Chapter 293: Orckalite Avenger

“So, the plan is simple,” Rory said to the small group as they stood outside the now still hive. “We agitate it enough that it forces itself to engage in a temporary evolution. We take advantage of that gap when it's bleeding vital energy like a fire hydrant hit by a drunken driver. Tom, you’ll be in charge of flying around on my glider; it’s the only thing fast enough to keep you out of reach. You’re going to constantly be peppering it with slowing strikes. Don’t bother with the Null Glitter Lance unless I give a signal; we don’t want to burn up that energy too quickly.”

“What about us?” Eric asked as Rory crossed his arms.

“I’ll be playing support. If it were outside the hive, I could try blasting it with lightning, but the walls seem to disagree with that idea. Meaning I don’t have many other great options if we’re talking about speed factoring against potency. Eric, you’re the damage guy, therefore.”

“So, the plan is… basically the same as last time, plus Tom,” Eric pointed out.

“Why fix what ain’t broken?” Rory shrugged.

“Fair enough,” Eric nodded along before turning to Tom. “So, heads up, these fuckers are fast for how big they are. He ain’t kidding when he said zipping around on the glider is probably your best bet, unless you want to try to facetank a territory alpha that seemed entirely focused on physical capabilities.”

“I will leave that to the likes of The Vanguard,” Tom said.

“Even then, not sure I’d want to play a game of ‘outlast the other’ against this style of territory alpha,” Rory said. “Alright, any questions?”

“Should we start with a combo domain again?” Eric asked.

“Nope,” Rory shook his head. “It’s a great finishing move, or a way to clean up trash, but trying to start with that is only looking to exhaust us, or at least exhaust me, since I don’t have a skill that enables it as you do, even if it’s a baby domain.”

“It’s not the size that counts,” Eric snorted. “But fine, I hear ya,”

“Any other questions?” Rory asked, looking around at the small group. When no one said anything, Rory nodded once more.

“Alright then, let’s get to it.”

The Avenger remained in its spot, the royal chamber of its former hive, waiting in anticipation. It had been exiled, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t as loyal as the day it had still been the true Orckalite King.

Soon.

The Orckalite Avenger wasn’t necessarily intelligent in the enlightened sense of the word, but it was far from stupid. It knew the two attackers would return to finish the job. But they would find themselves biting off more than they could chew.

Remaining in its station, the shadows at last shimmered before three figures stepped free. First, a newcomer who felt like the herald of a stillness so true the world itself may as well have been frozen. The second was one of the original two figures, a darkness that clung to him, harkening to the night all living things instinctively feared, the night that existed before the first screaming ball of light.

And finally, there was he. A being that didn’t seem to encapsulate any single specific concept, instead beckoning feelings of possibilities.

Where two foes had been a challenge, the Orckalite Avenger had believed its victory assured; three foes changed things. To its stream of consciousness, alien in shape to those of any enlightened being, it understood that avenging its hive would require it to transcend itself.

The Avenger surged forward, no point in holding anything back, its immense bulk moving through space as if it were only a fraction of its total size. The newcomer took to the air upon a gliding thing that the Avenger had no context for. It was incredibly quick, but not beyond what the Avenger could handle.

Or so it assumed, closing the distance, the moment it felt the newcomer’s aura, it was as if it felt itself slowing ever so slightly, enough for the newcomer to zip out of the way with a sudden burst of speed from its gliding thing , slashing outward with its appendages as blades of frozen stillness struck it.

The damage inflicted was so minor that it may as well not have registered, but, much like its aura, it seemed to slow the Avenger for a single, brief moment.

The other two figures had vanished; the herald of the first night had appeared overhead, darkness drawn inward and attracted to its external metal claws and fangs.

The herald of potential, meanwhile, had appeared opposite it, raising his arms overhead as titanic chains sprang upward from the ground, attempting to tangle and slow the Avenger.

Recognizing the true threat, the Avenger launched its immense bulk into the air, sailing through the air as it attempted to tackle the herald of the primal night.

A moment before the collision, the primal night herald vanished, flickering out of the way, reminiscent of how the herald of potential appeared and disappeared. In place of the primal night herald, the bringer of frozen stillness had appeared atop its floating platform, striking forward as a lance of frozen stillness thrust into the Avenger’s face.

It was but a pinprick of pain, but more importantly, it gave the chains chasing the Avenger a moment to catch up, circling its legs and dragging it back down to the ground. The chains weren’t enough to hold the Avenger for even a moment, mere projections given physical form, but they were enough to be a nuisance.

