Его не звали, но он приперся / They never called, yet he is here: Глава 20

Chapter 20

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 07:02

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Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 07:02

The afterburner mode of the Aegis is the subject of a very long and inconclusive reflection that brought me many questions, few answers, and a whole mountain of headaches. The nature of this technique, while dangerous, allows you to ignore a lot of life's adversities, but it also requires quite a lot. As practice has shown, if you are trying to shut out these very adversities not only yourself but also several allies, the demands also increase. Not exponentially, fortunately. Otherwise, I would not be able to think coherently and ask myself questions but would start eating with an audible slurp the souls of everyone I could reach.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 08:43

It was not my willpower or even my heroic awesomeness that saved me, but the banal nature of the attack, which was not even an attack. Much can be said about the devil's signature technique, even if it's hard to find any good in it, but for all its dubious nature, the fleur remains an extremely effective tool for influencing any animated consciousness. This is not mentalism or hypnomancy in its purest form, no! A perfect combination of the subtlety of influence, its ability to overcome resistance, the monstrous power of this influence, as well as the speed of influence on the victim and the massiveness of this influence. How many of you will be able to remember the classes of seducers that can compress their signature techniques and methods in time from months to a couple of minutes and then begin to hit them on the area? If there are such, they are very few, and Hell always has plenty of such specialists.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 08:46

It's axiomatic that there's no defense against the fleur.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 08:47

That is, you can ignore it, you can block it, you can stop it with an amulet, a prayer, willpower, a ritual circle, a class skill, or anything. There has not yet been found a way to create a reliable defense available to every soldier or citizen that will remain economically viable. Either, figuratively speaking, throw gold bars at the enemy, keep a huge number of benefics and clerics who will provide protection, or rely on some cunning plans, but a reliable and affordable way to protect at least an army from the fleur has not been found.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 08:50

The more devils there are, the more powerful their collective flair, the stronger they are, the more subtle its pressure. The most pernicious thing here is that even single strong devils can add subtlety of influence to the general aura of Vice, even if there is almost only one small thing gathered in the crowd. Subtlety and strength which do not mutually exclude each other, as in the case of the usual mentality and related offshoots, but, on the contrary, complement each other. People can only choke on their tears, spending stocks of the rarest consumables to temporarily cover themselves from Hell raiders or watch the sad picture of army units being converted entirely without a single hit.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 08:52

It doesn't matter the Aspect of the particular raiders, for Agony, Despondency, Fear, or Pride always operate on the same principles, which is what made the Fleur so notorious. Force the endowed or even monsters and monstrosities to fight such invaders, getting used to acting and striking back. When Hell invades reality, no one will chase unprepared army units at them, only get all settlements out of the way of the invaders and evacuate civilians, taking them out of harm's way. Only after the preparation, when they gather a striking fist of clerics and other support classes, reinforcing them with shock troops, they will give a fight for devils.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 08:55

Divine miracles, which the gods do not skimp on in such cases, powerful auras, attacks with strategic magic. If the creatures managed not just to organize a cult but to break into the human world with a whole raid, then all forces are thrown at their destruction. The problem of the devils is not even that their elite fighters are, on average, superior to the elite of the endowed ones. They have their Heroes, their pets Summoned, and artifacts, of which the creatures always have less than the creatures themselves. The elite has something to meet the enemy and something to repel the aforementioned fleur. The problem is that the fleur, which in its pure form is not very useful against the Guard, leaves the Guard alone against the enemy and yesterday's allies.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 08:58

So, there were a handful of warriors of level forty-five and a slightly larger handful of level forty. They were facing a roughly equal number of comparable-level creatures, a huge crowd of low-level creatures, and an equal crowd of seduced guards and soldiers who didn't have high levels, amulet, and artifact defenses, or personal blessings. Not a good situation, especially when you consider that, even if they reflected and leveled the effects of the fleur, this handful would spend their strength on countering, which would make them weaker, slower, and simply unable to give their best.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:20

The fleur is strong, powerful, and deadly to endowed or at least sentient beings.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:20

