oytach shot back.

"Of course not," another librarian said. "But you said you would get us to the gate. We need to go now before the-"

A deafening rumble interrupted the undead as the building beside them collapsed and fell away from them in a cloud of dust,

"Down," Oytach roared, his voice barely audible above the constant thrumming.

He ran to the edge. "I'll wait below," he shouted before jumping down to the rubble-strewn street four stories below.

When he slammed into the ground and looked around, he saw another building at the end of the street crack and crash.

"Where did Norg go," he growled as he looked around.

--

Solus barely noticed when the pain began receding. It was so gradual that he only noticed when his own screams stopped. Even then, it took a while for his mind to pick itself back up.

He had succeeded in staying awake!

Looking up, he blinked at the hundred feet deep hole that was cracked open above his head. Gradually he regained the senses of his body, and he discovered that rocks and dirt covered his entire body, safe for his head, which was still throbbing painfully. It felt like something had tried to split it in two, but the underlying reason seemed gone. Now all that was left was horrible pulsating pain.

"What happened," he muttered.

His voice caused the area around him to tremble softly, and he flinched when something fell and struck him on the nose. It was followed by a torrent of rock and stone, and within moments his head to was fully buried.

Solus ignored it as he remembered what had happened.

Sig? he thought, suddenly worried.

He wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but he guessed the Kaot Lord's blast had reached the planet, and the impact had done something to him. Either that or the constant attempt of the barrier to reform was taking its toll.

He focused on the barrier, trying to ignore the after-effects of the attack that were wreaking havoc with his concentration.

It took minutes before he managed to make out anything but a gray blur that slowly sharpened. When it finally snapped into focus, it felt like he was standing before the barrier. Before he could search for signs of Sig, he gaped at what was in front of him.

The massive Kaot Lord was hovering close to the barrier, its tentacles streaking after a white being that nimbly dodged everything. The creature resembled a wyrm in some ways, but an agile one, with legs, arms, and wings.

Dragon, Solus thought as a host of concepts and images rushed through his mind.

It was small compared to the Kaot Lord, perhaps a tenth its size, but Solus knew that still meant it was massive. As it banked left and away from a host of tentacles, a bright burst of azure light gleamed from below its wings, propelling it forward with a jolt.

Before Solus could get to grips with it, a blue lightning bolt, just a tiny streak compared to either of the two behemoths, shot at the Kaot Lord's head and towards the maw. As fast as it was, a cluster of tentacles intercepted it, and it made an astonishing ninety-degree turn before zipping towards the white thing. It seemed it was about to slam into its head, then disappeared, and a miniature skeleton appeared between two of the horns on the dragon's head, grabbing one to remain standing.

A soft, tingling sensation began nagging in the back of Solus' mind, and a soft ping came from his status. Without his accord, it appeared before his eyes.

> External unprotected communication detected

> Connecting…

> Connection...

"-said you could hold it down I could get in through his maw," an angry voice shouted, seemingly inside Solus' head.

That's Galg! Solus thought in shock.

Besides the voice, there was a sort of odd directional information added, and he knew the familiar voice was coming from the tiny figure.

"This thing was either hiding its power or growing stronger," a clear, deep voice responded. "If I use too much power to stun it, and you fail to get in, I won't have enough for a second time."

"Fail? So little trust," Galg said with disgust.

"Galg?" Solus shouted, trying to get his voice across.

The distant figure of the dragon made an odd jerking motion before barely dodging another attack from the tendrils.

"What the hell was that? If I had ears, I'd be deaf," Galg hissed, a slight tremor to his voice.

"Solus?" the calm voice said, a minute confusion apparent. "Don't shout so loud."

"You are the sphere," Solus stated, much softer, as he looked at the dragon. "GD18?"

"Yes, and yes," GD18 replied. "Pleasantries later. We need help!"

"Watch out," Galg shouted.

Solus snapped his attention back to what was happening. The Kaot Lord had turned around, deceptively fast for its massive bulk, and long tentacles, glimmering with purple mana, stretched after GD18.

The dragon nimbly dodged a dozen tentacles before shooting closer towards the being and breathing a beam of blue energy towards its head. The tentacles ignored it and continued after GD18. The beam struck into the massive head, and the circle of small eyes glowed a brighter purple.

"Shit, did it just absorb your attack?" Galg screamed.

If GD18 replied, Solus didn't hear it. All he saw was the familiar beam of purple energy erupt out of the Kaot Lord's maw, targeted at GD18. Before, its size hadn't been as apparent, but now that it was aimed at something smaller than a planet, it showed the beam was a cone, the end wider than the Kaot Lord was.

Galg shot away from GD18, just as the purple beam ramed into GD18. For an instant, Solus saw a white bubble appear around the dragonic shape, then the beam enveloped him, and GD18 vanished inside the torrent of purple energy.

"GD18?" he asked.

"Yo, dragon? Are you still alive?" Galg shouted.

Solus felt like a hammer struck him on the head, and the word alive began spinning through his mind.

Alive… life…

Solus groaned as the word seemed to trigger a reaction from the seed he was harboring. Just thinking of it caused concepts he had barely understood to flow from Viridi's gift, mixing with his own experiences. A reaction seemed to come from his status window, but then it was shoved to the background by whatever Viridi had done. A warm, glowing feeling pulled him away from the barrier and back into his own body, interrupting a startled shout from Galg.

