Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

889 - The Netherweave Dominion

A prison crumbling.

A portal opening.

An egg hatching.

Lex had no idea if any of those ideas adequately described what was happening to the sphere. Perhaps none of them were correct. Or maybe even all of them; there was no way to know.

All he was certain of was that whatever was happening could only be catastrophic in nature. A mere infusion of negative energy was enough to turn an ordinary mortal into a slavering undead creature. Anything for which pure nothingness was some sort of incubator – or pathway, or even a survivable prison – had to be something completely incompatible with the rest of the universe.

It was entropy taken not just to its end state, but beyond it. A breakdown not toward disorder and decay, but to absolute destruction, with nothing left to even begin rebuilding. Annihilation of even the gods, which represented the very apex of what it meant to exist.

And that was just the sphere itself.

Whatever was about to emerge from it, Lex knew, had to be even worse.

This was no longer simply a duel with a demigod; it was ground zero for the end of everything.

Cursing, Lex deployed every supernatural faculty at his disposal to try and analyze the thing, supplementing it with a spell to detect any weaknesses or flaws that it possessed even as he simultaneously lashed out with a magical attack. Even without being able to overcharge his magic, he could still cast spells with prowess beyond that of any mortal, each one operating at the maximum potential possible within its parameters.

Neither did anything.

The analysis spell didn’t even register that there was anything there, finding quite literally nothing to examine. His other spell – designed to disrupt the movement of energy within a given system of operation – was simply absorbed, the sphere showing no reaction as the magic hit it and was immediately undone.

All while it continued to bulge from the inside out.

“It seems this thing grows stronger the more divine essence it absorbs.”

Lex didn’t glance at Kryonex, already midway through casting more spells, but he knew he couldn’t afford to ignore the demigod. “We need to stop whatever’s in there before it emerges! It’s not just a threat to the two of us anymore!”

His spells went off a moment later – a ray of negative energy, followed by a spell designed to interfere with cognitive function – hitting the sphere dead-center...again to no effect.

“Agreed.” A half-dozen beams of brilliant blue energy cut through the air, engulfing the sphere completely.

But when the barrage of power ceased, it still hung in the air, not even seeming to have noticed the attack. Instead, its surface continued to deform irregularly, the outward bulges continuing from every direction.

It can’t break free yet, Lex realized, pausing as he considered the sphere’s actions. It needs more divinity. Which means that we have maybe a few seconds left before it realizes that and resumes attacking.

Kryonex seemed to think so as well, because the demigod’s eyes darkened again as he glared at the orb, and Lex could almost feel the force of his enemy’s resolve being brought to bear, trying to destroy the sphere through sheer willpower. Stepping back, Lex mentally ran through what spells he had that might be effective against the demigod even without being overcharged, knowing that if Kryonex succeeded at unmaking the orb, he would be next.

And that possibility seemed eminently likely, as the dark globe quivered beneath the force of Kryonex’s will. Even as Lex watched, its surface rippled, and the asymmetrical bulges from within it died down. It seemed to diminish slightly then, as though shrinking back down...

Then it gave a single pulse, contracting and expanding like a beating heart, and Kryonex recoiled as if struck. “I can’t reach it! It’s negated-”

He didn’t finish, leaping aside just as the sphere teleported to where he’d been a moment ago, Lex immediately following suit. “What happened?!”

“I don’t know!” Kryonex didn’t bother attacking, instead focusing everything he had on staying out of the sphere’s way. “It abrogated my attempt to influence it somehow!”

Cursing inwardly, Lex tried to figure out what to do now. Although he and Kryonex could both continue dodging indefinitely, that wasn’t a viable strategy. At some point, the sphere would catch up to one or the other of them, whether because it managed to anticipate their moves, pulled them in with another vortex, or simply deployed yet another new power out of nowhere.

But with nothing else working, Lex couldn’t see any other alternative but to maintain their desperate evasion.

His tulpa couldn’t help; according to his foresight, asking it for something that could damage, impede, or restrain this thing would only return a response of “capacity exceeded.” Bringing forth the Armor of Renewing Light had apparently pushed the thing to its limits, at least with regard to finding something which could help with the current situation.

But with his spells ineffective, Kryonex’s strongest power nullified, and no way to physically damage the orb, what was left?

“Lower your wards!” shouted Kryonex, barely managing to stay ahead of the sphere; once again, he seemed to be its preferred target. “If I leave, there’s less divine essence for it to absorb!”

“That won’t do any good if it follows you!” shot back Lex. “And even if it doesn’t, I might have enough divinity for it to finish evolving! We have to stop it here!”

