Lateral Movement

by Alzrius

936 - Gains From Loss

Vystalaran’s death wasn’t like Kryonex’s.

Whereas the ice demigod’s corpse had seemingly petrified and been drawn into the Astral Plane, nothing of the sort happened to the elven avatar. That might have been due to the fact that – similar to how Vystalaran hadn’t had multiple manifestations, even after dropping his mortal disguise – he had been only a subset of an existing deity, rather than the totality of a god himself.

Or it might simply have been due to the fact that Belligerence didn’t leave a body behind.

Instead, all that was left after the void creature slammed into Vystalaran and kept going were a few scraps of clothing, the remnants of the avatar’s outfit which hadn’t been directly in Belligerence’s path.

But the backlash from the avatar’s death, though also less pronounced than what had happened with Kryonex, was likewise palpable to everyone in the area.

Thilaera immediately collapsed, an agonized wail coming from her throat before her eyes rolled back in her head, collapsing. Loraestil, despite being slightly closer, wasn’t affected as badly, though he still doubled over and clutched at his head, moaning in pain.

In contrast to the elves, Sleipnir simply gave a sharp exhale, as though he’d just been slugged in the gut. “In one hit?” he muttered, his voice strained. “No, not even a hit...it just touched him...”

“That’s what that creature does,” answered the Sun Queen softly. Although she was no longer shouting, her voice was no less audible for it, despite being high overhead. “This creature unmakes anything it comes into contact with. And those who possess divinity are its preferred targets, absorbing them to enlarge the rift that makes up its body.”

Sleipnir seemed to shake off his stupefaction then, giving Lex a wide-eyed look as he straightened up. “And you deliberately allowed a monster like that to run free?!”

“I shouldn’t have had to,” retorted Lex coldly, even as the avatar’s death caused the wires that made up his body to lose cohesion, his form dissolving into a loose skein of tangled barbs and razors that only roughly approximated a quadrupedal shape. Only his eyes remained unchanged, the green glow and purple contrails remaining solid amidst the writhing morass of jagged metal. “But since you were more interested in placating that warmonger, even after he prevented me from saving one of my followers, I had no other alternatives.”

Sleipnir bristled. “You’re blaming me for-”

But Lex wasn’t listening, the attempt he’d made to teleport Belligerence back to his side while he’d been speaking just now having failed.

In fact, the void creature didn’t even seem to realize that he’d been attempting to summon it, having stopped in place as soon as it had annihilated Vystalaran, its ebony form quivering as the tendrils of azure flames continued to move along its substance...

And suddenly it was straining against them, the strands of cerulean flame going taut as they struggled to contain the creature.

“It’s breaking free!” cried the Sun Queen, her voice as mournful as it was alarmed.

She hadn’t finished speaking when Sleipnir blurred into motion, zipping around the battlefield so quickly that even Lex wasn’t able to follow him. An instant later, he’d gathered Burly, Thilaera, and Loraestil, carrying them all on his back as he stopped in front of the portal – still open – which Lex’s wish had opened.

“I’ll take these three back to Valaskjalf!” he yelled, looking up at the Sun Queen. “Hurry and get out of here before-”

“SLEIPNIR!!! LOOK OUT!!!”

The Sun Queen’s warning served to do nothing but make the eight-legged stallion look upward at her, distracting him at a critical instant as Lex sprang at the Aesir’s representative, loops of wire that roughly approximated his claws extended.

His blow caught the larger stallion directly across the face, knocking him to the dirt as the trio on his back went sprawling. Now standing where the larger pony had been, Lex had just enough time to see Sleipnir give him a wide-eyed look, which turned into a snarl a half-second later...

Then Lex couldn’t see a thing as Belligerence teleported into the spot he now occupied.

That it would do that had been easy to predict. Although he hadn’t been able to follow the path that Sleipnir had taken when he’d gathered everyone up, it had been easy enough to surmise that the stallion would take the most direct route between the three of them before heading back toward the portal. But that would mean bringing Burly Brawl – who had a trace amount of divine power in the form of Blaze’s blessing – closer to Belligerence’s position.

And while Sleipnir’s warning to the Sun Queen made it clear that he thought Belligerence would go after her next – likely because she had more divinity than anyone else present – Lex knew better. When he’d fought that void creature alongside Kryonex, it had abandoned chasing the demigod in favor of following him whenever he’d gotten too close to it, opting to follow the closest source of godhood rather than the largest.

Fortunately, the thing’s teleporting hadn’t grown any less predictable since its capture.

But although he’d won a considerable gamble in predicting what Belligerence was about to do, Lex knew that it was a small victory compared to what else had just happened.

