Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

916 - Heavy Weight

“C’mon, you little pansy, get up! I ain’t finished with you yet!”

Loraestil glared at his quarry as he slowly rose to his feet, the healing magic in his belt having once again managed to undo the incredible damage he’d taken after receiving one of the brute’s heavy punches. Wiping the blood from his face, he raised his sword to point it at the musclebound stallion, making it clear that he wasn’t finished either.

But despite the gesture, Loraestil made no move to advance upon his foe, instead concentrating on what had happened a moment ago.

How did he disrupt my stance?

Long before he had begun his career as a hunter, Loraestil had trained as a bladesinger, and he had never put aside what he’d learned of that noble calling. Far more than mere swordsmen, a bladesinger was one who treated their skill as an artform. The motion of a blade’s swing was like a dance, and its passage through the air was like music. As the one who conducted that music and led that dance, a bladesinger’s movements in battle were not merely a performance; they set a rhythm, one which left all others fumbling to keep up, out of step with the pace of the fighting, while the bladesinger flowed among them as a graceful dervish, as beautiful as they were deadly.

And yet somehow, this animal had broken his rhythm.

If his quarry had only possessed unearthly vitality, that was one thing. Loraestil had hunted many creatures – from lowly trolls to mighty demons – who had barely noticed even the most egregious of wounds. Although the pony titan was among them, so covered in blood that his ruddy coat was more red than brown, yet looking as though he wasn’t even aware that he was wounded despite the numerous gashes covering his body, that hadn’t bothered Loraestil in the least. Even the most towering of trees could be felled by enough strokes of a blade.

Nor did his enemy’s great strength give him pause. Although Lex Legis – the name of his towering foe – had not returned to the great size he had taken before, the raw power in his swollen frame was still exceptional. Twice now, a single punch from him had inflicted serious injury, requiring Loraestil to use the healing magic in his belt...magic which was not indefinite.

But simple strength, too, was nothing unusual for his quarries. Many greater devils and true demons had strength such that they could have outwrestled giants. All bladesingers were trained to dance around such blows, turning them aside or avoiding them altogether with grace and fluidity.

Despite that, the titan had struck him twice now.

Once could be considered an anomaly, some fluke by which this lug had managed to seize upon a stroke of luck. But twice?

No, that was no coincidence. It was the power by which this creature had overcome a demigod, and now sought to overcome him.

But I will peer into the depths of this power, and unmask it, vowed Loraestil silently. And then, I shall transcend it!

Keeping his sword – the gift that his father had given him upon being appointed as the Coronal’s Huntsman – raised, Loraestil shifted his posture to that of the Stance of the Wary Fulmar. Come attempt to strike me down again, beast, and show me what strange powers you command.

Almost as though his quarry heard him, Lex Legis gave a chuckling sneer. “Aw, what’s a matter? Lost your backbone?” Rearing up on his hind legs, he slammed his forehooves together – repeatedly so, like an ape beating its chest – before falling back onto all fours. “Don’t worry, Burly’ll find it for ya!”

Loraestil’s brow furrowed. “Burly”?

But there was no time to contemplate what he’d just been told as the muscular stallion charged.

Each step caused the ground to ripple and shake, as though the earth had turned to water beneath them. A lesser warrior would have struggled to maintain their balance, but Loraestil didn’t so much as sway, easily maintaining his equilibrium as the mountain of muscle sped toward him, faster than a creature his size should have been able to run.

Loraestil let him come, not moving even by a hair’s breadth.

When the wild, heavy punch came at the end of the stallion’s charge, he sidestepped it, flicking his blade out in a riposte that was more about fending off a foe than inflicting an injury. The Stance of the Wary Fulmar was a defensive form, prioritizing mobility and dealing light wounds that were more painful than dangerous. In doing so, it mimicked the noble seabird, known for being able to drive off even an aggressive walrus by pecking at its eyes.

Several more such exchanges followed, with Lex Legis swinging again and again only to hit nothing but air. Bellowing, he stomped hard on the ground, turning the frozen earth around them into so much loose rubble, and Loraestil smirked. The importance of footwork was one of the fundamental aspects of maintaining any Stance, let alone one as defensive as he was using now. They could have been fighting on shifting sands and he wouldn’t have stumbled.

As he continued to dance around the lumbering oaf, he spared a glance for his cohorts, grimacing as he saw that – even though there were two of them, and they were fighting a lesser enemy – they were still struggling to keep the situation under control.

