Chương 53

Kirk stood at the edge of the defensive fortification and felt the wind whistling up through the swirling indigo mist, skimming over the cracked stone, the dug ditches lined with wooden spikes, spilling over the wooden palisade. He tried not to think of the wind as the breath of a thousand geo-3s, or worse, waiting below. But it was too warm against his skin and his Ancient Bladed Beast kept appearing and stalking back and forth behind him, its claws flashing silver.

At his request, he had been placed at one of the front two fortifications, jutting out below the main fortification on the slope. Already, he felt a kernel of something monstrous and tense squeezing together, right above his stomach. His skin tingled. Such was the density of energy in the surroundings that Bestial Senses wasn't even distracted by the forty three Conduits standing behind him. Kirk breathed in and felt the energy flooding through his body. His Runic Battery II hummed, completely saturated.

The Ritual was about to begin. Kirk had tossed the dice and soon he would understand what he had initiated.

"Three minutes," Gerrard, the second of the Infinite Wings Troop, said. The Conduits checked their equipment. The other Troop stationed here was the Sea Snakes Troop, the very same Troop that included Marlon. The two sides stood slightly apart, uneasy. In addition to the two twenty-person Troops, there was Kirk, and there was the first two individual undergoing Ascension. One of those individuals moved to stand next to Kirk.

"The mist looks alive." Kirk's lips quirked as he looked at Clara.

"I'll be sure to block your view of the slope when it starts boiling with fury."

"How many will come?" Clara whispered. Kirk's humor fell away. He hesitated.

"At the bottom of the Rift wait untold horrors. When they come, the noise, the bodies-- it will be a lot. But you don't need to Ascend here. If you move back to one of the deeper fortifications, it will be easier."

"It's about energy flow. Here at the front, starting the whole ritual, there will be benefits, Healer Michaels believes." Clara smiled and the corner of her eyes crinkled.

"And he told me that if there are benefits to go around, they might as well be mine."

"Two minutes, final checks," Gerrad said. Behind Kirk and Clara, the two Troops moved into formation. Heron joined them and looked at Kirk.

"Do you want to be in the front line or the back?"

"I'll spend all my energy in the back, then move to relieve the front when someone needs a break." Heron winced.

"You are seriously insane. You will fight with a depleted energy pool?" Heron walked away and gave her people quiet orders; Clara reached out and touched Kirk's shoulder.

"I never got the chance to thank you, by the way. For giving me that Refinement method. Otherwise, I'm not sure how I would have Ascended. Even Healer Michaels didn't know of a method that worked with any element."

"A specific life method would be better," Kirk observed. Clara rolled her eyes.

"You know, that's what surprises me most about you. Every time I try to compliment you, you just shrug. For the supposedly arrogant son of the Albion Family, you aren't anything like what I expected." Kirk scratched his cheek. Even with the threat of the impending geo wave, being near Clara just made him recall that steamy feeling when she reached for him.

"Well, a lot of the things I'm complimented for aren't things I did. They are related to my family. Or my prestige. So-""Are those things really not you?" Clara turned to face Kirk. Kirk mirrored her.

"People talk about my reputation, no matter what I do. Which I think is a pretty compelling case that they are not me."

"So," Clara's voice dropped. She blinked twice.

"Who are you?"

"One minute," Gerard said. Simultaneously, Clara and Kirk both took small steps back from each other. They both flushed. Kirk felt at a loss, unsure of what he wanted to say, but filled with a strange, vague certainty. Clara recovered first.

"You'll have to protect me. Because-" Her face fell.

"Rufus isn't here. He didn't even apply to join."

"Really?" Kirk said. Clara shook her head.

"Not being selected hit him hard. He even- well. He obviously didn't do anything, but he was tempted. To be one of the unapproved Ascensions." Both spared a glance for Marlon, who had joined the defensive front as a fresh Tier I.

"Whenever you're ready, Miss Clara," Gerard said. Everyone shifted into position. Kirk lifted his head; he could just barely see the faces of Conduits in the mirrored location. But because they were down slope, he could only hear the upslope sites. His heartbeat quickened as most of the noises vanished. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

There was a moment of stillness that came across the whole of the fortifications, at all seven of the locations, the six in the V and the central anchor. The Conduits held their breath. The roiling mist inside the Rift was the only source of motion. Clara looked at him with wide eyes. Nodding, Kirk shifted to stand at the edge of the ritual circle, blocking her view of the mist. Clara squeezed her eyes shut and began to enunciate the words of the Ritual Kirk had given her. Several geo cores lay in front of her.

As the Runes formed, the cores cracked, almost of their own volition. Brilliant green energy flowed out and concentrated together. Clara sucked in a breath and stepped into unnatural illumination. Above her, the thick energy in the environment began to stir. Strand by strand, it became a flow that trickled toward Clara and her Ascension. Almost as though they sensed the shift in energy, a powerful roar expanded to fill the slope. Kirk felt his bones vibrating from the depth of the roar.

