Chapter 60 - War Part 4

A Level-4 missile was headed his way, and it was going to obliterate everything in its path.

He couldn’t shield against such an attack. Not only would the sheer momentum shatter through any shield he could conjure, the resulting collision would detonate in his face, damaging the carquane crystal, and if that happened, the entire desert would probably blow up to ashes, leaving nothing but dust and a giant crater spanning over hundreds of miles.

Perhaps if he was faster with opening a rift into the Haze, he could have channeled the raw power into the endless world of energy that was the Haze. It would be like adding a dozen trucks of water into an ocean. Regardless of its quantity, it was still insignificant.

He could always try to redirect it. Energy redirection was the very first kinetomancy technique he had mastered. And he had already negated the motion of a Level-4 attack earlier, stopping it in its tracks, and altered its course to the warship. And unlike before, he did not need to save his power for anything, given how just touching the carquane crystal would flood him with unlimited energy.

It would be easy too.

But truthfully, Lukas just didn’t care.

A grin that was almost maniacal graced his lips. If Mujin wanted to compare testosterone size so badly, who was he to say no? The warlord, despite his fearsome power, had brought in an entire tank-load of Eternal Light to constantly empower himself and those under his command. So far, that had given them the edge.

He supposed it was his chance to even the odds a bit.

Asserting and Aligning projectiles

Setting locked targets

And with an unlimited number of carquane missiles at his command, if he didn’t show off now…

Removing limiters

Then when?

Fire

The topmost portion of the carquane shaft was expelled outward with immense force. Kinetomancy empowered it. Shatterpoint Intuition directed it. The immense power of the World primed it to cause rampant destruction.

BOOOM!

In an instant, the desert was on fire.

Not that Lukas bothered to wait.

Accessing Scan level-3

Overclock!

Identifying Spiritual signatures

LOCK!

Deploy!

It was time to give the Warlord a taste of his own medicine.

Locked on Mujin’s spiritual signature, the next missile rushed at him, a shark after its prey. From his vantage point, Lukas watched as the Warlord disengaged Tanya and shot towards the sky, only for the missile to follow him, locked at predetermined velocity. The second, third and fourth missiles rushed after him, hunting him across the open skies like a pack of hunting dogs after a fox. Their cobalt streaks danced across the sky, never failing, never clashing, never interrupting each other’s path. Only when Mujin paused for a moment to raise a force-shield, did one of them smash into his barrier with an intense explosion.

“Impressive!” said Tanya, appearing next to him, her voice nodded with approval.

“I cheated,” he said. “The water element can be used to add a predetermined target if you use it right. I locked them on his spiritual signature, and empowered them with kinetomancy. Basic stuff really.”

He blinked a few times to get his eyes and head to stop throbbing. Scanning the bulk of the Desert like that to capture Mujin’s spiritual signature from afar, even for a few seconds, had not been pleasant.

“Basic for you. I wouldn’t know the first thing to get that working.”

“Well, you always were a bit dim.”

She put her tongue out. “Stop being mean to me.”

Lukas laughed. “I see you’re still you. I thought Frost would’ve taken over by now.”

“I thought so too,” said Tanya with a smile. “But she didn’t. I don’t know, somehow, it just feels so much easier. Using Everfrost, that is. I thought it was Frost helping me, guiding me into working with Everfrost in ways I never had before, but then I realized that she was me. She couldn’t know any new moves unless I knew them too.”

Lukas gave her a knowing smile but said nothing.

“It’s Meynte, isn’t it?” asked Tanya, looking at him with something like reverence. “You said something about her memories causing a spiritual resonance because both of us share a lot of things.”

His smile widened.

“You knew this would happen, didn’t you, Lukas?”

“I might have had a couple of guesses, yes.”

Tanya narrowed her eyes and mock-glared at him accusingly.

“There’s a reason why I suggested Spiritual Resonance back then. I’ve been the recipient of that several times in the past to know what it is like, what might trigger it, and how it can be unconsciously activated. Back in the borderland, faced by the Ifrit King, I somehow triggered a stimulus eerily similar to Inanna’s own, and that helped me manifest her within my body.”