Even as he watched, the frozen construct that she-wolf had summoned around herself punched out at Thilaera, the or-tel escaping only because the celestial kestrel she’d summoned swooped down and grabbed her at the last possible moment, wings flapping hard enough to kick up the snow as it gently dropped her a few dozen feet away. Meanwhile, the other empyreal animals she’d summoned swarmed the icy behemoth, besieging it from all sides but doing limited damage as it knocked them away, cryomantic magic filling in the scratches and gouge marks that they’d left on it.

Up above, Vystalaran watched the proceedings with a frown, cycling through his collection of staves until he pulled out one that was carved of redwood and topped with a ruby, waiting until Thilaera’s summons had been repulsed far enough to give him an opening before murmuring a word and waving the staff.

Immediately, a sea of flames shot down from the ruby to engulf the she-wolf’s frozen armor, hiding it from view as a wave of heat washed over everyone, turning the snow within the force-dome into so much steaming slush. But when the fires died off, even Loraestil could tell that only superficial damage had been dealt to the she-wolf’s ice goliath, likely because of some sort of heat resistant enchantment that she’d imbued it with.

The exchange was enough to make Loraestil frown inwardly. They’re holding back.

While he had little respect for the companions that had been assigned to him, he knew that they weren’t fools. For all of Vystalaran’s inexperience, and Thilaera’s simplicity, the Vice Coronal would never have sent them along if they were incompetent. Keeping the bulk of their strength in reserve wasn’t a poor idea, even against such a weak foe.

But at the same time, Loraestil couldn’t help but find it irritating. He was keeping the bulk of his strength in reserve, but that was because he was the one facing the titan; those two had no such excuse. Which meant that they were restraining themselves because they weren’t sure that he – despite being the leader of this excursion, as well as a seasoned hunter – could handle things on his own.

Deflecting another wild swing from Lex Legis, Loraestil murmured a spell. Most bladesinger magic was focused around augmenting their blades and themselves – and he’d already used several of the minor ones before going into battle, leaving the stronger spells ready in case he needed them – but there were a few which were of a more general nature, and he called upon one of those now, transmitting his voice to the ears of his companions as he coldly spoke three words.

“Stop fooling around.”

Thilaera cringed, giving him an abashed look, while Vystalaran frowned. But although Lex Legis hadn’t been one of the targets of his spell, he still heard him utter the words, and his eyes narrowed. “Alright, you little pussywillow, you asked for it!”

Loraestil made sure not to smirk, pleased to see what his opponent was easy to provoke. Even as he did, he murmured another spell, one built up a powerful reservoir of kinetic energy in his sword even as he switched to the Stance of the Furious Swan, which focused on offense over defense.

But to his surprise, Lex Legis didn’t rush him again.

Instead, the stallion grimaced as he tensed up, his body seeming to quiver as though he were in some sort of distress. For a moment, he seemed to bulge, muscles growing larger, and Loraestil was certain that he was about to return to his enormous form again...but a moment later, his quivering ceased. Letting out a breath, the muscular stallion gave him a vicious smirk. “Try not to die in one hit, okay?”

Loraestil didn’t respond, remaining at the ready.

Lex Legis snorted, and then crouched down, one foreleg cocked back for another vicious punch. He held that pose for a moment, then charged in again, the ground shaking more than it had before as he made another artless, headlong rush.

Even in the Stance of the Furious Swan, it was easy to avoid, and Loraestil moved to the side as the punch was thrown...only to find his steps faltering as his balance came undone, eyes going wide as he involuntarily moved into the path of the punch. He barely managed to lash out with his blade-

And then he was on the ground, staring up at the sky as he drew in a ragged breath, fumbling for his healing belt. Off to the side, he was vaguely aware of Vystalaran casting a spell that caused the she-wolf’s ice armor to shatter all at once, while Thilaera summoned a group of vaguely elven-looking warriors to fight the ice elementals that her enemy had apparently called forth at some point. And Lex Legis...

Was looking over him with a raised hoof.

Had Loraestil not learned the Stance of the Waking Meadowlark – which was a form designed for when things had gone wrong, and the bladesinger was disarmed, knocked down, or in any of several other extremely precarious positions – he wouldn’t have been able to avoid the descending strike. Particularly since the spell he’d imbued into his blade should have knocked Lex Legis backward with powerful force.

As it was, he only barely managed to move out of the way, feeling as though he was rolling uphill rather than across flat ground.

Dodging the descending hoof by a hair’s breadth, he fell back, kicking his sword into his hand as he managed to put some distance between himself and his quarry.

That hit had been far more damaging than the previous two he’d taken. Not to mention his own spell had done little to his quarry. Even his attempt to extricate himself from the dire straits he’d been in had only barely worked.

