Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

809 - Whole Other Level

Aristeia.

Sissel’s exclamation was the second time Lex had heard that word. The first had been several days prior, when he, Solvei, and Akna had finished their battle to get into Eigengrau...

---

“I...can...still...fight...!” protested White Wraith.

Sanguine Disposition nodded his head. “Of that, I have no doubt. But anyone who can push you to the point of using aristeia despite having one of the Umbral Regalia at your disposal is someone I want to meet.”

---

Whatever aristeia was, it was a power that White Wraith had possessed, one which he’d felt confident would carry him to victory even despite all of the damage he’d taken. And Sanguine Disposition had apparently agreed, stepping in to stop the fight before the ghost pony could put it into action.

And she knew what it was! seethed Lex inwardly, furious at his own shortsightedness. Nisha knew what White Wraith was capable of!

Although the purple-eyed wolf hadn’t said anything specific in that regard, she’d made it abundantly clear that she hated the captain of Eigengrau’s guards. By her own admission, he’d been the one who’d “defeated/humiliated/broken” her, and seeing his defeat had been the reason she’d been so eager to offer herself as a servant. If the bombastic and conceited ghost pony had used the full measure of his strength to overcome Nisha, then it made sense that she’d have knowledge of whatever aristeia was.

Which meant she could have told him about what Sissel was using now.

That’s why the Night Mare sent her to me! Lex knew now. She was giving me someone who could have warned me about what I’m up against now! And instead, I threw her away!

But there was no time to continue berating himself as Sissel – the magical channels in her body still glowing visibly beneath the surface of her skin, shining so brightly that they could be seen even beneath her clothes – straightened up, no longer looking pained from her transformation. Glancing around, she slowly reached down and picked up her axe-

And Lex took advantage of her distraction, rattling off a spell as quickly as he could.

The glowing green beam that was his disintegration spell shot out from the tip of his outstretched claw a moment later, blazing brightly from how much power he’d overcharged it with. It was the single most destructive spell he was capable of casting, one he’d made absolutely sure to prepare during the equinox. He hadn’t intended on using it here, keeping it in reserve in case worse came to worst and he needed to fight the dragon Sissel had been pushing him toward; the last time he’d battled a dragon, that spell had been invaluable, taking out one of its wings and keeping the thing grounded. But if Sissel was anywhere as dangerous as she seemed right now, then its use here was warranted.

But only if it makes contact, Lex knew, watching as his spell crossed the distance between himself and the snow giant. He knew it was bridging the gap between them at an incredible speed, but with the tension weighing on him at that moment, it felt like it was moving in slow motion. She’s boosted her speed with magic, but even the slightest contact should be enough!

An instant later, the beam struck home, hitting Sissel directly in the chest.

She hadn’t even tried to dodge it.

Instead, her eyes – which had become blank white orbs – narrowed as the emerald glow of his spell started to override the light coming from her body’s magical channels, turning her internal radiance green as it began to spread throughout her body. That was how the spell worked, Lex knew; if it struck a target with magical pathways it spread through them, corroding the channels and radiating out to destroy everything surrounding them. There’d be nothing but left of her but ashes-

“To use your own words, ‘is that the best you can do?’”

Sissel’s taunt came as his spell’s progression through her body suddenly halted. For a moment the green glow flickered, dimming and then brightening again, and it took Lex a second to realize that wasn’t the case. It was that Sissel’s own magical channels were brightening, a slight frown crossing her lips as she concentrated, body tensing slightly as her inner radiance flared up...

And then the emerald light of his spell began to reverse course, shrinking back toward the point of impact.

Lex could only watch, dumbfounded, as Sissel fought his spell off, the green light of his disintegration magic overwhelmed by her brighter glow from within. Slowly but unrelentingly, it pushed his spell back, until the green part had been reduced to where it had originally struck her. Then Sissel let out a sharp breath, tensing up, and her body’s channels flared brighter.

The remainder of his spell shattered, leaving behind no damage to Sissel’s body whatsoever.

That should have been impossible. Lex knew that there were ways to limit how much damage his disintegration spell could cause. A target could momentarily close off their body’s magical pathways – kinking them like a hose – to give the spell nowhere to go, artificially restricting how much destruction the spell could cause; Fireflower had done exactly that when Lex had used this spell on him during their first meeting, turning what would otherwise have been a lethal strike into a modest injury. And Straightlace had the ability to deflect a spell that he made contact with, preventing it from entering his magical channels to begin with.

But what Sissel had done was completely different. She’d overwhelmed the spell completely, directing the magic within her to push back – evenly, from every direction at once – against his own and force it out of her. To have that much magic inside of her, let alone the ability to use it so precisely, was completely beyond what a physical body should have been capable of. And yet-

“Now, it’s my turn.”