“And Meynte faced the Great Goddess here in this very desert,” concluded Tanya. “And I was fighting a Warlord, empowered by the Eternal Light.”

“Two similar situations, similar settings, and similar stimuli. I had hoped it might trigger something. That was why I chose this desert as our battlefield.”

That was half-true. He had chosen it because Amaterasu’s All-Seeing Eye was blinded within the Desert. That meant that he could get away with nearly almost anything without fear of being spotted.

Like using some of his more esoteric powers.

Or killing Mujin.

And most importantly, pulling off Inanna’s resurrection.

He looked up at the sky, where the once nigh-indomitable Warlord was having a tough time escaping the projectiles, especially with his Eternal Light fuel now limited if not already depleted, no thanks to Lukas annihilating his Warship earlier.

It probably didn’t help that he was constantly unleashing more of his makeshift missiles every couple of seconds.

“Meynte’s skill can’t help me against him,” said Tanya, frowning. “Not if he does what I think he is about to.”

“Oh, and what is that?”

Tanya gestured towards the sky, where Mujin had halted, crafting an intense pressure orb around himself, with the missiles crashing against it with ruthless precision and prejudice, but none of them being powerful enough to cause any lasting damage upon the powerful defense.

“He is about to unleash his kami. And if that happens, none of us will stand a chance.”

Lukas knew that.

“That’s a Level-4 kami. Unleashed, it can end the entire battle within a split second.”

Lukas knew that too.

“Even if I unleash Ezzeron, he’s still a Level-3 at best. I cannot match him. Not when he is like that.”

As she spoke those words, four pairs of crimson red wings were forming around Mujin, larger and brighter than ever. And around him, a misty red form was beginning to manifest, the silhouette of some great beast.

“Ah,” said Lukas. “So he lost his one ace, and already he’s running for the big guns? Like grandfather, like grandson.”

“There’s nothing to joke about, Lukas,” scoffed Tanya, clenching her fists. “At least with his kami restrained, I had a chance. Now? I can do nothing.”

“Really, nothing?”

She shook her head. “I can unleash Ezzeron. I’ve done it once before, so I can pull it off again. I’m not sure how doing it in the middle of the Desert will affect my bond with it. Even at full strength, it will be Level-3 at best. That beast will absolutely destroy us.”

“And what about your own power?”

Tanya blinked. “Lukas —”

He touched her cheek, and looked deep into her eyes. “You aren’t just a bremetan, Tanya. You are Meynte’s descendant. The power that resides within you is not Potential. It does not follow Rules, and has no levels or restraints. Within you, is something that can destroy worlds. Look into yourself. It is there. Find it. Own it. And when you do, you’ll have a power you have never known.”

“How… how are you so sure?”

He laughed. “Because I know so. And because Inanna told me. And I know better than to doubt her word in such matters.”

Tanya looked conflicted. “I… I’m not sure if I’ll like what I’ll end up finding.”

He laughed. “Of that, I have no doubts. If it helps, I think Frost knows what I’m talking about. After all, I saw it directly through her own eyes.”

She bit her lip.

“Hey!” said Lukas, still touching her face. “It doesn’t matter. Maybe you can do it. Maybe you can’t. Either this battle gets a little tougher, or a little easier, but the result won’t change. We will win, and you will kill Mujin Shimizu. That I swear.”

Tanya just stared at him.

He took his hand away. “Now, I’ve got to get going. I hope our final trump card is up and ready for the final bit of surprise in the end. I’ll see if I can get Mujin to separate himself from that thing.”

“Lukas. You don’t understand. With his kami unleashed like that, Mujin is no longer in control. His kami is.”

“An angry opponent is a sloppy opponent.”

“Not in this case, it isn’t,” Tanya snapped. “As he is, he has no restraint over himself. He won’t think twice before annihilating the entire area for miles on end, if he thinks it will destroy you. Destroy us all. It’s devastation incarnate.”

“It’s foolish for most to chain a lion,” he said, his wide eyes swiveling at her. “Yet chains can be forged, and lions can be caged.”

