<div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    <div>


    My reaction to Rulka’s attack was slow and deliberate. I sunk down in my stance, triggered Mornax and Belial, and faced her head on. Mentally, I told Callie to take the others and get out. If she could get outside to Dez she would be safe. In the meantime, Rulka was already halfway to me, and my staff whirled out to meet the claws that sprouted as she shifted into a werewolf.


    Dantalion flickered out to give me an idea of what was going on, and with that information, I began to deflect.


    Belial was my first form, and I had always known there was untapped potential in that ability. Not just the acid, which could be improved when I had the time or inclination, but in the basic principles of the staff art.


    I had based Belial on the principles of deflection and leverage, using minimum force applied perfectly to nullify or offset power. It was a useful and extensive potential area of study, but I had moved on quickly to the raw power of Mephistopheles. I’d ignored the potential of my very first staff form for far too long, and now that I was focused on it, with Dantalion as a support, I could finally apply the leverage at maximum efficacy.


    Callie was running, knowing I could leave when I wanted with Double Trouble or my Waltz, so I was able to take my time and get a feel for this combat style. With Mornax keeping me safe, I was able to test and experiment, and that was what I did.


    I started basic. Normal deflection, moving the attacks slightly aside. Not strikes, but gentle guidance applied at EXACTLY the right place. A sweeping tap at the wrist joint combined with a planted butt cap in the dirt, a swipe to the back of the leg, and trip or a jab at the feet.


    Rulka attacked ferociously, but when she realized she wasn’t making any headway she retreated. As I watched, she reached up and grabbed her fur, screaming as she tore the pelt right off, revealing her own human form underneath. She threw the still corroding pelt to one side, then flicked her wrists and a long sheet of skin appeared. Swirling it like a cloak, she wrapped it around her dress clad form and it melted into her, vanishing into her skin and clothes like an invisible film.


    I cursed. Skinwalker. It was a branch of witchcraft, using skins to act as totems to allow the use of other powers. It was a bit like Zeke’s masks (which actually were NOT witchcraft, interestingly enough, because he literally sealed the soul into the mask instead of creating a thaumaturgical link). Skinwalkers were considered unusually horrible even by dark Ascendant standards, because due to the nature of witchcraft they had to keep the beings they skinned ALIVE to tap into their powers.


    This particular skin was apparently a harpy. Skinwalkers had to use the skin of people with racial traits, because otherwise the ability doesn’t become part of the body until S-rank when an Ascendant combines with their sagas. It was highly illegal in the Fairieland for this reason, though it was an ability that admittedly fit in well with Verdyn’s whole vibe.


    Rulka, now with wings and sharp talons, rushed forward, screeching as her claws wheeled and struck. As she attacked, Theddeus took aim, readying his rifle as he searched for a perfect opportunity to attack. Unfortunately for him, I had Dantalion active, and I was even now working on the next step up from my normal deflection stance. Specifically, control.


    Deflection was useful and powerful, but the true power of leverage wasn’t just moving or avoiding things. It was controlling more powerful things with inferior force. My staff snapped out, the claws clanging off the end caps and the sapsteel wrapping the shaft, and my deflections moved the claws (and the harpy attached to them) not just out of the path to attack me, but INTO the path of Thaddeus’s attacks.


    Every deflection altered the flow of the battle, but with Dantalion, I was able to take advantage of my knowledge of the area and of Thaddeus’s movements to put Rulka in exactly the wrong place every time he was about to fire. My feet started to move, not enough to disrupt Mornax but enough to expand my range of motion, slowly controlling more and more of the floor.


    It was ALMOST like a domain, but I didn’t allow it to become one. I wasn’t trying to make a new power, I was trying to master my old one. I slowly expanded my range, taking up more of the room, controlling more of the space. Despite being easily twenty feet away, even Thaddeus was wrapped up in the effect.


    I wasn’t just using my staff to apply leverage to Rulka’s movements, I was using RULKA to apply leverage to Thaddeus. The longer we fought, the more seamless it became, she became my weapon as much as the Ten Demons Tree was, and with every strike, the energy of Belial infected and corrupted her.


    That was when I finally came to the conclusion I should have reached ages ago. I’d been severely limiting myself with this form. I used the staff infused with corruption to burn and trap and manipulate, but now Rulka was infused with that same acidic fire. She wasn’t just a metaphorical weapon. She was a LITERAL weapon through which I could channel my form. As she fell further and further under my sway, I was able to control more and more of her movements, not just with strikes and leverage, but with the form itself.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    She slowly moved back, matching my movements still, but now there was no deflection, no back and forth, there was just a give and take, a dance where I was in control. When I got her backed far enough up I moved slightly to one side, pulling her into an attack, then pushed her with my mind to adjust. Her clawed foot swept past my face, continuing the arc to lash out at Thaddeus.


    The hunter stumbled back in shock, his gun imposed between them, his face twisted in confusion. “Rulka? What are you doing?”


