B4 - Chapter 12: Inspiration

Seth lunged toward their new foe. Beastmaster Rage still surged through his veins, flooding his body with might. Beside him, Nightmare unleashed Dreadful Shroud once again, and the oppressive aura flowed from his dark fur.

On Seth's other side, Colossus charged with them.

Fresh layers of Quartz Armor crystallized over the giant scorpion's shell, while Desert Aegis continued to envelop the entire group in shimmering amber light. Lumi let out a worried chirp and cast her area-of-effect healing spell.

She clearly expected them to be injured almost immediately. And she was right.

The Undead Primate exploded forward.

It raised a fist high into the mist before bringing it crashing down toward Seth. Colossus threw himself into the blow's path, and the skeletal hand slammed into him with disastrous force.

Quartz Armor shattered into hundreds of glittering fragments and cracks spread across the scorpion's shell as dark blood seeped through the gaps.

Nightmare struck a heartbeat later. The direwolf activated Shadow Step to appear directly behind their enemy, then sank his fangs deep into its back. Corrosive darkness billowed from his maw and hissed across the foe's bones, eating through them while swallowing up the surrounding light.

The Undead Primate roared.

It spun with frightening speed and sent a punch straight at Nightmare, so Seth reacted with a quick cast of Shadow Step.

He materialized beside the direwolf and raised his gauntleted forearm to block the blow.

The impact reverberated across the crater. Every bone in Seth's body groaned in protest, and his muscles strained. Yet he dug his boots into the ground, gritted his teeth, and somehow stopped himself from being launched across the battlefield.

Colossus recovered and lashed out. His tails whipped forward, injecting Deathcoil Venom into the beast's leg. Nightmare pressed on his assault, biting and tearing away as much bone as possible.

Volatile aether surged around the primate's fists as it raised them to slam down once again.

Seth dodged the first crushing blow—then caught sight of a second strike entering the edge of his vision from the left.

He could evade it. But if he did, Nightmare would take the hit.

Seth planted his feet and crossed his armored forearms in front of his chest.

The fist crashed into his guard. His boots gouged deep trenches through the ground as he was driven backward, pain shooting through his arms.

The giant primate roared, and the shockwave erupting from its maw blasted Seth, Nightmare, and Colossus away.

The trio tumbled across the crater floor, though Lumi managed to stay airborne above them.

The Undead Primate turned toward Nightmare and charged with the clear intent of crushing the direwolf before he could recover.

A lance of black fire streaked across the battlefield.

The projectile slammed into the side of the creature's skull and detonated in a burst of flames. The primate bellowed and whipped its head toward Sylvaren.

The dark elf was standing in the distance, and above her shoulder, the Luna Moth had started channeling a steady stream of aether into her body.

Even so, Seth could tell from her posture that she had refilled only a fraction of her Well. And the confidence in her eyes had yet to return.

The Skeleton Primate slammed both fists into the ground in anger. Then it beat them against its chest, and teal aether flared across its body.

Seth's eyes widened. There was Undead aether, but he felt something else mixed into the spell as well.

Null affinity.

Part of the energy clearly originated from the parasitic creature hidden inside the gorilla's bones, while the rest was ripped directly from the surroundings.

The unstable aether rapidly condensed, and an even larger spectral ape formed around the Skeleton Primate, perfectly enveloping its body.

The manifestation reminded Seth of Armored Phantom Fist, except this spell didn't reinforce only its arms.

It covered the primate from head to toe, with the greatest concentration of aether gathered around the torso and limbs.

The moment the spell was completed, the beast charged straight at Sylvaren.

Shit.

Seth pushed himself upright and sprinted after it.

Yet even with Beastmaster Rage's boost, he was too slow.

Sylvaren darted to the side, one hand instinctively reaching for her Endless Pouch, clearly hoping the Null Ripple had finally faded. It hadn't.

The primate lunged, his arm rearing back for a powerful punch, but before its massive fists could shoot forth, a brown blur slammed into its side.

Colossus.

The beast had activated Scorpion Charge, arriving at the last possible instant.

