Chapter 68 - Locus of Control

  Alex flew straight toward the creature, firing the biggest Ice Blast I'd seen him create as he approached. The gigantic spear of ice stabbed deep into the joint near one of the crab's largest claws. It didn't lock the limb down entirely, but it was obvious the creature was already having difficulty moving it around as freely as before.

  I darted to the right instead and grabbed the nearest telephone pole. With a heave, I ripped the thing clear of the ground. Then, I flew back toward the monster, dodging under a quick claw attack, and used the telephone pole like it was a lance, driving it deep into the gap where the claw met its body. I pushed with everything I had, driving the pole deep into the joint so it couldn't be easily dislodged.

  The crab reacted instantly. It scuttled back away from me, wiggling its limb as hard as it could, desperately trying to work the pole loose. There was still some motion, just enough that it could perhaps manage to free itself in time. Before it could, though, Alex was there. He fired off another Ice Blast that struck directly next to where I had speared it with the pole. With the ice forming an added wedge, the creature couldn't move its limb at all anymore. The whole claw was frozen in place.

  "I think that ought to do it," Alex said.

  "It was a good plan," I replied. “We lock down a few more limbs, and this crab just won’t be a threat anymore. Let's finish it."

  I went back to the side of the street for another pole, and together we repeated the process, spearing the crab's other large claw. It opened and shut each claw madly, repeating the action over and over as if that could somehow free it, but the poles were too deeply wedged in place to shake free.

  I shot to the side of the street a third time, grabbed a third telephone pole, and used it to freeze one of the monster's rear legs. By this time, the Karabos had figured out what we were up to, and they were back to firing attack spells in our direction. But the Ice Blasts were still useless against me, and with Alex there to shield me from their Lightning Bolts, there wasn't much they could do to stop us.

  A fourth pole stopped up a second leg. A fifth pole froze yet another one. All the fight went out of the titan, at that point. The crab stopped even trying to approach the wall, scuttling sideways instead as best it could. It no longer wanted anything to do with this battle, scurrying east into the large plaza beside the government center building. That way led to the ocean. That way led to freedom and maybe healing for the creature.

  I turned toward my friend. "I think we can just let it go at this point, Alex. It's done with this fight."

  He cast another sphere of water to block yet another Lightning Bolt. "I think you're right, which means it's time to get in there and take this battle to the people who actually started it at all.”

  “How's your mana?" I asked. I knew he had been casting a lot of spells.

  "I'm just under half," Alex replied. "Don't worry, I've still got enough juice for one more fight. Let's do this."

  We streaked forward toward the enemy battle lines. Behind us, MacGregor and Thornbill had understood the ‘signal’ just fine. With the titanic crab leaving, it was time to take this fight to the Karabos, and the mad rush of people climbing over and through our barricade was well underway.

  Hundreds of people raced forward to join the assault. Many of them had spears, but some of them were armed with a mix of baseball bats, sledgehammers, or whatever other sort of improvised weapon they had been able to cobble together. A fair number had acquired attack spells, and they used them now, firing Ice Blasts into the enemy formation.

  The police had passed out polycarbonate shields. Those people with shields formed a phalanx at the center of the human formation, surging forward with their shields interlocked, blocking any attacks coming their way. Thornbill and all of his remaining Peristera took wing, as well. They flew over the battlefield, blasting the enemy from above with spells and spears.

  By the time Alex and I closed with the enemy formation, they were already heavily engaged with our people's counterattack. That was their fight, not ours. We had to take down the Karabos leadership, or all of this would be for nothing. Even if we defeated every Karabos taking part in the attack, if those leaders escaped, they'd be back with another army soon enough.

  This time, the wounded tier six enemy leader was easy enough to pick out. He had regrouped with the other surviving top-ranked Karabos. Two tier five Karabos hung back directly behind him, and half a dozen tier four warriors surrounded them. This wasn't going to be an easy fight either, and suddenly I found myself wishing I'd grabbed another telephone pole. It would have been useful to have something to throw into the middle of their formation. That thought gave me an idea.

  "Alex, I'm going to try something. Cover me," I said.

  "I've got your back," he replied.

  We dove, streaking down directly over the top of the battlefield. I skimmed along just above the height of the smaller ‘tank crabs,’ until I found a likely target. Then I darted downward and snatched the thing up by one of its rear claws, lifting it with me into the air. Who needed telephone poles? This battlefield came with its own ammunition.

  With a heave, I lifted the thing up until it was at the same height as my chest, then pivoted hard, swinging myself around three times in midair like I was preparing to hurl a shotput. Once I'd achieved a decent speed, I let go, sending the giant crab hurtling directly toward the spot where the enemy leadership had so graciously clustered themselves.

  "Bad idea stacking all of your leaders in the same spot!" I hollered out as I threw the thing.

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  One of their number cast a spell, summoning a Wall of Ice in front of them. The crab smashed into the ice with a cracking sound that echoed down the street. Shards of ice exploded in all directions as the Wall blew apart, but it had done its job, slowing the crab’s momentum just enough.

  The Karabos leadership advanced, spells flying. An Ice Blast exploded against my chest hard enough to bruise and send me staggering back. It was followed by a Lightning Bolt, but Alex caught that with another sphere of water. He was right behind me, still protecting me against those deadly spells. I shot forward, using Flight to plow into the tier four warriors advancing to screen their leaders. The attack sent them scattering like bowling pins.

  Meanwhile, Alex blasted the leader I’d injured with a Lightning Bolt that was met by another, the two spells crashing into one another midway between them. Each maintained the spell somehow, continuing to release a steady stream of electricity into the air. Purple energy arced and spat as they wrestled with each other for dominance.

