Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

887 - Umbral Blot

Lex watched, unable to look away, as Belligerence left his grasp.

Despite the continuous energy blasts from Kryonex, the flaming rocks falling from the sky, and the persistent blizzard, he didn’t take his eyes off of the quill as it lanced through the air. As if in slow motion, it flew directly at Adagio, the Siren not even seeing its approach as she stared at the approaching sphere with wide eyes, tugging futilely at the ice holding her legs in place.

A moment later his promise reached her, assuring her that this wasn’t the end, that he’d bring her back to life.

But he couldn’t tell if that brought her any comfort before Belligerence pierced her straight through, the quill punching a hole through her chest – obliterating her heart in a single instant – and hitting the ground a dozen yards away.

And Adagio slumped in place, her eyes open but unseeing as blood splattered onto the snow beneath her.

It was done.

He’d killed her.

He’d saved her.

Lex had just enough time to confirm that, already having switched his vision so that he could see Adagio’s life force dissipate, vanishing completely-

Then the black sphere passed over her, and she was gone.

Lex knew he should have been struck by that. He should have been overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he’d just done. No matter the justification, no matter that death wasn’t irreversible for him, he’d crossed a line that he’d sworn would always remain inviolate. Worse, the pony whose life he’d snuffed out was Sonata and Aria’s sister, Nenet’s mother, whom he’d promised to bring back alive. After what had happened with Panuk, to say nothing of all the hapless creatures from the Plane of Ice that Kryonex had driven him to slaughter, the magnitude of his actions should have shaken him to the core.

Instead, he felt mildly irritated at how he couldn’t seem to control the pace of the fight, letting Kryonex again dictate how things played out.

But that’s over now, Lex decided as he dropped out of the sky, retrieving the quill before turning his attention back to the demigod. It’s time to finish this.

As it was, the black sphere seemed intent on doing that for him, closing the distance between itself and Kryonex with ever-increasing velocity. But the demigod had no intention of letting it make contact with him again, easily flinging off the astral constructs trying to hold him down, the black crystal shackles that Lex had put around his legs shattering like glass. Darting back, he moved in a wide berth, letting the orb follow him as he circled around.

Back toward Lex.

That wasn’t unexpected, of course. Quite the opposite, turning disadvantages on their head so as to gain a strategic edge was entirely in keeping with how Kryonex had acted so far. With that sphere focused on him, and growing progressively faster, it made sense that he’d try to fight in close quarters, where there would be more opportunities to knock him into the dark globe’s path.

The most tactically-sound response, Lex knew, was to maintain distance, attacking at range with magic that would hamper his enemy’s mobility until the sphere could finish Kryonex off. It wasn’t an unviable strategy; he had a plethora of spells left, and while their ability to impede the demigod’s movement was likely to be questionable at best, time was on his side. So long as the sphere kept targeting his enemy, and maintained its acceleration, victory was likely just a matter of time now so long as he hung back and played it safe.

Instead, he snatched up Belligerence, grunting as he again overcharged the weapon – the act was more difficult now, his reserves running low – and then rushed to meet Kryonex head-on.

A ranged battle was the safest bet, but it would take time to work. Right now Kryonex was still able to keep ahead of the black sphere easily, and Lex wasn’t sure what the demigod’s top speed was. That meant that there was a very real possibility that Kryonex would be able to make this a close-range battle regardless of what he threw at him. Worse, it meant that he could conceivably expend all of the movement-restricting spells he had before the sphere had sped up enough to where Kryonex couldn’t dodge it...and that was if the sphere didn’t reach its own top speed, presuming that it even had one, first.

But that wasn’t the main reason why Lex abandoned caution as he charged toward his enemy, bellowing a roar of challenge.

Rather, it was because his transformation was wearing off.

Within the mass of wires that was his body, he could feel his heart beating again, the fleshy organ restored where only seconds ago there had been nothing but metal strands. Nor was it alone, as he could feel his irritation turning into an undercurrent of fury, heralding that the unity between his pony intellect and beastly instincts was beginning to fray.

Maybe this form was inherently time-limited. Maybe it was because of how he kept expending energy to charge Belligerence. Maybe it was because what had happened with Adagio had made it impossible to maintain his newfound equilibrium. Whatever the cause, his current state was coming apart, and while Lex could instinctively tell that he’d still be a titan when it was over – the fact that his heart was functioning without issue despite being connected to strands of wire was all the proof he needed that he was still beyond issues of mortality – that wouldn’t be enough if Kryonex tried to will him out of existence again.

Time was running out, for him and his foe both.

Lex had every intention of making sure that Kryonex’s expired first.

