C97: End to it all Pt4, Order in Chaos
9/4/26
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The pressure lessens compared to before, though based on all the anime and games on-side-of-me has observed, that's not always a good thing. It typically arises due to one of three reasons: the first is that the energy is so vast that the exposed simply can't feel it, the second is that the owner of said energy has withdrawn it due to greater control or reintegration into their own body. The final version would be that ….something else…is interfering for unknown purposes.
I get up properly now, with the current lack of pressure it's super easy to do. I look at the Orphan of Kos, the still smiling swaddled child as he twirls in the air. Though the egg that is gradually growing above him is very concerning. I no longer have the right to hold back as the boss is very obviously in its third stage.
Crick crack. I twist my neck for some satisfying pops as I leverage the axe in my hand. I only have a bit under 400 mana due to using the air bubble around myself for so long. Im down to 18 vials and no clue what im walking into. But if there is one famous saying that humans have to exemplify anything we do, then it's to go.
BALLS TO THE WALL.
CLICK. I rush forward and jump up to reach the orphan as I have to stop whatever ascension he is going through as I doubt it would be good. I reinforce myself with air to spin myself mid air whilst clicking the extension to my axe as the full force spinning beyblade that i've become crashes down onto the boss.
CLANG
I am repelled backward by the shock of my attack and my face pales as I see that the cloth around the Orphan has transformed.
The child boss is still swaddled up but it's expression has changed back to rage at me. Yet the wrappings around it have shifted into a set of cloth styled legs and claws.
"What in the Sevagoth-Necrameth bullshit is this?" I mutter in annoyance as the cloth based claws come swiping at me. I dash out of the way and try to swipe at it but get blocked by the cloth-arm-claws which push me back further away. (warframe Ref)
"Hoooo. Hup hup. Alright. I'm all warmed up again" I exhale deeply before taking a few hops in place as a barrier covers my whole body. I redirect it to use my stamina as its primary fuel before I rush back in.
The first proc occurs: Hot to cold.
Ice floods the arena as the swaddled boss is still releasing tons of energy which makes the area around it quite warmer than everywhere else here. Yet now it turns to cold and with the beach water spraying everywhere due to the constant collisions up till now. This means that it spreads out like a flood which I avoid by jumping above the ice, I still get a swipe in but it only knicks the cloth around the right shoulder.
I land some distance away but not before proccing another chaos step where I land. As that happens, the Orphan gets a swipe off on me. My barrier falters in that one moment before my stamina regen can kick in. Course to Silk is the name of the effect and I feel it immediately as the energy 'courses' through me.
As the flood of strange energy coursing over us both. I almost release a humble moan as my clothes are instantly much softer feeling and not rubbing me in all the bad places anymore. It's certainly not a bad feeling though I am not certain that clothes were the only thing that was changed.
Case in point, while the effect was going on and the boss stalled for a second as it did release a pleasurable mumble but not before frowning again and swiping at me with its other arm. I somehow execute a smooth Neo-grade slide underneath the arm. A dexterous maneuver that I shouldn't be able to do with my current physique.
'Does the smoothness also affect my movements like dexterity wise? Not just clothing?' I can't help but think as I execute a few 'smooth' dodges around the boss and produce a few more knicks on its body as I trigger a new chaos effect just before the 'silk' one ends. But not before a bubble suddenly strikes against me, draining me of all my energy again. I give a look of fear for a moment as not all my chaos effects are good for me. Especially not when I have effects like piss to acid in the roulette.
Spark Burst. Im proven wrong as the energy courses through me again and I feel energized like never before.
I release a sigh of relief that it wasn't the worst case scenario. I also feel a flow of energy correlating to the effect of chaos and squint my eyes in response to it. As if something is scratching at the back of my head but not in a grating way.
Now to be fair, I've had this effect happen before but nothing happened in that fight against Lawrence atop the Cainhurst castle. Yet as I see the effect pop up once more. I have a little idea. And the last second of the Silk effect comes to an end.
Summoning the saw cleaver in my other hand. I rush forward towards the center of the boss where it raises both arms to slice me apart or grab and crush me into paste. I cross my arms with both weapons poised near my neck.
Shhhink. Boom boom BOOM.
I brought my arms down and let my axe and saw cleaver grind against each other with, this released sparks from the two weapons which due to spark burst, blew up into explosions following the original trajectory of the sparks. Which are kind of random but since I'm not actually attacking, I'm not using any stamina at all really and thus my barrier is set up once again as the explosions not only blast out into the boss, stalling its movement, but also blast me away from any other attacks that might come my way.
