Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

879 - Immortal Combat

“The hard way it is then.”

Kryonex’s laconic statement belied the ferocity of the attack that he unleashed as Lex rushed at him. Raising up onto his two backmost legs, the other five shot bright blue beams of energy at him, and even if Lex hadn’t possessed mystical senses, he would have been able to feel the chill hat they radiated. Each one was as cold as the demigod himself, and Lex knew that while his wards would be able to defend against one of them, any more than that would do serious damage.

Snarling, he immediately abandoned his headlong rush in favor of an indirect approach, arcing around the five azure rays – each as wide as a building – at speeds too fast for mortal eyes to follow. But the icy rays that Kryonex had conjured were no momentary blasts, each one a sustained projection of his divine power over cold, and he swung each of them in different directions, waving his legs in complicated patterns as Lex ducked and weaved around them.

For a brief instant the two were locked in a stalemate, Lex unable to advance and Kryonex unable to strike his foe.

Then Lex finished casting the spell that he’d been preparing, his eyes glowing as he fed power that was literally titanic in scope into it.

An instant later, massive globes of lightning appeared around them. Each one was the size of a boulder, sizzling with hundreds of millions of volts’ worth of power. Nor was their size the only indication of how much he’d overcharged this particular bit of magic.

Back when he’d fought Celestia and Luna, he’d only been able to create a trio of these orbs.

Now, he’d conjured almost four hundred of them.

A feral grin split Lex’s lips as, with a thought, he sent the electrical barrage hurtling toward Kryonex.

But the demigod’s response was simply to glance at the attack, his eyes flashing-

And instantly, the balls of lightning froze over, dropping out of the sky like oversized hailstones to litter the battlefield below.

Before even a single one hit the ground, however, Lex reared back and threw Belligerence as hard as he could, releasing the quill in the single instant when Kryonex’s eyes had been off of him.

The attack cut through the air so fast that it left multiple sonic booms in its wake, sounding as though all of the electrical orbs he’d conjured were thundering at once.

It had almost made it to its target when Kryonex leapt, rocketing straight upward as Belligerence sped past where the demigod had been only nanoseconds before.

“A poor tactic,” observed Kryonex dryly, continuing to weave his ultra-cold beams in dizzying sequences. “Your teleportation barrier means that you’ll have a difficult time retrieving your weapon.”

“Not so difficult,” countered Lex, his horn lighting up as he continued to dodge the gelid rays.

Instantly, a matching aura sprang to life around Belligerence as he telekinetically grabbed it and redirected its flight upwards.

His mandibles chattering, Kryonex simply adjusted his upward trajectory, easily reorienting himself in midair as the quill harmlessly flew past him-

Only to collide with a skyscraper-sized wall of black crystals that suddenly rose out of the earth, splitting the valley’s westernmost mountain in two as it rose up to block the demigod’s path.

It was only because of how keenly he’d trained his mystic senses on his enemy that Lex was able to spot the moment of indecision that his enemy displayed, the demigod simultaneously smashing his two unoccupied legs into the monstrous wall even as he tried to reorient his forward motion, apparently unable to decide if he should burst through the obstruction or evade it.

But that was enough, and Lex’s horn glowed brighter as he brought Belligerence back around, the runes on the quill shining to match his aura.

A second later the weapon pierced through Kryonex.

Even as it struck home, the demigod was already rolling with the blow, curling and rotating to minimize the area of impact, and Lex could already see that Belligerence had struck off-center. But that didn’t change the fact that it had punched completely through the thorax of the massive spider, and the demigod’s multi-beam attack tapered out as it was struck, leaving Lex free to fly directly toward his enemy even as he telekinetically pulled Belligerence back towards him. He’d need to recharge it, already able to see that the runes had lost their glow, but if he was fast enough he might be able to get a second hit in-

He had just grabbed Belligerence when a thousand lacerations tore across his body.

Had Lex still been mortal, he would have died instantly, flayed into a bloody slurry in less than a second. Fortunately, he was made of sterner stuff now, falling back as the perpetual storm surrounding Kryonex intensified. It took him only a moment to realize what had happened: every drop of freezing rain, every flake of snow, and every pellet of ice sped up and hardened, their edges keen and glittering as the wind whipped them into a deadly blender, protecting Kryonex even as it threatened to shred anything that dared approach him.

But that threat intimidated Lex not at all.