It’s as I thought, this thing has no power to harm me anymore!

That Belligerence couldn’t destroy him was no real surprise; all of the clues had been there. The fact that he – and he alone – could safely touch the thing once it had been forcibly confined to the quill had been the largest one. But while it had been iffy as to whether or not that would still hold true when he’d relaxed the thing’s imprisonment, he’d been given one other indication that his immunity to its annihilating power was still extant.

Specifically, that he’d felt it when Vystalaran had struck the wires of blue flame encircling the creature.

In hindsight, that shouldn’t have been a surprise. The goddess had given him his new foreleg in the immediate aftermath of her binding that void creature into the original Belligerence; in fact, it had almost seemed like she’d done so with a leftover application of the energy she’d put into the thing’s sealing. In that case, it made perfect sense that the replacement limb had some sort of sympathetic resonance with the strength of the creature’s prison.

Which would also explain why the creature hadn’t attacked him even after he’d relaxed its bindings.

He might not have been able to control it when it was let loose like that – that it had attempted to engulf Burly Brawl without his order made that clear, along with his inability to teleport it back to him – but it was still powerless to harm him.

But that’s likely only true so long as the Night Mare’s binding remains intact, Lex felt certain. Which means I need to renew it before it can absorb more divinity!

That had been the other reason he’d deliberately placed himself where he knew the thing would teleport.

While it was probable that the power he’d forced into Belligerence to loosen its bonds would dissipate on his own – similar to how his enhancing magic items in that fashion was always temporary – the monster’s absorption of Vystalaran’s divinity likely meant that it was going to be that much harder to recapture now. The only thing Lex could think of was to pour more of the Night Mare’s power into the thing, reinforcing the binding by a comparable amount to however much power the void creature now possessed.

Which meant that he’d need to sacrifice some of the strength that the goddess had given him.

The only question now was what he’d lose.

Concentrating on his left foreleg, Lex visualized the original Belligerence in his mind, picturing it in his grasp. As it had been the basis for this creature’s imprisonment, it was easy to ascertain that grasping it would be key to restoring the creature’s prison. Once he had it, he’d pour the goddess’s power into it, not stopping until the monster was once again confined into the form of a weapon, unable to take action on its own.

This transformation will likely be lost, Lex surmised as he felt the quill appear in his claw, lengths of wire sliding across it. Since he hadn’t re-sealed the void creature yet, he still couldn’t foresee what doing so would cost him. Possibly some aspect of the Charismata also. Or even my bonds with the others...

He terminated that line of thought, wincing internally.

The prospect of losing his connection to Solvei, Nenet, and Mei Li terrified him in a way that even fighting gods didn’t.

Cursing Vystalaran one last time, Lex concentrated on feeding the Night Mare’s power into the quill, feeling his left foreleg pulse as it reconstituted the bindings-

And gasped as new strength rushed into him.

What?!

It was startling enough that he almost broke the connection. Instead of the sense of enervation and loss that he’d been expecting, exactly the opposite was happening! He was gaining power rather than losing it!

Even as he tried to figure out what was happening, Lex could feel his bonds with Solvei, Mei Li, and Nenet repairing themselves. In moments, all of the damage that Gwynharwyf had inflicted was gone, his connection to the three of them now as strong as it ever had been.

This is Vystalaran’s divinity! Lex realized, even as the influx of energy moved away from his soul-bonds and into his physical self. The binding is forcing this thing to surrender what it took from him, transferring it to me instead!

It was like wringing water out of a sponge. The more he forced that creature back into Belligerence, the more it lost its hold on the godhood it had stolen. And that power was flowing back into him now, the divinity that he’d already been imbued with eagerly drinking in more.

Already, Lex could feel the massive knot of wires that was his body settle back into its normal, well-defined form. A moment later it stabilized further, and a sudden rush ran through Lex as the metal strands suddenly seemed to move in greater concert than ever before. Instantly, he knew that he’d be able to evoke that form at will from now on, without needing to be in the presence of a god to activate it. And while he still couldn’t maintain it indefinitely, he could feel the inrush of energy fixing that limitation as well. Already, it was extending how long he could remain transformed, increasing it from seconds to minutes-

The flood of power abruptly cut off.

Almost dizzy from the sudden cessation, it took Lex a moment to realize that divine energy the void creature had gathered hadn’t run out. It was simply that the remainder was being diverted elsewhere.

No, not diverted, Lex realized, barely noticing that Belligerence had once again returned to being a quill covered in runes, instead looking around as he engaged his mystic senses. Dispersed!