Neither slowed down as the two of them closed, and they collided with enough force that it shook the entire valley. Snarling as his wards against cold again collapsed, Lex ignored the rush of cold – now slightly more painful than when his transformation had been complete – and thrust Belligerence forward, trying to divide his enemy’s attention between the quill and the sphere. Kryonex crossed two of his legs in front of him, bringing them down and catching Belligerence between them, the barbs scraping pieces of his chitin off but doing no real damage even as two more legs lashed out at Lex.

Flipping upward, the titan dodged the first one and deflected the second, but the third caught him across the side. Hissing, Lex accepted the hit in exchange for being able to sink his claw into his enemy’s metatarsus, using Belligerence as a lever as he folded his enemy’s leg over it. Immediately, the existing cracks in the leg’s exoskeleton began to worsen, the limb being bent in the wrong direction as Lex applied all the force he was capable of.

In response, Kryonex dropped and rolled, sacrificing his leg as the chitin splintered as he swung Lex around-

Directly into the path of the approaching sphere.

But Lex had seen it coming, already abandoning his hold on Kryonex’s leg to instead fling Belligerence at the demigod’s injured leg, even as he turned into a shadow, intent on squeezing through the scant inches between the ground – that end of the valley far enough from the lava flow that it was still covered in Kryonex’s ice, making it impervious to incorporeal movement – and the sphere.

In response to which the demigod – eyes flashing even as Belligerence bit deep into his leg, the quill nearly severing the end of it completely – raised the surrounding ice, bringing up two large walls on either side in order to eliminate any avenue of escape as the sphere barreled toward Lex.

But that ice shattered as black crystals rose up from the ground to displace it, the ebony material having no such impermeability as Lex’s shadow form sank into it, letting the black sphere pass by overheard-

And changed directions, instead moving downward toward him!

If Lex had created a lesser amount of crystals, he would have met his end right then, instead just barely managing to slip by it and rush through the remaining underground portions of crystal as the sphere chased after him, consuming everything it touched. Kryonex was already stabbing the ground ahead of him, trying to shatter the remaining crystals before Lex could resurface, but he wasn’t fast enough as Lex exited the crystals through a particularly large stalagmite, seamlessly turning back to solid form and slipping beneath Kryonex, dodging four different legs as he telekinetically picked up Severance again, the orb following close behind him-

Only to veer off-course and shoot toward Kryonex once again, forcing the demigod shake it off with a hurried dodge to his left, Lex already moving to keep his enemy between himself and the sphere.

It’s acting like a lodestone, with divinity being the magnets, he noted, sinking another charge into Belligerence as he moved to counter the demigod’s repositioning himself. Kryonex has more godhood than I do, which means he exerts a stronger pull on it, but if I move too close then the godsblood I absorbed will cause it to target me instead.

Of course, if he had figured that out, then there was no question that Kryonex had also.

That was enough to earn a derisive snort from Lex – his lungs now also having reformed – as he threw himself back into the fight.

Already, Kryonex was trying to move the sphere to his advantage, dodging another thrust from Lex’s quill as a sweep of his leg knocked Lex toward the sphere, which veered toward him. Dodging it by inches, he spun and jabbed Belligerence at the demigod’s flank, one leg coming up to parry the blow, the limb’s proximity to the sphere causing it to change targets back to Kryonex. Pressing the advantage, Lex immediately turned and aimed at his enemy’s head, narrowly dodging a point-blank blast of freezing energy as Belligerence scraped across the demigod’s remaining pedipalp, the demigod backpedaling quickly enough that the sphere zipped toward Lex again, forcing him to cut dangerously close to it as he closed the gap and led it back toward Kryonex again.

The exchanges continued as the speed of all involved grew ever greater, the sphere’s ever-increasing haste forcing the titan and demigod both to match its speed, knowing that whoever couldn’t keep up would be the first to fall. Even then, they continued to lash out at each other, wounds accumulating as cold and claws, spells and legs slammed into the other, all while dodging the sphere by thinner and thinner margins.

All the while, Lex continued to change back from the inside out, as wire became bones, organs, and muscles once more.

And it was growing progressively harder to keep charging Belligerence with enough power to make it a credible threat against Kryonex.

In their battle of attrition, Lex could tell that he was going to give out first.

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than the wire covering him gave out completely, leaving him clad in flesh, fur, and clothes, the strands of metal once again wrapped only around the lower part of his foreleg.

Kryonex’s eyes lit up so brightly they glowed, increasing the pace of his attacks.

Lex tried to fall back, putting more room between himself and the demigod as he tried to think of a new plan, but Kryonex didn’t give him the chance. Pressing his assault, he struck out again and again, hitting Lex with more cold than he could withstand, wards crumbling before he could even begin to raise them. A rain of blows hit him, forcing him to use a healing spell on himself, which earned him only a few seconds of continued activity as the demigod continued to dial up the ferocity of his attacks, leaving Lex stumbling as he tried to recover-

And found the black sphere swooping in.

