With the main production base down, we were free to focus on freeing the towns. Eldertree, Oakgrove, and Eagle Cry all provided similar challenges. We would enter, and most of the guards were already at level two, with the captain and their assistant at level three. Fortunately for us, we had a perfect excuse to go and meet the captain in private. We had come across a pack of displacer wolves that thought we would make a good meal. I kept the head of one of the smaller wolves, as the black shard in its forehead immediately gave away its species. While we did easily kill the rest of the pack, the guard didn’t know that. As a major danger to travelers, we were immediately hustled in to give interviews and for the captains to examine the kill. Our excuse was that we managed to kill one while it was waiting on its turn to eat, then took to the trees to escape. It was only luck that we were close enough to grab the body for our storage rings.

  As the guards were distracted, we would then attack. Once the most dangerous opponents were down, we systematically slaughtered the weaker level two guards. The central city then became our base, as we would split up to better free the smaller towns from infection. Most of those were still at level one guards, with the occasional level two showing up.

  While the work was simple, there were two limiting issues for us. First was tracking down and getting to the nearest towns. Even from the central city, most caravans would be traveling three to four days. We could cover that easily through flight, but it still slowed us down. The other problem was one of spirit. Each level gave me more, but when we started all of this I had 540 spirit. That was enough to clear the majority of a major town, or two or three smaller towns. All told, we had to spend nearly a week and a half at each major city before we could move on, but it was worth it for the experience. Especially when we figured in the experience from clearing the production base. After everything was said and done, I managed to gain four levels, almost to the dot.

  I held off on upgrading anything for the moment, as I was one adaptation shy of being able to double upgrade Chimeric Body. Six upgrades if I wanted to max out the upgrade path, which I was definitely planning to do. Instead, I saved them for an emergency. Something was bothering me about those soul leeches, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Despite that, we were still headed toward the final city on our list, Kiln.

  * * * * * * * * * * * * *

  “Are you sure about this Sean?” Elendria asked as we slowly made our way towards Kiln. We had found an abandoned wagon, and were using that as a sort of subterfuge to enter the city. I was propelling it with a bit of gravity magic, while Elendria was using illusions to make it seem like it was full of produce and being pulled by an ox-like creature.

  “Why not? It’s worked fine so far.” I replied.

  “Right. It worked in three other cities, and it’s been weeks. Don’t you think they should have caught on by now?”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Fine, let’s go in assuming they at least suspect us. They still haven’t indicated they can fly, or at least that flight is incredibly rare. So at the first sign of danger, we take to the skies. I’ll lay down random gravity traps to throw off the aim of any projectiles. Feel better?”

  “Much.” She said, settling back in for the long ride. We still had at least an hour and a half at our plodding pace to move, and things wouldn’t change much along the way in terms of excitement. Oh, the landscape was going to change a bit, but that was to be expected. The trees gradually thinned down from a deep forest into fields of grasses. The reasoning was the soil, which was also the source of the town’s name. Here, the loamy topsoil of the forest was replaced with a wet, sticky red clay. Perfect for making pottery, terrible for growing crops. Every so often we would pass clay bands, groups of people who were moving around in the muck and digging up clay to be fed into the pottery industry. It took at least two people to manage a shovel, as the clay would cling to everything. The solution was the second person, who had a scraper made from iron that they would use to remove the clay. Or at least, that’s what should have been happening.

  “Elendria?” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. We were nearing the front gates of the town, but could still easily escape.

  “I see it too.” She whispered back, slightly smug. “None of them are working, and some of their shirts are terrible at hiding those tattoos. Everyone outside of the walls are at least at level three.” Just before we took off, a figure appeared on the gatehouse as every worker in the fields stood up and turned to face us.

  “Greetings, and welcome to Kiln, Heretics.” The figure said in a jovial tone. I couldn’t sense much strength coming from him, but he had me worried. There was a strange metal covering his upper chest and arms, cutting off mid bicep. It moved with him, almost as if it were alive. Aside from that, he carried no weapon.

  “Sorry sir, but we’re-“ I started, only to be cut off.

