NOVPUB760: Operation Arid Soil : Part Seventy-One
760: Operation Arid Soil : Part Seventy-One
For a moment, it seemed as though Sanguine Undeviginti was gone and that Prime Undeviginti was back in its place, but no, the pale red sun was still the sovereign, and instead, the radiance that was flooding the surroundings so brightly that it messed with Ir’Houwl’s darkness awareness was coming from close-by.
‘Here it is’ she thought to herself, backing off whilst shaking fresh blood off her blade, she had had multiple ideas as to what might be the thing that clearly separated an Ersta’ra from an Ersta’sol, certainly, these two were vastly more powerful and skilled than those ranked lower, but her instincts had told that this could not be it.
Now, the minor lord felt fairly confident that she was bearing witness to it- When it came to the manipulation and control of energy, there were certain terms that existed to classify a few specifics things, such as ‘zone’, widely considered the greatest height any mage, or any other energy wielder could achieve, although there were things like ‘dominion’ as was possessed by King Nitok, and also ‘territory, as well as the mythical, and theoretical ‘paradigma’, these required for one to be lucky and possess a domain ability to meld with a zone to begin with.
So it was zone that remained the magnum opus of abilities, Khasekhemwy was not forming a zone however, that would have actually forced Ir’Houwl to make much more distance between them as she herself could not counter with another zone, for she did not know how to do that, not to mention that she would to achieve it was an innate ability, which was quite different from the norm.
Instead, the Prime Ersta’ra was manifesting the class of abilities that ranked just below zone.
‘Vertex’ was one’s energy fired out at maximum output and with the maximum amount of additional energy you could cram into it, or in simpler terms, max power and max limit.
‘Apex’ was the same thing but you forced the energy into a state of ultra-condensation.
This here was another level above ‘transcend’, although one could easily forget how difficult that sort of thing could be when undeads such as Unacunerra could weave them into existence casually, such a category of spells was, as its name implied, simply beyond what a person should be capable of wielding, in fact, Ir’Houwl had only ever known a few livings that had ever casted such spells, the latest having been The Volcano Witch.
Transcend was the same as apex, only that you actually formed the energy into a specific spell, which had the potential to multiply the already enormous fire power by dozens of times depending on the spell.
And the thing hovering in the air was not your run of the mill mana bullet or friendly spiral that moved slowly through the air, this man had just spawned in a miniature sun, a small version of Prime Undeviginti, its circumference not nearly as large, but no matter the actual size of this thing, even if it was as big as a sesame seed, it remained a compressed mass of energy made to emulate a solar body.
This thing was just begging to explode as well, the Ersta’ra had to focus intensely to rein it in, the wounded Ny-Hor was already pushing himself up to his feet and running away before that thing was launched, the dire heat the star of vapour was emitting adding the actual heat to the drought-like effect Ir’Houwl was spreading over the surroundings as a result of using Ierpalam.
The minor lord pushed her twin scimitars together, using an aspect of her weapons she seldom made any use of, fusing them into a singular, great scimitar, it positively enhanced the weapons strength, including its property as a catalyst for her innate ability as well as the runes meant to enhanced the red sand produced through the weapon.
She performed much better when dual wielding, so this was a rare sight, pointing her scimitar up at the sun and its caster that was hidden behind it, the runes were activated and the desert seemed to grow still as neither side moved for a few seconds, the watchful Ersta’ra watching from a distance with a mild expression.
Soon, the miniature sun began moving, slowly falling toward the undead, and as a response, an intense pressure erupted all around as terrific amounts of red sand emerged from all around, coalescing around the minor lord, completely erasing her from view as a powerful spray of sand that was just as wide as the opposing spell crashed into the false star.
The living scoffed.
“Trying to stop a manifestation of the divine with some sand?
You must have delusions of grandeur, self-proclaimed minor lord” Khasekhemwy, held his hands up as though physically pushing the sun against the tide of red sand, beads of sweat falling from his face as the strain of maintaining this solar spell was tremendous, especially as it consumed an enormous amount of vapour to form, and also to maintain.
As his hold on the small sun grew less and less firm the further away from him it went, it grew brighter and brighter, subtly expanding in size as the condensed vapour sought to break free from its confines.
The red sand seemed to be barely doing anything, mindlessly crashing and being consumed by the radiant sun without managing to actually slow it down.
Khasekhemwy had expected this, after all, this was a most supreme weaving of his vapour, an image of the divine, all of his faith for the first of the suns was channelled through this solar spell that imitated the likeness of Prime Undeviginti.
Before the overwhelming might of the divine, some sand, no matter its properties, was simply powerless.
The living allowed his control of the spell to slip, causing it to instantly swell and explode, forming a wide sphere of destructive vapour that remained in place for several seconds, rendering everything within its enormous radius to nothingness, everything except Khasekhemwy himself, who had trained hard to earn a total immunity to the vapour within himself, so even a spell so destructive did nothing to him as long as he was the one that had casted it.
“Long may Undeviginti shine- Praise the su- Oh crap!
I messed up the capital’s wall!”
“Khasekhemwy!” the Prime Ersta’ra heard his fellow yelling in his direction over the distance, the bandaged elder was running his way.
But he, who had known this man for decades, instantly recognised that this wasn’t the right tone that Ny-Hor would use to berate him for messing up the city…
Khasekhemwy understood that there was danger, but his ability to circulate energy and weave spells was currently compromised, and so, he could do nothing as something emerged from the sand behind him.