But when Fleur encounters Aegis, all of his sophistication, weightless subtlety, and almost cheater-like ability to ignore standard mental defenses turns into a pumpkin. It's still possible to push through Aegis with a fleur if you can create something extremely powerful and cunning with it. But only a few of the devil's brethren will be able to create such a thing. And even if they know how they won't always be able to do it in time. In the case when you are hit not by the influence directed by someone's will but by an unformed stream? At such times, a shadow adept sheltered by Aegis from the highest point of the world does not give a shit about the power and density of the impact. It would be like trying to bury a steel bunker under a mountain of feathers and fluff - whatever the total mass, it would not be able to concentrate the necessary force.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:35

Thus, it is easy to see that the consequences of the Repeated Depravity were not something I feared too much. Instead of a temporarily harmless fleur, my essence was compromised by something else. As was always the case when it came to the use of Aegis. It wasn't hard to endure the blow, but it was harder to bear the burden of my defense, its crushing loneliness. And if I could still hold my share, even if only for a couple of seconds, it would be harder to bear the joint payment for the whole company.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:37

Just a little.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:40

Slightly.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:40

It's a speck.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:41

I thought I heard the crunch of my bones, though I knew with my mind that there was no such tissue in my body now. But there it was, quiet and thunderous, accompanied by a kind of wrong pain as if it was something you didn't have and never had. Along with the crunch came a lingering sensation remotely reminiscent of that which occurs when blood is drawn at a donor center or when you have a severe arterial bleed. It was as if something was pulling out of you, like a thread from a cloth, gradually leaving you, and along with the leaving, everything else began to fall to pieces.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:38

And, of course, the damned hunger and emptiness in me, without which I had long ago been unable to think of using potent shadow techniques. The soul that was slipping away into the insatiable maw of my soul bothered me much less than usual, while I seemed to embrace the fires of other people's souls, invisible in any spectrum, but felt with painful clarity. Something that always came out of the depths of consciousness at such moments growled and screamed, shrieking and cursing, trying to convince me to let go of those lights and give them up instead of me, instead of us.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:20

I hear.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:41

I listen.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 09:41

But I kept pressing those lights, pressing them into my existence to a metaphysical crunch, refusing to give the Shadow its prey because, for this scum, there is no concept of sufficient quantity because it wants to take everything. There was no heroism in my stubbornness, nor any sung loyalty to my comrades, nor was there any nobility or self-sacrifice. Only a huge mountain of donkey stubbornness and almost childish unwillingness to part with what I had clutched in my hands. The only difference was that instead of a cute plush dinosaur, I was not going to give away the souls of those who entrusted these souls to me.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:21

// ...the pure and peace-giving immensity, together with the song of the deadly blade in the most robust frame, that this immensity shall direct...

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:23

// ...the thick, enveloping noise and distant beat of something unfathomable, vast and unformed, sneaking and lurking.....

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:24

// ...the rustling of branches and the creaking of gravel underfoot, behind which you can guess the chime of the finest and weightless threads that permeate all things....

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:25

// ...enchanting grace, behind which lies the sharpness of honed steel, simultaneously deadly strong and weightlessly false, as if it did not exist at all....

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:27

...the touch of falling leaves under the distant glow, the feeling of being ancient and yet young, as if unable to grow old...

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:35

That's probably why I was able to hold them back. Any nobility is nothing before the face of all-devouring hunger, friendship, or loyalty is extinguished in the clutch of loneliness, anger, and hatred of the world and myself, quickly replacing principles and life guidelines. In such situations, these things save where everything else will not work - stubbornness, stupid whims, stupidity, and unwillingness to admit mistakes. And also one's anger, one's hatred, one's hunger, which can (in a hundred cases out of a hundred) both become the basis of your fall and turn, against all statistical probabilities, into a thin barrier, a barrier that will clearly distinguish you from someone else, someone who will have to appear in your place afterward.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:39

