Inexorable Chaos

Coeus sluggishly dodges, only barely avoiding Donovan's sword as it continues cleaving everything around him. The air, normally easy to manipulate, has grown resistant over the course of the battle. With each swing of Excalibur, a tiny amount of ambient mana gets destroyed and the air can no longer be bent to the Titan’s will.

“It’s slowing down, Donovan. You’ve almost got it,” Thallum yells.

The [Warfare General] grunts at the elf’s encouragement. Through his [Controlled Rage] passive, his mind remains clear enough that he recognizes Coeus is struggling. The Titan no longer attacks him and, too weak to flee, only dodges his sword.

“Time to end this,” Donovan declares to the Titan and himself.

He stops chasing and swinging his sword about. Standing still, he points the point of his blade at the core.

“[Stance Shift]:[Dragoon Stance].”

He flexes his knees and his legs bulge while the muscles on his upper body diminish.

“[Rapid Hop], [Cavaliers Lunge]”

The ground shatters, the air roars in defiance, and Coeus fails to dodge in time.

Excalibur enters the core, and the Titan’s magic halts completely. The wind dies and the core falls to the ground. From the point of penetration, mana starts to leak out but is immediately disrupted by Excalibur.

Donovan braces his foot on the core to pull out the blade.

“Don’t remove it! The core’s mana will spew out and then we will have other problems to deal with.” Thallum exclaims. The elf floats down next to Donvoan and falls to his knees when he lands. He searches his robes.

“Are you alright?” Donovan asks.

“Exhausted. The Gauntlet of Elemental Authority allows me to take control of ambient elemental mana, but it still requires me to use my own mana to supply the effect.”

Thallum retrieves a glass bottle from his robes. With a flick of his thumb, he uncorks the bottle and consumes the glowing blue liquid, then tosses the bottle to the side. He feels mana rapidly recover as the potion kicks in. Within an hour, it should be full.

“Why shouldn’t I remove the sword?,” asks Donovan, “I doubt it can do much with such a wound to its core.”

Thallum stands back up.

“The stories say that when a titan’s core is damaged, it starts leaking mana that attracts other elementals from another plane. The core needs to be completely destroyed all at once or there will be an army.”

Donvocan nods. “So, remove the blade and quickly destroy the core. I can do that.”

With a tight grip on the handle, he removes Excalibur, raises the sword up over the core… and then the dome shatters, just before the Titan of Lightning's damaged core crashes into Coeus, Thallum, and Donovan mid strike. All four go flying through the artificial forest, crashing through branches and ricocheting off trees till, finally, their momentum is spent at the far edge of the battlefield.

By the time Thallum and Donvoan regain their footing, a serpent of electricity and a sentient tornado have taken to the skies, leaving a trail of portals from which lightning and air elementals emerge in their wake.

___________________________________________

“Patriarch, your timing is impeccable,” Volpe lands on the ShadeHaven with a vibrant grin.

Looking away from a spider chewing on a brown ball of leaking energy, I raise an eyebrow at the most powerful person I know.

“Volpe, it’s been awhile.” I scratch the side of my head, “Sorry about running off. I, uh, needed to take care of some things. So, what are you doing here,” I glance around at the complete and utter chaos. “And what the fuck is happening?”

Volpe grins, “It seems some idiot revived the primordial elementals, and they started wreaking havoc. Some other idiots tried to destroy them, but didn’t do a very good job. We’re trying to mop up the mess and save the city.”

I frown.

“Well, I guess I’ll help out, but first,” I raise an adamantine runic cup, “I need to deliver this to the city’s leadership.”

“I’ll do it.” Jessica exclaims, “you should help everyone else out.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, and she nods.

I hand her the chalice. “Be careful.”

“I will. [Summon Greater Angel]: [Scourge Type].”

Reality bends and an angel appears. Several dozen barbed whips extend from her back, waving in the air in place of wings, and she wields a cat o'nine tails in her left and a bullwhip in her right hand. The angel drops the two whips in her hands and lifts Jessica in a princess carry.

The angel rises from the deck, whips writhing, and descends towards Camelot, where Peter is currently chewing on a cracked marble.

As she flies away, I turn to Volpe, who is grinning at me knowingly, tails wagging.

“We can talk later. Where do you need me?”

Before she answers, a serpentine cloud wreathed in lightning rises near us. Vople’s grin fades as her hair stands up on end.

She glares at the object of her aggression. “So, it’s still alive, and it’s got a friend.”

A tornado rises in the serpent cloud’s coils, brimming with mana.

“My patriarch, these two are Titans. Assist me with them, and then we will do the others.”

She jumps into the air and I feel her domain expand. Air wraps her and gives her lift.

“Sounds like a plan. “[Marrowsteel armor], [Bone Wings].”

My bones shift and grow. Wings of bone burst painfully from my back in a spray of blood as white armor covers my body. With a hop and a swish of my wings, I take to the air.

As I rise up and hover near Volpe I take a look at ShadeHaven. The ship's bow paint is removed, but it is undamaged. Oddly enough, the tip of the crystal horn is dyed crimson, with a bit of flesh caked on it.

With a mental command, I order ShadeHaven to attack any and all elementals.

When I turn away from the ship, my eyes widen. I raise up my arms and feel my flesh tremble as something strikes me with such force that I go flying.

_____________________________________

Normally, traveling quickly without the assistance of magic or skills requires high dexterity. High dexterity allows an individual to move their limbs rapidly, generating greater and greater acceleration until their legs are a blur.

But, if you have enough strength, then there's another option available.

