Infinite Realm: Monsters & Legends

Chapter 334: Anrosh

Application of Power

Anrosh stalked across the clearing, each step spreading frost over the grass beneath her paws. She was circling Ryun, and he was circling her in turn, both of them in their Evolved Forms. She was still getting used to walking on four feet, and just having a body that was as tall as some of the trees around her in general. His Evolved Form was larger than hers, though not by much, but it looked a lot different. Where her fur was red streaked with white, his was black, violet, and gray. Though his fur didnt really look like fur, it resembled a moving mist that cracked and whipped around wildly even when there was no wind. The Void snapping at the Essence around it, trying to devour it, the sound of air and the ground getting disintegrated filled the clearing. The claws on his feet were gray crystals of the Stillness Qi, though she knew that he could change them to the Void. He didnt, because that meant that his footsteps left violet and black mist behind that looked like fire trying to burn anything that it touched, and it forced him to move often or just sink into the ground as his body devoured the ground.

Every once in a while, all sound from his direction would stop, then sometimes they would come back in a rush of scrambled noise of sounds overlapping each other, other times it would resume normally. She knew that he was testing his power just as much as she was testing hers. Although, there were things that he couldnt control, the sight of his body would often become warped, twisted, almost as if someone froze an afterimage of him in place while he still moved. She could see him moving, but the afterimage remained for a split-moment. It was his Stillness Qi affecting the light and everything else that touched him. The Void would often just devour that light, which at times made him appear just as a hole in the world, but only when his Stillness Qi slowed the Light down enough for Void to devour it before it bounced off him.

Her form was different, more natural looking, though she had her own peculiarities. The air around her was losing heat, the ground freezing, a faint mist was rising around her and the cold permeated everything. If she moved fast, the warmer air rapidly cooled, which somehow made the Air Essence thicker, forced the grainsas Ryun called themto get closer, which caused small implosions around her. Pulling Essence toward her. The effect wasnt strong enough to really do anything to Ryun, but it would probably be effective against people weaker than him.

It was strange looking at Ryuns Evolved Form, it played tricks on her mind and eyes, ears too, and scent, all senses that required some type of Essence to reach her from him to transfer information. She was forced to rely on her |Greater Echo Sense| though even that was tricky. She couldnt actually sense echoes from him always, as those were vibrations that were created by bouncing sound off other Essence, which he either stilled or devoured with Void. Instead, she had tried to focus on the lack of them, on the empty area from which no echo came. It wasnt nearly enough, she couldnt tell anything but the rough position and she could see that from the distortions around him. Perhaps if she was better she couldve used it in a way to track him completely, but she wasnt Ryun.

Sometimes he would look like a painting in the air, other times a blur of light and sound. Her only reliable way of tracking him was her |Greater Threat Sense| which would inform her of when he tried to attack, though give her precious little otherwise.

Though she didnt really need much, not for this training at least. She wore her armor, adapted to cover every part of her Evolved Form, and her set ability set to Void. The violet and black armor shone on her body, protecting her from Ryuns main power.

Her skill triggered and she dodged to the side with |Enhanced Dodge|. She was faster and stronger, she wore her armor and rings while he had nothing. But even handicapped and without using his mantle, Ryun still managed to hit her. Not only was his Evolved Form hard to follow, it was as if he knew where she intended to dodge as wellwhich he did, his sense was incredibly powerful, one of the most powerful that she had ever seen or heard about.

His claws raked the side of her body across her armor. This was their third bout of the day, and he had stopped using Void claws on his feet, now the Stillness claws hit her, sending her stumbling. The effect of his Qi passed through the armor, her body stiffening but the effect was not anything debilitating. Anrosh had experience with something similar. The Aspect of the Absolute Cold was similar, instead of forcing Essence to stop it removed heat, created frost that encased other Essence. She knew that frost and cold were byproducts, not the real thing that her Aspect did, but it was familiar.

She used her perks, increasing her power, increasing her statsKnights Stance;Ends Avatar which made black and white mist rise from her body, slipping through her armor; Frost Reinforcement which covered her armor in frost, reinforcing it. This was the last training match of the day, probably of the week as they all had other things to do, so she didnt hold anything back, she spent her longer cooldown perks.

