Rising Kite - A story from the world of HWFWM

Brave Walker of Paths, or just Walker as he was known to most, was moving through the dense woodlands west of Gilded. Where most others followed paths and trails, he walked where he pleased as his steps covered a lot more distance in his favored environment. He had a handful of abilities, most coming from his domain confluence essence, which made traversing and operating in forested environments almost laughably easy as the terrain itself actively assisted him.

Currently, his senses were spread wide through the flora around him, picking up scurrying animals and the rustling of wind in the canopies. The myriad impressions were like old friends to him, easily manageable and supremely helpful. He sensed some iron-rank monsters here and there, but mostly just noted their locations to notify the adventure society later. Any suitable bronze-rank ones he took the time to hunt down, as the road to silver rank was almost at its end.

Walker had taken longer than most active adventurers to get through bronze rank, but he felt no rush. Most of his contracts were as a courier to far flung locations in the Autumn lands, where his skill set could be put to the best use to help the largest number of people. An adventurer’s life was long, as long as they survived the dangers of the moment. He felt a pang of nostalgia as he remembered when he was fresh out of the transition to bronze, over eighteen years ago now, and was on a very special contract with a very special delivery.

But at the moment, Walker was not on a delivery. He was scouting. And the result of said scouting had him concerned. Sensing that he was closing in on his next location, he allowed the undergrowth to meld around him like a cloak, hiding both aura and location most effectively. It was an ability of his hunt essence, optimal for stalking out his prey and to help him avoid danger. He had to remain the hunter, after all.

After avoiding some hidden alarm rituals, he could confirm another site. There was a cave that he could spot from up in the branches of a tree. Some basic cloaking formations hid it from most casual observers, but the plants in the area told Walker all he needed to know. The hidden but not very observant iron-rank guard outside was also quite the giveaway that this place was very much inhabited, and for quite a while now as well.

Without making any sounds, Walker noted the location and retreated from the area. His insides were at war. He understood the need to not tip their hands too early; that the branch director was gathering forces for an unprecedentedly ambitious assault on the remnants of the fallen sect. Their foes were spread out and no one in Gilded wanted them to be forewarned and scatter even further. But Walker also knew what these deviants did to people, no matter which of the dark paths they were on. And he knew that every delay would mean more innocent people falling into their clutches.

But what concerned Walker the most were the numbers. He knew that the wild Autumn lands were a haven for people escaping from more civilized lands, usually hunted for crimes and unsavory businesses. It seemed that the lax and infrequent attempt to root out the remains of the fallen sect had been so inadequate that it instead was given the time to expand, absorbing or preying others already cast out.

It was time to return to Gilded and report to the branch director that this would not merely be a punitive expedition. It would be a war. Small of scale, scattered and spread out, but a war nonetheless.

It had been with relative ease that Kite had spent his first two days in the air domain, by whatever measure that a frequent life-and-death struggle could ever be called easy. Many of the monsters present were rather amorphous, semi-corporal entities who attacked with almost exclusively magical attacks which started to generate electrical charges within themselves while attempting to push Kite around with strong gusts of wind. As Kite was very resistant to such pushes and as his dispelling attacks dissipated the gathering lightning, easily noticeable by his new magical perception, they fell rather easily to his attacks with few, if any, options that could threaten the young iron-ranker.

When facing the ruler of the domain, this had changed as he was brutally reminded that his protective abilities were not impervious to the tyranny of rank. His current foe was something which looked like a living stormcloud, roiling and vaguely spherical. It too used control of winds and launched sparks of lightning to attack Kite as he had come upon it at the top of a low mountain with a flat top at the center of one of the platforms in the domain.

While his barriers had been adequate to help protect against the launched sparks of lightning, Kite had made a rather critical mistake as he had moved too close to the edge of the mountaintop. The bronze-rank enemy had reacted quickly, sending a directed gust of wind his way. As he had become a bit complacent regarding those attacks throughout his conquering of the domain so far, it was only as the bronze-rank effect broke through his ability that he realized his folly. Kite was flung over the edge, disappearing from view and the bronze-rank ruler resumed his vigil.

