CHAPTER SIXTY EIGHT

  With a horizontal sweep, a pillar of gray fire splits the midnight cover of darkness straight down the middle. Shedding light on the rippling menagerie of shifting shadow creatures, even as it cleanly carves through their number, and leaves only devastation in its wake—absolutely decimating their stampeding front line. Their penumbral remains left to scatter uselessly on the cool night breeze.

  Which only left around… ten thousand or so more for her to contend with! Yippee…!

  And Penelope, lucky Penelope, all plum out of that very handy scorching mana as of that last attack.

  Oh goodie.

  You know, she was really starting to hate mean cat man, and she didn’t just throw around words like that lightly. No, in truth, she’d just about had it up to here with his antics! That’s right! She said it!

  Although, she’d be the first to admit that she probably wasn’t in the best state of mind to make judgments right now. More than anything, what she could really use right then was a nap.

  The stampeding horde of shadowy creatures only faltered for but a fraction of a second, before they were barreling onward once more. Forward.

  Spilling into the ravine like a rushing river of ink. The moon peeking out from behind cloud cover to cast the world in shades of blue and silver. Penelope merely kept on as she had been.

  Flying low to the ground as, for whatever reason, flying much higher required a far greater allocation of ambient mana, and, counter to all expectations, that was the one resource she desperately needed to preserve.

  Despite the insane speeds she was moving at, the flowing shadows were always just the smallest bit faster. They were gaining on her. Racing up and along the steep rock walls to either side. Moving exactly as shadows with a will of their own were, apparently, wont to do. If she didn’t do something, and fast, they would swiftly be upon her. And without any scorching mana handy to break through any encirclements she might find herself in, Penelope would be in a great deal of trouble indeed.

  Good for her then, that, in her own special way, she’d predicted such a scenario might come to pass, and had prepared herself accordingly.

  Doing so consciously for what was only the third ever time, Penelope extended her range of authority for as far as it would go. The nebulous area in which all ambient mana merrily danced to her tune. She’d never thought to extend it as far as she could until recently. And, in doing so, while she couldn’t be sure of the exact measurements, she thought far was putting it rather lightly. Her reach extending from the ravine, out into the forest beyond, and then beyond even that. Until it felt as if the seasons changed entirely. Her area of authority encapsulating an entire zone of the tutorial, though what exactly that meant was entirely lost on her.

  Well, apart from one thing she knew for certain. All that mana compacted into a single point sure packed a pretty big punch. Penelope called out to the mana, and, apart from the few stubborn bits and bobs which clung onto mean cat man’s creatures—as well as a few other points along the ravine—the mana rushed to obey. Evacuating the entire zone in a grand exodus. A massive whirlpool, which only she could see, forming high in the sky. The eye of which ended at the tip of her outstretched finger.

  She’d done something similar back when she’d first awakened to her full self. And while she’d since grown much better at making beds, thank you very much, the results of her first ever attempt had stuck with her. No one had been hurt at the time because she hadn’t intended it be so. Right here, right now, that was no longer the case, and she was currently dealing with a whole lot more mana than a small clearing and some change.

  A glowing white pinprick appeared just above her fingertip. Which quickly swelled to the size of a marble, then a bottle cap, then a baseball. A miniature sun of unstable ambient energy, it was all that she could do to keep the volatile thing in check. The very last thing she wanted was to have it slip like last time. A bead of sweat trickled down her deeply furrowed brow, as the last of the whirlpool seeped down into the jittering ball of concentrated mana.

  She shot a glance behind her at the rapidly gaining procession, shot a dubious look at the visibly quaking monstrosity she’d created, then, before she could think better of it, flicked the glowing thing to streak behind her, covered her ears, and summoned a sphere of hardened mana just in case.

  BOOM!!!

  The very world seemed to quake as the not-quite mana singularity detonated. The shockwave of it shattering her barrier, and sending her hurtling uncontrollably. For a blessed instant, she even got what she’d wanted, unconsciousness stealing over her for a scant few seconds. Unfortunately, by the time she snapped back to wakefulness, the inherent downside to using such a technique became readily apparent.

