Jorfr was still awake when Zelsys woke; he hadn’t slept, at least not in the traditional sense, and was kneeling before the skinless, hanging bear corpse with its pelt draped over his back, the hollowed-out top half of its skull atop his head. The body swarmed with ravens pecking at its meat, somehow not emitting a single squawk. There was a s...
2022-09-26 02:18:39 +0000 UTC View PostTo call the following chain of events “fighting” would have been overly generous; it was better described as Victor valiantly struggling to put a dent or even land a hit on a mountain with the mobility of a featherweight, while Zelsys complimented and picked apart his technique in the same breath. This went on for nearly an hour and a half w...
2022-09-24 23:23:56 +0000 UTC View PostThe Order of the Dragon would be cleansed of those loyal to Adalbert, the Betrayer, and their reliance upon mutagens replaced with a focus on tank suit piloting. It would soon thereafter be renamed to the Order of the Iron Dragon, with appropriate cosmetic customization being carried out on their suits.
Meanwhile, far to the south, within ...
2022-09-23 23:12:56 +0000 UTC View PostHedan changed the topic: “And the child… You would damn him to be erased, then? You and I both know the Second Eye’s true purpose.”
“The Smoke Witch will warn him, I’m sure of it,” Wodan refuted, but he didn’t say the whole truth of his intentions. He did write it, however:
Subject VK-697 is in possession of Artif...
2022-09-22 23:12:53 +0000 UTC View PostWithin this sanctum he doffed his disguise, which constituted a heavy rope necklace strung with over a dozen entirely different, carved gemstone talismans. In so doing he shed a many-layered cognitive filter illusion; a more elegant solution to physical self-alteration, he found. Going this far would have been unnecessary otherwise, had it not b...
2022-09-21 23:32:34 +0000 UTC View PostVic held his necklace out, albeit hesitantly. As the Man in White leaned in over the pot to look, Zel could see him stick his hand in the boiling liquid without so much as a twitch, resting it against the bottom of the pot, his sleeve mere centimeters from being soaked. He drew in a shallow breath and an eerie glow overcame his eyes as he stared...
2022-09-20 22:37:46 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: I'm going back to shorter daily chapters. The bidaily schedule just doesn't work for me, I need a daily rhythm to stay consistently productive.
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Upon Zel’s return to her compatriots, she took a moment to patch the hole she’d shot i...
2022-09-19 16:47:23 +0000 UTC View Post“A-affirmative,” the Captain nodded, slipping into the guard post, dragging the younger soldier along as he did. Zef heard him protesting that he couldn’t conscionably go against explicit orders, even arguing that the Doppelsoldat badge didn’t mean anything anymore if they were the Sage of Fog’s agents, due to the Sage’s disappearanc...
2022-09-18 01:11:01 +0000 UTC View PostIt was a huge, gnarled cherry tree atop a hill in the middle of a forest, split down the middle by the scars of numerous lightning strikes, but standing defiant and seemingly in perpetual bloom, with its many leaves and blossoms displaying lightning-like vein patterns, as if the tree had learned to feed on lightning. One could feel the electric ...
2022-09-15 16:37:54 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: First half of chapter has some sexual content.
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Jorfr’s assumption proved to be correct. The two lovebirds had followed the nearby stream to a jutting-out rock formation, and atop this outlook they would release their stress upon one another. Atop ...
A/N: Added a short bit at the end of the merchant scene.
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The shop was set up in a repurposed jail, with four cells in total. It was a place of organized chaos, with tables, barrels, and crates all stacked high with weapons of all qualities. C...
A/N: I had a chapter ready yesterday, but I didn't like how it was turning out so I ended up rewriting the whole thing.
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The would-be assassin plunged the claws into her own chest just as the edges of her face began to fray, sputtering out one last utt...
“The Sevenfold Seal is undone; the clock resumes. It won't be long before the vessel fails and the Blade Spirit’s own strength rips it apart,” she said, turning to her comrades.A/N: New prologue done, forward progress resumes as normal from now on.
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2022-09-06 00:26:25 +0000 UTC View Post“That thing has killed more molemen than humans at this point…” she thought. A shrill shriek came from the Ankylodragon’s direction, and before she landed again, she saw the moleman that was likely commanding the creature. He carried a glistening, iron shortsword, his diminutive form was draped in animal skins and jewelry.
A/N: Alright, I concede, I completely failed to fit the prologue into three parts, the battle just kinda got away from me and completely outgrew my predictions. It's gonna be more like five parts.