Half a minute later, he landed softly at the base level of the platform, heart hammering and hand clutching his charm of the azure heron as the slow-fall ability of the item dissipated.

“That… That could have gone very bad.” he chided himself. “Apparently it's not only Dragonfly who needs to mind complacency.”

He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked down at the charm which had saved his life. “You are worth every coin spent on you and more.”

Looking upward, he sighed as he realized that he would once more need to climb the mountain.

Almost an hour later, he set foot upon the top of the plateau again as the effects of a stamina-recovery pill was fading from his system. While the cloud-monster had no eyes he imagined it looking at him with a “This guy again?” written over its non-existent face. It was nonetheless eager to punish the young iron-ranker yet again.

As Kite had trudged up the mountain, he had taken his time to strategize a bit more. Thus, he went for a different approach when he strode into battle.

The rematch taking place had Kite relying more heavily on using his barriers and at least partial resistance to the forced movement of the winds to stay as close to the center of the platform as he could. His enemy had usually tried to keep its distance, and he let it do so. Instead, he relied on a battle of attrition where he used his throwing star and Disruptive strike to keep dispelling the static charge that the cloud ruler tried to accumulate while the disruptive force of the attack did some solid damage against his gaseous foe. He even took the time to practice his counters, amazed of the feeling when he got the timing right and managed to cleave the gust of wind in two with the edge of his katar or spear. The sparks of lightning moved too fast for such a tactic however, and he instead had to rely on his wards to keep them from inflicting too much damage.

In the end, the battle became a long slog, and it was not until after the third time Sage had ravaged it with a charged beam of disruptive force that the enemy finally collapsed into itself.

Kite also sunk to his knees, spent. While his bodily health was still at an acceptable level with only minor burns from some sparks which went undeflected, both his stamina and mana reserves felt wrung out.

In addition to his victory, the grueling battle had the added benefit that it had caused Third to break out of its frustrated melancholy, as it hovered up to Kite with an almost cheerful feel to it.

“Congratulations, trial-taker! You have defeated five out of six rulers in these trials. Only one remaining!

And I must say, I am rather happy with how the ruler of the air domain played its role. I almost thought it had gotten you as you went over the edge, but your foresight did you credit!”

Kite could only nod a bit tiredly, but felt that he should not remain up at the top of the exposed plateau for too long, in case of other monsters being attracted by the protracted battle. He needed to find somewhere to rest and meditate, as he could feel something inside him ready to shift.

In the end, he returned to the cave where he had rested in the wood domain. While he was rather exhausted, he still took the time to make sure that his alarm rituals were still active, correcting and recharging where needed. As he sat down to meditate, his worn out mind seemed thankful to delve deep into the restful serenity. In the depths where mind and soul met, his consciousness touched upon that which felt full of potential.

Once more, the gray light tinted with bronze shone out of him as new potential was revealed.

WWJS:

Congratulations!

Your ability [Something from Nothing] has reached bronze 0. [Something from Nothing] has received additional effects.

Something from Nothing

Special ability. Cost: None Cooldown: None Current rank: Bronze 0

Effect - Iron: Every time you defeat an enemy, a fragment of their essence is kept in a personal metaphysical space. When enough fragments have been gathered, they will manifest into a semi-random item. The item will be influenced by the fragments which have constituted it and the amount of fragments needed will vary.

Effect - bronze: Ability can produce bronze-rank items, and results are more in line with subconscious wishes. Gathering more fragments after the threshold for manifestation has been reached will increase the chance of higher rarity items, up to a certain limit.

Kite felt a pressure inside him followed by relief as the new power inside him settled. He took a while to explore the feel of it, eyebrows climbing upward as he realized the new potential of the ability. In addition to producing items of higher rank, it now added a benefit to keep building the potential item for longer as it would increase the chances of it having more or stronger abilities.

He could also feel a certain new limit of his ability that was not yet reached. His trials since his last manifestation had allowed the ability to reach the only threshold that was available before its evolution, but now he felt that there was room for more. Preferring quality over quantity, he decided to keep accumulating potential into the unformed treasure.

