Chapter 159 Violent Encounter
Dorian felt his Soul Spell Matrix shiver slightly, deep within his soul. He had used multiple Abilities at once before, but never used the same Ability more than once. It simply hadn't occurred to him.
WHOOOOOOOSH
Three black orbs formed directly in the air. Each one was reminiscent of his normal Hyperion Beam. As they spawned in, they rapidly began to absorb energy from the environment, becoming stronger and stronger. The air around them distorted ever so slightly as they drew upon the world around them.
'Woah.' Dorian felt a huge strain settle in on his soul as he simultaneously activated the three Hyperion Beams. It was much harder than activating separate Abilities at once. It felt like he was trying to control and balance three separate beasts that were all running off in different directions, only able to pull and tug at them using a leash.
It was overwhelmingly destabilizing and threatened to cause severe injury to his soul, the opposing forces each vying for supremacy.
However, as the pain threatened to break his soul, a cool refreshing feeling settled in and replaced it, forcibly making the wild energy come to balance.
One of the passive Abilities his Balance Demon form inherently possessed.
The 'Soul of Balance' Ability.
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Ability: Soul of Balance
The Soul of Balance Ability allows the user to balance any energy type of energy or power that affects the user's soul and Soul Spell Matrix. By balancing harmful or chaotic energies, these sources of power will come fully under the control of the user. This Ability can only affect energy that is directly present within the soul, or directly contacting the soul, of the user.
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This Ability forced the competing energy to calm down. The energy still put a huge strain on Dorian's soul, making it difficult to maintain. But it no longer threatened to rip him apart, becoming much more manageable.
'Arrrrgh. Fire!' Dorian mentally commanded, his eyes watering as he looked at the three towering oak trees. Despite the extremely helpful effects from the Soul of Balance Ability, he was still in a tremendous amount of pain. The feeling of being stretched and torn apart, even when greatly mitigated, was indescribable.
WHOOSH
The three beams of energy shot forward. Dorian didn't try to invest any Law energy or Dragonfire in them, simply trying to keep them aimed straight.
BOOM
BOOM
SWISSSH
Two explosions and a 'swishing' noise echoed forth.
Two of the Hyperion Beams had landed exactly where Dorian wanted, slamming into and detonating large holes in the towering oak trees. The third beam attack, however, had missed by about a meter, shooting off into the distance where it eventually dug a long gouge in the empty, abandoned earth and exploded, forming a small crater.
"Huh…" Dorian muttered as he saw this. Bits of wood and dirt rained down, falling into the two craters where the large oaks had stood. The third oak tree stood between the two others, just barely left untouched by the impact.
'I managed to control the attacks… But all the fluctuating energy made it difficult to aim perfectly, even with the energy in my soul forcibly balanced.' He thought over what had happened, examining everything. The pain in his soul had faded to an afterthought now that he was no longer trying to control three separate Hyperion Beams.
'Status.'
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Dorian - Soul Status
Soul Stage: Lord Class (Pseudo-King)
Health: Perfect
Energy: 164,123/170,581
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'I only used up a bit more than 5,000 points of energy.' He thought, pleased. The stronger his soul got, the more and more affordable it became to use powerful techniques. Even simultaneously, it appeared.
'The damage from one, or three, Hyperion Beams might not be too great for super powerful experts.' He continued, rubbing his chin.
'But what about 10? What about 50?' His eyes flashed as he imagined spawning 50 separate boiling black orbs of energy, infusing each one with the power of Law and Dragonfire. A veritable towering wave of death, dozens of lasers blasting forward all at once.
'An attack of that scale… I doubt even I would be able to withstand it, even when using my Balance Demon form plus the Mystic Armored Body Ability.' He realized, feeling excitement run flush in his mind.
'This is it exactly! A sort of super attack combo!' He clenched his fists, his eyes filling with determination.
'But first… I need to be able to control that many Hyperion Beams. In fact, I need to be able to control at least just three first. One step at a time.' Dorian calmed himself down, returning back to his current task. He paused for a moment, taking a look up at the sky.
It was still night time. The Chaotic Space up above the sky was calm and peaceful, very faint light gleaming off of it.
He looked back down, staring at his clenched fists.
'One step at a time.' He repeated. He took a few deep breaths.
'Back to practice.'