Ryun attacked again, but this time she moved her three floating shields in place, blocking him for just long enough. He slammed her shields away, and then struck again, sending her two steps to the side. By the time his next swipe came her shields had recovered and they blocked it. He opened his mouth and sent a beam of Void at her. Her armor protected her, but she still dodged. Then he blasted the area with an aura of the Void, which made the ground brittle and each step dangerous. She recovered by taking a hop to the side, outside of his range, and then she went on the offensive.

Grand Frostfalla blade of ice fell from the sky and Ryun dodged to the side. It struck near him and a blast of frost aura reached him. The Void Essence that made his body crackled widely in response. Spikes of ice erupted from the ground, forcing him to move again, just a tiny bit closer to her.

She released her aura, and everything around them cooled further. Then she used Frost Ring, sending a ring of frost across the ground freezing his feet for a split moment.

He ripped the frost and the ground up, and the debris froze mid air as it was tumbling back to the ground. Each step they made sent shock-waves around them, the ground filled with cracks that then froze over or were devoured by Void Qi. Pieces of the ground with grass still on them hung in the air for moments after they touched his body, stilled in place.

The clearing had turned into a small crater filled with debris.

[Grand Rally] she roared, and then used Grand Frost Charge. She closed the distance and leapt as spikes of ice grew along her path. She swiped with her claws using |Crescent Swipe| and caught him on the shoulder as he dodged. Her claws parted his body easily, at least initially. It was as if she had just sunk her claws in a thick syrup, or perhaps dough. It was a strange feeling, but it didnt last. Her claws stopped long before they expended their momentum, the Stillness Qi inside of his body freezing the claws and then the Void attacked and hurt her. The pain had just started when the wounds regenerated, the strange substance of his body filled up pushing her claws out and closing the wounds. She triggered one of her anchors and used {Glacial Shaping} to freeze the area around his legs, keeping him in place. Then she spent another anchor to create her {Avatar of Frost}. It leapt and caught Ryun, its crystal claws grabbing hold of him while its maw closed around his upper leg, securing him in place further.

She slammed her paw against what was now completely frozen ground, then triggered Grand Frost Burst. Every piece of frozen ground, of debris in the air, of her spikes and grand sword of ice, her avatar, all of it detonated, exploding into shards. The avatar was the closest to him, it exploded in all directions, shards of ice ripping chunks of his body away, his leg was blown apart, and gashes filled his torso. She protected herself with her shields as everything else exploded.

A wave of gray blasted out of him and the shards hit it. It was as if they had hit some thick layer of liquid, they slowed, the gray Essence stuck to the shards and froze them into place, stilled them. But while the shards were frozen away from Ryun, they still surrounded him in a sphere, there was no where to run. She sensed him preparing a technique with his Void Qi and knew that he was about to blast every single piece of ice heading his way. She acted before he did.

Deny. His technique, the adapted version of what was for her {Glacial Armor}, withered and dispersed. The shards hit him as he unleashed his {Final End}. Half of the shards were blasted into nothingness, but the other half hit, cutting wounds in his body.

She was breathing deeply, feeling the effects of the battle as she saw his body reform from a mangled mess to full health in less than a second, he even grew a new leg.

That is so unfair, she growled in defeat. She had nothing left that she could throw at him, nothing that had any chance of working.

Ryun tilted his head, but before he answered someone started clapping.

Wow, a voice from above said. Anrosh raised her head and saw Tali, her wings beating slowly to keep her in the air above them. That was pathetic.

Anrosh winced, even though she knew that it wasnt directed at her.

Ryun growled up at her. I want to see you try and fight after your entire body changed into a liquid goo.

Tali stuck out her tongue at him. Anrosh blinked as the woman slowly descended. She landed on a small upturned piece of dirt and tsked at him.

It is your fault, Tali said.

I am not complaining about the body I got, Ryun started. I just want some under

I dont mean about the body, she interrupted him.

What do you mean? Ryun asked.

You were unimpressive in all three of your matches today, Tali said.

Anrosh agreed. This was the only time that she had done any significant damage, but the other two bouts hadnt been that much different. Sure, Ryun wasnt using his mantle, or his skills, but he still wasnt able to do much. A part of it was probably because of her Aspect. They had talked after their first match, since she was protected from his Void by her armor, he had hoped to rely on his Stillness more, but the effects werent what either of them expected. Their current thoughts were that the two Aspects were somehow related, if not in material way, then at least in concepts. Which made it easier for her to deal with it. Still, if he had used his mantle or really tried, she was sure that he wouldve been able to win. But that wasnt the point of their matches.

And you already know why that is, Ryun said.