With that accomplished, Kite fell into a more general meditative state as he felt his reserves recovering. As he fell asleep, Glint snuggled close to him in his bedroll, he felt tension, excitement for the upcoming final challenge, as well as a slight relief that this trial might soon be over.

“You have to realize that the boy is surely dead by now.” grand elder Lark commented to mistress Dew. At this time, they were both seated in meditation at the same places where their conversation had begun. There was a thin coating of frost scattered over the ground around the woman, as well as over her clothes.

“Then by all means, feel free to inform you initiates and leave.” she answered calmly.

“And leave you up to whatever deeds you have planned, outcast? I think not.”

“At least some of them would probably be better off leaving. Initiate Rise has probably seen better days.” she pointed out, amusement coloring her chilly voice.

They had both witnessed the young initiate going through waves of frustration, anxiety, rage and other roiling emotions.

“Maybe an elder giving him some friendly meditation-advice would alleviate the young man’s agitation?” she continued, one eyebrow pointedly raised.

“Do not attempt to distract me. Neither of us shall intervene in this situation. My presence is only here to keep your dishonor in check. An initiate of the Victorious Sunset sect can prevail through far more hardship than this.”

While the conversation ended there, the grand elder did feel a bit of concern regarding the state of the former disciple. He took pride in the strength and dedication of the sect’s students, but initiate Rise’s actions here had passed into the land of obsession. During the days spent observing, he had seen the growing unease among the other initiates as well as their waiting dragged on. There had been some attempts to broach the topic of leaving, but the anger in the response had quelled any more of such initiatives.

Had the outcast hag not been present, Lark would have already stepped in and quietly ended this venture. But now there was an observer, important enough that her telling of what transpired here could not simply be dismissed. His mission here was, first and foremost, to preserve face and the reputation of the sect. He could investigate the initiate further when this whole debacle had been dealt with.

Up close, the gleaming battlements of what Kite assumed to be a castle was even more impressive than what could be gleaned from afar. The walls were polished to a gleaming shine, further noticeable by the alien architecture with a lot of curves and rounded surfaces. This domain also seemed to only consist of one platform, albeit much smaller than the wood domain. Kite thought it looked like the vast building had multiple levels, and assumed that the actual area of the domain was larger than it looked from the outside.

As the castle had only one entrance in the form of a large open gate and Kite did not possess neither the equipment nor the powers to scale the walls, he went along with the open invitation to what would inevitably be trouble.

That trouble did not take long to reveal itself either. As he passed beneath the gates, the now very familiar white threads descended from the sky and disappeared into the gleaming floor of the small courtyard beyond. From it rose a single figure of sleek, articulated armor in a foreign style made from the same chromed metal as the environment. While humanoid, its proportions were stretched out. It stood about two and a half meters tall with a thin torso and long arms and legs, and wielded a long, straight sword.

Unlike the stone soldiers of the first domain Kite had fought through, this creature was quite fast as it advanced at Kite. It also showed some proficiency and cunning with the sword, using its long limbs to whip the slender blade at Kite in an attempt at a sudden attack to seize the initiative and push him off guard. Deciding to meet the first attack with a weapon of his own, Kite brought up his greatsword to shield himself and get a sense of the metal monster’s strength. He felt a distinct shock of numb pain as he blocked the strike, telling him that the creature was both strong and fast, albeit without the same, solid mass as the winged stone creature or the crustacean-centaurs.

What followed felt more like a duel than a fight against a monster, but the opponent’s more alien anatomy and moves put the actual experience somewhere in between. After some early gashes suffered as he realized that the creature could manipulate the shape of the blade to some extent, folding the sword around Kite’s defenses to whip at his face and arms, Kite’s counterattack began. Not only did he begin employing his Pattern-shattering counter but also attacked in retaliation with dispelling and sundering attacks, aiming to cripple and sunder on limb at a time.