His expression darkened; that wasn't the noise of a geo-3. Yet when the mist below seethed and forms ripped their way through, it was just a flood of geo-3s. Kirk gripped the handle of the Larian Saber, hanging across his back, but did not draw it. He intended to truly spend himself low with Ember Is before proceeding. The energy formed a vortex above Clara at almost the same time as another Ascension began on the other forward fortification.

Five seconds later, as that vortex of energy stabilized, two more Ascensions began, at the highest fortifications, to drag a wider river of energy up the slope toward their position. Finally, the fifth Tier 0 individual began their Ascension on the central platform. Another rumble shuddered up the slope. Whereas the previous burst had been only a hundred strong geos, now more were drawn as the disturbance spread. Kirk raised his head and watched in wonder as a tide of energy rushed up to their position.

Because it was Tier 0 Ascension, the total displacement of energy wasn't noticeable, even here. Yet wonder filled him, as he felt a tide of energy begin to form, independent of the wind. Then Kirk lowered his gaze. Tendrils of cobalt mist lashed back and forth against the cracked stone ground. Conduits shifted uneasily around. He heard Clara's sharp intake of breath; she reached that point of Refinements that became increasingly painful. The rumble of the impending attack grew louder.

Nearby, an older man whispered, "What's protecting the girl from pollution?" No one answered. Mostly because the threat had finally arrived. Kirk had his eyes locked onto the mist barrier when it erupted. Geo-3 bodies and their strange flailing limbs rushed up the slope. A few tripped, passing through the sense-blanketing mist, but there were a dozen racing to climb over the vanguard.

A few raised their head and roared, but those were bullied to the side by the more charging behind them with trails of indigo mist on their bodies. Kirk's pupils dilated. Because it wasn't just right in front of them. But all along the slope. As adrenaline flushed through his system, Kirk's mind approximated five hundred before it short-circuited. The scope of the geometric response was beyond his quick counting. And growing louder each second.

"Shit." Heron released a long breath.

"Alright, ranged, prepare! We need to break their charge as best as we can. Just the amount of bodies-""Melee, stay on the fortifications. Do not go below." Gerard cut in, his voice deep and reassuring amid the cacophony of snarls rushing up the slope.

"Make them climb on each other."

"We can't handle that many," A woman from the Sea Snakes Troop shifted. The tension was sharp.

"Focus on the first strike," Kirk said. If his name had power, he needed to use it to keep the plan going. His Ancient Bladed Beast Archetype tasted the air. Anticipation grew to rival his nervousness.

"Then the next. Deal with the enemy in front of you." Then he began to enunciate the sharp syllables of Ember I. The geos flowed closer. But they were still bodies running uphill; the advance slowed. Which had its own downsides- it gave the defenders time to see more geos filling in behind before the attack arrived. As the large spear of charging flesh approached, Kirk pointed. His first Ember shot forward. At this distance, the Rune rapidly lost strength as it traveled from him.

But he didn't want to waste energy holding the Runes ready, when he would need every scrap he could manage. The projectile fell right in front of the frontrunner, exploding in a plume of flame. But the geo just hissed in pain and hurried forward. Kirk sucked in a deep breath. He drew in the dense ambient energy. With such an abundant environment, he would soon regain the energy necessary for an Ember. So he conjured another. As he spoke, he felt the energy thrumming along with him.

By following that thrumming, Kirk could feel his enunciation improving. His band buzzed. Your Feat Runic Castor has gained a ✷! With the second Ember I, the fist of red energy shot forward and smashed against the leading geo. The monster screamed and stumbled. Other geos surged past. At Heron's signal, the other ten or so ranged individuals on their fortifications fired their own Runes. The only Tier II ranged individual was a Frost Mage from the Sea Snakes Troop.

That man pointed and unleashed a ray of cold that scythed across the front line and cut down a dozen geos all at once. Even that did little to weaken the impression that the geos were about to overwhelm the group. The noise of their footfalls was becoming deafening. Speaking as quickly as he dared, Kirk unleashed four more Embers in quick succession, each smashing and searing at least one Geo out of commission.

While he couldn't rival a Tier II in raw power, the fact he had Refined his way to Runic Battery II meant that he could use sheer volume of projectiles to achieve a similar effect. Kirk's ears rang. The heavy breathing of the Conduits. The sounds of claws on stone. The howls of pain and fury from the geos.

"Brace for impact," Gerard said. Kirk bared his teeth and conjured as many Ember Is as he could and aimed for the densest groups, just to slow down the charge. But then, even with the vantage on the built-up fortifications, Kirk could no longer see the front line. Rather than see, he heard the geos smash into the wooden stakes, ripping their flesh but creating space for the rest of the wave to leap through. Kirk chanted, his tongue starting to buzz from the rapid movements to shape sound.

He created two more hammers of flame which just smashed into the mass of bodies. The first geo reached the base of the fortification and jumped the one-and-a-half meter toward the Conduits. A man with an ax grimaced, stepped forward, and chopped off the head before it had even touched the ground. Without missing a beat, he kicked the body back below. In the next second, a dozen geos did the same, scrabbling up for a foothold.