The Monsters' interstellar blizzard ran straight into a force as vast and unforgiving as any sun—and was instantly swallowed.
It felt easy to Zane. He was breaking something that'd already been shattered. Just the raw force of his smash was enough to stop the stampede in its tracks.
Then Solar Flare gold swept through—and those Tier 6 Laws, thrown into chaos, could offer no resistance.
The white of Destruction blazed again and again as it crushed through mammoth bodies. The Monsters opened their jaws, maybe to howl, maybe to throw out more blizzard—it was the last thing they managed. The faint outlines of their bones were burned into space, rendered in black and white.
Then they were gone—less than ash; all that was left of them was piles of radioactive waste.
The golden flood crashed through. Tracing the path of that stampede, overpowering those cold dead zones, raging upstream, a great sea of sunlight running the other way, lighting up the whole galactic sector.
His power blasted far into the distance—a massive beam of light going supernova.
He felt a few more Monstrous auras make contact with his power, and vanish—caught in the crossfire—before the blow ground to a halt.
A few blinks later, Zane made out the aftermath.
It was as though there was an invisible sphere around him—and all the ice within had been wiped clean out of existence.
That emptiness extended before him. Running a tunnel spanning dozens of miles, making a clear path, carving deep into the horizon. Shallow voids tore open in the fabric of reality around him—closing fast.
There was a brief silence.
And then—
"That," roared the Barbarian Sage. "Was godsdamned awesome!"
𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!
𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝕦𝕡!
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟜𝟟𝟡 -> 𝟜𝟠𝟙
𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕦𝕡!
𝔸𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕒 𝕋𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕟'𝕤 𝔹𝕠𝕕𝕪, 𝔽𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞 𝕍 -> 𝕍𝕀
He and the Barbarian Sage followed the nice new path he'd accidentally made for them. It delved deep into the field. They headed for the Wilderness once more.
"Hmph!" said the Sage, surveying the wreckage. The faces of the ice chunks lining their strange new street had all been blackened by his Flare. And when he gave one a touch, a slab the size of a continent shattered instantly.
There was a look of grudging admiration on the Sage's face. "You know," he said, scratching his chin. "Maybe those firebreathers know a thing or two after all."
"Noughtfire knows a lot," said Zane as they bounded along. He glanced at the Sage sidelong. "You'd like him."
"Bah!"
The Sage sounded unconvinced.
Zane did notice something about the old fellow. He was quite unaffected by Radiation. When Zane had blasted out his domain, the Sage had felt like a blank spot. Zane's domain rushed around him.
Now that he felt a little closer, he saw the Sage wasn't quite blank. It felt more like an unyielding wall. Impenetrable.
The closer Zane examined the Sage, the deeper the sense got.
At a certain point the ice grew so rich in essence it began to give off a pale glow.
"Should be about halfway there," said the Sage cheerfully. "Once we make it in, we're headed straight for the Plains of the Ancients! That's the ancestral homeland of the Titan Rhinoceros. And a few other Godbeasts—they've been fighting it out there for must be millions of years now."
They bounded deeper and deeper…
It wasn't long before Zane felt yet another killing intent lock on to him.
"Hold on…" said the Sage. He perked up. "That's a Godbeast right there."
But it wasn't crashing for them, the way the Mammoths did.
This thing was closing in slowly, keeping its aura reeled in. If Zane didn't have Great Sage Mind he might've never sensed it.
"We're being hunted." The Sage sounded a bit excited. "Oh, this is a good one. Can you feel it, lad?"
Zane listened closer. Somewhere in the distance—invisible now to the eyes, but he could trace it in the Astral Plane—he felt a deep seething.
Not long after he heard a low growling. Heavy breathing, slow and deliberate, the breaths of some big animal.
He felt it lock onto him. Felt that seething power tense up, compress, as though in a spring—felt the powers of a Sacred Bone flare bright.
He frowned.
That Bone signature felt like a torch in the Astral Plane—one of the strongest he'd ever felt.
The beast had sank deep into a crouch. But it was still dozens of miles off, out of sight. Surely—
It all unloaded at once.
There was a high-pitched whine, a distant screech, a massive shattering. Ice chunks being broken, the sound barrier being broken, and greater forces too, giving way to something eye-wateringly fast—
On sheer instinct Zane stomped down—blasted out of the way.
He saw something huge rush straight past him.
Claws big as dinosaur teeth screeching by—ripping right through where Zane's chest had been a split second before. Yellow eyes, dilated black pupils. A blur of silvers and blues…
It'd crossed a dozen miles in the time it took Zane to jerk out of the way.
ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥 𝕊𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕥𝕠𝕠𝕥𝕙
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟝𝟡𝟚
It went by like a comet, roaring furiously at the miss.
But it didn't crash through the ice field, like Zane was expecting.
It dug its claws into an asteroid and pounced off, and again. Sinking its momentum in a grand show of finesse, changing directions faster than Zane would've thought possible at that speed.
Then the beast settled on a distant slab of planet, and glared down at him.
A coat of icy white, speckled with stardust silver. Its fangs were like crescent moons.
It growled, eyes locked straight on Zane. And he could feel its hunger.