To his elation, this creature seemed as affected by his dispelling effects as the enemies faced in the first domain, although its swiftness and aggression would not let him employ the same tactics of whittling down its corporeal form at a distance as he had done against the stone soldiers. Unsurprisingly, the resonating force damage of his void-strike was very effective as well, and the duel ended when a slash of his greatsword lopped off one of the creature’s arms before a quick step up and inside its reach allowed him to finish it with the shockwave of his katar.

During the whole exchange, Kite had kept checking his surroundings with his active perception power, but no other foes had appeared to fight him. Only having received superficial wounds, he decided to press on. When going over his options, he quickly realized that there still were only one. While many doors and windows could be seen from the courtyard, all but one were sculpted in solid metal. A single door stood open at the top of a set of stairs, and he went through it.

What followed was nothing short of a veritable gauntlet. As Kite navigated the linear path through metallic hallways, a gleaming bedroom, up on one parapet and even through what he assumed to be a ballroom of some kind, he faced only single opponents. While the proportions and materials were the same as his first foe, they had different armaments and tactics. He faced a fencer wielding a long, thin blade along one of the corridors and was almost gravely wounded by a stealth attack by a metal foe wielding two short blades. In the latter case he was saved by his newly evolved perception power yet again, summoning the barrier of Heaven-and-Void warding behind him to deflect the incoming strikes.

He stopped for rest and meditation inside the large ballroom, after defeating a ferocious spear wielder with a penchant for leaping attacks which he had finished with his conjured dark gate, much in the same manner as the stone monster at the very beginning of the trial. It was a bit unsettling to see such an exquisite environment all carved from the same metal without variety, and he imagined that his senses would have been more confused by the experience had he not progressed as far as he had toward bronze rank.

Kite did feel that he had gained a certain momentum, and after two more stops to rest and hours of traversing the castle he found himself in front of a large pair of double doors. There was nowhere else to progress, and Kite could even feel the bronze-rank aura from beyond the doors. As this was, hopefully, his final challenge inside these trials he took his time to rest and meditate as well as eat a spirit coin, making sure that he was as ready as he could be.

“Thank you for seeing me through and allowing me to persevere.” he mumbled in quiet prayer as he rubbed the token of Fortune between two fingers. “And thank you Glint, and you too Third, for keeping me company so far. For good or ill, this should be the final challenge.”

Dragonfly and Serene sat at the group's favorite restaurant, the former happily slurping down her noodles.

“I’ve been out with my master for days, and he’s still not back. What has it been? Three weeks?” she grumbled before scoping up more of the delectable food.

“Twenty days.” Serene corrected, a bit of a somber note to the usual chimes of her voice. “My goddess has urged me to have faith, and I sure have tried to keep my mind clear and song in harmony. But it is hard when a part of the choir is missing.” she finished, looking at the spot usually reserved for Kite. Shortly thereafter, her eyes locked on Dragonfly as she had sensed more from the woman’s aura than its bearer had wanted to.

“Dragonfly. Are you holding something back?” she asked calmly. She did not want to force her companion to ask, but they both knew that Serene had picked up on something substantial, beyond the ever-present worry for Kite.

Silence reigned for a while, Serene waiting calmly as she let Dragonfly gather her thoughts.

“Serene… I am going away. After the… you know. The thing that comes next.” she began, words starting to tumble out more quickly. “Master Force will reach silver rank soon, and she is not content to stop there so she will travel south in search of more challenges and I will go with her even if one part of me wants to stay here because I will miss you and I will miss Kite but I cannot just leave master Force after all she has done for me and I still have so much to learn bu-”

Serene had, for once, not reached out with her aura but instead with her hand which was now resting on top of Dragonfly’s where it lay on the table. While Dragonfly was a hugger and both her companions had long accepted that, it was very uncommon for Serene to be the one initiating physical contact. As Dragonfly looked up at her friend, she could see the sadness but also the happiness written on her features as she did not try to school them into the calm she usually wore.

Silence retook its hold over the pair for a while, laden with emotions.

