Chapter 285
Chapter 285
Riven’s body exploded backwards as Blessing of the Crow engulfed him, wrapping him in a shroud of black and red wisps akin to a bloody phantom, and the ground underneath him erupted as his soul pillars went into overdrive.
Despite who he was facing, he could not falter. Losing was not an option, and though he hated to harm his friends and family - they would not be permanently affected by the beatdown he was about to present them with.
Assuming he’d win, that is. Which, honestly enough, wasn’t a certainty. And by Elysium’s betting odds, he was the one who was more likely to lose.
CRASH
The barrage of Allie’s flaming skulls and Retesh’s bombardment of green, oozing mana joined together seconds later - causing the jungle-laden hillside he’d been on only moments before to shatter in flame and hissing rubble. The oncoming horde of enemies led by Azmoth was quickly approaching, and Riven went full tilt with all of the available mana currently built up in his staff with one of its abilities:
[Furious Storm: This staff can passively build up charges of furious storm, which
utilizes a supercharged dose of any single energy from the pillars of Sin / Unholy /
Shadow / Death / Blood / Infernal. You may only unleash one type of energy at a
time. Power of furious storm depends on the amount of charge emitted.]The skull face of the staff opened wide and the pentagram in its center turned black before unleashing a swath of piercing shadows blossomed out of the staff and crashed into the oncoming tide.
Due to their extremely high quality nature, built from the F and E-grade elites of the multiverse, only a couple dozen of the undead died instantly. Others lost limbs as piercing streaks of darkness tore flesh from bone and cut cleanly through their mindless bodies. Azmoth himself deflected much of the attack with a snarl, shengari shields snapping in front of his body while a dome of fire took form around him a second later. The remnant shadow energy also created a cloud of darkness over the battlefield, shifting in and out like mist across the jungle and great stone pillars alike.
“LITTLE RIVEN WILL DIE, DIE, DIE!” Azmoth uncharacteristically screamed from the cloud of black that was most prevalent throughout the land-bound combatants, and he let out great swaths of flame from his mouth and eel-like maws along his back to burn away the mana-bound shadows. “COME AND FIGHT ME, PUNY VAMPIRE!”
CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH
Five rapid snipe-enhanced blood lances smashed into Azmoth’s body, causing him to flip backwards with a scream of pain while other blood lances tore holes through the oncoming rush of undead bodies like scissors through paper.
Riven didn’t smile, didn’t laugh, as his vision centered on Azmoth’s bleeding form. It wasn’t nearly enough to kill the demon just yet, and the damage was minimal due to his naturally armored boyd, but-
He paused when one of the recurrent discharging pulses of energy he was releasing came back positive for movement on his left side.
Riven blurred left, narrowly dodging a large scythe that’d almost cleanly taken his head off before kicking off the ground to send himself backwards.
Evade, place distance, and decimate.
Wretched snares tore off of his outstretched hand like serpents, forming nets that sought to capture and contain the reaper - but Fimrindle was far too fast for that. The assassin cackled, dodged, and vanished to appear at Riven’s back - only for dozens of crimson spires to shoot up out of the ground. One crimson ice spire deflected the reaper’s attack, three more went in for a killing blow, and others were bursting around them for hundreds of yards in anticipation of Fimrindle’s evading move.
The reaper hissed and retracted his strike, flipping backwards with an Unholy Slash directed Riven’s way. The magical slash projection bought Fimrindle time to tactically retreat, weaving through the minefield of seeking bloody spikes - only for him to be caught off guard when Riven clenched his fist.
BOOM
The spires abruptly exploded, creating a vast area-of-effect zone with shrapnel heading in every direction imaginable. It was like watching a nuke full of red paint go off with the spires shattering into hundreds, then thousands, then millions of tiny, sharp projectiles that flashed at supersonic speeds to incorporate a mile-wide area.
The only area spared was Riven’s direct position, where the bloody shards soaked through his armor and into his skin to refeed his mana pool - rather than doing him any actual damage. They were merely coming home for recycling.