He could see her running through the possibilities.

“It’s an angry beast alright,” said Lukas, now standing up. “One I’m going to engage. But I can only do that for so long. So get our little ace in the hole ready for the final move. We won’t get a second chance at this. Well that, or….” he paused, and gave her a wry grin. “Find a way to even the odds for me.”

Tanya twisted her lips, and crossed her arms. “Never thought you’d be such a hard taskmaster.”

“I warned you. Being with me has its perks.”

Tanya rolled her eyes and sighed. ‘I suppose I dug my own grave when I decided to fall in love with you.”

Lukas snorted, and glanced at the impossible beast. A demon as crimson as blood, leonine, with four pairs of wings spread out, with its  long fangs and trunk-sized limbs, one that would have fit right in place with the beasts of Greek mythology. And floating somewhere in the center, close to its heart, protected within an orb of wind, was Mujin himself, his expression filled with an alien, malevolent rage.

Such a thing could unleash devastation on the entire desert and wreck it apart within seconds.

And it was glaring at him.

Even if he managed to break the connection between Mujin and his kami, something of that size, potential and power was impossible to be siphoned. Not even by him. Or by Blob. Not as it was right now. Just its consciousness was enough to absolutely annihilate anything that Blob could present.

No, if he needed to tame this beast, he needed materials of similar proportions.

Luckily, he had entire truck-loads of ‘Blob’ saved up in the heart of the dead anomaly, beneath the Desert, kept in reserve for this exact purpose.

And now it was time to bring them up.

Established Connection with all available Accessory mediums

Establishing parity between all Accessories

Installing selected Functions

Enacting…

“As they say,” said Lukas, as he grasped the carquane shaft again. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

A dozen more missiles streaked through the air towards the beast.

....

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....

Solana had chosen to forego her bodyguards, standing by herself as the major portion of the yokai forces, under the leadership of the Onmyouji-turned Oni — the latest one in the long list of unexpected surprises — kept pushing back at the Warlord’s forces, while the massive sand monster tore its way through the Cobalt Army. The remaining were already attacking whosoever was left, using their prepared traps and possessing whatever soldiers they could chance upon. Seeing the Outsider destroy that massive warship had been a boost the likes of which she couldn’t explain in words. Seeing the girl that she had deemed helpless had filled her with both annoyance and exhilaration at being proven wrong.

Seeing the Warlord being hunted across the Desert sky was just plain hilarious.

But now as he had unleashed his Level-4 kami out in the open, ideas about how to counter the beast were spinning inside the skinwalker’s mind.

Ideas that ended with nothing but their utter destruction.

“So this is how it ends?” asked the ancient yokai leader in a voice tinged with bemusement, gazing at the monstrosity before her. “The power of an unleashed kami against us yokai. Our own kin attempting to bring about our doom.”

“And not just a kami,” said Ryu from behind her. “A Warlord-class. Mujin Shimizu is really pulling all the stops.”

“And in doing so, he cemented his own defeat,” the skinwalker smiled grimly.

Ryu raised both eyebrows.

“You have a plan?”

“The Outsider has a plan. Well, two of them, but kept one of them to himself. In hindsight, it’s fairly obvious what he’s aiming for.”

“Do you mind sharing?” asked Tanya, who had come towards them.

Solana gave her a predatory leer. “If your lover didn’t think it fit to tell you, why must I spoil the surprise?”

Tanya scowled. “He said that it’s time for us to get our final ace in the hole ready. Lukas is, I don’t know why, attempting to cage that beast, but that makes no sense. I suppose it’s a stalling tactic until we trap Mujin with the nightmare.”

“Who knows what that man thinks?” said Solana, almost whimsically. “I don’t know how he does what he does, but such foresight deserves praise. We finally have a chance of ending that man for good.”

Ryu caught on immediately. “I — I don’t see the nightmare-possessed brat around. Or the changeling.”

“And you wouldn’t,” said Solana. “We needed her to play damage control if the nightmare went awry. So I grabbed our little pawn, and hid him with her the moment the fighting began, in a safe and warded location that would slow down any detection efforts. I don’t think anyone can find her now, not that they have the opportunity to look.”