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
"Time… I want more time.' Dorian mused out loud as he looked around the badly devastated gully. Dozens of large craters could be seen, as if this area had been bombarded by a swarm of small meteors, crashing hard into the earth.
Several hours had passed since he started his practice.
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Dorian - Soul Status
Soul Stage: Lord Class (Pseudo-King)
Health: Perfect
Energy: 94,123/170,602
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In that time, Dorian had practiced his techniques a number of times. He took several opportunities to pause and meditate, furthering his understanding and feeling of the energy twitching within his soul. After so many hours, he had managed to get the hang of controlling up to three Hyperion Beams.
He could just barely manage to aim the three attacks. He had found that his first attempt had actually been a lucky one. At first, even landing a single Hyperion Beam and controlling it to go where he wanted it proved a trial.
Eventually, he was able to get all three Hyperion Beams to move in the same general direction, clustered up. Now, he could control it with more precision. He couldn't use it for pinpoint attacks, but if he had a general target that wasn't too far and was a couple meters large, he could definitely hit it with at least one of his three Hyperion Beams.
'It's not bad… but it's still not good enough. Why is this so hard to do?' If the original Solar Rock Lizard race that possessed the same Ability could have heard Dorian complain, learning that he was whining about being able to control three Hyperion Beams at once, the entire species might have rolled on the floor simultaneously in shock.
Controlling a single Ability was already something that took a certain degree of focus. Controlling two separate ones at once was quite difficult.
Controlling three Abilities that all overlapped with each other simultaneously and commanding them to move in slightly different directions, this was a feat so excessively difficult that it was practically unheard of before Dorian.
It was all thanks to his own imagination and determination, as well as his Balance Demon form allowing him to even stand a chance.
'If I command Fate to follow me, I probably could land all three lasers at once.' Dorian surmised, nodding his head. Still, if he could become more skilled at it, he would be able to do the same without wasting energy on twisting Fate.
'If only I could fly at full speed in my Sun Eagle form and not have to carefully transport Helena. We could save a huge amount of time and allow me to focus on getting stronger while clearing out the ruins." He sighed and shook his head,
"Life never makes it easy. I'll just have to handle it with the hand I've been dealt."
'Hyperion beam, activate three times!'
WHOOSH
WHOOSH
WHOOSH
BOOM
Three separate beams formed and shot out, moving in unison. These black beams all swarmed forward and then exploded at the same time, spread out roughly 10 to 15 meters from each other.
Dorian looked around at the destruction that had taken place, he nodded slightly. It was still an improvement. He could now successfully cast three Hyperion Beams at once in his Balance Demon form, even if he couldn't quite perfectly aim them yet.
The three separate craters had appeared near each other, smoke and dust still rising from them. It was still dark out, though Dorian could just barely detect a hint of sunlight, a new day beginning to shine forth.
The very faint light washed across the man in grey that was standing just behind those newly formed craters, landing on the tree he had missed in the beginning.
"Sorry, old trees. You guys didn't really deserve to get blown up." Dorian smiled sheepishly at the original remnants of the obliterated oaks off to his side, his first targets.
"Probus would be proud." He thought with a smile. Helena had told him quite a bit about that odd Vampire Swordmaster.
"Trajan… would probably be not so proud." He let out a small laugh at the thought of the environmental Vampire. He hoped the duo was doing well, for Helena's sake. As he smiled, for some reason, Dorian felt his soul seem to shiver. A faint feeling of unease swept across him.
"Huh." He looked around the now mostly decimated clearing. He could still see the empty gully and the few remaining trees standing proud. There were even a few bushes he hadn't noticed clinging to some of the trees or spaced out intermittently. Walking towards him between the most recent craters was the man in grey, moving calmly.
"There's nothing here. How odd." He frowned turning around to look behind him. Perhaps it was his imagination.
"Focus, Dorian. You can't stop your practice yet. Let's get a few more-" He abruptly cut himself off.
shiver
Dorian felt his soul twinge with a familiar feeling. One that reached out and touched him at his very core. A feeling that vanished immediately, disappearing as if it had never been.
A feeling he only got when one of his fellow Anomalies was present.
Instinctively, almost without thinking, Dorian raised his right arm in a guard position, directly in front of where his heart was.
SHHIIINK
BOOOM
Dorian felt a rippling pain in his arm as something slammed into the mystic energy protecting him and the durable physique of his Balance Demon form, and pierced halfway through it. An explosion of energy blasted Dorian backwards a moment later, causing him to tumble through the air.