The Avenger attempted to chase down the herald of the primal night once more, only for the primal night herald to flicker out of the way again . Yet it wasn’t without gain, as the Avenger noticed something about the flicker's movement: a single moment’s delay. That alone was enough to inform the Avenger that the flickering wasn’t from the herald of the primal night; the herald of potential initiated it, as he gave his ally that much more ability to focus on himself.

The Avenger briefly considered swapping targets. If the herald of potential were able to flicker its allies around as well as itself, it would make targeting that much more difficult, but the flickers, when used on others, were delayed a single moment, something that could be capitalized upon. Furthermore, the herald of potential was perhaps the most slippery one here; trying to waste time chasing it down was the error the most recent Orckalite King had made.

Instead, the Avenger activated one of its skills, its shape blurring as ‘burrowed’ through the space between itself and its target, crossing the distance in half the time it normally would have, the herald of the primal night vanishing, yet even before it vanished, the Avenger suddenly changed direction, taking advantage of the moment delay to locate where it would appear, moving once more.

There was surprise on its face, but the surprise was gone a moment later as it vanished, this time stepping through the shadows, a brief surge of annoyance in the Avenger’s insect mind as it realized switching targets was the best course forward.

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New target selected, its massive body bore down on the bringer of frozen stillness. The platform it rode upon was quick, incredibly so, and aided by its slowing aura and attacks, it was rather annoying to pursue, but the Avenger was hardly stressed, aiming not for the person riding the platform, but the platform itself. Without the bringer of frozen stillness, the Avenger would be far less mobile and far easier to pin down, giving the Avenger a better shot at cornering the slippery heralds.

That was the intent, but suddenly red crystals had stabbed upward, blocking its path. Swiping outward, the Avenger shattered the crystals, red dust thrown up into the air and covering it in the aftermath.

Preparing to collide with the bringer of frozen stillness, the Avenger chittered in sudden blossoming pain from opposite sides of its body. On one side, a large metal ‘nail’ had stabbed it through its tough armor, the herald of potential floating off to the side, its projectile launcher vanishing a moment later.

Its other side had been slashed open, a spear of primal night energy carving into its normally tough exterior like it were made of something far softer.

It was the first real pain the Avenger had felt thus far, and the Avenger was not fond of it.

Readying itself to retaliate, the herald of potential suddenly lifted a hand skyward.

“ Sidereal Brand!”

Red motes of flickering light appeared before sinking into the Avenger’s immense body, a burning feeling now buried deep within. Mobilizing its own energy, the Avenger attempted to squash the internal magic, only to find it at best suppressed rather than outright nullified.

That was strange, and while the Avenger was far from human intelligence, it at least understood that for something weaker than itself to maintain something like the burning inside it — even while the Avenger attempted to suppress it —it must have cost the herald of potential something .

That ‘something’ the Avenger realized almost instantly, able to sense the way the herald of potential seemed to wane, suffering under the same burning, but to the full extent. In contrast, the Avenger had at least managed to reduce the potency.

By attempting to burn them both up from the inside out, the herald of potential had put itself on a losing time limit, meaning the Avenger could ignore it. Bearing down on the bringer of frozen stillness once again, the Avenger dodged to the side far more nimbly than its body should have allowed, evading the primal night herald's downward strike. As dangerous as its weapon was, it was only dangerous if it actually managed to hit the Avenger.

A sentiment that was proven too haughty a moment later as the primal night herald vanished from a flicker, reappearing beside it, only to vanish faster than the Avenger anticipated as the primal night herald instantly stepped through a shadow and appeared below it, stabbing its ‘claw’ born of the primal night straight into the Avenger.

Slamming its titanic legs downward, the Avenger chased the shadowy herald away. The ghastly feel of primal night energies had begun to pool within, a tiny few droplets for now, but a promise of growing danger, in tandem with the suppressed, albeit still there, burning that had come from the other herald.

Activating its speed burst skill, the Avenger attempted to chase the shadowy herald in a moment of simple frustration, only for that frustration to redouble as the bringer of frozen stillness zipped forward, pressing its palms against his exoskeleton and dramatically slowing the Avenger for as long as it remained in contact with his side.

That problem could be handled easily enough. Shaking its body, the puny opponent was forced to fly away atop its floating platform, but it wasn’t without cost as the Avenger felt another metal nail stab into its side, and the herald of potential again launched a projectile into its side, accompanied by the shadowy herald reappearing and stabbing it.

Troublesome .