Of course I do, Tali grinned at him.

Ryun growled, then changed, dismissing his Evolved Form and Anrosh did the same. They walked over to Tali, through the ripped out ground and destroyed clearing.

The reason, Ryun, is because you are not leveraging your strengths. And you are still fighting like you did before.

Like I did before? He asked.

How did you win fights in the past? What is your victory condition? Tali asked.

Ryun frowned. When he didnt answer immediately, Tali pointed at Anrosh.

Look at the girl, she said. She is all defense and crowd control. Freezing the area, annoying her opponents with the cold. Defense, shields and armorthat you gave her that armor is still a travesty, a waste in my opinion, but at least it makes her nearly impossible to crack if she knows where your main damage comes from, as youve seen today. But what else does she have? Her stats are abysmal without her armor, no real strength or dexterity scaling attacks, she has two victory conditions. She either harasses her opponents enough and give her allies a chance to take them down, or hope that they are so weak against her cold that she just hurts them outright, or what she did to you just now. Prepare the battlefield, freeze as much of it as possible, place a few key assets aroundwhich she failed to do properly mind you, Tali gave her a look which made Anrosh want to squirm. She shouldve made sure that you were right next to as much of her ice spikes and that giant sword of hers, not just her avatar, it gave you too much time to react. Still, that is her big attack. It takes time, preparation, her opponent being willing to stay in the affected area and that they miss what she is doingyou shouldnt have been hit by that, but that is another conversation. But, after this, she is done. No more damage to take anyone down. You survived, and so you won.

Anrosh grimaced, it was true. If her full attack didnt kill her enemy, she probably would lose shortly after. But she wasnt that disappointed with it. Not everyone could just throw out attacks that cracked mountains all day.

Myself, Tali placed a hand over her chest. I am all area denial, control, and destruction. Sky to keep my foes at a distance or to violently expel them, Bond to bind them in place or dissolve them. Simple.

Her expression turned serious as she looked at Ryun. So, what is your victory condition?

Uh, Ryun paused. Blast their face with Void?

Anrosh chuckled, and even Talis lips curled into a smile.

And that works as well as youve seen against someone like her, she nodded at Anrosh.

That is Eternal armor Tali, I doubt that I will meet anyone else as capable, Ryun added.

Probably, but dont be so sure. If you become famous enough, people will hire those that counter you perfectly. It is the way of things. They might just raise people designed to kill you, a hundred or two hundred years is nothing for some of the old bastards in this world to see their plans through.

Ryun looked thoughtful, scratching at the side of his neck.

Anrosh spoke. He he usually overwhelms his opponents with power. Either physically, with raw stats, or with powerful techniques.

Tali nodded. Yes, but that worked against those weaker than him, against people with lower stats or builds that were at a disadvantage against him. What will high stats do against someone like you Anrosh? And you are a poor example. You have defensive perks from your Class, the armor, abilities, even the defense from your techniques. You have no attacks that scale with physical stats, even if you put everything in strength and dexterity, you will not even dent that armor. Yet you still fight like you could, you still fight like you can fight someone with your body. But you cant, not anymore.

Ryun narrowed his eyes.

How much Qi did you spend to keep your body solid enough to hit her with all of your strength? Tali asked.

Ryuns expression changed. It was a handful of hits.

A handful of hits, Tali repeated. It is wasteful is what it is. The higher your strength, the more Qi you need to keep your body from splashing over your target. You spend all your Qi and you die. You are a regenerator now Ryun, a fully, insane, regenerator. You need to think like one. You need to train yourself to fight a lot more like a mid to long range caster. You put your stats into wisdom, perhaps vitality if necessary, and just blast everything in sight. You kill them before they do enough damage to you and drain your Qi, and you win.

It isnt that simple, Ryun added.

Of course it isnt, Tali agreed. You are going to need to rework your entire approach to fighting, your style, everything. But you are young, her expression softened. Youve gotten your power so fast that you never really had to adapt to each stage. Ive had to change my style several times over the centuries, to accommodate new things, new aspect.

Youre right, Ryun agreed. Youll help me?

Of course, Tali said with a smile. Then she turned to Anrosh. But first, I think that we need to prep her a bit more. We dont want all of your plans to fail just because you werent sure in your power enough. I think that I can fill in for Ryun for a few days, until he figures out what he wants to do. Lets see how youll hold up against me.

Anrosh suppressed the desire to groan at the evil glint in Talis eyes. It would only make things worse.