The next thing he knew, he lay on his back, buried beneath the rubble, as the unlife, the not-quite-life that was deep inside of him, poured into his body, into his mind. It was intense and stronger than he instinctively knew that it should be... but also not yet ready? Still, it seemed to want something, almost as if it was sentient, alive. A desire, a need for-

Sustenance.

Solus felt the hunger of the little unlife. It had a built-in desire to grow, to spread, but the energy it was gaining from Solus wasn't enough for it to grow quickly. But, now there was another way. Solus examined the knowledge fresh in his mind, and slowly a crooked smile came to his face.

He quickly pulled up his status to check the remaining time.

> Suspended animation halted body waking up in:

>1 hour, 10 minutes, and 2 seconds

I hope they can hold on, he thought as he focused on the barrier. The clear image snapped back into view, and he pushed away the concepts of VR screens and other things that were inconsequential as he searched for GD18.

To his joy, the white wyrm dragon was again flying around the massive Kaot Lord. It was blasting blue beams of energy at the smaller eyes while the blue lightning bolt kept swirling around the maw, looking for an entrance between the almost instantly moving tendrils. For a moment, he thought there was a balance, although precarious. Then he realized the Kaot Lord was slowly drifting closer to the planet, almost seeming to treat GD18 like a fly.

"GD18," Solus said.

"Where the hell did you go?" Galg shouted.

"You are back," GD18 said almost at the same time.

Solus ignored them both as he focused on the massive monster. "You need to keep that thing away from the planet for one hour," he snapped.

"Why?" GD18 asked.

"Fuck why! Ask how! How the hell do we do that?" Galg roared. "Do you even see what we are seeing?"

"I see it," Solus snapped. "But if you can hold it back for an hour, I can end it!"

"An hour!" Galg screamed, his high-pitched voice drowning out what GD18 said.

"Quiet," Solus roared. "Your complaining isn't helping!"

"There is a way," a whisper joined the conversation, causing everyone to fall quiet.

"Sig?" Solus asked, looking around for the cloud shape of his friend. All he saw were small parts drifting across the remains of the barrier like a dispersed fog bank.

"I have enough power left to distract it one more time."

Sig's whispered voice sounded so weak it seemed ready to disappear, to fade away.

"Sig?" Solus tried again, worried.

"Be ready," Sig whispered, showing no reaction that he had heard Solus.

"He can't hear you," GD18 interjected. "From what my scans can make out, his body is so spread out that it is a miracle he has any conscious thought."

Solus didn't reply, watching as the small parts of Sig began moving closer together.

"That guy is so slow," Galg snapped, but neither Solus nor GD18 answered.

Minutes ticked by as the Kaot Lord moved closer and closer to the thin blue line surrounding the planet. GD18 kept shooting at it, but the closer to Earth it got, the less the Kaot Lord seemed to notice.

"Finally," Galg hissed as the last of the small diffused parts of Sig gathered.

The sprawling cloud surged towards the Kaot Lord. At first, it didn't seem to notice, but when Sig reached the first of its tentacles, the Kaot Lord's two large eyes snapped towards it. It stretched out its massive clawed hand towards the cloud, grasping for it, but the particles swarmed around his claws—those touching the skin flaring up in a purple flash and disappearing.

"Now!"

Sig's voice was more audible than before but still soft and weak as he shot towards the maw.

GD18's wyrm-dragon shape shot forward, Galg on its head.

Like a mist over a swamp, Sig covered the small eyes around the maw, and immediately the large eyes narrowed. The tentacles began moving erratically while a quickly growing purple glow began peaking through Sig's cloud body.

"Here I go," Galg whooped. He transformed into a blue lightning bolt and zipped between the numerous massive tentacles. One of the tentacles swung towards him, but haltingly and unable to hit the lightning bolt that was moving at insane angles. Galg snapped around a final attack and down the Kaot Lords' gut.

"It's dark in-"

Galg's words cut off halfway as the maw snapped shut.

Solus looked at the happening in stunned silence, focusing on Sig. For a moment, he thought the other could pull away. Then, there was a final soft sigh. The remaining parts of Sig dissolved in a bright purple light that flared up from the circle of eyes. A moment later, only a few thin tendrils drifted away in dark space.

"Sig? Sig!" Solus asked, then shouted.

"He is gone," GD18 said calmly. "There is too little of him left to form conscious thought."

GD18 flashed forward on a blue burst, intercepting one of the thin tendrils and swallowing it.

"What?" Solus asked, feeling rage bubble up.

"I'll keep a part of him," GD18 said. "Perhaps I'll find a way to fix him… but don't count on it."

Solus gnashed his teeth, turning his attention back to the Kaot Lord. Besides hurting him, that thing had just taken out one of his oldest friends. He wanted to be free of these bindings, to fight! None of this would have happened otherwise!

Through his growing rage, he noticed that the Kaot Lord wasn't moving anymore. Instead, the tendrils were aimlessly flailing around while the two large eyes were gazing off into the distance.

"What is going on?" he muttered.

"Galg is attacking his mana-core," GD18 said. "I don't know if he will succeed, but he should at least provide some distraction."

"Will it be long enough, though," Solus said.

"We can only wait and see," GD18 said calmly. "If he fails, there is little I can do. The best I can offer is to go down and bring some of the undead away. Those that have not yet fled through the rifts."

Solus didn't respond but silently watched the Kaot Lord.