“While it brings me great sadness to hear of it, Dragonfly, I can see that you have already been bearing this sadness for a while. Alone. While I knew that this day would come sooner or later, it still hurts nonetheless. But it is also for an important cause; you. I truly understand when you say that you need this, for many reasons.

Do you know if you will return?”

“Of course I will! Master Force said that we would return for the surge, and I’m sure we can reunite for it.”

“Then our farewell will only be a temporary one.” Serene stated with a sad smile. “I assume you haven’t told Kite yet?”

“No. I honestly would have waited a while to tell you as well, but as usual there is no getting past you, Serene.”

“Oh I don’t know about that, Dragonfly. Your aura control has improved a lot during the months I have known you. If not for the temporary lapse earlier, I would not have picked it up unless I really went looking. And you know I don’t do that towards either of you unless I feel I have a good reason to.”

Dragonfly couldn’t help but smile a bit at the praise. “Well, I have practiced so it’s kind of you to say.”

“Oh I am well aware how much you have practiced. You and Kite have both looked rather at peace quite often as of late.”

“Serene!” Dragonfly hissed as she ducked slightly.

“Oh now you are abashed?” the other woman asked, amusement clear in her windy voice. “You usually have quite the triumphant feel about you after your… practicing.”

“Such talk is for moments with more privacy.” Dragonfly insisted.

“Relax, Dragonfly. Any casual listener will only hear a slight droning sound coming from us. And I will notice if anyone is paying active attention. As long as it isn’t a curious, stray silver-ranker at least.”

“Huh.” Dragonfly paused, suddenly aware of the slight and subtle hum of aura that surrounded them. “Is that an aura trick?”

“Indeed. It is practice, mostly, but a bit useful in everyday life. My seniors have assured me that I might reach the level of a proper privacy screen at higher ranks if I practice enough. It is for another purpose, but I can’t tell you more. Temple secrets.

But back on topic. When will you tell Kite?”

Dragonfly sighed. “When he’s back. Or at least when we have celebrated properly. I think I will explode if I need to carry it around any more than I have to.

But I don’t want to make him sad. Or hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I think we are both still quite fine with where we stand. But you know that he’s had an important person leave due to other circumstances before.”

During their travels together, Kite had been very open with stories from his past, even his first love and separation from Brook a few years ago.

“While I understand your sentiment, I think he will appreciate being able to work through any eventual hurt together. And I don’t think it will be the same. You are both a lot older than he was then. And you are both adventurers, with the freedom that comes with it. The power to meet again is within both your grasp. And mine as well.” she finished with a smile.

“Thanks, Serene. I… really appreciate you. As a friend. And companion. Even though you have your super-aura senses and can sniff out any secrets, no matter how private.” Dragonfly finished as she gave her friend’s hand a light squeeze. “But before all that, Kite needs to return. And he better hurry too. We have a fallen sect to hunt down, after all.”

Kite took a steadying breath and pushed on the twin metal doors. They slid inwards without resistance, but were accompanied by a surprisingly melodic vibration which spread through the steel around him.

The room he entered was a large throne room, albeit completely empty except for a huge and intricate metal throne and the being which sat on top of it. It was a three meter tall armored figure in the same metal as the rest of the whole domain with one exception; a golden circlet which rested on top of the helmeted head. Its foreign armor looked embellished and intricate beyond the enemies which Kite had faced so far, as did the halberd which stood leaning against the side of the throne.

“Behold, the metal sovereign. The final ruler of the trial!” Third stated with some excitement leaking through.

Kite did not answer as he kept a steady pace towards his foe, who in turn rose from the metal throne and started off toward him, halberd in hand.

It was Kite who took the opening shot as his bow materialized in his hands, already drawn and an arrow manifesting against the web-like string. He let loose once and drew again, firing as soon as his Disrupting strike became available again. His magic perception had shown that the bronze-rank king was covered in a magical effect, not unlike the enemies faced so far in the domain.

The opponent did not just take the attacks without intervention however. It swung the halberd to intercept the first arrow but was a bit unbalanced as the dispelling force caused a huge hole to form in the weapon's head. The second hit a vambrace and the third squarely in the chest. As the king started racing toward him, Kite could see that the holes caused by his dispelling strikes did not reveal a series of the usual white threads, but more metallic gleam beneath.

