Book 3, Chapter 93 - Breakthrough! Escape! (1/2)
The Dark Atom’s Nirvana defense system was a man-made natural disaster – a mass volcanic eruption they could somehow unleash at will. The Blisterpeak mountain range was a massive swath of territory, pock-marked with volcanoes ready to burst. If any one of them blew, then dozens of kilometers would be covered in deadly lava. What’s more, the scale of even one volcano was monstrous. If just the mountain Nucleus was located under blew its top, the results were catastrophic.
At the very least, elysian soldiers caught in the cataclysm would become hard pressed to find safety. A single person’s strength in the face of nature’s fury meant nothing.
Once Nirvana was triggered, the area for kilometers around Nucleus would be buried beneath liquid stone and volcanic ash for a long time. Everything within range died, and for a long while the city would remain isolated from the outside world for it would be impossible to get close. In preparation for this, Nucleus had long ago established an enclosed ecosystem. They had food, water, and resources to keep itself going without outside help for the better part of a decade. It was their greatest trump card, only to be used in the most dire of circumstances.
At the site of their great battle, the mountain range had already become a sea of lava. Ash lay over tides of angry red stone, thick as mud but surging like the tide. Its fiery glare painted the mountain sides in dramatic hues as swells of lava came sweeping through the valleys. Those caught in the open were washed away, dead before they could drown.
In this moment, heaven and earth had no boundaries.
Beyond the reach of the lava tides, orbs of it spat from the volcanoes were still falling. They struck the ground like missiles, sometimes dozens of kilometers away, stealing the safety of the air. Elysian warships dodged and weaved, but to no avail. Pyroclasts slammed into their hulls, blasted them apart and setting ablaze everything it touched. There was no succor for the humans caught in the blast zone.
All of that bullshit he was spitting at Drake… Cloudhawk never thought he’d actually be right.
It really was a trap. They were hiding all these years, making people think they were afraid of Skycloud, so that when they were actually discovered the elysians would come running. Of course they would throw everything they had at the Dark Atom, as quickly as they could before the rats could scurry away back into their holes. Little did they know, bringing their full might was playing right into the rebels’ hands.
The Dark Atom had held back on activating Nirvana, too. Wolfblade wanted his net full to bursting before he pulled in the haul.
What a terrible cost the elysians had paid for their hatred!
Cloudhawk never had much trouble getting himself out of sticky situations. This time it was a much taller order to save a whole squad of soldiers, and it was a task he very nearly failed. But he gritted his teeth and drew on everything inside of himself, recklessly drawing on his potential.
Waves of stifling heat were closing in. He felt like his head might explode!
Brontes and Roc felt the scorching heat wash over them and had already lost hope. How were they supposed to get out of this?
Cloudhawk ignored their surroundings, focusing everything on the phase stone. There was an ocean of physic force within he, he’d seen it! Why couldn’t he call on that power for himself?
Why was he always restricted to calling on such a small token of this inheritance? Why wasn’t he given more? Cloudhawk wasn’t satisfied with boundaries. He needed what the stone could offer, it was the only way to save himself and the others from annihilation.
“Get out! Give it to me!”
Drake saw him struggling. “If you can’t do it then save yourself. Get out of here!”
“Shut the fuck up! [1]” Cloudhawk had been born with a stubborn spirit, and it was that he drew on. Veins bulged on his forehead and the vessels in his eyes became engorged. “Who says I can’t do it?! I’ll fuckin’ show you what I can do!”
Both will and body were pushed their highest limits when at last a blinding light burst from the phase stone.
In the recesses of his mind Cloudhawk saw the sea of mental energy. A large margin of it evaporated, but did not vanish. Instead it hung in the darkness like a cloud, while a portion of it was drawn into him.
To him it felt like a breath of fresh air. A cool gush of water flowing through his body and mind. His own mental energies were like a trickle, but now all of a sudden it was stream.
Got it! I fuckin’ got it!
His elation wasn’t because he succeeded in calling the stone’s power. Cloudhawk was happy because he managed to make that power his own. This wasn’t merely a surge of temporary strength, it was a breakthrough!
Since obtaining the phase stone, it became the source of much of Cloudhawk’s mental energies. Over time it gradually increased, but absorbing power from that dark sea was slow and laborious. The tremendous inheritance from the stone’s former master was not easily transferred. Instead, as Cloudhawk got stronger he was able to finally push through the bottleneck and increase his capabilities.
Over the last several years, improvement was exactly what Cloudhawk had been after. Step after step, hour after hour, finally he was reaping the benefits.
He didn’t know when he had the strength to refine some of the stone’s power, only that now was the moment. He had been lacking impetus, but the deadly environment and his will to save Drake had given him that last push. At last, when everything was in place, he was finally able to push through the block that was keeping him back.
“It’s no good! You need to go!”
Drake had no idea what was happening within Cloudhawk. All he knew was that lava was quickly going to be lapping at their heels. If Cloudhawk didn’t get away now, he would lose his chance.
He respected the guy’s intention. Drake just regretted not listening to him in the first place. If Cloudhawk died because of his stubbornness, his spirit would know no rest even once it was among the gods.
“Shut up!” Cloudhawk yelled back in frustration.