Nightmare Realm Summoner

“Can you freeze that thing with your Soul Manifestation?” Claire called over the screaming wind. “It would be a whole lot easier to fight if it couldn’t move.”

“No,” Absolution said flatly.

“What?” Alex asked. “Why? This is the perfect enemy for you! Just lock it up and we’ll beat it to death!”

“I cannot,” Absolution snapped. “It is impossible. We will have to fight it the normal way.”

“What, did you use all your magical energy getting us here or something?” Alex asked in disbelief. “So much that you literally can’t even use your Soul Manifestation? You’re completely spent?”

Absolution’s lips thinned. “This is not the time! Deal with the monster! I can defend myself.”

Alex didn’t doubt that last part. Something about Absolution’s answer didn’t sit right with him. A man like Absolution would never leave himself so unprotected. Unfortunately, this definitely wasn’t the time to go trying to figure out what the hell was up.

The wind was getting stronger, and he could barely even hear himself think. Alex was pretty sure he’d gotten a few pounds lighter purely from the wind trying to lift him into the air. They couldn’t just sit around and wait for the Belcherbeing to finish powering up.

“Let’s go!” Alex yelled. “Claire! Crack it!”

“On it. Partial Soul Manifestation.” Claire grabbed her whip, ripping her hand along its length and staining the black vine red with her blood. “Hollow Court.”

A chime cut through the cacophony. Alex didn’t wait to see the effects of Claire’s attack. He sent Princess her mental commands. She launched herself forward, flinging her massive bulk off the platform and hurtling down toward the Belcherbeing.

Alex was only moments behind her. The Singularity Core turned over within him. And, with a crunch, his anchor tore itself free form the ground. It hurtled through the air in a white streak. There was a sharp jerk on Alex’s arm. Then he was hurtling after the anchor, the world flying past him in a blur. He only had a moment to draw in a deep breath.

Then a loud crack split the air. Fragments of stonelike flesh flew through the air, followed moments after by a sickly wet squelch. And then came the worst sound that possibly could have followed.

A sickly wet squelch and a huffing, wheezing whine of a balloon deflating. The Anchor had torn a wide hole in one of the blobby postures of flesh making up the Belcherbeing, and Alex’s reward was a massive, rancid cloud of yellow air that flew right into his face.

He squeezed his eyes shut a moment before it hit. It was a damn good thing he’d taken a breath, but that did absolutely nothing to stop the sharp pain from tearing across his entire body. His flesh bubbled and hissed, starting to melt from just moments of exposure to the horrid gas.

Alex launched himself upward, putting as much space between himself and the new cloud as possible. He drew on the Singularity Core, tearing the anchor free in a spray of more yellow mist and sending it swinging over his head in a long, wide arc.

Then the huge weapon slammed down into the Belcherbeing’s back. Another pustule burst — but this time, it was far enough away from Alex that the resulting cloud didn’t catch him in its midst. He gritted his teeth as he sailed through the air, landing on one top of one of the massive appendages protruding from the monster’s body.

His skin was still sizzling. He couldn’t heal nearly as fast as just mere proximity to this horrible thing damaged him — and the tornados were so close, the screaming wind in his ears so loud, that he couldn’t see or hear what anyone else was doing.

He could vaguely see Princess tearing at the massive monster like a furious stray cat, ripping huge chunks of its flesh out with her claws, but the monster was so big that it would take her minutes of unperturbed effort to cut a path deep enough to do any real damage.

The arm Alex had taken perch on swayed, suddenly snapping back. The ground dropped out beneath his feet. He fell, grabbing onto the chain of his anchor, which was still embedded in the monster, and gave it a sharp pull.

Alex shot down toward the monster’s back. Wind buffeted his back as a shadow tore through the air above him. The monster had swung one of its many appendages, and with enough force to have sent him flying across the valley had it connected.

He hit the Belcherbeing ready to roll. But Alex never got the chance. Every scrap of his momentum evaporated the moment he landed upon the monster’s back, swallowed by a wet whine that he was now starting to hate with a furious passion.

The ground deflated all around him, replaced by a sulfurous yellow cloud. Alex threw himself away, grabbing onto the back of his anchor to use like a monkey bar before ripping the massive white weapon free of its resting place with a tug from the Singularity Core.

He sent it, and himself, hurtling down toward the cracked ground. The anchor landed moments before Alex did. Wind howled all around him as he gasped for air. Before he could even try to grab onto his anchor again, he found himself ripped into the air by the force of the tornado just behind him.

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Alex flew back — and then jerked to an abrupt halt as his anchor chain snapped taut. He coughed. Pain arced through his entire body. He’d definitely inhaled some of the smoke, and it was not doing any wonders at all for his body. Even his vision was faltering.

Shit. My eyes must have gotten fucked up from that stuff.

Explosions rang through the air, just barely cutting through the howl of the wind. Claire was fighting. He had to presume that Absolution was as well.

It wasn’t that the Belcherbeing was the highest rank opponent that they’d ever gone up against. But this thing’s Soul Manifestation — or whatever it was using to create the furious tornados that were currently still trying to rip Alex away from the ground and into the sky — was letting it punch well above its weight class.

Guess this is a real good example of the difference between your rank and the power of your soul and Mind Palace.

Unfortunately, Alex was on the wrong end of the lesson.