“AHHHHHHH!!!” The feminine screech of Athela made Riven’s heart clench as she was ripped out of stealth only a couple dozen yards away, her humanoid figure being turned into a pincushion.
Fimrindle had fared somewhat better than her, using his Unholy / Machine Tier 3 ability ‘Anticipate Movements’ to dodge nearly 90% of the millions of shards meant to flush him out. But he couldn’t dodge all of them even so. A few more undead on the outskirts of the explosion were evaporated into pink mists, Allie was repelled from a dive mid-air, and Narg had erected barriers of flame and shadow to deflect-
Riven’s foot landed on an invisible curse trap placed by Fay.
“SHIT!”
He was sent sprawling, Messenger’s armor holding strong, but he felt a few of the bones in his foot shatter due to the impact even despite this before landing on yet ANOTHER curse trap.
He staggered out of a roll, blood leaking down his forehead where Fay’s curse energies had torn off flesh from his skull before his regeneration rapidly repaired it. Yet he didn’t have time to dawdle.
Riven needed to utilize as much area-of-effect magic as possible to take out the assassins. With them in the picture, he wouldn’t be able to focus on the others, and-
Another pulse of energy sensed a stealthed figure coming in from behind, and he launched himself off the ground and into flight just before Nora’s twin blades impaled him.
She swore, then retreated back into thin air from whence she’d come.
***
Putting distance inbetween himself while evading and returning fire was something of a nightmare for Riven as it became a game of cat and mouse, where there were far more cats - and he was doubtless the mouse.
He couldn’t be caught, and if he was - it was over.
Riven’s body ripped through the air like a bullet, sending shockwaves through his trajectory as jungle burned and towering pillars of stone shattered. Hissing trails of blood, screaming undead attempting to catch him over land and sky, and innumerable magics exploding all around him were now the norm as he zig-zagged and riftwalked constantly while letting out surgical strikes whenever an opportunity arose. Neither side had gained much ground, other than a good number of the mindless undead having been eradicated, and they’d reached something of a stalemate. That stalemate could end poorly for him in an instant though if he let up, and he thanked Jackal silently numerous times for the 600% mana regeneration his staff now gave him.
With Allie in hot pursuit on his tail in the sky and the assassins regularly attempting to strike at him in bursts, with the beholder demon Narg trying to snipe him out of the sky using unholy Globspitters and infernal Hellspitters - which were on par with his own blood lances in terms of speed or range and were rather dangerous. Whenever Riven tried to riftwalk away and hide, the damn beholder demon used his seeking abilities to quickly locate his position.
And it made Riven realize that, in the future, Narg would probably be a great way to sniff out potential assassins by utilizing Seek Danger; just as he probably was doing right now. That, or Narg had locked onto one of Riven’s items with Seek Item.
Fay was coming in and out of invisibility to cast supporting spells on Allie from time to time as well. The succubus was also doing a good job in hiding the assassins further, while concealing or misdirecting Riven whenever he attempted to retaliate against Retesh who was unleashing a constant barrage of green orbs from the ground. Whenever he clashed with Allie, even if he came out on top, Fay would then heal the fallen angel of her wounds and the pursuit would ensue again. Azmoth had resorted to using his Propulsion ability to try and catch Riven, but without wings or a true flying ability it didn’t compare to Messenger’s Quickening Flight.
It truly was a shitshow, and he was having a hard time holding on even with Gluttony’s third, purple eye giving Riven additional feedback on when to dodge and how to do it.
His totems were also doing quite well in supporting his attempts at negating enemy attacks. The four orbiting totems were creating barriers of crimson ice, blasting other projectiles out of the sky with high-velocity black lightning, and even created occasional rifts to swallow and redirect incoming attacks when the ice shields were temporarily destroyed. The totems were in fact a huge asset to his struggle, and autonomously nullified nearly half of the enemy’s firepower that entered within range - only requiring a small amount of constant mana channeling to keep them active after their initial reserves were snuffed out.