    The Skinwalker, her eyes now burning green-black, didn’t respond, darting forward to attack as I moved fluidly around the other side to assault him from the opposite position. His eyes widened in panic and he started firing his gun. I knew the bullet was absurdly powerful, with Dantalion active, I could see the secrets of the gun after being around it for long enough. The entire barrel was lined with incomplete formations. When the bullet spun along the rifling it completed each formation, gathering power until it exploded out of the end of the barrel to tear apart whatever it struck.


    I could deflect it, of course, but it was difficult and involved basically stacking a lot of really cheap abilities to barely manage to offset the damage, so instead, I just maneuvered Rulka into the path of the shots. We spun around him, Rulka’s body jerking at the bullet impacts but continuing the movements I’d pushed her into.


    My control was improving as I went. Corruption, manipulation, I’d always had this ability, always had this potential. Belial was made for this kind of combat. I’d even seen it a bit when I was creating Limbo. My original form of that domain had been similar to this, but I’d reworked it into its current much more powerful form. Now the vision I’d seen back then had become clearer, and it was something I didn’t even need a domain to accomplish.


    Sadly, almost immediately after that thought, my control slipped slightly. My corruption was mainly meant for damaging others. The extra corrosion from the acid had actually damaged my control abailities. During one of the bullet impacts the overwhelming damage overloaded the corruption and Rulka broke free, turning and rushing me in an attempt to kill me.


    Deciding I’d stalled long enough, I triggered Double Trouble, then used my Waltz to escape. It took them a split second to discover the illusion, and by then I’d broken line of sight, dropped all my forms and entered Murmur. I’d already scanned most of the hallways so I was able to conceal myself perfectly as I slipped away. I saw the two D-rankers run past, calling for others who appeared to search, but none of them were even close to finding me.


    I found them all waiting for me outside. Once they’d exited, Callie had been able to tap into Bael and combined it with her shadow manipulation to conceal them. When she saw me, she beamed. “Thank the gods, I was getting worried.”


    Glancing up, I studied the sky above us. Dez was still in combat, her rain of swords tearing apart the giant magma hand as fast as Algenclave could reform it. Taking out a small glass orb she’d given me, I broke it, and I was relieved to see a slight hitch in the fight as she detected it, ready to come and get us.


    We waited for a minute, and then there was a pulse of energy. From the sky, chains of golden light lashed down, whipping around Algenclave’s magma armored form. He’d emerged from the city in person to assume better control while we were inside, and now he was wide open for the binding spell Dez had wished for. I could hear his scream of outrage as he hauled on the chains, trying to break free, but for a short period of time, those chains were basically unbreakable.


    Dez flicked her hands, another cloud of steel appearing around her, and this time she condensed it into one sword. An absolutely gigantic sword with a razor sharp point obviously intended for thrusting. With a tremendous cry of effort, she sent the sword spearing forward, and the point jammed into the magmatic chest of her target. With all his defenses suppressed by the chains, he stood no chance. The blade speared him through the torso, the rest of the edge splitting him in half heightwise as it went.


    Crowing victoriously, Dez swept down, showing me blade wings I hadn’t seen before as she dove down to our location. “You all ready?” she asked eagerly. “We’ve got to get out of here!”


    Before I could respond, I felt something SHIFT around us. Something I’d felt before. The suppression of someone actively flexing their soul at me. Not just one someone either. Multiple someones.


    Dez’s head snapped up. “FUCK!” she spat. “Selvarin, Dramin, Escurta? I don’t know the fourth or fifth one, but those three are powerful generals. How did they get here so fast?”


    Grimacing, I glanced up in the air where a series of forms were floating out over the city toward us. “Bethy!” I called for my vampire friend. When Dez had killed Algenclave the rest of my group had headed here. “You know the drill. Get us into the Domain!” With her Domain we could all be moved by a single ability. I’d considered how to properly apply this little boost, and I’d realized it would be best to use it in conjunction with Callie’s Starpluck Bangle.


    My wife pulled off the bangle, tossing it to Bethy as she appeared, and all of us were pulled into her Domain as she prepared to trigger the bangle, letting us all escape this fucking dungeon.


    And that was when things went wrong. There was some kind of…breakage. Some kind of force striking something beyond the normal world. Behind reality, i felt a ripple as something cracked, and Callie’s eyes widened in horror. “Void Shattering! Bethy wait, don’t-” But it was too late. Bethy had triggered the Bangle, which I could only assume utilized the void to travel.


    There was a sensation like I was being sucked through a straw full of microscopic razor blades on a spin cycle, and I screamed as I was deconstructed, reconstructed, then deconstructed again and put back together out of order. By the time it ended, I was barely coherent, and all of us were lying on hard stone, staring up a swirling red purple bubble of energy that blotted out the whole sky. “Well…” I said slowly as I sat up. “That could have gone better. Now anyone know where the fuck we actually are?” Because wherever it was, I couldn’t imagine being there was a good thing.