Carnifex writhed and darted about at her command, its many-segmented mass encircling the enemy. It seamlessly formed into differing numbers of Fang Rippers between each lash, changing its length in awkward ways that forced the three siblings on the defensive. The opportunities began all but offering themselves to her, but Zelsys pulled back, allowing the Silver Sister just enough room to do something. She didn’t disappoint, gathering armament aura around her shield and forming a giant, ghostly version of it. Then, she threw the actual shield, spinning towards Zelsys, attached to her arm by an aura thread.
The technique inevitably shattered under the relentless buzzsaw ripping of multiple Fang Rippers bearing down on it at once.
The actual shield soon followed that fate.
The Silver Sister seemed wounded as if she herself had lost a limb, despite the visible absence of backlash. She shook it off quite quickly, choosing to rotate out with the Silver Brother.
He was… Notably more impressive. He managed to hold his own against her onslaught for some time, deftly deflecting her strikes with parries that, physically, could not possibly have achieved what they did. It was kineticism, no doubt about it.
Zelsys relished in purposely letting a riposte “slip”. It was a huge, mighty thrust, empowered by armament aura and surpassing the speed of sound several times over. It was brought to an anticlimactic halt when it “struck”, penetrating no more than a centimeter into Zel’s skin, robbed of its momentum by Siphoning Pulse. The smug look of self-satisfaction on her face was more than enough to spark a realization in Silver’s mind: “I can do that too.”
Before he could draw his blade back, she had already grabbed it in hand and forced one of her Thundergods into it. The beast emerged near the hilt and savagely bit into Silver Brother’s wrist, forcing him to let go of his weapon. His eyes jumped between his weapon and her face, and he gave her a furiously indignant look that almost made her feel bad for taking the sword from him. It really was a very nice sword.
“Don’t worry, I won’t use your own weapon against you. See, my cultivation method has a crippling flaw…” Zel explained, letting the rapier slide through her grasp so she could take it by the handle. Meanwhile, Carnifex retracted, its many segments connecting into an absurdly long shape before quickly collapsing down into its normal length. Several Fang Rippers also returned to her side, coated in gore from slaughtered fodder who had tried to sneak around back. As this all took place, the three siblings rotated once more, the Golden Brother taking the helm. The Silver Brother’s blade cracked in Zel’s grasp, and the blade snapped off halfway down its length. She dropped it, completing the sentence: “...It tends to place terrible strain upon any weapon other than those bound to me. However, I find that it has become more of a neat trick than a problem.”
Rather than try to strike out at her again, the Golden Brother prioritized fending off Zel’s ceaseless barrage of probing attacks. Long-range strikes with Carnifex, similar attacks using some Thundergods while others threw Fang Spears, shots from her arm-cannon of all sorts, from high-velocity to shotshell to pure lightning. At any given time, no fewer than three Fang Rippers constantly tried to surround the siblings and eviscerate them. Sometimes, she just had one spend all its energy on launching one of its Fangs as a spear, recovering the idle construct once it was within her soul’s reach. All throughout, bolts and beads of lightning wrought from her own aura were peppered in.
Out of anyone on the battlefield, Zelsys was the most keenly aware of how ridiculous it was to call this onslaught “casual”. Yet, that was the truth. Compared to the heights of violence her current self was capable of, this was casual, this was toned-down. And, the triplets, to their credit, not only weathered it, but managed to strike back with an intensity that very nearly matched hers. In the wake of their battle, a swath of utter desolation was left. Neither Zel’s nor the Golden Brother’s strikes spared anything they happened to strike, passing seemingly unimpeded through buildings and the solid ground. Every once in a while - or, by mortal perception, every other second - one of the Golden Brother’s ribbon-bound blades managed to not just graze her, but to strike well-enough that it caused damage. They were precise, frighteningly so, striking at the exact points to paralyze, to cause wracking pain, to turn a vein into a gushing fountain or to inflict catastrophic organ failure with tiny injury.
It brought Zelsys to a truly hideous, cackling grimace. Her body had weak points such as these, for they could not be eradicated, but they were both few in number and well removed from their places on a normal human. The Golden Brother quickly noticed, but not quickly enough, not quickly enough to avoid over-investing. His aura blazed up like a human pyre in his latest, valiant effort, a flurry of blows creating innumerable phantom blades to accompany the seven. Despite having the power to tear apart solid stone and simply go through grown men as if they were not even there, Zel’s defenses caused less than one in twenty attacks to land, and all these managed to do was riddle her body with small, shallow wounds, cutting some veins and nerves here and there by virtue of chance.
77-TAILED DEATH GOD SIGN
CERTAIN DEATH BY A THOUSAND LASHES
The chase briefly came to a halt at the precipice of the inner city, as the siblings landed on a roof to recenter themselves. Zel did much the same, recovering from the effort she had spent on defense, though it was more of a light breather for her compared to the Golden Brother’s heart-scrambling, buckled-knees struggle to stay upright. The triplets stared at her with disbelieving eyes as she not only didn’t explode on the spot from having all her weak points struck over and over again, but also healed from her injuries right there on the spot. There was an insidious aspect to them; with each strike, the Golden Brother had injected some of his own aura into her. It would’ve been an issue, had her own Predator Aura not torn it to shreds; after all, she wasn’t spending it on constructs or spilling it out willy-nilly, so it was that much stronger within her body and immediately around it.
Akaso
If you’d like to read ahead, consider heading on over to the Patreon! You get up to 20 advance chapters for both Retribution Engine and Cherno Caster.
I’d also greatly appreciate it if you could rate my story, maybe even leave a review or advanced review!
For a link to the discord, check the synopsis.