He crashed into the Skeleton Primate with enough force to stagger it; still, the Undead recovered almost immediately. It roared, then both its fists came crashing down.

One, two, then a third blow landed on Colossus in rapid succession.

The spectral ape surrounding the beast's body clearly amplified its physical might as well as its speed.

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The first strike had destroyed the freshly cast Quartz Armor; the next two had caved in the chitin beneath. Colossus coughed out blood from between his mandibles.

'Colossus!' Seth and Nightmare shouted simultaneously through Link.

Seth poured aether into Huntbound Overflow, forcing his exhausted muscles to go even faster.

Nightmare chose a different approach and cast Shadow Step. The instant he emerged behind a rock, his Seed refreshed the spell's cooldown. Without hesitation, he cast it again.

The direwolf pounced onto the Skeleton Primate's back, and a cloud of black smoke erupted out of his maw.

Sylvaren used the opportunity to attack from the front. Two lances of fire crashed into the primate's chest. Blazing chains flared from the ground to wrap tightly around its limbs.

The Undead beast's empowering aura strained against the bindings. It managed to loosen them enough to reach over one shoulder, grab Nightmare by the scruff of his neck, and rip the direwolf free before hurling him onto Colossus.

The direwolf slammed into the scorpion with a pained yelp, both companions skidding across the shattered ground.

The Undead Primate leapt toward them immediately. Both fists rose above its skull, and the monstrous beast descended like a falling mountain, ready to crush Seth's companions.

Seth cast Shadow Step to appear in front of them.

His gauntlets shot up while his core roared inside his chest. The Undead Primate's fists crashed into Seth's guard with catastrophic force.

Pain exploded through both his arms yet again. He felt the bones threaten to snap as the sheer force drove him downward, his boots sinking into the ground. A shout tore from his throat.

The primate answered with a furious roar. Rather than pulling back, it leaned its full weight into Seth's raised guard, trying to crush him beneath overwhelming strength.

Sylvaren threw a lance of flame yet again at the beast, but it ignored the attack completely.

Behind Seth, Lumi frantically cast healing spells into Colossus and Nightmare, who were both struggling back to their feet.

Seth glared at the towering beast in front of him. Then his eyes moved to the spectral ape of condensed aether surrounding it.

He gritted his teeth. You're done with this spell.

Aura of Insatiable Hunger erupted outward. The ravenous spell seized every strand of ambient aether within reach—including the mantle wrapped around the Skeleton Primate.

Time slowed to a crawl.

Seth's spell sank into the beast's mantle of aether. Then he felt it.

The parasitic creature hidden inside the foe's bones was using its Null affinity to cast the empowering spell. The cloak around its body pulled in aether from the surroundings, but also through its natural channels, weaving that energy through the skeleton and strengthening it.

Seth's eyes widened. It's feeding one part's aether to the others.

The primate roared again and threw another punch.

Seth read the attack and slipped beneath the blow while Aura of Insatiable Hunger continued devouring the ape's spectral mantle. Stolen aether flooded into Seth's Well, and the excess surged through Link to refill the depleted reserves of Nightmare and Colossus, who stood up behind him.

The ape-shaped aura shrank, growing thinner and thinner until the last strand of aether vanished into Seth. The Skeleton Primate bellowed in rage and raised both fists for another strike.

Behind Seth, Colossus lunged forward, ready to intercept the blow.

Yet it proved to be unnecessary. Before the skeletal fists could fully descend, a blast of wind-like aether struck the primate from the left.

The attack ripped the Skeleton Primate completely off its feet. The creature hurtled across the crater, then crashed into the central cluster of Hollow Shards, shattering even more of the black stone supporting the crystal formation.

Seth turned toward the source of the attack.

Sylvaren's Luna Moth hovered in the air, its translucent wings still extended from the release of the spell. It had stopped channeling aether into the dark elf.

"Just leave, you fool," Sylvaren said, glaring at Seth.

Even if she tried to look fine, she seemed far from that. It was hard to say if she could cast any more of those lances. But she didn't have the face of someone who had an ace up her sleeve. Especially not while the Null Ripple remained around them.

In the distance, the Skeleton Primate slowly pushed itself upright from the rubble.