Midway through, he regained control, however, twisting his body around to land on the ground. Green blood dripped out of the wound on his right hand as his eyes widened, fierce concentration causing them to almost glow.
Eyes that zeroed in on a figure that was standing right in front of him with a surprised look on his face. A nondescript figure of a man dressed in grey, wielding a dull black knife.
A figure that, even as he pinpointed its location, seemed to fade out of awareness, trying to escape his sight.
'Scanning…' Unconsciously, Dorian ordered Aursa to scan the figure as he struggled to keep his eyes on it.
'No life forms detected.' Ausra cooly replied.
'What?! It's standing right there!' Dorian's eyes widened as he glared at the grey figure.
He blinked.
WHOOSH
The figure was no longer visible. Dorian spun around, looking to the left and right.
"What the hell..?" He muttered, clutching at his right arm. Dirt fell from the air as the impact from the blow settled. Dorian could see a small crater formed in the ground where he had been standing.
A few trees had been knocked over, cascading leaves and branches into the air. The man dressed in grey was slowly walking towards Dorian again, through the falling dirt. The dirt seemed to fall normally despite the man in grey's presence, not coating him or affected by him.
"What is happening?! Where is he?! What?!" Dorian sputtered as he looked around clueless.
'I am being attacked. By… by something.' Dorian struggled to remember the appearance of the being that had attacked him. He even started to doubt such a figure existed at all, but the blood leaking out of his arm proved that thought wrong.
'It's going to attack me again. I can't see it or sense it. Or can I? I sensed… a fellow Anomaly. Hold on! I have my Jade Memory Ability that gives me a perfect memory. It's impossible for me to forget anything!' As Dorian realized all of this, his heart dropped.
'Whatever is attacking me is making it impossible for me to remember it, as well as impossible to detect it. It must be some type of Ability or Law that is incredibly powerful. I can't afford to try and fly away or flee. I have no idea where it's attacking from and might expose myself further.' Dorian's mind worked incredibly quickly, processing the information and reaching a conclusion in an instant.
His eyes darted to the left and right. All he saw was the mostly destroyed gully, a few trees lying on their sides, the last remnants of dirt falling from the air, and the man in grey walking towards him with a knife.
No sign of any attacker.
'Think, Dorian. THINK!' His heart pounded in his ears as he tried to find a plan of action.
'I command Fate! Show me where the attacker is!' He put his full focus into this order, commanding reality to change.
'…'
Nothing happened.
'What?! Even that has done nothing?!' Dorian's eyes widened in horror. A sense of impending doom seemed to settle upon his shoulders.
'What do I do?!'
The man in grey walked ever closer, raising the dull knife once more. The man was merely a couple of meters away.
Dorian's eyes flashed as a separate idea came to mind, one fueled by desperation.
'Black Flames, activate! Activate again! Activate a third time! Surround my body!'
The man in grey lunged forward, the knife plunging towards Dorian's chest.
WHOOSH
Before the blade could land, a torrent of Black Dragonfire swarmed across Dorian's body. A huge, massive amount of concentrated flames, abnormally centered around him.
"Arrrrgh! Why won't you just die?! I rushed all the way here, just for you!" The man in grey let out a pain-filled yell as he lunged backwards, several large black colored patches of flame latching onto his body. His body slammed into the ground, twitching as the man focused on putting out the deadly fire.
The man abruptly came fully into Dorian's awareness as the fire seemed to shed whatever mystical cover was protecting him from his eyesight.
"Got you!" Dorian glared at the figure. The strain of controlling so much Dragonfire slammed into his soul simultaneously, making him wince in agony. He hadn't practiced using the Black Flames so much, or simultaneously, but his experience using multiple Hyperion Beams made it just possible to pull off.
Immediately, as he looked at the grey figure, the sensation of seeing another Anomaly crashed into his soul. It returned with a vengeance, throbbing and impossible to miss.
'Scan him, Ausra!'
'Scanning…'
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Species - Grey Mantor
Class: King Class (Middle)
Maximum Energy Level: 1,019,771
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"I've got you now, bastard." Dorian swore as he zeroed in on the figure, he flicked his wrist. Blood pounded in his ears as he went all out, not holding back and waiting for the figure to vanish again.
"Hyperion Beam, activate! Three times! Go!"
.