  She’d been far too close to the blast radius this time.

  Now, not only was the cloud of ambient mana, that normally served as flying nimbus and chauffeur, simply gone, but, because of her very own initiative, the area around her was so mana dry that she couldn’t summon up any more ambient mana to aid her. Not in the time she had left. The ground blurred past at insane speeds, even as it rushed up to meet her. A spike of fear spearing through her chest. Followed by a fleeting moment of denial, which was rapidly consumed by a nauseating tide of helplessness.

  Penelope shut her eyes tight.

  “Woah there!”

  Small arms wrapped around her waist in just the nick of time.

  “Cutting it a bit close, now aren’t we? Free-falling without a helmet? Tsk, tsk, tsk, my protégé.”

  The gentle, yet firm touch shocking her eyes wide open, even as her teacher—for who else could that voice belong to—pressed her close to his chest, just to make extra sure she didn’t slip. The rapid pounding of his heart revealing he wasn’t nearly so unaffected by her near fatal fall as he made out to be.

  Glancing over his shoulder briefly—the world bouncing and jouncing with his every step—she was shocked to find that they hadn’t slowed down in the least. No instead, her teacher seemed to be maintaining the insane pace of her uncontrolled flight with ease. Not even bothering to question it, Penelope shot a glance at the devastation her attack had wrought—an entire cliff face having collapsed to form a shifting scree slope, while nearly two quarters of the stampede had been reduced to nothing—before she turned her attention back to her teacher in full.

  He’d changed.

  Without a doubt, he’d definitely gotten stronger—in fact she thought she could sense something uniquely unsettling about him that hadn’t been there before—but the most striking thing of all was his hair. Mainly being that he had any. This… was going to take some getting used to.

  Eventually their headlong flight slowed, before her teacher put a stop to it entirely. Skidding to a halt before a strange contraption made out of what looked to be overlapping slips of paper. Smoothly shifting her onto his back, her teacher hopped into the seat of the long, swiveling contraption. With an ease of motion, he rested his hands on a pair of handle bars and pointed the far end of the machine towards the onrushing remnants of the shadowy horde.

  “Got any more of those nuclear bang poppers burning a hole in your pocket, by any chance? No shade on old reliable here,” he ran his hand along the handles of his contraption, which also seemed to be made out of paper. “I’m plenty confident she can go the distance, but a more eco friendly option wouldn’t go terribly amiss either. Would rather not spend all my resources if it’s in any way avoidable.”

  It took her a second to parse the meaning behind his words. He did this some times. Usually when he was nervous. Talking in riddles for no good reason she could countenance. Eventually though, she thought she managed to get the gist. Sadly she shook her head. It would be some time yet until the mana vacuum she’d created was repopulated. Until then, it was unlikely she’d be able to replicate the same feat twice.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Her teacher made a face, though accepted her explanation easily enough.

  “Hard way it is,” despite his resigned tone, the eager grin tugging at the corners of his lips told a different story entirely. “Let’s see if we can’t thin the herd a bit then, shall we? And, while I work, you can tell me all about our mutual friend, and all the sneaky feline tricks that leapt out at you.”

  +++

  Greatly diminished, though still formidable, the thousands’ strong horde of shifting shadow creatures pressed ever onward. A stampeding wildlife reserve one second, a churning cloud of locusts the next. From medieval infantry, to rampaging buffalo, to actual serpentine shadows snaking forth along the ground. The forms they took as fluid as they were annoying.

  Seriously, how is anyone supposed to hit a good shot under these conditions?!

  Richard let the talismanic munition ball fly with a sharp…

  BANG

  The three barreled cannon rocking back violently before the breach-lines went taught. The layered projectile crossing the distance separating them in mere moments. Streaking perilously close to the ever shifting horde, whereupon it blossomed like a springtime orchid. Expanding into a cloud, like a hand of thrown confetti. Yet instead of shearing through the mass of charging zebras, like a fragmentation grenade, they began to glow with an eerie light.