He could already tell that there wouldn’t be any escape this time. Kryonex had every conceivable path of escape covered, having surrounded them with ice thick enough that his black crystals would never have broken through it in time. More than that, Lex had already expended all of his remaining teleportation spells in the last exchange, used up in an effort to out-maneuver the demigod. And now he had nothing left.

It was over.

Then the black sphere rushed in...

And stopped.

For the briefest instant, Lex could only stare, shocked by the unexpected reprieve. Then he took advantage of the opening, spearing another of Kryonex’s legs with Belligerence and opening up a way out, putting some distance between the orb and the demigod both. The fact that he faced no pushback or retaliation in doing so was a silent testament to the fact that whatever had just happened hadn’t been Kryonex’s doing either; whatever had stopped the sphere had caught him by surprise as well.

Could the thing not detect me once I changed back? It was the only explanation that Lex could think of, but he knew it was a poor one. He was still the recipient of godsblood in this form. Moreover, he’d been between Kryonex and the orb; even if it didn’t register him as a target anymore, it should still have moved through him to get to Kryonex the same way it had Adagio.

Adagio...

All at once, the full weight of what he’d done slammed into him, and Lex put a claw to his forehead, unable to come to terms with his actions. Despite knowing the danger he was in – Kryonex was staring at the sphere, no doubt trying to ascertain the reason for its sudden quiescence, but his stupefaction wouldn’t last long – Lex couldn’t help but look at where she’d died, even though he was aware that there was nothing to see.

He didn’t care, taking a faltering step toward where he’d killed both her and the most important part of himself-

And out of his peripheral vision he saw the sphere vanish, instantaneously reappearing in the space he’d just vacated.

It was instinct alone – his inner beast’s reflexes kicking in – that caused him to dodge out of the way as it rushed him, missing it by a literal hair’s breadth, all pathos forgotten in the wake of what had just happened.

But the sphere didn’t pursue him, instead blinking out of existence again...just as Kryonex threw himself backward so fast even Lex’s mystic senses could barely follow it, the orb appearing where the demigod had been.

Teleporting.

The thing was teleporting. In spite of the wards he’d put up – wards capable of keeping Kryonex himself from moving between dimensions – the sphere was able to do so, flitting between Everglow and the Astral Plane in a span of time too small to be measured.

But that wasn’t sent a shudder down Lex’s spine.

Prior to now, he had thought the sphere’s movements were some sort of simple reaction between its substance – or lack thereof – and divinity. While the relationship between the energies involved was beyond his understanding, their manifestation had seemed simple enough, with one serving to attract the other.

Now he knew better.

The sphere hadn’t been following them; it had been chasing them. Instead of moving to catch them, it had been trying to catch them. It hadn’t stopped because of some change in its environment.

It had stopped because it had become frustrated.

After repeatedly coming so close to the two creatures that it was hunting, yet continually being denied despite its best efforts, it had abandoned the pursuit. Instead, it had taken a few moments to think of a new plan. And once it had, it adjusted its tactics accordingly.

Whatever that thing was, it was intelligent.

And that, along with its ability to teleport in spite of is wards, made it an enemy far more dangerous than Kryonex.

Author's Note:

Lex loses his wire-bound transformation, even as the sphere of annihilation begins teleporting to catch him and Kryonex!

Will knowing that its intelligent help him find a path to victory? Or is there no way to prevail against two foes that are intent on his death?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

An orb of annihilation that can chase targets is already scary to think about but one that can formulate plans to achieve its goals, and teleport is even more terrifying to consider and this is before whatever is inside hatches. Still, if it can adapt to this degree then I wonder what else it will do in its attempt to counter and entrap either Lex or Kyronex to get at the divinity within them.

[Booster Spice]

Apart from the essentially zero chance that Kryonex and Lex would be able to work together to trick that thing back where it came from, the only other way I can see is direct intervention by the author, before their library burns down?

[Alzrius]

11749632 It is rather hard to imagine Lex and Kryonex working together, at least at this point. I doubt that Lex will forgive him for having forced him to kill Adagio, and Kryonex doesn't seem interested in negotiating now either. But at this point, it's unclear how either of them will avoid, let alone overcome, the sphere. The best bet now seems like escape, but that's not really an option against an enemy who can teleport.

[Alzrius]

11749575 Yeah, this really is going from bad to worse, and the egg hasn't even hatched yet! At this point, Lex is running on empty, and while Kryonex seems to be somewhat worn down also, he's still going fairly strong. Between the demigod and the sphere, it's hard to see any path to victory, especially if that orb absorbs more divinity; it's a pretty good assumption, given what The Author said, that once whatever's inside it emerges that it'll be an instant "bad end."

[TheAbsoluteRadiance]

The most deadly game of dodgeball.

[Alzrius]

11776281 Particularly since you can't catch the ball, or block if with another ball, or whatever other odd variant rules we always used in gym class.