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CH 65: Steer Into the Skid
🕑 Added 2024-12-27 15:00:00 +0000 UTC-{///} Finola {///}-
Sanctuary was all but lost.
She'd watched the beasts break through the settlement's second defensive structure, then the people fled in groups. Her nascent planetary lord was already gone, and only a token force stayed behind to defend against the creature. The self-affixer was there, sure, but there were too many enemies even for a prodigy. And there was no way the small force with them would be able to deal proper damage to the big one. By all rights, her destructive measures should've been on their way to end things.
The fire controls were minimized, as Loz'ar himself scanned over the views of the ongoing battle. His deceptively young face only betrayed the barest twinkle of interest in the events unfolding in front of him. Loz'ar Blasdej was not an individual that wandered the halls, popping his head into his employees' offices. He was rarely seen outside of his own corporate suite or one of the meeting rooms. When he'd 'decided to stop by', it shocked Finola and the rest of her staff to their cores. One of her interns - some distant grand-niece or cousin of hers - had actually fainted. That small distraction gave Finola just enough time to hide her fire controls before the Magnate could see them.
"It is... curious." He sounded like he was searching for the right word. "You have put so much effort into tracking this single settlement. You even back-channeled your own funds to pay for the real time data. And yet you are also readying yourself to pay even more to destroy this planet, and the investment it would provide."
Finola felt herself flinch. Her hearts hammered in her chest and rational thinking threatened to flee her mind. How had he seen everything? Even after the time she'd spent at the consortium, Finola wasn't truly aware of the Magnate's stats, or his skills.
"You are not the only one that finds happiness in patterns and anomalies, Finola." Loz'ar opened the minimized fire control screen and the ones for interdiction that she'd closed. "I enjoy your resolve, and your intelligence. They help you stand out above the rest of the... good... employees I have. Too many lean hard on one or the other - they only ever either bristle with conviction against facts, or know the right action but lack the spine to see it done." He spun slowly to meet Finola's eyes. "I value trust above all - and I am an understanding leader. Which -" He gestured to the screens with an arm. "is why I have decided to give you the chance to reveal your grand plan to me. Show me this is more than a series of mistakes capped by an attempt to hide those failures. Educate me on the pieces of your design."
Finola calculated the chances that an emergency teleport would be available right now. She ran the numbers on whether she'd be able to leave the room alive. Blaming her unconscious intern for everything had a marginally better chance of succeeding than any attempts to flee. Stalling for time was the best choice. She could come up with excuses on the fly, but she would need something better to keep herself from being axed a year from now when those excuses unraveled.
"Truly, Magnate, there is no surprising you." Finola turned to her dumbest and slowest aide. "Fetch us a tray of spiced wine, Czeron cheeses, and bread." She pointed at the second slowest. "Bring a chair here so I may sit next to our leader." Loz'ar's eyebrow minutely rose at her orders to her aides. "Magnate, please take my seat, and watch this all unfold. I will explain over refreshments, if things do not fall into place while we wait. I hope you will enjoy my... design."
Loz'ar stood still for agonizing seconds, then lowered himself into Finola's work seat. She hoped it wasn't too warm. Interpreted visualizations of the battle played out in front of them as Sanctuary's forces lost their settlement to an EOS species, in a quest line that shouldn't have been possible.
Finola had bought herself time, and put her life on a timer. If she couldn't figure a way out of this before refreshments arrived, she was doomed.
#
Minutes later, Loz'ar scooted to the edge of his seat and hummed in excitement. His hand stroked the black circle on screen that represented the anomaly. The tray of refreshments laid untouched nearby - forgotten in the sequence of events that had unfolded before them. Fate had smiled on Finola today in ways she could barely appreciate. In her head, she'd already begun to spin the story to her favor. Loz'ar's eyes twinkled with excitement.
"Oh my. How... magnificent."
+ Reid +
The salamander's massive mouth was filled with hooked teeth the size of his forearm. It growled as its maw descended, and bits of spit flew out and hit Reid. Its breath smelled like an open-air dumping ground, and blood pooled in its lower jaw from the damage Reid had done to its mouth. Only to its mouth.
How could things have possibly gotten this out of hand?
They'd started out fighting normal wild beasts, and those were realistically dangerous for a group of low leveled people. When the difficulty increased and the salamanders started showing up, Reid had assumed he was still on the normal power curve. But no one else was truly close to being able to contend with the beasts. Strong people - good people - had died not because they didn't push themselves to grow or chose to be in risky situations, but because the ramp they found themselves on was simply too steep to climb.
Reid had assumed he was an anomaly to that phenomenon. In the back of his mind, he'd truly believed that he would be able to defeat the Titan and turn this entire quest scenario around. They were still waiting for the tutorial, so there shouldn't have been anything around that was truly impossible to defeat, right? That nothing had really felt impossible to kill once Reid got more powerful had only reinforced his determination, over time, that he was going to be able to put down any threat they could face. Sure, he wasn't the person that could stop an entire army all at once, but he could damn well kill the army's commander.
And that stayed true, until he met the Titan. So why had things changed, and why now? It was built off the back of another difficulty increase, sure, but they'd had plenty of those already and the jump just seemed too large. Maybe it was the growth of Sanctuary to a proper, multi-settlement grouping? Or had defeating Bertrand's forces done more than he initially realized? Reid didn't think the system was broken, so there had to be a way to kill the creature. Except his bone armaments were the most powerful tool in his arsenal, and even they hadn't been able to penetrate through the crystalline protection. Except... he did have another skill, of higher rarity.