With no other warning, Sissel laid her axe over her shoulder and started casting a spell of her own.

As she did so, the light within her flared again, and this time it flowed in a different direction, concentrating on the fingertips of the hand she was gesturing with. Reaching down, she picked up a stone, and the light flowed into it, the rock shining like a star that had fallen from the sky.

“Lex Legis,” intoned Sissel softly, and Lex saw his name appear on the stone, which had begun to vibrate madly. Smirking, Sissel reared her arm back, and Lex immediately raised a wall of black crystals around himself-

And then he was lying on the ground, gasping.

What...?

Dimly, his vision blurring, he managed to look around.

The first thing he caught sight of was the back wall of the chasm, which now had an impact crater that hadn’t been there before. Then he caught sight of shards of black crystal lying around him, needing a moment to recognize them as fragments of the barrier that he’d hastily raised. Then he looked down at himself.

And saw the gaping hole in his chest.

With a single spell, Sissel had enchanted a rock – a plain, ordinary rock – with enough magic power to punch through his barrier of black crystal, his protective enchantments, his defensive magic items, and his new body. To say nothing of the back wall of the canyon.

For the second time, Sissel had done something which should have been beyond her capabilities, now made possible because of the power she’d gained.

That was apparently her assessment as well, one eyebrow rising as she looked the results of her attack over. “You know, if I’d known that aristeia would make me this strong, I’d have eaten my sisters’ hearts a long time ago,” she murmured. “With this, I might even be able to defeat Hvitdod on my own. Mother would have to forgive me then. She hates losing her children, but she hates her plans falling apart just as much.”

Lifting her axe, Sissel began to slowly walk toward him, transferring more of her body’s internal light into her weapon. “I’ll think I’ll give it a try right after I kill you and that adlet.”

Lex barely heard her, trying and failing to rise. There was a growing sense of pressure in his head, and each attempt to get up only made it worse. Every breath was a struggle, and the struggle was growing harder to win with each passing second. His vision was also blurring more, and everything sounded like it was coming from far away.

Belatedly, it occurred to him that the hole in his chest was on the left side, and that the wound wasn’t bleeding out slowly, with his blood instead pumping out in rhythmic spurts.

A moment later he realized what that meant.

...I’m dying...

His knowledge of anatomy, gleaned from House Call’s books, kicked in then, as he realized that the snow giant’s attack had to have severed at least one of the major arteries connecting to his heart, and had likely damaged the organ itself. The only reason he was still alive, let alone conscious, was because of the supernatural toughness of the creature that he’d merged with. But even that could only withstand so much, and now-

MASTER!!! NOOOO!!!

The scream from Solvei in his mind matched a howl that erupted from her throat, causing Sissel to turn in place. She’d apparently anticipated exactly this, because she pivoted at the hip and took a wide stance as she spun around, swinging her axe with both hands, and Lex knew that she’d been taking her time with finishing him of in order to draw Solvei out.

Now, speeding directly at Sissel atop her serac, the glowing blade lashed out in a horizontal swing, perfectly positioned to cut Solvei at the waist. Lex had no doubt that it would, knowing that if a rock had been able to penetrate his defenses, then a blade – one which was already enchanted – would be that much stronger...

Then Sissel completed her swing.

And Solvei was gone.

No...not again...

The ache that went through Lex then had nothing to do with his damaged heart. He’d lost her again...

Except it didn’t feel like it had before. In fact, he didn’t feel any different at all, with his awareness of Solvei telling him that she was still there. Except...not in front of him...instead she was...

Up.

Raising his gaze, Lex’s vision was barely able to make out Solvei coming down from her leap, having jettisoned her weapons and armor and shrunk back down to her normal size in order to make a do-or-die jump over Sissel’s swing.

The snow giant, it seemed, wasn’t the only one who could anticipate what her enemies would do.

Landing on her serac – which had kept moving, passing between Sissel’s legs – Solvei ignored the snow giant completely as she zipped over to him, and Lex grunted as she gathered him up in one arm, not slowing down. Master, please give me the power to heal you! she begged, even as she held her other arm back out toward Sissel, blanketing the area in a thick frozen fog.

Lex somehow managed to raise his wire-wrapped foreleg, pointing his claw at Solvei. “H-healing...” he murmured, barely able to force the word out. Even as he spoke it, he registered the invisible bands of divine energy flow into Solvei, who immediately turned the manifested energy back on him. A second later the wound in his chest closed, and Lex felt his awareness surge back to normal, able to breathe easier as Solvei let him down.

Master, what happened?! Why is Sissel-

Is Yotimo alright?