[Hive Totems of Bloodforged Rift Sparks (Lesser Artifact, Elite Tier, Level 34 Totem Swarm): These totems come as a set, and new totems can be added to this number at the additional cost of Willpower - with each totem adding exponentially more Willpower to the cost. Cost of Willpower is based upon attitude towards the wielder of this totem set, as well as current combat level. Current Requirements: 119 Willpower, Blood Sub-Pillar, Shadow Sub-Pillar. Bound to Riven Thane.
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Adding different types of totems will change the name and description of this totem set.
Current Totems in Hive Swarm:
4 Totems of Bloodforged Rift Sparks
The Path of Red and Black has been imbued into these totems, along with numerous different sigils, and has used the blood of an ancient avatar of original sin to fuel its growth. This totem has the ability to grow and level up, but diminishes in level each time one of its totems are destroyed. This totem swarm can currently perform the following abilities:
Black Lightning
Crimson Ice
Rift]
He wanted to draw this out as much as possible and wear them down while looking for opportunities to unload on anyone that made a mistake, as he was probably the most evasive person on their team outside of Lillith given his ability to teleport, fly, and his speed amplifying blessing. Riven also had a few trump cards he had yet to pull though, and was waiting to use said trump cards whenever he felt like they had a good chance of success - specifically, if he was able to lock down one or two of the assassins he’d go in for the kill. He had yet to change into his ultimate demonic form via Gluttony’s Aspect of Demonic Heritage, as it only lasted for a single minute. He also hadn’t summoned his Legionaries of the Blood God yet, which if applied appropriately - would probably be enough to take out at least one of the major players on the enemy side.
[Gluttony’s Aspect of Demonic Heritage (Sin)(Tier 3): A martial art that enhances you through the power of your fully formed Mark of the Sinner. Your body merges with your soul clone for 1 minute, allowing you to take on an ultimate demonic form as an aspect of the Great Maw. Very long cooldown, which can be reduced by killing and eating others.]
[Legionaries of the Blood God (Death / Blood)(Tier 2): This is a temporary summoning spell that does not require minion slots. You may summon up to 8 Elite-Class Bloodstricken Undead from the Blood God’s realm, equal in combat level to your own, and may designate whether or not you wish to summon Blood Knights, Blood Sorcerers, Blood Assassins, or a combination of the three when you do so. Undead are non-sentient and last for 5 minutes before disappearing. 1 day cooldown time. Very high mana cost.]
Unfortunately, true opportunities to strike back safely were few and far between, and he was reminded of this when he whirled mid air to unleash an arc of black lightning towards Allie - only to give the beholder demon Narg an opportunity to snipe him from behind.
CRACK
He was sent spinning as the flaming bolt smashed into his back, bypassing the totem defenses just barely and making a clean hit. The crackling lightning from his staff went off to the side and missed Allie entirely, and she pumped power into her wings for a dive with a shrill cry of glee.
Her divine claymore came down with a two handed swing, smashing through barriers of red ice summoned from his totems and collided with Jackal in a thundering crash. Riven was sent spiraling downwards at tremendous speed, causing the ground to quake with his descent’s end as earth around him exploded to form a crater under his body.
He coughed blood into Messenger’s mask, and the armor set’s jaws opened to unleash a swarm of gluttonous tendrils that intercepted Nora when she went in for the kill.
The assassin screamed as her arms were brutally ripped off, only for her head to follow when the black tendrils infused with sin rapidly constricted and crushed her body in numerous places. It was like squeezing a grape, but she was quickly followed by Azmoth and half a dozen undead that barreled into the large crater with weapons raised.
Riven didn’t have a choice. His ribs were crushed, flaring with pain, and he was having a hard time breathing even with his vampiric regeneration working overtime due to the remnant death energies Allie’s attack had left when their weapons connected.
He raised his hand with a quick set of gestures, and just before Azmoth came within melee distance - eight flashes of light illuminated the crater around him.