Artyom bends his legs and leaps. The ground cracks as his body flies into the sky at a forty-five degree angle. The wind whips past him as he travels several dozen meters at a speed most cars can’t compete with.

When he lands, the ground cracks. Without slowing down, he bounds again, hurtling over the terrain.

Artyom steals a glance back at his pursuer. The Titan of Time moves methodically, each step careful and without rush, but its time races ahead, keeping pace with Artyom. Portals spring open with the Titan’s passing, and time elementals issue forth, each one far weaker than Cronos, but menacing nonetheless.

Bringing up the rear, far behind Artyom and the Titan, an army of Northern men and Amazonian women march, slaughtering the elementals in their path.

Artyom continues his powerful lope ahead of the Titan, fast, but not too fast, so as to keep it focused on him. Eventually, he see’s Camelot in the distance, and his eyes widen at the sight. The city is in chaos. Elementals of all types swarm around the city, their numbers endlessly sprouting from the skies and attacking human and inhuman defenders.

Grimacing as he leaps again, Artyom debates whether he should change direction. Cronos would only cause more chaos and trouble for the defenders, lives could needlessly be lost.

He never gets to decide, for in his path stands a woman with closed eyes. Her face lacks any emotion, but her head is directly facing his direction.

Frowning, Aryom debates hopping over her, until she enters his domain, and he doesn't register her existence.

Unsure of what that means and why she is here and standing in his path, and the path of Cronos, Artyom figures he has a moment to ask. He lands near her and slows to a walk.

“You should get ou-” he begins, and then stops as the woman opens her eyes and reveals only sockets.

“[Hero],” her voice, soothing and cold, emanates with a clarity few could ever mimic, “Go to Camelot. Assist the defenders. I will handle that.”

A chill runs down his neck as her head turns to stare past him at Cronos. When Artyom follows her nonexistent gaze, he sees the Titan has stopped and is focused on the woman.

“Go.” she commands. She starts walking towards Cronos with a stately confidence that sends another shiver down his spine.

He watches her for the next ten seconds as she makes her way to Cronos, and then turns and starts running toward the city. Oddly enough, he has a feeling that she will be fine.

__________________________________________

The Panoptic walks towards the unmoving Titan, its entire focus on her.

The Panoptic smiles. “It seems you remember me.”

The Titan continues standing still. Its power writhes from its core, growing stronger as she steps closer and closer.

Her smile slips. “No. Not even you remember. If you did, you’d be running away.”

The Titan’s magic expands out from its body. Everything decays and crumbles within its effect. Even so, the Panoptic continues walking.

Eventually, she enters within the barrier of time and feels the magic on her… and it ages her rapidly. But, through chance, a twist of fate, or sheer luck- the normal, random process of decay fails. Her cells just so happen to refuse to age. Her atoms do not decay, and her strides continue without delay.

“Over a hundred thousand years ago, I stood in front of you just as I do now. You were a threat that none could deal with without grave cost.”

She stops right under the Titan’s core. Her sockets stare at it, watching as its magic leaks.

“None except for me.” she raises a finger at the core, “[Fated End].”

The core shatters into a thousand pieces.

__________________________________________

I spread my wings and try to reorient my flight, but I fail and start to spin. I crash through several trees and skid a good ten meters before my body stops.

I take a breath, and find that I’m still in one piece, albeit very bruised.

I stand up, groaning at every movement that it takes me. My bone armor is still on me, mostly undamaged, but my insides were jostled quite a bit.

I look around me and find myself in the middle of a forest relatively far away from where the city is. Except for the flashes of combat and the vibrancy of the moon, my surroundings are rather dark.

I glare at a shadow directly under a tree.

“I have [True Sight], you prick.”

The shadow morphs, and a man with a plague doctor mask comes into existence, followed by the potent stench of Domain.

“As do I, [Hero].”

I grimace as I look at his class.

Umbra the Suffocating Shadow

Level 388 [Sovereign Shadowmancer]

Yea, he’s going to be a bit annoying to deal with.

“So, mind telling me why you tried to kill me?”

“You are an [Emperor] of an Empire the Aesir are at war with. Your death will end this farce quickly, and then I will end that fox woman.”

I grin.

“Sounds like she kicked your ass.” I chuckle, “don’t worry, I understand exactly how you feel. That woman is damn powerful.”

“It matters not,” the shadows writhe at his words, emanating from every direction around me. “You will die here.”

“Everyone is always so cocky around me.” With a thought, my shadow under me turns violet. It begins to to expand and I begin connecting to all of my undead in [Pandoras Shadow] as well as calling for my cane.

“Futile.”

His words resonate with his domain, and I lose connection to the skill. My shadow reverts back into a shadow. I attempt to activate the skill again, and am met with a message.

[Pandora Shadow] is currently suppressed.

“Well, shit. I wasn’t expecting that. I don't suppose we can talk it out?”

The shadows rise and bend around Umbra. They flow over him like a cloak until only his mask is seen.

“Goodbye, Quasi Eludo.”

I sigh, “Fine.” I take a stance and extend my hand with my palm up. “I guess we’re doing this the hard way. [Greater Corrosive Annihilation].”

Above my palm, a ball of energy crackles into existence. I aim it at Umbra and release the spell.

By the time my hand lowers, a twenty meter smoking crater is left.

“That was too easy,” I grin, “I’m sure you’re alive. Come out now, I’ve still got quite a bit of mana to spare.”

“That will not be necessary.”

I turn to the sound, and a shadow enters through the eye opening of my armor and enters my brain.