“Care to explain?” Seena said, cracks spreading through the hill, while first flakes, then chunks of crystal fell off. And, not from just one hill, as all six stirred.

  “Now’s not the time,” Hiral said, the solar energy and runic energy around the ancient battlefield swirling like it was caught in a maelstrom. The sheer power of these things—if they really were the Raze—was on another level even compared to the Fallen or the three guardians. The only question was whether or not they were looking for a fight.

  Not that I want to be standing in the middle of them if they choose violence.

  With a thought—and his pseudo-aspect already engaged—Hiral snapped out scarves to snag his friends, then bolted back the way he’d come. At his speed, he could be outside the city faster than…

  His feet skidded on the ground as he found himself sliding into the same circle of crystal hills in the midst of standing up. How’d I get back here? The thought didn’t even finish in his head before he dashed away at a ninety-degree angle from where he’d gone last time.

  Rejection powered his flight above the crystal and between the buildings. One block, two, five, he rocketed away, powering down the wide street to… reach the circle of hills. Now, around him, the figures looked more like kneeling giants, the soft edges of the hills they’d hidden within laying on the ground as fallen wreckage.

  Hiral shot straight up. If he couldn’t get away by heading through the city, well, he’d simply bypass it. High above him, the dark sky stretched out to where it met the distant storm, the white sun off to his right and spreading its weak line across half the city. Thousands of feet in seconds, the air and sound bent around his runic shields, and he looked back to see if the Raze were following.

  All he saw was the sky beneath his feet.

  Eh?

  “Hiral!” Seena shouted, just an instant before Hiral looked ahead of him to find the ground right there.

  Runes and Edicts flared around him. Separation to cut speed and momentum. Rejection just in case that wasn’t enough. Decrease and Impact as a final contingency, and then a thread of Gravity in the other direction. Even with all that, Hiral still had to twist in the air, landing like a cat to absorb the last of his inertia. Whatever the Raze were doing to keep bringing them back to this spot was interfering with how his runes worked. Or, maybe with how reality worked?

  “Running isn’t working, boy,” Laseen said.

  When Hiral looked over at the woman, there were two lines of still images stretching out from her. One that seemed to leave the circle of standing stones—literally, standing stones—and one that came back in from a different angle. Even as they faded in his sensory domain, Hiral could tell the two lines didn’t connect physically, but there was something else at each of the ends.

  “It’s some kind of teleportation,” Seeyela said. “Like gravity, but not, always drawing us right back to this spot. I think it’s distance based.”

  “Can you get us past it?” Seena said. “You’re Unfettered?”

  “I can get me past it, but not the rest of you. Working on it.”

  “In the meantime,” Yanily said, Tempest Roar rotating between his hands. “What’s the plan?”

  All around the party, the six building-sized crystal giants had finally reached their full height. Standing as tall as Nivian in his Aspect, they each had to be over two-hundred feet tall, with slight variations to the same general theme. Much like the twenty-foot versions that had assaulted the party above the clouds, these six each had six arms, a tail, and a somewhat-draconic-shaped head with crystal horns, and stood bipedal.

  It was within those generalities the differences showed themselves. While one on Hiral’s left was just overall thicker than the others, there was also one that stood far thinner. Each set of horns was unique, from a pair of twisted spikes that extended dozens of feet in front of one head, to another that circled like a thorned crown. Another had the same shoulder cannons as the smaller versions, while that one over there had long whip-like tendrils that hung all the way to the ground in their place.

  The differences all continued from there, though the six shared one very obvious similarity. No matter which one Hiral looked at, he saw the same thing—a weapon of destruction. These six seemed to exist to destroy.

  And, by the way their eyes all turned to look down at the very tiny party standing in their midst, that seemed to currently be their foremost thought.

  “Zero-T,” Laseen said to the giant that had the entombed body within it. “We’re not here to…”

  The vampire trailed off as a shadow passed across her from the massive foot stomping down in her direction faster than the words could leave her mouth.