Carnifex writhed and darted about at her command, its many-segmented mass encircling the enemy. It seamlessly formed into differing numbers of Fang Rippers between each lash, changing its length in awkward ways that forced the three siblings on the defensive. The opportunities began all but offering themselves to her, but Zelsys pulled back, allowing the Silver Sister just enough room to do something. She didn’t disappoint, gathering armament aura around her shield and forming a giant, ghostly version of it. Then, she threw the actual shield, spinning towards Zelsys, attached to her arm by an aura thread.
The technique inevitably shattered under the relentless buzzsaw ripping of multiple Fang Rippers bearing down on it at once.
The actual shield soon followed that fate.
The Silver Sister seemed wounded as if she herself had lost a limb, despite the visible absence of backlash. She shook it off quite quickly, choosing to rotate out with the Silver Brother.
He was… Notably more impressive. He managed to hold his own against her onslaught for some time, deftly deflecting her strikes with parries that, physically, could not possibly have achieved what they did. It was kineticism, no doubt about it.
Zelsys relished in purposely letting a riposte “slip”. It was a huge, mighty thrust, empowered by armament aura and surpassing the speed of sound several times over. It was brought to an anticlimactic halt when it “struck”, penetrating no more than a centimeter into Zel’s skin, robbed of its momentum by Siphoning Pulse. The smug look of self-satisfaction on her face was more than enough to spark a realization in Silver’s mind: “I can do that too.”
Before he could draw his blade back, she had already grabbed it in hand and forced one of her Thundergods into it. The beast emerged near the hilt and savagely bit into Silver Brother’s wrist, forcing him to let go of his weapon. His eyes jumped between his weapon and her face, and he gave her a furiously indignant look that almost made her feel bad for taking the sword from him. It really was a very nice sword.
“Don’t worry, I won’t use your own weapon against you. See, my cultivation method has a crippling flaw…” Zel explained, letting the rapier slide through her grasp so she could take it by the handle. Meanwhile, Carnifex retracted, its many segments connecting into an absurdly long shape before quickly collapsing down into its normal length. Several Fang Rippers also returned to her side, coated in gore from slaughtered fodder who had tried to sneak around back. As this all took place, the three siblings rotated once more, the Golden Brother taking the helm. The Silver Brother’s blade cracked in Zel’s grasp, and the blade snapped off halfway down its length. She dropped it, completing the sentence: “...It tends to place terrible strain upon any weapon other than those bound to me. However, I find that it has become more of a neat trick than a problem.”
Rather than try to strike out at her again, the Golden Brother prioritized fending off Zel’s ceaseless barrage of probing attacks. Long-range strikes with Carnifex, similar attacks using some Thundergods while others threw Fang Spears, shots from her arm-cannon of all sorts, from high-velocity to shotshell to pure lightning. At any given time, no fewer than three Fang Rippers constantly tried to surround the siblings and eviscerate them. Sometimes, she just had one spend all its energy on launching one of its Fangs as a spear, recovering the idle construct once it was within her soul’s reach. All throughout, bolts and beads of lightning wrought from her own aura were peppered in.
Out of anyone on the battlefield, Zelsys was the most keenly aware of how ridiculous it was to call this onslaught “casual”. Yet, that was the truth. Compared to the heights of violence her current self was capable of, this was casual, this was toned-down. And, the triplets, to their credit, not only weathered it, but managed to strike back with an intensity that very nearly matched hers. In the wake of their battle, a swath of utter desolation was left. Neither Zel’s nor the Golden Brother’s strikes spared anything they happened to strike, passing seemingly unimpeded through buildings and the solid ground. Every once in a while - or, by mortal perception, every other second - one of the Golden Brother’s ribbon-bound blades managed to not just graze her, but to strike well-enough that it caused damage. They were precise, frighteningly so, striking at the exact points to paralyze, to cause wracking pain, to turn a vein into a gushing fountain or to inflict catastrophic organ failure with tiny injury.
It brought Zelsys to a truly hideous, cackling grimace. Her body had weak points such as these, for they could not be eradicated, but they were both few in number and well removed from their places on a normal human. The Golden Brother quickly noticed, but not quickly enough, not quickly enough to avoid over-investing. His aura blazed up like a human pyre in his latest, valiant effort, a flurry of blows creating innumerable phantom blades to accompany the seven. Despite having the power to tear apart solid stone and simply go through grown men as if they were not even there, Zel’s defenses caused less than one in twenty attacks to land, and all these managed to do was riddle her body with small, shallow wounds, cutting some veins and nerves here and there by virtue of chance.
77-TAILED DEATH GOD SIGN
CERTAIN DEATH BY A THOUSAND LASHES
The chase briefly came to a halt at the precipice of the inner city, as the siblings landed on a roof to recenter themselves. Zel did much the same, recovering from the effort she had spent on defense, though it was more of a light breather for her compared to the Golden Brother’s heart-scrambling, buckled-knees struggle to stay upright. The triplets stared at her with disbelieving eyes as she not only didn’t explode on the spot from having all her weak points struck over and over again, but also healed from her injuries right there on the spot. There was an insidious aspect to them; with each strike, the Golden Brother had injected some of his own aura into her. It would’ve been an issue, had her own Predator Aura not torn it to shreds; after all, she wasn’t spending it on constructs or spilling it out willy-nilly, so it was that much stronger within her body and immediately around it.
Akaso
If you’d like to read ahead, consider heading on over to the Patreon! You get up to 20 advance chapters for both Retribution Engine and Cherno Caster.
I’d also greatly appreciate it if you could rate my story, maybe even leave a review or advanced review!
For a link to the discord, check the synopsis.