While the Avenger didn’t have that thought in exactly human terms, the frustration and feeling were all the same. Without the bringer of frozen stillness, or without any third combination, the Avenger felt like it would have managed to pin one of them down by now.

The flow of the battle was not going in its direction. Attempting to outlast them, it instinctively knew, was a horrid option, something that was almost unimaginable to the territory alpha and its immense vitality.

But its instincts were clear: it would only end in assured failure.

The longer they fought, the more the Avenger could feel the unease, the understanding that things were only getting worse for it if it could just pin one of them down.

But it couldn’t, and the Avenger wasn’t a monster invested in a large volume of magical-type skills; instead, it focused on body enhancements.

Except.

Except for the ace skill, a skill that was responsible for its exile, and status as an Orckalite Avenger rather than as an Orckalite King .

But it was running out of opportunities, between them, they were adapting faster than the Avenger could, it didn’t matter if the Avenger had processed the delay in the external flickers, when the herald of potential had begun to mess with the timing of his own, or the primal night herald instead stepping through the shadows without relying on the flickers, both of which were only excaberated by the frozen stillness the newest challenger brought to the table.

Having understood the trajectory of their battle, the Avenger finally did it, its entire body quivering as it began to channel its energy inward, the forced evolution beginning. The three invaders instantly switched to pure offense, but the Avenger had already decided on its course of action; it would see it through to the end.

When the quivering at last ended, the Avenger broke free from the shackles of its former shape, now a monster of the air, and far faster. Had it been just two opponents, that speed would have been enough; its first attack would have been its best opportunity, as it rapidly burnt through vital energy.

Yet, having dealt with the Orckalite King who had attempted the same metamorphosis, the surge in speed was no longer a surprise. As soon as the Avenger had changed forms, the three had scattered to opposing ends of the chamber. Its first attack would be its fastest, meaning that if it attempted to chase the herald of shadows or the herald of potential and they teleported , it would never again be able to match that burst of speed again.

Understanding that, the Avenger made the logical choice to blur through the air, appearing in front of the bringer of frozen stillness, only to feel as if it had hit a literal wall of frozen stillness. Every ounce of its aura had been concentrated, prepared for this very outcome.

Like it had been the plan from the beginning.

The Avenger wasn’t about to fall over in defeat, tentacle antenna lashing out and around the wall of frozen stillness. Still, they, too, were halted as a magical effect settled upon them, a force that restrained them utterly . Forced to throw the full might of its rapidly diminishing vital energy against the restraining force, the metaphysical shackle was shattered a moment later, but in that timespan, the herald of the primal night had flickered directly above it, standing atop its head, a wolfish turn of its lips as it brought its hands down, the claw of primal night stabbing into its head.

The Avenger resisted with every ounce of strength it had left, but it could feel the shadows sinking through its head, inch by inch, before the sharpened tip began to slowly, torturously slowly, split its very brain in two.

Death beckoned. From the very beginning, the Avenger had been playing into a foregone conclusion. It wasn’t a lack of power that caused its defeat, but a lack of planning. While the three invaders were a fraction of its total strength, they’d known exactly how to handle the Avenger; being faster and stronger than the Orckalite King had meant nothing in the end.

And so, with its only regret being its inability to take at least one of the invaders down with it, to have any modicum of success in avenging the fallen hive, the Orckalite Avenger was slain.

“That went well,” Eric said as he yanked his shadowy glaive free from the corpse. The body of the Orckalite Avenger had fallen to the ground, Nightfall: Singularity still driven through its brain as Eric had ridden it down.

“Well, it was just a tougher version of the Orckalite King. Once we knew how to handle the original king, all we needed was a way to handle the higher attribute density,” Rory said as he appeared next to the corpse.

“How would you have defeated the Avenger without my slowing?” Tom asked, flying forward on the loaned glider before hopping off.

“Much more annoyingly,” Rory answered with a snort. “Probably would have needed to have Zoey and The Spear here to help tag team. There is no way we could have avoided somebody getting pummeled, and so they’d need to split aggro. In this case, we just played the same game of keep-away, but with a third person.”

“Yeah, yeah, pat yourself on the damn back,” Eric muttered. “More importantly, goodies .”

All three of them had felt it: with the defeat of the Avenger, a chamber sealed below had opened, confirmed when a hole slowly began to expand at the very center of the royal chamber.

“Here is the question,” Rory said aloud, speaking just as much to the other Founders as to himself. “If rare-grade metal were the abundant reward scattered throughout the hive, what exactly is down there?”

The three Founders shared a look before Tom finally broke the silence.

“Only one way to find out.”