"Ha ha" I chuckle in simple joy over the plan working as I capitalize on this by dashing forward and unleashing a few more bursts like it. I naturally don't see the boss' health gauge dropping at all but it's only it's clothing that is getting torn. I keep repeating this a few more times though not succeeding every time as the 'Beloved Child of Kosm' blocks my attacks after a few tries of understanding what is going on and blocking me. Granted some of those blocks still ensured mutual self destruction so not much changed from the first attempt.
Eventually the spark burst effect does get canceled out. I drop into a crouch, panting hard due to a strange sense of exhaustion passing over me, I then store the saw cleaver away in my inventory and I choose to scan my body real quick to ensure no negatives remain from the sequential outbursts of chaos energy. You know, to be safe.
My stamina recovers and I try to set up the next chaos effect but suddenly get a buzz on the top of my spine and activate the shield on myself as the chaos surges out.
[Plague swarm.]
A pool of green appears under my feet before shooting out in all directions like a tidal wave, even covering the 'child' and a good portion of the sand in toxic soup. I'm the only one unaffected and thus have a clear view of the cocoon hovering above us that releases a few pieces of 'silk' towards the child which changes their slowly growing green skin back to its healthy blue white shade.
"Ah, I have to break that first. Not sure physical force or magic would do, so I have to run it out." I surmise as I'm forced to retreat away by the boss' next attack.
I'm starting to get a new impression on my chaos abilities. Even in the background, I can hear whispers of notifications about my chaos mastery rising and I can actually feel it unlike before. Maybe because I'm actually experiencing it myself and not just 'witnessing' and studying its effects.
Like a sort of Chaos sense to how it all works, or maybe chaos precognition to tell whether or not something I summon can be positive or negative to me.
As if on a timer, the swamp of bile shimmers away to wherever it came from. I thus activate the chaos step but I don't get any sort of buzz unlike before which confuses me and as such, I was a step too slow to activate my barrier. My distraction also allowed the child to have it's claws come swiping at my chest.
Only for us both to fall over as we become victims of the newest chaos effect.
Soul Puppet Ejection.
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I regain vision a moment later but am immediately swinging my hands around in confusion as I'm floating in the air, quite terrifying due to my fear of heights…which I shouldn't have anymore since I came here due to the memory merger long ago.
"Woah, is this the mirror realm?" I slowly correct myself in place as I find myself looking down and seeing the Beloved Child of Kos sleeping on top of my own sleeping body. I try to sway towards my own body, hoping to reenter it since I wasn't sent through the spirit dimension of mysteries.
I made no progress but during a moment of concentration, I was able to move a hand and slap the child on his sleeping face. I stopped then and there as after another moment of concentration, I could release small threads that sync up with my body.
I slowly tried to get up but it seemed my slap had reset the child as he acted as if nothing happened and only continued to throw his tantrum like usual. He raises his claws to strike at me and I dodge, or at least try to.
I am surprised once again by the effect that chaos has on me in this scenario. As through my current out of body experience, i can essentially control myself through sheer thought and concentration. The level of which surpasses even my movements during the Silk scenario.
"Hee hee." Case in point, the child swipes at me with a wide swing but by leaning on a single point of my feet. I can lean backwards to the point of reaching a 20* angle with minimal effort. In between this dodging maneuver. I swing upwards with my axe which with my backward momentum had delivered a cut starting from the waist to the upper clavicle of the boss before having the spike point on the top of my axe land on the ground where I remain.
The boss had stumbled backwards from the surprising movement before it healed again and in a rage, it rushed at me once more. A downward swipe aiming to dismember me at the waist like a certain Go/Jo.
'... wait, who is that?' I ponder to myself as I don't know where this description came from. Regardless, with a bit of force channeled through my shoulders and into my arms, I bump myself upwards which allows me to return strength back into my legs as I stomp down and unleash a heavy axe swing down too. My movements were smoother and better angled, allowing my axe to land solidly on the skull of the child. Digging a whole half inch deep and even squashing the left eye of the child under blood-ordained steel.
I take out the saw cleaver and after taking out the embedded axe, I begin a tornado of movement around the child. Swipes, cleaves, striking the half split pieces of fabric that automatically come out to defend the child but they only serve to give me more targets to strike as one weapon would block both halves while the other would rip them apart with the blade edge of either weapon.
My flurry of attacks shatters what remains of the cocoon, the very cocoon that would have released the child in reality. It gives the final remains of its energy to repair the child's lost eye though it lacked the necessary power to heal the skin fully so a scar remains.
With the exception of the core bundle, the remaining cloth self-destructs into a wave that sends my body flying just next to Kos' body. The soul projection effect also ends so I finally regain normal usage of my body but god damn, I feel sore all over.
'That sucked, it was cool but it sucked. Being able to control my body as I imagine is busted as all hell.' It's not the first time that I've had similar day dreams where I imagine myself break dancing after watching a video of it…even though I know nothing about break dancing and I have a horrible sense of rhythm.
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Word Count = 2281.