“Oh,” said Ryu. “Where?”

....

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....

The issue with yokai, or rather, with skinwalkers, was that they were, by their very nature, half-insane. Or at least, Elena thought so. So when Solana had grabbed the possessed Ultaf Shimizu, now controlled by Joey, and pulled Elena and Maude from the middle of the fight to put them somewhere safe, she had focussed on making sure they were going to be well-hidden above all else, and had not in fact stopped to make sure it was somewhere they would be comfortable.

More specifically, she had dropped them under the earth.

“I hate your girlfriend,” Elena said, staring sullenly out at the rocky walls trapping them in all directions, only barely illuminated by whatever little light Maude could produce. At least there was enough air for them to breathe in this place.

“I know you’re calling her that to annoy me,” said Maude, kneeling down and inspecting Ultaf’s body that was under Joey’s control, checking it for the spiritual corruption because of the nightmare festering within it.

“Is it working?”

“A bit, but I’m honestly too tired to worry about it right now.”

“Oh, I’m going to keep doing it anyway.”

“You really are a brat, you know that?”

....

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....

The roar shook the world, and yet paradoxically was totally silent.

The air did not move; it was within, echoing and reverberating off every single thing in the vast desert as it built into a crescendo that split the skies, sending a massively powerful wave, instantly without warning or ceremony, before it suddenly collapsed, crushing itself down into a single, crimson point. It was so sudden and moved so quickly that between the tremendous wave of power that exploded a moment ago, and its sudden motion, almost no one had the time to notice one tiny fact until it was far too late.

It was a Level-4, a Warlord-class kami. Not a bremetan.

This was obvious to anyone of course, but it did not quite bring the point across. The Beast was not bremetan, it had never been bremetan, and it would never be bremetan. Its true origins belonged to the Wind element — motion, momentum, destruction and chaos. The commands fed into it by Mujin Shimizu, reinforced by the power of Eternal Light, and sharing the emotions of a bloodthirsty Warlord while growing into higher and higher levels had made into a beast that arose from the evil within mujin, an amoral ravening monstrosity that could never gain true comprehension of bremetan, because it could only see and act upon the worst and most destructive aspects of bremetan beliefs. Anything beautiful, anything positive, was beyond it. To the Beast, everything around it was prey, nothing but weak, puppets to be used, prey to be devoured, would-be corpses that just didn’t know that they were quite dead.

It was a true monster, and when it took an ethereal shape amidst the winds in the Desert, the sheer hatred arising out of the very sands for everything alive only reinforced that particular feature of its existence.

The creature slammed down from the heavens like a comet, its movement nothing more than a streak of crimson lightning. It smashed against Lukas’s motion shield, hitting like a runaway truck hitting a runaway barrier, and would have sent Lukas flying if he hadn’t reinforced his shield with absolute motion negation. Failing to obliterate its prey at first strike, the creature regained its form and stood on four legs, standing easily thirty feet tall, with each limb thicker than a banyan tree trunk, the outline of thick, crimson energy coating its every inch, a leonine mane and lupine muzzle indistinctly outlined by a pair of gleaming black eyes that looked like black holes devouring everything that fell within their grasp. It was a hunter, born not out of nature but of nightmares, created out of the worst aspects of Wind, of Chaos, of the visceral darkness of Mujin’s soul, reinforced by the Desert’s Curse.

And then with terrible smoothness, it moved.

The beast loped on all fours, its size belying its terrible speed, its entire focus shifted to Lukas and Lukas alone. The yokai did not matter, the khorkhoi did not matter, and neither did Mujin, or Tanya, or the Cobalt Army. All of them were identical before its perception, all of them nothing, except for Lukas, who it had decided needed to be destroyed. Every single leap sent shockwaves through the air for miles on end, as it dashed towards its prey.

And then three pairs of carquane missiles that smashed into its body, and dissolved the world into crimson flame.