But even so, Loraestil found himself smiling.

So that’s your secret.

He had to give Lex Legis credit; the first two times he’d used that power to get a hit in, it had been subtle enough that Loraestil hadn’t noticed. But the clues had all been there, especially since he’d used a much larger application of that form of magic – presumably in conjunction with some sort of minor healing of his own – to reattach his head to his body.

But now, he’d let his guard slip, and Loraestil knew what he was dealing with.

Gravity magic.

While it didn’t seem to be all there was to the titan, since he’d managed to use that power even after being beheaded, his primary method of attack seemed to be through manipulating the power of attraction between objects, pulling enemies off-balance and toward his punches.

Which means it’s time for me to follow my own advice to those two tagalongs that I brought with me, he decided, casting one of his stronger enhancement spells even as he began to call upon the true power of his blade.

No more holding back.

---

“D-don’t...stop...!”

Me Li’s tortured cry brought tears to Nenet’s eyes, but she managed a nod, channeling more power through the kumiho’s tail.

The influx of magical energy caused the fox in front of her to tense up and grimace, biting back cries of pain, unable to maintain her humanoid appearance. Even so, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to concentrate on turning the power she was being given back toward her tail, unlocking whatever magic was there.

Except it’s not working, Nenet could tell, watching as Mei Li continued to endure what she was going through. With nowhere else to go, the magical energy was discharging into the rest of her body, and Nenet could only imagine what it felt like. She could still recall the times when Grisela had used pain-inducing spells on her; compared to those, a beating was much gentler, and although the magic coursing through Mei Li right now wasn’t designed to cause agony, the nine-tailed fox was clearly experiencing that anyway.

“M-more!” groaned the vixen, almost choking on the words. “Use...more...!”

Nenet cringed, never having realized that hurting someone else – especially someone she cared about – could actually feel so much worse than being hurt herself. “But-”

“Elder S-Sister....please!”

“...alright...”

Hating that she couldn’t bring herself to say no to Mei Li’s request, Nenet increased the amount of power flowing through the kumiho’s fifth tail.

Immediately, Mei Li let out a shriek, only to clamp her mouth shut an instant later. “I th-think it’s...almost...”

She couldn’t finish as the marking on her tail suddenly began to glow, Nenet’s eyes widening as the power that she was pouring into the fox was suddenly soaked up by the fluffy appendage, rather than dispersing through the rest of her. It was working!

In front of her, Mei Li slumped over, letting out a low moan as her eyes fluttered closed.

But not before she managed to murmur a message.

---

On the demiplane that he created, Lex’s eyes widened as his foresight told him that he was about to hear Mei Li’s voice, having used a spell to reach him in spite of his having closed their connection.

A moment later, her plea arrived.

“Please...help...Solvei...”

Author's Note:

As Loraestil uncovers the power Burly is using, Nenet and Mei Li manage to get a message to Lex!

What havoc will he wreak now that he knows what's happening? And will he return alone, or is he bringing company along?

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Burley has enough Gravity that he can Reverse Time?

Thats really going to have fun with Void Belligerance.

[Not so New Brony]

Gravity magic coupled with his antean physiology...oof, what a combo. I somehow feel that he learned that magic(or obtained an artifact) specifically to make his blows harder and to lessen blows he receives which only makes Loraestil's feat of decapitating Burly earlier even more impressive. Then again, the magic feels like it needs conscious thought to activate so he might not have had the magic on when he lost his head.

Speaking of which, it still doesn't explain how he managed to reverse his decapitation. Booster Spice's comment did make some sense but only because of my miniscule understanding of the science behind it but I somehow feel that something else was at play there. Curious to see if more of Burly's abilities as well as those of the elves when Lex returns.

[Alzrius]

11826159 And here I was expecting you to say that Burly was literally "pulling himself together."

Of course, as you noted, there has to be something left to pull together, which you can't do if you're reduced to literally nothing.

[Alzrius]

11826412 While we don't know for certain, it seems likely that if the elves aren't fighting at full power, Burly isn't either. He's clearly got something else going for him, since gravity alone shouldn't reverse being killed, and he likewise seems completely unconcerned about how much damage he's taken, though that might just be his natural toughness and battle-lust at play. Either way, I suspect we'll have some answers in the near future.

As it stands, he's admittedly using his gravity magic in ways that are more clever than his crude remarks would indicate, pulling an opponent off-balance by "yanking" them toward him, presumably increasing his own mass in the process so that he hits even harder. Small tricks like that suggest someone who's been using that power for a long time, and knows how to get the most out of it.