All around him, he could see the gathered divinity hanging in the air, saturating the ground, and even starting to sink into nearby planes of existence, all of it looking as though it had been haphazardly discarded before he could absorb it.

Or rather, as it that thing that the Night Mare had bound to Belligerence had thrown its meal away rather than let him take it.

During his fight with Kryonex, the void creature had gained some form of rudimentary intelligence, reacting to their tactics and changing strategies accordingly. Now, however, it seemed to have gained something else.

A sense of spite.

But that won’t avail you, snorted Lex, making sure to direct that thought toward the weapon. I can still collect all of this-

Before he could even make the attempt, however, the Sun Queen landed nearby. Waving her wings, the unclaimed divinity suddenly flowed toward her, congealing into an orb that gleamed like a miniature sun as the totality of the remaining godly essence was gathered into it.

“I’m glad you were able to restrain that creature a second time,” she announced as she reached forward with her wings, holding the luminous orb of godly power between them. “But I need to return this to Gladoneral. It will help to mitigate the loss of his avatar.”

Lex couldn’t help but glare at her. “After what just happened, you still think that you can appease him?!”

“No.” The Sun Queen shook her head, and when her gentle smile returned a moment later, everything suddenly seemed brighter. “But maybe I can befriend him.”

“You’d be better off listening to the young titan, lass.”

The voice that emanated from the portal was that of an elderly male, though still resonant and strong. The sound of it caused Sleipnir – who had been about to trot over to the Sun Queen’s side – to gasp. “High One!”

A moment later, a figure stepped through the portal, causing Lex to frown.

It was a human.

Tall and dressed in traveler’s clothes beneath his worn cloak, he carried a walking stick in one hand, the body of which had more runes than Belligerence and whose head had been sharpened to a point. His beard was bushy and deep grey, but his back was unbent and his steps were sure. That was all the more notable since, beneath the wide brim of his hat, an eyepatch could be seen.

“Especially since the lad’s planning on raising a new Fenrir.”

The Sun Queen smiled at the newcomer, giving him a deeper bow than she had to Vystalaran.

“Lord Odin,” she intoned. “Welcome to Everglow.”

Author's Note:

Shocked to find that restraining Belligerence has made him stronger instead of weaker, Lex objects to the Sun Queen's continued push for peace, just as the leader of the Aesir shows up!

Will this see the situation improve? Or are things about to escalate even more?

Comments

[Not so New Brony]

So now Lex has the capability to take on gods and their divinity for himself...well, a part of it at least. Guess he'll have to find a way to control the thing if he wants to maximize his gains with it. I suppose he'll need another challenge after the tulpa though this one is obviously more dangerous and best used as a last resort since using it would be like strapping a bomb to a stick and using it as a hammer.

Regardless, having Odin of all gods appearing now is quite the shocker as is his mentioning of Lex's intent with the power he recovered from Kyronex. Probably learned through means typically attributed to him.

Also, even if he sucker punched Sleipnir to prevent the ungod(did we ever decide on what to call it?) from consuming their divinity, I have to feel like Lex had derived some sense of satisfaction from it cause I know I did.

[Booster Spice]

Well, Lex wanted to get the party going.

Now its Raven.

[Alzrius]

11879732 That Belligerence could kill gods already made it a potent weapon, particularly since only Lex could safely make use of it. But for him to be able to actually siphon off divine power from gods that it slays makes it a whole new thing...except, of course, that this revelation comes with several important limitations and drawbacks. That the void monster seems to want to spite him, expelling the divinity it collected before he could get much of it at all, is a major one. Another is (at least, according to the clues we've seen) that it's possible to undo the bindings keeping that thing bound to the quill...though in that case, relaxing its bonds so that it can act of its own accord seems to be part of that. As does the fact that it seemed to strain against those bonds on its own when it suddenly acquired more divinity.

So it's even more powerful of a weapon than was previously thought...but with more drawbacks than was known either. Which is sort of how a lot of things go at this tier; the greater the power, the greater the concomitant limit/drawback/backlash.

And of course, now the head of a major planar pantheon has appeared in front of Lex himself. Hopefully he's more approving of him than Sleipnir was (though as you noted, it was nice seeing the stallion get smacked around a bit, given how he acted before).

[Alzrius]

11879839 An excellent pun; I give it three Pinkies.

Ironically, draft outlines of some earlier chapters had Huginn and Muninn appearing instead of Sleipnir, but it didn't work very well. Not only was Sleipnir more appropriate (being a pony himself), but those two were at risk of potentially causing confusion, since Branwen is a raven also.