  CRACK BOOM!

  The long range explosive shotgun munition doing an excellent job of giving the enemy what for.

  Huh. Well I guess… just like that, apparently.

  Of course it helped that the terrain was effectively funneling them into his line of fire. No matter how elusive their shadowy make up, or interchangeable their forms, he couldn’t up and miss everytime now could he?

  As he went through the motions, whittling down their number from afar, little by little, he thought about everything Penelope had to say about their resident creature. It wasn’t great, worse than he’d hoped, actually, but it wasn’t pack up your bags and skedaddle worthy either. Working together, he thought they still had a chance, if less of one than he’d honestly prefer. Speaking of which…

  The little empress a comfortable weight on his back, he was about to gift her with all the presents he’d been saving up for just such an occasion, when his master drew his attention.

  “Heads up. It would seem you’ve garnered something of an audience,” his master floated circles around Richards head, positively delighting in the way Penelope’s eyes seemed able to track, if not hear him. “I can sense eyes on you, and a whole lot of ‘em at that. So maybe ixnay on the eritichay, capiche? Don’t need you on any inter-dimensional hit lists just yet.”

  “Uh, actually I’d rather stay off any hit lists period, if that’s an option? Also, you know pig latin? Iknow- knew pig latin?”

  “Nope! But your classmates did. I gotta tell ya, was not fun piecing everything together when all I had were barely heard whispers and offhanded comments to go off of. Took me forever. And mandid they have some colorful things to say about you. Phew! Talk about Mr. Unpopular. What did you do to make them hate you so much?”

  “What did you mean by people are watching me?”

  CRACK BOOM!

  Another explosive report resounded, and another large swathe of shadow creatures burst apart like oily soap bubbles. From out of the corner of his eye, he caught his master silently scrutinizing him, before he shrugged.

  “I meant what I said. It’s coming from hidden surveillance mostly, you know more about this stuff than I do. They’d been spectating in ones and twos, for the most part, far as I could tell. But, for whatever reason, just now there was a massive spike in viewership.”

  “How big is massive?”

  CRACK BOOM!

  His master frowned, crossed his arms, rubbed his chin, and all of this, naturally, done upside down.

  “Uhh… I don’t know… it’s kinda hard to tell. A few billion, at least? Probably not much more than that.”

  Richard nearly choked on his own saliva.

  “A FEW BILLION?!”

  Penelope, who’d been watching this one sided conversation closely, jumped.

  “Yeah, but it’s really no biggie. So long as you make sure to keep certain things that shall not be named under wraps, we should be just fine.”

  “Easy for you to say, you’re basically invisible!”

  “Well, yeah but, you should be plenty used to the attention by now right? I mean, you’ve been through all this before, isn’t that what you said?”

  “Yeah, and in that time I did my best not to be seen. I-! You know what, never mind.”

  CRACK BOOM!

  “I’m- honestly I’m fine. Just caught me off guard is all. And you don’t have any idea why?”

  “Not a clue. Oh! And speaking of catching you off guard, don’t you think those guys are shrugging off those projectiles a little too easily?”

  “Huh?”

  Richard switched his mind off auto pilot just long enough to take a good long look at what was left of the enemy. What had once been a few thousand reduced to a dozen at most. Which made absolutely no sense, he could’ve sworn he’d barely made a dent in their overall numbers. Had he somehow decimated their ranks while he wasn’t paying attention?

  He found that very unlikely. Which could only mean one of two things.

  Easy way to find out.

  Richard aimed carefully. Tracking the biggest, meanest looking fella of the bunch. He noted idly how their forms seemed far more stable than moments before. He then began slotting in three fragmentation munitions, grateful for the opportunity to show off what his baby could really do.

  Resembling a roided up gym rat with massive hatchets for hands, the giant of a man was effectively what happened when you took a blowtorch to a ken doll, then did horrifying, draconian experiments on the remains. It’s face a featureless mask of melted putty that’d since set, hardened, and now pulsed with bulging black veins.