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Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
A/N: As I expected, the prologue will definitely three parts.
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Zel picked the book up on her way out, flipping the page; the next one detailed the Ankylodragon. As she skimmed it, Zefaris caught up, leaning in.
“Mind if I-” she began, but ...
2022-08-29 20:54:32 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: The new prologue will likely have two, MAYBE three parts at most, not counting Pt. 00.
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Southern Ikesia
The Free City-state of Willowdale
Newman Family Sect Grounds
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2022-08-27 17:01:27 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: This won't make it onto the public release as I feel that it wouldn't serve well as the new readers' first experience, so I'm keeping it here.
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An armored convoy circled an encampment, separating the guards and drivers from the night’s enc...
2022-08-26 13:17:25 +0000 UTC View PostWhy the infiltrator had committed suicide only became clear when she deigned to pry his jaw open, using her left hand as to avoid the filth of course. In the back of his throat was nestled a dead Black Rope worm.
“Note to self, Heartstopper Venom works on ancient Ankhezian bioweapons.”
Just as her investigation drew to a...
2022-08-20 01:52:02 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Sorry for the significant delay. I kinda just felt like total shit today, the big depresso. After next chapter I'll be taking a break for a week to write a Zel-centric prologue for Sturmblitz Kunst because I'm not happy with how I started the fic and it'll bother me until I fix it.
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2022-08-18 03:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA part of her wished it could’ve just been empty bodies animated by parasites, or something akin to Pateirian control centipedes or the like. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end at the sheer wrongness of that thing, hearkening back to the ambulatory tumors she had fought moments after first emerging into the world; the Failures. The...
2022-08-15 23:50:10 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Minor edits for atmosphere/pacing. Also next chapter will be out on Monday.
A/N 2: More minor edits, mainly to the conversation with the barman.
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Without further incident for the time being, the journey north continued. The closer to the ...
“Wonder why they didn’t just start with smaller cartridges and scale them up, sounds like it would’ve been easier to make scale prototypes…” Victor pondered, picking up the pistol and fiddling with its mechanism.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” she shrugged, folding her shotgun back in its holster. “Maybe it was easier to ...
2022-08-10 19:12:59 +0000 UTC View PostMeanwhile, Victor spun his staff-spear from his back, having already prepared in advance just as Zefaris had. The rings about his staff’s head took on a green glow as wisps of Bonefire sprung into being around its head. He taunted the last survivor with a gesture, running over to the knight who had fallen after a single shot, standing over him...
2022-08-08 19:12:27 +0000 UTC View PostThe four senior cultivators witnessed the young man mouth something, but they heard nothing, and by some trickery of the manner in which the staff-spear moved across his face as he spun it in his hand, neither could any of them read his lips beyond one or two syllables - excepting Zefaris, that is. She, however, didn’t care to reveal the name,...
2022-08-05 23:44:22 +0000 UTC View PostIt was at this point that Vic noticed something about her right arm: It was still bronze. The green oxide scales had been removed somehow, probably through a bath considering that both her and Zefaris were clean, but that metallic bronze sheen still persisted. It could just barely be made out against the hue of her skin if the light hit her arm ...
2022-08-03 23:58:35 +0000 UTC View Post“One more thing,” Zel kept pushing. “The end of the message, when they panicked. You didn’t translate that part.”
Red chuckled, and a grin worked its way onto her face.
“The more authoritative man - the Commissar - instantly recognized your face. He screamed that the Arches Outpost had been lost to “The Heretic’s Daug...
2022-08-01 22:32:32 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: Next chapter will be out on Monday, the 1st of August. I also removed a fragment from the end of the previous chapter, a remnant of an earlier draft where Red left right after the pill took effect.
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The horrific stench emitted by the congealed im...
2022-07-30 01:22:47 +0000 UTC View PostA forward lunge, a twist of the torso, a whipping thrust motion of the arm, every single muscle involved having been meticulously prepped for full Thundercharger enhancement. The thunderclap resounded. Scales shattered, flesh tore, bones broke. A downward stroke, severing both the left arm and leg before smashing into the ground...
2022-07-28 02:20:44 +0000 UTC View PostHis eyes, there was something wrong there. So terribly, terribly wrong. Von Wickten’s metamorphosis had been monstrous, truly, but what he had made himself become was beyond a transformation. Zelsys could sense it - there was nothing behind his eyes. His demeanor subtly shifted, moment by moment, as if the Gu had scooped out and devoured the i...
2022-07-25 20:30:39 +0000 UTC View Post