  Power exploded from Hiral as Eloquenty Enraged+ took hold with Double Trouble+, and he launched himself forward to tackle Laseen. His arms closed around the woman, and his momentum carried them both forward barely in time for the foot to crash down right where they’d been standing. Inches were all the space between Hiral and the heel that smashed into the thick crystal covering the roadway, while the shockwave of the impact added to his own momentum.

  Behind him, in the center of the clearing, the others that had Eloquently Enraged+ likewise activated the ability, solar energy erupting like a series of bombs. Same as Hiral, they’d all realized the power of the things surrounding them, and there was no starting slow this time.

  Yanily launched from the ground, his body shifting into its Aspect-form mid-Skyfall to slam into the giant that had tried to stomp on Laseen. The reverse-direction Skyfall sheared through the air and hit like a hammer forged of pure lightning thirty feet wide.

  The collision sent a second shockwave spilling across the space, forcing the construct to take a step back to steady itself at the same time shards of its shattered torso spilled to the ground below it. Within the crater Yanily busted into its chest, Tempest Roar pulsed with power, before disgorging what could only be described as copious amounts of lightning into his target.

  Ropes of electricity belched out and into the giant construct, burrowing like worms deeper inside at the same time it spilled out to run along the surface. Crystal fragments fell like rain from the rampaging attack across the surface, all of it making the giant’s body twitch in paralysis, despite not having musculature to affect.

  Behind Yanily, Seena had risen straight up into the air, to about chest-height of the golems. At her back, Ur’Thul stood again at his full height, his chant ripping outward, each syllable like nails across a chalkboard, and his power flowing through the chains binding him to Seena. With the lich’s strength at her beck and call—along with Eloquently Enraged+ and her own Aspect—the party leader thrust her hands out to her sides. At the motion, pinpricks of flame appeared in a horizonal circle around her.

  Within the blink of an eye, those pinpricks grew into taxi-tram-sized spears of flame that condensed down to concentrated plasma. A second eyeblink sent the lances—bigger than Seena was—out in a vicious strike to slam into the other five Raze at chest level.

  Before her S-Rank power, the indestructible crystal did not live up to its reputation, fracturing and cracking from the spears impaling them. Spears that—of course—exploded. The light show lit up the city like a new sun had been born at surface level, blast waves from each strike stretching out to meet their brethren before bouncing back off each other to wash the targets in a second wave of flame.

  “Pick On Somebody Your Own Size!” Romin bellowed out his ability name from within the hurricane of fire, his Onslaught form emerging to throw a house-sized-haymaker at the nearest construct. With Hiral’s assistance—crafted at the same time he’d rescued Laseen—the Bonder stood himself at two-hundred-feet tall, and followed up his first blow with a charging shoulder-check.

  Off-balance from the opening salvo, the Raze could do little more than present an convenient target for the charge that tore it from its feet and carried it away from its allies.

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  Not that they were in any position to help, with another flinching under a stream of purple flashes. Rushing across the surface of the giant in a near-constant series of Bamf’s, Seeyela’s Fangs of the Lady criss-crossed in a blur. Everywhere she passed, cuts of black marred the crystal surface. While not quite as individually effective on the huge monsters, the Decrepify effect was quickly adding up, even though they weren’t Seeyela’s goal.

  With each Bamf and strike—from alternating weapons—the power and weight around her magnified. By the time her unfortunate target reeled from the explosions of flame, Seeyela felt like she carried the weight of a city with her. Each strike after that increased the weight on a non-linear scale, a dozen more hits coming in a second, before Seeyela vanished entirely from the construct’s body. If it thought it was in for a breather, it was proved immediately wrong, Seeyela appearing on planes of pink directly in front of it.

  Daggers out to both sides in her extended arms, she wasted no time thrusting them both inward. Despite standing so far away the weapons would never hit, they weren’t the focus of her power. That was definitely the sun and moon appearing on each side of the Raze that came crashing together, pinning the giant between them.

