The Narghul Sorcerer was coming, and unlike before, when he was close to me before I detected his demonic presence, now I could track it from a distance.
I could feel the Hollow Avatar press up against my consciousness; it was recommending that it took the center stage, but apart from when it was time to forge my core, I was going to take on this demon.
The first time I saw this demon, I had never been so scared in my life. Then he broke me apart and took something from me that I feared I would never get back again, and that was my innocence.
I was a mage, and I know that the world was vast and filled with mysteries, but I was not eager to pursue all of that; the few experiences I had were more than enough to satisfy me.
I did not need to travel to all the continents or battle the fiercest beasts, as long as I had few friends I could laugh with over the weekend, take care of my family and hopefully marry a lovely girl one day, I was okay with my life... the world was big, but not all of us wanted to see it all, some of us were okay with a small home, and few friends.
This demon took that world from me; it showed me how fragile my dream was, and I knew from the moment I met it, without any doubt, that he hated me and everything I held sacred in my heart.
I hated this demon, but I was a mage, and hate did not rule our spells. If he were coming towards me, even without the Avatar, I would make sure that I killed him properly, and from his corpse, I would build a body that no demon would ever break.
The Narghul Sorcerer’s body emerged from the bowl’s eastern lip, and I watched him like a hawk. By now, I had memorized the shape of his horns, or the way his four eyes burned like suns, I knew the cadence of his voice, and after I was done with him, I would know this demon better than he knew himself; not even if he had a lover would they know him more than me.
The Narghul Sorcerer paused when he saw me, and then he did something strange: he stared at my chest, and I wondered if he could tell I had a core inside me, or if he could hear how supernaturally slow my heartbeat was.
He spoke, and he did not use that demonic speech that landed inside my soul, just the common tongue, and it almost hurt that his voice was one of the most silky smooth voices I have ever heard in my life.
"Mortal child, you have great talent, and I do not see fear in your heart. Bow before me, and I shall give you powers beyond your wildest dreams."
I blinked. This was not how the script was supposed to go. This fucker was to come over here and call me a cattle, blast me with their corruption magic, and I zap them to death.
There was already a framework for this battle in my head, and for a moment, I was silent, then my mouth spoke faster than my head could catch up.
"Bow? To you?" I laughed. It came out a little too high and a little too sharp. "Yeah, no. I’ve seen what happens to people who bow to you. Doesn’t end well." My voice was low as the forced levity went out of it, and I whispered, "They kill everyone I love."
The Narghul Sorcerer’s four burning eyes narrowed. He had expected fear or confusion, and all I was showing him was sadness and tiredness.
"You speak foolishly, mortal child. I have burned worlds for speaking—"
"Old. Yes. Very impressive. Can we skip the villain monologue?" My grip tightened on the staff. "I’ve had a long morning. Lots of killing, and it’s very tedious. I am sure that a demon like you would understand."
The demon’s jaw tightened, and whatever interest he had seen in me was gone as his right hand rose, and a red fireball began to gather over his palm.
I did not wait for him to finish as I activated one of my latest Broken-Celestial Skills... Lightning Incarnate.
∞
I am going to slow down here, because the next five seconds were the most impossible five seconds of my life so far, and I want to do them justice.
The body that had been Elric Voss, dispersed.
I did not feel pain, what I felt was something I do not have a clean word for, the sensation of being more.
My body had been a single point of awareness, Lightning Incarnate transformed it into a substrate of awareness. I was the field, and I was my staff, I was the Conductive Leash running through what remained of the Khaaz formation, I was the twelve directed arcs, I was the saturated air inside the sphere, I was the Cor Telluris core, which was now the brightest point in the lightning’s structure.
By all the light in heaven, I know what I was saying did not make much sense, but how else could I describe what it feels like to be made up of flesh, blood, and bone in one moment, and in the next, you are lightning.
I had eyes everywhere within the field. Storm Sense, when I was Lightning Incarnate, was now the way I observed the world, the way water is wet from the inside.
Time slowed.
The lightning was not actually moving slowly; I was just moving at the speed of voltage, which meant the world around me was relatively still.
The Sorcerer’s hand, with the flame orb still growing above his palm, stopped in mid-motion, and I crossed the eight metres in zero time.
This was the part I had been most curious about. Zero time did not mean fast; zero time meant no duration was experienced.
I was standing eight meters away, and then I was at the Sorcerer’s chest, and the transition did not have an intermediate state. I was simply at the new position.
The Stormbound Fuchsia was in my hand because I was the Stormbound Fuchsia, and the staff and the hand and the lightning were the same substrate.
I drove the staff into the Sorcerer’s cardiac chamber, and I was barely slowed by the innate Abyssal shield surrounding his body.