It seemed to think Zane was quite juicy—it liked the smell of all that vitality coming off of him.
…This seemed to be a pretty common opinion among Monsters and creatures alike. He wasn't quite sure what to feel about it.
"Magnificent beast, isn't it?" said the Sage cheerfully. "And a killing machine too, once it's full-grown. This thing's about as strong as any of those elite Minor Gods you'll find in a Great Faction—it's damned close to the peak of Minor God. Godbeast Bloodline, Grand Circle Tier 6 Laws, but it's the Bone that's the kicker! 100,000-year-old Bone sank deep into its hindquarters, looks like. That's how it's so damned fast. Rare thing you'll find a beast like this in the Outskirts… it's our lucky day, eh?"
The Sabertooth was still perched there, staring down on him the way an eagle stares down prey. There was a keen intelligence to its cold eyes. It had a proud bearing, like it knew it was the ruler of its domain. Its sleek head was held high.
Then it lowered into a crouch. Still just watching, growling.
Zane let out his domain. Not all of it, but enough to give him some cover. The beast hissed, eyes narrowing. He could sense a deep suspicion emanating from it. It didn't like the smell of that Flare, but more—it could sense that strange force within.
"Smart one," chuckled the Barbarian Sage. "Right… Here it comes!"
Not at him—not at first.
It pounced along the perimeter, growling and hissing, until it seemed to transform into a comet, streaking so fast its entire form seemed a shining wall of icy color; all the hard lines of its being dissolved to brilliant streaks.
With every pounce it only grew faster. The growling was coming from all around him now, and suddenly it felt like he'd been trapped in a sudden blizzard—a blizzard going so fast it seemed, paradoxically, to be slowing down, to be going still, it was lapping him so fast. His eyes could barely keep track of it, only its after-images. He frowned and focused closer. He was having better luck with his soul, but not much.
The Bone in its hindquarters. That was what gave it this speed. He could feel it working to its maximum in the Astral Plane—brighter than in any Monster he'd fought yet.
The beast grew colder as it ran too; he could feel it building a glut of freezing power, casing itself like a suit of armor. Like it was trying to build up a shield before it came at him—before it braved his domain, went for the kill.
All the while Zane just watched, brow furrowed.
This was a particularly muscular bird. But it was a bird nonetheless in his mind. And he knew their kind by now.
It was a game of patience. He just had to be ready.
Then he heard a hiss.
He jerked out of the way—hard. Two massive fangs came within inches of his throat, so close he felt the chill blast his face.
He tried smashing with his hammers, missed wide—just a hair too late, but at the speeds that thing was going, it could've lapped the Earth in that time. He blasted a tunnel of Flare gold into the depths of the Outskirts, useless.
Then he grunted.
And four lines raked across his chest, icy cold and white-hot with pain, all at once. Thick streams of blood splattered the air.
At the same time he heard a yowl.
The exchange took place within a fraction of a second, about the time it took to blink.
Then the Sabertooth was perched in the far distance, heaving steaming cold breaths. Zane was doing the same.
"A lot faster than the Monsters you'll find planetside, eh?" chuckled the Sage. "I'm telling you—those hundred-thousand-year Bones, they're nothing to trifle with. We'll get you one of 'em soon. For now—thing moves at the speed of a comet! It takes a little to get used to these interstellar beasts. There's more where it came from, I'll tell you that!"
Zane nodded, and focused on the Sabertooth again, heart going fast now. He found something interesting.
He'd missed with his hammers. He wasn't particularly close. But the thing was still shuddering, its fur stiffened, eyes cracked and bloodshot. Its pelt stood up all over its body; it didn't look quite so proud and sleek anymore.
It took some damage too there.
The beast was mostly lightly singed. With all that ice armor, it'd managed to ward off most of the heat of his Domain.
But Radiation pierced right through that armor.
Now the beast looked wary and angry at once. Its growl dipped lower.
Zane considered it carefully.
He could tell where this was going.
He was never going to catch it with his hammer. That was for heavier-duty work.
This job needed something cleaner.
He switched out the heads, leaving only Chains at their ends.
He had to find a way to get his hands on that thing.
Only he'd seen how fast it could go. His body had made lots of Progress and explosive movements these past few months, but that thing went at another level.
He figured the only way he could catch it was if he used its speed against it.
He could feel it starting back up again. It was too proud to be deterred long. It'd been stung; now he watched it grow angrier and angrier. It seemed hell-bent on tearing out his throat.
It growled at him.
He growled right back at it, daring it on.
The Sabertooth began that blitz again.
Racing around the asteroid belt, picking up speed. Building, and building, and building—going so fast it seemed to break past form and shape…
Zane lowered himself into a crouch. And just felt for it.
Priming himself to explode. Making sure he had its speed. Its direction.
The moment it decided it wanted a piece of him—
There.
Then it all seemed to go in slow motion.
The beast slammed off of one more asteroid, moving at speeds only comets knew. And shot straight for Zane's throat.
In that exact moment, Zane roared and stomped down.
But this time he wasn't jerking away. He launched himself straight at it.
And they collided.