  “Illusion reaver.” With a slash of his hand, a magic wave burst forth and eliminated the illusions that Elendria was holding. “Did you really think we wouldn’t know of your actions? We’ve been planning this ever since you slew our queen mother. You will suffer a thous-“ This time, he was the one to be cut off as a beam of energy blasted a hole through the middle of his forehead. Elendria and I both stood, ready to take to the air, but stopped when we didn’t see any attacks coming.

  “Well, that was thoroughly unpleasant.” We looked up in horror to see the hole being repaired right in front of our eyes. Where there should have been a scar, instead was a small circle of the same metal of the chest, and a grinning opponent. “Oh, this must be your first time fighting an Awakened. I love fresh meat.”

  I wasn’t about to let him get away with what he wanted, and apparently neither was Elendria. I sent a lightning bolt, which was absorbed by his armor just before her ice spike shattered against it. I sent several varieties of elemental blades and spells at him as Elendria sent different ice attacks. No matter where we targeted, they were all drawn to the black armor and absorbed. Or shattered if physical. I frowned as it happened, knowing that he wasn’t using gravity. It was similar though, like a smell you can almost remember but not quite place.

  “Fine, take this!” I snarled, letting my frustration get the best of me as I sent a void sphere in his direction. I even aimed for his chest, not that it would matter. Let’s see that armor absorb the entirety of the void!

  “Oh? This is different. It almost reminds me of.” The guy smiled as the sphere stopped right before impact. As it detonated, my eyes widened in horrific understanding. The sphere expanded like normal, but was moving away from the obvious mage at the same rate it was expanding, leaving him completely unharmed. As it expanded, he shuddered in ecstasy. “Home.”

  I ignored the flash of a notification as everything clicked. Our spells weren’t being drawn to his armor, they were being redirected there as he altered space around him. And that comment. It must be from his soul leech. It was a creature of the void! Spatial magics were one of the few means of movement there, no wonder they would have an instinctual grasp of them!

  In a flash, he was on the wagon seat with us. “Time to split up.” He grinned, grabbing Elendria’s arm and flashing back to the top of the wall. “AAAAAAH!” He cried out in pain, grabbing his partially frozen hand.

  “Hands off.” Elendria snarled, swiping at his retreating figure.

  “ELENDRIA! RUN! HE’S BEYOND US!” I screamed, ready to do just that. He could instantly teleport without causing any displacement issues. In less than a second, he could change the spatial location of his own body and replace it with the same amount of air he was soon going to be occupying, doing it so flawlessly that there wasn’t even a whisper of sound.

  “You think I would let you?” He chuckled, turning it into a derisive laugh as Elendria struggled to back up, only to appear to be flailing her limbs as she stayed in place. Realizing that I had the only set of skills that could possibly fight against him, and that I was going to have to do something to allow her to escape, I took a deep breath before unleashing a massive gravity field centered on the mage.

  “Go, I’ll hold him here.” I shouted, taking to the skies myself and landing on the wall as Elendria started to flee. She turned back, but kept going when I yelled, “GO DAMNIT! I CAN’T FIGHT HIM AND PROTECT YOU AT THE SAME TIME!”

  “See you in Hedge.” Appeared as mist in front of me before dissipating, and I knew it was from Elendria. As she left, the mage was studying me.

  “You do realize that you just made my spatial magic stronger, yes?” He asked. “Now that I know it can be affected by intense gravity, I can already counter your defense. But let’s say you manage the impossible and defeat me. Do you really think you can withstand all the people we brought in to fight you? Even the citizens have been forcefully converted here, and I know your spirit is limited.”

  “Sounds about right.” I nodded as I desperately tried to figure out how he was doing his spatial magic. When I made doorways, I used spirit to seal the edges to prevent incursions. But that was also moving through dimensions. He was moving in the same 3D space, so theoretically he wouldn’t need to use any spirit. A tremor in the p branes surrounding me was the only warning I got. Diving backwards, my eyes widened in fear as a black blade made of the same metal as his armor swung through where my neck had just been. I immediately retaliated with a jet of plasma, only to see it absorbed by the sword with no effects whatsoever.