The roar of an approaching engine caught Reid's attention - and the Titan's. It lifted its head and gave an angry screech as Toby's taunt shifted to the massive beast.
Toby was pallid, hunched on the handlebars with his head drooped. He shouted over the noise as he passed by Reid. "They're chasing the column! End this!"
The Titan turned away from Reid to follow Toby, and lashed out with a claw. It missed the man, but caught a rear tire and shredded it. The ATV tumbled and rolled, and Toby's warhammer and his body were thrown into the air when he lost his grip. He slammed hard into the ground, then crawled towards his weapon.
He didn't drop his skill.
The Titan took two steps, and stabbed through his back with its claws. It had barely stepped away from Reid to kill the man. Its tail twitched in excitement at finally ending Toby's life and dropping his skill. The appendage was so close it nearly hit Reid where he lay.
Farther away, the guardian Toby had been kiting shook its head from side to side as if it were getting the effects of the skill out of itself. The thing gave Reid a glance, then set off towards the rear gate. Toby was right - salamanders had started ignoring the last few defenders and were massing at the wall. Some had already climbed to the top and jumped down over the other side. If the guardian joined them and took off after the retreating vehicles, everything was over. No one would be able to kill the guardian - or the Titan.
The Titan was distracted. Reid could try to run - pump power through his worn-out legs and see how far they carried him. There was a chance Sara and the others might live, and he could link back up with them later on. ...But that wasn't a real option. It never had been.
Reid had to stop things here. If he didn't, it meant everything he'd done - the lives he chose to sacrifice, manipulating Toby - was all for naught.
And that was the line.
Reid had one last, dumb idea. One option that might keep Susan, Sara, and the rest of the retreating vehicles safe.
One way to win against these fucking lizards.
The Titan's long tail was within reach. It twitched back and forth.
Reid's physical strength was all but gone, but his energy reserves were still there.
He pushed power through his spent muscles and screamed as they burned with pain.
His eyes watered as he made it to his feet, and he put both hands around Requiem's handle.
Reid's back and arms flared with burning, piercing sensations as he forced his body to wring itself dry, then plunged down.
Requiem's broken shaft split through the Titan's tail and plunged down through muscle into the ground below. It sank deep into the rock Reid had tripped over, and halted. Between Reid's overexerted power and the weight of the rock below him, Reid had the Titan momentarily trapped.
It let out an unholy screech that threatened to burst Reid's eardrums, but he smiled.
When he was eleven years old, Reid’s father had been giving him driving lessons in a school parking lot during a snowstorm. Most of the lesson was just excessive yelling, but there was one bit that came back to him now. When the car went out of control and started sliding, keeping the wheel straight would only end up giving you more trouble. Instead, when things started going sideways, you needed to do the opposite to maintain control. Embrace the situation. Steer into the skid.
Reid pushed his awareness out as far as it could go. He felt his arms, shaking under the strain as muscle fibers tore and burned. He dropped to a knee, and continued. He pushed into himself and his broken mace that held the Titan to the ground.
He felt his wedding band resting against his finger and his armor - and whispered a promise to the ring. "I love you. Both of you. I'll make it back, somehow."
Reid reached inside himself for the thread, and pulled.
Energy drained away in a torrent as his arm and mace instantly flashed to solid stone. The corrupted petrification skill sped out over the ground. Dozens of legs were rooted in place, then the wave slowed.
More. He needed more.
He willed it forward - willed everything to solidify. He leaned into the sensation of the rock transforming his surroundings and pushed harder. The corrupted skill greedily sucked up more of his energy and sped farther into his surroundings. Stone crept up his legs and started to solidify his stomach. His arms were petrified up to the shoulder.
The Titan watched the stone advance up its tail towards its body, and for the first time in the fight let out a scared popping noise. It pulled itself forward with frantic steps, and tore off its tail in a desperate attempt at escape. The Titan fell forward, and claws bit into petrified ground that snaked up the beast to its elbow.
It let out a frightened screech, and dozens of salamanders rushed back towards it in response - only to have their momentum halted when they reached the rock-turned ground.
Grass flashed to stone as the wave of petrification rolled out around everything. Mark's traps solidified. It crept up the wheels and over the campers where the last of the volunteers stood. Some embraced each other as the stone rose to the top of their platform, and ran up their bodies.
Hundreds of fearful salamanders screeched at the rear gate as their legs were rooted to the earth and their bodies rapidly transformed.
Energy deep within Reid churned and raged against the seeping skill. It slowed his transformation long enough for him to watch the Crimson Titan lose both arms and legs to the petrification. He gleefully took it in as the Titan's torso turned solid, then watched the skill advance up its neck. Reid pushed on until the petrification locked the Titan's head in a final, silent scream.
The pain from his overworked muscles was all but gone. They'd either turned to stone, or were in the process of doing so.
He tried to push his focus down into himself, but failed.
The war of churning energy within him kept on, but it couldn't stop the spread.
He panted short breaths as his lungs solidified and his throat hardened.
Reid gagged as the back of his tongue turned solid. It was unsettling. But he didn't want his face captured in that pose.
The beasts at the rear gate were frozen. The Titan and its guardian were gone.
Sara and Susan would be safe - and so would the rest of Sanctuary.
No matter what it cost, Reid had triumphed over the impossible.
He'd won.
As the last pieces of Reid Oliver Calderwall hardened into stone, he set his jaw, closed his eyes, and put on his best lopsided smile.