Solvei blinked, though the question didn’t surprise her enough that she forgot to reform her armor. Yes...I killed the last of those daemons or whatever they’re called, and I was just covering him with some ice armor to be safe when I felt that you...that you were...

She couldn’t finish, her eyes tearing up. Lex registered sadness from her then, but it was quickly overcome by determination as she savagely wiped her eyes. Is Sissel the only one left?

Lex nodded, giving her a brief rundown of what had happened, mentally recalling Belligerence into his grasp as he did so. Solvei likewise reformed her ice weapons as she listened.

Should we retreat? she asked when he’d finished. If I can get Yotimo-

It wouldn’t work, replied Lex immediately. She’ll know that our next destination will be where Paska took the others. Going there only means that we’ll have him to deal with as well, not to mention there’ll be more people to protect. One way or another, we have to finish this here-

He stopped speaking as his magical senses suddenly screamed at him, and without thinking he put his claws to Solvei’s chest and pushed as hard as he could, using the force to shove himself backward at the same time.

The two of them stumbled apart just as a lightning bolt arced through where they’d been standing.

“Two misses in a row,” noted Sissel as she calmly strode out of the fog. “Clearly I still need to practice with using aristeia better.” In her hands, her axe began to glow again. “I’ll have you two help me with that.”

Snarling, Solvei enlarged herself again, brandishing her ice blades. “You killed me once before. You almost killed my master just now. Never again.”

Readying Belligerence, Lex moved alongside her, the two of them staring Sissel down together.

“This time,” he announced, his voice filled with deadly promise, “the one who dies will be you.”

The corners of Sissel’s lips turned upward. “This should make for a decent warm-up before I face Hvitdod.”

Then she charged them, axe held at the ready.

Author's Note:

With her new power, Sissel immediately puts Lex on the ropes, with him surviving only due to Solvei's rejoining the fight!

Will the two of them together be able to take down the snow giant? Or has aristeia made Sissel a stronger enemy than they can handle?

Comments

[Booster Spice]

This effect seems way too over powered for a standard time out spell? I thought Id seen things like Hero berserker Rage effect where hit points could be taken down to negative Constitution level, and if dispeled before running out, they were left with 0/1 HP and bleeding, putting them at instant death without same round healing, or at hitting negative Con limit, they insta died bcause the damage taken just literally ripped their body to pieces?

What Sissel has done is a magical equivalent, having a damage, and time out options, instead of actual ascendancy?

[bernabex27]

Hola, pasado su tiempo solo quería decirte que tenga un tranquilo fin de semana y si está estudiando le deseo buena suerte cuídate mucho bye...

[Not so New Brony]

Close calls upon close calls and last minute save by Solvei and Akna had me going. Thank goodness for the Charismata's power there but even with Solvei backing him up and Lex not dead or dying, I really am curious at what Lex will do to take down Sissel or at the very least, buy enough time to figure out aristeia's weakness and counter it.

Still, if Lex comes out of this fight victorious, he will likely reconsider turning down outside help from now on, especially if they come from the Night Mare but after he had spurned her aid, I doubt he'll be getting such help from the goddess anytime soon.

[Alzrius]

11531317 Aristeia is clearly more than some minor spell effect, or barbarian-style rage for that matter. Sissel has gained what looks like a ridiculous amount of power, and in one attack very nearly killed Lex. The fact that she did so with an ordinary rock, ensorcelling it so that it was able to shoot through multiple layers of what should have been heavy protection, speaks to just how strong she's become. Had Solvei not been there, that probably would have been the end for him; fortunately, he's grown past needing to fight alone, and for all that he's been petulant toward her recently, she still came running when she knew he needed her.

Now let's just hope that the two of them can find a way to turn things around.

[Alzrius]

11531413 Muchas gracias por los amables deseos, y espero que usted también tenga un buen fin de semana.

[Alzrius]

11531854 The Night Mare really was looking out for Lex, wasn't she? He's always been one to open up to others in fits and starts, and his newfound relationship with the goddess is no different. First he had a hard time swallowing what he learned in the Confluence, but eventually realized that it meant he needed to change his mind and accept merging with that aurumvorax. He was grateful to the Night Mare for about a day before he let the Libram of Ineffable Damnation make him doubt her, and she personally came into his dream to reassure him. After he relents, she sends him a servant to help him out (in ways he doesn't even know he needs), and he throws her away.

Lex is highly intelligent, and wiser than I think most people would suspect, but his poor Charisma manifests in how hard it is for him to form relationships, and that's just as true for the Night Mare as it is for anyone else. If he can overcome his current trial, then hopefully he'll be less prone to questioning the Night Mare's judgment from now on, since she really does seem to be trying to do right by him (within the context of her nature as an evil goddess, that is).