Although its massive aetheric mantle was gone, the tide of battle hadn't shifted—the difference in attributes was still overwhelming.

Seth's eyes flicked toward his companions.

Colossus was in terrible condition. Cracks covered his shell, and despite the healing, blood still seeped from between the shattered plates. Nightmare fared little better, several ribs visibly broken beneath his dark fur.

Above them, Lumi tirelessly bathed both beasts in her light.

Seth's gaze settled once more on the Skeleton Primate. If he wanted people to stop trying to sacrifice themselves for him, he had to be stronger.

Seth gritted his teeth. I have to stand above puny creatures like that thing.

The skeletal gorilla bellowed once again.

The sound rolled through the crater as it slowly paced from side to side, like an apex predator reminding its prey whose domain they had entered.

Seth's core pulsed, urging him to tear the beast apart. Yet that instinct was nothing compared to the blazing fury of Will of the Defiers.

The Talent was exploding within him; its presence overwhelmed every other thought, and the same words hammered his mind.

'You. Will. Not. Yield.'

Seth's fists clenched on their own. He closed his eyes for the briefest moment, and untamed aether erupted from his Well.

The surge flooded the grooves of both Armored Phantom Fist and Huntbound Overflow. But this time, Seth seized upon the relentless resolve of Will of the Defiers to alter the route of the aether.

Time seemed to slow as he bent the established grooves to his will. He had only one goal: to recreate what he had just witnessed.

Just as the parasitic creature hidden within the Skeleton Primate's bones had done, he tapped into his Null affinity.

Seth tore massive amounts of aether from both his Well and the natural channels running through his body and forced the energy into new pathways that plunged through his muscles, bones, and nerves.

The original grooves resisted beneath the strain, then cracked.

Blinding agony ripped through every inch of his body. The pain alone would have made anyone else stop.

But Seth wasn't someone who gave in to pain.

He forced the grooves to bend, to change, and to become the spell he envisioned.

A spell inspired by the Skeleton Primate's, but one he intended to make even better.

The lingering Undead affinity woven into Armored Phantom Fist's grooves continued to fight against the transformation. Seth couldn't control it because he lacked attunement to that affinity.

So, he ripped it out and replaced it.

Earth remained the spell's foundation, but instead of the coldness of the Undead affinity, he fused it with the chaos and emptiness of his Null attunement. The unstable grooves trembled as the two affinities intertwined into Seth's spells to fuse and formed something entirely new.

"Seth, it's coming!" Nightmare shouted through Link.

Seth's eyes snapped open.

Nightmare and Colossus stood shoulder to shoulder in front of him, while the Skeleton Primate thundered across the crater.

Seth seized the raging aether inside his body, then forced it through the newly forged grooves that had replaced both Huntbound Overflow and Armored Phantom Fist.

His Null affinity pulled aether from both his Well and his body's natural channels to feed every muscle, tendon, and bone. Earth reinforced his flesh with unyielding hardness; Null infused it with ravenous power that would tear apart anything it touched.

Seth dashed forward.

He shot past Colossus and Nightmare, charging straight toward the Skeleton Primate.

'Wait!' Colossus called through Link. 'Let me—'

The giant scorpion fell silent.

Condensed aether exploded around Seth. This spell no longer carried the teal glow of Armored Phantom Fist, and instead radiated a soft ivory hue.

The transformation began at his hands.

Enormous spectral fists that resembled those of the Skeleton Primate formed around his gauntlets. Then the turbulent aether spread and surged up his arms to flow across his broad torso and engulf the rest of his body.

The mantle took the shape of a beast: a replica of the giant creature charging toward him.

Every stride drove Seth farther than the last as he ran faster than before. His muscles strained and his bones creaked beneath the combined might of both the new spell and Beastmaster Rage, which was still flooding his body—yet his body held it all.

He'd gotten within a dozen feet of the Skeleton Primate when the beast lowered itself as if preparing to pounce.

But for the first time since the battle had begun, the flames burning within its eye sockets flickered with something that looked like hesitation.

Seth gave it no time to decide if it wanted to keep fighting.

He leapt first.