So while I was figuratively holding the souls of my team in my hands and trying not to fuck up my own, I didn't have the resources to control the situation. And that's sad because if I had, I would have noticed, and I should have noticed earlier, that not only devils, victims, and cultists were present in the ritual hall. In my defense, the thing was very fortunate to be in the distance, hidden behind the streams of fluorescence and the fleur of the main freak's assistants scurrying back and forth. It was a lame excuse, but I couldn't notice it, having given myself to maintaining the disguise and deceiving the enemy's premonitions.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:40

Golem.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:36

The most trivial golem, the size of a grown man, was not even manned, unlike the huge machines from Stone. It was the only one that could easily cover the price of a couple of dozen mechas with their staff and pilots. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been here. The machine was not even combat (which does not mean defenselessness!) but an auxiliary support unit for the ritualist, able to close some of the contours of the ritual. Those of them, the retention of which, for living or quasi-living entities, is fraught with many troubles, among which scattering into atomic dust is far from the most dangerous threat.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:42

A helper, a backstop, and, of course, a bodyguard.

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:43

Devils or cultists, but the original structure of this ingenious creation, which was no longer an artifact but something more with its level and status, had been heavily modified with modifications typical of Hell. It was a very significant enhancement for a creature that could not be upgraded in any other way than through modifications to the vessel of its essence. The worst news - for me, of course, the worst news - was a clear but delayed realization: despite the pile of tainted artifacts and imposed effects, this thing was still a goddamn golem. That is, something immune to fleur to an extent far greater than any undead!

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:45

You can't say it's impossible to corrupt a golem with a fleur because a well-powered creature would defile even the very fabric of reality, not to mention soulless magical constructs. The key part in this statement is "well-powered creature" because now the people inside the ritual hall were hit by the simplest possible, even if insanely strong wave of Vice. Another golem would have been utterly destroyed by this micro cataclysm, a storm in a glass and a storm in a bottle, but not this specimen, considered powerful enough and of high quality to assist Soft Touch here, in the center of its power.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 12:33

The Golem withstood the pressure of the confined abomination, even if not without difficulty, after which its algorithms had a clear goal - to eliminate the source of sabotage, while all other allies, including even Touch itself, were in a weak state. Nothing so terrible in another situation, but, surprise surprise, at that very moment, we were also in a bad state, and I was, so to speak, knocked out of the game.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 12:35

All of my abilities, all of my premonitions, all of my immense awesomeness had no time to react to the change of situation when this android decided to radically solve the issue of leather meat sacks. Short, very thin, with surfaces gleaming from the glow of runes and ritual signs, he stared at us with his face, which had only two eye mechanisms and nothing else. In the depths of the eyes, small parts and gears moved with great frequency, like some strange clock, and two huge sapphires glittered above, serving as focusers.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 12:36

He had to kill us, perfectly timing the moment when we would fall out from under the Aegis but not yet regain consciousness. There were simply no other options, but the mechanoid himself had been blasted by the flare, though not damaged, but inhibited. He still came to his senses faster than the overstressed Kostenka regained his clarity of thought, even if for a few decisive moments, but faster.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 12:42

Anyway, it's time to get your ass kicked, isn't it?

Camrad_RIP 05.09.23 в 10:48

Turns out that's not the case.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 12:43

Aegis's blow to my brain was too strong for me, but there was something good about it. The rest of us were hit just as hard. Feeling your soul being held in the clawed clutches of the Shadow. Even though they were not hurt, they were also temporarily incapable of functioning at those decisive moments, and no matter what their will was, no matter what pumped statutes they had, still "the stun passed." No immolate impruved, honestly!

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 14:14

But, gentlemen of knowledge, attention to the question! What plane helps the best to endure shock, horror, and other vicious emotions, embodying direct and maximally aggressive moral damage? The blue of heaven is by no means a panacea, and it is quite possible to break through its armor as the same defaming Hell, as well as crazy Darkness, and in general, a lot of aggressive or, on the contrary, insidious-soft planes. But still, the calmness granted by it has such a peculiarity. It helps those who have been hit by a mental or psychic blow to come to their senses faster. Or not to be hit at all.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 16:07