Lukas slid to a stop, going a little further than he should have because of the sand, which wasn’t exactly the best medium to run at extreme speed. His strategy was simple, practical and distressingly fiendish. Now that he had crafted the carquane shaft, and had left a small portion of Blob connected to it, he could very well control it and maintain suppressive fire through carquane missiles, using Shatterpoint Intuition and Kinetomancy to perfectly predict all of the beast’s movements and striking with impossible accuracy. His own speed was a perfect way of avoiding the beast’s attacks, and he focussed not on killing blows but on inflicting any wound at all, no matter how shallow. The level-4 beast had too much power, but it was not endless. And being constantly hit by low-powered carquane crystals, their power adjusted to minor Level-4 hits in exchange for greater stability was perfect for it. That made them harder to block, and the potent World Energy was far difficult to deflect, leaving Mujin and his beast no choice but to face it and expend more energy against them, which exacerbated the mana-poisoning.

Mana-poisoning. A rather simple, well-known fact that every spiritist worth their salt had to face at least once in their lifetime. No matter how skilled you were, or how many Levels you had, the truth was that bremetans were bremetans — creatures of lifeforce that weren’t supposed to use mana. Yet, through the Shikigami Ritual — a symbiosis pact between bremetan and kami, the process got twisted into Controller and Controlled — Man and Machine, through the injection of Eternal Light.

But like all things that went against the Natural Order, the Shikigami Ritual was not perfect. Far from it, in fact. If a bremetan used too much mana by using the kami’s mana forge, they ran the risk of disbalancing their emotional spectrum, which could physically debilitate them. Too much mana usage all at once led to spiritists slowly losing their sanity, their rationality, and eventuality giving into the basal instincts of the kami they ruled over.

And once this process exacerbated further, it could eventually lead to the unshackling of the kami, leading to temporary or permanent possession of the host, transforming them into a berserker ruled by the instincts of the kami.

The Controller became the Controlled.

The only way out of this situation was to constantly feed more and more Eternal Light into the equation, to keep the kami weakened, limited, and most importantly, completely under the control of its bremetan host. But there in the Desert, where Eternal Light could not penetrate, Mujin and his army had needed external reservoirs of Eternal Light to keep them going on.

Reservoirs that were stored in the impossibly well-defended warship that Lukas had obliterated.

And his current plan was to keep pushing Mujin further, to use more and more power to defend against considerably weaker, but a high number of carquane missiles, thus exacerbating his spiritual retrogression into the instincts of his kami. He, who had boasted of an entire army of mind-controlled soldiers and monsters to follow his every whim; he who had mercilessly ordered the attack on Zuken’s mansion and the svartalfars; he who was responsible for all of Tanya’s sufferings —

That Mujin Shimizu was now turning into a berserker himself. Bereft of sanity. Bereft of his own control.

A tool possessed by a kami that had been his tool all his life.

It was a vicious and merciless action on Lukas’s part to think this way, one that he knew for certain a certain goddess would have approved.

For this, would be the perfect deprivation.

Mujin had lost his castle, his seat of power, his grandson, his Sacred Eight status, and now, he would lose himself.

Filtering and identifying all prototypes of Level-3 or higher…

Refining Selection Process for prototypes with high damage output of Level-3 or higher…

One hundred and thirty-seven identified…

Filtering for passive effects for active…

Filtering for….

No wait. Lukas blinked. Yes, that would do. His body tapped into the well of power that was his Omphalos Reserves. It was just shy of 99% capacity.

Lukas wanted to laugh. He had learned the hard way that he really was helpless against greater powers. So, it was a bad idea to try to confront such cataclysmic powers by himself.

But sometimes….

He just couldn’t help himself.

Activating All Accessory fusion with Prime Host

Breaking All Safeties

Removing All Physical limitations.

Initiate Mass Installation of PRIME HOST prototype

“You showed me your toys,” yelled Lukas. “Here, let me show you some of mine.”

And exactly thirty-two explosions erupted out of the desert sands right then, revealing copies of himself — crafted purely out of aqāru, complete with his ability to think, forge, enact kinetomancy and perform every single skill that he could do.

And together, they could perform all of his skills.

All at once.

It was time to end this for once and for all.