“And in what manner do you propose we accomplish that?!”

Lex grit his teeth, not having an answer to give, even as he barely outmaneuvered a sudden reappearance of the sphere right in front of him. Dodging with everything he had, he wracked his brain, trying to come up with something. There had to be some way to stop it; some vulnerability or limitation which could be exploited. Even if it couldn’t be destroyed, it could at least be contained, or even...

Suddenly, he had an idea.

“I have a plan! Draw it off!”

To Kryonex’s credit, he didn’t engage in baseless suspicions or demand to know what he was going to try. Instead, he simply closed the distance between them, moving close enough to draw the sphere’s attention. Sure enough, it teleported itself at him once again, the demigod continuing to stay ahead of it despite his missing leg.

Lex didn’t let his chance go to waste.

A single command to his tulpa was all it took, his trans-temporal sense already telling him that it was a request that it was capable of fulfilling.

Then he rushed back toward where the demigod and the sphere were engaged in their mad dance. “Fall back!”

Kryonex immediately leaped up and away, even as Lex drew in closer, making an oblique approach as he tried his best to keep his movements unpredictable. Even if he’d managed to procure the tool necessary to try this, his foresight couldn’t tell him if it would work or not.

If it didn’t, he probably wouldn’t live long enough to realize it.

A half-second later, the sphere teleported to where he’d just been, Lex lurching away from it by less than an inch even as he brought his left foreleg around...

And used the Charismata.

“REMAIN STILL!” he bellowed, channeling the divine power he’d been given directly at the thing.

Except, not directly at it.

Instead, he sent it through the ornate vambrace that his tulpa had brought forward – which it had called the Netherweave Dominion – and then toward the sphere.

The vambrace itself was haunting to look at. Wrought of obsidian plates, its design perfectly fit between the wires that surrounded his foreleg, each piece of dark rock fitted with clasps that connected it snugly to the metal mesh and the surrounding bits of black stone. Nor were the pieces blank, as each one was carved with a rune; the same runes that he’d learned from Solvei.

And as he gave his command, the rune-inscribed plates shifted, rearranging themselves so that they spelled a description of the sphere...rearranging the position of the barbed wire around his leg as they did.

That should have been impossible, Lex knew. That wire was nothing less than the Night Mare’s investiture of a sliver of her own godhood in him, a physical representation of the metaphysical nature of the divine. It was what held the power of the Charismata, and manifested her will in response to his actions. To deliberately alter it the way he was doing now shouldn’t have been within his power.

But apparently it was within the Netherweave Dominion’s.

Around his foreleg, the wires bent and warped at the direction of the vambrace. They tore through his flesh, shredding skin and muscle with no regard for the defenses that a titan possessed. Blood dripped onto the ground, even as the invisible bands of power that were the Charismata stretched out, feelings oddly contorted even as they wrapped around where the sphere was rushing toward him...

And stopped it cold.

It had worked.

Though, from how he could see the sphere seeming to vibrate within the Charismata’s grasp, it wasn’t hard to tell that it had only worked by the thinnest of margins.

But this confirms it, Lex knew. This thing has the same weakness now as it did when Adagio deployed it. It’s just gotten better at compensating for it.

It was all a matter of will.

When Adagio had brought the orb onto the battlefield, she had controlled it via concentration, albeit with a tool designed specifically to amplify the force of her determination. That had only ended when it had absorbed godsblood, the essence of divinity, which Lex knew from personal experience was the power to impose your own will onto reality itself, bending the universe to operate how you wished it to.

He also knew that a small enough dose would only let you change yourself...which was exactly what the sphere had done. It had demonstrated intelligence, gained the power to teleport, and even created a vortex around itself. A second infusion had let it begin to extend its newfound power further, somehow shutting down Kryonex’s attempt to destroy it outright, likely previewing what would happen if it got enough divinity to complete whatever transformation it was undergoing.

But the very fact that it had needed to negate the demigod’s focused willpower – unlike how it had ignored all of the magical attacks Lex had thrown at it – was proof that it had been affected by it.

And while Lex only had a miniscule amount of divinity within himself, he also had the sliver of godhood that the Night Mare had given him in the form of the Charismata.

All he’d needed was the Netherweave Dominion to reshape the Charismata into a format capable of affecting the sphere, rather than magical beasts.

Asking his tulpa for an item that could overcome the orb directly had been a mistake. Fortunately, he’d realized in time that he’d needed to ask it for an item that would give him the power to overcome it.

And now that he could...

