Chapter 2371

Chapter 2371

Lyra squeezed her eyes tightly shut and kneeled, trying to imagine the clear picture of the blood-red moon that had protected her to this point. She saw all the shadowy contours of its form, all the secret curves and broad expanses. The celestial body hovered over a clear lake, its reflection almost closer and more present than the true form above.

The power of reflections and foils, Lyra rubbed her eyes, jaw still clenched. Is not in what they borrow from the object of their mirroring, but in the subtle ways the medium irrevocably alters what is shown. They transform, parading as imitation.

A ripple ran through the lake. The surface of the red moon turned chaotic, a bubbling cauldron of blood. The primordial pool from which all life crawled. Her image power intensified; she could almost feel the light beating against her skin. And yet-

Nathaz Eloise undulated next to her, nervously flicking his tail. Lyra, are you well?

Fine, She lied. She shut her mouth immediately after the word, not wanting to allow any blood to leak.

As though the monster on the other end of those hooks sunk into her soul could hear her words, a tremor of amusement traveled down to Lyra from those rusted chains. But that was also an opportunity. For a moment, stillness gave her a chance to catch her breath. Lyra opened her mouth and gulped down air. Her image roiled and seethed, gathering up all its potential. She opened her eyes and briefly glimpsed the counter-stroke dreamt up by the Upper Sonara Society, the growing mass notification that would remove people from the normal Aether streams of the Nexus and make as many as wished for peace into Patrons.

In the next moment, the Actus Suprem pulled. The amusement in the chains rattling vanished, replaced with grim determination. Lyras moon trembled and shifted a minute amount.

The lesser beings had been overcome and this womans calamitous attention had shifted. Lyra came within her sight. Inch by inch, the moon was pulled from the sky.

As she once more squeezed her bloodshot eyes shot, Lyra offered a small prayer. Work fast, Randidly.T/his chapter is updated by nov(ê(l)biin.co/m

*****

Shal sucked in a breath. All the current threats, all his stress and worries, all the pressures that the Armament put on his body, they all fell away as a change swept through him. A different awareness came upon him, just as swiftly and totally as a child falls asleep. One moment he fought to prove a point to his foolish student, and the next he imagined how he wouldnt need to prove such a point.

If Randidly Ghosthound had never found him in that Dungeon-

His awareness whorled and revved. Gradually, he could see the threads of possibility.

Shal had been in a Dungeon above his Level, but he had also had a malaise laid across him by Lucretia, his birth mother, the Witch of Karma. She had wished for him to remain hidden until the proper time. Randidlys presence, the act of training, had snapped him out of the malaise. A coincidence, perhaps a tragic one. The surprise meeting had been, Shal believed at the time, just the shock he needed to snap him awake and allow him to return to Tellus.

An accumulation of blows from Armaments could never fell this image. It would come back stronger every time, without blemish or flaw.

Shal, still enthralled with the reimagining of himself, for the first time felt the slightest hint of a tremor is it truly possible to have an image that would receive no damage or adjustment from this battle? Obviously, it wasnt yet perfect-

Shal felt the strangest sense of impact. He was suddenly back upon the battlefield. He felt the fighting of the two armies behind him, saw Alana Donal leveling her spear against him and releasing waves of orange light, and finally could see Elhume fighting above against-

Just a man, Shals eyes flickered, torn between a horrible sense of grief and a grim satisfaction. The tears on his cheeks had dried. He felt a vague sense of loss. Randidly Ghosthound. A stranger and a threat to the Nexus.

One more shuddering reverberation bounced through Shals heart. All the weight of failure and bitterness vanished. He could feel his spirits soaring. Anything he lost was covered up by the feeling of ascension. He still wielded the Armament, felt the heavy image of violence in his hands, but an even more potent image prowled within the confines of his chest. A smile tugged at the corner of Shals mouth.

Now seemed the prime time to reveal his true image to the Nexus.

With a quick movement, Shal flipped the heavy weapon up from his hands into a more javelin hold. Alana Donal narrowed her eyes, but Shal already threw the weapon. The heavy violence ripped through the air. Shifting her grip on her spear, Alana said. The Third Revelation, Anguish.

Power fuzzed around her body and then exploded outward. The force of the image pressed against the projectile and barely altered its course. Shals eyes flashed; he could see Alanas goal. While this wasnt the most effective method for preventing damage now, she looked ahead. Because the Anguish bubbled outward to hit Shal. If he had been the old him, the him cursed by the presence of a certain connection, Shal would have been frozen. His fear would have been a critical weakness.

The weapon of violence ripped a deep gash in Alanas arm. Simultaneously, Shal stepped forward through the wave of Anguish. His heart seized but he recovered in a split second and produced an old spear from his interspatial ring. No longer did he wallow in his suffering. Now, he prepared to spring and achieve his full potential.

Shal took a stance and thrust his weapon forward. The Hydras Long Fangs.

His spear blurred into a thousand quick stabs. Wounded and surprised by his quick motions, Alana reeled backward. A few admittedly deft strikes of hers invalidated quite a few of his attacks, but this Skill was a numbers game. At least a score of new wounds were added across her body.

Blood dribbled down her limbs as Alana stabilized herself. The phantasm of Azriel Blanche appeared at her side, her eyes very sad as she examined Shal. Can you feel the difference in how he moves? A dangerous shift, but one you can handle.

Alana gave a tight nod. Shal rolled his eyes. Azriel could lie to Alana as much as she wished. Shal was now the individual he had always wanted to be. He had discarded his fears and tossed aside his Armament. He spun his spear and his image manifested in the air behind him. Its weight warped the air, even with the powerful forces going back and forth between Elhume and the Ghosthound.

The Three-Headed Wraith Hydra grinned, showing its needle-thin spear-teeth.

And then the images above faltered. With wide eyes, Shal looked up and saw the powerful glow, the image that had been dominating the sky, around Elhume beginning to fade. The Pinnacle of the Nexus began to weaken.