Savage Awakening 434. All Out (II)

Zane stomped. And brought the full strength of his domain to bear.

Magnetic Hotspot raged to life, bolstering his hammers; heavy Solar Winds tore out of the edges of his Axes.

They struck the birds head-on.

Feathers melted like wax.

They screeched and blurred away. A blink, a screaming of wind, and they were dots on the far horizon.

“…Birds,” he growled.

Then the Mummy floated up, and the Distortion Field was upon him.

It felt like he’d been caught in some demented blizzard.

He groaned.

Instantly his health began to plummet. 1% a second—maybe faster. Just standing in the presence of that plague field was a brutal ordeal; it felt like every cell was on fire.

Even as his Titanform blew past 150%—even with Minor God essence pumping through his veins—

he had to stagger.

The Mummy licked out a black tongue. It thrust its staff.

Arcane runes lit the ground at his feet.

Zane reacted instantly. Stomped out a blast.

A split second later, a solid pillar of light shot from sand to sky. A black-purple block of pure magic rot, smiting everything in a half-mile radius—an act of some evil god.

It caught him just as he was blasting out. An all-encompassing wrongness, a vertigo, shocked through him, tore a chunk of vitality straight out; he grunted.

He saw the birds circling back.

“Alright.” He wiped the blood off his mouth.

Now he had a pretty good idea of what he was up against.

Fighting that thing head-on was not the way to go. Not right now. Even if he crushed it, with the punishment his body had taken—with his essence stores as they were—its minions would run him over right after.

That was if he could get through that Tier 7 Law in the first place.

His Solar Flare was strong. But two Law Tiers was just too much.

There was only one way.

He had to get stronger.

The last of that plague burned off. But not before taking out a chunk of him.

Warning!

Health under 75%

He knew what he had to do.

It was time to weather the storm.

He made a split-second decision. All this time he'd been saving his best for last.

It was time to go all out.

The edges of his Axes blazed gold.

Zane pulled into motion decisively.

At the same time, he took a single step—and a step that shook the sands…

His two strongest Skills burst into action at once.

One step. One revolution.

A smoldering wind swept the world.

Even that first step strained his body. He had to work just to keep his Axes stable, keep that stampede force building in his muscles.

But if he wanted maximum destruction in the shortest time possible, there was only one way.

He charged.

Not at the Mummy.

At its minions.

Then he felt the difference of that Minor God fuel.

That burst-speed was something else. He stomped—and smashed right into the midst of the Scarab Army, Axes blazing.

Pincers unhinged. Steely Laws sharpened their edges; the Monsters piled on—

He pulled into a second revolution and stomped.

New momentum burst through. The Axes screamed out faster, stacking heavier; he felt the strain piling on his body, gritted his teeth—

But all that effort was worth it.

That golden storm fought off those heavy Plague Laws—and raged to life.

A wall of scarabs was torn off their legs, even as they charged. Their golden shells melted one by one; they screeched as they burned up.

He stomped again, rampaging faster, carving a path of pure destruction through the army—every step crushing dozens.

But the Bosses didn’t sit still.

More curses howled overhead. He felt them coming and stomped to get out of the way. Tornadoes rammed into his own. The birds tried to throw him off course.

Then it was like the air turned to water in front of him. He saw reality roll—he felt suddenly dizzy, slow, like he’d stepped into a harsh wind.

He chanced a glance behind him.

A giant spectral hand clawed at him from behind—some curse that burned in the Astral Plane, tearing the essence right out of him.

The Mummy just kept—

He growled.

He would just have to blunt it as best he could right now. He’d already gone through several hundred scarabs—

7.93 Credits

7.94—

He would make this plan go through.

He’d invested too much. He wouldn’t let himself be stopped now.

So Zane bit down and kept rampaging.

The Scarabs tried making a wall—tried holding him there, so the True Gods could blast him again. But every time he barreled right through with a meaty crunch—a one-man wrecking ball.

Three revolutions.

By now, half the Scarab army was getting dragged in, even those that tried to run, and he heard the Mummy’s furious, unearthly howl. Whole platoons of the little beasts had gone airborne before they met Axe or scything wind.

He grinned.

Then he felt a pit opening up in his gut—stomped out of the way. Just in time.

Twisted purple shapes writhed by him.

At the same time, the birds hit him clean—two giant tornadoes slammed him hard. But they could only hold him back a split second.

They’d have to hit him a lot harder if they wanted to stop him.

“Four.”

Gold shook the world.

And now the momentum was growing devastating.