  Cracking and breaking crystal proved just how much stronger the attack had gotten since she’d used something similar on the Prince of the Swamp. Thanks to her advanced class, she didn’t need any help to crush the target of her vice, limbs bending in impossible ways as they tried to prevent the two celestial bodies from meeting in the middle.

  Off to the side—displaced by the appearance of the moon—another of the Raze toppled to the ground, its feet having been punched out from under it in quick succession. As soon as its back hit the crystal roadway, a certain, glowing double leapt onto its chest, both hands lifting up above his head. There, for once, Right didn’t punch. Instead, feet spread, he brought both closed fists down in what could only be called a smash.

  Using his full, pseudo-aspect-enhanced strength, Right shredded the construct’s chest in an outward-flowing wave of consecutively breaking crystal. At the same time, cracks spread straight down, fracturing everything along the way. Even the roadway beneath didn’t escape Right’s might, a crater forming as the titan got driven into the ground.

  Opposite him, Left did his best impression of Yanily, the Spead of Clouds summoning a low-hanging cloud so dark it was almost black… for a second. The lightning that spewed forth from the cloud lit it up so bright, it looked white from outside, while the Raze beneath it got buried in a torrent of electricity.

  While Yanily tended to hit with sudden, explosive, and devastating force, Left’s attack was like a constantly flowing waterfall, crushing his target to the ground in a ceaseless attack. And, with the spear in his right hand, Left reached over to the Way of Light with his left. In the next second, dozens of beams of piercing light joined the barrage, spearing into the shape bent beneath the roaring wrath of nature’s fury. It didn’t end there, either, with the beams remaining as the double’s hand went to other tattoos.

  The Heralds of Peace and War formed and then merged into the Herald of the Unending Cycle, followed by the Banners of Courage and Despair. Of course, the Bond of the Hidden Prince and The Pack came next, though even these couldn’t risk entering the constant cage of lightning.

  That just left one more Raze, currently reeling from the flaming lances it’d taken to the chest. Eyes forward on the woman preparing her next flaming assault, it never saw the sword coming for its back.

  With a core of black, edges of holy flames, and Edicts etched along its six-foot length, the Seeker’s Unmaking left a black scar in the air where it passed. The construct’s crystal back didn’t fare any better.

  As soon as the edge of Hiral’s sword—swinging with both hands—met crystal, he flared his power and the Edicts that forged the weapon. In an instant, from six-feet to a-hundred-and-sixty, the arc of his swing bisected the giant from right shoulder to left hip. Fallout from the slash continued forward in a brutal arc, passing under and beside an unmoving Seena, to sever the right arms of the distant titan battling Romin.

  His first target taken care of, the rippling effect of unmaking spreading across the crystal chest to break down, Hiral turned to find his next target.

  Turned to find himself no longer behind his original target, but instead in front of it. Turned to find the fatal cut he’d sliced through it simply missing, the chest whole and completely unharmed. Turned to find a fist the size of a building mere feet from reaching him, billowing shockwaves from displaced air tracing its descent.

  In the past, Hiral had discovered himself in this exact situation more than once. Those times, one of his doubles had bailed him out, or he’d Exchanged with a clone to escape the coming blow. This time, he did neither of those things. In his hands, he held one of the most powerful weapons ever forged. It was about time he proved that.

  So, with the fist coming his way, Hiral flexed the power of his Eternal Domain—under the improvement of his Seeker’s Crown—and whipped his greatsword across to intercept the blow. Crystal met Edicts, with the winner clear as soon as the two touched. Black and white energy ripped through the fingers, up the hand, through the forearm, before exploding out the elbow, destroying the arm in the process.

  No sooner had it finished, than Hiral turned his wrists over, and swung back in the opposite direction, meeting the next fist coming in his direction. In a complete echo of the first punch, a second arm was torn apart from the elbow down, and Hiral whipped around to deal with the third one his sensory domain told him was coming.

  This time, however, as he twisted, something in his sensory domain tilted. Front was back, up was down, and his sword tore through nothing but air.