Eight hooded skulls etched with crimson runes on their foreheads stared with glowing crimson in their skull sockets. Six were heavily armored with red claymores and thick red plate mail. The other two held thin, wicked daggers dripping blood mana in each hand and were strapped in red leathers.
[Summoned Blood Knight, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
[Summoned Blood Knight, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
[Summoned Blood Knight, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
[Summoned Blood Knight, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
[Summoned Blood Knight, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
[Summoned Blood Knight, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
[Summoned Blood Assassin, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
[Summoned Blood Assassin, Bloodstricken Undead, Level 200. ELITE.]
The knights raised their weapons, and rushed to meet the oncoming enemies with an eerie silence. The sound of Azmoth and the undead smashing into them was joined with another thunderous crash as fire and death met blood, and the crater became an outright melee as more and more of the undead rushed in to be cut down. One blood knight fell to Azmoth’s shengari shields and brute strength, another hamstrung Azmoth before being piled on by oversized zombie gargoyles that bit and clawed. Radiant crimson slashes arced out and through lines of enemies, while flame exploded from the brutalisk and death energies knitted parts of the zombies back together at intense speeds.
CHINGGGGGGggggggg
Athela screeched in outrage when she appeared out of a flying stream of blood, her red katanas intercepted by the stoic blood assassin as the rune on its forehead glowed brighter.
“You are in my way!!!” Athela hissed, six arachnid blades coming out of her back. “And you will be removed! He won’t tell you this, BUT RIVEN LIKES TO BE IMPALED ANYWAYS! JUST LET IT HAPPEN!”
Riven could barely avoid rolling his eyes. Even when mind controlled, Athela was ridiculous.
The assassins blurred, their exchange being joined when Fimrindle was intercepted by the second blood assassin next. Unlike Athela, Fimrindle managed to bypass the blood assassin and go in for the main target after a quick blink of motion - and his metal, clawed hand reached out. Engulfed in death mana, Fimrindle tried to take hold of Riven’s soul to rip it out forcibly - but was rebuffed when Riven managed to gain his bearings and send a shockwave of storm razors in all directions.
Spinning black and red blades created from shadow and blood erupted from the epicenter of the crater, avoiding Riven’s summoned blood knights and assassins while homing in on anyone he considered an enemy. The air hissed and space itself tore with the whirlwind of radiating power as they cut, pursued, and exploded into shrapnel by the thousands - peeling off of his body while his Path of Red and Black made his two pillars go into overdrive.
The ground around him was flung back, carved asunder to create tidal waves of earth that peeled up with the massive onset of thousands of tearing blades that left ribbons of ominous light after their trajectory.
Jackal crackled in his grip, and Riven looked down in dismay when he saw there was a large crack in the shaft of his weapon where Allie’s divine claymore had struck it. His weapon had held firm, and even now Allie hadn’t come back from where she’d been flung due to the rebound effect after the collision, but if he continued to use Jackal now - it very well might break.
“Come out, Jackal. And should you be banished, return to the bag. You will not die here.”
Without a word, Jackal sent him a mental nudge of affirmation - and the weapon began to change. It was the first time Riven had used the weapon like this since its evolution, and he was interested to see just what it looked like.
He was not disappointed.
[Abyssal Beastform: This weapon can turn into an Abyssal Canine Warbeast, and does passive Sin damage on strike. This form is offensively compatible, but your weapon will automatically revert to staff form upon taking damage equal to 20% of your maximum health.]
The staff contracted into a sphere of multicolored light, before expanding rapidly with a feral roar from within the mass of magic. A canine form appeared, equivalent in size to a small house. Four clawed limbs sprouted, with each claw as big as Riven’s body that radiated dark purple energies. Darkness coated its hide similar to how Lillith herself presented, with large purple spikes down its spine that continued along the abnormally long tail it doubtless would use as a weapon. Vibrant purple eyes glared back at Riven from where the beast was forming, and a ferocious maw filled with black teeth that radiated sin smiled back at him.
