Rune Seeker

Vule stopped walking in Hiral’s direction as soon as the Ring of Amin Thett at his back began to glow. Last time they’d met, Hiral couldn’t use a tattoo to save his life, and as far as Vule was concerned, Shaping was the only real magic worth worrying about. The man was less than complimentary when it came to Artists and Academics, and his opinion of Growers—Nomads—was outright insulting. They didn’t have power.

But the Ring gave off an aura that even somebody without View could feel.

And it was just the beginning.

Threading solar energy into the Arsenal of Amin Thett, Hiral began pulling out his weapons. First came the Runic Blunderbuss, a simple-looking crystal rifle that floated to hover beside him. Next was Death Knell, a chill like wind over a grave sweeping across the arena floor as cold blue light coated the blade. Stormstrike followed closely behind, lightning arcing along its jagged blade, and every hair on the back of every arm in the Amphitheatre rose along with the charge in the air. Fourth was, of course, the Reinforced Blightsteel Sabre Hiral had modified himself. Necrotic energy dripped to sizzle on the sandy floor of the arena, the four Shapers in front of him frozen as they watched weapon after weapon come out of the glowing ring.

It didn’t end there, either, with the Bestial Axes coming next. An aura like a hungry predator exploded outward as soon as the twin axes tasted the air, and something like the echo of a distant roar floated along the breeze. The breeze that became a howling wind as the final—and newest—weapon of Hiral’s arsenal came forth. The Sho-Val of the Valley materialized from the Ring to join the other weapons in a semicircle hovering behind Hiral, while distant thunder boomed somewhere on the horizon.

In front of him, the four Shapers’ eyes went from weapon to weapon, one after another, before all finally settling on Hiral again.

“What the hell is all that?” Gunimat asked. “Is that some kind of tattoo?”

“It doesn’t matter what those toys are,” Vule barked. “He’s the Everfail. Take care of him.”

“Me?” Gunimat asked.

“Something about this seems off,” Velina said. “Maybe we should…”

“I never knew you to be a coward, Velina,” Vule hissed. “It doesn’t matter what he’s wearing or what weapons he has…”

“The flying weapons…” Velina pointed out.

“How many times do I need to say this? He’s the talentless, worthless Everfail!” Vule’s words echoed off the stadium walls, and that final word—Everfail—bounced back and forth, like a chorus repeating it endlessly in Hiral’s ears.

But, unlike when he’d heard the name before, it didn’t claw at his gut. It didn’t send bile up his throat, nor regret down his spine. He wasn’t embarrassed by it. In fact, as the echo finally faded from his ears and he felt the connection to his runes, he simply let it go.

He wasn’t the Everfail anymore, and it was time to show them that.

“If you’re so confident in all this, why don’t you…?” Gunimat started to suggest, but a fierce glare from Vule cut the words off in his mouth. “Fine.”

Clenching his jaw, Gunimat cracked his knuckles and strode straight up to stand a foot in front of Hiral. While his tattoos and Meridian Lines didn’t glow as brightly as Vule’s, they still resonated C-Rank power directly in front of Hiral’s face. Practically at eye-level, the central Meridian Node stylized like a sun in the middle of Gunimat’s chest glowed the brightest.

“So, Everfail,” Gunimat said, glaring down at Hiral, “which of your fancy weapons is it going to be?”

Hiral tilted his neck back to meet the taller man’s eyes. “Don’t need one for you.”

“Pardon?” Gunimat seethed, leaning down so his forehead almost touched Hiral’s. “You insulting me, you little…?”

“Guni! His hand!” Velina shouted, and Hiral smirked as Gunimat’s eyes glanced past Hiral’s face to where a powerful Rune of Impact surrounded his right fist.

“What’s…?” Gunimat started to ask.

Hiral shifted back and swung so fast it probably looked like he teleported to Gunimat’s low Atn.

WHAAAAAAM! The uppercut hook caught the large Shaper on his extended chin as he leaned forward, then snapped his whole body backward. Gunimat’s feet left the ground, and the man did at least three complete spirals in the air before he hit the floor halfway between Hiral and the other Shapers. One roll, two, and Gunimat finally stopped, shakily pushing himself up on wobbling arms.

Guess it would’ve been too much to ask to knock him out with one punch. But, these are Shapers. Taking a hit is one of two things they’re consistently good at.

Not giving the disoriented Shaper—or the two B-Rankers behind him—a chance to recover, Hiral blasted forward on a burst of Rejection. Extending his hands out to each side of him, he threaded solar energy and weaved two separate combinations. In his left hand, he combined Rejection and Impact, while his right held Expansion and Increase.

In the blink of an eye, maybe less, he appeared in front of Gunimat as the man’s glazed eyes looked up. Feet skidding on the sandy floor, Hiral swept his arms around in front of himself until his two cupped hands met. Roiling runes within each palm suddenly combined into a strength greater than their individual parts.

A cone of force erupted outward, scarring the stone tiles of the Amphitheatre beneath the sand, then launched Gunimat away like a popping cork.

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The Shaper rag-dolled between the surprised Vule and Velina to slam into the far wall of the Amphitheatre with an echoing CRAAAACK. The stone didn’t split or even flake—the building was made to withstand Shaper-strength, after all—but the same couldn’t be said for Gunimat. He slid down the wall to the floor, a trail of red streaking behind him… and somehow still managed to catch himself on his hands and knees.

A quick glance with View showed his health bar at 50%.

Even after all that, he’s only at half-health? Just how high is his End?

“Are you sure that’s the Everfail?” Velina asked Vule while she touched her left hand to her right arm.