Losii still didn't manage to ignore the experience. Even so, he woke up a little before everyone else, even me, even Tia, even the fucking golem, not to mention the devils. If he had fallen under the fleur, then Losius wouldn't even exist anymore - there would be nothing to wake up to after such a thing, even if your soul is very strong. A really powerful Heaven user could survive such a thing, preventing the fleur from touching his soul, shielding it with a serene armor of blue, but Losius still hadn't reached such heights, even with alchemy. It was not about strength, not about the power of spells, but about the depth of affinity with Heaven.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 16:11

But the guy, who was barely conscious after the experience, didn't need all his strength and skill, only a minimum of common sense and a working speech apparatus. I could not hear what he said, but I could see the consequences of it. It was at that moment that I became alert enough for my brain to fall into place, and my eyes, strengthened by my Inquisitive Gaze, reflexively recognized my failed murderer, at the same time provoking my clairvoyance to a certain amount of belated but necessary information.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 17:03

If it were a pure combat construct, he would have had to master reincarnation techniques if his soul had somehow managed to go to rebirth and not to the devil's pockets. But against this super-secretary for a professional ritualist, used by Losius was enough. I only saw the golem for a moment because, after that moment, the golem was blown away at such a speed that I'm not sure if I would have been able to react to Losius's pitch. No, I would have been able to, but without premonition, without prior preparation, with a pure reaction, I would have probably missed it.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 17:11

The Golden Needle, a legendary battle-type artifact, discharged its ace ability. A beam of all-burning energy combines both Heaven and Sun in equal proportions. This beam, like any technique, combines more than one type of planar energy. It exists for only a few moments until the chain reaction begins and the subsequent explosion or its analog. The legendary artifact could not prevent such a thing, but the creator of the Needle was not after combining incompatible things.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 17:14

The beam, an extension of the blade, stretched out over many dozens of meters and was powerful enough to slice through an entire fortress. That was exactly what he had done in the recent past when the previous owner of the artifact had tried to reproduce me with it, using the amoeba method, breaking the Stone and damaging the base of the spatial fold. The artifact did not prevent the planar conflict but created a kind of super-strong vessel, directing the flow of energy to the right point. A kind of lightsaber, but not a sword or a light.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 18:05

Even in normal mode, the blade could slice through artifact steel if enough physical force was put into the strike. Some activated techniques allowed to change the type of planar damage from Heaven to Sun and back, selecting a more suitable "refueling" for a given target. However, the use of the strongest of the techniques available to the owner of the artifact, merging both planes at once, increased the output by almost an order of magnitude. Probably, the Golden Needle was not particularly cool because there were even epic artifacts that were as good as or even better than the sword in terms of damage. The ability to shuffle Heaven and Sun was certainly useful, but only two planes, even if they were very close to each other, could not cover all possible situations.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 18:25

And only when it came to the final ability, which among all of us could use only Losii, as the owner of the highest rates of fencing skill and one-handed blades, the legendary of the Needle revealed in all its glory. It was indeed a weapon capable of extinguishing siege shields along with a fortress, sweeping entire tribes of giants off their feet, and bringing young dragons down to earth. Maximum power and speed of impact, multiplied by the cumulative effect of a combination of planar forces. It was probably kept in Stone, too, solely as a means of preventing something huge and bad from breaking into the fold.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 18:28

I'm all about the fact that a direct hit with this ultimate ability can really do a lot.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 18:29

And nothing would say more about the inordinate strength of the hapless golem than the fact that he was not killed by this blow, at least not immediately. On the mechanical body of the android, which is not for calls, flashed all the runes and sorcerous signs in a cluster, creating not even a barrier but a conceptual closed field in the shape of the golem's body, simply nullifying any damage values. But the inertia was not so good because the sword, which was lengthening and lengthening, and the glow of which made his eyes water, continued to lengthen, literally hammering the automaton into the wall.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 18:32

For a moment, his body resisted the impact of the Golden Needle on one side and the pressure of the ritual covering the walls on the other, but only for a moment. Too brief for the golem, already somewhat damaged by the wave of fleur inside the ritual hall, to do anything about it. Deceptively slowly, his defenses faded, and the armor covering his body began to sag inward.

Camrad_RIP 06.09.23 в 18:34