  The house-sized fist at his back didn’t suffer the same fate, the blow slamming into him. Rejection, Impact, and Decrease formed a wall behind him, but it didn’t stop his body from flattening out across the surface of the punch. Nor did it stop the creaking of his bones, or the uncontrolled and sudden velocity of his flight toward a nearby building.

  Even with Separation removing the majority of his speed and momentum, whatever the Raze were doing to the space meant he hit the crystal-covered building. Hit it hard. Something in his shoulder twisted wrong, pain spearing outward and down his left side, but he didn’t have time to deal with it. In his sensory domain, that same Raze was already right beside him, a fist coming to squash him flat.

  Too bad for the construct, Hiral hadn’t dropped his sword. Ignoring the pain and changing his gravity—and sense of down—to the building, he stood and swung up. Even with just one hand, the Seeker’s Unmaking proved to be unmatched, shearing through and tearing apart the blow.

  There were already three more on the way, and with the timing of them, even Hiral would be hard-pressed to catch all of them with his sword. Rejection shot him out to the side to evade the first one. A powerful cross-slash from his sword took care of the second, before another burst of Rejection got him out of the path of the final one.

  Beneath his feet, the crystal fist smashed a hole straight through the building, the top half shaking and shifting. Good enough for me. Runic threads of Connection, Gravity, Impact, Attraction, Increase, Breaking, and Dreaming lashed out from Hiral. Then, he pulled them tight, hauling the top half of the building straight onto the construct right in front of him.

  Or, at least that had been the plan, with him suddenly looking up to see the building falling on him. In one hand, his sword slashed out to tear the guts out of the toppling structure, while he aimed himself to fly through the new hole.

  Exactly as the Raze expected him to do, apparently. No sooner had his black crescent passed through the crystal-encased building, than a double-axe-hand-smash came from the other direction, aimed directed at the hole Hiral had just opened.

  That he’d just flown into.

  The CRASH echoed through the city, a second following it almost instantly, as Hiral and the damn building on top of him hit the ground below.

  There wasn’t even time for him to complain about how much that hurt, runes and Edicts flexing to explode the building on top of him. Concentrated Domain of the Sun+ poured out of him, pushing the limits of it to its full range, and absorbing the other domains that had already been summoned. Gone from his thighs, his RHCs began unloading their A-Rank death beams across the battlefield, joining the lightning and fire turning the section of the city into an apocalyptic scene.

  Above him, the Raze he’d been battling stood once again whole and unharmed, its red eyes glaring down at him. Nearby, the same scene played out with the others.

  A vicious combo from four fists and two cannons staggered Romin back, before the Raze speared a shoulder into the Bonder’s gut. From there, the construct stood like the towering Onslaught weighed nothing, then twisted and slammed Romin’s back straight down on to a spike-like building covered in crystal. While the Bonder’s armored form protected him from getting impaled, the sheer force of the impact was nothing to sneeze at.

  Not far from him, two small craters glowed with fire and lightning, where Seena and Yanily had crashed. Neither was down for the count, but green blood ran from Seena’s nose, while Yanily shook his head as if to clear it.

  Seeyela’s sun-and-moon combination had vanished, and she was back to Bamf-stabbing her seemingly uninjured target. Laseen darted this way and that, needles of healing energy streaking unerringly out to mend wounds and top up any damage the group had taken. Left and Right fought with their backs to an impassible wall of crystal, their two opponents advancing to overwhelm them.

  Every time one of the doubles managed to slip by the barrage of fists and blasts coming for them, they would end up right back where they started. No pulse of solar energy or apparent use of an ability prefaced whatever was happening, but then again, with all the energy—solar and runic—in the air, Hiral could barely feel himself using abilities.

  Still, there had to be a limit to what the Raze were doing. With just the six of them, the party had the numerical advantage, and as soon as…

  Hiral cursed himself under his breath for even having the thought, with crystal all across the battleground suddenly bulging outward. Dozens of bubbles formed, then, within a few seconds, spawned a small army of the twenty-foot constructs the party had fought before.

  The new additions to the battle didn’t even need a second to assess the ongoing fight, immediately spreading out to join in.

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