“DESTROY YOURSELF!” snarled Lex. “DESTROY YOURSELF IMMED-”

Then the sphere gave another pulse, and the Charismata shut down completely, the barbed wire around his leg becoming nothing more than mundane loops of metal.

Cursing, Lex barely managed to evade the sphere as it rocketed forward the instant its shackles were gone, having expected something like that to happen. Kryonex was a weak excuse for a demigod, even more so with how injured he was, but he was still here in his entirety, whereas the Charismata was just a fragment of the Night Mare’s divine majesty. If the sphere could throw off the manifestation of the former’s will, it hadn’t been impossible to think that it could do the same for the latter.

But there was an upside to that as well.

“My power is no longer being held in check!” announced Kryonex, eyes flashing as he again concentrated on the sphere, which quivered once more as the demigod hit it with an onslaught of will.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the sphere gave another beat, and the demigod’s eyes darkened as he grunted.

But at the same time, Lex felt the Charismata’s power return.

It’s gained some sort of negation ability, but it can only use it on one of us at a time.

It didn’t mean that victory was guaranteed. Far from it, the orb still possessed numerous overwhelming advantages. But now, at least, there was a way for them to affect it, possibly even destroy it. It was a thin hope, and it wouldn’t be the end of the fight even if it worked – Lex was certain that Kryonex knew as well as he did that once the orb was dealt with, their literal battlefield alliance would be at an end – but no matter how slim it was, it was still an opportunity.

That opportunity, however, was one that would need to be exploited as soon as possible.

Like everything his tulpa brought forth, the Netherweave Dominion wouldn’t last for even two minutes.

And with his foresight, Lex could already tell that his tulpa wouldn’t be able to conjure it a second time. Not until he’d had a chance to sleep and let its power renew itself.

Which meant that the fate of Everglow – and far more – would be decided in just over sixty seconds.

Author's Note:

Forced to work alongside Kryonex, Lex again calls on his tulpa, managing to find a way to affect the sphere even as it deploys a new countermeasure to defend itself!

With time running out, will the titan and the demigod joining forces be enough to secure victory? Or will the sphere absorb enough divinity to come forth in its entirety?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

Of course it would take the threat of complete annihilation to force them to put aside their differences and work together. Though as odd as their temporary truce may be, they work surprisingly well together. Makes me wonder if there's an aborted reality where Lex had ended up in Kyronex's service instead of the Night Mare's and aided the demigod in his pursuit of dominance.

Though I suppose it's pointless since Lex's tulpa has hit its limits after conjuring that armor so he'll need to make do with what he has at his disposal, which now includes a cooperative demigod which is better than what he had in past encounters. Though it's balanced out by the antigod that's on the verge of being hatched so things are still pretty dire.

I would say this is par for the course for Lex but this is definitely way above what he has faced before.

[Booster Spice]

Ten Rounds, and Counting...

[Spiritus Arcane]

Hey that's 10 rounds. An eternity in RPG time.

Too bad I can guess that that usual method of getting rid of a SoA (hitting it with a rod of cancellation) probably won't work on this one, at least not as it is now. And that's assuming Lex or his tulpa would even know/think to try it.

[Alzrius]

11754753 That's about what it comes down to, yeah.

[Alzrius]

11754651 For all of their mutual antagonism, Lex and Kryonex are similar in several ways, most notably that both are able to operate in a "cold" and calculating manner. They're each capable of appraising a situation and making plans that maximize their advantages and minimizing their disadvantages while doing the opposite to their opponents. So in that regard, it's no surprise that when faced with a situation that's a threat to them both, they're capable of putting aside their differences and working together quite well...though as Lex noted, both are also aware that once the current threat ends, so will their alliance.

Of course, even working together, they're still struggling against the on-the-verge-of-hatching egg, and the fact that it can keep them both so firmly on the defensive without having been truly "born" yet is a good indication that they'll be no match for the thing if it fully hatches. The fact that it can selectively negate their greatest power is quite likely the least notable of what it will be able to do if it gains even a little more divinity to fuel its emergence.

[Alzrius]

11754756 Yeah, that's a bit of an inside joke for gamers: 10+ rounds is considered a long fight, so there's no reason to start worrying yet...besides the magnitude of the threat, that is.

As far as using a rod of cancellation goes, well, I'll give a tiny spoiler and say that the sphere is already beyond such things; that's because this isn't a "mere" sphere of annihilation anymore (nor an intelligent magic item, which I suspect was what you were thinking of), but has become something much worse (hence the title of Chapter 887). Though I should note that even that's just the standard stat block for the creature; as is normal for me, I've added a few abilities to it.