  “Ha! Foolish mage, this is voidsteel! It will rip through spells like regular steel through flesh.” He chuckled, continuing his attack. I was dodging as fast as I could, but was still receiving small wounds with every slashing attack of that sword. I could feel the different vibrations in the space around me, preventing me from successfully evading.

  “Well, would you look at that.” He said after delivering another blow. Each one seemed to drain me of strength, no matter how shallow the slice. “You have some impressive regeneration there friend. I wonder, just how good is it? Can you survive without a head?” Knowing he was coming for a killing blow, I went into desperation mode. He was manipulating a certain set of p branes, of that I was convinced. I just couldn’t separate which one did what, so I slammed power into all of them as he tried to remove my head. It was a bull in a china shop approach, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t work. With a tormented shriek, the blade that should have removed my head curled in upon itself as space warped in vomit inducing ways around us.

  “AAAAHHH!” He screamed as I cringed, as we both turned out worse from the exchange. His own blade had curled far enough to impale his forearm, while my own arm shattered and hung limply by my side. Stumbling backward, I took my chance and put a good bit of distance between us with a powerful burst of gravity. I wasn’t about to use my wings, not with the way that space was churning around us.

  “What did you do? Idiot, imbecile! MORON! YOU ALMOST RUPTURED SPACE ITSELF!” He screamed as he tore his blade from his arm.

  “Heh, while that may be true, I also took away your most powerful spells.” I said with a grin. I fired a bullet at him, nodding at the result. It hit with such force that he stumbled backward, but I managed to see something strange in his armor. It dented, but repaired itself almost immediately. So it wasn’t invulnerable, but it had some bit of regeneration just as powerful as my own Troll’s Regeneration. I just needed to figure out what it’s weakness was.

  “We’ll just see about that.” He snarled, reaching out a hand. As soon as I felt the vibrations, I countered with a powerful burst, though I limited it to about half of the branes I had originally struck with my initial blow. It must have looked strange to onlookers, but back and forth we kept trying, until I managed to narrow it down to three branes that he was manipulating. As I refined my attack, I noticed him start to sweat. Not only was I using less mana to counter, but I was getting closer and closer to matching his own attack and simply negating it, rather than overpowering it. This hopefully would prevent me from ripping a hole in reality.

  “Dinnertime.” He said, and I was far too late. He ripped open a hole to the void, but there were no protections. All our spatial fluctuations had attracted attention, and emerging from the portal was a creature whose mere presence started draining me of mana and spirit. The first thing it did was seal the portal behind it, preventing someone from sending it back where it came from. It seemed like an armored knight, with intimidating armor made from that strange black material. Behind it though, was a grinning tube of flesh on legs. Thrown together sporadically were eyes and mouths, facing all directions. The mouths would open, inhaling energy. I immediately took to the skies, needing distance. A warning bell roared through all of existence, and a prompt showed up.

  As I rose into the sky, I started frantically charging my mana. I already knew that armor could handle plasma, but the cold aura that Elendria had emitted had at least caused the bastard pain. At the rate this Dreadlord was draining me, I was going to have to bet the farm on this one attack. Rather than target the metal that absorbed damn near every energy, I sent my spell into the wall directly below me. Even then, it was a desperate fight as I had to stop the mage from altering the path until my spell detonated. Instead of flames, it unleashed a pulse of blue energy that flash froze whatever it came into contact with. Expanding at insane speeds, neither the Dreadlord nor the mage could react.

  I hovered out of range, watching as their armor changed as it swiftly froze to absolute zero. Instead of a shiny black, it started to dull and peel, revealing a woven lattice of cords beneath it. Several of these snapped, shattering anything already frozen surrounding it.

  “Right. I doubt they are dead yet.” I muttered to myself as I struggled to gain altitude. Not only had there been no notification, but even now I could still feel a slight drain on my energy. Time to end this thing with prejudice. Once I made it high enough, I summoned a massive boulder. Easily the size of nine metal shipping containers stacked in a square. As I dropped it, I hooked it to the most powerful gravity well I could create straight down. What the cold didn’t kill, the meteor would. I headed toward Hedge, fighting the headache from the mana and spirit drain as the meteor impacted, destroying the city and giving me three important notifications.