Chapter 289: Zach

Chapter 289: Zach

Wind and Song

The spirit came from above, diving at Zach with both of its arm-blades extended forward, intending to impale him. The wind surged around it, the Essence of this place visible in his eyesight like ribbons dancing in the air. It was filled with an Essence that he didnt recognize, but which definitely contained Wind as part of it. He blinked away, creating distance again. His attunements worked overtime, he was fighting a spirit so his cooldowns and stamina were boosted, and as he passed through a rift with his blink his cooldowns decreased further. His abilities came off cooldown, and he raised his weapons as the spirit hit a cushion of air just above the ground, halting its momentum and then twisted, locking on him again and blasting in his direction.

It swiped with its blades, sending visible wind crescents that roared through the air with a loud sound. Zach dashed away with his |Perfect Spatial Evade| then attacked the spirits side as it flew by.His Blade Form was still Wind, as he knew that the spirit shared something similar. His |Flaw Perception| told him that that just after it attacked was the most optimal moment to strike. Its body didnt seem to have any weaknesses that he could see now, but the longer the fight went on, the more he was going to notice, and his skill would find something.

He attacked with both of his weapons, leading with his rapier and using Double Aspect Strike with it. His rapier landed on the spirits hip, a blast of wind followed his strike, a combination of his strike perk and Winds Mark. His Wind didnt do much but get blasted away by the Wind coming from the spirit. But his attacks landed. His rapier struck twice, and then he hit with his blade. A screeching sound of metal hitting metal echoed as Zachs attacks barely scratched the surface of the spirits body. It was tough, but Zach knew that this was just the opening, the preparation before the final performance. The strikes with his rapier had already applied 5% bonus to all the damage he was going to deal to the spirit each, and his Lord of Grace and Woe lowered the spirits Winds effectiveness. And his Wind powers were increased further by Tyrant instances that he had gained by attacking, and he had also lowered his enemys effectiveness as wellwhich was why he was using Wind.

The metal plates on the spirits body shifted, wind spilling between them and whistling. The spirits wing swung around and Zach stepped back, avoiding it by a hairbreadth. Then the real attack came, surprising Zach as it sang through the air. Zach raised his shoulder, blocking the attackthe spirits blade skipped off the shoulder pad and clipped his helmet, sending him stumbling a step to the side. It continued its spin, bringing to bear its other arm-blade. Zach whirled, raising his blade to intercept the attack. The strength of it pushed him back, and he felt his entire hand shake from the impact.

He triggered Riposte and Primal BlowNahas perkand struck with his rapier. The spirit tried to block, but Zach was faster, his rapier hit its head, cutting a shallow line in the metallic surface of the spirits body as it pulled back to evade.

It wasnt much, but with that shallow wound Zach could tell that his plan was working. His strikes increased his buffs, and his Aspect Tyrant and Lord of Grace and Woe were lowering the spirits power. With every moment that passed he would grow stronger, and the spirit weaker. Or at least its power.

The fact that with Nahas perk he had only managed to inflict what was basically a scratch told him that the spirit either had an incredibly high endurancewhich Zach thought was unlikely as his attack had been far above what any spirit of that tier should haveor, far more likely, it had a perk or perks that increased its defense. Just how Zachs offensive abilities and perks had modifiers for his attacks that could make him strike with greater strength, so did defensive ones have modifiers focused on making their defense greater.

Zach mostly relied on evasion and parrying, so he didnt have any real defensive perks. Though, his new armor seemed to be very powerful. He only now realized just how much better made it was than anything that he had worn before. If he had worn any of his previous armors, that attack from the spirit wouldve cut right through it.

The defense of an armor relied on its endurancethe toughness of the materials that they were made out ofbut also the angle of attack, the type of damage, the craft of the armor itself, the way that it was layered and made. His armors buffs werent the only thing good about it. It could take a beating.