  That was going to have to be Alex’s fight, because I was occupied. The tier fours had gotten back to their feet, and they’d been joined by the tier five sub-commanders as well. One of them fired a Lightning Bolt at me. I dodged, twisting sideways in the nick of time. The bolt blew apart a Karabos warrior behind me instead. With a chittering cry that sounded like frustration, the Karabos leader hurled itself toward me, spear flashing.

  I side-stepped the spear, letting it slice through the air, and closed with him, planting my fist squarely in the center of his chest armor. The impact shattered his carapace. He slumped to the ground, a crystal appearing in my hand to show he was dead.

  Before I could pocket the stone, another spear stabbed into my back, biting deep. I gasped at the sudden pain, unable to draw a new breath as a powerful blast of electricity shot through me. The Karabos had done more than stab me. He’d sent a Lightning Bolt through the spear, into my body. I twitched on the end of his weapon, unable to even scream.

  Then another spear arced through the air, shooting past the side of my head to pierce the Karabos holding me pinned. Thornbill flew overhead, giving me a sharp nod as he went past.

  I coughed blood, slumping forward as the electricity being pumped into my body finally stopped. That movement carried me off the spear. I felt blood pour from the wound, but Regeneration was already beginning to knit the damaged tissue together again. I’d be all right, with a little time.

  A glance over my shoulder told me the offending Karabos wasn’t getting back up again. Thornbill’s spear had punched right through his face. I tapped him for a crystal as well and pocketed both of them, then stood to see where I was needed.

  But the tide of battle had already turned. The Peristera were carrying Karabos into the air and dropping them to shatter on the pavement. Many Karabos infantry were already withdrawing, and that was turning into a full-fledged rout, more of them fleeing by the moment.

  Alex and the enemy leader were still locked in combat. I rushed to help, arriving just as Alex landed, his mana too low to continue sustaining his Flight. Enemy infantry closed on him from all sides, but I used Gust of Wind to blow several back, and smashed three others with well-aimed blows.

  “Nice timing!” Alex called out, sweating as he struggled to maintain the duel of lightning with his opponent.

  I snapped him a nod, then rushed at the Karabos leader. He saw me coming, but locked into the magical duel with Alex as he was, he couldn’t do much to react. If he turned his lightning on me, he’d die to Alex’s magic. I landed a punch on his chest armor that sent a shock wave in all directions, throwing him back a dozen feet.

  That wasn’t the end, though. I darted forward as he struggled back upright, slamming home another blow, then a third. This one wasn’t going to die quickly.

  It clamped its remaining claw down on my right arm, keeping me from delivering another punch. The claw tightened its grip, drawing blood. The creature chittered furiously at me.

  I didn’t know what it was saying, but hot anger rushed through me. He was mad? They’d started this fight. They had invaded us.

  “Get the hell out of my city!” I shouted. Then I hammered home one more blow with my free hand. Shell crumpled. The leader’s body slumped to the ground.

  That was the end. With the death of their leader, the fight went out of the remaining Karabos. Their forces stopped any pretense of orderly withdrawal and just ran for it, racing back toward the water as fast as their legs could carry them. Some of our forces gave chase, continuing to push them back.

  I didn’t. The spear wound in my lower back still hurt like hell, although the bleeding had slowed to a trickle, and they didn’t really need me. Not anymore, not for this.

  Exhaustion set in and I staggered, but somehow kept my feet as the enemy fled. I reached down and touched the Karabos leader, and to my surprise, three crystals popped into my hands. One was a tier six Stamina stone, which instantly linked with the one I already had, which in turn merged with the tier seven stone I had socketed, reflowing until they all formed a single tier eight Stamina stone.

  I felt better almost immediately. The boost was noticeable and almost instant. My wounds continued Regenerating at the same pace, but the impact from those injuries was much less. The pain level dipped right away, and most of all that sense of being physically and emotionally wrung out faded just about as quickly.

  A tier five yellow Lightning Bolt stone appeared as well. I pocketed that one—Alex had been instrumental in winning this fight, and he could use it more than I. We could swap crystals once things were more settled.

  Getting even two stones from a single creature was unusual. I hadn’t seen that happen before, but my guess was that it had something to do with the Karabos being a leader. But the third stone was stranger still.

  This one was larger than any of the other stones I’d seen so far.

  Where the spell and skill crystals were some variation on transparent to translucent, this rock was opaque. It was carefully carved from a dark gray stone shot through with deep bands of blue and flecks of yellow, looking almost like there were inclusions of lapis. The thing had a shape something like a rook piece from a chess board, carved like a tower about the size of a smartphone.

  As I held it, the colors shifted. The overall gray tone remained, but the splashes of color shifted. Streaks of clear crystal replaced most of the other colors, although bits of both blue and yellow remained. Those were the colors of my spells, I realized. Once I’d touched the thing, my magic types supplanted that of the prior owner. The longer I held the thing, the more I understood how it worked and what it was. I’d beaten a tier six monster, leader of an entire force of monsters. The ‘chess piece’ was sort of a control stone, one which had never been used.

  As I held it, ‘memories’ of how to activate the thing filled my mind, telling me how to use the device to take control of an area. All I had to do was focus on the place I wanted to make my base, and I’d own it, complete with magical benefits.

  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with the thing, but it was definitely something to worry about another day. For the time, I slipped it into a thigh pocket and carefully buttoned the pocket to make sure it didn’t go anywhere. I had a sense these ‘control stones’ were much rarer than the regular crystals. I’d want to treat it with care.

  Alex was in the air, leading others to harry the enemy as they continued their flight back to the sea. I left them to it, launching myself skyward and flying back toward MacGregor instead. My feeling was, now that the battle was done, we could maybe begin the process of rebuilding, and I wanted to be a part of that. As much death as I’d seen, and caused, I wanted to use my powers to help and create, too.