Azaria 2-17

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Chapter 17: Siege of the City Part 3

Azaria

I tapped Starburst’s shoulder. “Four hours maybe less. That jolt cost the city a good chunk of the outer limits.” I didn’t have the entire city in my field, but I could see from the top of my field. I saw the outskirts literally fall away from the now floating island that was the city. I couldn’t imagine the total weight of the area we lost.

“Is that true?” Lance asked from where she stood. I had been whispering almost directly into Starburst’s ears. The fact that she heard me meant her hearing was at supernatural levels.

I shrugged and decided it was probably best to get the show on the road before we reached the portal. There was no telling what was on the other side. “Yes. That’s right. We have close four, no four is too high. I’d said it is likely three hours before we reach the break.” I turned to the rest of the Powered. “I might be a dungeon and you guys humans, but I’m part of the city. Quite literally. I have no idea what’s on the other side but if it’s a drop equal to the distance we’re traveling on this side, none of us will survive. You need to give me your Aether so I can change that.”

“I hate to leave my hands to such an unknown, but I think we don’t have a choice. We should trust the dungeon,” my dad said backing away from the chain. He had done well to cut through nearly half of the material, but there were over two dozen of the chains scattered across the city. It would take far too long to cut through them all while fighting off the monsters that would rain down.

“Very well. Is everyone else in agreement?” Neo asked looking around. His cold tone suggested it wasn’t up for argument. “Good. Tell us what to do.”

“Pour your Aether into to the area around you. I will absorb it and encompass the rest of the city with my field. I will promise you this. I don’t plan to harm any humans that are in the city through this action. Take that as far as you each will.” I doubted many if any of them would believe me. I had been slaughtering humans for the last two months after all. I bet half of them thought I would unleash monsters upon the city as soon as I stole their Aether.

Neo rose into the air to address all the Powered. “We need to conserve our fighting strength. The Highlock Couple, Ox, Million Dollar and I will hold off on providing Aether until the last minute. Everyone else give it everything you got. We might come from different fractions, but I have a feeling the place were going isn’t going to care about that.” I had to admit, he was much more charismatic than I had expected. Everyone only spoke of him with fear in their voice, so it hadn’t been apparent at first. Without him I might be fighting all these Powered right now.

Closing my eyes, I called for Zaria. She appeared and floated down to sit on Starburst’s other shoulder. “Get ready to absorb all the Aether.”

“I was listening. I understand the situation.” The Powered that weren’t name stepped forward and began to channel their Aether into a spot in front of the group. The location soon grew red as the ground began to melt and the air sparked. Zaria and I floated into the air and raised our hands. Magic circles formed in front of our palms as we began to draw in the energy.

The window picked up as my Aether rose faster than I had ever experienced. First, I focused on my first and second floors and used Uncontrollable Proliferation to spread their fields as far they could go. I hoped to save on the total Aether cost when I created the actual floor. When they felt like a rubber band that was about to break, I checked and found that I had covered roughly half of the city in the combined fields.

“Now for the hard part.” I grabbed Zaria’s hand. “I want you to use your Uncontrollable Proliferation when I do. Hopefully, it will double the power.”

“Alright. That is a lot of Aether to control though. It will be painful,” she warned me or explained.

“I’m sorry. Please endure it.” She remained silent but nodded. I closed my eyes again and turned to my overall field. I was worried this might break something again, but at this point, I was an expert. I needed to claim the bottom of the now floating city. Even if chunks of the top layer weren’t in my field, they wouldn’t break apart as easily since their base would still be solid.

First, I used earth magic to blast a hole deep enough for my next floor. I was only able to drill about a hundred feet before I broke through to the sky beneath us. That thought felt odd, but I ignored it. Moving my core, I began gathering all the Aether I had gathered so far and started the process to create my next floor.

Zaria hadn’t been lying. As soon as the process started, it felt like my veins were burning. I ground my teeth and fought through it. If my magic clone could do it without a peep, so could I. The field expanded rapidly along the bottom of the city. I concentrated on a fantastical theme of a floating island. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but if I could actually make the island fly, we might have a better chance in the long run.