When it came into range, the bronze-rank ruler initiated with a sideways swing which Kite met with a swing of his own, greatsword flashing and the dispelling counter did its work as parts of the weapon crumbled. However, as he stood there,sword extended to his side after the block, he suddenly felt a surge of the bronze-rank aura as well as mana observed through his magic perception. In his moment of relatively open guard, the whole armor which formed the outer layer of the metal warrior, warped into long, gleaming metal spikes which launched themselves at Kite in an instant.

Kite just about had the time to snap out a “Ward!” as the barrier sprang up, but the close proximity of the surprisingly ferocious attack meant that he had time to do little else as a means of defense.

Metal spikes pierced through Kite’s arms and legs, his torso and head mercifully protected by the barrier. He was still almost nailed to the ground, pain almost completely blinding him as the spikes started to rapidly dissolve. He did have the time to take in his opponent, now lacking the outer layer of the armor. It was now a rather featureless, elongated metal humanoid which was not entirely dissimilar to the stick-warriors Kite had made as a child. The sharp, metal hand which was lancing toward his head was not part of his childhood reminiscence however.

The part of his mind still functional recognized the danger and acted, as he croaked out another chant.

“Void.”

He saw little of his opponent after that, as the black void of Gate of Nihility appeared above him. The last of the spikes dissolved shortly thereafter, depositing him on the ground with limbs in tatters.

Above the gate, the ruler of the metal domain recoiled forcefully as its hand was shaved off by the sudden appearance of the black gate. It did not let up however, raining blows down upon the rift to quicker descend upon its critically injured enemy, even as more of its arms was torn asunder. The dark gate was wide enough that it barely saw the hint of glowing light which spilled out from beneath it, but when it finally dissolved it could only see pools of blood on the floor and distinct bloody markings as if the puny person had been dragged away while leaving a bloody trail behind.

If it had been capable of such a feeling, it would probably have been surprised to see that its foe was currently several meters away, hanging onto the wispy fin of a four meter long shimmering carp which floated across the floor carried on a cushion of water. It was incapable of such feelings though, and instead set off in pursuit.

As Immortality finished restoring his limbs to full functionality, Kite quickly got to his feet as Glint shrank down and returned to her bottle.

“Thank you Glint. Leave the rest to me.” he said, smile strained as he had just been blindsided thoroughly enough to be forced to use what could arguably be two of his most potent trump cards. Exhilaration still won out over despair though, as the feeling of escaping near death had its own distinctive rush.

The bronze-rank ruler was upon him once more, and Kite met its scything arm with his heavy greatsword in a downward swing, barely deflecting it as he plunged the blade into the ground to strengthen him and his barriers. He deflected the next jab with a barrier while simultaneously beginning a thrust of his own as the wicked bone spear appeared in his grasp, its head wreathed in the nihil energies of Void-Sunders-Firmament. The spatial tears which followed cut into the thin body of his foe.

One of his pulses of expanded perception was just in time to reveal that the ground behind him seemed to ripple slightly, leaving Kite just enough time to bring out another barrier behind him to deflect a metal spike which shot from the ground. It was followed by more from different angles, and Kite realized that he would have to attempt to manage keeping his perception power active for longer unless he wanted to suffer serious injury from the multi-vector attack.

He continued to employ his barrier against some of the spikes, and realized that they apparently counted as part of the creature attacking as he could feel his counterattacks drain the mana from his opponent even as he used it on the seemingly separate spikes.

The following minute was a rather frantic back and forth as both opponents balanced relentless attacks versus measured defense. Kite’s opponent had the advantage in both speed and strength, albeit that Kite’s judicious use of his spear had it starting to loose the edge in the former. The rest of Kite’s multitude of abilities made up the difference and they could both feel the pace of the battle settling into the human’s favor as he had the time to land more attacks between each defense.