Although more than half of the Armor of the Renewing Light had been ripped apart under the attack, the remaining pieces still covered him in the bright glow of the positive energy they contained, repairing the damage to his body even as Lex dove back into the storm. This time, he was ready for it, and his eyes easily tracked the path of the frozen chunks. Lashing out with his claws and Belligerence and his telekinesis, as he knocked them all aside, even as he magically struggled to wrest the storm back under control.

This time the tempest seemed to fight back, actively attempting to wrestle free of his influence, and Lex pushed harder, fighting to close the distance between himself and his enemy. Already he could sense Kryonex ahead, knowing that the demigod was deliberately exacerbating the storm, rather than letting it passively surround him. But that seemed to be costing him his mobility, since even as Lex steadily drew nearer to his foe, there was no sign that Kryonex was retreating.

It was suspicious, but Lex didn’t withdraw, knowing that pressing the attack was his best bet.

But no sooner had that thought crossed his mind when the storm suddenly stopped.

In a single instant, every frozen particle ceased moving, hanging still in the air, and Lex had just enough time to get a glimpse of Kryonex – spotting the cracks surrounding the bloodless hole in his side – before the demigod’s eyes lightened.

Then the crystalline fragments shattered and dispersed, but didn’t fall, and Lex could see that they’d gone from tens of thousands of slivers a fraction of an inch long to millions of microscopic shards. All of which, Lex knew, were still just as sharp and resilient as their larger counterparts had been, and were now smaller, faster, and far too numerous.

“Your efforts so far have been impressive,” chuckled Kryonex. “But can you block this many?”

He didn’t bother waiting for a response as the storm returned with a vengeance, already knowing the answer.

But Lex had a different answer prepared.

“I don’t need to.”

Even as he spoke, he recited a liturgy to the Night Mare in his mind, casting one of the spells that she’d given him.

And instantaneously, Lex found himself surrounded by weapons.

Swords, scythes, axes, daggers, flails, hammers, and numerous others hung in the air around him, each type represented dozens of times over. Although Lex had only seen two of the Umbral Regalia – Severance and Breakdown – the weapons could have been near-perfect replicas of them, and indeed he knew that they were, the spell having called forth a temporary army in the likeness of the Night Mare’s divine tools.

Nor was their appearance all that they emulated, as the weapons immediately went to work dispatching the threats carried on the wind. Whirling and striking so quickly that they were little more than steel-colored blurs, they destroyed each and every infinitesimal piece of ice that approached Lex, leaving him free to pour another surge of magic into Belligerence as he rushed toward Kryonex, the bladed weapons staying in close formation as they covered him.

To his surprise, Kryonex rushed forward to meet him, ceasing to concentrate on the storm as he fell down to meet Lex’s upward charge. Momentarily surprised by his enemy’s return to physical attacks, Lex hefted Belligerence, this time intent on piercing the demigod’s head with the weapon.

But his attack failed to connect as his speed suddenly increased, carrying him past Kryonex before he was ready to strike. It took Lex only a fraction of a second to realize that his enemy had frozen gravity itself, arresting its pull and causing him to over-correct for it in his vertical rush. Even before he’d finished consciously processing that, he was already veering to aside, trying to avoid the attack he knew was coming-

He didn’t make it in time.

Another blue beam of super-cold energy slammed into him, doing little damage but shattering his cryomantic wards. He had just enough time to turn in place – seeing the weapons he’d conjured throw themselves against Kryonex, accomplishing nothing except to break themselves to pieces – before a second blast hit him. Then a third.

He barely managed to dodge the fourth one, rushing back downward...

Where the globes of lightning that Kryonex had frozen were waiting for him.

“Yours, I believe,” noted Kryonex as he sent the icebound balls of electricity back at him, unfreezing them just before they made contact. Before Lex could so much as speak, he found himself buried in a morass of electricity, the globes all discharging their voltage into him at once.

It was all he could do not to laugh, Mystaria’s clasp shimmering softly as it kept his own magic from harming him.

Taking advantage of the unexpected reprieve, Lex again threw Belligerence, aiding the quill’s flight with a metamagic-enhanced spell to make it home in on its target. Again, Kryonex dodged the incoming missile, but it turned to follow him, and the demigod was forced to actively defend against it, a deep gash opening in one tibia. That was time enough for Lex to renew his wards against the cold, as well as casting another of the Night Mare’s divine spells – the remaining pieces of the Armor of the Renewing Light vanishing as the time limit for his tulpa's gear was reached – the healing energy of the latter spell serving to repair his remaining wounds now that the negative energy had been cleared from the field.