“We’ll look closer after we crush him,” Vule said, likewise reaching up to a tattoo on his bare chest.

Hiral shot forward without a second thought—he couldn’t let them Shape—and practically appeared right between them. Hands out to each side, he tossed out wide waves of Rejection. The attacks weren’t enough to injure B-Rank Shapers, but the sudden shove did interrupt their Shaping.

Good thing neither of these two have particularly high output rates. If I can keep them off balance, I win.

Pivoting on his left foot, Hiral reached out and took hold of the Bestial Axes, then leapt at Vule. The weapons instilled a kind of primal hunger in him—not for food, but for the hunt—as soon as his fingers wrapped around the hilts, and he lashed out ferociously.

Ever Changing+ reached its first stack, boosting his critical hit chance and damage, and his first swing chopped into Vule’s abdomen.

It barely left a scratch.

Little more than a papercut marred Vule’s muscled stomach, the Bleeding Wounds ability drawing only the faintest amount of blood. But it was bleeding, and that elicited a startled look from the Shaper.

How had Hiral—the E-Rank Everfail—managed to damage Vule’s B-Rank, reinforced flesh? With his high End, the man’s skin would be stronger than steel.

Hiral didn’t give him much time to think it over, the next attack coming a fraction of a second later. Another paper-thin line of blood appeared on Vule’s shoulder, and then Hiral quick-stepped around the Shaper. Two more hacking slashes cut pathetic wounds on the Shaper’s back even as the man tried to pivot to follow Hiral.

Too slow. Hiral continued to dance around the man while the Chord of the Primal Echo strummed along the wind.

He left two more miniscule gashes just above Vule’s waist, opting to create as many bleeding wounds as possible instead of focusing on one area. Again, the man tried to follow him, and again Hiral shifted to the side, his axes going to work on Vule’s leading thigh this time. Now with 8 stacks of Hack and Slash, Hiral’s axes were a blur of motion, and he swept them both up in a vicious uppercut.

Vule’s arm swung around like it was choreographed, taking the two hits on the inside of his bicep, while Hiral used the momentum of the swing to leap backwards.

Thanks to his high Dex, Hiral’s feet quick-stepped beneath him. Then he spun and ducked. Velina’s haymaker of a fist passed right over where Hiral’s head would’ve been, and she paused as a shimmering image of Hiral appeared.

And exploded.

The Lost Echo burst in her face, inflicting more shock than actual damage, but it bought Hiral a precious second to sneak in behind her and go to work with his axes. The 10 stacks of Hack and Slash had transformed into the single stack of Frenzy, cutting his attack-speed boost down to 25%, but it quickly climbed again as Hiral laid into Velina’s back.

With skin just as tough as Vule’s, Hiral’s attacks did embarrassingly little direct damage, but Bleeding Wounds would slowly drain off her health bar. At the same time, every hit—no matter how minor—was also triggering his Solar Drain ability. The longer the fight went on, and the more hits he landed, the more he’d suck away the solar energy they needed to Shape their tattoos.

He landed six blows before she even began to turn to face him, then two more as he watched her pivot practically in slow motion. Both of his axes chopped into her armpit as she attempted to backhand his head right off his shoulders, and another Lost Echo exploded when he dodged. While he wasn’t able to make use of one of his most powerful abilities—Killing Spree+—against the two Shapers, Solar Drain was returning more than enough solar energy for him to be liberal with his Echo Aura.

A string of beats from the Primal Chord guided Hiral to the side in time to avoid a follow-up hook from Velina—which got her another Lost Echo to the face—and he danced out to the side. Ever Changing+ only had a second left on it as well, so he swapped his axes out for the Sho-Val of the Valley.

The two Frenzy stacks giving him a 50% attack-speed boost would last another thirty seconds, and now he also had a 30% movement speed boost from the two-bladed spear. If the two Shapers couldn’t keep up with him before, they were in for a world of hurt now.

“Be careful—he’s using some kind of mental attack to predict or guide our attacks,” Velina shouted. Her hand went to a small tattoo on the side of her shaved head even as she spoke, and Hiral recognized it as the Mental Fortress.

Would that actually negate the Primal Chord? Best not to find out.

Wind swept under Hiral’s feet, carrying him forward so fast it probably looked like he’d used Nivian’s movement ability at the same time he set his spear spinning. Weapon a blur, he hit Velina half a dozen times in rapid succession.

She didn’t even flinch.

Like the axes before, the Sho-Val—though fast—did negligible damage to the durable Shaper, and she simply tanked through it as she shaped her tattoo. Only a B-Rank tattoo of specific and focused use, the Mental Fortress quickly solidified into what looked like a stone crown around her head. A glance in Vule’s direction showed a similar scene over there, and the Chord of the Primal Echo struck a discordant note.

Hiral could almost feel them resist the lure of the Chord, growing separate from its influence, and from the look in Velina’s eyes, she felt it too.

Still, even though he hadn’t been able to prevent the two Shapers from activating the minor tattoos, he’d managed to accrue a list of buffs from his near-constant critical hits. Troblin Might, Nature’s Blade, Nature’s Bulwark, Lashing Vines, and Furious Howl each had more than ten seconds left on them, and Vengeance+ was already at 5 stacks on each of the Shapers. There would be plenty more crits to come.

Then again, even with all the hits he’d landed—crits included—the two enemies in front of him were sitting well above 90% health. Despite all his speed, he couldn’t hit them hard enough to threaten them.

Which was exactly the same conclusion the two Shapers in front of him came to as they reached for more tattoos.