Under My Authority

The storm caught Ryun by surprise, so much so that he didn’t have much time to react. Not that there was a lot that he could’ve done. The attack came fast, the cthul—Fethum Starseeker—had moved faster than even Ryun was capable of, his chain had lashed like lightning, so fast that before he knew, his attack had exploded in Ryun’s face.

A storm was born next to his vessel. Storm met Oblivion, and Oblivion lost. That surprised Ryun, feeling his vessel get demolished by a rapidly expanding sphere of Lightning and Wind that had been filled with intent reinforced to such an extent that he hadn’t even been able to attempt and counter the attack.

He lost a lot of his Essence that had been spread into the area, though most of his loss came from the destruction of his vessel.

He was regenerating it rapidly, his Adaptive Infinitum Chassis kicked into high gear, his vitality soaring to its maximum boost of 150x increase as more than ninety percent of his being was destroyed in nearly an instant. The more damage he suffered at once, the more he healed. His stamina was taking a dip, but he pulled at his Qi, letting it flow from his core into his being to fight off the effects of the Storm within his authority. Its intent was clearly still focused on destroying any Oblivion. Ryun’s Essence was greater, its innate meaning strong enough to resist most attempts by any other Essence to destroy it, but the man’s Essence was filled with the embers of his Soul, Ryun could detect it. Still, the damage stopped quickly enough as the ticks of his Adaptive Regeneration kicked in, the sixth instance of damage came, and suddenly the Storm could no longer harm him.

He opened himself to the Oblivion, tapping directly into its plane. He activated his Ascended State—The Pull of the End. The destruction around him fueled him, it made him stronger. The Storm weakened as it was in his presence. He activated his Coming of the End, manifesting his power. With an effort of will, he cut the Storm’s momentum, and it sputtered and died, the Qi and Essence making it up fizzled out without the kinetic power driving it.

He didn’t manifest another vessel, instead he spread himself as far as he could, engulfing the entire fortress. He was relieved when he didn’t feel anyone powerful enough within his domain, he had assumed that most had gone off to fight the others, leaving only the cthul.

That was good, but he couldn’t afford to have him call for backup. In an instant, as he expanded himself, he pierced all the protections within the fortress, he saw through every hidden area finding no signs of Tali anywhere. There was only one place that his being couldn’t enter, that his perception couldn’t pierce.

At the edge of his authority, he increased the density of his Oblivion, manifested his intent and cut off the area from the world beyond it, isolating it and preventing anything from coming in or out.

People in the fortress noticed that, no light coming in from above was a fairly obvious indication of something going awry. Ryun focused, and unleashed his Reaper’s Aura. He focused it within his area of influence, the area where his body was spread through, his authority.

All of them came under its effect, dread spreading through their very Souls. Whatever actions they were going to take were no longer relevant. There was no one strong enough to throw off the effects of his Reaper’s Aura. He wished that he could use his Presence of the Eternal Hunters, but he couldn’t, not when his Soul was fully immersed in the Aspect of Oblivion. His Soul was malleable, it could change its composition to be either fully Oblivion or fully True Death, or anything in between. He had chosen to go with full Oblivion because it was the less detectable of his Aspects. But that also cut him off from his Eternal Hunter: Reaper perk, alongside with his link to Selia. It was why they had agreed on secondary means of communication.

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Ryun focused back on his opponent. The only place where Tali could be was behind him, the Tower.

Ryun thought back on what he knew about Fethum Starseeker. How he fought, what his power was. All that was now augmented by Runes, armor and weapons that had clearly been crafted by the yeti. He didn’t know the limits of that armor, and that made him hesitate. He had examined the armor that Maya Rebadotter wore, but what he was sensing from Fethum now felt several degrees more powerful.

It was as if he could hear the man’s Soul crying out in pain, but all that he saw was power.

He pushed together his Essence, creating a denser portion that turned into his vessel. The man reacted immediately, his chain lashed out and power surged through it. Before his vessel could form it was destroyed again.

He moved faster than lightning, and he could obviously detect him somehow, or at least when he condensed himself enough to create a vessel.

His Essence regenerated, and Ryun planned his next move. Lightning sparked around the man, his Soul was bleeding out, fueling all of his power. It reminded him of what he and Selia did when they created spiritual tools, only amplified to a much higher degree.

His powers were boosted somehow. Ryun had to test it, see where the limits were. Already the man could detect his actions. He was able to counterattack faster than Ryun could create a vessel. Ryun hadn’t mastered his new power yet, but he had experimented with Maleatus a bit. He could try and create two vessels in different parts of his being that would—

—He stopped himself, the cold anger that had been simmering beneath the surface emerged again. He remembered why he was here in the first place—to find Tali. His being and his perception had scoured the fortress and the mountain, and he found no sign of her. The only place he couldn’t see was the Tower behind his enemy.

He had no time to play games, to test his opponent and figure the best way to fight him, to counter his power. He had no time to ask questions and beg for answers. That wasn’t who he was anyway.

Fethum Starseeker was an offensive chain user that fought with the Qi and abilities tied to the Storm. Fast and unrelenting. Now he stood within Ryun’s being, within the domain of his authority. His existence was a burning thorn in Ryun’s mind, in his very being. He had authority over all the unbound Essence within himself, but another being was a different story. Fethum’s Soul was spread through his gear and his power. Ryun couldn’t touch it, not without getting himself into a prolonged conflict, Soul versus Soul, unless he pit his meaning and intent directly against Fethum’s.

And that would be a different kind of a conflict, a draining one. No use in wasting time.

He channeled his Qi throughout his being, a two dozen techniques blossomed within his authority.

Fethum reacted immediately, his chain lashing out toward the closest point where Ryun was shaping a technique.

One of the downsides of existing as a being that was both the Soul and the body merged together, was that his conduits existed closer to the Real Realm. Damaging the part of his being that he was attempting to create a technique in literally destroyed his connection to his Qi system.

It didn’t matter this time. Fethum’s speed might be faster than Ryun’s ability to condense a vessel or execute a technique, but it wasn’t faster than the authority within his entire being. With his Titanic Swift Mind, Ryun watched the world in slow motion as he pushed his perception of time to its maximum.

In an instant, the laws of reality were rewritten based on Ryun’s will. Gravity vanished and all the Air was erased from existence, his will made reality within his domain by his authority. The lightning that came off Fethum’s armor fizzled, it was an aftereffect of his power, not a direct use of it. It needed something to move through, and without the Air it faded away.

But the one that was made out of his Qi continued, as a dozen more forks lashed out of Fethum’s chain, heading toward the areas where Ryun’s techniques were being formed.

With the intent of his Nascent Ascendant of the End and The Coming of the End, Ryun focused on the Essence of Space in front of the Lightning attacks. His will bore holes in the Space itself, opening up rifts into other planes—the ones that were closest to the Real Realm in this place. The holes in space intercepted the bolts of lighting as the attacks punched through, never reaching their targets.

Fethum’s chain continued on as Ryun didn’t target the momentum Fethum created with it, as that too was infused with his Soul, but it didn’t matter, with no Gravity, his attack went wide, missing its mark.

He could feel the man’s Soul react—surprise, disbelief, panic, then resolve. He felt his Soul doing something, reaching for the armor, but Ryun had bought enough time.

His techniques finished. And the world was swallowed by Oblivion.