What felt like several days passed before the process finished. Zaria and I dropped to the ground leaning back-to-back as we breathed heavily. I felt so sore that I didn’t want to move for a month. I glanced at the Powered and saw that everyone but the five that Neo named were still standing. Everyone had been willing to supply their Aether in the end.

Neo moved toward us but stopped a few paces away. Likely due to something Starburst or Ophelia was doing. “Is it done? Did you succeed?” Neo asked kneeling to be eye level with me.

I stared into his eyes and nodded weakly. “The city… should survive as long as nothing… too extreme isn’t thrown at it.”

“Good work and just in time.” I looked up as he did and found the top level of the skyscrapers were going through the dimensional crack. A few moments later, the rest of the broke through the crack and the air was dyed red.

Waves of red water washed off the edge of the city as we emerged from what looked like an ocean. Another island floated above us and was the source of the chains that were tied to us. As we watched, we rose into the air from the ocean before we jolted to the side. We were moving toward a large light source in the distance. I focused back on the spot we came from. It was faint but I could feel a link to something on the other side even as the shattered glass like barrier between the worlds came back together.

“We’ll get through this,” I said as I stood up. I made a fist then realized that I was still in my physical form. I thought about dismissing the communication request, but nothing happened. I made a sour grin. Looked like I was stuck in my fleshy form. I gasped and quickly leapt into the air. When I stayed floating a few inches off the ground, I breathed in relief. I had grown quite fond of flying around.

I moved over to Lance. “Is everything… working for you?” I asked wondering if I was the only one affected by going through the passage.

Lance flexed and checked herself over. A purple liquid formed on one of her claws before it dripped to the ground with a sizzling sound. “I believe so.”

“Good. My Aether is fluctuating randomly but is still going up.” I turned to Starburst. “Any more information on this realm?”

“Looks like a failed world,” Starburst said then his eyes widened. “I’m surprised I was able to say that.”

“You’re in my total domain. I’m tired of people controlling what I know. Not even that bitch Terleza can stop you from talking now.”

“Nice. Your world isn’t the first to be… changed. We move from world to world converting their native energy to Aether. Of course, this takes years if not centuries. Earth was quite saturated since no one used the energy.” He gestured at the scene around us. “That isn’t to say that we’ve always succeeded. This one fell from our grasp and had to be abandoned. Since the energy conversion process had already started, it continued even after we left. This must be the result. My memories are a bit vague on anything more detailed. Only the name Sangual Demons.”

I nodded at the explanation. It might have gotten us in this mess, but I was glad that my total Domain was starting to be useful. “That must be why our powers still work here.”

“Depending on what happened. There could be dungeons, monsters of unimaginable power, or any number of other things that are more than able to rend us limb from limb. I’m almost glad you’re a dungeon right now. This gives us a much greater fighting chance.”

“I sure hope so, because we have company.” On the edge of the city, a flying ship. Not like a plane or helicopter, but a wooden sailing boat that had gems on the bottom that pushed against the gravity of the planet was landing. It had several of the gargoyle like monsters that had fell from the sky and a person that looked almost human, with red skin, large horns, bat wings, and fangs that nearly stabbed his chin.

“Must be a scout party. To see what they claimed,” Starburst suggested tapping his chin.

“I don’t care if they’re here for a birthday party. This is my city now,” I said grinning. “Ophelia. Teach our guests that we’re not going down without a fight.”

“I’m going to go with her. I want to see if these guests might be of use to me,” Lance said running over to join the party that Ophelia was putting together.

“Alright. Be careful. Ophelia can be resurrected in the dungeon. You can’t.”

“Got it boss,” Lance said with a mocking salute before she turned to Luna. “Head back to the gang’s house. Barricade yourself inside with everyone that can fight. The city might soon be a battlefield.” Lance thrust a thumb in my direction. “And I have a feeling they’re not going to be too happy that something it resisting them.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Luna said then nodded to me. “Good luck.”

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