  The aforementioned hatchets for hands a stark detour from any natural evolutionary path. The bandages wrapping the stumps where forearms ended and hatchets began making that much pretty darn obvious. And that said nothing of the hatchet protruding from his ruin of a face, just above his too wide rictus of a grin. A loincloth the only clothing preserving his modesty, it was clear for all to see that the guy was absolutely shredded. Sporting a full on ten pack at least.

  Richard dubbed this one Hatchet Man for the sake of convenience.

  With great, loping strides, Hatchet Man broke away from the pack. Eating up the three hundred or so paces separating them at a voracious pace. Richard aimed. Fired. Aimed. Fired. Sending off a triple volley within the space of a heartbeat. The layered munitions blinking across the distance. Aimed in such a way that Hatchet Man was summarily deprived of any avenues of escape. A done deal, in other words.

  Or so he thought.

  Quick as a humming bird’s wing, Hatchet Man sliced through two of the nearest munitions before he could detonate the third. A cloud of deadly shrapnel exploding forth at point blank range. It’s figure obscured by a thick cloud of kicked up dirt and debris. Until, that is, Hatchet Man burst through the swirling shroud, it’s pace barely slowed. As a matter of fact, apart from a few shallow cuts across his body, leaking wispy trails of shadow, he appeared none the worse for wear.

  Richard clicked his tongue. Well, at least now he had his answer.

  She said that the fewer there are, the stronger they become. So, a pooling of resources, type of thing. You can spread the pool of attributes across a large number, or just a few, but the number of attributes being divided remains the same. And if they’re this strong at twelve…

  Richard frowned. This might be even trickier then he’d thought. Thankfully, he hadn’t been idle in his year long sabbatical. From one of his spacial rings, Richard plucked free a lone talisman, though it was unlike any other talisman he’d seen in his previous timeline.

  It was an ominous sight to behold. Almost demonic in its presentation. The paper dyed the color of pitch, while the arcane lettering glowed with an eerie sanguine luster. Richard knew better, he really did, but he just couldn’t help himself. Despite Hatchet Man bearing down on him, so close his enhanced eyes could make out the individual veins bulging at its temples, Richard took a quiet moment to appreciate the elegant complexity of the interconnected rune-work.

  It was more ambitious than anything he should’ve even been attempting at this stage of his development, and it wouldn’t have even been possible, were it not for one thing. The glint of his own life energy winked back up at him from where it scrawled across the mana blackened paper.

  “You know,” his master said, the pretense that he was some immature child having long since been abandoned. “Your unique brand of ingenuity never fails to amuse me. I only know of two loose acquaintances who might’ve thought to apply life energy in such a way, and both are far too old, powerful, and mired in their archetypal molds to bother. And this is, what? Only Mark 2?”

  “Mark 1 actually. Mark 2 was the uh, ahem- problematic iteration, if you’ll recall?”

  “Ahh, now I remember. Yeah, probably best if you don’t use that one. I don’t know if I’d be able to shield something like that from prying eyes. Good times though.”

  “Sadist,” Richard stated. “You do know you’re a sadist, don’t you? It’s very important to me that you know that.”

  “What is physical trauma but another way for us to learn? I, for one, still think it was a great idea to jump into that dragon vein. It was especially amusing to fish you back out again.”

  “Sadist.”

  “Says you. Although, you know, I never was the biggest proponent of labels. In my experience they tend to take all the fun out of perfectly harmless activities”

  Shaking his head in disbelief, Richard refocused on the task at hand. And, with a degree of almost reverence, Richard raised the lone talisman in the general direction of the enemy. With this thing, aiming wasn’t especially important. That said, he did however, lean back a ways, if only to preserve his eye brows.

  “Hold onto your hats people!”

  He then dribbled the smallest amount of mana into the talisman through the pad of his thumb, and in the next moment, an elemental storm of wholesale destruction leapt from his fingers as if from the creator himself.