It was a gigantic winged hound, and it spread its draconic black wings out to either side before whipping around to face Azmoth with a snarl.
The brutalisk was too busy fighting two of the blood knights to notice, and when Azmoth finally did notice - it was already too late.
“RRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
Azmoth roared defiantly to the end, clawing madly and tearing back at Jackal’s larger body as the hound pinned the already injured demon underneath. Large claymores stabbed and crashed into Azmoth’s armor, beating him down until there was an audible crunch, a snap, and a yank.
The fires of Azmoth’s body died down to cinders, his claws still imbedded in Jackal’s forelegs while the canine flared its wings and swallowed Azmoth’s head with a gulp.
***
Athela didn’t know WHY she needed to kill Riven, but the compulsion was too strong to resist. Despite conflicting emotions sometimes causing her to pull back from otherwise open opportunities to kill, the lack of willpower to follow through with the fight time and time again hindered her ability to succeed.
She knew she loved him. She knew she didn’t want to hurt him. But she also knew she had to.
It wasn’t a choice.
It was a compulsion, and absolute commandment from existence. She needed to kill her lover.
Her eyes glazed over for nearly the 20th time since the fight had begun, and the compulsions battled her innate desires down yet again. Yanking her katanas out of the blood assassin’s skull. Stepping on its head to crunch the abysmal, unthinking thing beneath her - she watched Riven’s other blood warriors tear through the ranks of Retesh’s and Allie’s undead like they were grass beneath a lawn mower.
She smirked, remembering the time Riven had told her about lawn mowers. Why anyone would devise something so utterly useless was beyond her, but that smirk quickly faded as Elysium’s will pressed down upon her mind.
Her right hand twitched, and her arachnid blades lifted, and she started forward again - only to pause wide-eyed when Riven’s aura soared in conjunction with another.
Death rained from the sky when Allie finally reclaimed the fight, and the fallen angel’s descent was like a comet of doom that shattered the world. The blinding power erupting from death energies meeting a vortex of blood was like watching two gods battle, and the space around them was warped due to their auras of bloodlust as Riven finally turned off his emotional switch.
For he too had been holding back to an extent, whether or not he’d realized it, and now he had no choice but to go all out.
The air split, and a black rift as big as a castle opened up to suck in Allie’s power while Riven’s own storm of blood-frost raced around the sides in the air to push against Allie’s gray cloud of true death. Souls screamed in denial and pushed back against Riven’s rebuttal, and the physically manifested auras of energy braced while eating at each other. Riven was without doubt the one with more mana supply, and his rift was swallowing Allie’s own aura greedily every second - but Allie wasn’t giving in and her own path of True Death superseded Riven’s own Path of Black and Red. It wasn’t by much, but it was enough that their force of wills had reached a stalemate that continued to wreak havoc in the local vicinity with sparks and explosions constantly going off that the zone of colliding intents.
One thing was certain, and despite Athela’s impulsions to kill Riven - she was also well aware she wouldn’t be able to do so if she was dead.
Turning to run, she used all of her dexterity to race backwards through the jungle at blinding speeds - before a crack of thunder caused her eardrums to nearly burst; and the entire miles-wide arena went bright white as the two auras completely collapsed.
BOOM
Athela was thrown head over heels, spinning as an apocalyptic strike caused the ground to peel up in all directions like when peeling an orange. The jungle was flung skywards in sprays of debris all the way up to the ceiling, stone pillars throughout the forest shattered and turned to dust. She felt pieces of her skin rot away and peel off, and the world around her was a spinning mess of motion until she abruptly slammed into the far wall of the barrier encircling the battle well over a mile away.
Her skull was shattered, her mind went dark, and then - a moment later - she felt herself spawn a new body.
[Your Gluttonous Arshakai form has been killed. You have been forcibly rotated to your next form, Gluttonous Fae Drider. Should all three of your forms be defeated, you will die.]
[Your first form’s defeat has been counted by Elysium as a strike in this event. Mind control has been redacted.]
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