He gritted his teeth. It wasn’t even just the tornados. The squishy parts of the Belcherbeing’s body that he’d destroyed thus far clearly weren’t actually vital organs. They were a protective layer meant to ruin the day of anyone that dared pass by the monster’s tornado domain and get close to it.

And that meant he hadn’t so much as damaged it. Not yet, at least. This wasn’t a fight he could afford to hold back on. He’d been so ineffective that the Belcherbeing hadn’t even tried to finish him off yet. It was just leaving him there, flailing in the air like a kite, while it fought the others.

I don’t think so, you asshole.

Alex grabbed onto his chain, dragging himself back down toward his anchor. He dug his feet into the earth, finding the best purchase he could by digging his feet into the soil. Then, teeth still clenched, he banished his anchor and drew on his magic. He lost his footing nearly instantly. His tenacious hold to the ground gave way as he was torn into the air. At the same time, AlexRiftwarped Qi flow through him as he reached out to his Soul Mirrors and summoned Glint.

Then he summoned his anchor as quickly as he could. The tornados tore him up into the air — only for the immense weight of the white anchor to jerk him to a halt. Alex cursed, flailing in the air once more.

Shimmering claws rent through the air, but the sound of the Glasmir’s arrival was completely swallowed by the howl of wind. Alex reached out with his free hand, grabbing onto Glint as he emerged from the portal and a moment before the tornado could pick him up and send him hurtling away into the sky.

“Kill this fucking thing!” Alex yelled.

He didn’t wait for a reply. Instead, he reared back and flung Glint at the side of the Belcherbeing with all his might. The Glasmir spun, driving its claws into the monster’s side. A wet, splattery hiss filled the air as Glint collided with the monster’s soft flesh.

Thick yellow smog exploded out to meet him. But Glint didn’t falter for an instant. His glistening claws, full of hissing Riftwarped Qi, carved into the side of the monster. The metal blade-cloak on his back shimmered as it wove in between the blows in a perfect, synchronous attack.

A shudder rolled through the body of the Blecherbeing as it suddenly realized that its smog defenses had failed. Glint had evidently managed to dig deep enough to do some real damage. After all, the smoke was nothing to him. Even if it damaged his body — Ein’zahl wasn’t anywhere nearby. This was just a game to him.

And if someone’s whole defensive strategy was making it too uncomfortable to attack them… well, it didn’t work too well against an enemy who was only puppeting a body and not actually present in true.

Another explosion rocked the air. Claire was still putting in good work with her Partial Soul Manifestation. The Belcherbeing lurched in the opposite direction. A shuddering keen rose up from somewhere within it. Alex couldn’t have said where. He still had no idea where the monster’s eyes or mouth were. It probably didn’t matter.

With a snarl, Alex reached out with his other hand and grabbed onto the chain connecting him to the anchor embedded in the ground. He pulled himself down hand by hand until he could grab onto the base of the anchor. Then he bent, planting his feet in the ground and digging them into the rough earth.

Alex activated the Singularity Core. The anchor exploded out from the earth, spinning around him in an arc. But Alex didn’t release his grip on the the Singularity Core. He kept it active, sending the anchor spinning faster and faster in a keening orbit around him.

The force of its rotation was enough to fight back against the wind for just a few moments — which was really all Alex needed.

Once the anchor had picked up enough speed, he sent it hurtling toward one of the deflated patches that he’d made on the Belcherbeing.

Then he held on for dear life.

The ground vanished. He found himself screaming through the air, transformed into little more than the tail of the comet that was his anchor.

Alex ducked into a ball. He braced for impact and squeezed his eyes shut.

An earth-shattering crunch cut through the air. The air exploded from his lungs an instant later as he slammed into the side of the Belcherbeing a moment later. Even though Alex couldn’t see the effects of his strike with his eyes closed, he had no trouble feeling them.

A huge spasm rocked the massive monster. It lurched again, staggering. More explosions split through the air. Alex forced his eyes open. They widened more than he would have preferred given the amount of rancid smoke in the air. He was embedded in a crater in the monster’s side. That extra momentum he’d put behind his anchor had worked. It had done a lot more damage than he’d expected.

But before he could extract himself, a loud crunch cut through the howling wind. A dozen flashes of purple carved through the monster all at once.

There was an instant of stillness.

The tornados vanished.

The keening went silent.

Then the Belcherbeing collapsed, crashing down to the ground along with Alex.

Power flowed into him even as he banished his anchor and spun to right himself. He landed with a grunt on his feed amidst a rain of greenish blood and thick segments of flesh. A flash of cold magic informed Alex that Glint had not been spared from Absolution’s attack. But it didn’t matter.

The Belcherbeing was dead. Coils of yellow smoke twisted in the air above him as the final remnants of the monster’s acidic smog dissipated.

Absolution stood where the being had been, magic fading around the edge of his scythe.

Claire was a few feet behind him, her whip still drawn.

Alex wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, mentally thanking the Band of Shadowed Shroud for keeping his clothes magically perfect. This fight definitely would have turn them to scraps otherwise.

“Well,” Alex said, eyes still watering, “that wasn’t too bad.”

But despite his jovial town, Alex felt confusion and suspicion mingling within his thoughts.

Absolution did have enough magical energy to fight. Sure, he just finished it off after Claire and I did most of the work… but he definitely could have taken this thing and all the rewards for himself. Given how stinky the damn thing was, we might not have even complained about it.

So why did he need our help?