But no sooner had he finished than Kryonex – apparently unconcerned by having taken a third wound – pointed another leg in his direction. But this time what he unleashed wasn’t a beam, but rather a monstrous mass of solid ice as wide as the entire valley, the glacier rushing forward with the speed of a cannonball, expanding to fill every nook and cranny as it crystalized.

The sight made Lex grimace inwardly. The glacier would have been easy to dodge – simply flying upward would have put him easily out of reach of the tonnage of ice bearing down on him – but its lateral expansion meant that, unless he stopped it, it would seal the cave entrance where Nenet and the others were holed up. Even if it didn’t press inward far enough to fill the entire cavern, it would cut off their only source of air.

Which meant it had to be stopped before it got that far.

The answer to that was another spell that he’d used during his fight with Celestia and Luna, channeling more power into his thaumaturgical framework even as he made use of Nenet’s metamagic to widen the area and increase the destructive potential. A half-second later his preparations were complete, and he unleashed the pulse of concussive force directly at the expanding glacier, now barely ten feet in front of him.

And the entire ice shelf shattered into snowflakes.

Lex was already moving, preparing for Kryonex to whip them into another flensing storm, but to his mild surprise the demigod didn’t press the attack. Nor did he try to interfere as Lex telekinetically retrieved Belligerence. Instead, he just stood near the other end of the valley, as though frozen himself.

The unusual behavior was enough to give Lex pause, and he hesitated just for a moment.

“I was hoping that it wouldn’t come to this.”

Raising his two damaged legs, he looked the bloodless wounds over, inspecting the cracks around the injuries for a moment before glancing at the matching wound on his thorax. “But you’ve proven to be a greater foe than I’d initially expected, and a battle of attrition runs the risk of costing more than I’d gain. So I’ll need to accept a diminished prize and end this quickly.”

That was enough to make Lex clench his teeth, pouring power into Belligerence again. The effort it took to do so was greater this time, and he fought to keep the strain from showing as the runes on the quill regained their purple glow. “This is the only prize you’ll receive, pierced by it again and again until there’s nothing left of you.”

Another dry chuckle came from the demigod. “I’m not the one of whom there’ll be nothing left, Lex Legis.”

His eyes glowed brighter then, the blue in them shining like a pair of cerulean suns, and Lex felt the barbed wire around his foreleg give another odd twitch, similar to when the demigod had frozen time around him. But there was no time to ponder that further as Kryonex spoke again, his voice resonant with the full force of divine will.

“Now, perish.”

Author's Note:

Lex and Kryonex unleash their full fury on each other, battling to a standstill before the demigod declares his intent to bring things to a swift end!

Will Lex survive whatever his foe is about to unleash? Or does Kryonex have an edge greater than the titan can withstand?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Kyronex's display of power certainly shows why he's a demigod though if a demigod is this powerful, especially one that's diminished even if ever so slightly from Adagio's plans then I worry about if and when Lex angers a full fledge god or goddess if not an entire pantheon. Of course, he'll need to survive against Kyronex's attack first before he could reach that far.

Though if he does overcome Kyronex's attack, will the demigod just leave to avoid wasting his power? I mean, Kyronex doesn't feel like the type to just drop the matter so easily, at least not without some kind of payback involved.

[Alzrius]

11728284 It's been implied that Kryonex is one of the weaker demigods out there, especially with what happened with Adagio, which is something that this chapter really puts in perspective. For all that Lex has become a force beyond mortal reckoning, he's still fighting an uphill battle against Kryonex now, which does indeed suggest that a fully-fledged deity would be a far more daunting foe (and that's not even getting into the different ranks that they have). Fortunately, no such conflict is in his immediate future...right?

On a minor note, I corrected a paragraph in this chapter which somehow missed a notation regarding the Armor of the Renewing Light fading out; that should have been there initially, but upon a quick review somehow didn't make it into the finished draft. (That's why he casts a healing spell on himself near the end of this chapter, since the Armor's restorative power is gone now.) Mea culpa, there!

[Booster Spice]

Command Word?

But, who is it aimed at?

[Alzrius]

11728905 Ha! I wondered if someone would think that last part was a power word kill effect.