Another of those tornadoes came; he smashed it aside easily.

He had to become undeniable.

The more he stacked, the more he charged, the more furiously his heart beat—

The more devastating his destruction became.

The only thing was—the strain on his body had grown immense.

He felt like his chest might burst any moment. His biceps were screaming bloody murder; keeping his grip was a whole-body effort.

True God bodies weren’t meant to sustain this much strain. Much less that of a Minor God…

Five.

He felt himself begin to break. “Come on!” he roared.

Just then—

Black blood spewed from his mouth. It felt like a knife was twisting slowly inside his heart; the pain was incredible. It felt like his heart might burst, then and there.

A giant skull danced over his head—vanishing fast…

Warning!

Health under 50%

That curse had just wiped out a tenth of his Health.

He narrowed his eyes, still unsteady; his Axes tilted on an axis—

Then two more tornadoes slammed into him.

It was nearly enough to knock him off course.

That would’ve been the end, then and there.

Holding onto those Axes, even as they tore him apart, was a sheer effort of will.

By now, the bulk of the Scarabs had been fed through his Monster grinder. Hundreds crushed like that—

7.97 Credits

7.98 Credits

He barreled into another mass, saw dozens more go up in flame, even as he felt a bicep rupture.

“Just… a little… more!”

The Pharaoh thrust out a staff. A shroud dropped over Zane’s head.

A heavy layer of suppression smashed down—and now three weights—on top of his charge, on top of his Storm—burdened his body. Essence drain. Life drain. Vitality suppression.

Each deadly enough to crush civilizations, stacked heavy on his back…

His health dropped under 40.

He still hadn’t landed a blow on those True Gods.

Zane let out a sound straight from the heart. Even as he broke down, he felt his Titanform blasting past 270%—

He felt his chest starting to tear.

He had to finish this—now.

Then he felt a glut of aura and looked up.

That bird was swooping in to sock him with a tornado. Only…

It’d gotten dangerously close.

He kept his eyes low even as they narrowed. Stomped as if to go after a clump of scarabs. Felt it swoop in—

Got you.

He exploded straight up—just as it reached the peak of its dive.

Two stomps in quick succession—a sixth and seventh step, done with so much force a quad exploded; he burst out so fast he nearly lost control of the storm.

But he’d put himself right in the blast radius.

A sixth revolution tore the clouds out of the sky. Tore new crescents of void through the atmosphere.

The bird’s eyes popped; it screeched, tried flapping away.

It was too late.

It was caught in the throes of Zane’s power.

It could only thrash as it was sucked howling in—and annihilated in a single instant.

Then—at last—

Credit earned!

The notification he’d been gunning for.

He only had a split second to celebrate.

The ground went pitch-black beneath him. He tried stomping his way out—

A pillar of rot erupted right beneath him.

One last defiant roar could be heard.

Then he was lost in the midst of the blast.

There was a huge tearing sound, a shattering—one great body, riding its limit, taken too far…

The golden storm crashed out.

The Axes went flying, sank deep into the sands…

Zane hurtled out like a meteor and crash-landed, spread-eagled.

And there he lay.

The only sound left was his heartbeat.

A battered heart that should’ve burst the moment he broke. But it was still beating.

His body was burning so hot it was melting the sands.

But the man himself lay motionless, head tilted to one side, long wild hair matted with blood.

The curse shroud thickened over his body, smothering his vitality.

The Pharaoh drew near. Its maw pulled into a leering grin, ready to finish it all off.

Then Zane groaned, coughed blood.

Built up to an arm.

The Pharaoh cocked its head, just watching with a detached curiosity.

Zane managed to get to a knee, building up on broken muscle and bone. He stumbled up, wobbly on his feet—his Asura body worked to clear off the black, worked to stitch him back up, but nearly every muscle was torn.

He still stared the Monster down with hard eyes.

He raised a hand.

An item dropped into his fist.

A crystal, clear and beautiful—and at the heart of it, a colossus of deep red, a swirling sphere; tongues of flame licked off it, mesmerizing.

The Pharaoh’s eyes widened just a fraction.

It acted instantly.

A curse screamed out of its staff, faster than the speed of light.

But Zane had already crushed the stone.

His domain flickered once.

Then it exploded out with such force it wiped that curse clean out of existence.

A new power was rising through Zane, taking over this reality—and its color was no longer golden white.

Its color was red. The red of the god of war.

A notification flickered before his eyes.

Law Comprehended!

H. Solar Flare [Common (P)] -> H. Red Giant [Mythic (P)]