The metal ruler apparently wanted to shift things up a bit, and Kite saw it attempt to tackle him as his magical perception could see mana gathering along its whole body again in what would probably be some kind of offensive measure.

This time, he was more ready as he shouted “Wall!”, creating the barriers as an octagon around his foe, the walls of Leyline warding completely encircling it on all sides except up. The barriers appeared not a moment too soon, as a ripple flowed over the metallic body of his foe, followed by a storm of needles being shot out in all directions and at great speed. All of his barriers became almost milky white and opaque from all the myriads of small impacts and the cracks they created. Fortunately, they held as the impact was too spread out, but Kite knew that the attack would have shredded both flesh and bone.

Another quick swipe broke through the severely weakened walls, and Kite noted that its body seemed even thinner and quicker now. He did hope that this meant more fragile as well, as the battle resumed. Kite had to quickly adjust to utilizing his barriers more rather than blocking or parrying with his weapons, as the thinner limbs of his foe had more flexibility. He received several nasty gouges along his face and the parts of his armor sporting huge holes after the initial devastating attack, but gave as good as he got.

Kite also thought he could see the beginning of his foe’s mana reserves beginning to run low. While monsters did not use mana in the same way as an essence user, they still needed it to keep the integrity of their corporeal form. He thought he could see metal shavings loosening here and there, as his many attacks and the constant vortex of Spirit Singularity had caused the reserve to dwindle.

He was preparing to bring his most devastating attacks to bear as the ruler of the metal domain also brought out what he hoped would be its last trick. After a pulse of aura, a dozen metal soldiers arose from the floor of the large hall. They were iron rank and much weaker than the other Kite had faced during his time in this domain, but he could imagine that their numbers and a challenger’s dwindling reserves would make the sudden appearance of such numbers quite formidable.

Fortunately for Kite, he had an answer to this which only required a slight change of plan. According to his magical perception, they were not summoned creatures in the same way as those brought forth by an essence ability, but seemed to have been waiting beneath the floor for the signal to appear..

Sage hovered out from behind his back as he was once more gifted the charged potential Kite had gathered during the fight through Potential of Stolen Power, adding it to its own. As it had done during his battle with the gelatinous ruler of the water domain, the familiar started to fire a spreading torrent of small motes of light, this time white with resonating force. They covered almost half of the throne room, both the ruler and the newly arrived reinforcements well within their area, before the chained detonation tore through the space.

The normally pristine metal floor cracked and warped beneath the resonating force, leaving the throne room marred as the newly summoned reinforcements were broken and scattered. The metal sovereign fared better, but was still bent and dented by the powerful chain of resonating explosion.

While it was still reeling, Kite activated his belt to close the distance quickly. His katar appeared in his hand as he punched it into the weakened, stick-like torso and activated its ability to cause a resonating shockwave. The blast cut through the last of the material still keeping the torso together, and it fell bisected to the ground.

He had almost let down his guard as the fallen top half of the creature lashed out with a swing of its sharpened hand. But the attack was awkward as the arm was dented and bent, and being both prone and legless gave it an angle unsuited to properly leverage the strike. He beat it aside with a gauntleted hand, and while he felt the jolt of impact from the construct’s bronze-rank strength, the dispelling counter caused the hand to wither and crumble.

Kite stepped up and, after deflecting the other hand on a barrier, plunged his katar down into the long, thin head of the downed construct. After two more such jabs, he could finally see the animating magic leaving the ruler of the metal domain.

Bleeding and exhausted, he still straightened and smiled at Third who was hovering up to him.

“While I wouldn’t presume too much about your judgment, dear officiator, I myself would deem this particular fight to have been appropriately pleasing.”

“Oh yes, yes indeed! How did you find the change of pace? I had a thought that a bit of a reverse-ramp encounter would be a nice surprise!” the orb began, oblivious to Kite’s wince as it described what ended in him almost being mutilated as ‘a nice surprise’.

“But I digress. Congratulations, trial-taker! You have successfully conquered all six rulers of this trial, and have officially passed the test of the jade-sky gate. You may only be of iron rank, but the potential of your path seems to be boundless!”