Zach looked at the spirit floating a short distance away, the wound it took making it wary of him. Zach didnt push it, he knew that with every second he drew closer to another stack of Tyrant and more power while his opponent lost its.n0ve(l)bi(n.)co/m

He wondered how the people that fought it before him felt. It was tough and powerful, if Zach wasnt built to dampen its power It wouldve been a lot harder to fight it. His mental defenses were also formidable, but he could imagine others encountering the spirit falling prey to its mental song, dying without knowing it. Naha was still present in his awareness, but it was muted, as if she was sleeping. It was a tough opponent, but Zach had come prepared. The potions they drank were still in effect, he was faster and stronger, more resistant to the spirits Aspect or at least a part of it.

He didnt have the time to dwell on that, so he jumped forward, using [Aspect Wings] and growing the same type of wings as the spirit on his back. He flew forward, and then blinked across the distance, taking the spirit off-guard. He stabbed his blade into its body, the buffs now high enough, and his |Flaw Perception| allowed him to hone in at an area on his target. He stabbed and managed to punch through. He pulled himself close, chest to chest, leaving the spirits long blades behind his back. It was a spirit, its hands were longer, not as good at grasping as what Zach had. He then raised his rapier in his other hand and stabbed from above, straight in between two plates. The song coming out of the spirit turned to shrieks that wouldve probably ruptured Zachs eardrums if he had been in his human form.

The spirit thrashed, twisted and then wrenched its shoulder, ripping Zachs rapier out of his hand. It wasnt dying and the wind bashed them both just as the song intensified.

Zach let go of his elemental form and turned back to human. He raised his empty hand up above and summoned his Ethereal Blade. The song ripped his skin, he felt his chest open up and blood spill through. His eardrums punctured, and blood leaking from his nose, he smashed his newly formed blade into its eye, activating Dazzling Strike.

It twisted its head, but the blade remained inside. And still it didnt die.

Zach felt his body falling apart under the assault, so he changed his blade form to Time.With his blade still in the monsters chest, his Tyrant stacks reset, but he knew that he needed to finish this quickly. He used Slow Time, and used the extra moment to gather his thoughts. With a plan he activated Ancient Heritage and moved Qi through his body. A moment later he twisted the blade, and unleashed lightning through the spirit. He felt it shake, he felt some of the attack hit him through it as well. But its struggle in his arms lessened, Zach re-equipped his armor as he pulled his blade out of his opponent, getting a step between them that the spirit tried to take advantage of and cut Zachs head off. He summoned a new Ethereal Blade and raised it to block with |Greater Parry|. The parry threw the spirit off, and it stumbled back, its broken wings unable to help it keep balance. Zach advanced, He whirled, striking the monster several times in quick succession, carving wounds in its metallic body.

Then, he stabbed it in the chest again, and felt the time come. He focused his mind and activated his Source Drain. The spirits power filled him, throbbed through his blade and into him as the spirit died in his arms. A few moments, and it was all over.

Zach took a step back then felt his knees give and fell on his back. In the corner of his eye, he saw a notification and he pulled it up. With a tiny mental exertion he chose his LesserWind Aspect to be overwritten and then a new Aspect was now part of his soul weapon.

Greater Windsong Aspect

Windsong blade form. You may control wind freely around you while the form is active. Any ranged attack directed at you will be automatically intercepted by the wind. Each movement of the blade produces a sound based on your willpower. The sounds can either deal mental damage equal to 15% of the targets intelligence per second to a maximum of 80% and put them in a stupor like state, if they have less than 1000 base intelligence or deal stacking physical damage equal to 15% the targets endurance every second up to the maximum of 80% per second if they have less than 1000 base endurancethis damage bypasses most external defenses. You may activate Compelling Song which will be carried by the wind around you to all targets you chose, the song will put anyone who has less than 1000 base intelligence and hears it in a trance like state where they are more susceptible to your commands. You may activate Shattering Song, which will send a vibrating blast from your blade dealing physical damage equal to 150% of each targets endurance.

Drains mental stamina when using the blade and its power.

A new blade form.

Zach pushed his notification away and stood up. He looked around, seeing a chest at the bottom of the shrine. He turned away from it and headed in Nahas direction to check up on her. He had won, and now he had another great weapon in his arsenal.